March Prayer Letter - Starting First Term

Registration is finally complete!  If you recall, in my last prayer letter, I asked for your prayers regarding registration at the University for the new academic year.  Thank you so much for your prayers!  Although there was some disruption the first day and the university shut down for a week, things got back to normal the second week of registration and there has been no further strike/protest activity.  Praise the Lord!

Over the two week registration period, ten students from the witnessing training group, as well as Wes Gestring from the US, came back to campus early to participate in an outreach.  The plan was to have a table in front of the Great Hall, where registration takes place, to strike up conversations with students using an interesting set of photos called Soularium, get contact info, and have a sign up for Bible studies. Everything was set up to go the first Monday of Registration when the returning students disrupted the registration process and even had a sit-in at our table!  Campus closed that day and didn’t reopen for seven days.

During that week, even those of us who live on campus were not allowed to enter campus after 6pm on weekdays or at any time on weekends.  Frustrating, but not unbearable except they forgot to tell anyone the first day and just locked down at 6pm.  I was off campus that evening meeting with the students and, after standing around in the rain for an hour at the university gates, finally had to go stay with friends that night.  The university absolutely refused to allow entry even for resident staff.  That weekend, I convinced the department to reserve a room for me at a guest house so I wasn’t trapped on campus for 60 hours.

During that week campus was closed, we all met at Dr. Gestring’s house for Bible studies, prayer, and witnessing training.  Although it wasn’t what we had anticipated, it was a great chance for the students to grow spiritually and to instill some new concepts regarding reproducing discipleship.

The second week, campus opened for registration and we were able to set up the table and proceed as planned.  Many wonderful conversations were had with new and returning students and 60 students signed up as interested in Bible studies. 

. Since five of the witnessing training students are willing to host Bible studies this year we will have plenty of room for all who are interested.  In the past, the Gestrings and I have led the Bible studies, but this year we have encouraged the students to lead.  We have a leaders Bible study on Monday so the students will be familiar with and confident in the passage and then they get to lead the same study during the week. 

Over the next month, please pray for the students leading Bible studies.  This is a big step of faith for most of them and they are very nervous.  Please pray for confidence, peace, and grace from the Lord, for deep relationships to form within their groups, and for the Word of God to shine brightly on this campus.

Please also pray for continued peace on campus throughout the semester.

Finally, please pray for strength and energy for me as I transition out of the holidays and back into the somewhat organized chaos of the new term.

Again, thank you so much for your prayers!  It was a blessing to know you were praying and to see the results!

Feb Prayer Letter - #feesmustfall

Registration at North-West University is set to begin next week, God willing. You may remember last November when the students protested/rioted over anticipated fee increases at universities all across South Africa.  After two weeks of protests, the government promised a 0% fee increase for 2015 so the protests were called off and the students were able to finish their exams.  The ultimate goal of the protesters, however, was completely free university education and now students around South Africa are again protesting and interfering with registration for the new academic year in an effort to obtain that goal.  NWU’s registration process begins next week so we will soon know if our university will once again be involved in the protests.

Rumors are rampant among the students and staff with some saying that protests/strikes during registration may close the university until next term (July).  Thankfully, I can rest in the knowledge that no matter the outcome, it is all in God’s hands. Sadly for me and the evangelism students I work with, if registration is affected then our planned outreach will likely be canceled.  Several students are coming back a week early to help with the outreach to first-years and Dr Gestring is flying in from the US to help as well. We are praying that registration and orientation continues as planned.

If the protests do occur please pray that they will stay peaceful this time.  Pray that no students, police, or staff will be injured, that no property will be damaged, and that I will be able to stay in my on-campus housing. 

If the protests do not develop on our campus, please pray for the students participating in our outreach.  Pray that incoming students will be prepared by God to hear of his love and salvation.  Pray that strong relationships will develop between the incoming students and those students participating in the outreach. Pray that the outreach students will be bold in sharing God’s word to those around them.

As usual, up to the minute details will be posed via my Facebook page.  You can also follow along with the national protests online by searching for #feesmustfall.  Please keep us in your prayers.

Jan Prayer Letter - Botswana

Happy New Year!  Have you made any New Year’s resolutions?  I’ll admit, I’ve never been one to make New Year’s resolution although I greatly admire those who make them and manage to keep them. 

Christmas here just didn’t feel like Christmas with the weather in the 90’s and 100’s, but I did manage to do some baking and candy making.  I put up a tree and a few decorations and broke out the Christmas music, but kept expecting Christmas in July car sales advertisements on TV.  In traditional South African style, the clinic went to half days in December and was closed for over a week during the holidays.  Many of the businesses here shut down or run minimally during the month of December, which can be very inconvenient.  We even had difficulty getting our medical supply orders as those companies also shut down for several weeks.

Thankfully, everything else is getting back to normal on campus.  The students finally finished their exams about 3 weeks late (due to the protests) and are now home for summer break.  They should be arriving back around the end of the month, but until then, the campus is very quiet.  While they’ve been gone, the security gate by my house has been repaired (it was severely damaged by the student protests) as has the main university gate. 

            One goal for the free time I had during the holidays was to practice my evacuation route into Botswana.  I took the opportunity to visit friends in Lobatse, just across the border, for a weekend and managed to survive the border crossing with minimal hassle.  A bit different than the US/Canada border!  On arriving at the South African side of the border you park and enter a building to have your passport stamped and car registration details recorded.  After finishing there you go through a car inspection and then drive to the Botswana side to go through it all again.  Stand in line, get passport stamped, stand in line, record car license and registration details, stand in line, pay a fee, etc.  Thankfully, I am now familiar with the process in case I need to leave South Africa quickly.

The area across the border is much more beautiful than Mafikeng with rolling hills and lovely scenery.  Sadly, my friends there are leaving this month to move back to the US so I won’t have a good excuse to visit in the future.

Please continue praying for the new student outreaches that will be going on the last week of Jan and the first week of Feb.  Please pray for open, prepared hearts and willing spirits.

Dec Prayer Letter - Riots

Just as I was beginning to feel settled and life was developing a good routine, the world decided I needed shaking up.  You may have seen my posts on Facebook as the situation developed, but if you did not, and would like up to the minute updates on all my adventures in the future, please like my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/GoSpeakLiveBoldly) and click on “Notifications.”    One Wed morning late in October I got up, got ready as usual, and walked over to the small animal clinic.  Imagine my surprise to find it locked up tight.  While talking with someone else trying to get in I learned that the university had been locked down due to student protests at the front gate.  Security personnel had been told to lock everything and bring all keys to the control station.  Although this seems logical on one hand, on the other it only caused more problems.  Critically ill pets were now locked in the hospital, I was now locked in the campus, and so were many others who drove to the back gate looking for a way out.  I wasn’t really concerned until I talked with one gentleman trying to get out the locked back gate.  He said the students had threatened to burn his car if he didn’t leave campus immediately!  Now I was concerned!  All I wanted was to get to my sick patients to safety and then leave campus.    With several other trapped staff members we finally broke into the small animal hospital to get out my patients and cut the padlock off the back gate so everyone could get out (we used another padlock to relock it after we left).  I rapidly threw together some clothes and necessities, left large bowls of food and water for my cat, and drove out as quickly as I could.   For the next ten days I stayed with friends as a refugee.  Thankfully, the back gate of the campus remained relatively quiet and was not involved in the continued rioting that occurred elsewhere on campus. So on quiet days I was able to sneak back into my house to pack a few more things, check on my cat, and water my plants.    Around the front gate and student center, things deteriorated over the next few days with looting of both cafeterias, the shops, and the bookstores.  Tires were burnt, rocks were thrown, students who wanted to leave were threatened and even beaten, and police got involved on several occasions.  Over 40 students were arrested at one point, although most were later released.  Several students were injured by rubber bullets as police and students clashed.      Students at many other universities were also protesting, but most of the protests around the nation remained peaceful.  Throughout South Africa, the students were united in protest against proposed tuition fee increases of 6-10% for the next year.  Eventually the universities agreed to 0% fee increases for next year, which stopped the protests, but I can only wonder what will happen in the future.    The campus was eventually reopened after 11 days of protesting and riots.  Final exams, set to start the week after protests begin, were generously moved back 3 weeks to allow the students time to study.  So far, all has been quiet again.  Once exams are finished, the students will be gone on summer holiday through the end of January.    Thank you for your prayer for my safety and for an end to the riots. Please pray that all will remain peaceful through the next year and that there will be no lingering resentment between staff, students, and the community.   I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  May the Lord bless you greatly with peace and joy throughout this holiday season. PS: Christian Veterinary Mission works in communities around the world where animals are much more than a companion, they are depended upon for survival. This Christmas season, we invite you to partner with us and give a gift that truly matters-the kind that can transform lives and communities from CVM’s Animal Impact Gift Guide atgifts.cvmusa.org

November Prayer Letter - Outreach

Thank you for your prayers during our outreach last month!  It went incredibly well despite many unexpected last minute changes and circumstances.  I took a group of six North-West University (NWU) students from the evangelism group I inherited and we met up with two former NWU students, a couple from the International Mission Board, and five Americans from Kentucky.  The first blessing was how well everyone gelled as a team despite different nationalities, cultures, and ages. We partnered with a local church in a township (black, poor, outlying, densely populated suburb) called Jouberton, outside the city of Klerksdorp.  Many of the homes here are cobbled together from cement blocks, corrugated steel, and anything else that can be scavenged.  Most only have outhouses for toilet facilities.  Trash gets dumped wherever is convenient and sewage frequently overflows from manholes and runs down the dirt streets.  Jouberton’s population of 111,938 people is crammed into eight square miles with extremely limited public services.     We had two main goals for the week: a children’s program in the mornings for three days and a youth (teens and young adults) outreach each evening.  The children’s program was the primary responsibility of the Americans and they were excited this year to mostly hand off the program to the local church, Letlhabile Baptist Church, with a training day on Sunday after church.  One of the former NWU evangelism students led the kids in Tae Kwon Do for an hour each morning and then they had a Bible story time and discussion groups.  Finally, games were organized for the last hour, with football (soccer) being a favorite of the boys, and a cooked lunch was provided. Ages ranged from around 3 to 15 years of age with 180-240 children coming each day.  On the final day, over 40 kids indicated a desire to know Jesus as their savior.     Although my NWU students helped out with the children in the mornings, their primary focus was the youth in the evening.  We went out into the streets each afternoon to invite people we met in yards or walking down the street and had many great conversations.  Wonderfully, many of those we spoke with did come along in the evenings. The students planned out 4 discussion based gatherings using movie clips to introduce a different topic each night.  After the movie clip the students led the discussions and finished each night with related Biblical foundations.  We had a wonderful turnout of youth each night and they were actually willing to interact in the discussions and ask questions.  On the final night we had 35 youth attend!   Although the students and I returned to Mafikeng exhausted both mentally and physically, everyone is eager to do it again!  Please pray for us as we look into starting a similar youth program in a village near North-West University.   The student evangelism group is also using the last few weeks before summer break (Nov-Jan) to plan outreach activities for the incoming freshman in Feb.  Please pray for guidance from the Lord in how we should reach out to both non-believers and Christians next year.   For more photos from the outreach visit my Facebook page atwww.facebook.com/GoSpeakLiveBoldly.   God bless,

Rebecca

October Prayer Letter - Two Paths

Have you shared the gospel with someone?  Has someone ever shared it with you?  How was it explained?  Because the gospel is at once simple and complex it can be difficult and even intimidating to share it with others, yet that is exactly what God tells us to do.  Part of my goal in training the students in the campus evangelism group is training them in a straightforward and reproducible way to share the gospel. Although there are many different methods, we have chosen one called "two paths" since most of those we share with are literate and have a strong respect for the Bible.
 
Today, I want to share the “two paths” with you so you can better understand what I am teaching the students and how they are sharing. As you read this, the students and I will be on an outreach in the town of Klerksdorp, about 2 hours away from Mafikeng, and they will have many opportunities to use the "two paths" method.  Please pray that the students and I would be bold in sharing the gospel and that the local church will follow up well with those who choose the narrow path.

 
The “two paths” presentation is very interactive so why don't you follow along with me and turn to the book of Mathew in the Bible and find chapter 7, verses 13 and 14.  Go ahead and draw the picture out on a paper as we go along.  These verses talk about two different paths. How are the paths described?  One path is wide and easy and one is narrow and difficult.  One gate is wide and the other narrow.  What lies at the end of each path? The wide path leads to destruction and the narrow leads to life.  How many people are on each path? Many are on the wide path and few on the narrow.

 

What does the Bible say about the people on the paths?  Let’s turn to Galatians 5:19-23.  The first few verses describe some of the actions of people on the wide path.  Write those descriptions down along that path. Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; and drunkenness.  In contrast, what do we see in the people like on the narrow path?  Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
 
And how do we end up on these paths?  Look up Psalms 51:5 to see how we start down the wide path.  We are sinful from birth and so the wide path is where we all start.  You can also read in Romans 3:23 that we have all sinned and fall short of the perfection required by God. And how do we move over to the narrow path so we are heading towards life rather than destruction? Read John 5:1-7 to see how Jesus described it.  We must be born again; spiritually this time.  How can we be born again and enter the narrow gate?  Mark 1:15 give us two instructions - repent and believe the gospel.
 
What does it mean to repent?  It means we must turn away from the wide path and all it entails and go the other direction on the narrow path towards life.

 
What does it mean to believe the gospel?  In I Corinthians 1:15 the writer outlines the gospel for us briefly.  That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, was buried and rose again according to the scriptures, and there were many witnesses of these things.  Also, in Romans 9:10-11 the Bible says that if we believe with our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead we shall be saved and never put to shame.
 
Everyone is somewhere on this diagram.  What road are you on?  What road do you want to be on?
 
This is the basic gospel presentation the students are learning.  What do you think? I'd love to hear your response!  Next month I look forward to sharing with you how the outreach went and how the students did in using this method.

September - My ways vs His ways.

The Lord’s ways are ever amazing and confusing. He prepares paths for us that we didn’t expect, but are excited to see and then diverts those paths again.  His paths have been both stirring and challenging to travel the last few months. Let me share a bit about what the Lord has been doing.

Shortly after I arrived in South Africa, mutual friends introduced me to Wes and Beth Gestring, IMB (Southern Baptist International Mission Board) missionaries also serving at North-West University (NWU).  Wes teaches in the agriculture department, which is located in the same area of campus as the small animal clinic.  They were heading off to a two-week IMB training conference where they learned about a church planting movement called T4T (training for trainers) championed by Steve Smith and David Garrison and originally developed by Ying Kai in China.  They returned very excited about what they had learned and eager to implement it with the student groups they led. 

In God’s own mysterious way, I had also been exposed briefly to T4T (1 day) and other church planting movement ideas while at the Center for Intercultural Training last May (in North Carolina).  CIT offered an extra week of training in Church Facilitation & Multiplication after finishing with the 4-week missions preparation course. I had decided to attend since I was there already and it seemed interesting.  However, I thought the week might not be very applicable for me since I wasn’t going to be involved in church planting. I’m so glad God convinced me to stay that extra week!  It was exciting and eye-opening to see how God was moving around the world and realize what was possible.  After that week, I knew God had me there for a reason, but I couldn’t imagine trying to implement these ideas on my own in a new country.

The Gestrings invited me over for dinner after their training excited to share with me about T4T and see if I would be willing to join them in working to implement it at NWU.  It was wonderful confirmation for all of us to realize how God had prepared us separately with the same vision for starting a church planting movement.  Even more amazing, the IMB was doing a second two-week training in South Africa in September and they were willing to let me attend at no charge!

The next week, I attended the woman’s Monday Bible study Beth led on campus for students as well as the student evangelism training Wes led on Wednesdays.  Just one week later everything changed when Beth found out she was going to need to return to the United States immediately for several months of medical care.  I agreed to continue the woman’s Bible study and for now I am also continuing the evangelism training although I feel woefully unprepared for that topic.  Although it is a relief to the Gestrings that the students they care so much about have not been left without guidance, it thrust me into a significantly greater ministry role than I had expected at this stage.

Please pray for wisdom as I lead both student groups as well as try to find my way around my role at the small animal clinic.  Please also pray for the Gestrings, that Beth’s medical treatment would be successful and they will be able to return to South Africa this year.  Finally, please pray for me while I attend the T4T training in Johannesburg the first two weeks of September.    There will be much to learn and to implement that is out of my comfort zone.

On a side note, my work at the clinic is going well and I’m starting to develop a rhythm with all the different medications and diseases seen here.  Parvo virus is rife with multiple cases each week and tick borne diseases, such as Ehrlichia and Babesia, are very common as well.  Diagnostic options are extremely limited because, although the university has excellent blood chemistry and blood cell count machines, they are currently broken and are unlikely to be repaired.  I’m essentially limited to urine dip sticks (when we have them), HCT/TP, a few snap tests (parvo, Felv/FIV), and whatever I can do in the exam room with a microscope (blood smears, fecal exams, FNAs, etc).

Thankfully, I’ve had several good outcomes with patients to start out my time here and we see lots of cute puppies throughout the day.  For more stories of my patients, please check out my project Facebook page at www.facebook.com/GoSpeakLiveBoldly.