Tuesday, August 21, 2007

We're students again


Praise God, we continually see His hand go before us!
Emily took all of last week to recover, so today begins our formal Zulu study. We really had no idea what to expect. Sister Biyela (Bee-ye-la) from the University of Zululand chatted with us for about an hour then wanted to take us around and introduce some places to practice. She had planed to first take us to meet an area king. They were holding court and all of his headmen were there to help preside over the cases. Sister Biyela very boldly introduced us, told them of our language learning and asked for their permission for us to practice in the area and be granted their protection. The king thought for a moment and then asked to hear from Kyle in Zulu :) He stood up in front of around 60 Zulu men and in broken Zulu introduced us and explained why we were here. Everyone laughed at the conclusion of his speech and the king granted our requests! I was so nervous for Kyle, but he did well.
Next she took us to a tuck shop (convenience store), and two rural high schools. She explained who we were, what we were doing here and then asked if we could come listen in their classrooms. Both schools eagerly welcomed us!
At the end of the time with her, we were absolutely amazed! She accomplished in 2 hours what we had tried to do in 4 months down in Durban (finding places to practice). Praise God!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Disappointed


August 14, 2007
Learning to be content in all circumstances, joyfully accepting all from God's hand . . . That's the lesson today. We were so excited to begin our Zulu classes. Today was supposed to be our first day of class, but Emily woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. My heart just dropped! First, selfishly, I wanted so badly to start class. Secondly, I was so sad for Emily. This was her first day of pre-school (where they would be attending until Lily gets here) and she was so excited! Her little face just dropped when I told her that she couldn't go.
Soon enough we'll jump into language study, today my baby needs to cuddle!