Week 3: Fun Times with the Purdue Team

Dipuo looking into my flat while other kids play outside.

The Purdue team with the church family at Bo Plaas Baptist Church.

Greetings from Bethesda!

                When I reflect upon my time, it feels as though I am constantly thinking “What a week!” And this one was no certainly exception. As I mentioned last week, several members of the Purdue women’s basketball team and several coaches and team staff as a part of FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) under Marty Dittmar arrived on Friday the 17^th. It has been a great week with them here from many perspectives. They have done an excellent job working on their projects, bonded with kids of Bethesda, and been a spiritual encouragement to all and especially to myself and it was difficult to say goodbye this afternoon. My time at the school has been going well, while still a challenge but nothing overwhelming. In addition to my school and tutoring responsibilities, I was also blessed to go along with the team on a game drive, to a boma braai (a South African cookout), and to one of the most glorious restaurants in the world, Carnivores. To wrap up the week, there was a Sports Day at the school, a pizza night on Friday, and we went to Warmbaths, which was basically a resort along with some other fun things to do. This is only my third full week here, but the days are starting to fly by as the halfway point of my trip nears. Nonetheless, I am really grateful that God brought me here this summer and all how I am able to serve Him through my work here at Bethesda and in the school, while gaining invaluable teaching experience that will pay dividends in the broad spectrum of things.

                To begin, this Purdue team was very special to say the least. While I did not join them during the day due to my school responsibilities, they were able to accomplish so much in a surprisingly small amount of time. They painted many of the light posts and other outdoor equipment here along with the basketball court. Marty said after the first day that this group accomplish just as much, if not more than any group he had brought to Bethesda before. But their impact was not limited to their service. They bonded with the kids and were so fun and friendly to everyone, including myself. I was unsure on how much I should try to be around them, but I was able to join them on many of their fun activities and for their group devotional time almost every evening. While the fun times were great, I know that I will miss the group devotions more than anything. They were all so welcoming and inviting to me and I am so grateful for them all. Even though we all came from the same university in the small town of West Lafayette, I only knew two people on the team before the trip: Marty and Kirstin Ross, a manager for the team who I went to high school with. While I was able to get to know both of them better, I was able to build relationships with everyone else as well. I am also very thankful that I was able to get to know Marty on a much deeper level than I had previously and see him in action during the times that he spoke and taught. He truly is a great man of God and I was blessed to spend time with him (and get fake tattoos with him as well:)

                At the school, this week was more relaxed for the most part and I didn’t feel like a chicken running around with its head chopped off as much. The week started a little rough as I made some mistakes in my social studies lesson for the 6^th grade. Apparently some of the students had missed their lunch due to clean up for an art project on the previous Friday and they asked if they could have their lunch during class. Thinking of this as an opportunity to become well-liked and not realizing the potential distractions, I allowed them to eat their lunch quietly in class. While these students were not particularly noisy, several times I would get going and a hand would go up and I would call on them only to be asked “Can I throw this away?” This then led other students to be disruptive or asked random and completely irrelevant questions. I know that I was definitely frustrated and I did not handle the situation properly as I was very harsh with several students. I recognized my blunder afterwards and before the next lesson, I acknowledged my mistake to the class and asked for their forgiveness while still asking them to be more respectful to me. They definitely responded and the next class went much smoother. I have been teaching all of the social studies for grades 4-7 as well as the nature science for the 5^th grade and have been helping with math in grades 1 & 3. Currently, I think the students think of me as the “cool” teacher. Whenever I walk into the first grade classroom, almost all of the students go “Yes!” and I noticed that the third graders did this as well. I have to say that I am enjoying working with the younger students a lot more than I anticipated. The teachers for these grades have not asked me to prepare lesson plans (which may or may not be a big reason I have enjoyed working with these gradesJ), but have asked me to teach on several occasions. I have definitely enjoyed my time in the school and in tutoring the students after school. It may seem odd, but I have also enjoyed helping the other teachers mark (their word for grading) assignments and make copies. As with teachers in the States, they almost always feel guilty asking me, but I am happy to do it as it is simple work and it gives me the opportunity to serve them.

                On Friday, the school had a Sports Day since the Purdue team was here and it was a blast for students and staff alike. I was in charge of the throwing station. For grades R-3, I had the students work on the softball toss and Frisbee throwing and the older grades tried out shot put, discus, and javelin. It was a lot of fun, but challenging trying to teach students everything I learned in three years of throwing into twenty minutes. Regardless, it was a fun day and throwing the softball to demonstrate for the younger students was great as their jaws dropped when they saw how far I would throw it (I was a bit surprised too, but it was nothing worth writing home about).  The current players, Courtney Moses, Torrie Thornton, and April Wilson, all shared some Scripture and a challenge to the students, all of which were very good and refreshing to hear. We then led the kids in singing "Hail Purdue." Purdue now has a solid fan base in South Africa:) The day ended by a team and teachers versus the students game of kickball. One thing that I can never get over about South African kids is that their feet coordination is superb due to the constant presence of soccer, but their hand-eye coordination is lacking because of this. So in kickball, they could kick it, but they could not catch or pass the ball very effectively. It was pretty funny to watch, but a good time was had by all.

                As mentioned, I accompanied the Purdue on several of the more fun events. On the game drive on Wednesday, we saw giraffes (some were running which were really cool to watch), impala, kudu, warthog, wildebeest, ostrich, rhino, and zebra. During the drive, I learned several things about the giraffes that I couldn’t help but think of how wise of a Creator that God is. First off, they only sleep about 25 minutes a day since they are almost always on the lookout for predators, but they are perfectly rested with that small amount of sleep. Secondly, when giraffes are born, the mother is still standing and the baby giraffe simply falls to the ground. But the impact from the fall helps start the baby giraffe’s heart start beating independently. How cool is that! Following the games drive, we had a boma braai, which featured some delicious steak, sausage, and chicken. The next day, we went to Carnivores, the greatest restaurant on earth (second only to my personal favorite, Penn Station). While we were there, I tried the standard pork, chicken, and lamb and several game meats, such as zebra, kudu, hartebeest, impala, and crocodile. And honestly, I liked them all! Friday night, the team had a pizza night with the older kids of Bethesda, which I oversaw since Lois and John Mixon were off taking care of some things. We actually made a “Harlem Shake” video with the kids. It was a great night for everyone and the video turned out fantastically! Saturday was the day we went to Warmbaths, one of the nicest resorts I have ever been to. I honestly felt guilty at how nice it was, but it really was not expensive. It was very relaxing and enjoyable and I think I was actually tanned a bit. Most of the group went on a horseback ride, which was quite an experience. I had never ridden a horse before despite working with them for years. It was very cool riding through the bush like we did. I can say that I definitely have a much greater respect for my cousins and aunt who ride their horses very often. To end the day, we watched rugby while we ate dinner at a restaurant. It was definitely the most touristy week I had or will have here, but it was very enjoyable and I still spent a lot of time working at the school and in tutoring.

                To conclude, I have several requests that need prayer. First and foremost, on the way back from Carnivores, an animal (everyone who saw it swore it was a small lion) darted out in front of Lois, who was driving her and John’s SUV. Everyone was ok and while the damage to the car was not catastrophic, it did cause antifreeze to leak. They are currently without a car and will be without one from quite a while most likely. Car repairs tend to take a while here as they have to ship all the parts here. The sooner their car can be repaired, the better, but the Lord should definitely be praised as no one was hurt in the accident. The same request can actually be made for Tonya Small and her car as well due the accident she was in several weeks ago. Secondly, please pray for safety for the Purdue team as they head back home tonight and tomorrow. Lastly, I would ask for wisdom for myself in dealing with the students in God-honoring manner and for wisdom in my future decisions regarding post-graduation plans, which have been on my mind a lot of late. Thank you for reading and thank you for your prayers! Take care and have a great day!

In Christ,

Dan Lehe

PS: Happy Birthday to the best brother-in-law in the world, Blake Taylor!

The Adventures of Miss Lehe (Yes, you read that correctly)

The Bethesda/Purdue Alumni flag that I will sign soon:)

One of the giraffes I've seen so far.

The best picture of the rhinoceros that I saw. 

(I didn't take many pictures this week so I thought I'd put these up.) 

Hello Everyone!

The first week in Jabulane Christian Academy has come and gone and it’s surprising how fast it went! Looking back on it, it was kind of a hectic and somewhat stressful week, but it is giving me a look ahead into what my student teaching will be like come this fall. Being the new teacher in the school, the students have been very excited to have me in class and have welcomed me with arms wide open so to speak. The teachers have been kind and extremely helpful as well. Experience truly is the best teacher and while I am certainly using a lot of what I have learned in my classes at Purdue, it has extremely beneficial to put these things into practice in the classroom.

There are some things that you can never be prepared for though. One of these things that has been ongoing at the school is that I am repeatedly being called "Ma'am" or "Miss Lehe." This is not any sort of disrespectful gesture but rather a language issue. The native language for most of the students is Tswana (pronounced swan-a) and in Tswana, there's no distinguishing between masculine and feminine words like he & she, his & her, Mr. & Miss, etc. When the kids speak in English, they don't always register that English does have this difference and the result is that I'm often referred to as "Miss Lehe," "Ma'am," or in one instance "Auntie Lehe." It's an honest mistake on the students' part and they are usually pretty embarrassed when they catch their mistake so I'm pretty chill about it and let it slide. Although there was one time where a first grader kept saying “Ma’am, Ma’am, Ma’am!” and never realized her mistake at all. Needless to say, I had a difficult time keeping a straight face, but I put on my grown up pants and moved on. 

            My time in the classroom has been an adventure thus far. I am on a regular schedule where I split my time amongst almost all of the grades somewhat equally. Tonya has handed over her 5^th grade natural science class to me and it looks like also I’ll be teaching the social studies for the 4^th, 5^th, & 6^th grades. I also have helped out in math in many of the grades. Some of the teachers have made plans for me to teach certain things on certain days, while others have not. For the first grade class, I walked into the classroom on Tuesday afternoon and asked how I could help and two minutes later, I found myself teaching an art lesson on the fly. Luckily, it was over mixing primary colors which I had done last semester in my art class, which I thought I would never use. So from about 7 am – 3 pm, I am at the school, although I am only teaching about a third to half of the time. After school, I get about a fifteen minute break before I go and help tutor the Bethesda students on their homework, which usually lasts until 5 or so. It has taken some adjusting for sure and it will certainly take more as I have been working on lesson plans as well. I also taught Assembly (chapel) for the 3^rd -7^th grade students on Friday on the story of Elijah calling down fire from heaven and how there is only one true God. It went pretty well although I did primarily (or maybe entirely) read from my script. Either way, I hope the kids grasp the concept that who you glorify is your god. From this experience though, I definitely have a much higher respect for pastors and teachers at all of the churches I have been to, both here and back home. One of the coolest things about Jabulane is that all of the teachers meet before school and prayer for the school and for specific students as well. It's been very encouraging and cool to see. and be a part of.

            This past week at Bethesda saw one team leave and another team arrive. The team from Lee University headed out on Wednesday to their other planned activities in South Africa. On Friday evening, the team from Purdue, which Marty Dittmar is leading, arrived. The following link tells about the members of the team that are here. Also worth noting, I’m the “current Purdue student doing an internship at the Academy.” Sorry, I couldn’t resist:)

http://www.purduesports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/051413aaa.html

            Everyone on the Purdue team has been really cool and I was really impressed with them on Friday evening. Marty flew separately and due to some flight complications, he didn’t arrive until Saturday morning. I was sticking around the team center after dinner that night to show Tim, the team’s videographer, back to his flat and I sat in on their Bible study. Courtney Moses, a senior on the team, led the team in a quick but nonetheless meaningful share time and almost everyone shared a passage of Scripture that had challenged or encouraged them. It was really neat to see them doing this all without Marty around.

            Personally, this week was a bit draining at times, but I am hanging in there. Perhaps the hardest challenge for me is the amount of light during the day. It may sound inane, but when it is almost pitch black at 6 pm and the sun doesn’t rise until 6:15 or so, it gets kind of frustrating when there is nothing to do after dark. It’s not exactly fun spending 9-12 hours alone in my flat, although I do have plenty to keep me occupied. Regardless, I would certainly appreciate prayer that God would help me to spend my time wisely and that I would be able to combat this loneliness by spending more meaningful time with Him in prayer and in His Word. I also ask for prayer as I work in the school as I make lessons and work with the students and at the team center to be glorifying God and serving at all times. The other intern here at Bethesda, Melissa Stone, is a constant reminder to me of what a servant should be. In addition to her duties as an administrative assistant at Bethesda’s office, she also spends a great deal of time preparing the meals for the teams. I’ve spent some time with her several times now and I’ve always come away impressed by her diligence and faithful service, regardless of the circumstances. I pray that I would be as faithful in my service to Bethesda as she is. In addition to this, I had an email conversation with a friend back home who last I had heard was also planning on coming to South Africa and serving at an orphanage sometime this summer and I emailed her asking about when she was leaving. Unfortunately due to some complications with the trip, she elected to cancel it and to stay home this summer. But because she was staying, she had several mothers who asked her to lead a Bible study for their teenage daughters. This reminded me that just because I am “on a mission’s trip” right now, I am still called to serve God wherever I am. I didn’t have to come to South Africa to serve Him and while I am certainly glad that God brought me here to serve, I am still called to serve Him when I go back home and wherever God takes me after I graduate.

Sorry if I went off on a tangent there towards the end, but thanks for reading and thank you for your prayers! I am very grateful for your prayers! Take care and have a great day!

In Christ,

Dan Lehe

First Full Week - Digging, Brick Laying, and Other Shenanigans

Greetings from South Africa!

One of the projects from my first visit in 2010.

Kids at Bos Plaas Baptist Church.

Getting my workout with the kids at Bos Plaas Baptist Church.

Laying bricks with the Lee team.

Digging a trench for the driveway project.

                What a week it has been! This past week was so eventful and great while it did not adhere to any of my predetermined plans. On Monday, the team from Lee University, a Christian school in Cleveland, Tennessee, arrived and I went through orientation with them. They have been such a blessing to Bethesda as well as to me personally. Being 22, no one at Bethesda, staff or any family member, is very close in age to me, so it was a pleasant relief to have fellow students here with me while I am still adjusting to life here at Bethesda. Don’t get me wrong, I love getting to spend time with the kids here and I relished the conversation I had with young Thabiso about if everything in the world was made of chocolate. But they were such an encouragement to me with how they conducted themselves while we worked and when they led the Bible story at New Covenant Baptist Church on Thursday and the chapel at Japulane Christian Academy on Friday. There has never been a dull moment with them and I know I will miss them as they head out next Wednesday.

                Specifically, I have not spent any time in the school yet. The principal, Erens Mahlangu, had a very busy week and was unable to meet with me until Friday. It looks like Monday will be the day when I get into the school. Prayer would certainly be appreciated as I am a bit nervous about this as Japulane is much different from any of the public schools I have been in to date. Instead of being in the school, I helped out the Lee team on the project to lay bricks to form a driveway into the Bethesda property. While I certainly did not expect to be doing anything like this, I was overjoyed to be swinging a pickaxe, scooping out dirt, and laying bricks. Growing up on a farm, this kind of work is second nature to me and believe it or not, I actually enjoy it a lot. It was certainly a nice change of pace for me as I came from the school year wrapping up at Purdue to here. As Lois (the team coordinator) noted, God definitely knew what was best for me so I wouldn’t get burned out and I was able to provide another pair of hands to the driveway project.

                I was also able to interact with the kids and the families a lot more this week. Whether it was seeing the children after school at the tutoring or out playing or working with Elvis and Jack (two of the groundskeepers who are such great men), I am honored to be a part of the Bethesda community. This week, I went to dinner at two of the families’ homes: the Letswalos and the Shikwambanes. Each provided me a different but very interesting experience. At the Letswalos, Peter, who works as a chaplain at a prison in Pretoria, enlightened me about the Zion Christian Church, an erroneous and sadly popular religion in South Africa as well as other countries in southern Africa. It was formed in the 1920s when a German missionary had supposedly led a man to the Lord, but within a month of this conversion, the missionary needed to return to Germany due to a crisis at home. This new believer was now without a mentor to disciple him in the faith. He zealously began to evangelize, but without a solid understanding or foundation in the Scriptures, he strayed from the Gospel and it became much more man focused as well as very financially driven. Peter said that it is now practiced by as many as 9-10 million South Africans. It just goes to show the essential nature of discipleship to the Christian faith and how our sin nature is always present, even when we try to good. At the Shikwambane house, two team members from Lee and I joined them for dinner as well as their family devotions, which consisted of a couple hymns (one of which was in Tswana. That was interestingJ) and reading from Leviticus 19. Upon hearing Leviticus, my first thought was “Really?” But Fritz and Masello did a really good job of explaining the Word to their children and applying it to their own culture, particularly ancestor worship. It just shows that 2 Timothy 3:16 is true about the whole Bible, even Leviticus.

                I’ve also gone with the Lee team on several trips to places outside Bethesda. We went to New Covenant Baptist Church on Thursday and actually went out in pairs with several hospice caretakers. That was certainly interesting as we went into the homes of many of their patients, who I believe had HIV/AIDS. Personally, this helped me realize the individual impact that HIV has on everyone infected with the disease. After this, we helped the church give elementary age students a meal after school and the Lee team led a Bible lesson for them as well. On Saturday, we went to Fritz Shikwambane’s church, Bos Plaas Baptist Church, for a re-opening day for the church, which resulted in an impromptu vacation Bible school. It was a great time as about 75 kids got to do songs, crafts, games, and get a snack. I pulled out my camera and was swarmed by the kids who wanted their picture taken. I probably took about 60 some pictures today. It was a lot of fun and I hope that they all return to hear Fritz present the Gospel.

                So that’s been the highlights of my week. As I move forward, I would ask for prayers regarding my time in the school. This is where the rubber meets the road so to speak and as always for me, I’m a bit nervous with just adjusting to a different school in a different culture. Additionally, this week I received my grades for last semester and I was very pleased with the results. While I definitely put in a lot of hard work, I honestly lost track of the times I called my mom to ask her to pray for me when I was at my wit’s end working on a project or studying for an exam, so to God be the glory! Speaking my mom, Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I love you and I’ll bring you something special when I return!

                Thanks for reading and thank you for your prayers! Take care and have a great day!

In Christ,

Dan Lehe

First Days on the Ground

Having flown in on Thursday night, I've now been here at Bethesda for almost three days. I'm glad to be done traveling for a while, even though Paris was pretty spectacular and I really have nothing to complain about from the flights or the airports. I was surprised to learn that I will have a flat (small apartment) of my own. I think of this a gift for sure, but I know how I tend to isolate myself so I will have to work to avoid this (Proverbs 18:1 - Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment). So far, it's been a lot of orientation and preparation things. Tomorrow, I will be going through the majority of the orientation things with the team from Lee University as they're arriving tomorrow morning. In meeting with Tonya, I have a good idea of what I will be doing in the schools. Tuesday looks like it will be my first day in the school, helping out in various ways. Specifically, I will be teaching a 5th grade natural science course. It looks like I will be in the Senior grades (4-7) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday mornings and then in the Foundation grades (Grade R-3) on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Friday afternoons. I will also be spearheading an after tutoring program that will take place at the team center with some people from the visiting teams as well as an in-home tutoring program. I hope I have all of the details right so I don't have to come back and correct myself later, but we shall see:)

So far, everyone has been so kind and hospitable to me, which should not come as a surprise at all. I remember some of the kids and am gradually learning/re-learning names (emphasis on the gradually). Yesterday, I spent most of the day with Rudy (13) and Steven (12). Steven lives next door to me and I see him a lot now. I look forward to meeting and getting to know all of the other kids. As the next couple of days approach, I am in nervously anticipation for them. I am sure that I will have to remind myself that I am here to serve and to glorify God through my actions and words. Prayer is definitely going to be needed as time goes on because as I usually tend to be, I'm a bit nervous as my time in the school nears. I am really excited but nervous simultaneously and I look forward to meeting those from the other teams.

Thank you all for reading and for praying. I will try to give weekly updates, maybe more or less depending on the circumstances. Specifically, you can pray for my time in the school as well as the time I spend alone that I would use it all wisely and to glorify God.

In Christ,
Dan Lehe