Greetings from South Africa! 24 Aug 2006
Good grief! We still do not have a land line, which means no Internet at home,
which gets in the way of regular emails. So, I will add a few words to a message
I composed weeks ago, attach a bunch of pictures, and hopefully get this thing
off before my battery dies (actually, the battery in the laptop; mine is good
for a number of hours yet -- I think).
Louise is now teaching children of our congregation during the week, and
everyone else on the weekend. See attached pictures. Producing all the materials
she uses (her standards are very high, and she has no mercy on herself in regard
to such minor issues as sleeping) takes a lot of time, but they will be usable
for years to come, so pretty soon the worst will be over. . . . We keep saying
that . . . .
Earlier this week we visited a large number of shelters for the homeless, and it
turned out that ALL of them are for children up to the age of 18 (see photo of a
small house where 18 boys stay). We were driven around by an absolutely
WONDERFUL policeman named Owen, who is known and loved by everyone. We stopped
in the middle of the road once so he could talk to some boys hanging out there -
boys he knows by name, and who know him. (See photo of him holding a black
baby). At the age of 18 people just get kicked out (Owen’s words) to try to make
it on the streets. So, the need is for someone to care without an age
restriction. Why the age thing, you ask?? Government funding is much more
available for ‘children’, which is of course defined by age.
Another thing we noticed is the very large number of old, useless computers and
monitors that have been ‘generously’ donated. I guess it makes people feel
better, but almost all of these donations are not even plugged in. They simply
get put somewhere until someone can figure out how to get rid of them or,
somehow, do something useful with them. (see photo of a bedroom packed with
useless monitors).
I’m also including a photo of the venue where Philadelphia Fellowship meets. The
main purpose of this is to remind everyone that, while Pretoria is pretty nice,
we are still very much in AFRICA!.
The two remaining photos are included for general interest. In one you see two
trees side-by-side. One is normal in colour, but has beautiful orange blossoms
on it. The other one is entirely yellowish-green, bark and all. The other photo
shows how, on an exceptionally clear day, one can see all the way to downtown
Johannesburg from a hill behind where we live - a distance of about 33 miles.
The sky, unfortunately, is very rarely this clear.
Well, I better stop before the computer does.
Love from Africa,
Lary and Louise
Africa! We moved about 7 weeks ago and still have no phone line, so we do our Internet work at a nearby restaurant called ‘Mugg and Bean’, which has a wireless network and - until today - free access to the Internet. Today, however, the Internet from here is toast. Which is too bad. So, I can write
an email and even prepare pictures to be included, but I can’t send it. Oh well.So many stories, so little Internet connectivity! Father will fix the latter as surely as He is the Author of the former. This morning, for example, Louise and I drove to a truly ugly town called Brits (all you see are mines, mine talings and large places devoted to scrap metal). Fortunately, we actually drove THROUGH Brits to a small farm (called a ‘holding’) just east of town, where a wonderful couple just finished moving (Coobus and Marinda). Marinda is a student and teacher of Hebrew, while Coobus has a shop that sells various things, including the best - and best priced - shofars (ram’s horns) anywhere. Louise is to begin teaching Hebrew to our congregation this weekend and wanted to get a curriculum that comes from Israel that Coobus has. Louise also wanted to get as much as possible from Marinda, who is a WONDERFUL teacher of Hebrew. We had a great time, got the curriculum (except for a few of the CD’s, but we’ll get them later . . . Africa!). We also met a black pastor from Zimbabwe who is the dean of a Bible school. I had a few minutes to talk to him about the ‘Twelve Acts’ curriculum that we are writing, and he is very interested. His school might turn out to be a test-bed for the curriculum.
Two days ago we went to Rustenburg - or, actually, a small town called Kroondal of German ethnicity just east of Rustenburg - to give a seminar on the Spiritual Bride. The group that gathered was small, but may actually form the core of new ‘Philadelphia Fellowship’ in Rustenburg. One couple that came is the lady who is the leader of the ‘Healing Group’ at the Methodist church in Rustenburg, who I have know for 2 ˝ years now, and her recently-released-from-prison husband. At one point she shared with the group some impressions of me that she has gained, pointing out how long she has known me. It was quite wonderful to hear, here in Africa, someone who feels they know me because they have known me a long time. It was interesting how GOOD it felt to be with a small group that was truly ready to hear the message, rather than a large group that listens and then just leaves.
Of course, history has established that some of those who come and go to the seminars COME BACK and become part of Philadelphia. That is REALLY nice! We now have close to 30 people every week, almost all of them budding dancers. All of them, however, are TALKERS. Every week when our service ends the time of fellowship begins. The time of fellowships only ends when some rude person - usually me - finally forces people to actually get in their cars and go home. Leaving the building is not nearly enough, because people can continue to chat by their cars for an unlimited (I think) time. Even the cold (remember, it is winter in South Africa) doesn’t do the trick - talking with shivering seems to provide sufficient distraction from the pain of the cold.
The radio program went very well. I did my usual thing of talking - preaching - too much when I had the chance, but fortunately the lady who’s program we were on is quite experienced and spent most of the rest of the time interacting with Louise. THEN the anointing came quite strongly. This program was almost entirely in English, for a change, so I will try to get a CD of it and send it along to St. Luke. Anyone who wants to hear should then be able to get a copy through them.
