The
past few months have been a whirlwind of activity with an American veterinary
student coming for 3 weeks, end of term exams, a 10-day holiday in the Eastern
Cape province, and a short-term mission team.
Sheesh, I feel exhausted just writing about it!
The
holiday (vacation) with my friend was wonderful, but we kept quite busy,
driving over 1500 miles. We spent
several days in the central desert area of South Africa called the Karoo, and I
had a chance to try astrophotography (star photography) since there is no light
pollution. The night sky there is amazing
and the Milky Way is stunning in its brightness and detail.
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| An old abandoned shop in Putfontein |
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| A working windmill (windpump) near Hanover |
The
main reason for the trip came at the end, when I spent 4 days horseback riding
along the eastern coast. It is a
stunning, almost tropical, area with white sand beaches, dense forests, and
quaint towns. Viewing it from horseback
has to be the perfect option. My horse,
Tenna-sea, was very reliable and quiet, but loved to gallop on the beaches. I
also brought home way too many giant seashells.
Just
a week after I returned to Mafikeng, my short-term team from Christian
Veterinary Mission arrived. The trip had
been postponed since 2021 due to covid restrictions, so everyone was excited to
finally touch down in South Africa.
Unfortunately, two of the four team members had last minute family
emergencies and were unable to come. The
two who did come were both veterinary technicians and spent most days in the
clinic with me and the students.  |
| Thomas, Makayla, and me - Short-Term Mission Team 2022 |
In
addition to spending time building relationships with the students, the team
held an evening review session for the final-year students, helped with a
rabies vaccine clinic (100 dogs and 2 cats vaccinated) in the local village of
Lokaleng, and participated in an Acts 29 movie outreach. They were both able to share their testimony
during the movie outreach and the students were quite moved. It really meant so much to the students (both
in the clinic an in Acts 29) that people would come all the way from America
just to spend time with them.
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| The Acts 29 team and STM team |
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| The second rotation group and STM team |
On
a sad note, shortly after dropping the team off at the airport, I received word
that one of our past Acts 29 members, Thato, had died. He and his wife, Thandeka, had both been
involved in our ministry on campus while they were students. They were married a year ago, shortly after
graduating from North-West University.
Thato’s death was sudden and unexpected and Thandeka has been left
bewildered and grieving. Please keep her
and both families in your prayers.
Please pray especially that God will be glorified in this tragedy.
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| My ministry partners, the Gestrings, with Thato and Thandeka at their wedding |
