March 28, 2011

dear all,




we have a shiny new senior couple!!! WAHOOOOOO. i was reminded about how nice it is to have a senior couple around. they are like the super nice grandparents that everyone wants to visit because they have super powers. compared with the last couple that was here they are pretty much totally different. here is the best description of the risers (the new couple) i can think of... a warm fire on a winter day. all of us are looking forward to having them here, i have a feeling there will be many good times shared with them.



this week was father-led family central. 100% of our finding has been on father-leds and our patience and diligence in that has begun to be paying off. we have added 5 new father led families to the teaching pool! whoot whoot! things are looking good, but you know what they say; "good better best, never let it rest, till your good becomes better and your better becomes best."



here is a little bit about the culture of the people of botswana;

when the young ones greet someone who is older, they will shake your hand but rather than only offering their one hand they will give you both of them. it is like they are playing "button button, who's got the button".



if you are in a home with a family, you must greet the father, then the mother, and you sit, then each of the children (depending on how old they are) will file through and greet you. if a child fails to greet you they are scolded.



a man who is old enough to be a grandparent is considered an elder. if someone who is younger than them is called elder, they get offended (haha, sorry elder missionaries!).



because chairs are hard to come by sometimes, we do a lot of sitting on the floor. you must have a blanket under you if you sit on the floor and you must remove your shoes if you wish to sit on the blanket.



the more grey hair a person has, the more wealthy they are.



everyone eats with their hands.



all people plant fields; they plant watermelon, sweet reads (similar to sugar cane but it doesn't need as much water), corn, sogum, and beet roots.

their staple food is corn meal prepared like porridge, they call it papa.



papa is usually eaten with a leaf called morogo (pronounced mow-row-ho) that is similar to spinach but has a more powerful and slightly bitter taste to it.



they also love beaf, they eat a lot of it.



everyone loves singing, people gather randomly and sing. let me tell you, they have some soul power! they make beats by clapping, stomping, whatever they can do, they sing in parts. really it is amazing. it is sort of close to how i would imagine life being if it were a musical.



have you seen the lion king? the language that is in all of the songs is not setswana (the language here) but is similar to setswana and when people sing in setswana, it is absolutely amazing.



yep, i love it here.



i must be going, so until next week.



hakuna matata (it really does mean no worries!!!)

sister blum