Just a quick update on our outreach in South Africa while I have a moment at a rare internet cafe – We’ve settled into a regular schedule finally. We minister on Monday through Friday, take Saturdays off, minister in churches on Sunday mornings and then have Sunday evenings off.
A typical day involves worship, prayer, preparation and personal time with God in the mornings. We then eat a quick brown bag type lunch (ham on bread and a piece of fruit) and head out to an afternoon of door to door and street evangelism. Tara and I love the street and door to door evangelism. It is amazing when people are receptive to prayer and conversation about Jesus, the Word, and our life stories.
We normally eat dinner around 5:30 or 6:00 in the evenings. The days are full, especially with leading, because any free time can be filled with grocery shopping, meeting with pastors, meeting with the staff, or other administrative tasks. Some mornings Tara has gone to one meeting and I’ve stayed with the kids until she gets back and then I run off to another meeting.
When the days are sunny it seems warm during the days, but the nights stay cold because we don’t have heating in our sleeping quarters. Today it is raining so it seems cold everywhere. It will be hard to be out doing street evangelism on rainy days because it can be 45 degrees or cooler, windy and raining, and the combination makes for chattering teeth!
We are seeing fruit from our work. People are open to us in spite of our skin color. In South Africa the racial divide is still strong, but it seems they welcome people who come in the name of Jesus, without an agenda. We have seen people pray to accept Jesus, welcome bible teaching, receive new bibles, and allow us to minister with prayer and other work.
Tara and I will be leading a group into the area of Zwelethemba. It is the most poverty stricken area we have seen. The “houses” there look more like what we were used to seeing in the Philippines, many of which are made out of scrap. Most do not have electricity or running water, but everyone can get to clean running water from water taps that are placed throughout the community. The primary language there is Xhosa, which is difficult at times. We hope to be able to acquire more translators, and we hope to work with the local health clinic. It is an area with much disease and many people are hungry. We plan to provide Xhosa bibles, food, medical help, the gospel of Jesus and love – the love Jesus gives us for the people there.
Pray for us as it is sometimes difficult working with so many different people from so many different church and cultural backgrounds. It is easy to have misunderstandings. And we don’t all worship the same way or pray the same way or even talk about things in the same way. The good news is that we all worship the same God, love Jesus, worship Jesus as Lord, and desire to see people come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. In that we are one.