December - Heading Home

Merry Christmas!  This year has gone by so quickly, I can hardly believe it is finished.  It brought many surprises and unexpected twists and turns, but the Lord has been faithful to keep me strong to finish well.  It was especially important to me to finish well this year since it is my final year in South Africa.  As many of you already know, I will be moving back to the United States in March at the end of my third term with CVM.

My time in South Africa has been an incredible adventure and I have loved almost every minute of it (not so much the student protests and snakes in my house!).  The students I have worked with and the friends I have made have helped me to grow and thrive and I will miss them greatly when I leave. 

My plans for after my return are still rather fluid, but I will keep you updated over the next few months.  I am applying for a veterinary dermatology residency and would appreciate your prayers through that process.  There are many decisions to make and interviews to sort out and I am praying that the Lord will lead in this since I must do it all from here in South Africa and cannot visit any of the locations.

On a different note, the Acts 29 outreach in Lesotho in October went very well.  We took 13 students from NWU to Lesotho to work at Beautiful Gate orphanage and to do some training with a local church.  It was new challenge for me as I had to plan and cook the meals for everyone, but a former Acts 29 member, NWU graduate, and good friend, Motlatsing, came along to help and was a great blessing. 

The students spent time helping with the children in the orphanage, giving them attention, and allowing the house mothers to get some much needed rest.  They were also put to work giving each of the houses a good spring cleaning and returned for dinner each evening thoroughly exhausted.

Acts 20 Lesotho Outreach Team dressed traditionally in Basotho blankets and hats

Let me leave you, as I did last year, with an amazing South African recipe that you might want to try on Christmas Eve.  This mouthwatering bredie (dry stew) is packed with flavor and comes from the cookbook “Cape, Curry, and Koesisters” by Faima Sydow and her sister Gadija Sydow Noordien.  I’ve made this recipe several times for guests and it is always a hit!

Tomato Bredie (serves 6)

¼ cup oil

2 onions, finely chopped

½ green pepper, finely chopped

3 cinnamon sticks

3 whole allspice (pimento)

2 chillies, finely chopped (I leave these out since I’m a wuss with chillies)

3 cloves garlic, finely grated

2.5 pounds of lamb, mutton or beef, cubed

2 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp ground pepper

6-8 oz tomato paste

2 Tbs sugar

7 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 Tbs butter

• Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat and then add the onions through garlic and fry until the onions are golden brown.  Add the meat and braise for 3 minutes.
• Add the salt and pepper and braise another 5 minutes. Add 1 cup water and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Repeat this process by adding 1 cup of water whenever it starts to dry out and continue to cook until the meat is tender (depending on the cut of meat you use, this could take 1-2 hours).
•  Add the tomato paste and sugar and cook for 2 minutes.
•  Add the potatoes and another 1 cup water and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Reduce to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are soft.  Add salt to taste and stir in the butter.
• Serve with rice or bread.

If you give this recipe a try, please let me know!  I’d love to hear how it turned out!

Wishing you all the best during this holiday season!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

October - Visitors

Five trips to Johannesburg and back with three sets of visitors!  The last 2 months have been very busy, but it has been wonderful getting to meet so many lovely people and show them around Mafikeng and North-West University.

My first visitor was a veterinarian with Christian Veterinary Mission who came down to visit a ministry in Eswatini (previously Swaziland) where she is thinking about serving.  She flew in a few days early to visit me in Mafikeng and then I was able to travel to Eswatini with her for a couple of days before my yearly CVM short-term team arrived. Eswatini is a small circular country that is more rural and impoverished country than South Africa.  It sits on the east side of South Africa and also borders Mozambique.  It is quite mountainous and beautiful.

On my way back from Swaziland, I picked up the CVM short-term team at the airport and we all drove the 4.5 hours back to Mafikeng.  This year there were two vets and a vet tech on the team and they were a great blessing to the Acts 29 students and the students on rotation in the clinic.  We also enjoyed two days on safari seeing lions, elephants, cheetah, giraffe, zebra, and lots of antelope.

For the Animal Health students, we held a review night with pizza and also a suturing practical, but our second review night was sadly cancelled by student protests shutting down the campus. 

In addition to participating in the Bible studies, witnessing on campus, and the Acts 29 weekly training, they were able to bless the Acts 29 students with an American style BBQ. 

In early September I had another vet and her non-vet friend come to stay with me for 2 weeks to participate in the ministry and clinic teaching.  The first South African Springboks match in the Rugby World Cup occurred during their visit so we had a pizza night for the Acts 29 students and enjoyed the game together.  Go Springboks!

When you receive this letter, I will be in Lesotho on an outreach at the Beautiful Gate orphanage with 13 of the Acts 29 students.  Please pray for our time here as we interact with the children of all age groups.  Pray that the Acts 29 students will be filled with joy as they serve, that they will be stretched in their faith, and that they will bond even more deeply as friends and as a team.  Please also pray for safety as we travel the 8 hours to Lesotho and back and for smooth border crossings. 

Later this month, the 2^nd university term finishes and exam start.  Please pray for my Animal Health students as they take my written exam on the 30^th and the practical exam on the 31^st.  Thankfully, a lecturer has been hired to take over the theory and admin portions of the companion animal final-year modules so my load should start to lighten this month as she takes over lecturing and marking and doing all the admin work.   I’m looking forward to having a bit more time to catch up on my gardening!

Aug 2023 - Merlicia's Story

This month, I would like to share with you Merlicia’s story.  Merlicia joined our Bible study and home church last year and then, after accepting Christ, she joined the Acts 29 witnessing team.  It has been a joy to disciple her and see her grow in the knowledge of and love for God.

“My name is Merlicia, I’m from Limpopo [the northernmost province in South Africa].  I am doing my second year in BSC in computer science and mathematics.

“Being born in a broken family that is not in Christ with a lot of fights and hatred for one another, I grew up lacking love and facing discrimination in my family and at school because of my dark skin.

“I had no peace because of the pain. I struggled a lot with accepting how I look and where I belong.  At home, we believed in the Ancestors.  I engaged in these activities as part of the family.

“In 2022, when I came to university, I participated in netball.  I was playing for the residence I stayed in.  One day, in March, at the netball courts after playing, I saw a group of students holding hands in a circle praying and playing gospel music.  I knew I wanted to join them.  I stared at them to the point where my sports officer took me over to them and I joined hands with them.  I felt welcomed.  One of the students later introduced me to a house church and Bible study [part of our Acts 29 ministries].  I started going there mainly on Wednesday nights.  In June a lady from the Bible study [Beth Gestring] paid me a visit in my room where she shared the word of God with me.  She then asked if I wanted to receive Christ.  I knew I wanted to and I wasted no time.  She helped me receive Christ by praying to admit that I am a sinner, that I believe God died for those sins, and to confess Jesus as my Lord and savior.

“After receiving Christ, God filled me with love and I then learnt to love.  He delivered me from all the pain and in Him I found peace and acceptance.  Today, I love how I look because I know that I am wonderfully and fearfully made and everything that God created is beautiful.  Most importantly, I now believe in Christ and I have removed all the ropes [from the witch doctor/samgoma] of ancestor worship.  I believe in God for my protection. I am free.”

Please keep Merlicia and the other Acts 29 students in your prayer as we start the second term and once again share the gospel with students on campus. 

June 2023 - Rest

 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

The past two months have been a strange mix of chaos and rest and of struggles and blessing.  It was a very busy finish to March: working with the Gestrings as they prepared to move back to the US, getting home church organized on campus with the students in charge, and taking charge of the Acts 29 witnessing group and the Bible study.    

Last time with the Gestrings

After those weeks of heavy stress, attending the CVM retreat in Kenya in early April was an oasis of calm for 5 days.  These retreats (every 3 years) are such a blessing! They provide time to rest, debrief, and enjoy time with the other CVM missionaries in Africa.  The hours spent around the dining tables chatting about everyone’s lives are my favorite times.  I also brought a guitar along and led worship in the morning sessions and in afternoon informal times of worship.

Baobab Resort on Diani Beach, Kenya

Just before I left for Kenya, I found out that the veterinarian who had accepted the university lecturer position to teach the companion animal module decided at the last minute not to come.  That left me scrambling to write two exams and two tests in the few days between the CVM Africa retreat in Kenya and another trip scheduled to Turkey.  The home church also wanted to have a baptism service, so we pumped up a plastic pool and baptized 3 students at my home on April 16^th!

By the time I left for Turkey, I was completely drained again.  But what a blessing the Lord had planned for me there!  The purpose of the trip was to attend a MedRefresh retreat.  These retreats are offered by MedSend, a Christian non-profit that pays the student loan payments of medical professionals serving in ministry overseas.  They have supported me in this way for the entire 8 years I have been in South Africa.  Without their support, there is no way I would have been able to serve here.  As part of their ministry, they are focusing on how to improve longevity in medical missionaries in the field and one of the key aspects of that is rest. 

Rest is often a challenge for those of us serving internationally.  We tend feel guilty taking times of rest as if we are letting down all of our supporters back home.  And yet, life overseas in ministry is stressful!  That stress often accumulates over time leading to burnout and collapse if there aren’t good, and frequent, times of rest. 

MedSend really spoiled us during the week in Antalya, Turkey, looking after our spiritual, physical, and mental health.  They paid for a free-day activity (see photos on Facebook) as well as a Turkish bath experience at the hotel spa!   I had also scheduled a few days after the retreat in Cappadocia, Turkey, where I watched hundreds of hot air balloons flying, visited an underground city dating from the times of the Hittites (1200 BC) that burrows down 18 levels (290 feet deep), and took a 5-hour horseback ride through the most incredible landscape.

Pamukkale's white travertines

Anatolian lunch on a floating pontoon in the Ihlara Valley

Hot air balloons rising over Gerome - over 100 total

Riding though fairy chimneys in Love Valley

On my return to South Africa, I could feel the difference.  Even though my last few days in Turkey were busy, the break from my responsibilities in Mafikeng made a huge improvement in my stress level and I feel energized to push though to the end of the semester.

Please continue to pray for the house church and for those students who are taking on the leadership of the church.  It is going well, but this is going to become even more of a burden for them during the exam period this month.     

April 2023 - Joy in Sorrow

 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 5:3-5 (NKJ)

Sometimes the Lord bring changes that we don’t understand, but we will always praise Him.  My heart is heavy because the Gestrings, my ministry partners at NWU, are going back to the US much sooner than planned.  They were planning to retire early next year, about the same time I would be returning to the US, but they have had to move up their plans and will have moved back to the US by the time you read this letter. 

Wes and Beth Gestring

This change has been very hard for our Bible study, house church, and Acts 29 students as they struggle to understand and say goodbye in a very short period.  Please keep the students in your prayers so that their strength and trust would be in the Lord and not in people here on Earth and also that the Lord would bring peace and joy to their hearts.

The unexpected change has also had significant impacts on our various student ministries, especially the house church, which met in the Gestring’s large house.  The Acts 29 students are keen to continue with the church and they will be taking on the leadership of the church so please pray for them to receive extra wisdom, strength, and time in their busy schedules so that it isn’t a burden, but rather a joy.  We will be moving the house church on campus to one of the lecture halls as long as the university gives approval, so please pray for favour with the administration. 

There is also now a much larger burden on my shoulders as I will have full responsibility for the Bible study and Acts 29 witnessing training.  Also, if we are able to go ahead with the planned Acts 29 week-long outreach in Lesotho in Oct it will all be my responsibility.  Please pray for strength, wisdom, and gifting from the Holy Spirit that I would lead and train the students well and that His will be done. 

As you can see, much prayer is needed for the students, myself, and the Gestrings through this change.  Thank you for supporting us in prayer over the next few months.    

Feb 2023 - Timmy's Story

To start off the new year, I wanted to share with you Tuelo ‘Timmy’ Motloba’s testimony. Timmy was part of Acts 29 last year and has been active in our Bible study and home church. He has a gentle heart and a love for those around him. Timmy is one of those people knows everyone and whom everyone knows! If you need to find out who to speak to about something on campus, just ask Timmy. He will have a contact for you. Here are his words: 

Growing up my home was filled with so much freedom and I realized this when I became of an age when I could take independent decisions. It is this freedom that led my mother to elope [and run away] with my younger brother who was 2 years old in 2007. Because my grandmother practiced ancestral worship, she was confident in this to find her daughter. We consulted traditional spiritualists all over our province but to no positive response. In 2015, when my aunt told our household of the many wonders that take place at a church she recently found, we were so excited that we could finally find answers to the questions dearest in our hearts. We visited severally and this was when we learnt of this God who goes out to find the lost sheep.

The church was filled with so much miracles that we knew ours would soon follow. What was interesting is that in these night vigils or ‘fire Fridays’, as the prophet would call them, we walked about a kilometre overall in the dark, in our notorious town, to and fro the church without harm. Moreover, we hitchhiked back safely to our village as taxis had ran out by midnight when we returned back home. The prophet would tell us that this God who performs these miracles in church also protected each person in their comings and goings. We testified to this with our own experience. In some of their teachings, the church assumed everyone had a firm foundation of scripture. Because of this, I ventured off to find a bible-based church. 

From this time, I fell in love with Nigerian films that portrayed God’s faithfulness and love to rescue those who suffer. I developed believe in Jesus Christ through these fictional films that He will come through for our family situation. One film stood out where the main character who was orphaned went to work at a royal palace, where it was later revealed that she was the heiress to the king. This story related to how Jesus Christ came down from heaven to earth to experience the ordeals that His creations go through – first hand as it is written in the book of John in the Bible. These films also revealed to me that God gave His son to die for our own wrongs. Many of the characters were convicted to make a turnaround back to God’s ways. 

So was I also convicted to believe that the God who protected my household through the lonely nights walking back from church also suffered and paid fully for my wrongs. So I repeated after one character who repented in one film. He said “Lord Jesus, I come humbly before you in my shame and disgrace, with the weariness of this world’s burdens. I offload them before you to cleanse and make me anew. Wash me with your blood so that I may share in your righteousness. I now confess that you are my Lord and Saviour. Guide me to follow you alone. Amen.”

After this I began to make sense of all the favour that has followed my family. I now see everything that happens as part of God’s will which works out to good. I led my grandmother to believe and trust in Jesus too as we wait for the plan of God to work out in our lives. The void left by these lost ones in our family has been filled by a great helper who is faithful always unlike man. Jesus Christ has found us as His lost sheep. We now see Him as the friend who sticks closer than a brother and now share this freedom to appreciate Jesus’ presence in our house. I am now (2022) in training to equip me with His truth and ways through Bible study and to go out and make Jesus known to others out there.