visit to Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary

Laura Beach, SMMS, Pietermaritzburg, SA 27 May, 2010

Photo caption: Some students from SMMS took us on a tour to see some important sites around Pietermaritzburg. This is the monument at the place near Howick were Nelson Mandela was arrested on 5 August, 1962. Pictured (L-R) are Laura Beach, Isidro Cutane, Bonnie Scott, Ryan Spurrier, Neil Vels, Gale Kganyape, Dewey Williams, Dylan, and Thuso Manamela.

What a joy to have our first experience of South Africa be with the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary (SMMS), with whom Duke has a covenant relationship. We are staying on campus with the seminarians and it has been wonderful to hear their stories and receive their warm hospitality. I have been especially inspired by conversations with some of the women here at SMMS. One woman, Shirley, talked about doing her internship in East Cape (internships here are for a year, and as intern you are a full-time pastor). Being from Johannesburg and speaking Sesotho, it was quite an adjustment to go to a rural, Xhosa speaking community. Shirley, however, wanted to be able to preach without a translator, so she read the Xhosa Bible and worked very hard to practice and learn to speak, and by Easter (3 months later) she preached in Xhosa! Hearing this story, I thought, wow, this is exactly the kind of radical love that we are called to practice—this is what Dr. Jennings was talking about in BCS 125!

Worship has been a highlight of our time here—with beautiful singing in Zulu and Xhosa and English and some amazing preaching. We also have seen the sights of Pietermaritzburg and visited the seminary’s new campus, which is under construction. It quite impressive, with lots of open spaces, large classrooms, and plans for a vegetable garden, where seminarians can receive training that they can use in ministry. I wish we could set up an exchange semester through DDS =)