Nothing like eating sheep head, learning Zulu and bible discussions...

I have an agreement with my friends in South Africa about eating food. Anything they eat I will eat with them, but I won't eat something they won't eat.
So, as you see in the picture, I had the privilege of eating "Sheep Skopo", sheep head with my friends Orapeleng and Happy.

I ate mostly jaw bone meat that wasn't too bad and tried the tongue and brain which were more challenging.
The other name they call this tasty treat is a "Smiley". A fitting name as this is a boiled sheep head, wool removed but everything else is there, a one sided face smiling back at you. When Rapi and Happy were finished those bones were shinning, eyes the works. Thanks for the treat abafowethu (Friends).

Besides eating some new treats Chrissy and I are enjoying the challenge of learning Zulu. We just finished our fourth formal class and are making some progress. It has been especially fun to practice with new friends in Zandspruit and see there eyes go wide with surprise when an Umlungu (a White person), the name the kids call me, speaks in Zulu. I really enjoy how far a little effort to learn and speak someones language goes. Hopefully we can continue to practice and find some settings to immerse ourselves in some Zulu only setting to help solidify what we are learning in class. I am surrounded by a lot of Tswana speaking friends, and so have picked some of it up too, although Zulu is a better longterm lanuage to learn.

Lastly, I have been having some encouraging times of discussions and bible studies. On Sunday's we have a diverse group meeting to discuss and study issues of cross cultural relationships, money and following Jesus. There don't seem to be many places actively talking about these tough issues and how Jesus calls us to deal with them as a community of faith. With South Africa still heavily divided along racial and economic lines is has been good to share our different stories and wrestle with how to move forward. We are learning together. What do we do when some of us have more money than others? How do we deal with the fact that one group benefits at the expense of another? How do we respond to ongoing prejudice and racism? How do we share each others burdens and pain? Hard questions, but ones the Jesus and the early Church faced, and ones that I am grateful to be making friends to face these struggles with.

At another time I will share with you how God is working in a gathering of Zandspruit pastors, an Emthonjeni staff meeting bible study, a bi-monthly young adults bible study and a bible study with some young guys who have never studied or read the bible before. God's word is alive and active, it is fun to be a part of it.

Peace,

Trevor