A Paarl company donated large bags of leather off-cuts for use in a startup community project which makes clothing, blankets, etc, and would like to start doing crafts, earrings, and more as a method of sustainable income for the local ladies. The ladies showed us around their container workshop, proudly exhibiting what they’ve done so far, and received the leather with great excitement!
Thank you so so much for your prayers and support towards the outreach in Hermanus over the Whale Festival; it was truly felt! Although the cottage of our friend wasn’t available for us to stay at this year, we found a lovely campsite nearby where we pitched our two tents. The weather was perfect – warm and breezy. Great for camping. Thousands of people visited the festival and we were able to interact with people from far and wide. During our time there 69 decisions were made for Christ, and over 4000 Gospel tracts, Who Cares booklets, Bibles, and Gospels of John distributed! Praise God, and thank YOU! God’s Love transforms hearts and lives, and we know the ripple effects of this outreach will go on and on!
One of our focuses for September was visiting and spending time with the elderly. Earlier in the month, the children were able to visit with many elderly individuals locally, and this time we made a point of going to see some who are confined to their hospital beds or care centres. It was a beautiful Spring day, and the time spent was much appreciated!
Our youth participated in this concert for the Western Cape Music Education Project. The project is run by volunteer teachers, enabling disadvantaged children and young people to learn to play, read, and enjoy music. The event – held at Stellenbosch university (wow!) brought together several school projects into one group to play collaboratively. It was beautiful, and so touching to see the love the teachers have for their students, and how slowly but surely, lives are being uplifted and changed!
What a privilege and fun treat for us all to be invited to a neighborhood braai on Heritage Day! The organizers really put extra thought into making it special for each person – younger or older! It was an unusual chance to just relax together and enjoy our blessings! (There was music, a jumping castle for the children, tents set up to sit under, and even a dress up theme of different sports/activities, ha) We talked, braaied, played rugby and football, made roosterkoek and coffee, and just generally had a wonderful time! Praise God for dear friends and family who make life exciting and fill our days with love!
What a joy to be able to continue with our improvement projects at the Sive Nathi Centre for severely disabled children. We’d like to share with you some of the miraculous events that surrounded the getting a hold of and laying the section of turf. (since the centre has no garden and the outside area is mostly concrete, we decided to lay a patch of artificial turf so that the children could come out of their wheelchairs during their “outside time” and enjoy the feel of soft grass, as well as play with toys and each other on the turf) However, there was a challenge. The artificial turf distributor could only get us a piece of 20 square metres – whereas we needed only 15 square metres for the area we’d picked. Upon praying about it, we felt that we should just go ahead and worry about the off-cut later. (Even though that also meant a higher cost) So we did. On set-up day, we rolled out the artificial turf, with all our tools and materials ready to cut and place it in the smaller area we had previously picked out. Suddenly, upon rolling it out in the main concrete area outside, in order to cut it, we realized that it fit almost perfectly there in it’s completeness! A quick prayer and discussion later, and we decided that that’s where it was meant to be. As opposed to our original spot, which was sandwiched between two buildings, this spot was right in the middle “courtyard” of the three classrooms, and perfectly suited for our purpose! We had a “why didn’t we think of this before” moment. Then we realized that the Lord knew all along. He was the One Who made only the larger size available, because He knew where Read the full article…
The children went round to all the elderly in this retirement village, giving out cookies, roses, and hugs to each person they met. The smiles and joyful tears that resulted were a deep motivation to us to continue to spread Love, whenever and however we can. One man came up to the children and very politely requested a rose. Upon receiving it, he thanked them, saying “I’m going to go now and put this on my wife’s grave.” So sad, and yet so sweet. Well done to the kids for being messengers of God’s Love and joy to these lovely folks so in need of it.
Donated duck meat went to two large soup kitchens; providing the children of these informal settlements with much needed protein! God bless the dear man who donated the meat in the midst of these trying times.
