From Joey: South African News: Edition 3 August 24, 2006
Posted by scudderjourneys in Uncategorized.add a comment
Hello again everyone, after a lengthy respite,
My apologies for having no email communication for the last month. My
last 2 weeks in South Africa were extremely busy, so that I only got
to use the Internet once, and once I arrived home I began working long
hours for harvest immediately. (For those of you who are not farmers,
harvest simply dominates life for the first 3 weeks of August for my
family, and I work from 7 am until dark or later).
However, now I am back at my trusty laptop, attempting to recreate the
last two weeks of South Africa and the important events that happened
then (much of this email is taken from my journals, so hopefully it
will prove historically accurate).
The biggest change during the last two weeks was that several
short-term teams showed up from Canada and the US. The first team,
whom I spent the most time with, was from Toronto and consisted of
seven people in their 20s. As soon as they arrived, pace doubled, and
David and I were caught up in the flow. Pastor Ohm spent a couple
days with us all as we visited preschools, began the digging for a
community netball court, and learned about the leaders and vision of
each of the parts of AfricanLeadership. (It was nice to finally have
a formal introduction to all of the ministries, even though I had
learned most of it already). The team was also finalizing plans for a
camp they were running that weekend for local high school students.
These students were the leaders of the Student Christian Organization
(SCO) at their respective high schools, and the team from Toronto
wanted to have a retreat to train and disciple them. However, I was
headed to Transkei (the rural Xhosa homeland) a couple of days early
to help SaeYun with the clinic and to prepare for the teams arrival on
Monday morning.
One very important thing happened during Week 3: The Toronto team,
along with David and I, had visited a high school hoping to talk to a
few of the students or share with a class or two. When we told the
principle that we were from Canada and the US, and that we wanted to
share with some students about life skills and reaching goals, etc.,
we were immediately told that they had 7 classes without teachers
during the next period and they wanted us to speak to them all. We
had 14 people, since we had brought several students from the Bible
College along, so we were split up into pairs and sent to our own
classroom to speak for 45 minutes. There was a lot of rapid praying,
since most of us hadn’t prepared anything, and then we were standing
in front of 50 rowdy high schoolers in maroon uniforms. I was paired
with Pastor Ohm, and he told me to talk first, so I shared a brief
testimony about how I was able to rely on God to overcome my problems
and that I didn’t have to face them alone. Pastor Ohm then talked for
about 40 minutes on all sorts of topics. The assistant principle came
in and listened for the second half, so Pastor Ohm spoke mostly about
life skills and weaved in some of his personal testimony. At one
point, Pastor Ohm was talking about changing your life and stepping
away from the bad things you have done in the past, and one girl in
the front row asked simply: ”How?” She asked with such sincerity and
honest frustration that it really hit me hard. That is the plight of
these high school students: they have dreams and aspirations, but no
hope of actually achieving anything. They have no role models or
guides or pathways to success, and so turn to gangs and crime and sex
and drugs to drown their frustration. You could see the hunger in the
eyes of nearly every student– so obvious that it hurt me as well.
However, I will tell more about the high schools later because I got
to visit them a lot during my last week in South Africa.
One other quick interlude before I write about my time in Transkei,
which was perhaps the most classic “short-term” mission experience.
But before I went I spent a day with Sae-yun, driving around Cape Town
trying to get together some supplies and get a new car registered for
another girl who was coming for several months. This included many
phone calls and visits to mechanics and me driving on the left side of
the road and lots of price comparisons, etc. The experience was
rather frustrating but it really showed me the other side of being a
long-term missionary: the nuts and bolts of handling money and dealing
with beauracracy and buying stuff. And this was just a car and some
electrical repairs– I can’t imagine dealing with visas and buying a
house and building church buildings, etc. That Friday really showed
me how multi-skilled and flexible and patient a missionary must be.
So, I fully intended to write about Transkei when I began this email,
but it is now getting late and my family requires my presence at my
younger sister’s 10th birthday party tomorrow, so I must end this
email here. I promise that I will send at least 2 more in the next 2
or 3 days– you don’t get a break from my unleashed verbosity now that
I have more time and computers at my command. But, from this email, I
ask that you pray for 3 things: First, for the long-termers in Cape
Town, specifically Solomon, Sae-Yun, Pastor Ohm, and Pastor Tong-Su.
They are the ones who deal with earthly problems especially, like car
repair and finances. Second, pray for the short-term teams. There are
3 in Cape Town right now, and several more have come and gone over the
course of the summer. The experience is as much about equipping the
young people from North America as it is to use them to help further
God’s Kingdom in South Africa. Several of the people from Toronto
were drastically changed even in the week and a half that I spent with
them, so pray that God will continue to guide their purposes and that
they will trust fully in His plans for their lives. Thirdly, pray for
me, a similar request to that of the other short-termers. Since I got
home I have been extremely busy, and I don’t want to lose my own
growth simply by being uprooted from Khayelitsha and going back to
well-trod ground. Pray that I can be focused on God’s purpose as I
speak about South Africa a few times and as I prepare to go back to
school.
Once again, I apologize for my tardiness in sending this email and
general lack of communication. I did arrive home safely and have seen
some of you in person. I really appreciated the notes that some of you
sent; I will reply as needed and time permits.
FTK (for those who forgot, For The Kingdom!)
Joey Klein
now back home in Edwall, WA
p.s. If any of you didn’t receive Edition 1 or 2, and therefore don’t
understand some parts of this email, let me know and I will forward
them on to you.
South African Dispatch, Final Thoughts August 17, 2006
Posted by scudderjourneys in 2006 - South Africa, All Posts, E-mail Updates, Travel Journals.3 comments
I want to leave you with a few final thoughts from South Africa after I’ve had a bit of time to mull things over . . .
What stands out most strongly is African Leadership’s motto, “For the Kingdom!” This is something we repeated, discussed, meditated on, struggled to live out . . . It applies not just to prayer or aspects of “ministry” but to waking up, sharing a meal, going to work – Christianity is about the holistic. For this reason, Pastor Ohm urged us to say it to ourselves when we woke up, when greeted each other, etc. – and as I reminded myself of it continually, I felt the idea begin to work its way into my heart and upset my very motivations – it’s THE Kingdom, not my kingdom we’re living for; I have no one to impress or please save the King himself, God; every person I meet is important when seen through eyes of Jesus; for that matter, even the most mundane activities are opportunities to worship God and live for his Kingdom – it gives a thrill to living. The Kingdom is what Jesus first preached wandering through the countryside of Israel, and its mysteries have occupied much of my thought this summer.
Beyond that, my mind is filled with a whole mess of impressions . . .
- the little kids, smiling in the streets of Khayelitsha. Children are everywhere – this is why the Sunday School ministry is so important.
- the African worship – feeling the room shake as the high schoolers on retreat sang the Xhosa songs – getting that small glimpse of what worship in heaven may be like
- the high schoolers, reveling at being poured into for a weekend; loving God and craving mentors and discipleship
- warmly welcomed into the churches and into people’s homes and lives – a living picture of Gal. 3:28
- echos of the past – talking to Chris (who runs the soccer ministry) – still struggling with bitterness from years of injustice under apartheid – learning to forgive
- Pastor Ohm’s joy – there’s no place in the world he’d rather be besides the mission field
Like any piece of life, it’s impossible to reduce five weeks of life to a few thoughts. I’ve posted a bunch of pictures from the trip that you can see in two places: picasaweb.google.com/scudderphotos/ or www.davidscudder.com/gallery/photos/. I’ll be adding more in the coming weeks.
If you are interested in learning more about the ministries, I encourage you to visit Pastor Ohm’s website (www.africanleadership.org.za) and Larry Warren’s website ( www.africanleadership.org). If you are interested in visiting South Africa yourself or supporting these ministries, let me know and I’ll help you in that direction.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support! It’s been a blessing to hear how you’ve prayed for me and also to hear how these testimonies have been an encouragement for you. Please continue to keep South Africa and Khayelitsha and African Leadership in your prayers. And please continue to pray for me, as I enter my senior year at Stanford and also consider how God will use me for his Kingdom both at home and abroad in the future.
Again, many thanks to you all!
For the Kingdom!
David
South African Dispatch, Pt. 4 August 12, 2006
Posted by scudderjourneys in 2006 - South Africa, All Posts, E-mail Updates, Travel Journals.add a comment
After 34 hours and 16 minutes in transit, I made it all the way from Khayelitsha to LA. Adam and Jenn Harris (that’s still a little weird to me) are happily married, and I’m back in Nashville for a few weeks, designing websites, recovering from being a bit sick, and reflecting on my time in South Africa. But before I share with you my impressions from the experience as a whole, I want to tell you about my last week there – it was probably the best yet.
We were joined by a team of seven from Toronto, and while I was only with them for six days, I was greatly blessed and encouraged by them as we prayed, worked, and ministered together. As usual, the team experienced a whole array of activities – playing on the kids at the preschool; praying and dreaming about the future of the retreat center; picnicking at the beautiful vineyard just 5 minutes drive from Khayelitsha’s shacks; digging through rock and debris to level the field for a netball court in the Harare district. The last was especially fun, because a bunch of kids from the community came out to join us, and soon none of us were left holding shovels as they joyfully attacked the job.
What the Toronto team got to do that was unique was to go into the high schools. For the first four weeks that I was in Khayelitsha, the schools were closed for winter holidays, but now they were beginning again. Angie, one of the girls from Toronto, had lived in South Africa for 9 months and had done some work in the high schools, and the team wanted to focus their efforts here. The first day, we were turned away from one school but allowed into the second to visit the Christian club. There we got to worship with them and encourage them from the Word and personal testimony.
The second day was even better. We arrived at another school, not really knowing what to expect but hoping to visit a couple classrooms. The principal welcomed us in and told us about the school. Then he invited us to speak in 7 classrooms at once (yes, 7). By God’s providence we had fourteen people, just enough to send two to each classroom. Angie and I were whisked off to a classroom full of tenth graders where we spoke about identity. To start, we asked them to finish the sentence “I am . . .” with something besides their name. The ice was quickly broken as one boy exclaimed “I am beautiful!” As Angie and I shared from our own stories and from the Bible, some kids nodded along while others cracked jokes. Afterward, one of the boys had some really good questions about the nature of prayer and transformation. Each pair had a different experience – one girl, after speaking to a rowdy bunch of eighth graders, was suddenly met with a piercing question: “Is God punishing South Africa with AIDS?” One of the guys, speaking to another wild eighth grade class, had a boy who decided to accept Christ. This is an incredible open door in Khayelitsha – what we did would never have been allowed in the States.
That weekend, we took 45 Christian student leaders from 10 of Khayelitsha’s 19 high schools on a retreat to teach on leadership. On Friday night there was a talk on God’s purposes, and on Saturday there were talks on leadership qualities and spiritual gifts. But even more than teaching, it was so good to bring all the kids together for fellowship and worship. Every service, the meeting room would be shaken by the chords of African song. Different students took turns leading different songs – they even let us teach them some songs in English. At night in the bunk room, the guys began to share their testimonies with each other, and afterward we all prayed together, praising and thanking God for bringing us all together.
I feel like I’m continually trying to learn how to let God be strong in my weakness, advancing just inches at a time only to thrown back a foot as I turn to my own devices. At the retreat, God gave me another lesson. By Saturday afternoon I was totally beat, exhausted from little sleep and trying to lead discussion across a language barrier, and as I entered lunch I was praying for God to somehow work through me. Then right as lunch ended, another counselor asked me to take lunch to a boy who hadn’t come because he’d been hurt by comments made by some other boys. Back at the cabin, I found two hurting boys instead of one – one struggling with his identity as a Christian despite continued tendency to sin, the other carrying deep wounds from growing up without a father – or rather from having a father who avoided him and wanted nothing to do with him. I had just shared in my testimony the night before about learning what it means to be God’s son, and God let me use this to encourage them with his promises – that they are God’s sons, and God is the perfect Father who will never fail them. I was so amazed how God had answered my prayer!
This was the story of the weekend – God working in weakness. Through failed (and successful) games, changed plans, language barriers, injuries, exhaustion – God worked. I watched him break the hearts of my team as they poured prayers for the kids. I listened to the kids share testimony of how God had worked in them in just the two brief days of the retreat. The kids have such a fire for a God, but also such a need for mentoring and encouragement – the work is still just beginning.
After the retreat, my time in Khayelitsha quickly came to a close. I had a couple days to get my things in order and say my goodbyes, and then the five weeks in South Africa were gone in the blink of an eye.
In the interest of space (and having a few more days to reflect), I’ll send out my final reflections in another e-mail a bit later. But I want to urge you to pray for the high schools in South Africa – pray that students would really know God, pray that God will provide mentors and leaders for them, and pray that God will heal the old wounds and give them hope for the future.
For the Kingdom!
David
South African Dispatch, Pt. 3 August 12, 2006
Posted by scudderjourneys in 2006 - South Africa, All Posts, E-mail Updates, Travel Journals.add a comment
The time in South Africa is flying by – I’m almost down to my last week! The days have continued to be filled, hanging out in Khayelitsha, praising God in song, playing with kids, doing various odd jobs – we finished tiling and grouting the bathroom at the retreat center, and we are very proud of our beautiful creation. On Sunday we we went for the second time to Pastor Yeza’s church in Site C, one of the regions of Khayelitsha. It was so good to be there again worshiping with that congregation. One of the mamas let me look on at her Xhosa hymnal and actually complimented my pronunciation – it made my day!
This past weekend we traveled to the city of Port Elizabeth for a graduation of pastors. Back in Khayelitsha, our home base of operations is the African Theological College, a small school which trains pastors in an intensive two-year program. This is where Pastor Ohm’s ministy is most closely connected to the larger organization African Leadership led by Larry Warren which focuses especially on equipping pastors. Unlike in the States, most pastors in Africa do not have the chance to study at a seminary before entering ministry – like Apollos of old, they simply preach what they know with great fervor. African Leadership works to train these pastors, especially focusing on teaching them how to study the Bible.
This is why African Theological College was established. However, for the many pastors who live far away and cannot come to Khayelitsha to study, something else was needed, so satellite schools were set up all over southern Africa. We traveled to Port Elizabeth to take part in a graduation for one of these satellite schools. Pastor Ohm and a couple other pastors who traveled with us spoke some word of encouragement to the seven graduates. Joey and I sang “Be Thou My Vision” as a blessing over them. It was really special to be a part of such a significant day for those pastors.
Things are about to pick up rapidly. A team from Canada arrives today, and Joey and I will be working with them to do ministry in the high schools, which just recommenced this week after winter holidays (yeah Southern Hemisphere!). This weekend, we’ll be taking student leaders from Christian clubs at the high schools on a retreat for discipleship and training. While I am at the retreat, Joey will be traveling with Seyeun to Transkei to finish work on the clinic and later to do ministry with the Canadian team as I did with the team from Seattle. After the retreat, I will have just a couple days to wrap things up here, and then my time in South Africa will be over as I return to the States to celebrate the marriage of Adam Harris and Jenn Huang.
As my time here comes to a close, please pray: 1) For the ministry in the high schools and the retreat, that the Gospel will be shared and that we can be an encouragement to the young leaders. 2) For Joey and Seyeun in Transkei, that God will bless their work on the clinic and their ministry with the team. 3) For me, as my time here finishes, that I will have good time with the people here and that God will finish showing me what he desires me to see and learn.
For the Kingdom!
David
South African Dispatch, Pt. 2 August 12, 2006
Posted by scudderjourneys in 2006 - South Africa, All Posts, E-mail Updates, Travel Journals.add a comment
The time here in Cape Town is passing quickly. Joey Klein arrived last Sunday and has been my partner-in-crime in Khayelitsha. After a day of sightseeing at the beautiful Cape Point, the team from Seattle said their farewells. They were soon followed by two other guys at the mission house, Steve and Jeremy, leaving just me, Joey, Solomon, and Seyeun (two longer-term missionaries). The great benefit in it all is that between the various departures and visiting pastors, we’ve enjoyed three Korean feasts in the last week 
In Khayelitsha, we’ve gotten to see all different pieces of the ministry. Doing manual labor at the African Theological College and the retreat center, I’ve learned such practical skills as brick-laying and tiling – I feel like quite the handyman.
We’ve also gotten to be a part of the Rainbow Sports Ministry, which ministers to Khayelitsha youth through soccer and netball (a game resembling basketball). Last Wednesday, we went with Solomon to play in a small 3-on-3 soccer tournament he had organized for the kids in one of the neighborhoods. Joey shared his testimony, and we entered a team of our own that made it to the semi-finals. Soccer provides a great way to start relationships and expose the youth to the Gospel – it was cool to be a part of it in this neighborhood where it is just in its initial stage of contact.
African Leadership’s biggest ministry in Khayelitsha is the Sunday Schools. Every Saturday and Sunday morning, all over Khayelitsha, committed teachers meet with as many as 70 eager kids, ages ranging from 4-16. They sing songs, play games, teach Bible stories, and just love the kids. I got a glimpse of the impact of this as I saw a flock of kids run up to assault Joey with hugs as he came to help teach them – this is an amazing chance to show these children the love of Christ. I’ve gotten to be a part of 5 Sunday schools now, and each has been an adventure and a joy.
It is such a joy to see God’s Kingdom in other cultures – to be welcomed into churches where they boldly sing in Xhosa, to visit a Chinese house church and hear their passion for Khayelitsha, to meet Korean pastors who have come to see the work God is doing through Pastor Ohm – the Gospel and the Kingdom are not bounded by lines of nationality, culture, and race. I’ve been continually coming back to Galatians 3:26-28:
“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
In Christ we have a new identity as children of God that breaks down all other boundaries – this is what lets me, a white guy from America, worship joyfully with my brothers and sisters in South Africa! I’m reminded of something Pastor Ohm said: in Heaven, people from every tribe and nation will be worshiping God together. As servants living for God’s Kingdom here on earth, this is something we need to be practicing!
The time here so far has been especially encouraging coming out of a spring where I was feeling more distant from God. It is forcing me to really dig into the Gospel and the incredibly good news that it is – news worth sharing and rejoicing over. I was especially encouraged last Sunday as we did door-to-door evangelism near one of the churches in Khayelitsha. One of the last homes we visited was a Christian family whose son had been at Sunday School that morning – the big hug he gave me as I came in totally made my day! I decided to encourage them with a passage from Ephesians (1:15-23) – it ended up being a great encouragement for me as well, and I urge you to dive into it yourselves – it exults over the fact that God’s power working in us is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead – this is pretty amazing to think about!
Please keep us in your prayers as we continue here in Khayelitsha. 1) Pray for the sports ministry and the doors that it opens for youth to hear the Gospel. 2) Pray for the Sunday Schools – that it can impact both the kids and the families. 3) Pray for Pastor Ohm and the other African leadership staff – that God will encourage them and continue to use their ministry. 4) Pray for Joey and I – that we will be growing in the Gospel and that God will be using us as his ministers and servants in Khayelitsha. I’m mostly healed from being sick, so thank you for your prayers for that. I look forward to writing more soon!
For the Kingdom!
David
South African Dispatch, Pt. 1 August 12, 2006
Posted by scudderjourneys in 2006 - South Africa, All Posts, E-mail Updates, Travel Journals.add a comment
My time in South Africa has begun in a blur. After some long flights, I arrived in Cape Town last Thursday evening to be met by Pastor Ohm at the airport. One of the first things he told me was that my travels were not quite over – at 5 am Friday morning, we would be embarking on a 12 hour road trip to Transkei, homland of the Xhosa people. I spent the evening riding around with Pastor Ohm, learning more about his ministry and seeing the African Thelogical Seminary and one of the Sunday Schools in Khayelitsha. I also met a short-term team of Korean Americans from Seattle that I’m working with these first couple weeks. I had to laugh when my first meal in Africa was short ribs and kimchee eaten with chopsticks with Korean conversation flowing across the table.
Bright and early the next morning, we left for Transkei. A flat tire and finally a dead car turned it into a 17 hour journey, but we all made it in one piece. Transkei is a beautiful land of rolling golden plains running up to mountains, where the Xhosa people have kept their sheep, goats, and oxen for hundreds of years. It is closely connected to Khayelitsha in that many people in Khayelitsha have moved there from Transkei to find work. Pastor Ohm has been working there to share Gospel and plant churches for several years.
In many ways it is the Africa of imagination (minus the big animals) – most people still live in round, thatched huts; sheep, goats, and oxen wander through the fields; warmth in the winter comes from a “Xhosa heater,” a small fire made in the center of the hut; a morning shower consists of a bucket of hot water that you attempt to rub over your body with soap without freezing in the process. Two funny moments . . . in one of the huts we visited, the woman was scrubbing her floor with water and cow dung – amazingly it didn’t smell, and apparently it adds a nice polish to the floor. Later, we were visiting another hut, and the peace was suddenly shattered by a blaring cell phone ring – the Xhosa owner calmly answered her phone and then returned to our conversation – a striking juxtaposition of old and modern ways.
Our time in Transkei was spent doing a variety of things. The first day I did construction work at a clinic/church that Pastor Ohm is building in one of the villages – I mainly shoveled concrete and handed bricks to the local 22-year old master brick layer, Mkongoze Gcelu (I had fun trying to pronounce his name correctly with the click “c”). Other days we would do door-to-door evangelism (another cultural difference – this actually meshes well with Xhosa culture). Each night we would have Sunday School for the kids and a youth service, and then a normal worship service for everyone in the area. It was amazing worshipping there, singing Xhosa songs and realizing how God’s kingdom bridges such a wide cultural divide. The work in Transkei is only beginning – there is a great need for training for the leaders and for discipleship – but the seeds are being planted.
After several days in Transkei, we returned to Cape Town on Wednesday night. Yesterday, activities commenced again, now revolving around the ministry in Khayelitsha. We visited a retreat center north of Cape Town that Ohm has been establishing. It will be an amazing facility when complete, but for now it is blocked by a ghost of apartheid – the white neighbors won a law case forbidding Pastor Ohm to use the public road to bring in blacks. In the evening, Pastor David from Seattle led a teaching seminar for the Khayelitsha Sunday School teachers (I’ll write more about this ministry another time).
At this point, I am just taking in as much as possible, learning what I can and enjoying the people I get to meet. It has been great so far working with Pastor Ohm, the Seattle team, and the other folks at the mission house. As we now start in earnest into the ministry in Khayelitsha, a couple prayer requests: 1) Pray for the Gospel to continue to spread in Transkei. 2) Pray for me to quickly build relationships here in Khayelitsha. 3) Pray for the work in Khayelitsha. Joey Klein arrives this weekend (pray for his safe travel) and we’ll be laying out how we’ll be spending the next several weeks. 4) I came back from Transkei a bit sick – please pray for quick recovery. 5) Pray for God’s continued work in my heart as he shows me more of himself here in South Africa.
I look forward to sharing more with you soon!
For the Kingdom!
David
