Oct 1, 2009 | Baby Photos, South Africa, Stories
We are now in Bloemfontein visiting Mark’s Mom and Dad. It’s really good to be here. We hope to take the next few days to rest after going and going and going, and pray and prepare to jump in with both feet and get started. And great news, we will be able to move in to our new place on October 1st! Â We are very thankful and excited to finally unpack our suitcases after over two months of nomadic living! I think this lifestyle is a constant reminder that we really are temporarily on this earth, and the long stay — the settling in where you don’t pack again — will happen in eternity.
I don’t know if it’s just because of all the changes that have happened seemingly suddenly (if it’s okay to put those two words together…it seems strange) but I am just overwhelmed with joy when Asher gets to be around his grandparents. I am the same way when we’re in Washington with my Mom and Dad…I mean you would think I was pregnant again it makes me so emotional! I’m almost teary just passing Asher to his Grandpa Collie so he can hold him for a while, and I’m running to fetch the camera. (By the way, I’m not pregnant again — just emotional!) I can look at pictures of my Mom or Dad holding him, and get emotional. A big part of our decision to move here was for Asher to get to know his grandparents here before we eventually settle down in the States (Lord willing and the creek don’t rise). So I suppose it’s just really great to be here, enjoying one of the reasons we’re here, seeing it happen before our eyes.
There is something significant in Scripture about generations — God being a generational God — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I hope the Lord can become the God of the generations in the Collie family as well.
So we’ve finally arrived back in Mark’s hometown, Bloemfontein. And we are on the way to the place we’ll be settling in for a while. Even though this is at least 6,000 miles away from my hometown, it’s very good to be here, and it feels like home.
xCC
Sep 30, 2009 | South Africa, Top Ten Lists
Top of the week to ya! If Wednesday is hump day, I’m thinking it would be the “top” of the week –yeah? Anyway. I’m getting settled in South Africa pretty well. It helps to have visited a few times before the move. But I’m at the stage where if I walk out the front door, I’m likely to see something that will surprise me every day. Really fun. It’s good to learn new things.
Here are a few fun facts, so you can join me in the cultural immersion!
Top Ten Things You Probably Didn’t Know about South Africa (Unless You’re South African)
10. South Africa averages less than one fatal shark attack every year. (For humans anyway). I would’ve thought it was more with those crazy breaching great whites!
9. Most shopping malls have a supermarket or two in them, and some other big department stores that have everything from games to coolboxes (coolers) to dishes, food and pool floats. Lots of people get shopping carts from these stores and push them around the mall. I am struggling to get used to getting sidelined by a grocery cart hurrying to a sale at the other end of the mall!
8. South Africa is roughly twice the size of Texas! Yee haw! We have a lot of trails to explore and I brought my cowboy hat.
7. English is one of 11 official languages in SA. The list also includes Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu and Sesotho. Well, you may have known that if you read this blog the other day. There are five languages in the South African National Anthem.
6. Pic-n-Pay, a shoe store in the States, is a supermarket here! I especially like the Greek Yoghurt, and that you can buy milk in plastic bags instead of plastic cartons. (see example, below)
5. While South Africa was constitutionally obliged to fight with the British in WWII, the Prime Minister, Barry Hertzhog, preferred to either remain neutral, or be Pro-Axis (as in, fighting against the Allies.) Hertzhog was deposed, and Jan Smuts returned to power as Prime Minister, and declared war against Germany. He fortified the country against sea invasion because of its strategic positioning. The leaders of the Ossewabrandwag, a pro-Nazi South African movement, were jailed for the rest of the war after committing acts of sabotage!
4. Cape Point, near Cape Town is not the most southerly point of Africa, as is often thought. That accolade actually belongs to Cape Agulhas, which is 90 miles/150 km east-south-east. Cape Agulhas is also the generally agreed upon spot where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet.
3. J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein. (That’s the writer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in case you were born yesterday!) And that’s Mark’s hometown!
2. There are six unique floral kingdoms in the world, one of which, the Cape Floral Kingdom, is only found in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It has 8,700 plant species, and 68% of them are only found in this tiny bit of South Africa!
1. The world’s first heart transplant was performed in Cape Town, South Africa, by Dr. Christiaan Barnard in 1967.
So here’s to learning more about a great country with a lot of heart! whaa-wha-whaaaa… 😉
xCC
Sep 24, 2009 | South Africa, Stories
{The Bear, unsure of whether he wants to leave the comforts of North Carolina behind…}
Flying from Johannesburg to Cape Town was a peaceful two hours. Looking out the plane window, you first see the clay-red rooftops of the houses in Joburg fading into the distance, along with the tall shiny buildings of the city centre, the phone lines, and the blue of the backyard swimming pools. And then sometimes, for as far as your eye can see, it’s just this clay-red-brown earthy colour in every direction. It is beautiful. Lots of people say it’s Mama Africa’s red dust. Once it gets under your skin, into your blood, you always want to return. At some stages the clouds might space out below you like the circles on a Twister game. Perfect little round pillows stretching into the distance in white cotton rows. And you see mountains, one after another, some rough and rocky, some green and lush and verdant, and you wonder if anyone knows the names of all of them.
Then the wilderness turns into busyness again, as you arrive in Cape Town. The cape flats that sit behind the mountains of Cape Town stretch out for what seems like ages. The mountains are so beautiful you want the plane to slow down so you can stare at them a little longer. And then as you fly in, you often get to see Cape Town’s famous Table Mountain and the range that runs, and spills into the beautiful blue-green water. The beauty here is unmistakably wild — it’s hard to explain what I mean. If you visit the Lake District in England, it is also beautiful, but it seems tame. There are cute bunnies and ducks and swans and signs to beware of squirrels crossing the road. Here the mountains just seem so vast and expansive and rugged and rough — so beautiful you want to get closer, so rough you’re not sure you’ll do well on the climb. And the road signs don’t warn you about squirrels.
Our arrival at the airport was relatively uneventful. We picked up the rental car and the nice gentleman who helped us pack up the car taught me a few things to say in Xhosa (thank you and God Bless You). I absolutely struggled to convince my tongue to make some of the sounds he made, and I still don’t have it! I took his picture and thanked him for being my first friend in Cape Town. Then we were off to find the accommodation we’ve booked for the next three weeks. You might feel like this place is just like North Carolina, or anywhere you might call home in the states. Then you pass Khayelitsha, a huge and sprawling township of tiny shacks squished beside each other, with their four walls made of tin roofing, almost built on top of each other. You think about what it must be like to live there. You’re traveling at sixty miles per hour and the shacks seem to be never ending. As they’re sprawling along beside the highway, it feels like they’re running along with you, and then off into the distance. I remembered that the gentleman who helped pack our car lives there. And we wondered how we might go about arranging an opportunity to give people there shoes.
This is Africa. The beauty is great. The need is great. Our God is great. We hope He’ll let us be a part of what He’s doing here.
We’re currently staying in rented holiday accommodation while we look for a place to live. I think we have found our place to live now! I’ll share pictures as soon as I can and it’s for sure! Getting set up in a new country is challenging, but God is making smooth paths for us. Not having a credit history around here makes making anything happen a bit tough, but it’s coming together! Thank you for your prayers, for your encouragement, and many of you, your financial support. Without it, we couldn’t be here!
{This lovely gent is writing down a few words for me in Xhosa!}
xCC
Sep 20, 2009 | South Africa, Stories, The Good Word
I don’t speak Afrikaans. Some of you might need a little history lesson of South Africa in order for that statement to make sense. Well, very briefly, South Africa was first colonized by the Dutch, and then by the British. When they decided to have a fight about who was gonna be the boss, the British won. (This was called the Anglo-Boer War — ‘Boer’ means Farmer.) This might be seen by some as similar to the American fight for Independence, except that the British won. Anyway, many years and many stories later, there are an incredible number of languages and cultures swirling and twirling together in the melting pot of South Africa — including 11 official languages, one of which is Afrikaans. This language has come from Dutch, and while Afrikaans and Dutch are still fairly mutually intelligible, Afrikaans is sort of like old Dutch with some other influences mixed in, which tends to happen, due to what I think is termed language fossilization away from the homeland, and a number of other interesting things that you might study in linguistic classes.
All that to say, most people in the area where we’re staying at the moment speak English and Afrikaans, but Afrikaans is more often the default language. A lovely and amusing thing has been occurring since my arrival. Since I don’t have ‘American’ stamped on my forehead, a local might assume I also am South African, (usually until I open my mouth) and will therefore also assume that I too can speak Afrikaans. Â People often come up to me in the grocery store, and I can basically ascertain from their demeanour that they’re commenting on how cute Asher is. Â I just kind of smile and nod unless I think I am missing something, and then have to open my mouth with a big southern, “Sorry…I don’t speak Afrikaans.” At which point they politely change to English and then I have a clue of what’s happening.
This week, for my birthday Mark and I did a bit of browsing at the mall, among other things, and I found a skirt I thought I should try on in the dressing room. I came out for a moment to ask Mark’s opinion, and while I was still standing in the doorway, a lady came up in a huff, with lots and lots of garments in her arms, and speaking Afrikaans she proceeded to go on and on and on to me. I, obviously, had NOT A CLUE what the heck she was talking about. Â She just went on and on – I am not exaggerating – and wanting to be polite, I didn’t interrupt. When she finally finished, mind you I’m still standing there in an unpurchased skirt and my socks, I just looked at her with a big bewildered face and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Afrikaans.”
She then switched immediately to English and began again, perhaps in a bigger huff, “I’ve got all these garments and there are too many of them for me to go into the dressing room with, but I want to try all of them on and so I am going to need some help but I can’t go into the dressing room with all of them, so what should I do and …” And it went on for a little bit longer until I finally realized what was actually happening, and, finally, I correctly responded to the situation:
“Ugh…I don’t work here either.”
Man it’s great when we finally have a clue of what’s going on! As I’m enjoying the beautiful surroundings here in South Africa, I am thankful that God demonstrated His love for us in such a way that it would cross all cultural and language boundaries. And because His love for us is evident in what He has created, we are without excuse to recognise Him as Creator, and to love and follow Him. I don’t need to speak Hebrew and Greek to know that God loves me — the translation of that love into action took place in the life of Jesus, and on the cross at Calvary.
Praise the Lord we have the opportunity to translate that message of Good News to everyone we meet, so that they too can make Jesus their Lord, live for Him, and spend eternity worshiping Him in His glory. I want the life I live for God to need no translation – for it to be clear that I’m His and He is mine, for the fruit of my words and actions to make that readily apparent. If those of us who claim to be believers could all live that way (not saying I do, but that I want to!) – what a message we’d be sharing, to everyone, everywhere.
God loves you! How do you translate that?
xCC
Sep 19, 2009 | South Africa, Top Ten Lists
I just enjoyed another birthday yesterday! Mark treated me incredibly well and it was a DELIGHTFUL day, even so far away from the places I’ve been calling home. Thank you, Markus, I love you and I’m so thankful for you! And thank you Richard, Heather, Wendy & Niel for helping me celebrate! It’s great to be in SA!
I still have some time left in my 20s, which I am happy about, but I had a moment to take some inventory and think a bit about my life toward the end of the day, and I have a few thoughts to share. These might ward off the birthday blues for the next anniversary of your arrival in the world, or be an encouragement for you today, even if it’s just your un-birthday.
10. This one’s obvious. Eat whatever you want, guilt free. This should NOT be a habit, and you should not go overboard so that you’ll feel yucky the next day. If you do this once a week, then nevermind. 🙂 But don’t drink too much. You’ll probably make silly decisions, and wake up the next day feeling awful and old, and then you’ll be sorry it was ever your birthday!
9. Count your blessings. Seriously. Think about your life and what you have to be thankful for. Do you have a job? Are you healthy? Is your family healthy? We take so much for granted, taking a moment to take stock and be thankful for your life might make the idea of ‘aging’ a little easier.
8. Take inventory of the past year. Are there some things you think you might like to do differently in the year ahead? Get excited about learning from the mistakes you’ve made. I am so thankful the mischief of my youth, which did NOT bring me JOY, is behind me.
7. Smile at your achievements. Have you been hitting the gym faithfully? Did you get a promotion at work? Did you treat someone nicely even when they weren’t so nice to you? Take a moment to say well done for the good stuff you accomplished this year.
6. Even if you have to organise it yourself, get together with friends and/or family for your birthday. It is good to enjoy your life and to ask others to celebrate it with you.
5. Do something unselfish today — some act of kindness that stretches you a little. It is more blessed to give than to receive, and your soul will reap the benefits of it.
4. Count your blessings again! This time think about the past year: Did someone close to you get married or have a baby this year? Did you have the opportunity to travel somewhere new? Did you get to watch a sporting event or two where the team you were hoping to win did? Find some reasons to smile at the year you’ve just lived, and rejoice in the good.
3. Do something that will help you relax for a while. Sit at a coffee shop and watch the world go by, even if you can only do so for half an hour. Slather on some SPF and take in some rays. Find somewhere comfy to take a nap! Â Find a way to press the pause button.
2. Laugh at the days ahead. If you remember that people are still giving birth in their 50s, graduating from college in their 80s and climbing mountains in their 90s, it’s is easier for you to recognise that you can still have plenty of life ahead of you, no matter what year you were born.
1. Be GLAD you’ve been blessed with another year! If you’re perceptive, you may be able to see that your life is getting better with time. If it is not getting better with time, perhaps you need to make some adjustments!
My Lesson From this Birthday: When I was 25 or so, Mark asked me to marry him in the bushveld on a game reserve in South Africa. Less than six months later, we were married. It was a great year. I remember thinking, “how is life going to get better than this? I think I’ve just enjoyed what I’ll look back at as the best year of my life.” And that made me a little sad. But the truth is, the next year was really great, and this past year was absolutely my best yet. I honestly believe that in God, as you learn to walk with Him and in His ways, He can increase your joy, no matter your circumstances. That means that whether you are being abased, or living in abundance, you can learn to enjoy the peace and thankfulness that comes from having a Centre other than yourself. Happy Birthday to you! I hope it is truly good.
xCC
Sep 17, 2009 | South Africa, Stories, The Good Word
Good news! We found a car! And we were incredibly encouraged in the process. Would you like to hear the tale? Well, we arrived in South Africa with no credit history, so the only possibility for us to purchase a car (instead of paying for a rental for months and months) was to buy a car with a credit card. (We don’t exactly have a good $9,000 laying around, and cars are a wee bit more expensive around here). We just trusted the Lord to lead us to a good car, at a good price, and at a dealership that would allow us to use a credit card to make the purchase.
Just before we left the States, someone suggested we see the movie, Faith Like Potatoes. We were glad we did. It was a faith-building story, although I cried through a lot of it. It’s about a Zambian farmer named Angus Buchan, who moves to South Africa, meets the Lord and with his pastor’s encouragement, he begins his work for the Lord as an evangelist. His family is originally from Scotland, which further interested us. He was born in Zambia, and it was fascinating to see him begin to identify himself as an “African from a white tribe,” instead of as a Scot. It helped me to understand a little better Mark’s experience of being white and African. And the leading actress was from Mark’s hometown. Side note! But I shall tie all this in. The Lord puts it on Angus’s heart to plant potatoes, even though it will be very difficult for them to grow without enough water in the climate where he has settled. I don’t want to spoil the plot for you, so to find out what happens, please watch the film!
Mark was beginning to get a bit discouraged after a few days in South Africa, because our lack of credit history was prohibiting us even getting a cell phone contract, and we were finding it challenging to get things done. (A delightful challenge of settling in a new country is that you can have platinum credit cards and a great credit history in one country, but it does not make a hill of beans in the next!) The other morning I was reading the story in Genesis 24, where the Lord gives Abraham’s servant great success in finding a wife for Isaac. The servant prays for a specific sign that he will know he has found a wife for Isaac, and the Lord shows up, just as he prayed. I was encouraged by the story, and before Mark left to continue the car hunt, we prayed together similarly, that God would give us a sign, so we would know we were purchasing the right car at the right place.
Mark headed out, and went to look at several of the dealerships we’d seen the day before, and came to one where we’d seen a Citroen Xsara Picasso that seemed to be a good price. He began chatting with the dealers about the car, and found out that it had belonged to one of the owner’s wives. It only had about 80,000 kilometers on it (less than 50,000 miles) and was in great condition. They went to further discuss the purchase upstairs in the dealership’s coffee shop, and none other than the pastor from Faith Like Potatoes was sitting in the coffee shop! After discovering the owners were Christians, Mark took all of it as a sign, and decided this was our potato!
The blessing of all blessings, the car is what we’d been praying for, and more. It was within our price range, and the dealership helped cover the costs of getting its roadworthy certificate and license plates, and helped us find very inexpensive car insurance. We were hoping for a car to comfortably seat five, even with Asher’s big car seat taking up space in the back, so that when Mark’s parents fly in to visit we can all fit in one car. It’s a diesel engine and gets like 50 miles to the gallon, and right now in South Africa, diesel is cheaper than petrol! Mark was especially concerned about it being safe, and was really glad it has run-on-flat tires, so that if I get a flat in a dodgy area, I can keep on truckin’. The windows are tinted and have anti-smash-and-grab protection as well. It even has roof racks for Mark’s bike rack to attach to!
Since the car has a bit of a funny shape, (leave it to the French!) and the encouragement for the purchase came from Faith Like Potatoes, we decided to call the car Mr. Potato Head. It was wonderful to turn in our rental car, and cross that concern off our lists. Praise the Lord who can provide us with the Faith for Potatoes, in whatever form they might arrive!
The Sermon in a Nutshell: God is the same today as He was 3,000 years ago. If your hope is in Him, and you’re walking with Him, He will supply all your needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:19) Is there a need weighing on your chest today? Ask God to give you the faith to trust Him for His perfect provision, in His perfect timing, and a content and thankful heart in the meantime.
xCC
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