This is quite an exciting time! On Sunday we held a celebration service here at the house, including lots of food – including a ‘braai’ (barbeque) – a special tent loaned to us for the occasion (too many people
for the garage), and lots of good fellowship. The fellow who provided the tent also provided the worship music, accompanying himself on the accordion, and I gave the message. Some of all of this is captured in the attached photos. The new tent for Erton’s ministry should arrive in Rustenburg in a week or so, so it should be set up and running by the time I return here from the US.
This Saturday there will be a big meeting at the New Life Mission Station for those involved in evangelism and church planting in this whole part of the country, and you can be sure I will be there. I’m hoping that before, during or after this meeting I will get some clarity on what I might be able to do in this whole endeavor, and bring that information to the meeting of the Session of Sept. 13th. Later in the afternoon, and then on into the evening, there will be a worship service there (hopefully accompanied by a braai, as the last one was).
The following day, Sunday, I will be picked up and taken to a village in ‘the bush’ to preach at a combined meeting of the five Presbyterian congregations under Pastor Fred Lambert. As you may (or may not!) recall, I preached at their previous combined meeting, which was on Good Friday. That was in Rustenburg, however, so it will be quite interesting to see the conditions ‘out there’ this time.
On a less cheery not, our good friend and ministry buddy Maxwell (who used to live and travel with Erton before they both up and got married – I’m not sure who went first down the isle) is having some severe dental trouble. Next week he is scheduled to have dental surgery, so please pray that things go well for him.
Last Friday evening I was invited – at the last minute – to a home group to do a teaching on the fruit of the Spirit. The lady who invited me is the leader of the healing group at the Methodist church, where I teach on Thursday evenings. She asked if it would be too much trouble on such short notice, and all I could think to say was ‘this is why I am in Africa!’ It was a very good meeting, especially convicting to one lady who was there. She asked if she might meet with me for counseling – soon – so we got together on Monday. It seems more and more people are asking for counseling, and again all I can say is ‘that is why I am here’. That is one of the doors that seems to be opening for me at the Mission Station as well. It seems that there is a HUGE need, not currently being met. Therefore it is vital not just to counsel, but to train counselors. Pray for that to happen, in a big way, soon!
We now have our new clothes washer, purchased with funds generously donated by friends in the church, and all I can say is that I had been doing a good job in suppressing frustration before. How do I know? – by the magnitude of the relief! It loads from the front, so if you desperately need entertainment and the TV is broken you can just wash some clothes and watch them spin around – kind of fun! The spin cycle spins at enormous speed as well, so the clothes are nearly dry when taken out. In conjunction with the dry, increasingly warm weather, clothes dry on the line in no time. For reasons not known to me at all, here in South Africa the official start of Spring is today (September 1st). The weather doesn’t wait until the proper time, so why should the calendar?
Love from Africa Lary