November / December - Venda Outreach

Outreach
The journey to Tshitale was not so pleasant. Form Potgietersrus the one truck encountered a problem and drove slower and slower and went worse so that we all drove more difficult. At Pietersburg they worked long while on the truck and then we eat lunch, but we struggled on. Every stop was a struggle. We had to go 3 times over a railway line and prayed that God help us that there was not a train coming. The third time the truck and trailer just went over the rail when he would no longer drive. We spent over a thousand Rand on fuel just to go there. The whole issue of fuel, defects, etc. was more than R19000.00.

The first night went well, people are afraid to come but they sit on their porch and watch. When we wanted to drive home the vehicle did not want to drive. As we have tried everything, but he would not drive over the hill. We have contacted the other team and they towed us home, after their first drove past us because it is difficult to contact each other without signal. Thanks for every one of you who prayed with us when we sent the SMS.

We tried four days but this time the truck just stayed broken. Friends helped us to get a mechanic and then in Louis Trichardt the carburettor was replaced. The truck had the same problem and on Friday we took the truck to Louis Trichardt. Only one team went on Friday to reach out because the weather did not allow the other team with the equipment to stay in the field. Saturday and Sunday we could not reach out due to the rain. On Monday the truck was still not right, and again only one team reached out. We were on that stage so discouraged because we were without a vehicle and only one can go out. Tuesday they call us 3am in the afternoon and we drove immediately to fetch the truck in Louis Trichardt. It's 80km to go there (160km back and forth). Half past 6 we are back and we had little time to scurry about to do announcements before the sun goes down because we cannot set up the equipment in the dark. The Lord wonderfully carried us through and we honour Him for every precious soul reached.

Accommodation

We took residence in two houses. House No. 1 has remained all but two of the team members. The owner is a Paramedic and she stayed in her house on weekends and she worked about 30 miles from there. Her family lives in Pretoria and the children go to school here. We were so fortunate to have a borehole in this place and every day we just had to start the pump and then we help ourselves with water from the large container. She had a beautiful vegetable garden and we have spinach and tomatoes with her, getting the team to prepare it deliciously. The team was divided into two groups and we have eaten the most delicious food. Each day we had Devotion and then the men worked on the vehicles so that it is in good condition.

The bushveld is green and beautiful. It had wonderful rain the week before we started the outreach and Saturday and Sunday while we were there, Louis preached in the temporary structure of the church and we have rain drizzled inside the church as the wind blows the rain in.

A disabled boy followed Louis wherever he goes during the 3rd night's meeting. He wants to be nowhere else. Louis gave some sweets to him and to our surprise we found that he threw it in the grass. Louis was so angry with him because you can’t get sweets so easy there and there he was throwing it away. While we sat and wait for it to get dark, we also thought of the Lord’s wonders. The nightfall was beautiful and thousands of Termites came out from the ground and disappeared into the air. It was wonderful to behold.
The next night Louis said that the people not go home if they did not have a tract. This boy sat there and did not go home. We saw that he did not have a tract. We gave one to him but then he still would not go home.
 

On Wednesday, they invited Louis to the clinic to come to preach for a long half an hour. It went very well and then asked them if he could not come the next week to preach.
We asked for their consent for more time to spend so we can show an Aids Video. It is allowed and then to the church, together with whom we work with, also wants to show it in the church. The last Wednesday the teams were fully occupied, for they had about three meetings to handle.

Testimony of a Grade 10

A Grade 10 learner sat down with me and told me how he want to have a great mango and litchi farm. He wants to study everything about ground and he want to know how our culture differs from their culture. Our conversation turned to how skeptical he and his friends were about us in their village when we had come to preach. He said that when they sow us driving around and announcing about the service, it made them wonder what we are doing in their village. His friend told him that they should go see what the people want to start. Later that evening we started the sermon, they are much further into the darkness, busy watching us. They wanted to see if we have the true Gospel or do we just want to make money. As Lazarus preach that night, they come closer to the crowd and closer to the preacher. When Lazarus made the invitation to accept Jesus and put their hands into the air, his friend said to him: "Do not close your eyes, they want to do something with us, we must be aware of them. If you close your eyes they might kill us, I don’t trust that white man." They kept their eyes open and their hands lifted up as they look to Lazarus who walked back and forth to pray. After he prayed, they were amazed to see that nothing funny happened. They look to the film and then went home.
The next day he and his other friends spoke a lot about the previous night's events. They still do not understand what we are doing in their village because they do not believe we just want to get the gospel to them. They came back at the evening service. They stood in the crowd and kept our eyes open for any strange things. I began to preach as they themselves think that this time something funny will happen, they should be awake. When I reached the end of my sermon where I want to pray for everyone, they made as if they closed their eyes and prayed together, but then they feel something funny on their body. Immediately they were scared and looked at each other and say that here is something funny going on. They feel many small cold spots on their skin and body. They think, surely now the white man is busy cursing us. As they rub on their skin they saw it was wet and it started raining. We then pack the equipment so it does not get rain damage.

The next two nights they were back to our services at a different part of the village, but on the second night there, the boy came forward to testify of the Burning Hell film what he saw and the others in English, encouraged the crowd to never thinking that hell does not exist. He also had an agenda to testify to watch what we will do with him when he took the microphone. After two nights he and his friends tested us good and then on the second night of a different section of the village, he came to me and told me this testimony of how they were skeptical about us and that he couldn’t get anything false in us. They kept their eyes every night on us to see if they're wrong because he wants so much to see his village receive the truth of Jesus.

October - Giyani Outreach – Gazankulu

October - Giyani Outreach – Gazankulu

We live in a newly built house in a suburb of Giyani without glass in the windows except for two rooms. Only two rooms have cardboard on the ground and in the dust on the floor we had to sleep.
There was a roof over our head and the pastor and his wife were very hospitable. 2 Days later he placed glass in the windows of one room and in the kitchen and latches on the windows so they can close. There were now doors.
To Him be the glory.
The first night the wind blew terribly and the dust were a problem. We could not show the film because it started raining. The people were so eager to help us. Kobie received a gift from a woman named Sarah. It was 2 porcelain cups with 2 matching teaspoons and 12 tablespoons. The outreach went on without a hitch.

We saw fruit growing there, to the Pretoria people it was something new, but for the Venda and Tsonga people it's normal. They say it is very sweet and it become yellow, and the inside is light yellow with dark brown pits. It looks almost like a mango but skin looks as if it is big snake scales.