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Published: March 10th 2009
Downtown Joburg
Also probably PretoriaNot really, it's okay, but it's still better than the snow that I guess is happening back home! So I've been keeping busy, (and sorry Ileana, I've not been writing EVERY day in the journal) but not frantic busy. There is so much to be done here. Some friends of John and Arti (the couple I'm staying with right now) came to visit. They were at Bethel for a very long time but have recently moved out to a farm about five hours away (fairly close to Kruger, I'm told). While they were here, some other folks came to visit and see them and I got to hear some cool stories about the work in close by lands.
Since SA is the largest branch in the area (in the wealthiest country also) they are responsible not only for sending literature out, but sometimes food and clothing as well. This can get a bit hectic, seeing as how our brothers may not be the only ones in need. One of the brothers was telling stories about being on the food delivery trucks. He said they would pull into a town and everyone would be milling about, making it impossible for them
More DT Joburg
Actually this may have been Pretoria to drop the food at the Kh. When they were beginning to wonder what to do though, it began to rain, forcing all to go back inside, and allowing them to unload the truck. Coincidence, right? At the next town, they pulled in and again, many people just standing around. What to do, what to do? They decided just to pull in and use the toilet. By the time they came back out, guess what? No more people!! This kept happening in all of the places that they made deliveries to, sometimes it would rain and sometimes all would just inexplicably dissappear, leaving our brothers time to unload needed supplies. (Isn't Jehovah AWESOME!!!)
So on Thursday, I went to an area of Joburg known as Cyrildene (pretty sure on sp.). This was where I learned very quickly that the territory was very different here. You know when you give a bad presentation or get a weird response, you get to head back to the car and regather your thoughts? Not so much here. It was an entire STREET full of Chinese people and shops. We just walked up and down, stopping into all of these places to talk to
the owners and workers. Some had never even heard of the Bible before. (I'm learning slowly how to adapt my presentation to this. The first bit wasn't pretty, I'll say that much) Very cool, very different. Also, that morning I got to have some white bean soupy stuff, not really sure what it was and some Youtiao (oil sticks is the closest translation Paul and I could come up with).
Friday, we went very far away (not really, but because of traffic, everyone judges distances differently) because a study had said that her father might be interested and wanted a Bible. On the way to this town (Focheville, don't make me say it, sounds like a curse word) we stopped in another small town because Arti had to drop something there. Guess what we found? More Chinese people!!!! Yes, even the township of Careltonville had some Chinese, including a lady who used to study in Joburg and was hoping we had a require brochure since she lost hers 😞 We got one for her, and a teach book, and some magazines! She was saying that her husband was a bit opposed, and that he felt Christianity wasn't doing anything
Mining Dump
They laughed at me for taking this, but hey its cool! (on way to Focheville) for them (his mom had just died and his father has inoperable cancer).
While Lily and I were speaking to her (a sis from Taiwan who came into the truth down here), a man walked in behind us. The wife got sort of a scared look on her face and explained to him why we were there. He then began to talk to us and ask questions about what we thought of where the dead were, and if they really would be resurrected, what could we do for them now? We were able to share with him Jehovah's promise that we will get to see our loved ones again and the best thing to do now is to make sure that we are in that new world to greet them. Meanwhile, Arti and Nina (the other sisters in the group) have made an entire circle of the block, talking to all the Chinese shops!
He then ran across the street and bought all of us Cokes (everyone gets them for us even though they don't really drink it themselves) and came back expressing his deep gratitude for us sharing these scriptures with him and how he is going
Dinner With Friends
Right is Jeff from Bethel
Simon and Sian (who live on the farm) and John's parents to look at the teach book. (During this Arti was busy placing Urdu mags with another man in the shop!)
We then made our way to a little mall that looked as though it might have some Chinese shops (read: not a super high class establishment ) and we went in. Nina and I talked to a lady with a very large shop, who had never heard of God before and was Buddhist. We tried to share a scripture with her, she wasn't really opposed but not very enthusiastic either. Then her husband walked in.
We explained to him about the hope the Bible held out for the future and how a study of the Bible can truly enrich your life. He was very excited and told us about his siblings that were already Christians and how he had never been much of a reader but wanted to learn more. We thought we had an extra Bible in the car, and went out to check for it.......nope, we had just the one, and it was for the study's dad that we were headed to visit. So we went back
Simon Sian Arti John
At the Botanical Gardens in to get his address so we could post a Bible to him. We got it went back to the car and then realized that Nina had told him we would also give him a Bible story book!!!! BACK into the mall we went! Then after Arti and Lily had bought some fruit at the mall, they realized we had nowhere to wash it. BACK to visit this man again. This time, Lily got to go into more detail about our work and the benfit of studying the Bible. (Nina and I wonder how many RVs we get to count for all that)
We get back in the car and drive up to Focheville! After driving around a bit, looking for this shop we had only had described to us, we see a Chinese couple sitting in a shop. As we come in and introduce ourselves, the woman says "If I knew you were coming today, I would have been out there to greet you!!!!" We got to study (and were given more Coke). The only strange thing was the man's theory of dust, which I won't go into here. Very cool though, and good thing we saved the Bible for him!
Well I'm going to split this up and write a separate one so everyone doesn't get sick of reading these.
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Diana
non-member comment
was that white soupy stuff rice porridge with chinese "donuts"? its a common chinese breakfast dish