Bush church is evicted.

The bush church has been dispersed

The government has decided to do away with squatters around Ghanzi Township. The squatters were given up to the 30^th November to vacate the land or face demolition of shacks. The move has sent shockwaves among our church members who have packed and left, courtesy of free transport from the government. Sadly there is no record of where the families were sent. We are busy tracing their destinations and the task is enormous.  However, we are hopeful that God has a purpose about this government action.

While the move may not have been well calculated as there is a likelihood that squatters may resurface in the near future, there is security for the children. Some were born in the bush and have never been exposed to structured community. Water may not be a serious challenge now that people live within water points in their community. Social workers have been involved and we are hopeful this has created an awareness of the magnitude of the need that exist in the community. We trust that these destitute families will access social welfare services as they mix and mingle with the community.

Once we locate our clients, our task is to ensure that children enrol in schools and that they are supported in this new venture in life. The relocation of squatters will present us with an opportunity to reach various communities with the gospel of the Kingdom of God. We are hopeful that our church members will carry the message of hope through Jesus Christ in even in their distress. While we acknowledge the emotional upheaval among the church, we are encouraged in Christ. We will stand with the church to provide counselling, guidance and love as the Spirit leads us. We trust God for increased wisdom and love to manage the situation well and serve the church diligently. We invite you to join us in prayer as we seek the will of the Spirit.

We are trusting for material support especially as we approach the rain season for many families who depend on plastic for shelter. It has been confirmed through reliable sources that the government will not provide shelter assistance wherever these people settle. Not all families will receive food baskets. The need for food will be multiplied given that some breadwinners who survived on piece jobs around Ghanzi have moved elsewhere, where such opportunities are zero. Transport to settlements is not readily available as people depend on government vehicles which carry staff on duty in those areas, travelling in and out of Ghanzi will pose a serious challenge for many people. We can only hope that God will increase wisdom in our church to find means to survive in their new environment.

Please pray and trust with us that the kingdom message will trickle down into whatsoever community the church has been planted through displacement.

Megan Jayes shares her experience ( One month missionary in Ghanzi)

Thurs:  I arrived in the evening after two days of travelling. God connected every bus and kept me safe. I was out of my comfort zone hallelujah! The first bus said that we would arrive late because of road works, which meant that I would miss my connecting bus. Thank you for your prayers. The friendly bus attendant said that he would be in contact with the next bus and hoped that we would make it. Then they prayed over the intercom on the bus, glorifying God and thanking Him for protecting us. There was a guy at JHB station that helped carry my bags and then tried to get more money out of me after I gave him a R40 I didn’t expect to.

Fri:  Drove to D’kar to drop off Miriam and her family for the funeral. While we were there, I got the privilege of checking out the museum and art gallery. There was a San woman on the floor of the workroom painting her canvas in the San style. Very colourful and abstractJ 

Sat:  We went to Miriams fiancé’s funeral. The ceremony and burial was beautiful. There was lots of singing. Very sad. There’s such a community amongst these people. The families are big. This is God’s inheritance! We had church in the Ghanzi bush and delivered water and prayed for healing. I preached from 1Pet2. There were some new members. They were eager to get prayer for God to show them their purpose and the ability to hear the Holy Spirit. One man came smelling of alcohol. He was very happy to be there and kept agreeing enthusiastically with what we were preaching, and thanking us gratefully for sharing the word.

Sun:  We had church in Grootlaagte. Worship was amazing! The Holy Spirit came strong! These people, especially the children worship with such abandon and with full voice! It was awesome. Rose and I went to play with the girls while Lee preached from Psalm 103. Rose always prays for God to bless the girls and protect them from the plans of the evil one. Wool had been given to the ladies to knit hats. One of the ladies had churned out 3 beautiful beanie hats. Later we visited Doppies house. This man is amazing. God has given him such pride, drive and creative gifts! Since I saw him last in April, he has dung ‘cemented’ his floor, skinned two goats and prepared them to make traditional clothes to sell, made beautiful wooden sculptures, and he’s busy gathering materials to make a donkey cart. Amazing!

Mon:  I stayed at home weaving a mat, making a finger puppet and playing with Lemmy, Paja and ‘new friend’, a boy from next door that just started playing with us. He was expressionless and didn’t speak. I decided to call him Blessing and I prayed over his mouth. A little while later he was speaking his language and laughing with LemmyJ Later I found out his name is Warona, meaning ‘ours’. Later that evening we went to a prayer meeting with other missionaries, led by Sonetta. The Holy Spirit was there, shoo! We prayed for Ghanzi and its people. God spoke to Sonetta about Him wanting us to enter into the inner courts with Him every day, intimacy, compassion for others like Jesus has for us, and His Fatherly LOVE! Amen! We prayed for revival, Gods kingdom and a hunger for God for these people. We also prayed for South African affairs. God will have His plan and purpose revealed no matter what!! Woo hoo!

Tue:  Woke up hungry for God. Got an idea to pray and anoint clothes if we received any. Later Lee said I should go into the store room and sort the box of clothes. Ha ha.J Then we would go out and deliver water and clothes to the people. Lee went to apply for ID’s for the people and sort out tools for Doppies.

Wed:  Going out to visit, check on, deliver water to, deliver clothes and pray for the people in Ghansi bush today. This is the grassroots gospel! I just want to be Jesus to people.

Since I’ve arrived here, I’ve enjoyed every moment! I know God wanted me to come again and all the doors opened beautifully and with ease. God has given me the most amazing peace. I expected or hoped to get here and start prophesying, performing miracles, etc. Then He told me again that I’m a daughter of His and I can only do what He tells me to. The divine rest He offers comforts me and reminds me not to get into performance again.

I am here to learn, again. To receive, eyes and ears wide open.  He is so faithful! We NEED each other. There has to be a balance. We are His body. There are millions of us all created to display His glory. We are so different for a reason. There is so much to learn from each other.

The San are so rich in heritage. They respect nature and want to live in touch with it. There’s such richness to the San people that is very humbling. There’s a joy in them that wasn’t there before. I was so filled with joy and so excited to see them again! How awesome is our God who takes nothing and makes something! They are so beautiful. They don’t need wrinkle cream or anti-aging tablets. They’re proud of who they are and how God made them. Did you know that the San share EVERYTHING? If you ask them, “do you want Jesus?”, they’ll say, “yes we do”. They sleep in the same hut/shack; they eat from the same plate; drink from the same cup; visit each other and share their lives everyday. Wow, I have a lot to learn. I want God to get rid of every individualistic attitude in me.

There’s an atmosphere of freedom here. There’s much less stress. I love the pace of life. Life is simple. I hope to take some of these things back with me and apply them in my life. 

There are so many hungry people here, spiritually and physically! But, our God is really ALL sufficient, there’s no end to him, there is enough of Him to go around for these people and all people for the rest of eternity! His fullness never ends! And He just keeps giving and giving and giving and remaining strong! Amen! He’s so AWESOME! He WILL take care of them, and you.

Love, Megs

Blessed to be a blessing.

This winter has been very active. The bush church has been blessed with activities that left the people encouraged in the Lord. The church was composed of five families at the beginning, 4 more families have come to be part of us. We can attribute this growth to outreach teams from Pretoria, South Africa.

The first group from S.A.A.W.E, was comprised of school children who helped us wash the clothes of the old people. I was touched by the humility I saw in the lives of those boys and girls as they washed dirt clothes of people they did not even know. An example of what Christ did for us was depicted in their willingness to serve the poor old people. They played with the children and prayed for the sick. Some girls even requested to donate from their pocket money to buy clothes for the babies who played outside naked. We were so thankful to the team leadership who decided to take a moment to visit us when they heard about what we were doing among the squatters. There was so much joy amongst the people even when they left.

The first group connected  M.O.T.E  who  arrived a week later. This was comprised mainly of University students from South Africa and America. I was humbled by the youthfulness of the group and their commitment to serve the Lord with such passion. The group was full of energy and wanted to make a difference in the lives of the people. They made two new shelters for an old couple and an old man. With many engineers –to- be, the shacks were given a commendable plastic covering. The love of God was shared and the people were glad. A meal was prepared and shared with more than 150 people. Children and the teenagers enjoyed new look with colourful face paintings. They donated balls which will help us teach life skills as children engage in ball games. They prayed for the sick, led people to Christ, sang and danced to local Christian songs, played many games with the kids. It was fun having them among us.

We trust that our drive to rehabilitate squatters will continue to see the improvement of their lives and a betterment of the children’s future. With all this intervention from other groups, our relationship with the people is enhanced and so trust is restored. Most important is the love of God that the people experience through us.

We give glory to God for the opportunity we have to serve in this capacity. Your prayers continue to carry us and we are grateful to you.

Young life lost to TB

We just lost one young man. He is with the Lord, we are so sad he left so early. We were looking forward to seing his potential released. He was 17. His death gave us an opportunity to unearth some deep rooted sin in the church. Pray with us so God will give us wisdom to deal with it without hurting our members.

Its all about the King!!

This winter feels much colder and wetter than we expected. The need for firewood and warm clothing is high and the supply is limited. This was evident on the 11^th evening when at least 200 people gathered at the pre-school to watch the Jesus film by T-junction church outreach team from South Africa. It was two long and cold hours, yet children and the old sat on the ground with their eyes glued to the big screen. While attendance can be attributed to lack of entertainment in the village, we cannot rule out the hunger for the word of God in the village, especially considering the weather conditions and the number of those who came for prayer after the film. We lost count of the souls won that night! Even our Sunday meeting attendance was increased and we expect to see more people coming into a close relationship with the Lord.

The most important thing here is that this was organised by Doppies and Chwaa, the couple we are raising to lead the church there.

Thanks to the government (Botswana) for mobile phone network and the Stitching Drama (Netherlands) for the cell phone donation which make us communicate with Doppies with ease. His commitment to the work of the Lord is unquestionable. Although he cannot read, he is always carrying his bible!

The village leadership has given the church a go-ahead to spearhead the resumption of gardening which lacks equipment and tools to take off the ground. The support and openness that we enjoy now can only be divine orchestrated! Praise is to God the one who knows the times and has a purpose for every nation.

Resumption of the bush meetings

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Thank you for your prayers, we are back in the bush taking more ground and proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ to the First nation community.
The village branch has grown from an average of 20 to 30 people for the past two weeks.In this period more than 20 people prayed to receive Jesus as Lord in their lives.The San community is turning to the truth and love as evidenced by their interest in the Good News of the risen Lord.
We have been able to build a decent living shelter for Elsie and her blind husband.Their are now closer to the road and within reach for help.We are trusting God to provide for their regular meals provision.This act of kindness opened an avenue for us to reach to the six families settled near them.In our fisrt meeting all attendees received Jesus as Lord.
Your support is helping us further the kingdom territroy.Stay blessed and remember, our labour is not in vain.

Love conquers all.

When I felt prompted to visit the bush settlement, I immediately left not very sure where I will go and what I will do.I left the bakkie by the roadside and shot into the bush.I was led to the old couple that I used to visit while we had our bush worship meetings.I used to supply them with water and delivered soup every Friday. I found them both with one of their sons at home.We talked as I tried to catch up on their life.
The old lady used to fend for the family by doing house chores in Ghanzi town for a small fee.The old man who is the husband, is blind and sickly.He is home bound and depends on the support from the old lady and a monthly government ration. On the day of my visit, I learnt that the old lady,Elsie, is lame, obviously born 1923, age has caught up with her.She cannot fetch water,gather firewood, collect food from the bush and let alone work for a small fee.As if this is not enough trouble, she cannot collect the ration from government as she is supposed to walk to the selling point and buy food with a card.No one can help since she has to sign with her finger print to access the service.  Now they are at home with nothing save for their shack stacked with dusty blankets and a few clothes.The place is stinking with urine and other rotting materials.
Their only bond at this stage is love for one another and a commitment to the old vow " till death to us part'.As I prayed inwardly listening to what God will say, I remembered I was supposed to give my monthly offering which was enough to buy grocery items to last a week or more, I obeyed without question or hesitation.
The couple was excited to receive the donation and as soon their son made a fire and the place became alive  with hope.
God then led me to Matthew 25 v 40, I learnt my lesson for the day.