Nurturing the Seed at Home and Scattering “Abroad”

Soweto

The group photo (page 26) is of a weekend fraternal held in July where we were blessed with visitors from far and near. Bro Steven Palmer from Wales led the studies on Urgent Exhortations from the Apocalyse with emphasis on Ephesus. Brethren and sisters joined us from Pinetown, Bloemfontein and Mafekeng making for a spiritually enriching weekend and time of special fellowship. The prelude to the weekend was the joyous baptism of our youngest brother, 14 year old Lebo Nlitseng at our Bible Class on the Thursday afternoon before.

Bro Stephen Palmer with newly baptized Bro Lebo Nlitseng

The Soweto ecclesia is strong and vibrant with many members involved in local preaching through the Saturday seminars and literature stands and also a good number are dedicated to outreach preaching beyond.

Swaziland

After too many years to count, we had the unexpected pleasure of receiving a call from Bro Fanuel Sithole in Nhlangano, Swaziland. Despite a number of serious challenges in his life he is still strong in faith. As we had a “free” weekend at the beginning of August it was decided to reconnect with our brother and at the same time hold a seminar in Manzini. Sis Jane Samwell from Adelaide was with us and not averse to visiting Swaziland again as she had accompanied Leon and Joan Shuker on one of their preaching stints in Swaziland before the turn of the century. We set off with Bro Emmanuel Mphambo (JHB ecclesia), first to visit a student in Mahlahleni (Witbank) and then to head for Nhlangano. It was a very happy reunion with our Bro Fanuel, during which we were able to catch up and clarify some misunderstandings that had occurred.

We arrived in Manzini at dusk and were surprised by the growth of the town, and the new network of roads. The topic requested by Bro Fanuel for the Saturday seminar was “Do we need prophets today?”The venue was excellent but the interest was well nigh non existent – two people- one being the cook who kept disappearing to presumably check on the lunch. Unwittingly we had chosen the day the King of Swaziland, King Mswali 3rd had called his people to meet him at an “imbiso” - and meet him they did. (The King sometimes calls all the people to come and listen to him in person and 80,000 did just that.) Our main objective of rekindling our association with Bro Fanuel had been successful so we left thankful about that.

Botswana

The following weekend was Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, and this time we were accompanied by Bro Lucky Sekhasembe (Soweto) and sisters Debbie Payne (Pinetown) and Zanele Khumalo (Soweto). Again the topic requested for the Saturday afternoon seminar was “Do we need Prophets today?” On Friday leaflets were distributed in the central pedestrian mall. The locals are very polite and willing to listen and seven came just from the billing - unusual - but perhaps the topic attracted them or Lucky and Zanele with their engaging ways had charmed them!

From the newspaper advert there were another nine students and six regular students attended, all making for a most interesting seminar. Bro Lucky was well prepared and question time was very lively with some students staying on afterwards till dark. It was really helpful to have sisters accompany us, as about half of the students are women. There is a very good spirit among the Gaborone brethren and sisters and so encouraging was the fact that our newly baptized brother Stephen Kethokile (baptized in December in the Shashe river near Francistown- see photo) managed to join us. It was heartwarming to see the Gaborone brothers and sisters embrace him so heartily into the family. We are very blessed to have the use of a guest house with kitchen, lounge and dining room which all helps to create a warm family atmosphere. Bro Kgamakwe Mokoena (Mafekeng) has taken responsibility for the preaching in the Gaborone area and visits at least once a month.

Bro Stephen Kethokile flanked by Sis Leonie and Bro Paul Verster

Bro Lucky Sekhasembe, standing, teaching at the seminar in Gaborone

Postscript: Bro Leon Shuker has taken up the challenge of moving from Paris to “exile” in Gaborone where he is assisting the small ecclesia there and holding seminars every Saturday. We salute Bro Leon for his tremendous preaching spirit and being willing at his advanced age to move out of his comfort zone and be about His Father’s business in a strange land.

Limpopo

A few days after Botswana it was Limpopo with Bro Daniel Makhado and Sis Precious Madzivhandila (both are Venda speakers from the Soweto ecclesia). Because the postal service is SO unreliable we have had to think of a new strategy for the correspondence courses which seems to be working much better than expected. We had placed an advertisement in the local Limpopo Mirror for the Bible courses in March and made a trip with Bro Daniel to make the personal contact and hand over the material. Daniel did another trip on his own two months earlier and this one was the third. Because black folk are such ‘people-people’ - their greeting ‘sowabona’ (‘I see you’) reflects just that. We are finding that making the personal contact really seems to work.

We left at 6am and got to Louis Trichard (now Makhado) by 11.00 having met one student in Pietersburg (Polokwane) en-route and were then able to see all eight students Bro Daniel had arranged for us to meet that day. Going north all along the Zoutpansberg through umpteen villages we came out at Sibasa and Thoyandou, big towns some 100 kms east of Louis Trichard, and then returned south of the Zoutspansberg through beautiful countryside rich in tropical fruit and tea plantations to our self catering unit in Louis Trichard. Daniel, who is from the area, stayed with family as did Precious who grew up with her grandparents in Tshakuma - known for it’s large fruit market.

In Thoyandou we met Susan - such an amazingly keen lady who works for Aardvark, a big hardware shop. We were ushered into her office, chairs were found and a white lady also warmly greeted us - when I said to her “So do you and Susan share the Bible together?” She was VERY quick to say “Oh no I leave that for Susan”. If only she knew what she was missing! The next day was even more hectic. Thankfully Bro Daniel knows the area like the back of his hand and so we didn’t waste time trying to find the students, often in far flung villages – some at work, some on the side of the road, others in their homes etc. En-route to meeting Daniel we had gone off on a dirt road and met a student in the road - no verges here and amazingly this student had met us in 1998 when visiting with Bro Duncan Heaster! He had moved to Durban and lost touch but now is back - he had seen the advert in the paper and wondered if we were the same people. It was a very happy, if not a little incredulous, meeting but such are the ways of Providence. Three of his family took the course and he was excited to see Bible Basics in Venda (translated by Daniel) and delighted to be able to read it in his mother tongue. It wasn’t long before a group had gathered and Precious had her work cut out explaining the courses in Venda, to the increasingly large and curious crowd. One lady said she couldn’t wait to study the Bible for herself as she was “tired of hearing lies”.

Sis Precious Madzivhandila preaching from back of van

The upshot of this Limpopo “experiment” is that the response in terms of students faxing their answers back has been excellent. We are now planning to hold a day seminar and invite all the students. God willing. We pray that in due time our Father will give the increase – ever thankful for these opportunities to offer the joy and peace of the true gospel to those hungry for truth and real hope.

Bro Paul and Sis Leonie Verster (South Africa)