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 2nd
university term finishes and exam start.
Please pray for my Animal Health students as they take my written exam
on the 30th and the practical exam on the 31st. 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!
No comments:
Post a Comment