No riots!

No riots!  Can you believe it?  We are now several weeks into the new term and there have been no protests or even signs of unrest on campus.  Since returning to South Africa in January, I have continued to prayer walk around campus with the Gestrings (IMB missionaries on campus) three mornings a week and, now that the students are back, we frequently have students join us as we pray for continued peace and God’s light to overflow this campus.

Now that schools and the university are back in session, all the associated activities are also in full swing.  Final year student rotations at the clinic are proceeding well, although our supplier keeps postponing the needed vaccine deliveries so we have been out of DAPP dog vaccines for almost a month. We are seeing plenty of interesting cases including distemper, parvo, mango worm, Ehrlichia and Babesia tick fevers, a hind limb amputation, and a possible case of rabies (sent to the state vet for testing).

Outside the clinic, I continue to help lead a women’s student Bible study on Monday nights and we have had great attendance by first year, as well as returning, students.  On Wednesday nights I assist with a student witnessing training group and we are already planning outreaches for June and October during the breaks as well as monthly trips back to the village of Sixhundred.  Fridays, my church hosts AWANA for about one hundred kids (1st-7th grade) and I do the record keeping. It is a bit overwhelming, but the kids are totally worth it.  Finally, every other Saturday is our ladies meeting at church, but thankfully I’m not currently leading those meetings.   It is nice to just be a participant!
Early in February, the Gestrings organized a showing of the movie “To Save a Life” and we had almost 200 students attend!  Over 130 filled out comment cards and we have been working through visiting each of those students in their dorm rooms, answering questions, sharing the gospel, and inviting them to the Bible Studies.

Whew! Sounds like a lot when I see it all written out, but thankfully, I still have time for some gardening, reading, and working on French with Rosetta Stone.

In January’s prayer letter, I mentioned enjoying the rain while I was home, in Seattle, but I think I brought it back with me!  It has been raining here at least weekly and we often receive more than an inch each time it rains.  I’ve logged more than 12 inches in the past month. Thankfully, that means less time spent watering the garden :)  Thank you so much for your prayers for rain over the past 18 months.

Unfortunately, the increased rain also means the recurrence of the nasty Mango worm.  The flies lay eggs in moist ground or moist clothing hung out to dry.  When the hatched larvae contact skin they quickly penetrate the skin and grow into maggots.  Once they have grown large enough, they wiggle out a hole in the skin and turn into flies.  Usually, Mafikeng is dry enough to prevent their development.  Now, all clothing/sheets/towels hung outside to dry have to be ironed to kill the larvae.  Since I don’t have a clothes dryer and hate ironing, I’ve invested in an indoor drying rack.

Now you have something to be thankful for when doing your laundry.  No fear of Mango worm!

Jan Prayer Letter

Welcome to 2017!  Can you believe how quickly the past year has flown?  Half of my three year term here in South Africa is now past and I’m sure the next half will go by even faster.

Over the holidays, I had a wonderful time at home with my family and thoroughly enjoyed the cool, wet weather and even some snow!  My parent’s kitchen had heavy use as I filled it with cookies of all shapes and sizes and even some candy and dipped chocolates.  It was so nice to bake with a “normal” size oven again.  My oven here in South Africa is too small for an American cookie sheet and only has one oven rack.  The oven’s booklet also stated that I can only use three of the four burners at any one time or two burners and the oven.  So why did they make it with four burners?

Let me backtrack a bit further into last year and let you know that the university managed to stay peaceful long enough to finish exams and complete the year (the South African school year runs Feb-Nov).  In the clinic, we spent two days in November running practical exams for the students to evaluate their clinical skills.  All of the degree (4-year) students did well, but the diploma students (three-year) struggled.  Unfortunately, when they are accepted to university they don’t always get to study in their chosen field and may end up placed in random courses.  For example, they may have applied to study education and become a teacher and ended up placed in animal health.  That tends to reduce their enthusiasm and I can’t say I blame them.  Some of the students are so scared of dogs that they won’t even touch them! 

The new school year starts with registration at the end of this month and I suspect there will be further protests/riots as there was last year.  Last year the students missed so many days of teaching and days in the clinic due to the protests that it really seemed to affect their learning. 

For this New Year, I would appreciate your prayers for the following:

• ·    Please pray that registration will proceed uninterrupted and that classes will start without hindrance.
• 
  
• ·         Please pray that the Lord’s spirit of peace will overflow the campus and that he would frustrate the intentions of those seeking to disrupt it.
• 
  
• ·        Please pray for our outreach to incoming freshmen, that many will desire to be involved in our witnessing training and Bible studies.
• 
  
• ·         Please pray for the new year of AWANA, that the verses the children memorize will stay with them over the years to come and that they will understand the gospel fully.