July 23, 2007
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South Africa Update #5
Sonibonani,
It has been a while since the last entry as the
internet (or electricity) has been unavailable for the
last week and a half. On leaving Johannesburg, our
next stop was Ombimbini. This was a very rural place
up in the mountains without running water or
electricity. It was good to bring along our friend
Captain Fuphe from our first weekend here in Vryheid
to stay with us and help out as we prepared for the
Y-Connexion (youth councils) which was to be held at a
school nearby. We also got to reunite with another
familiar officer, Captain Mabada. In addition to being
in charge of two corps in Ombimbini, Captain Mabada is
also the DYS for Northern Kwazulu-Natal. This stop was
different because we got to do some physical tangible
work in that we were repainting the officers quarters.
The walls were in terrible shape with paint peeling
and cracks that needed caulking. We spent all day
Wednesday and most of Thursday working hard on that.
It really looked great when we were done (the walls
were eggshell). We spent a lot of time in prayer for
Y-connexion and planned how the weekend would happen.
There was concern about attendance as the teacher’s
strike resulted in disrupted class schedules and now
many school are in session on weekends to make up for
lost time. As He has been all along, God was very good
that weekend. There were somewhere around 400 young
people there. The meetings went really well and there
was a very powerful spirit about the whole weekend. On
Saturday afternoon, we participated in an incredible
tradition called ‘Isaya tafula’ (hit the table) where
all the people in attendance brought money to the
table and slammed it down while shouting praise
choruses and dancing. Everyone gave something. It was
really wonderful to see how giving can be joyful. They
raised R3050 (about $450) for the youth department.
Sunday morning was an incredible meeting. As usual,
there was a lot of enthusiasm in choruses and dancing.
The divisional band made up of young people from
Madadeni, Nongoma and Newcastle played. Katy gave her
testimony and Alberto gave a really great message
about Josiah and removing idols from our lives. We had
prepared rocks that were to remind the youth of their
commitments to give up idols and many of them took
them home. It was a very full weekend, but we all felt
that God had done some really great things during it.
Sunday afternoon, there was just a sea of familiar
faces that we had met during our time in this division
and I couldn’t believe how many people I was saying
goodbye to. There were so many smiles and hugs. It all
made me wonder what heaven will be like when you greet
every Christian you ever met and how great a day that
will be. I will sign off for now and pick up at our
next location. Sala Kahle,USA Central South Africa Mission Team
