DENNIS HILMAN

TRISTAN IN SOUTH AFRICA

06-12-2008

NOTE: The following article was written in two different hotel rooms during the more than 48 hours I was stranded in Lagos, Nigeria on my way home back to Finland. It turned quite dramatic at times when for two consecutive evenings we couldn't get our flight out to Amsterdam due to mechanical failure and very poor back-up organization. The second night at the airport after we had all checked in again and it became clear that we would not be flying then either a hundred or so passengers turned into a kind of screaming lynch mob. It was then I suddenly noticed that the last of the whites were making a dash for the door. So did I. We were bussed to another hotel under armed escort. Speaking of life on the edge.

On Saturday May 3, Tristan Matson from Battle Ground, Washington arrived to join us in the mission field in South Africa. He stayed four and a half weeks. The very next morning after his arrival he was warmly welcomed in the Sunday service of the Toekomsrus congregation by Angus Oostien, representing of all of the youth in the United Lutheran Church in South Africa. Toekomsrus is rather unique in the ULCSA because it is the only congregation which serves a colored or mixed race community. An elder in the congregation, the evangelist Phineus, also took the opportunity to speak warmly to Tristan about the importance of "young blood" in the mission field. He pointed out how us "old men" need to be followed by younger servants of the Lord to bring vision and vitality to the church. Like the prophet Joel said how God will pour out His spirit and "your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions". It is truly visionary when a young man like Tristan invests his youthful energies and own hard earned money to travel as far away from his home as it is possible on this globe and commit a month of his life to the mission. God spoke to his heart during a presentation I made on the mission in South Africa in Hockinson Church in March. Suddenly the timing and circumstances just clicked and within six weeks Tristan was on his way.

Welcome to South Africa by Angus, rep. of ULCSA youth

Another very special thing about that first Sunday service in Toekomsrus was that Tristan provided me with the theme for the sermon. He had brought a poster for Bishop Louis Mphahlele with a quote from Isaiah 40:28-31 about "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles" and as he unrolled it to show me the evening before I was particularly struck by the fact that young men were also mentioned in the preceding verse, "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail". So that all of us, whether older or younger, need to depend totally on strength and grace from the Lord. For the whole month that Tristan was here it was obvious how much we could together lean on this grace and strength even with the difference of ages.

And reaching out to the youth was a consistent theme during Tristan's visit. Two young men, in fact, live in the mission apartment - Chris Coetzee and Gilbert Chilundu. I wrote about Chris last year in the Foreign Mission newsletter in an article called "One Life - In Black and White". God has led him to make great progress in his life and just now he is studying hard to get his driver's license so that he can be a driver by profession. Gilbert ("Gibbie") is the secretary of the ULCSA and a tailor by trade. He is a Malawian. Tristan said that he was glad when he heard about these two young men before he came and obviously the three became brothers in Christ.

Tristan, Gilbert and Chris - brothers in Christ - outside the church in Toekomsrus

The mission apartment is a very active place - gatherings, meetings or seminars taking place on sometimes a daily basis. The first Monday Tristan was there we had the youth of Toemkomsus over and we sang and sang and sang from the little blue Hymns and Songs of Zion before we shared the Word. Since then, for instance, we have had two large youth meetings - with over 33 people each (yes, in the small living room of the apartment!) - in which Tristan has actively participated. He told very openly about his own life situation and walk of faith with special emphasis on chaste relationships and the observance of God's ordinances in dating and marriage. He brought out strongly, for example, some of the tenets of the "Follow Jesus, Prevent Aids" booklet. This was really of crucial importance in a country where HIV/Aids is rampant and the deaths among the young far outstrip those of older people.At these meetings there were a lot of questions for Tristan and he was not spared the attentions of several young women. One of them, in all seriousness, asked him how he was going to manage back in America when there were so few young black women for him to choose from in the church. All in all these youth meetings were very successful and very strengthening for the church due to Tristan's participation. He even created a data base of all the young people who attended, complete with individual photos and video clips to hopefully promote their interaction with youth from our church in America.

The exuberance of youth - there's always room for one more!

We also conducted a day-long pastor's seminar, a women's league meeting, a church council meeting, two seminars for the men's fellowship group and one seminar for young men in the church. Tristan participated in all of these meetings and seminars. With a special view to his being here we particularly emphasized the seminars for men and young men. The church here has an overwhelming majority of women. Men have been relatively scarce so by God's grace we are working very hard to activate and train men for leadership positions. This especially brings to bear the importance of getting young men much more involved. Tristan played a vital role here - the very right person at the right time. He was also very active in involving the children.

Goodies for the kids - who really like Tristan

All in all we have visited more than twelve congregations of the ULCSA this last month - many with special communion services. One of them, for instance, was in Witranjies. This is a new congregation that has spontaneously formed since Elias - the young man who was healed of Aids last year - called his friends and neighbors together after his healing to praise and thank God and be united in prayer. We truly serve a magnificent God! We have also taken clothing and compassion to the city dump in Randfontein where maybe 100 men, women and children live in tiny delapidated shacks and earn a "living" by sorting garbage.

Prayer service under a tree in Elias' yard in Witranjies - notice the light!

Children sorting garbage at the dumping site in Randfontein

Of course a bit of God's nature is always in order in Africa. On a safari, for instance, we got very close to the rhinos and we watched from not too far away as lionesses stalked their little antelope prey in the tall grass and then watched again as we, in our open jeep, became the object of their interests and they started "stalking" us. Tristan would like to have stayed on for far closer photos but the Bishop insisted we leave for safer territory. In a lion park Tristan had a chance to get close enough to them and had great fun playing with the young lions - even getting one to share a big grin with him. Some days later deep underground in the Sterkfontein Caves, not far from where we live, we were informed about the "cradle of mankind" - whatever all those millions of year old humanoids possibly mean! I prefer God's explanation.

Male rhino grazing up close - his power could have flipped our open jeep

Lions closing in on us.

And really up close - great grins...eh?!!

And last but not least Tristan had his heart set on sleeping under the stars in Africa so we got a little two man tent for him and Chris and left them for the night in a nice protected camp area. Actually it was protected from all but their own wiles and before we got back the next day they had to try just about everything in sight of course. An old zip line across a little creek was too tempting for Tristan and to avoid getting his feet wet he banged into the bank on the other side, gashing his left eyebrow and cheek rather badly with the pulley. Blood gushed, but once bandaged he was soon back climbing under a high bridge nearby and when we returned he and Chris were jumping gleefully on the trampolines. The wonderful audacity of youth!!

The happy campers

A "by-product" of life on the edge

I don't know if the scar on Tristan's face will be a lasting one, but I do know that while he was here an ugly scar appeared on the face of the nation of South Africa. It is called "xenophobia" - the hatred and fear of people of different nationalities. It flared up horribly in villages across the country almost overnight. People from other African countries were driven or dragged from their homes, many times beaten and even killed and their homes set ablaze and they were forced into temporary refugee camps. It was awful to watch each evening on the news and one night it even spread into the township where the Bishop lives, as well as to a squatter camp only five minutes from out apartment. Our own brother Gilbert (from Malawi) lived some very tense days. Fortunately it seems to have subsided when the government took firm control of the situation - but it is truly a blight on the face of this "rainbow nation"!

The month Tristan was in South Africa went very quickly. It was a time of inspiration, of learning and growing. Above all I hope and pray that it will inspire you other young people to follow suit and to invest a few weeks of your lives in what could just well be a real turning point in your walk of faith and life of service to Him. Remember, even you young people can feel faint and be weary sometimes, but "they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles..."

Five brothers - together in the mission - including the Bishop at the church in Maanhaarrand

I must say the Bishop is surviving quite well after his ordeal (see previous general article). The insurance has not yet provided a replacement for our "bakkie" but things look hopeful.

Now I have just arrived back in Finland to be with Birgitta here on the lovely summer island that has been the most precious place on earth for her all of her life. The cancer appears to be in progression but we are just taking one day at a time as God gives. Waiting on the Lord!

In God's love and peace,

Pastor Dennis Hilman