We are on a much overdue visit to our supporting churches in the Western and Eastern Cape. Missionaries from NTM (New Tribes Mission/ Integral Vision) usually take 9-12 months home assignment every four years, but being “local” missionaries, we have never been able to make that work for us!We arrived in January and will be here until mid April.
The aim of home assignment is…
…to give feed-back to supporting churches, to strengthen relationships and not only minister and encourage from our side, but also to be ministered and encouraged to! It has been wonderful to visit old and new friends, some like family after supporting us more than 20 years of ministry! It is an amazing experience to visit those we have not seen in years, and within minutes feel like we have never been apart.
Of course, we experienced the usual culture-crazy shocks! J It was two weeks before we did not feel like total strangers on a half familiar planet anymore. It is weird what we forgot… things like driving in heavy traffic on a road with several lanes while trying to following a GPS lady’s voice. Or what the order of payment is at a till when you have a member card besides your bank card to juggle. Silly things, I know. But still it took a while to feel at home in our own skins again!
Soon however, we could enjoy the (then) familiar joys of South Africa: braaivleis (barbeque), bread and milk around the corner, shops with so much to choose from you need a week to contemplate the many selections, ice cream and chocolate, coffee shops and cream, family and friends that we can visit with in Afrikaans! A beautiful blue ocean just around the corner, streets without potholes, the many beautiful things to look at and enjoy and to do …
We have been overwhelmed by the hospitality and warmth with which we have been received by the churches we visited. We are truly privileged to be supported by such dear brothers and sisters in Christ! We thank the Lord for each one of these congregations who has stood with us through the good, the bad and the ugly of 20 years in ministry!
Back in the village
Back in Mwinikaland, Phil and his team are translating 2 Samuel and expecting a visit of two Bible Translation Consultants soon. Pray for them as they prepare for the check, while battling the heat and many distractions and needs of the community they live in. It is very dry in Mwinikaland, but Elin let us know that it recently rained! Praise the Lord for his provision. The rain is literally months late and many of our friends have lost their crops to the drought. Pray for them, please! Pray too for the young Mwinika church as they learn how to respond Biblically to not only their needs, but the many needs of others in their community.
We also received news that the two witchdoctor wives of two of the believer men, are fighting! The one wanted to take the other to a local tribunal (on community level), when that one decided to jump ahead and took the first one to the local court! Of course this is just the enemy of our souls trying to cause discord and distraction from that which is really important. It can cause a split, not only in the community, but also in the church. Please pray for the Lord of Peace to intervene, for the believing husbands to make wise decisions according to the Word and for the believers not to be distracted, but to be faithful in their following of Christ.
The future – the next four years
Our three kids have been blossoming under the spiritual and social input at the churches and youth groups. They really thirst input and stimulation! They have a strange love-hate relationship with their passport country: Imagine looking like any other Afrikaans speaking South African, but to have never really lived in this place before… We can only imagine how unfamiliar places, things and customs are to our kids! After a few weeks we nearly felt like we have never really left, but to them South Africa will probably always be a wonderful, mysterious and somewhat scary and unfamiliar place. They are what is called Third Culture Kids, but if we ask them if they would have wanted it any different, their answer is without question: no! We love our exposure to other cultures and places. We love our home in Mwinikaland. If we could choose, we would choose this life…
However, lately, it is increasingly challenging for our kids to be so isolated in Mwinikaland. Their Mwinika friends are all “grown” and are seen as adults who are either preparing for or already have their own wives, husbands and kids. Both our partners’ kids will go to dorm school this year, and there will therefore be very little social contact with peers for our kids when we return. Please pray for us for wisdom regarding the last 4 years of high school for our kids. We want to make wise decisions that will help them to have a good future.
Pray for your loved ones back home… The young church, our unbelieving friends… May God reveal Himself to the many unreached on this earth! And may he send workers, for the harvest is ripe…
