Sunday March 7th – 1st day in SA
Our group of six arrived late Saturday night at Miranda & Max’s after a long 26+ hours of travel. We left Newark Airport and connected in Washington DC’s Dulles airport to a lengthy South African Airways (SAA) flight direct to Johannesburg with a fuel stop in Dakar, Senegal. This being my first international flying experience I slept very little on the 7 hour 10 min first leg. On the second leg of 7 hours 59 minutes I was finally able to catch some sleep here and there. We met some a group of guys from a missions group headed towards Botswana. Most of them were wearing shirts with Wabash College logos. Naturally, I had to strike up conversation with them as I wondered what a bunch of guys from Indiana were going to South Africa on our flight to do. Apparently the one guy knew who Pastor Sharkey was and the conversation was free flowing. What a great feeling to be on a flight with a bunch of guys coming from your home going to another part of Africa to do God’s work. Finally, we connected to a domestic SAA flight to Durban followed by an interesting ride to Miranda’s via the extremely interesting Petras. Needless to say I slept really good last night.
Today was our first full day in country and I am so thankful it was a lazy day that provided us the opportunity to meet Rosetta. First we had breakfast and it was one that my son Matheson would have loved: granola, fresh fruit, and yogurt. The fresh min-pineapples and watermelon were delicious. She took us to a market where we just window shopped. Then, we had a lovely lunch at St. Ives with Rosetta and discussed Zimele and South Africa quite a bit. One of the things that stuck me most about our conversation was when Rosetta said, “time is not money, time is life.” What an interesting perspective! Living in the NYC/NJ metro area life revolves around the reverse: time is money. Rosetta then explained how you have to wait for the people in the village come and say they need something, because telling them what they need does not work. Or, if it does you become the person in charge and they will not take the responsibility. Also, she told us the in more eloquent words than I: plans always change and you have to be adaptable. She also mentioned how they are very interested in learning/teaching the people in the village about agriculture and farming… at least some people have expressed interest. I am very happy to learn of this because I think it is essential to any region of the world not only for your own personal sustenance, but also for trade and the beginnings of business. What I am wondering is how can we help? How could my own company help? The rest of the world has so much good knowledge in this area and it needs to be shared with these people and so many others around the world.
The six of us today had an opportunity to sit around and talk around pool take a picturesque walk around Miranda & Max’s property. We ended with a scrumptious homemade dinner consisting of beef stew, rolls, beer, wine, water, and plenty of lively conversing. I think we all could sit and listen to Max talk about the history of Africa, in particular South Africa. I am excited for tomorrow as we travel to Swayimane. What does God have in store for us? I am sure we are going to be changed forever. How will we be impacted? Are we going to learn more from the people than they learn from us? I hope so!
Peace from SA,
Matthew
hey Matt & team!
It’s fun to read your entries, especially since the names and places are familiar to me. =) I’m certain that you will be doing lots of processing as you are in SA and when you return.
For now, I’ll just say “YES” to your last two sentences.
~grace