The green bakkie was 2 weeks at a garage in Pretoria for repairs and we
have paid R4 100 fir it. One would expect that we have no problems so
that our trip will continue. Great was our disappointment when we went
up hill at Pietersburg and there it begins to stutter again. We poured
more fuel in, though the meter still shows half. Then the gears pester
around. It struggled to go into 5th gear.
Thanks for all your prayers and everyone who helped and tried to help after you received our SMS!
Bakkie issues
The Lord is so good to us and we honor Him for His provision and love.
The night's sleep was difficult and the space was small but all of us
could be getting a nap. Louise thought it was quite an adventure.
With Armand and our other workers it did not go much better either.
The road was difficult due to the steep uphill and they had to detach
the trailer and push it up, as the road was smooth, slippery and steep
and their truck would not go up with it hooked on. They went to the
pastor’s house to see where we can settle, but they asked for another
place because the road to his house goes over river with a crooked
bridge that will break after a few crossings with the trucks. What if we
were across the bridge and it fell? Later on, Sunday when we walked to
church, we saw that half of the bridge had collapsed.
There was no signal only on the hills where we lived and we struggle to
communicate with each other. We had all the kitchen equipment and
groceries and the other team just had meat and bread in the freezer.
They went to a nearby shop, and bought only the necessary things to eat.
Monday morning the owner of a garage in Potgietersrus firstly checked if he could fix the truck where it stood. He saw that he had to put the truck on a ramp to take the gearbox out. The truck cannot just be towed because it can damage some parts. He towel Louis about 50km with the clutch pressed in. If he leaves, it can cause major damage. It was difficult because he had to concentrate on the clutch, the steep slope and the pickup truck. It took 7 hour to fix it. The truck was repaired so that we all could use all the gears except 5th because they couldn’t get any spares. We decided to go to reach out because there are souls who await His word and the other team, with no food. When we left we were very tired and only needed to get the trailer at the park near The Ranch. It was late when we reached Louis Trichardt but God has provided wonderful and there were not many cars on the road. The truck was not quite right because you could tell that power is lacking. The other team reached out that night. They thought that the rainy mist will stop them. But something else stopped them from reaching out. After they setup everything and just wanted to preach, the generator stopped, the sparkplug was dead and the trailer with the extra sparkplugs were, is with us. There were many people but, there were no electricity. When we came to the team, the truck was struggling to climb the uphill. For a V6 engine we could not believe it, they open the bonnet and saw that the people who worked on the gearbox did not plug two of the spark plug wires in correctly. It went better but not as it should after connecting it again. The bonnet was later reopened because it sounds like the fuel pump does not work right. We pray that the Lord will give wisdom to us so that we will soon find the fault. The Lord is faithful and we soon discovered that the petrol pump's wires were connected wrong. The vehicle's transmission was in Potgietersrus not completely repaired because they could not get parts so that we can use 5th gear. On the way to reach out one evening Louis forgot and put it in 5th gear and it got stuck again, solid, completely. Fortunately, as God wants, it was before closing time and Louis quickly called someone in Louis Trichardt who previously worked on the truck and he says he will wait, Louis can bring it. This time the team knows what to do and Nkangolenie must drive while Louis is towing him. The truck was fixed and the guy showed Louis some metal pieces that fell into the gears that caused the problem. He replaced 5th gear so that all is fixed. It’s good it didn’t happen on the road going back home, that wouldn’t have been nice.
In Mozambique, it is not much better. Louis had an opportunity to
contact our representative, Robert, because he sent a text that we
should contact him. He explained that the truck which he drove also had
gearbox problems and they had to tow him out of Mozambique as the truck
broke down. It rained terribly in Mozambique and all the roads have
washed away due to the cyclones they have had. One must now travel to
Zimbabwe to reach the area where we work. Wow, if we haven’t had enough
problems. The Lord is wonderful and good for us and we honor him for
everything that's good or bad.
When the truck came back from Louis Trichardt it didn’t want to go up
the steep hill, but it was due to the petrol pump that was not working.
The result was that the gasoline had to be poured out and the petrol had
to be removed to see what the problem was. They thought they had found
the problem and the tank was returned.
The next morning we wanted to leave for home but the truck does not
want to start. With great effort and wires, it could be started after
approx. 2 hours in the rain struggled. When we came back, about 30
meters from our house the truck died again, with that same petrol
problem. We fill it with a container of petrol again and drove the last
few meters. On Monday we took the truck again to see what the problem
is. The total expenditure on the truck in the short time was over R8
000.00
God has placed a dream in our hearts to establish a mission centre, to
start helping people with problems and now it seems the enemy tries
everything in his power to stop us. God is almighty and although we are
at this stage in the worst place ever regarding LWM finance, we know
that we worship a wonderful God; He will never fail and never leave us.
We give Him all the praise and glory of our hearts.
About the outreach, God provides wonderfully. People came to God and a
's tears were rolling as they prayed for her. She later testified about
it and what the Lord did in her life. She went for the first time to
church on Sunday and witness to all who knew her that they knew of the
sinful life she suffered but she is here to worship the Lord. To God be
the glory.
The enemy does not just steal our money, but also steals souls, in one area and the film Burning Hell was showing children started screaming terribly. The next time everyone runs into the inner circle where all our equipment is. The wires were run out and it is suddenly very dark. We plugged it in again but approx. 100 of the approx. 400 people were gone. All that remained were calmed and the proceedings continued. We suspect that someone might have moved the wires and that they probably thought it was a snake. The next day the people cleaned the grass neat and told us that the room there is a breeding ground for snakes. They saw a great snake that day there. When we finished the village, we move to the next village. The chief wanted the team to not make any more noise after 8 o’clock and the film was not shown, but they preached and the opportunity to make a commitment prayer was made.
At school they did not firstly want us to educate the learners is school time. But later we got a chance to meet the grade 12 and bring them our teaching. When they saw what the team could do, they said we must do the whole school. The primary school had heard and asked for the grade 7s to also hear the teaching. The principals were so grateful that they feel much more empowered. We praise God for the opportunity to share His word with these children.
For more information or if you would like to read the whole newsletter, Newsletter 2 for 2012
