Phase One



North West Sunset in Utlwanang

I wonder if anyone who’s ever been through “Phase One” training will ever be able to prevent a wry smile from appearing on their face when they think back on their cross-cultural year. I know I won’t.

We were sent to Utlwanang township just outside Christiana in the North West province. Placed on the back of the backend of the world this area has no water, no hills or mountains, no grass, no trees, only goats and dust. I still wonder why people settled here in the first place.

Phase one had so much to contend with; learning a new culture, standing out like a white person in a township, coming to terms with being a minister, doing TEEC assignments and travelling 370km into Soweto every week for IST. I doubt I will ever go through a year like that again, filled with such a bizarre range of experience, from the ludicrous to the profound. It was a year packed with, tragic and comical situations, painful and joyful moments. Claire and I came out of it the way I imagine a person emerges from a tumble drier; disoriented and thankful to be out, vowing never to go back.

Now years later I look back with fondness on that year. Then it felt desolate, now I see it was the richest of times. Claire and I learnt so much about ourselves and God and the world around us. We were welcomed in and cared for by people we would otherwise never have met.

Next month towards the end of September, straight after my ordination Claire and I have organised a trip through the North West. We are going to meet up with old friends, show our children where we lived and be reminded of where and how this journey all began. I never thought I’d say it, but I thank God for my Phase one year.

 As you can see in Phase One I was pretty stoked about being a minister

Claire infront of the manse contemplating our new living arrangement

Washing dishes in our 'open plan' scullary

George Thibang, a good friend and amazing man of God. Goerge, here in his fifties, would still on occassion ride a bicycle 35km along gravel roads, to preach to a congrigation in Kudu Tlou. Something which in his younger days he did almost every Sunday.

In the year we spent in Utlwanang Goerge would patiently spend two hours with me every Friday giving free SeTswana lessons.

His favourite line was always, "Don't worry Maruti, just be free."

I'm most looking forward to seeing Goerge in September.

Thunzi, a dog we saved from being stoned by some local boys. She became our uninvited squatter and later a much loved pet.

Lambert, an olive tree planted to commemorate our first wedding anniversary. Barricaded with fencing, branches and thorns to keep the goats away - to little effect.

We do not expect to find Lambert alive in September. We have decided that if Lambert is no more it will not serve as a reflection on our marriage.

Two of the most annoying donkeys in the world who would regularly stand outside our window at 10pm and HHAAA HEEE!

Rodger Dodger the most wily rock pigeon on earth. He nested on the tin roof above our bedroom and loved scratching and banging at 4am every morning. Needless to say he had everything from sticks, stones, marbles and shoes, thrown, catapulted and shot at him without ever being hit once, not even nearly.

Claire standing outside the Kudu Tlou Church.

Me with the Kudu Tlou congrigation.

Still can't believe we all worshiped inside the building.

And last but not least the Jabavu lecture room where we did more waiting than lecturing

August a long month

Although it is undoubtedly the best of the twelve months and most outstanding people are born in it (Queen Elizabeth (4^th Aug), Napoleon Bonaparte (15^th), and Roger Federer (8^th) to name a few) August has always been the longest month. It is a waiting month and its days drag. In August you must wait for your birthday, wait for spring, and wait for ordination. Sometimes I wish I could just change the calendar and skip some days!

Julius Caesar used to do that, he loved messing with the year, randomly adding and moving months around as he pleased. But what goes around comes around, because it was while he was Caesar that people began to notice something very wrong with their calendar year. The seasons were moving. Summer started happening when it was supposed to be autumn and spring when it was meant to be winter. So Jules quickly consulted an astronomer who discovered that their year was a few days short of the suns cycle and had slipped 80 days out with the seasons.

To correct the mistake he created a calendar year with 365,25 days in it, and brought in a leap year which would have one day less to keep the calendar synchronised with the sun. This done they still had to correct the 80 day discrepancy so the Caesar just added the days on and in 46AD the Romans experienced the longest year ever, 445 days long it became known as the year of chaos! Riots broke out because people had to work 14.5 months for a year’s wages.

The funny thing is that Julius’s new system although much better was still out, but this time it was 11 hours too long. As a result by 1582 the calendar year was 10days behind the sun’s cycle, so in that year the people had to shorten the month of October which jumped from the 10^th to the 20^th in a single day. This must be the best pay day month in history!

So is there a point to all this talk about time and seasons? Well doesn’t time just drag when you go through something difficult or tedious, you just want it to end and you wish it away. Sometimes I think of my probation as the season of chaos. It’s been so long I almost can’t remember what life was like before probation. As with most long journeys the beginning goes quickly, you’re keen and rearing to go; but the end takes forever and every little bump feels too much to bear.

In times of hardship we risk becoming so selfishly focused on the difficulty and what we are going through that we lose sight of what God is doing with us. Time drags because we become so focused on our pain that we lose sight of all blessing, we disregard others needs and we throw ourselves out of sync with God. It’s like we bring a year of chaos on ourselves. Like a calendar year out of rhythm with the sun, a life out of rhythm with God tends to either be over or under compensating for something. When things get tough we must remember that there are seasons to life and that God is always in control even when life is not easy. God is able to use every moment to grow and nurture us, every instance for good even though we might never see or understand that goodness.

And so as I look back on my probation I have to say I would not change a thing. There have been moments that were cold and long but God has always had a plan, and spring is not far away. I need the winters, they strengthen my faith and they contain hidden treasures, there to be found if I’m ready to look for them. We must come to see that God has made all things beautiful in their time, and the things of August are more beautiful than most.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;  a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of humanity to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into men’s and women’s heart.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11