Greetings from Africa! Wednesday April 07, 2004
I have been asked to send these emails out a bit earlier in the week for church-related post-processing, so here I go.
The biggest news (see attached photos) is that the
garage-church was a big success on Sunday. We sent a 'combi' down to the Sunrise
area to provide more people with transport to church, and they really packed
themselves in. We had borrowed 18 chairs from the Presbyterian Church and added
some more of our own, and they were all filled. I took pictures and 'shot video'
that will eventually find its way onto a DVD. There were no instruments,
microphones, amplifiers (except the acoustics of the garage) or speakers, but
the congregation sung to the Lord in a way that can only be described as
WONDERFUL! Erton preached a wonderful message, after which there was a time of
prayer and then fellowship under our shade tree.
We
prayed for many, including a young girl (perhaps 12?) who is blind in one eye
(her left). My heart ! has been burdened for her since Sunday, and it would be
wonderful if everyone who receives this would pause for a moment and pray for
her. She has a very good disposition and doesn't complain, but wouldn't it be
wonderful for her to go through life with vision in both eyes? After the prayer
time everyone enjoyed tea and coffee and, of course, more singing. The combi
returned to take them away at about 2:30. For the future the hope is that space
is made available in Sunrise Park itself for services, so that many more people
can come. I believe the Lord has a great work in store for Erton (and Lydia) in
Sunrise Park, and everyone in St. Luke Church should be very pleased that we had
a hand in launching it.
Quite unexpectedly the folks from Mogwase came around to the house today. First Oupa called to say he was in town and wanted to come visit. He showed up later than I expected, since I didn't know that he was on foot. We had a wonderful time for several hours, and then Pastor Edward called to say he wanted to come around as well. He didn't know that Oupa was here, but it worked out very well because Oupa could ride back to Mogwase with him rather than going in a 'taxi' (African version, nothing like the American version). It is quite wonderful to be part of a community of brothers within which fellowship doesn't always have to be planned in advance!
Tomorrow night there will be a Passover dinner at the Presbyterian Church. I am looking forward to it, and will bring some of my Messianic Jewish CD's to provide appropriate background music. I am also taking my tallit, and at some stage will stand and don it to read something from the Bible (probably 1Cor 5:7-8). I have missed having the opportunity to be Nicodemus this year as I was last, but this event will at least recapture some of that experience. Perhaps I will just go ahead and be Nicodemus for the night! (I'll report next week.)
Love from Africa,
Lary