The Latest News

Hot weather is here with its share of lightning storms. Just amazing to see how the lightning sweeps the sky. It is powerful and is quite majestic. White and purple streaks bolt out with a nature that has to make contact with something. But with it comes some much-needed rain. Mosquitoes are on the prowl too. In the morning you awake to the sound of geese, chickens and outside are the cows and horses on the Ebyown property. Dave and Lyn wake up to the noise of children and babies. This is one of the biggest benefits of sleeping in the caravan outside.

The shoe box project is going well and we have already got the shoe boxes, wrapping paper, seed, we have got the toys, and I have designed the colouring leaflet which I am photocopying bit by bit. We also have the gospel literature. People have donated towards the project and so we should be able to pick up most stuff. We might have to leave out the Toothpaste and the toothbrushes because they are the most costliest items.

Dave is back from the UK and it has been good to have him back. However we are seriously lacking with the Sunday school. Twice during the last month we have had to cancel Sunday school because there was no one to do it. There is a need for someone to take over Sunday school and coordinate it. More than half the people in our group are children.

This month I will be accompanying Dave to India for a week to visitr and help a ministry called Good News Ministries, directed by a guy called Chanti. Dave will be doing a couple of sessions at a pastors conference and I will be giving a message at a gospel event. We will be visiting the schools and community projects they are involved in too. I trust that it will go well and that we will learn from and input into this group of people.

Evangelism

Mike and I have started to visit a local college again, ( Springs College). Outside of the security check point there is a car park and a number of students just hang out there. So we go up to them and chat. We met some Hindu guys, but they weren't really Hindu. They don't practice Hinduism but are from families that claim to be Hindu. The first time we met them they were really open to having a chat. But the last time we saw them, it was a different story. I met a guy who is a Jehovah's witness and we had a long chat. I proved to him from the bible that Jesus is Jehovah through cross referencing Hebrews 1 to Psalm 104. He was adamant about meeting up and bringing his bible along. But when we came, he wasn't there. I met a guy whose family are JW's but he isn't. Mike and I really enjoyed chatting with him because he asked a lot of questions. He asked us if we believed in evolution. I asked him what he thought. He said he couldn't believe in it. I agreed with him and stated that there is no proof. The fossil evidence that was put forward has been debunked, including Nebraskka man being taken from the tooth of an extinct pig, Peking man and Lucy (Australopithecus Africanus) being found to be a quadruped because her hands showed that she was a knuckle walker. Another guy, called William, wasn't that open initially but when I talked about giving proofs for the bible his ears pricked up.

Questions that we are asked about more than once tend to be about apocryphal literature. People often ask about the Gospel of Judas and other works but what people are not told about in the programs that they watch is that these teachings were spoken against in the bible. Paul testified in the scriptures that there were eyewitnesses at the time of his writing of the resurrection and even the Jewish historian Josephus testifies to it. This same Paul spoke against the Gnostic heresies, which he said was falsely called knowledge. So when I explain these things people always are satisfied with the answers. But for people to believe in the Gospel is not something we can do for them. We can only give a reasonable defense of the faith and share the Gospel message, with its requirement of belief and repentance. We intend to continue visiting the guys at the college and to continue doing our open air preaching. We will be doing the gospel boxes outreach, God willing, on the 30 th November. On the 17 th November we will be receiving about 6 visitors from Australia who will help out with our witnessing to the Gospel and at Ebyown with the kids as well as with Sunday school and the Gospel boxes with the outreach that comes with it.

At the end of the year I should be going to KwaZulu Natal to visit my friends there. I used to work alongside Caleb and Sophie Massey at the mission station in the rural area of Ngotshe, which is just mountains, forests and a couple of farms and mud huts. We saw the establishment of a local church group 'Ibandla Lendlela Eyodwa, (Congregation of the Only Way) and a kids club, (Abantwana BeZulu Club – Children of heaven Club) a few bible studies and other projects. Caleb and Sophie have just had their second child, Abigail Charlotte Massey in October and they will be leaving South Africa to move to America next April. My friend Phumulani Mthembu who lives there is the pastoral figure and his sister, Celani, runs the children's club. They are only a small handful of Christians but they are faithful and solid guys.

Dave and Lyn manage to cope well with the ups and downs of looking after the children. There has been quite a few illnesses lately with runny tummys, shingles and sick to clean up. If you would like to receive their newsletter please email moriel.david@gmail.com and I am sure Dave will be pleased to add you to his email list.

Apart from that Hebrew is going well. We are starting to learn to read without the vowel markings but it will take time to learn the words and work through it.   

Prayer Requests

• For Dave in the UK and returns. For Lyn and Chris as they look after the kids
  
• For the possibility of more witnessing opportunities and the sensitivity, guidance and courage to proclaim God's gospel. Please pray for the individuals that we speak with, which ever names God lays on your heart.
  
• For our own devotion to Jesus. For that reality to be apparent in our own lives as we attempt to practice what the scripture tells us in love and humility.
  
• For the different trips and projects, including, the trip to India, the Gospel boxes and the trip to KwaZul