December Newsletter

Where to begin? Ah yes, Start at the beginning. In the beginning, God...

That really says it all, doesn't it? In the beginning, the middle, the end: God. Without Him past, present, and future would make no sense...we would have no purpose, no identity, no hope, and no direction...just a meaningless movement towards an unknown goal.

But we do know where we going and that is why we do what we do...preach the Word in and out of season to every living soul that breathes, because...well, because God. People need God as without Him their lives are empty even if they appear to be full.

Louise and I hit the ground with quite a bang...no, nothing wrong with our pilot, but it felt as if we walked into a whirlwind when we arrived. Our roof was leaking and had to be replaced and our plumbing in the bathrooms too...but as these kind of jobs go, more problems surfaced as the renovators worked and our home was uninhabitable when we got here. So our kind in-laws took us in while we tried to speed things up. After all, our "Swedish" children and grandchildren were coming in two weeks time!

But there was also the Overberg 4 Jesus Revival going on and we played a minor role in that. Our regular Tuesday Evening Bible Studies continued to meet (in other people's homes) and we were involved in other church related activities as well. Louise's mum was doing well at the time, so no stress in that department! That came later when a dear tummy bug decided to make it's rounds in the Nursing Home and in our home! But that's an unpleasant story, so let's not go there.

Louise wrote another exam, this time on the Books of Moses. I am so proud of her...she is doing so well. It also gives us an opportunity to engage with the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church in South Africa. Johann had a devotion to write on John 21 and a few sermons and services to do at St Augustine's.

Our children arrived and we had a blessed time together. We didn't do much sight seeing as the wee ones suffer from motion sickness, but we did a lot of talking, and sharing, and cooking, and eating.

Shortly after they left we received another visitor from Durban, an old friend of my oldest brother. Chris basically cares for Eldon who is rather frail and doing poorly. We are truly grateful for all he does. We did quite a bit of sight seeing with Chris until the second to last day when Louise and I got really sick. Poor Chris had to fend for himself for that day!

We also have one of our young Xhosa men applying for a Gap Year Program with J-Life, the organisation we work with. The quarterly program is quite practical and has him returning home to apply in his local church what he has learned while at J-Life. Please pray for Innocent as he seeks scholarships and support for this program. He is from the local informal settlement.

But all is well as the renovations are mostly done, we are in our home, and on the mend...and we have God. Through thick and thin, He is always there.

Our SAMS support account is looking rather sad though and we do covet your prayers. Without financial support we will not be able to do what we do! Our two project accounts are dwindling too, so please ask our Lord of the Harvest to raise up more supporters for His harvesters!

Finally...Louise and I wish you a very happy and blessed Christmas and may 2020 be a year filled with nothing but our Lord's very best.

With all our love
Johann and Louise