Dumela!

You were just greeted in Setswana, which is the language spoken of the Tswana tribe, which most of the people who live in the Northwest Province of South Africa and neighboring country Botswana belong to.  We had the privilege of visiting this area this past week.  Before I tell you more about our trip, we want to thank those of you that took the time to send a note of encouragement off to us since our last update-we love hearing from you and knowing you are praying for us and the people we serve.

In Africa, plans are not made ahead of time but usually just happen when they happen, so we didn’t actually know that our trip to the Northwest was a final ‘go’ until we got a call early Sunday morning by a pastor that had invited us. We quickly packed up our car and made the 3.5 hr trip in good time.  Moruti (or ‘pastor’ in Setswana) has a huge heart for the poor and lost.  Upon our arrival he took us to meet several of his relatives and friends and then we were taken to our host’s house, a gracious woman by the name of Gladness.g for us!

We spent our first full day visiting several villages and seeing how our pastor friend ministers to the people that live there.  One of Moruti’s greatest passions is just walking from village to village and meeting with the locals, listening to them and praying for them.  Living a life and raising a family with few belongings of their own, he is a truly humble man that wants to uplift the village people by sharing God’s love.  He is also wants to get his own community involved in local outreaches and build others up to go and take the gospel out to others.  We join him in prayer that he may someday be able to take his ministry passion to a level on his own.

The last 2 days of our time in Northwest we travelled with Moruti and Gladness to visit several villages in Botswana.  The village homes were very similar to those in South African villages.  While there we also met with a ward councellor of Lobatse, Botswana, a town just across the South African border.  She took us to visit many homes in that area, trying to emphasize the need for support for so many of her people.  We drove to her homestead in rural Botswana to stay overnight, about 148 km from Lobatse, the last 63 of which were down a gravel road!  Being night and very dark outside, we sure had to be on watch for all the cows and donkeys roaming everywhere.

It was very interesting to see the reaction of Gladness, our host from South Africa, during this trip.  She was amazed at the conditions that people were living in and their lack of food.  I guess I am always surprised when an African doesn’t seem to be aware of the dire conditions that other Africans live in.  I was so happy that Gladness was with us and that what she saw hurt her heart as it did.

As we have been in Africa just short of 3 weeks, we are clearly seeing God unveil His plan before us.  Despite all the hunger, the poverty, and the sickness that surrounds us here, we are still convinced that the greatest need is for the people here to hear and know the true Word of God.  Statistics have been shown that about 80% of South Africans claim to be Christians.  When discussing this with a black South African friend of ours, he said he would guesstimate that to be closer to 30%.  The other 50% of the published 80% are either being bombarded with prosperity teaching that they truly believe in or they are stuck in an ancient culture of worshipping their ancestors.  In many parts of this country, it is clearly acceptable to be a Christian while practicing witchcraft.  People have little hope and are facing a world of darkness in almost every direction that they look.  Our prayer is that we may continue to find local pastors that are passionate to learn and teach the full wisdom and counsel of the ENTIRE Bible, to live by example, and to choose to come alongside and disciple their people.  We want to be able to equip those locals that have a desire to share the life of Jesus in the midst of poverty stricken areas.  We want to see hope brought to these communities so that people can feel worthy.  We want to see these same people believe that God has given them gifts and talent to use.  The Lord is already opening some doors for us that we are praying about, and we ask that you, too, pray with us.

Another busy week lies ahead of us, as we revisit a few people and organizations. Today we are worshipping at Calvary Chapel Johannesburg with missionary friends from Malawi that are in town for a few days.

Sala Sentle (stay well)!

TentMaker Ministries prayer requests:

for us to focus on God’s will for our ministry, and not get distracted by ALL the needs around us;

for future local volunteers to join us;

for future long-term US volunteers to join us;

for God’s provision of TentMaker Ministries;

for continued commitment of our local volunteers and supporters in the US;

for God’s protection as we travel, and good health along the way;

for God to bless our SA pastor friend so that He can reach out to people in the villages