Teachers Strike

You might have heard about the teacher strike going on in South Africa. Thrive does a lot of its ministry in the schools so the teacher strike is having a big effect on the ministry. LaunchPad is one of the branches greatly affected this week since all the schools were unable to have class. The teachers are missing their students today but we are praying that the strike will end soon so that the ministry can continue to function next week. Our IMPACT and Hand in Hand conferences are coming up soon and in order to operate we need the teacher strike to end. IMPACT is on the 1st and everything is coming together with big plans! According to the news the strike will end no sooner than Friday and could possibly still continue on next week. We believe that our God is a big God and works all things out for His glory.

Chicken Feet with Love

I am very grateful for the relationship we have been able to build with our friend Lillian in the fall (America’s spring) I have really enjoyed seeing her again after not seeing her over our busy winter. Earlier this year we shared a little with each other about our faith, understanding that we all believed and loved God. The past two weeks we went deeper into the Bible and found that her pastor didn’t teach off of everything in the Bible. Her pastor didn’t even want her to read the Bible on her own. We encouraged her to read the Bible and see what God had to say to her for herself. She knew that we told her this because we loved her. She told us we were like her children and she looked forward to our visit every week.
The last time we visited she started cooking a special pot of cabbage and chicken feet for us. Yes, I said chicken feet! Lillian loves to share whatever she has with us. Sometimes all she has is some tea and an orange. Having chicken around is a big treat for her and she is generous enough to share with us. I have to admit it was a bit difficult to try the chicken feet but now it makes a great story!

B.W.I.T. (Basotho Wives In Training)

One of the interns, Alicia, is planning on getting married next year. With her excitement to be a wife soon and the rest of us planning on being a wife someday we’ve realized the need to learn some wife skills.

Before this year none us of knew much about cooking, baking, or sewing. When we told a friend we met in the village this she was shocked. “No man will ever want to marry you!” She said and went on to say that even if we did marry, he would soon leave because we couldn’t cook for him. She couldn’t understand how we never learned such vital skills in their culture. We explained that in America cooking isn’t a requirement to marry unlike her culture. Since this conversation we often joke whenever we try to cook for ourselves that we need to learn or we will never be good Basotho wives.

Since the beginning of July we took action and decided that every Saturday for the rest of the year we will cook a homemade meal. We call ourselves BWIT, (Basotho Wives In Training). We have been teaching ourselves how to make different things from scratch like apple pie, pizza crust, chicken pot pie, bread, Navajo frybread, and biscuits. I have discovered how much fun working in the kitchen can be!
In addition to cooking and baking, a lady on staff here who is also my second mother, June, is teaching us to sew. We all go up to her house once in a while and work on our own little sewing projects with her. I am surprised at how much I am enjoying the homekeeper lifestyle!

LaunchPad

Our LaunchPad class was small this week with only 5 students because school let out earlier than usual. The rest were confused if LP class was still happening. I really enjoyed a smaller class because things went much smoother and quieter. We also had more time to chat with the kids. I had fun getting to know them a little more.

I really like our new curriculum this term, “Pressing In.” It is a study of the New Testament but doesn’t carry too much information, leaving room for me to add what I want and my favorites about the books. I really encouraged them to read the Bible on their own. I taught about the book of Mark today so I typed up a list of some stories from the book so they could look up what story they wanted to read about and read it.

Assemblies

I remember when Jace first brought up the idea of doing a music video instead of a skit with words so that the message wouldn’t get lost without translation. I have been busy with a mission trip during most of the preparation but I did get to help brain storm some ideas and practice my part in the drama with Next Step a little bit.
It all came together at our first Assembly and I was impressed at how well everyone then performed in front of hundreds of kids throughout the week. Our actions in our drama spoke louder than words as our main character, Bob, went through life dealing with drugs, alcohol, relationships, and choosing Jesus or Satan. In the end Bob finally makes the right choice and lets Jesus Christ pull him up off the ground and out of his mess. The kid’s response to this showed that they did understand as they booed at the wrong choices he made and cheered when he reached for Jesus’ hand.
It was fun to see the kids we taught last term and I look forward to seeing them every week again and teaching them about God. Their excitement showed too at the assemblies and many told me they would come this week to LaunchPad!