Fwd: God’s gracious works
Dear friends,
I give thanks. ?Thanks to all of your for your prayers.
These have been amazing days. ?God has been at work from moment to
moment. ?Nevertheless, there have been few moments to take time to
write.
Everyone has been so very gracious.
As you know, it took me 3 extra days to get to South Africa. ?When I
got here I had but a day before I needed to teach the preaching
workshop. ?I?d gotten a good sleep on the plane, so things worked out
pretty well. ?There were roughly 35 lay preachers at the workshop.
Rev. Duma translated most of the time. ?My teaching? ?Well, who knows.
?Nevertheless, the blessings included a couple of hours at the
beginning with each participant sharing their greatest joy in
preaching, greatest sorrow, and expectation for the workshop. ?Old and
young. ?Male and female. ?The result was that at the end the decision
was made that the support from the workshop should not end there but
continue. ?I gave many suggestions in how people could get together in
small groups to study a text? ?how could they do that? ?listening to
the text, sharing insights? ?and then we did a bunch on listening to
the gospel, discerning law from gospel. ?We struggled together. ?It
was very good.
Since the rest of the group has arrived many good things have
happened. ?We had a very long time with the chicken farmer? ?seeing
his layout and learning from him. ?It was quite an amazing day. ?Then
that evening we saw one home where chickens were being cared for? ?the
chickens were lively and healthy, just about ready to eat. ?The woman
was beaming with pride? ?they were so very beautiful and I asked her
how she would ever slaughter them. ?Oh, she said, she would get some
more. ?We made a video of her sharing how she was caring for her
chickens.
The next day we had to work with ?going to the feed company to clear
up some communication issues. ?We purchased a bunch of seed for the
agricultural workshop. ?And then we split up? ?the rabbit group in one
direction and those of us going to Wasbank. ?Unfortunately, Rev Duma
and his wife had spent the day turning in their tax return? ?a very
long process that had made them quite late to join us. ?So, we also
went to the agricultural research station. ?With no notice, Erica
vanZyles spent the next 3 hours with us, and suggested that she show
us the next day some very fine community gardens.
Then we arrived in Wasbank. ?Unfortunately the younger chickens here
have been struggling. ?The primary layers look healthy. ?Nevertheless,
the younger ones are diseased. ?After looking over the whole
situation, the next day we returned to Dundee to meet Erica again.
After visiting the community gardens she then took us to her vet who
consulted with us and then refused to take payment. ?It turns out that
the chicks have a respiratory disease. ?The provision of God is that
today we are going to the rabbit facility and while we are on the way
we can stop to purchase the necessary antibiotic. ?God shall have his
way!
then, because the vet took so long, we were late to get to the feed
store again… ?they had gotten the worng feed on mOnday, so we needed
more… ?we arived after hours, and they were gracious enough to let
us in to get what we needed…
Now it is time to take off. ?We are on our way to pick up the
antibiotic and the rabbits.
I suspect that I may be preaching on Sunday? ?don?t know where, and
have not a moment to even contemplate that. ?Perhaps on the road
today? ?we?ll be in the car for about 5 hours.
Oh, I could say so very much more? ?about the beauty of the land and
the people, of how awefully cold it has been? ?(I?ve been wearing
every layer I own). ?About wonderful food and even more wonderful
conversation. ?But now I must go.
Until who knows when? ?God does!
God?s peace amidst the pieces.
Becky, Rebecca, Revkah
Ps? ?the cpap is working fine? ?and slowly I?m catching up on sleep.
–
God’s peace amidst the pieces!
Becky