May & June 2015 Review

Michele and I stand amazed that twelve weeks have passed since we set foot on the plane that took us to South Africa and into the next phase of our lives. Here we are almost three months later feeling very full and beginning to settle into a new routine in both our work and time at home.

Here is a brief review of some of the key things that happened after first arriving in May.

South by South East
We left Charlotte at the end of April and spent a few days in London before arriving in the field. We had a nice time checking out all of the popular tourist spots and attempting to use our best bad British accents. Unfortunately, in an “our cultural training could never make up this type of scenario,” while we were still in London, I (Leo) received news that my brother unexpectedly passed away. After a lot of prayer and discussion we decided to continue on to South Africa as originally planned and then we would make final decisions about how to proceed.

In what probably set the record for “the least amount of time being in-country after having been fielded,” less than 24 hours after arriving in Cape Town, I flew back to the U.S. to be with my mom and sister. Michele and the kids were surrounded by the East Mountain community and were well taken care of in my absence. By the time I arrived back to our new home, Michele had already purchased most of our furniture, finalised our rental and learned to drive on the left side of the road.

Summit 2015
Two weeks after Michele and the kids arrived (and one week after I officially did), East Mountain’s annual Summit internship program started. Summit is a six-week internship intensive designed to develop college-age African and U.S. Christians for future leadership. We were able to participate with many elements in Summit, which helped us get a better understanding of one of East Mountain’s important programs.

East Mountain Novitiate
We also began our 90 day staff novitiate program. The first set of requirements ranged from basic survival preparations such as getting a traffic registration number, purchasing a car, and opening a local bank account. The second set involved learning about South African history, area tribal animistic faiths, learning more about townships and its part in South African life. Finally, the program helped us to get better acquainted with East Mountain’s community by meeting with its various partners and spending time with the staff.

Preparing For Ministry
As part of our work and training here, we are going to spend time working with some of East Mountain’s partners. In June, Michele and I met with Trinity Church which is located in Mitchell’s Plan township. Our goal is to enhance East Mountain’s partnership with them and also support Trinity’s ministry for approximately six months starting in August. We will have more information about this later.

Miscellaneous
Here are a few additional high points along the way:

• South African law allows for vehicles to be returned no questions asked within five days so we were advised to drive our car all we could to make sure everything was running fine. That meant a day road trip!! We went to hang out with the penguins at Boulder Beach along the coast.
• Michele and I began regular discipleship/mentoring with two of the Summit interns who are still living in South Africa.
• We learned to drive on the left side of the road!
• We visited Robben Island to learn more about Nelson Mandela, Apartheid and what the political prisoners experienced.
• We are getting more comfortable with life in South Africa. (Translation: We are not quite as painfully inefficient with day-to-day operations as we were when we first arrived.)

Asher & Bechan on our flight from London to Cape Town

Michele driving on the left side of the road.

Activity with some of the Summit 2015 Interns.

Activity with some of the Summit 2015 Interns.

Activity with some of the Summit 2015 Interns.

Our car. A Toyota Etios

Penguins! This is at Boulder Beach.

Penguins!

East Mountain Friday night braai (Afrikaans for grilling/cookout).

East Mountain staff, interns, and Deep Community Experience facilitators.

Asher and Denver – one of the Summit 2015 interns – getting a picture on Robben Island with Cape Town in the background.

Spending time praying in a prayer labyrinth in Cape Town. Rhonda, one of the missionaries with EM, and Caleb, one of Asher’s MK friends.

Asher playing with some of the kids at Kuyasa in Kayamandi township.