Place of Meeting May 2013

Place of Meeting

It’s a big world out there TUMCers, shaped by an Anabaptist focus on peace, justice and service, tend to see the world in broad terms.

But it seems more of us than ever have been getting out there to serve and learn in recent months. A partial list includes Madeleine Wichert (Burkina Faso with Outtatown); Emily Loewen (southern Africa with Mennonite Central Committee); Clay Appell (India with Me to We); Herb and Ginny Buckwalter (Nazareth Hospital, Israel/Palestine); Bill and Marlene DeFehr (hosting at MCC guesthouse, Washington DC); Tim Schmucker (leading learning tour to Colombia); Emily and Bruce Burgetz (Ten Thousand Villages learning tour to Indonesia) and Judith Stamp (returning to her places of research in South Africa). That’s Judy above with her good friends, Nopindile and Vuwane Tyandela –– among the featured farmers she presented with a copy of her picture book about good agricultural practices. Read more about her adventures and the Burgetzes’ inside.

Toronto United Mennonite Church May 2013

Place of Meeting is the meaning of the Huron word “toronton,” from which our city gets its name. Fittingly, it can also mean “plenty” or “abundance.”

Place of Meeting is also the monthly newsletter of Toronto United Mennonite Church. May you find plenty here to enjoy and ponder. Opinions expressed are those of the writers and not necessarily of the congregation as a whole.

Contributions of all kinds are enthusiastically received, through the mail folder in the lobby or at dmartens@pathcom.com Next month’s deadline: May 28, 2013

Meet our new office administrator

T

he PCRC (Pastor-Congregation Relations Committee) is pleased to announce the hiring of our new Office Administrator.

Mike DeHaan, a long-time member at Danforth Mennonite Church, will work at TUMC 16 hours a week, replacing Tobi Thiessen, who has been filling in since September.

Mike, who lives near enough to TUMC to be able to walk to work, is an avid long distance runner, and works as a computer services consultant, writing for various websites. Within the Mennonite Church, Mike serves in various volunteer roles, including as chair of the Danforth Church Council, and as a member of the St. Clair O’Connor Foundation and the Black Creek MCC Relief Sale Boards. Despite his many involvements, Mike has time to devote to TUMC’s Office Administrator position. We look forward to working with Mike in his new role.

The TUMC Office Administrator is a modified version of the former TUMC Secretary position, with responsibilities expanded to include property management.

Mike begins at TUMC on Tuesday, April 30.

Have you discovered the allcolour online version of Place of Meeting, complete with live weblinks? Check this month’s issue out here: issuu.com/pomeditor/docs/ pom_may_2013l You can also request an email subscription to the colour version in PDF form or a monthly link to the current online issue. Please send a request to dmartens@pathcom.com Editor: Doreen Martens A mixed ensemble sang gloriously at the April 14 service.

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Companions on the journey: TUMC small groups

By Anita Tiessen

I

f you go to the TUMC website, click on “Belong” and read what it says about small groups, you will read the following: “TUMC seeks to be a community of communities by encouraging members and friends to be part of small, intentional groups. Small groups within a congregation foster the growth of a faith community. Matthew 18:20 points out, ‘Where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’ In an oft fractured and impersonal urban environment, being part of a small group provides a solid connection to others in support of our faith journey.”

TUMC has a long history of encouraging attendees to participate in small groups. TUMC attendees who meet for worship and education on Sunday mornings live in every part of the city and GTA. It is often difficult to establish close friendships or deeper community when meeting only once a week. Small groups provide a way to meet with others at a time outside of Sunday morning and in more relaxed, smaller and often unstructured settings.

The role of small groups within any church is important as small groups nourish personal relationships and connectedness, but they also nourish churches. The focus is on building interpersonal relationships. By creating these close bonds between members, the congregation as a whole becomes stronger and better able to carry out the mission God has called it to in the world.

Many of the existing TUMC small groups get together for social interaction. which often includes food. Other examples of small groups are: Bible study; book club; environmental concerns; new parents; etc. Sometimes small groups will be gathered for a specific purpose or for a limited time. But it is basically up to the members of each group to determine what they want to do and how long they would like to continue together.

As the TUMC small group coordinator, I would like to invite you to consider becoming a member of a small group. While I may not be able to accommodate every interest people might have for a small group, I will try to get everyone who is interested connected with others of similar interests. If you are interested in becoming part of a small group, please provide me with the following information via email (abtiessen@gmail. com), in writing into my church mailbox or by phone at 905949-0741.

Update on Aya’s thrift shop For those of you who have some donations for Aya Pa Oryem's thrift store –– please keep them for a few more weeks, or perhaps a month or two.

Although the post-fire renovations are progressing in the building where the Kiden Thrifty Store was located, it is looking less and less promising for Aya to re-open her store at that location.

So she has been scouting certain areas of the city to find a different, and affordable, location. She is determined to re-open as soon as possible.

Aya is very grateful for all of the support she has received from her friends at TUMC. In order to re-stock her inventory, she still welcomes your donations of good used clothing, jewelry, shoes and household items like dishes, pots and pans and linens (sorry, no furniture accepted for now).

If you are not able to store the items for Aya until she re-opens, please contact Shirley Sherk (smsherk@hotmail.com) and we'll try to find a place for them.

(See the handy form on the back page of Place of Meeting).

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What are your taxes up to?

Some food for thought as we file our returns

We offer this article by Titus Peachey, which originally appeared the The Mennonite (U.S.), as a thoughtful reflection on our own involvement in building the apparatus of violence.

I

Canada’s own war machine April 15 marked the Global Day of Action on Military Spending.

In 2012, the Canadian government spent $22.7 billion on National Defence but only $1.6 billion on Environment Canada. The federal government is planning to spend $25 billion on new warships, $16 billion on new fighter jets and $1 billion on armed drones.

However, the greatest human security challenges are climate change and poverty.

Sherry Nelligan invites members of TUMC to join a petition through Voice of Women for Peace at vowpeace.org/ourwork/petition-reduce-militaryspending/

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t was just after breakfast when the pickup truck arrived that would take me, a Mennonite Central Committee worker in Lao People's Democratic Republic, on a trip into the countryside to visit a health clinic. To my surprise, on the back of the truck stood four Lao soldiers, armed with AK-47 submachine guns and grenade launchers. My travels that day with a doctor from the Ministry of Health would take us through "insecure territory," and the ministry had arranged for soldiers to travel with us for our protection. Today, nearly three decades later, I still struggle with the implications of what happened that day in 1984.

The logic of taking four soldiers for protection is as common and everyday as the air we breathe. This logic permeates the evening news, our entertainment industry, our national security policy, our school playgrounds and even our homes. If someone threatens you, be prepared to threaten them back. If someone attempts to harm you, harm them first. Intimidate, frighten or beat anyone who might plot ill against you. And in a fascinating sequence in Luke's gospel (Luke 9:51-56), we find that this same logic was also active in the minds of Jesus' disciples.

On their way to Jerusalem from Galilee, Jesus and his disciples walked through Samaria, widely known as hostile territory due to the long-standing enmity between Samaritans and Jews. When they were refused hospitality at a Samaritan village, James and John seethed with anger. "Shall we call down fire from heaven to destroy them?" they asked Jesus. Having just argued about who was the greatest, they were eager to use their power to set up the ingdom in Jerusalem. Peeved by the nettlesome Samaritans in their path, their response was as old as Cain and Abel and as new as drone strikes in Afghanistan: a holy and revenge-filled fire from heaven.

Jesus rebuked his disciples, and they went on to another village.

To my deep regret, I must acknowledge that I did not challenge the preemptive fire from heaven assembled on the pickup truck that day in Lao PDR. I sat in my front seat and tried not to think about the soldiers in the back. By taking my seat that day I violated my most deeply held beliefs about the nature of God, the way of Christ and my own commitment to peace. Had any of the four Lao soldiers been harmed or had they harmed or killed someone else, I would have been devastated.

What are your taxes up to?

From page 4 My reflections on this troubling experience surfaced with greater intensity in an MCC project visit to Iraq in 2004, just about a year after the U.S. invasion. Knowing that we would be spending time with a landmine clearance agency which regularly used armed guards and not wanting to repeat the experience in Lao PDR, I arranged in advance not to travel in one of their vehicles. Yet everywhere we went there were U.S. military Humvees and trucks, all with many M-16s sticking out the side with trigger fingers at the ready. There were huge military bases, military convoys, guard posts and checkpoints. We were still surrounded by lethal firepower even though our vehicle was unarmed.

And so I have come to realize that for all intents and purposes, I am still in an armed pickup truck.

As U.S. citizens and members of a community of faith who follow the way of Jesus, we struggle with a mighty contradiction. For as we pledge our allegiance, not to nations but to a God who calls us to love even our enemies, we travel the world in a metaphorical U.S. pickup truck bristling with real weapons. "Fire from heaven" streaks from the truck with regularity, creating the smoldering ruins of villages such as the disciples of old had envisioned. With high-tech weaponry available in abundance, there is no need for government to implore God to send down fire from heaven. Yet God's blessing is regularly invoked by political and religious leaders alike.

Held in the truck by thousands of economic tethers sewn by our own hands, we are bound to the interests of corporations in the global market that bring many of us the good life. We purchase relatively cheap food, fuel, clothing, electronics and entertainment brought to us through trade policies that are often unjust. In the context of a military that outspends the next 15 countries combined, our malls, sports industry and Hollywood are like a narcotic, dulling us to the pain we visit on God's children here and abroad.

Yet many in our communities are realizing the truth of the prophet Samuel, who warned the people of Israel about the inevitable oppression of a king with a standing army (I Samuel 8). A highly militarized power structure will take resources from the people, sucking up the very air that the common good needs to breathe. While the king will have his chariots and horses, his drones and

smart bombs, the people on the margins and the agencies that serve their needs will struggle to survive. Indeed not everyone on our U.S.pickup truck is enjoying the ride. While high-cost weaponry glistens on the exterior, poverty and hunger stalk the interior of the truck.

Several days after James and John had nearly firebombed a Samaritan village, Jesus told a story about a man who was robbed while walking on the rocky road from Jerusalem to Jericho and left beside the road for dead. Holy people, a priest and a Levite, came along and passed by on the other side of the road. Jesus' disciples leaned in to listen, knowing that the next person will be the hero. Likely expecting it to be someone like themselves, they are astounded to hear Jesus declare that a Samaritan was the one who offered grace and healing to the wounded traveler. It is almost as if Jesus deliberately reached back several days' journey to the village the disciples wanted to reduce to a pile of ashes and picked up a Samaritan to place into the story.

In so doing, Jesus challenged the disciples even as he challenges us to reject the popular narrative of enemy stereotyping and violent revenge that so characterize our national life. Yet Jesus goes way beyond inviting us to be civil or tolerant toward our enemies. In the form of a story, he reminds us that people whom we may want to destroy may in fact be capable of offering grace and healing from God. He reminds us that it is we who carry self-images of cultural and national superiority, who may in fact be the wounded ones in need of healing.

And so, I wonder: What would happen if we were bold enough to humanize our enemies as Jesus did? What would happen if we

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From page 5 routinely remembered the victims of U.S. drone strikes in our Sunday morning prayers and regularly drew attention to them in letters to our local newspapers?

Scene around TUMC

What would happen if our churches became a place where nonviolent peacemakers of all nations and religions were so celebrated that their names rolled off the tongues of our youth as easily as the names of sports stars, movie actors/actresses and pop singers?

Where might God's Spirit lead us collectively, if we who benefit from the protection of the guards on the pickup truck withheld our war taxes? What if our tax dollars went instead toward local and international acts of justice, mercy and peacemaking? Might we find blessing in such a corporate act of restoration and healing?

What would happen if we loved the soldiers on our pickup truck, especially those wounded in soul and spirit from the brutality of war? What if we recognized that their wounds symbolize our collective failure to learn and practice the ways of peace?

What would happen if we invested the same energy to prevent our nation's bombs from falling on others, as we have invested in seeking our own exemption from military service?

What would happen if training in nonviolence became a part of preparation for baptism?

In all likelihood, I will travel the world on this metaphorical U.S. pickup truck the rest of my life. I will be blessed by the many good things on the pickup truck, but I hope I will never stop struggling with the contradictions between the faith I live by and the logic of empire that permeates many of the realities in my life. For this struggle, surely we all need another visitation of fire from heaven, like the fire of the Holy Spirit that descended on fearful believers at Pentecost.

This was not a fire that destroyed. Rather, it brought together the entire known world, breaking down the barriers of language, culture, race and nation, inspiring a season of sharing and unity.

Would that such a fire would burn within our community of faith on the pickup truck, inspiring courage and creativity in our commitment to living Christ's way of peace.

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While the rest of us were listening to a sermon on April 21, the kids were enjoying a game of “Don’t throw your stuff in my backyard” and making a PlayDoh birthday cake. (Photos by Shauna Heide). A variety of interesting instruments made an appearance in the April 7 service.

Why is cancer so hard to conquer?

Heritage Club gets some answers from top researcher John Dick

By Faye Tiessen

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rom a farm and one-room school in southern Manitoba, to Elm Creek High School, and 14 years study at University of Winnipeg and the University of Toronto, Dr John Dick has found his way to becoming a world –renowned senior research scientist at the Ontario Cancer Institute.

A large crowd welcomed John, wife Lorna and daughter Kristy to Heritage Club recently.

Is there someone in your family who likes to take things apart? John was one of those kids who liked to find out how things worked.His early experiments led to making a smoke bomb that “cleared the house.” (Note: don’t try this at home!)

His curiosity finally led him to study microbiology. Today he is driven to understand how stem cells work, and how they can be manipulated.

In 1984 John and his family ( Lorna and their two children) moved to Toronto, where John worked part-time in Dr Alan Bernstein’s lab. Dr Bernstein,a noted cancer researcher, whose PhD advisor was James Till at the Ontario Cancer Institute, guided John to research cancers of the blood. John stated he had good mentors.

In the 1990s, John was the first in the world to identify stem cells in leukemia. He made headlines in 2011 when he led the team that first isolated the rare stem cells that are capable of regenerating the entire blood system. Immune deficient mice were developed. Human bone marrow or cord blood, or cells with leukemia, could then be generated in mice. The mouse model has transformed the study of both normal and leukemic human blood systems.

Why do cancers come back? In a recent major breakthrough John’s team discovered that some of the cells that drive tumour growth hide from common chemotherapy drugs by going “dormant,” reigniting the disease when they awaken after treatment ends. The newly discovered dormant cells have the same genetic mutations as those active ones that drove the original tumour to begin with. The discovery of genetically identical dormant cells shows that other forces are at play in cancer recurrence. An understanding of these non-genetic properties could lead to an entirely new generation of cancer drugs.

John suggested the book Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukerjee for further reading.

When asked by another interviewer , “What would you say to those interested in pursuing research as a career?” John replied: “A career in research is a combination of intense frustration, perseverance and remarkable freedom to pursue your own ideas … when we choose the right paths these frustrations are balanced by an overwhelming sense of satisfaction, when you solve a puzzle that no one has ever solved be-

John and Lorna Dick, top; John with Aldred Neufeldt at the Heritage Club gathering. fore. Rarely, you can even see your work change the course of an entire field,even leading to new treatments that alleviate disease. That is extremely rewarding.”

We hope Dr John Dick will continue to find his research rewarding. His pioneering work will change the way cancer is treated, and that will be rewarding to us all.

Professor, Dept of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto; Director, Program in Cancer Stem Cells, Ontario Institute of Cancer Research; Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology

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A journey to Indonesia with Ten Thousand Villages

By Emily and Bruce Burgetz

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en Thousand Villages, a non-profit program of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), is the oldest and largest Fair Trade organization in North America, selling artisan-crafted personal accessory, home dĂŠcor and gift items from around the globe. Its mission is to create opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn income by bringing their products and stories to our markets through long-term, fair trading relationships.

Ten Thousand Villages (Villages) has been an important part of our family life –– both as volunteers (about 35 years for Emily and 25 for Bruce) and in enjoying the many very unique and creative crafts, rugs and furniture we have (and continue) to purchase. We firmly believe that creating employment opportunities in developing countries helps alleviate poverty and builds peace. One of our hopes for many years was that we could participate in a Villages Learning Tour, and, we were privileged to be part of a 12-person two week Villages US tour to Indonesia this February.

We visited four producer groups from Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Bali and Lombok, spending two to four days with each one. A producer group is a purchasing co-operative that receives purchase orders from fair-traders, such as Villages, and then works with multiple artisans to fulfill the order. It works externally (internationally and locally) to expand the market for the artisans, and directly with artisans on product design, on helping them become more professional (quality control, delivering to order schedules) and in providing training. The producer group ensures the product is delivered and maintains ongoing contact with the fair-trader. We also saw that the staff of the producer groups had warm, mutually respectful and appreciative relationships with their artisans.

Each producer group planned an itinerary that included visits to their office and showroom,

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A crafter named Wayan demonstrates the art of making silver jewellery, top; men work at carving wood into nativity figurines.

A journey to Indonesia visits to artisan and artisan groups (about 20 in total), attendance at cultural presentations, a chance to try craft making, local sightseeing and shopping opportunities. In addition, each arranged transportation, accommodation, Indonesian meals and local guides where necessary. All were wonderful enthusiastic hosts, well-organized, warm and very welcoming.

We visited artisan workshops –– fabric batik, batik on wood, silver jewelry, wood carving/painting and pottery. We had opportunities to try our hand at painting nativity figurines, designing and creating our own fabric batik, batiking a wooden mask, pottery shaping, mixing clay with feet, traditional dancing and gamelan playing. We enjoyed tasty Indonesian cuisine, sometimes eating our meal with only our right hand, sitting on the floor or at a low table. We visited the Merapi volcano, which erupts every three to five years (last time 2010), feeling the still-rising steam. We toured Istiqlal Mosque In Jakarta that holds over 2,000 people, Borobudur Temple (largest Buddhist temple in the world), Gunung Kawi Temple (one of Bali’s oldest and largest ancient monuments from 11th century), Elephant Cave Hindu temple and archeology site, Besakih Mother Temple, a traditional Lombok Sade Village, saw rice production from ground preparation through harvest, often in amazing terraces, and enjoyed the beautiful country.

Our overall lasting impressions are that of experiencing the passion and commitment of each producer group for fair trade, for their artisans and artisan groups, and then experiencing the same passion and commitment when we visited the artisans.

One of the challenges for the artisans is year-round income, as often fulfilling a fair-trade order may only take four to six months. The producer groups help address this challenge by providing loans and technical advice to assist the artisans with other opportunities for sustained income (fruit and vegetable growing, pig and cow farming, reforestation), for improved health (water purification, sanitation), for lowering costs (biogas generation) and for supporting village activities (building community centres, supporting training in traditional dance and music).

It was indeed a privilege to experience first-hand the impact of Villages purchases on the lives of individuals in Indonesia and hearing artisan stories about higher education for daughters and sons, improved health and overall well-being, and, at the same time visiting a beautiful country, seeing remarkable tourist sites built many centuries ago, as well as seeing parts that tourists typically do not, dining on delicious and sometimes exotic food, and meeting many wonderfully warm and

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A journey to Indonesia friendly people who openly shared their work and culture with us and eagerly wanted to know more about us. We also saw exciting new products, and yes, purchased many unique crafts.

We have a renewed commitment to being a part of providing income to the artisans of Ten Thousand Villages, not only from Indonesia, by buying fair trade crafts and food products and by telling their stories in Canada.

Unfortunately, the retail economic climate of the past few years has hit Ten Thousand Villages Canada quite severely, requiring a very major organizational restructuring, affecting staffing at head office and resulting in the closing of 10 stores across the country, including Queen St. W. in Toronto. That of course, affects the size of orders that can be placed with artisans!

Please do your part in supporting the vital work of Ten Thousand Villages. Visit a Ten Thousand Villages store in your area as often as you can, be a volunteer if you have time, and be a regular customer. If getting to a store is difficult or is not possible, you can shop online at www.tenthousandvillages.ca and subscribe to a monthly newsletter for email updates on products and special offers: Newsletter@ tenthousandvillages.ca We will be sharing our Indonesian Villages experience and pictures at the Heritage Club on May 15th at 7:30pm.

–– Bruce and Emily Burgetz

Peace, Pies and Prophets Ted Swartz and Tim Ruebke kept a nearly full house laughing –– and thinking –– at a wonderful evening of Peace, Pies and Prophets on April 12, with sharp satirical humour and a rollicking auction that raised over $6,000 for Christian Peacemaker Teams –– including the top seller ever on the Swartz & Co. tour: a $1,000 pie baked in a handmade pottery bowl

by William Allen Jr.

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The Mennonite Centre Heritage Club presents…

Snapshots of Indonesia and Its Artisans: Through the Lens of a Ten Thousand Villages Learning Tour

Slamet’s Workshop in Indonesia

Emily and Bruce Burgetz, members of TUMC, have recently returned from a learning tour to Indonesia, where artisans are creating products to be sold through Ten Thousand Villages, a non-profit program of MCC (Mennonite Central Committee). Ten Thousand Villages is a member of the World Fair Trade organization, a coalition of handicraft and agriculture producers.

It provides opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn income by bringing their products to our markets through long term, fair trade practices. Join us in hearing about this remarkable program as seen through the eyes of Emily and Bruce.

Wednesday, 15 May, 2013 7:30 pm Meeting Room St. Clair-O’Connor Community, 2701 St. Clair Ave. East, Toronto

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Reflections on a return visit to South Africa From Judith Stamp Dear TUMC Folk: The introduction below is followed by a few paragraphs from an email I sent to my daughter, when I was fresh from my February visit to Cala District in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

Then a few more paragraphs of a blog to family and friends.

Cala villages are in the Xhosa rural heartland, about 300 kilometers northeast of Port Elizabeth. I had gone to deliver a dozen copies of a booklet I had prepared and self-published, titled: A Growers’ Guide to Natural Farming: Ten Steps to Success and Farmers Who Lead the Way. The booklet is illustrated with photos (taken mostly when I was there seven years ago) of those “Farmers who lead the way,” and the copies I went to handdeliver were for them.

February 21st , Thursday. (email to my daughter) Just got back to Port Alfred, after an all day drive from Cala. … It was such an incredible, intense three days –– including giving copies of the booklet to all but two of the farmers I’d planned.

My visit to Cala included an overnight with Mama Tyandela, in rural Roma Village. I’d called her and made arrangements to meet up at her brother Yolelo’s homestead, just off the Cala main road. I hadn’t seen her for six years. Big Hug. Immediately she invited me to come and stay over at her homestead. Immediately I replied “Yes please.”...

The whole experience was soo powerful ... I feel blessed!

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Perhaps God’s blessing came later that afternoon up in Roma village –– a double rainbow, with sun setting on the cliffs behind, after we’d visited Nomvuso’s garden in the pouring rain! And now its over ... I just feel like I need a good cry ... How can I get so close to dear people –– and then leave ... again! I feel empty now...

I plan to stay here at Ferryman’s Hotel til Monday, then return to the Cape Peninsula. My ‘grand purpose’ has been fulfilled –– Farmers seemed very pleased with their copies of the booklet…

Reflections on a return visit to South Africa

February 22nd, Friday (excerpts from my blog to family and friends) Wow, that trip north into “real Africa country” was a breath of fresh air… Before reuniting with the farmers, I met for the first time a fellow academic, Fani Ncapayi –– a man after my own heart. He has just submitted his PhD thesis on land reform to his committee at the University of Cape Town, and he is also an activist –– working to develop a food-growing co-op for unemployed youth in Cala Town…

I stayed overnight in Roma village, 20 Ks off the main road, with my friends the Tyandelas, and their extended family –– son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren (one whose mother is away working in Queenstown, while a son works in Jo’burg).

At the other end of the village –– in the pouring rain –– I visited Nomvuso Nopote and her children (who are on the cover of the booklet). Of course her children are almost grown now, but three who were still there pored over their pictures with delight. Nomvuso’s husband is still away most of the year at his job in the mines.

Once again she showed me pictures of the two of them together. Now that her children are older, she goes down to Cala town to volunteer at Fani’s center –– and to teach gardening to the youth there.

What was so special? It was the closeness of extended families; it was the warmth of sharing supper, then breakfast with the Tyandelas, so comfortable together after 45 years of marriage. Their adult son Mthandazo, born1982, (who studied home economics in high school) cooked a deli-

Nomvuso Nopote and her daughter. Nomvuso appears on the cover of Judith’s picture book, A Growers’ Guide to Natural Farming: Ten Steps to Success and Farmers Who Lead the Way. cious dinner for us all –– chicken (which I’d bought at the Cala supermarket) and veggies –– squash, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, more, right from the garden. Their adult daughter, Ncediwe, and her own daughter and niece, vacated their rondavel [round hut] next door so that Nopindile (Mama T) could host me there for the night.

It was cattle and sheep in the kraal at night, off during the day to graze the hillsides watched over by a tenant shepherd. It was the extra ways Mama T earns some money. I helped her re-pack cheezies from a huge bag into little plastic baggies to sell to school children at R.50 each (R8.5 to the $). Also she sells bread and milk delivered by van from the town bakery and dairy, to village neighbors over the front gate. Since I was last there, the Tyandelas have satellite TV. (I forgot to ask where the electricity comes from –– it wasn’t solar or wind power). I came back to town the next day with a huge bag of peaches we picked from the orchard –– so tasty! Oh yes, and LOTS of photos.

No doubt –– that double rainbow was a blessing!

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Small group request form

If you’re interested in being part of a TUMC small group, please fill this out to give to Anita Tiessen or place in her mail slot at church. Alternatively, provide this information via email (abtiessen@gmail.com) or by phone at 905-949-0741.

NAME(S): _________________________________________________________________ Contact Information (if not listed in the directory): _________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________

Area of interest: For example, new parents, seniors, Bible study, book club, young adults, dinner and discussion, environmental concerns/creation care, others in my neighbourhood, etc. Feel free to name your own interest: ___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________ Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about small groups at TUMC. Anita Tiessen

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