Extracts From the South African News Letter
Bro. Ramazinni & Sis Sangani Emena & their lovely family of eight children emigrated to USA, the "land of the free and the brave", on May 20th. We see this as God's answer to prayer as they have been living in appalling conditions here in SA. Only those who have travelled away from Africa for good, will appreciate their excitement of this new adventure, which is probably coupled with the fear of the unknown. They will be comforted knowing that our Lord and Saviour watches over us all the time.
Congolese ecclesia continues steadfastly and there are always one or two students attending the Sunday Morning classes.
News from Poland. Sis Krystyna Wlodarczyk sends greetings to us all "We in Poland, settled here & doing things, step by step, which we were planning to do here before leaving SA. We are fine here, but at the same time missing family, brethren & sisters in Christ, friends and the weather. June is the month which should be warm & nice here. But we have had, instead, cold & miserable weather most of the time this year.
SOWETO
As anticipated, we greatly benefited from the visit of Bro Anthony & Sis Pat Oosthuizen at the beginning of June. Bro Anthony started our seminar series on "Society in Crisis" with two seemingly unrelated topics: Marriage & Drug Abuse. However, being temples of the living God we are to honor God in all our relationships and behavior. We were treated to further ministrations by Bro Anthony in the exhortation and Bible study. We thank them both for their visit and encouragement especially as they are now well known to most of our members.
Apart from the outreach on the home-front in the form of the Saturday seminars, the topics of which ranged from How to combat Immorality, presented by Bro David White, Homosexuality, Gambling and Prosperity Theology, this month saw much activity and excitement on a new outreach venture. Bre Daniel Makhado and Templeton Mdludlu organized for six brothers and sisters and four from Yeoville to trek to the Eastern Cape for a study weekend at the Candu ecclesia. From all accounts it was a wonderful weekend of study and fellowship as Bro Gary's report attests. The party greatly appreciated the warm hospitality extended to them; Candu ecclesia pulled out all the stops, even slaughtering the "fatted calf" in the form of a sheep! We pray the new relationships formed will live on into eternity.
Bro Paul & Sis Leonie Verster with Bro Emmanuel Mphambo went to Bloemfontein as planned to baptize Bre Phakiso Mophete and Simon Mofele on Sunday 8 June. That day dawned a chilly winter's day & to prove it we had a dusting of snow! However, undaunted Phakiso & Simon braved the water of the pool at the guest house to put on the saving Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Bro Emmanuel stoically standing in the pool through the proceedings! They were warmly welcomed into fellowship by the Bloemfontein ecclesia that were there to witness the great step they had taken. Both are from Kroonstad and are keen to preach there so we pray they keep strong and active on the road to the kingdom. A seminar is planned, God willing for mid-July.
A seminar was held on the Saturday afternoon presented by Bro Emmanuel this time on Demons: so much discussion ensued,
We have welcomed Bro Stewart Gomeza with Sis Simanga & the children. Stewart exhorted us and the children joined our Sunday school for a lively lesson on the role of fathers in the family, as the world focused on fathers'day. Louis Botha is now a regular visitor, transported by the Versters.
Cando
Members from Johannesburg and Soweto met for the Seminar after long journeys to Cando where "they joined the already large and excited contingent that had gathered for the day's proceedings. --- Bro. Daniel Makhado presided & Bro. Harrison got the ball rolling as the first speaker of the day. He spoke on the difference between Soul & Spirit. There was a short break, immediately followed by Bro. Gary who spoke on "Rewards in Heaven or on Earth". After lunch Bro Daniel covered devils & demons which then wrapped up a resoundingly successful seminar day. Of course all this was followed by a question and answer session, before we called it a day. Needless to say, some very interesting questions where posed, and the team led by the experienced Bro. Daniel answered all, convincingly.
In Bro.Templeton's words the talks were `excellent and well received' by the sizeable audience, among whom were local villagers who had responded to the invitations . While the local residents retreated to their homes for the night, the travelers used the evening to interact and get to know one another better, before retiring to bed. The memorial Service began at 09:00, presided over by Bro. Eddie Ngebeza and Bro. Obed Mafifi gave a deep, powerfuly moving & sterling exhortation on that had everybody on the edge of their seats. Quoting from the scriptures he convinced and encouraged us, on what it means to have faith with works and humility, which our Lord Jesus Christ personified. After the service we broke up into two groups. The sisters covered family life and had to talk to teenage girls about dating, fornication and unfaithfulness, led by Sis Synthia from Soweto. The brethren talked about family life, and a question and answer segment about the spirit and soul.
PRETORIA CENTRAL
