Greetings from Africa,				03 Dec. 2004

5:40pm on Friday afternoon. The front lawn and garden are bathed in the
bright light of the sun heading down toward the mountains in the west,
while out my window to the southeast is a combination of very dark
clouds, lots of lightning and several big rainbows. The rain is
slanting down from that direction. A towel hanging out back is getting
wetter on the east side and drier on the west. Ah, Africa!

The current weather sort of captures my week. On Monday I went to gym
in the morning with Rev. Ruth, had a good workout, then went home and
came down with the flu (or something). On Thursday I felt better and
again played Father Christmas (see photos), this time for a smaller
group of kids who come from VERY poor homes and are cared for by
several local (Afrikaans) churches. They raised an extra large fund
this year and so were able to give all the kids quite nice Christmas
gifts – which I got to give out to them! They were marked: ‘From Father
Christmas’. Talk about credit where credit is NOT due!
  
After resting nicely for several days to get over my ‘bug’ I managed to
develop a sore back. But now, after several sessions of walking around
town on various errands in the sun and heat, it now feels much better.
More than just the seasons are upside down here, as you can tell.
Unfortunately there seems to be no similar inversion with respect to
the currency exchange rate, which has reduced the purchasing power of
the mission’s dollars by about 33% since I arrived in January. Ouch!
This situation is very bad for Rustenburg generally, the economy of
which is founded on platinum mining. Platinum is priced and sold in
dollars, and those dollars don’t go nearly as far as they used to in
paying salaries of mine workers here. Hence, there have been THOUSANDS
of people who have lost their jobs. There have been strikes, which are
now over.
  

   
Last week ended by becoming very busy. Thursday evening there was a
year’s end get together of the Healing Group (see photos of some of the
group, attached). [In South Africa the month of December can be largely
written off in many respects. ALL the schools are closed for the whole
month, and many, many people go hither and thither on vacation. Many
businesses close down early in the month and don’t open again until
January.] On Friday evening there was a gathering at Rev. Ruth’s house
for watching ‘The Passion of the Christ’. Saturday morning I got
together with my friend Jan and his wife, and bought myself a new hat.
Rustenburg sun : 15 / Lary : zip. I like the hat, though. 

On Saturday evening there was a gathering at the Mission Station. A
group of Koreans were visiting, and the principal teacher and I had a
very nice talk. He has been to Kansas City several times, and we had a
number of mutual acquaintances! Our conversation occurred in the lawn
in front of the apartments there, one of which will be my home next
year. I found out that the Korean missionaries (John Lee and his wife)
who have lived there for some time have moved into the larger unit,
leaving the smaller one for me. This is quite appropriate, since they
are a couple and I am just one person. Moreover, the smaller one is
cheaper, and with the weak dollar that will be a good thing. Next week
John is going to help me go to Pretoria to get my visa for next year.
Many missionaries, it turns out, have had a lot of trouble
accomplishing this in Rustenburg. My own initial attempts produced no
fruit. One lady responded to my request for a visa application by
giving me an application for a work permit, telling me that was what I
needed. Wrong. So, I will follow everyone’s STRONG advice and go to
Pretoria as they do. Hopefully this way there will be no difficulty.
I’ll keep everyone posted.

Earlier in the week I spoke to Pastor Joe on the phone. He began the
conversation by pointing out that he was looking out the window at snow
falling. I asked that he enjoy the snowfall enough for both of us, but
that would be a tough assignment. I may be over 50 and expected to
maintain some dignity (?), but if I get the chance when I am back in
the US I am STRONGLY disposed to make snowmen and even flop on my back
and make angels. Maybe some real angels will flop on their backs and
join in! At a minimum I hope to recruit some young cousins when I visit
family up in Iowa (one of whom is on the mailing list, so, Courtney,
get ready!).

Love from Africa,
Lary

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