Sept 2021

 Winter is here!  Mafikeng has been in the grips of quite a cold snap the past few weeks. Temperatures have regularly dropped below freezing at night and only reach the low 60’s during the day.  I brought quite a few of my potted plants inside to keep them from freezing.

Although I really enjoy the cool weather, it is rather unpleasant when the indoor temperatures hit 49 degrees in the morning!  Thankfully, one of my cats always sleeps under the covers with me when it is cold.   It is like sleeping with a living hot water bottle and makes a huge difference in keeping warm at night!  He probably thinks the same.

Despite the cold weather, South Africa has been experiencing a third wave of Covid infections and it has been the worst so far.  Perhaps it is the delta variant, perhaps it is people getting tired of following the lockdown rules.  Either way, the country is back up to level 4 lockdown, which means no gatherings of any sort.  Thankfully, this has been primarily over the winter break so our ministry activities would have been paused anyway.  Hopefully, we will be able to meet again for Bible studies shortly after the new term gets underway.

One of our last Bible studies before the increased lockdown

Please continue to pray for our ministry:

·       That we will be allowed to meet in groups again in Aug so that Bible study and our home church can continue in term 2

·       That we will be an encouragement to students and challenge them in living out their faith

·       That students will prosper in their online studies and not get behind

·       That we would be able to source oxygen for the clinic to allow surgeries to continue

·       That covid would not lead to any clinic/department shutdowns in term 2

Over the winter break, I was blessed to have my parents come for a visit.  We traveled to Cape Town and Kruger National Park and then up to Namibia.  We were very lucky/blessed because Namibia is also experiencing very high covid infection and death rates, so locals were not allowed to travel, but foreign tourists were not restricted.  We adjusted our travel plans slightly to mostly stay away from the big cities, but we were still able to visit all the famous and beautiful locations.

One of our favorite stops was an area called Sossusvlei.  It is in the Namib desert and is famous for its red sand dunes which rise over 12,000 feet high!  We decided NOT to climb them!  There is also a valley amid the dunes which used to be an oasis.  Although it has been dry for 600+ years, the trees never rotted due to the extremely low humidity.  The area is known as Deadvlei and is very popular with photographers, where the black, sun-scorched trees against the white salt pan and red dunes provide stunning photo opportunities.

The beauty of Deadvlei, Namibia

What an incredible world God has created!  My soul resounds in praise as I see His glory reflected in His creation!