Merry Christmas! This year has gone by so quickly, I can hardly believe it is finished. It brought many surprises and unexpected twists and turns, but the Lord has been faithful to keep me strong to finish well. It was especially important to me to finish well this year since it is my final year in South Africa. As many of you already know, I will be moving back to the United States in March at the end of my third term with CVM.
My time in South Africa has been an incredible
adventure and I have loved almost every minute of it (not so much the student
protests and snakes in my house!). The
students I have worked with and the friends I have made have helped me to grow and
thrive and I will miss them greatly when I leave.
My plans for after my return are still rather
fluid, but I will keep you updated over the next few months. I am applying for a veterinary dermatology
residency and would appreciate your prayers through that process. There are many decisions to make and interviews
to sort out and I am praying that the Lord will lead in this since I must do it
all from here in South Africa and cannot visit any of the locations.
On a different note, the Acts 29 outreach
in Lesotho in October went very well. We
took 13 students from NWU to Lesotho to work at Beautiful Gate orphanage and to
do some training with a local church. It
was new challenge for me as I had to plan and cook the meals for everyone, but
a former Acts 29 member, NWU graduate, and good friend, Motlatsing, came along
to help and was a great blessing.
The students spent time helping with the
children in the orphanage, giving them attention, and allowing the house
mothers to get some much needed rest.
They were also put to work giving each of the houses a good spring
cleaning and returned for dinner each evening thoroughly exhausted.
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| Acts 20 Lesotho Outreach Team dressed traditionally in Basotho blankets and hats |
Let me leave you, as I did last year, with an amazing South African recipe that you might want to try on Christmas Eve. This mouthwatering bredie (dry stew) is packed with flavor and comes from the cookbook “Cape, Curry, and Koesisters” by Faima Sydow and her sister Gadija Sydow Noordien. I’ve made this recipe several times for guests and it is always a hit!
Tomato Bredie (serves 6)
¼ cup oil
2 onions, finely
chopped
½ green pepper,
finely chopped
3 cinnamon sticks
3 whole allspice
(pimento)
2 chillies, finely
chopped (I leave these out since I’m a wuss with chillies)
3 cloves garlic,
finely grated
2.5 pounds of
lamb, mutton or beef, cubed
2 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp ground pepper
6-8 oz tomato
paste
2 Tbs sugar
7 medium potatoes,
peeled and quartered
1 Tbs butter
- Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat and then add the onions through garlic and fry until the onions are golden brown. Add the meat and braise for 3 minutes.
- Add
the salt and pepper and braise another 5 minutes. Add 1 cup water and cook on
medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Repeat this process by adding 1 cup of water whenever
it starts to dry out and continue to cook until the meat is tender (depending
on the cut of meat you use, this could take 1-2 hours).
- Add
the tomato paste and sugar and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add
the potatoes and another 1 cup water and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes,
stirring occasionally. Reduce to a
simmer and cook until the potatoes are soft.
Add salt to taste and stir in the butter.
- Serve
with rice or bread.
If you give this recipe a try, please let
me know! I’d love to hear how it turned
out!
Wishing you all the best during this
holiday season! Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year!
