The children are coming, the children are coming!

After a refreshing holiday break, Holy Cross School is back in action!

The new year school year has brought some refreshing changes:

-Students are growing! ..and not just physically. Most children have advanced a grade level, meaning Holy Cross School now caters up to grade 2. 

-More staff! We welcomed a grade 2 teacher and a school nurse (mentioned later). Both are invaluable.

-More students! There is a new class of grade R children, in addition to a few new older students. Altogether, our staff:student ratio is 43:11.

-As planned, Stephen Smith and myself have ‘graduated’ with our students to grades 2 and 1, respectively. The new classrooms mean new responsibilities to learn, and we are both enjoying the change.


A quick glimpse into the grade 1 school day:

Repetition, repetition, repetition! We are steadily re-sharpening the skills that were taught in grade R. Students start each day by identifying the day, date, and weather:

 We are also slowly learning how to correctly write and pronounce vowels. I credit our head teacher for coming up with creative ways to practice:

Say “a” to your partner.

AAAAAAAA!!!!!

One way I’ve found myself especially helpful is to find and print educational materials from the internet. For example, when the teacher notices they need help tracing “a”, I excuse myself for 5 minutes and return with 14 custom-made tracing worksheets ready to go (kudos to http://www.kidzone.ws/ for the handy tool).

As mentioned earlier, we are privileged to welcome a school nurse:
Do you remember Itipini from previous posts? Jenny McConnachie, the missionary nurse who pioneered the Itipini clinic for over 30 years -yes, thirty- is now residing in Grahamstown. Jenny has graciously joined the Holy Cross staff, and she is already making a difference  .

If you have 5 minutes to spare, I recommend reading Jesse Zink’s article on Jenny and Itipini.

Meeting our new nurse.

Another change lies in our classroom schedule, where we now have a special activity each day.

Monday: Movements Class
Think: Physical Education. A great way to start a Monday morning -no joke. After a quick jog around school, we had mini-races and balancing activities. The cool yet sunny weather was wonderful.

Tuesday: Religious Studies

"So what happened at school today, honey?"

Br. Josias still teaches the class, often kicking it off with a song or two and then a lesson. There was no worksheet or activity this week, just a basic review of sacraments.

Wednesday: Art Class
New to grade 1 -albeit there was plenty of painting and drawing in grade R. Students went outside and drew whatever stood out to them.

Thursday: Music Class
No instruments here besides your own voice. This week, we used a cd with several songs conducive to jumping around :)

This is also a good time for classics like “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”.

Friday: Laptop Class
These students are good! We reviewed basic typing skills before moving to the maze game. Most students, including those new to Holy Cross, mastered both activities in no time.

There is plenty more I could tell you, but I think this is plenty for one post :) I would, however, like to mention one more story:

After 7 months of waiting, YASCer Nina Boe has finally arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Having heard of the twists and turns her visa application took -a process which began in July- I can only imagine what it feels like to finally be there. News of her arrival was yet another reason to celebrate this week :)

Thank you for accompanying me on this journey (albeit virtually), and I pray you have a blessed day!

In Christ,
-Cameron S

Evangelizing Anglicans?

A Sunday afternoon rumination:

Monastery Chapel, where we celebrate Eucharist.

After church this Sunday, Br. John and I were catching up with Mangaliso (pseudonym), a gentleman who used to be a monk but left the order years ago -an uncommon practice, but not necessarily bad. John asked what the latest was on him considering priesthood -an ongoing discussion between them. Mangaliso revealed he was leaving town that day, to begin studies at a bible college this week.

An unexpected twist is the bible college is pentecostal. After ongoing self-contemplation and discussion, Mangaliso feels a dissonance between his faith and the Anglican tradition. In his words, he feels called to a more evangelical approach to ministry.

Monastery Lawn, where this conversation happened.

Br. John’s immediate response was to smile and congratulate him. They proceeded to discuss, with smiles on their faces, how they always seemed to be on opposite ends of the faith spectrum. Mangaliso joked he would ‘convert’ Br. John someday, to which John replied “Yeah? You’ve been trying for years, how’s that worked out?”. Again, this was a loving dialogue among friends.

As they were talking, the acting Superior of the monastic order (not just this monastery; the entire order) approached us and met Mangaliso with a hug. After being caught up on Mangaliso’s news, he showed similar excitement and support as Br. John. With Mangaliso’s permission, the Superior led us in a wonderful, sincere prayer of support for Mangaliso on his journey. 


..I love this story. Mangaliso and the monks treated their denominations as brothers of a family, rather than competitors in a battlefield. From my perspective, Mangaliso was cultivating his personal faith and being honest about where it was taking him. Isn’t that a mark of a successful ministry?

Several approaches to “mission work” involve ‘changing’ people. I’m privileged to help re-define this term to mean a ministry of presence. Rather than preaching a particular lifestyle, we instead focus on being with them and helping any way we can. The key, in my experience, is to be sincere: We should genuinely desire to simply be a loving presence in their lives.

Just some reflections from a missionary [of presence] :)

Peace!

“I used to want to fix people,
but now I just want to be with them”
        -Bob Goff, Love Does

So 7 missionaries walk into a bar….

…and by “walk into a bar”, I mean “spend the holidays together”. Close enough, right?

Welcome to 2013! I hope your Christmas and New Years was blessed beyond expectation. Mine was vastly different from past Decembers, and not just because of summer weather:

During our July missionary training, YASC: Team Africa got the idea of reuniting for Christmas. After months of planning, the idea came to fruition this holiday. We enjoyed 2 weeks of fellowship, rejuvenation, and inside jokes galore. In all honestly, this was/is an immense blessing.

Get ready for a whirlwind recap!

Tanzanian YASCers Ben and Elizabeth Locher flew into Port Elizabeth on a Friday night. The following morning, Stephen Smith and I picked them up in route to the beach-happy town of Struisbaai. Our 10-hour drive was laden with meaningful conversation and heavy sarcasm.

Meanwhile, in Cape Town: Jenny Korwan and Jared Grant flew in from Kenya and Lesotho, respectively, and road-tripped with resident YASCer Holly Milburn. I imagine their 3-hour drive involved lots of laughter and wrong directions (I kidd, I kidd.)

Our time in Struisbaai was ridiculously good. We cooked our own meals, swam each afternoon, and had meaningful conversations each night. Besides Christmas day, a personal highlight was our first night when we resumed our authentic and laugh-heavy bonding right where we left off in Toronto. It set the tone for the entire trip.

View from the porch

 Christmas day involved a brunch, beach swim, and calling family and friends; all accompanied by Holly’s Christmas playlist.

 

 

Between the 7 of us, we made contact with Texas, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, California, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, The Philippines, Hong Kong, and Haiti.

…and believe it or not, we’re only halfway through our adventure.

We caravanned to Cape Town the day after Christmas and spent 1 1/2 weeks at Holly’s residence. Holly’s city knowledge plus her impressive circle of friends afforded us a variety of opportunities. Check. This. Out:

Lunch in nearby Franschoek. We were part of a 17-person group that included Americans, Swedes, and Fins (Again, Holly’s friends list is quite impressive).

St. George’s Cathedral. This visit was part of a ‘hop on, hop off’ bus circuit that took you across Cape Town. 

Before I left Texas, a coworker recommended visiting the World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park. Elizabeth, Ben, and myself spent several hours enjoying the 3000+ animals living there.

That evening, we all went to a restaurant that featured the African Jazz band Abavuki. Their upbeat dance-inducing melody was contagious.

Come Sunday, we went back to St. George’s for Eucharist.

 

 On the far right is Father Michael Lapsley, a man who endured great sacrifice in his resistance of apartheid. He is an inspiration in regards to both his personal story and his ability to get people to socialize after church. Father Lapsley currently heads the Institute for Healing of Memories, which I recommend learning about.

New Year’s Eve was spent at Kirstenbosch Gardens. The beauty of this place is enough to leave you in awe. Basically, imagine the Garden of Eden and Jurassic Park put together.

Replace dinosaurs with live music.

Our adventure later continued with a climb up Table Mountain, 1 of the 7 wonders of nature.

Approach Table Mountain from the other side, and you find yourself in paradise.

Yep. We did a lot.

What these pictures don’t show is the great fellowship we shared. Group-wide conversations, One-on-one talks, and personal moments for reflection/prayer were abundant. The boundaries between Heaven and Earth were blurred this Christmastime, allowing us to re-focus on what really mattered.

Thank you for glimpsing into this journey, and I wish you a wonderful day.

Christ’s love,
-Cameron