“It is amazing to see what God has done with a few crazy people on bikes cycling to Transform, then South Africa, Malawi, the UK and other places,” reflects OM Sportslink* leader Chris Welman from South Africa, “and now back to the original spot connecting with the Transform conference in Europe. This warms my heart, and maybe it could inspire others to start…”

South Africa

Chris had first heard of this ride when a couple of leaders cycled to Rome, Italy, for the Transform conference. By then, he already had some experience with a similar cycling trip; in 2012, partnering with another organisation in South Africa, his team cycled from Johannesburg to Cape Town on a ‘road less travelled’, passing through a lot of small villages. In 2014, they reversed the trip, starting in Cape Town, ending in Johannesburg, this time adding outreaches and training at specific ministry points.

Malawi

By 2015, Chris was ready for a new challenge. He decided to bring a cycling team across the border into Malawi, a country where everyone cycles, and bicycles are used to transport literally any and everything.

Although the main focus was prayer, the team was able to also hand out audio Bibles and facilitate training in sports and orality. “We were nine people on bikes, and amazingly, felt that God had handpicked each one,” recalls Chris. “We saw much fruit coming from this Malawi tour, also from within our own hearts. It has helped me to focus my prayers.” Later Malawi teams have also stopped to pray in Mangochi along the former slave road.

Gert Daling (Netherlands) did his first Ride2Transform in Malawi in 2016, with a team of 17 people, and the following two years, he co-led the same outreach.

Highlights from Malawi

The areas through which the teams cycled are, for the most part, considered least reached, meaning people living there have had little to no opportunity to hear the gospel. Ministry teams were often placed in different locations along the way to train the local people, and the cyclists distributed audio Bibles in the local language.

“I remember coming up a hill in Malawi that we had passed in the two years before,” recalls Gert, “and someone specifically asked for an audio Bible because she had previously received one from us. She and her people had listened to it many times; now it was broken, and they needed a new one. These people remembered us, which gave us an opening to talk and a sense of building on past experiences.”

Another year, a team member went into several mosques, giving audio Bibles to imams, and they also handed out audio Bibles to people of influence in the community. “We went to a school right next to a mosque, and before we knew it, we were standing in front of all these kids sharing our story and sharing about Jesus,” says Gert.

Europe

And in 2018, the Ride2Transform was back in Europe, with Gert leading the cycling team during the Transform conference in Spain. The team cycled through many towns without any known evangelical witness and stopped to pray in strategic places. Gert shares, “We were able to give out some Gospels of John, but not as much as we had hoped for. Yet it’s still important that the cycling happened. We don't know what God is doing through our prayers and through the few Gospels that were handed out. And for the coming years, the foundation has been laid to organise more Ride2Transforms during the Transform conference.”

A highlight for the team in Spain was the very first night’s accommodation. They stayed at a rehabilitation centre run by a Christian group. In the evening they worshiped together and shared their testimonies. Roger Ballester (Spain), who was driving the support vehicle, was specially moved by this fellowship; many times as he prayed he found his eyes filling up with tears.

“Even though we did not speak the same language, we still understood each other,” shared Gert, “many conversations with him and others were made possible through Google translate.”

The first Ride2Transform, in Italy

“The idea of combining a personal passion with ministry was the initial reason for the cycling teams,” explains Michel Di Feliciantonio (Italy). “In the first two Ride2Transform teams (2013-2014), we cycled through Italy; first from Turin to the Transform conference in Rome, and the following year, from Venice to Rome. Each year the route was approximately 850 km, and the longest distance in one day was 220 km.”

Along the way, the team visited churches, enjoyed fellowship over a meal and gave a presentation about OM. The second year, fundraising for Syrian refugees was included.

“For me, it was a great way to connect with local churches, share about ministry, get to know my fellow riders, test my limits and, through that experience, I also got to know the church I now pastor!” summarises Michel, smiling.

All three outreaches are still being done annually; Ride2Transform Malawi and Ride2Transform Europe are organised by OM. Please contact your OM home office if you’d like to join.

*OM SportsLink International serves to equip, empower and mobilise local OM teams and partners to be effective in ministering in and through sports, in order that athletes and coaches, local churches and communities can make the most of sports within their culture through sharing the gospel in relational and relevant ways.

But she isn't waiting until she has a medical degree to serve God by helping people. In fact, Belen just returned from Africa Trek, a six-week mission trip with Operation Mobilisation (OM) to South Africa and Lesotho.

Belen heard about OM through Facebook. She wanted to find a Christian organisation that did something similar to Doctors Without Borders, an independent medical humanitarian organisation. When she found OM, she saw a story about a family of doctors living aboard Logos Hope. Two weeks later, she saw an announcement on Facebook about the Africa Trek, which said, "If you want to grow in your faith and learn to be a disciple of Jesus, this trip is for you." Belen knew she was supposed to go on that trip, so she contacted OM in Argentina and asked for more information.

Three months later, she was in Africa.

Serving God through both strengths and weaknesses

While in Africa, Belen served God through a variety of ministries. The most surprising ministry opportunity came at a children's home in Kimberley, South Africa. Belen enjoyed playing with the children and sharing God's love with them, but she also used her talent to do a simple thing for the children: she made balloon animals.

In her hometown in Argentina, Belen often works at a children's hospital, where she also makes balloon animals. It's a way to brighten children’s days and share the gospel with them.

"One day in Kimberley, I was making balloon animals, and a man asked me for a balloon. I was tired and thought it was just for a child, so I made a small hat. He wanted to put the balloon on his head, but it was too small—so I made another hat for him. When I saw him later, he was still so happy with the balloon. It was so awesome for me, because I was able to do something that made him happy, and it gave me the opportunity to share the Gospel with him. It was a small thing for me, but it was a big thing for him. I never expected that," Belen recounted.

It's very encouraging to be able to serve God from your strengths, but it is even more faith-building to do it from your weaknesses, as Belen experienced first-hand while in the small village of Troya, South Africa. "The village had a lot of witch doctors," she said. "I'd never encountered that before. I was afraid of what could happen."

The team did door-to-door evangelism, sharing God's love with everyone they met. After praying with her small group of five people (including one translator), the team began to walk to the end of the village, where the witch doctors lived. "I was like, 'No! I don't want to go there! I know what is there,'" Belen said. "But my leader said to me, 'Belen, you need to share the gospel with this house.'"

At that point, the female witch doctor, called a sangoma, came out to greet them. She was blind, and a few moments of conversation revealed that she had never heard of Jesus.

Belen began to share about Jesus. "That moment was amazing for me,” she described. “I was afraid something was going to happen—and it did. It was the first time I felt God with me in a physical way. I really needed God in that moment. In that kind of situation, you really need to know the Word of God and security of knowing Him."

The sangoma said she wanted to receive Jesus, but when she tried to pray, her throat became tight, and she couldn't breathe. The team prayed for her and told her that if she accepted Jesus as her Saviour, she couldn't worship ancestors anymore. The sangoma said she wanted to receive God, but she was afraid of the spirits.

There was another woman with the sangoma named Jabulile*. The first day, she'd run at the team with a broom, saying she didn't want to hear what they had to say. On the second day, the team felt God leading them to Jabulile's home. The first thing she said when she saw them was, "I want to receive Jesus." Jabulile asked the team how she could repent of her sins, and then accepted Jesus as her Saviour—along with her entire family! She also vowed to help her friend, the witch doctor, understand God's love for her and to stop feeling afraid of the spirits.

"It was too easy for us," Belen said. "You always think it will be hard to share the gospel or have a person receive Jesus, but she suddenly did that. Only God can do that."

The entire trip to Africa was a big lesson for Belen, because until then, she'd been waiting. She knew she needed to go to school to study medicine, and then six years later, she would study genetics. She didn't think she'd be able to go on a mission trip until 2028—but God called her to go in 2018. "It makes a big difference to see God working in your life," Belen shared. "Before the trip, I knew He was there and He was at work, but I didn't feel it the way I did in Africa. I want to return in the future and visit the people I met this summer and see how God has worked in their lives."

Why short-term mission trips are important

Belen recommends a short-term mission trip with OM to anyone: "It will give you the opportunity to see what it is like to serve God in missions and share the gospel. And if you feel you want to be a missionary, this can give you an experience before you decide that. OM was very well prepared and organized, and I felt very safe traveling with them."

Belen promised, "If you go on a mission trip, you need to be ready to see God work in your life, because He will. The truth is, you always think you are going to give, but you will actually always receive more."

Is God calling you to serve Him on a short-term mission trip? Visit www.om.org to find out how and where you can go!

*Name changed for security

Kristen Torres-Toro loves to tell stories about what God is doing in the world. She currently serves as the field communications facilitator for OM in Argentina.

The team took time to walk around the village and get to know the area. As they walked, God showed Nthabeleng how the community had been abandoned and hurt by religious churches. She saw rebellious youth, mothers alone with the responsibilities of the household and men drinking endlessly in small bars. 

After getting acquainted with the area, the team took a walk through the dusty roads, searching carefully for homes to visit and share the good news. Nthabeleng glanced to her right and saw the door to a small shack slightly ajar. Knocking on the door, she met a woman who invited the team into her home. At first, they struggled to connect with the woman, but as they thanked her for her hospitality she gradually opened up. Nthabeleng, requesting a glass of water, asked the woman, “Do you know the story in the Bible of the Samaritan woman at the well?”

She nodded. “A woman from Samaria went to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’”

Nthabeleng went on to tell her that moment reminded her of when the Samaritan woman gave Jesus water, and she asked the woman if she believed Jesus was in the home right then. Nodding, the woman grabbed her Bible and told the team she had contracted HIV from her husband, who had then abandoned her and her children. Despite this, she believed that Jesus was her only hope. Touched, the team finished the visit with prayer. 

Leaving the home, Nthabeleng realised that every community today has ‘Samaritan women’—those who are lost or alone—but still Jesus creates miraculous ways to meet them where they are.

Located just outside of Pretoria, South Africa, the township of Mamelodi is home to nearly one million people. AIDS Hope was established as a beacon of hope to a community faced with poverty, high drug-use, sickness, broken families, teen pregnancy and HIV and AIDS. AIDS Hope hosted a camp focusing on “the Father heart of God” with the desire to see breakthroughs in the children's lives and help them take the first steps towards healing and forgiveness. 

During one of the worship times the AIDS Hope team members who were fathers stood along the edge of the room, surrounding the children. On behalf of fathers AIDS Hope leader Pastor John told the children “We are sorry for not treating you well. We are sorry for doing bad things.” He went on to assure them that “not every father is a bad father.”

Touched by John's words, the children ran into the waiting arms of the fathers standing around the room and cried. Transformation took place and the children understood the importance of forgiveness and that they have a heavenly Father who wants a relationship with them. 

One OMer shared “Our fathers are not perfect and they will never be – no person is perfect. Only God is perfect and we can look up to Him for everything as a Father!”

Impacting not only the kids

The theme not only brought healing to the kids but to Thabo (South Africa) who serves with AIDS Hope. Though Thabo accepted Jesus as his saviour a while ago, this was the first time he had heard of God as a good Father. Thabo's father gave him gifts instead of spending time with him and Thabo longed for a close relationship. 

“I was not waiting for his presents; I just wanted to see him,” Thabo said. His childhood experience made it difficult for Thabo to see God as his Father in his spiritual journey. Leaving the camp Thabo felt encouraged and confident that he could be a good father in the future. 

Pray for the township of Mamelodi to recognise God as their heavenly Father who wants a relatioship with them. Pray for the children at AIDS Hope to remember what they learnt at the camp and to share it with their friends. Pray for the men at AIDS Hope to be good father figures in the kids lives. 

When he and his wife, Meredith, moved from the United States to South Africa, Todd couldn’t have predicted where his role with OM would take him—especially since, at the time, the communications office already had a graphic designer, limiting Todd’s work to Web design. But as he now reflects on the progression of his time with OM, he understands that the ever-changing nature of media development means nearly limitless possibilities.

For example, ducks.

This year, the OM Africa media team’s Reading Holiday Club—a ministry designed to reach children in poverty through literacy education—reached out to Meredith, who has experience in creative writing, for a picture book project. Todd was called upon as an illustrator.

“I was always an artist, even from a very young age,” Todd says; but he decided at university that the “starving artist” life wasn’t for him, and he chose to study graphic design instead.

After university, engaged to be married and planning to begin a career, Todd began studying theology, intending to leave art for full-time ministry. While considering ways he could combine his skills and church-life, Todd talked with Meredith about the possibility of missions work.

“It’s not wrong to use graphic design skills to earn a salary and contribute to society and support your family, but I still had a desire to use it in a more direct way to help grow the church,” he says. “I didn’t really understand what that meant at the time, but I told my [fiancée], ‘I can’t get away from that thought.’”

His time with OM has allowed him the opportunity to make that connection, whether through web design, or now as OM Africa Area’s full-time graphic designer. He has completely rebuilt the OM Africa and South Africa websites; and in 2016, the media team produced their first animation project—a video promoting OM’s ministry to HIV/AIDS victims. The team has also experimented with app development.

“One of the things that makes this particular role fun and interesting is that it changes a lot,” Todd says. “I still do all the web stuff, so the future is more of the same, but also a lot of new projects.”

Along with the new projects come new creative challenges, as well. Todd had never done watercolor painting before, but as he began to research children’s books for the Reading Holiday Club project, it stood out to him as the best option. To take it a step further, he decided to create all his watercolor illustrations digitally on a tablet.

“This is the way this sort of job works: you get an idea, and it sounds great, and you have everything in place,” he says. “And then you come to, ‘Now, how do I pull this off?’”

Though he had experience with digital painting, he found the task of illustrating ducks daunting at first; in addition to researching everything he could about the types of ducks African children would recognise, he had to get creative with the ways he portrayed them in the book.

“I had to draw ducks that can talk and express various emotions like crying and joy and praying,” he says. “I mean, how do you illustrate a duck praying?”

Now completed, the picture book represents the kind of creative projects the OM Africa Area media team wants to pursue—all with the underlying purpose of building God’s kingdom.

“I look at what we do in a three-fold way: I want my work to inspire people to glorify God—and we do that through the stories we share; we’re also providing a way for people to pray more specifically into others’ lives; and finally, for people to get involved,” Todd says. “I don’t want to put any limits on what communication can do, whether it’s the web, or an image or a song.”

And while he may be done with all things duck-related, Todd is open to whatever the future holds.

“It’s just part of the job here in the communications office. I’m having a lot of fun, and now I can say I know a lot more about ducks than ever before.”

Freddy, from the Seychelles, visited the small mountainous country of Lesotho with his MDT team in 2016 on an outreach. 

Noticing a girl with red and puffy eyes he went over to her and asked what was wrong. The girl explained that she had been playing with other children and as a joke they had rubbed mud in her face. From the muck, both her eyes were now infected and causing her pain. Medical treatment is not always readily available in Lesotho, and when it is, it is usually expensive which is why she had not sought treatment. 

Asking if he could pray for her, Freddy laid his hands over her eyes and prayed for the Lord to take away the infection. When he removed his hands the girl was healed. “They were completely normal, all the swelling and redness had gone!” Freddy remembered. The girl was astonished and went away praising God for miraculously healing her. 

To learn more about MDT visit: http://omsouthafrica.org/mdt

In 2016 the MDT team visited the small mountainous country of Lesotho. During door-to-door ministry on the first day, the team met a man in his seventies. While chatting with him and learning about his life, the team learnt that the man had had a stroke which affected the use of his right arm and leg and left him in a great deal of pain. 

When asked if he would allow the team to pray for him, the man admitted he didn’t know how to pray. Assuring him that that was alright, the team shared how prayer wasn’t supposed to be hard; but a way to communicate with the Lord. Their conversation opened a door for the team to invite the man to their daily prayer meeting. 

Though he lived a fair distance away, the man faithfully walked to every meeting, amazing the team by his commitment. In preparation for the long journey he would get up early and stretch his legs before setting out. 

During the outreach God touched the man’s life. The pain in his hand slowly went away and joy shone on his face.

To learn more about MDT visit: http://omsouthafrica.org/mdt

The children of Meetse have learnt many things about what it means to be a follower of Christ over the years and the desire is for them to live out what they have learnt within their community. It’s always been Meetse’s aim that the hope the children receive from Christ would flow out of their lives and into their families, schools and communities. During an outreach into the community surrounding the centre they demonstrated just that. 

Split into groups, the children were given ideas of various things they could do in the community. Armed with cake, chocolate, flowers and bags to pick up garbage, they set out with the intention to bless all those they encountered. 

For an hour the children were out in the community sharing the Word of God, praying for people and blessing others with small gifts. One of the women who received a wordless book (a tool used to explain the gospel using colored pages) said “I will sleep with peace in my heart tonight because I have heard the Word of God and am now encouraged.”

Returning to the centre the children complained that an hour wasn’t enough time – they wanted to do more. They were so joyful and enthusiastic about how God had used them that day and eager to do it again. 

Many of the neighbours shared how great it was to see the kids giving back to their community. Some of them asked what the children wanted in return and were shocked when one said “we don’t want anything. We love God and want you to see God’s love and love him as well!”

OM still equips newcomers with the same attitude, but with a slightly updated model. And with the growth of OM teams around the world, training has expanded to meet needs in various locations.

In the late 1980s, OM in South Africa discovered that a few candidates sent into service with OM needed to return home shortly after, often simply because they were ill-prepared for the challenges they faced. In an attempt to rectify this, Francois Vosloo, former leader of OM South Africa, proposed a six-month intensive orientation as a means to prepare and equip local recruits before they were sent to other OM fields.

Trainees would receive instruction in evangelism, ministry tools and leadership development, as well as learn how to live in a multi-cultural community and work successfully as a member of a team.

Initially, the idea of this training, called Missions Discipleship Training (MDT), was met with reluctance by international leadership; however, the positive results were hard to ignore. South African OMers who joined international ministry teams after participating in MDT gained a reputation for being well-prepared for service and valuable team members. Over time, other OM fields, recognising the tremendous impact, began to send their own people to South Africa to benefit from the programme.

Something for the whole family

Colin Phelps, responsible for OM training in Africa, joined MDT in 1988. Six months later, he found himself a changed person: “I arrived as an undecided follower of Jesus. I knew He loved me and I was open to the possibility of following Him wherever He led. I just wasn’t certain I was up to it.”

Participating in practical outreaches with 26 other disciples was a catalyst for change in his life. He joined the OM ship, Doulos, where he found himself a team leader after being on board for only a month.

Colin, his wife, Grietjie, who also participated in MDT, and his children later joined the MDT leadership team in Pretoria for six years. Having seen the impact that MDT had on their lives, they were thrilled when their daughter, Caroline, also chose to participate in the programme. “What I appreciate about my time on MDT is the complete honesty I found and the growth I experienced,” says Caroline.

Equipped to fulfil a God-given dream

Ever since becoming a follower of Jesus when she was 17, South African OMer Eden* felt called to take the good news to difficult places. Trained as a nurse and midwife, she wants to use those skills for the Lord in the Arabian Peninsula—one of the least-reached areas with the gospel.

At university, she heard a speaker from OM and decided to enroll in the MDT programme. She prayed about going to Jordan, but nothing came of it. Then she began praying about the Arabian Peninsula, asking God for confirmation. Within a day, she got three emails about that part of the world, and they talked about it in her MDT class. 

“When I started talking about it, so many people from the [MDT] base knew connections or others who had worked as nurses in the Arabian Peninsula,” she explained.

Eden hopes to make lasting connections with women through her work. “If you touch the hearts of the woman, and she invites you into her house, then you can start to work with the family,” she explained. “I would like to build relationships and change lives like that…in a long-term kind of way.”

Expanding the training internationally

Thirty years after it was initiated, more than 3,000 people have completed MDT in South Africa. Now, other OM fields around the world are replicating the programme. With established training schools in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Germany and Ireland, and other fields actively exploring the idea for their own region, the now-global initiative is collaborating on guidelines and a shared ethos for the MDT programme to maintain the life-changing impact that the experience has had on many lives over the years.

Deborah Ngobeni, from South Africa, has a diploma in media studies and journalism. Passionate about communications, she has served with OM for over six years and currently works in the communications department of OM in South Africa. The 27-year-old speaks five languages.

Moving to Mamelodi, a township east of Pretoria, South Africa, in October 2009 in order to expand the work of AIDS Hope, Nico and Alma opened Meetse a Bophelo centre, meaning “fountain of life” in Tswana.

The centre offers a variety of ministries; from SportsLink to afterschool homework help, feeding programmes to skills training. The Leonard’s became part of the community in a way that they never expected and were blessed with relationships beyond their dreams.

God established the centre as a beacon of hope in a community faced with poverty, high drug use, sickness, broken families, teen pregnancy, HIV and AIDS and despair. From the start, the Leonard’s had it in their hearts to establish the centre and ministry in Mamelodi and then hand it over to a local couple to take further and deeper with their understanding of the native language and culture. 

In 2014 this couple was identified and have been walking alongside the Leonard’s ever since; joining OM, completing Missions Discipleship Training (MDT) and then joining the ministry as leaders. With great peace in their hearts that their time in Mamelodi had come to an end, Nico and Alma officially handed over leadership of Meetse a Bophelo to John and Lerato Manganyi on October 28, 2016. 

John and Lerato are both passionate people that have a heart to serve the local community, equip and mobilise the church and disciple others. They are well loved and accepted not only by the Meetse a Bophelo team, but by the surrounding community as well. Servant leaders with an exciting vision for God’s work in Mamelodi, the Manganyi’s are enthusiastic and ready to take on this new role with great joy and anticipation. Nico and Alma will continue serving as the directors of AIDS Hope but will no longer be leading the ministries in Mamelodi. 

While changes will naturally come in this time of transition, AIDS Hope will continue to reach out to those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS, showing them the love of Christ. 

Please pray for the transition between leaders to go smoothly; pray for the Manganyi’s as they seek God’s vision for Meetse a Bophelo and for the Leonard’s as they discover God’s next steps for their family. Praise God for the work He has done through Meetse a Bophelo and the many lives that have been touched through the ministry.

The base was nice, basic but nice. I had swapped my two-bedroom house in Scotland for a room with a bed, desk and wardrobe that I shared with three other girls. The daily schedule seemed a bit strict—especially for a free-spirited lassie like me who was used to doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Each day was full: up at 6:00 in the morning for devotions and cleaning duties, breakfast, then on to lectures, sports and practicals until dinner, after which there was free time to study, socialize or sleep. 

It was a fantastic experience learning to live with so many cultures different than my own. I even had to change my accent a bit as people could not always understand my Scottish brogue. In the evenings we had free time to get to know one another: chatting about lectures, complaining about the practical work we had done or playing card games. I found myself adapting well to this new lifestyle, and as an older student I became a safe shoulder to cry on for those who needed it. 

Back in Scotland there was a time when I used to lie awake at night worrying about giving up my life and starting a new one learning to be a missionary in South Africa, but nearing the end of the training I told Jesus I was more worried about returning to my old life. I had seen and learnt so much and wanted to go and serve wherever God called me. 

As time went on, I found myself growing into the woman God called me to be and learning who a missionary actually was. When still in my own country, I had so many expectations and ideas of what a missionary did and misconceptions of what it was like interacting with other cultures. 

MDT taught me the realities of poverty when we visited Lesotho and the township of Mamelodi. It taught me what it means to work with people; we stayed in tents and had to fetch water and cook over an open fire. If we failed to work as a team, we would have been left hungry and cold with no wood for fire. During Missions Mobilizing Training (MMT) I received a real eye-opener, hearing how Christians all around the world are persecuted because of their love for Christ. I was inspired by the lecturers’ experiences and couldn’t wait for God to tell me where to go after MDT. Though eager to go into the world and be a light in the darkness, I had a problem: I didn’t know where to go. 

One day, an English lady serving in Zambia visited and told us about her work with street children in Africa and her desire to start a programme to equip people to help the children on the streets. I heard God clearly say, “Go with her and she will teach you all you need to learn.”

I spoke with her, and she agreed to look into getting me to Zambia to help her pioneer this new ministry. As I could not join her until January, and this was July, I joined the OM AIDSHope team in South Africa for a few months to gain experience working with underprivileged children. 

I was sad for my time at the MDT base to end; I made friends I will never forget and had many unique experiences. If I’m honest, MDT was just the start of my training—I had a lot more to learn in Zambia! But MDT was the springboard that launched me into missions. I really benefitted from my six months of waiting, listening and looking for where God wanted me. 

Today, I’m leading a project in one of the biggest shanty towns in southern Africa. Mercy House is a day-care centre that looks after 64 orphaned and vulnerable children. Our vision is to see these children fed at least one meal a day and enrolled in a local school; most importantly we want them to know Jesus’ love for them. 

I love my job, but know I couldn’t have jumped on a plane and dived into this work without drowning; I would have freaked out and gone home. Living at MDT in a missions environment helped me see what I was getting into. In my advice, MDT is not a wasted six months; it’s a springboard into your calling. Preparing and equipping you for the real deal.

Interested in MDT? Visit http://omsouthafrica.org/mdt for more details. 

As she was climbing Mount Everest, she was shocked to see kids carrying heavy loads on their back walking up and down the whole day. They told her that they work every day to help sustain their families.

Marleen struggled with the idea, and started to question God, asking why life could be so unfair? She thought of her life, all the privileges she had as a child, going to school, studying at university, and knew these kids would never get an opportunity to go to even a primary school.

Marleen cried out to God and said: “What can I do God, how can I make a difference?” God said to her, ‘reading.’ She heard this word so audibly, she knew that it must be from God. When she got back home, she went to her leaders in Mamelodi, AIDS Hope team and shared her heart. She didn’t know where to start, but her leaders made it possible for her to develop and run the first Reading Holiday Club.

The Reading Holiday Club aims to motivate kids, teach basic reading skills, and affirm and motivate them to read. Go Challenge 2016, OM South Africa's annual outreach, invited Marleen to test run her curriculum in the village of Tzaneen with Sepedi and Shangane speaking people. They have over 30 kids who struggle with reading in the village.

They invited them to attend the club for seven days during school holidays. Although English is not their first language, the six to ten year-olds loved attending the program.

“When I first did this reading club, there was a boy who didn't like school because he was struggling with reading,” Marleen shared, “But after a day of holiday club, he woke his mother up at 6:00 am to go to reading holiday club. He had seen that reading is fun and that learning to read as well."

Marleen would like to see by the end of this year, the curriculum published and available to churches, schools, and parents. The material will be available to anyone. The ultimate aim of this ministry is to give children a second chance to learn reading, inspire them to start reading the Bible and follow Jesus with their whole heart.

One of their first stops was the local police station. Not wanting the kids to be discouraged when they saw the long queue, AIDS Hope team member Megan suggested that they could talk to those waiting. While she was supervising from a distance, the kids approached a woman who was clearly having a bad day.

While one of the kids explained the gospel in the form of the wordless book in English, the other translated in their own language. Shortly after walking away, the lady called the children back to thank them and explain that she was so encouraged by what they shared.

“I will sleep [well] tonight because I heard the Word of God,” she said.

The team testified how they were able to see the kids change throughout the day. At first, most of the kids seemed shy, but as the day progressed it was clear that they became bolder and more open to sharing. One of the smaller girls was particularly shy, but because of what her friends did and experienced, she took all the courage she could muster and walked up to a guy asking him if they could pray for him.

“I think it was good for the kids to actually see that they can also talk to people and encourage them,” Megan said during the team debrief. Another team member confirmed this by saying that it is good for the kids to see what a missionary is and does. Hopefully this will enable the children to take initiative to share the gospel at school or other places in their lives.

The tournament presents a unique opportunity for ministry. Sport for Christ Action South Africa (SCAS) has been sending a team to the tournament for over 20 years; going to serve the players with the love of Christ, both practically and spiritually. For the past two years OM SportsLink has joined them to spread the Good News. 

“It’s important for SportsLink to participate in events like this because the elite athletes are sometimes forgotten when it comes to ministry,” explained Josh Herb, OM South Africa SportsLink leader. “Players at this tournament are some of the best players in South Africa, so their identity is in rugby, and rugby alone. For one week we get the opportunity to show them that there is more to life than rugby; that Jesus desires to be in a relationship with them.”

Having attended the tournament for the last two years, Josh typically split his time equally between all the players assigned to him. This year however God placed one individual on his heart and provided ample time for conversation with him. They discussed how Christianity is more than just a belief, but is where a person’s identity comes from. 

Another highlight for Josh was connecting with more coaches and staff than in previous years. 

“This year I got to speak with them a lot,” said Josh, “which can be a lot more valuable because they spend more time with these boys than I ever will.”

Planting seeds

“Interacting with the players and coaches has shown me just how important this ministry and sport chaplaincy is,” Josh shared. “The players, even at the age of 18, go through a lot to play on these teams. Their life is consumed by rugby…for a lot of the players people don’t even see them as people. So when we come and love them it stirs up something inside of them. Thousands of seeds are planted during the tournament and sometimes players come back the next year allowing you to build on the relationships you have already made.” 

“As long as I am living in South Africa I will continue to do this outreach simply to show players who Christ is and that there is more to life than rugby.”

Praise the Lord for the doors that were opened throughout the tournament to talk with the players and staff! Pray that the seeds planted will be nurtured and grow. 

“There are basically two forms of sport ministry: ministry in sport and ministry through sport,” SportsLink South Africa team leader Joshua Herb says. “What we did [in Rustenburg] was ministry through sport—using sport to teach life skills and the gospel.”

The youth development centre turned out to be different than the team anticipated, as the facility’s population—32 boys and four girls—had each encountered the law and were at the centre for correctional behaviour.

The team went about their ministry as planned—four stations were set up and the kids divided into groups to receive instruction on aspects of sports: bowling in cricket, and passing in basketball and rugby. The team also set up a face-painting area.

“You get a sense that those kids are hungry for relationship with others,” says Andre Kotze, who headed the cricket station, where he showed the children the technique of bowling and instructed them from Matthew 6:19. As a contrast with the surrounding township, the facility offered superior living conditions. “It was almost a protective, positive environment in general compared where they may be living, in conditions where there’s possible abuse and neglect,” Andre says.

Other stations were basketball training, led by Alessa Hagel, who taught from Ecclesiastes 4:12, and rugby, where Tiwonge Tembo shared tips on passing and gave the children a lesson on selflessness, using Philippians 2:4. Elsilese Otten painted faces and shared how beauty comes from God.

After gathering the children for a game of football with a rugby ball, Josh led the group in a final lesson and gospel presentation. The team was also able to donate a rugby ball and football to the centre, as the children had nothing available for recreation. The balls came from Living Ball, an organization that produces sports equipment with the gospel message printed on.

Josh says he felt the lessons they taught, through an avenue of sports, were helpful for children in a correctional centre.

“Sports ministry can be for the rich or poor, young or old, black or white; that’s why it’s so effective, because it caters to all groups in all situations,” he says. “These kids were all in this facility because they’ve made mistakes, which essentially ties into the gospel, how we’ve all made mistakes and we’re responsible for those mistakes, and it’s only through Christ that we’re saved. So to them it’s even more impactful, because their situation ties in really well with the gospel.”

More to life 

Eden became a believer in high school, when a local church started holding Bible studies twice a week at the school. She had visited a church on the corner of her street since she was small, but her family was not religious. 

“I always felt like there must be more to life,” she said. “I often asked the question, ‘What is the meaning of life?’” 

One of the girls at her school began sharing about the meaning of life and explaining that our purpose is to make God greater.  

“Eventually I got the sense that I mean something, and I can make a difference in society and I’m put here for a reason,” Eden shared, “and then I thought, there must be many others who wonder, what is the meaning of life and why am I here? And they need to hear this, I need to explain to them.” 

A long obedience 

Soon after becoming a believer, Eden told her parents she wanted to be a missionary. Her parents told her that she had to study at university first and if she still wanted to after that, then she could go. They hoped that going to school would change her mind—it didn’t. 

Eden had always wanted to study engineering, but when she became a believer she decided to study nursing instead because she knew it would be easier to get into closed countries through the medical field. 

At university, she heard a speaker from OM and decided to enroll in their Mission Discipleship Training (MDT) in Pretoria. Her father objected, but his wife reminded him of the promise they had made.  

“I studied, I did what they wanted me to do, and now they can do nothing about it,” Eden laughed. “They were kind of like, ‘Well, she did what we asked her.’” 

Finding her calling 

In South Africa, nursing and midwifery is a combined degree, but Eden didn’t think she would like the midwifery part. Her mother had died giving birth when she was young. 

However, “God changed something in my heart regarding women and children,” she said. 

There was a woman sleeping overnight in the hospital because her baby was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). He had a rare genetic disease and likely would not survive. When Eden asked her about it, the woman broke down crying because she did not know whether or not to take her baby off of the machines that were keeping him alive. 

“We are taught not to cry in front of patients, but I couldn’t help it, I just started crying,” Eden shared. “Then I asked her if it would be possible for me to pray with her, and she said, ‘Yes, please pray with me.’”  

The next day the woman came and asked her if she would come and pray for her baby to go to Jesus. She also thanked Eden for being the first person in the hospital to actually show emotions. It made her feel like what she was feeling was real.  

“That really touched my heart,” Eden said. “Me just caring about this lady’s baby opened her heart to prayer, and when I started working in the NICU two months later so many more stories just like that happened there.”  

She realised that she could reach mothers through caring for their babies, and that she could build a relationship, as they are often in the NICU for weeks at a time.  

“I know that in some Muslim countries, men are not allowed to treat women, and so I know they have a need for nurses or midwives,” she shared. “My passion is nursing, my calling is to be a missionary to the unreached, and so I just put those two together.” 

She started praying about going to Jordan, but nothing came of it. Then she began praying about the Arabian Peninsula, asking God for a confirmation. Within a day, she got three emails about that part of the world, and they talked about it in her MDT class.  

“When I started talking about it, so many people from the [MDT] base knew connections or others who had worked as nurses in the Arabian Peninsula,” she explained. 

Eden hopes to make lasting connections with women through working in the NICU.  One male worker in the Middle East told her, “Sometimes it may look like the house structure is that the males dominate it, but actually sometimes the women are also actually in charge.”  

“So if you touch the hearts of the woman, and she invites you into her house, then you can start to work with the family that way,” she explained. “I would really like to build relationships and change lives like that. In a long-term kind of way.” 

Pray for Eden as she leaves the MDT base and fulfills her seven-year, God-given dream of going to a closed nation. Pray for God’s will for her life, and that she would be sensitive to His voice as she reaches out to women and babies in the NICU. 

*Name changed  

Normally, he would invite an evangelist to hold evangelical services for a week for all the labourers living in the farm compounds. “The attendance is always not so good, about five people would come,” Herman explained. "The people living in the farm compound, they don’t feel any motivation or excitement to come and attend these kind of gatherings."

A Go Challenge team went out to invite the people for evening service. To their surprise the attendance was very good and many men came, not just women and kids. The people were challenged and were open to hearing the gospel.

Yorke (South Africa) preached that evening about the wages of sin and the laborers related to his message. A question was asked: "Would any of you ever work for free?" They all said no. He explained the forgiveness of sin is free. Jesus has paid the price for all. He gave them a chance to respond to the message. Everyone in the small classroom stood on their feet to give their lives to Jesus. The interpreter as well felt in his heart that he needed Jesus. When they prayed with everyone in the room people had tears in their eyes. The team was amazed to see the hunger the people had to hear the gospel.

The team realised that the people needed a church. No one was there to help them grow spiritually. The people asked for bibles in their own languages.  Herman, who attended a local church in Letsitele, saw the hunger and need. He and his church will be looking at how they can get these people bibles in their own languages.

The team felt like they were not prepared for what God did at the compounds. They all said it wasn’t done by their own strength but God had a plan. Tzaneen is a very spiritually needy town. The people are hungry to hear the truth of Jesus Christ. Who will Go?

“On Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday I do ‘coaching for life basketball,’” Otten shares.  “I do it when I have a chance in the game, like about being honest and linking it to the Bible. Or, if you want to learn to shoot, you have to have perseverance, and what does the Bible say about perseverance?”

Every Monday he holds a short meditation for a team that he coaches of boys ages 15 to 20.

The call to go

Back in the Netherlands, Otten and his wife both had good jobs as social workers. He was working with people with disabilities, while she worked as the coordinator of two Salvation Army houses.

However, they had always had cross-cultural missions in their hearts. One day, his wife opened her laptop and saw a website saying, “South Africa: come and help the children.”  She told God, “I’ll go, but only if [Jan Willem] goes.”  Soon after, the Lord began drawing him to South Africa as well.

“God has a sense of humour because when we didn’t have a job, we didn’t have a house, we didn’t have children, [and we were open to go], nothing happened,” he laughs. “But only after we bought a house and had two children, God told us to come here.”

During their vision trip, the team in South Africa took them to the mall on the weekend to help them feel at home, but the couple felt like the mall was not their place. Then the team brought them to the soccer and basketball fields in Mamelodi.

“The moment we stepped on this field, we new this was it,” Jan Willem remembers.

For the past nine months, he has been working with the basketball program as well as a project with disabled people in the north, while his wife helps him and also does creative Bible study with painting and singing with the ArtBeat team in Pretoria. She has a heart for the children, and also mentors two girls.

A challenging goal

When Jan Willem first began his basketball program, some of the other coaches were not happy about him sharing the good news with the kids. They told him “lifeskills—yes!”, “gospel—no. We don’t do that here.” However, the longer he is around, he prays they will begin to accept him. Some of the coaches have even invited him to play with them after the younger kids go home.

His main goal with the sports ministry is to keep kids off the street and in touch with the gospel.

“What gets me passionate is, there are now guys here that used to sit [on the corner] selling drugs,” he explains. “Since I came playing, they’re coming to the field instead.”

One of the older boys is very faithful in coming and Jan Willem has had openings to share the gospel with him.

A few months ago Jan Willem shared, “yesterday it was Pentecost, do you know what that is?” The boy had no clue, so Jan Willem went on to share about the resurrection of Christ.

“With him it’s easier because we have been in touch for a longer time,” he said.  “A relationship is key here.”

“I feel blessed to do this,” he shares. “When I was young, my dream was playing in the NBA. I never stood a chance, but now basketball is my work. That’s a humour thing of God I think. ‘I won’t give you the NBA, but I will give you basketball.’”

Jan Willem hopes that a few new trainees will join him soon so that one could sit on the bench and talk with the kids while the other coaches.  There is a need for both basketball and football coaches for the program.

Pray for the Lord to raise up workers for his harvest. Pray also for the kids that they would not be seduced by selling drugs but would continue to find healthy outlets to stay out of trouble.  

One morning, one of the teams was out for door-to-door visits. A 70-year-old lady called the outreach team to pray for her when they were passing by. She told them she was sick and started to share her life story:

The old lady had had a miscarriage when she was young and had to go for surgery right after her miscarriage. Four days later, the doctor discovered that they forgot the scissors in her stomach. They immediately took it out, but unfortunately, because of the second procedure, she couldn’t give birth anymore. The news damaged her physically and mentally to this day.

Sarah David (South African) felt so much compassion for her. She tried to encourage the elderly lady, saying, “Even though you are not able to be a mother biologically, you can still be a mother to those who don’t have parents because you know how to be a mother.”

After the team prayed for her, the lady felt joyful and took out some money from her pocket to offer the team. Sarah replied, “Our prayers are free. When you believe in Jesus, He gives us all answers for free.” Then, the lady invited the team to pray for her husband and mother as well. 

The GO Challenge outreach came to an end but it was a new chapter for Sarah. She was excited and encouraged by seeing how God touched people's hearts through prayers for healing. She is keen on doing evangelism and leading people to Jesus Christ. Prayer doesn’t only bring physical healing but emotional healing as well.

On one particular Tuesday morning, the Logos Hope team went to re-visit a hair salon where they had made new friends the week before. A man started to share about ancestral worship and what they practice. That gave Lis (Brazil) an opportunity to share about Jesus Christ.

During their conversation another guy asked, “who is Jesus?” This guy was just visiting his friends in the hair salon and he had never heard the name of Jesus before. Lis was stunned, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Starting from the beginning, she and the other team members shared the story of Joseph and Mary and how God had become a baby and lived a human life. Then the team tried to place this man in the story—“ do you have a son?” they asked him. His reply was no.

“If you had one, would you allow your son to die for someone you love?”  As he was thinking about this question, he finally answered after deep thought, “No! Never, I would let my little brother die but not my son.” The team explained the truth that God did this for him. God sent his son Jesus to die for him.

He couldn’t believe that God would do this. He was so surprised, but finally decided that God really loves his people. It was such an honour for the team to be able to share the true gospel with someone for the very first time. Before leaving, they gave him the Gospel of John. 

Pray for this man to read the Gospel of John and that the Lord would open his eyes and heart to the truth of God’s great love for him.

As they were walking they saw a lady sitting outside her small hut, corn in hand, eating a common meal for the Lesotho people. They greeted her and started a conversation to get know her better, before they could share the gospel.

Anita noticed that the lady had something around her neck that was not a necklace. She asked what it was. “I went to the witch doctor because I had difficulties breathing and massive headache,” the woman explained. The witch doctor offered her the thing she had on her neck, tied with a little bone.

The trainees carried on with the conversation and had the opportunity to explain to her the full gospel. They asked if she would like to accept Jesus in her life and she said yes. They shared that they would like to pray with her and also for healing, but they couldn’t do it while she still had the thing around her neck.

As she started to take it off Anita said, “No! if you [only] take it off, you are just going to put it back on again. God doesn’t want you to serve two Gods. It’s either God or not.” Hearing this, the lady stood up and fetched a knife to cut the thing off. She then threw it into the fire and said, “now you can pray for me.” They started to pray with her and she even pushed it deeper into the fire so that she wouldn’t be tempted to take it out again.

After the prayer, they asked her to breathe in and out and see how it felt. She kept breathing in and out and she was so surprised that she didn’t have pain anymore. She started to smile and the trainees could see the change in her and also a relief on her face.

God is indeed our healer when we have been set free.

The man in charge of OneHope in Southern Africa is no stranger to the Ship Ministry. "I served for over seven years with OM Ships, so I know it's a huge attraction," says Brian Esterhuizen (South Africa). "The ship is like a magnet for children and families, who are so excited to come on board. I love the fact that they get exposed to the Gospel during their visit and, as they leave, every child receives something in their hands that they can take home, which has the potential to impact their lives."

For the Logos Hope tour of South Africa, OneHope is providing 100,000 copies of The Bible App for Kids Book of Hope (a 32-page Gospel presentation for kids based on the app). Around 40,000 copies were already put into children's hands in Durban, so additional supplies will need to be considered in order to meet the demand for the next four ports. "It's a good problem to have!" Brian laughs.

"The Bible App for Kids is such an amazing Gospel tool," he continues. "It helps that more and more people have access to smartphones, even in Africa. We also offer free parent resources that can be downloaded from the website to help guide children through the Bible stories - so it reaches further into families."

Find out more about OneHope on their website: http://onehope.net and check out The Bible App for Kids at: https://bibleappforkids.com/

A recent MDT trainee, Tiwonge Tembo, from Malawi, shared how God revealed his own heart to him at the very end of the “inside-out” module.

Before doing MDT, Tiwonge felt blameless and disciplined to the point that he refused his heart’s desires and denied his emotions. He described the morning lectures as nothing more than knowledge he could perhaps use in his ministry.

During MDT, and especially during the “inside-out” module, trainees are given opportunities and encouraged to spend time in reflection. After spending some time reflecting, Tiwonge realised that he had been hiding behind his analytical mind.

“I did not want to deal with my emotions, and this behaviour caused me pain, anger, resentment, pride, jealousy and selfishness,” he explained.

When he asked God to make him humble and reveal his heart’s desires, he suddenly realised he had to deal with sin. The need to address this sin became intense for Tiwonge, especially during the MDT prayer night, during which time participants could visit prayer stations that challenged them to reflect on the cross.

One of these stations gave the trainees a chance to nail a piece of red cloth—which symbolised their sin—to a cross. With sorrow, Tiwonge stood still for a few minutes, and God revealed to him that the sins that made him feel guilty were already dealt with by Jesus on the cross, and that he was free and forgiven, once and for all.

“I felt very covered by His grace and His forgiveness, that now I want to live to please Him much more,” Tiwonge said.

He concluded that he knows that in this journey he is not alone, but he is indeed free and forgiven, once and for all. 

To learn about joining OM’s Mission Discipleship Training programme in South Africa, click here.  

It’s Wednesday morning at OM South Africa’s base, and like every Wednesday morning, visual artists gather together to be creative. Some of their paintings will even feature at an exhibition at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa, from 2–12 July 2015. The team will also use their platform at the festival to share about the Creator.

Three years ago Marie Mohlomi (USA) worked as a writer with OM. While she enjoyed writing stories of what God was doing, she longed to use her gift of painting as a way of reaching others with the Gospel. Until then, visual art had been a hobby, something she enjoyed in her spare time. She wondered if it was possible to turn a hobby into a ministry. Was God putting this longing into her heart?

Taking a step of faith, Marie invited Pretoria artists to paint a mural above the entrance door of an inner-city ministry that reaches out to homeless men. Five painters helped, and the OM South Africa arts ministry was born.

Since then, organising a team of artists to join the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown has been an annual event. Yet taking the Gospel to the world’s second largest arts festival has not been without pain.

“At times, everything that could go wrong went wrong!” shares Marie. “We realise again and again that we are in a spiritual battle and really need people to carry us in prayer, for practical issues as well as the spiritual impact.”

The small Grahamstown of 70,000 inhabitants almost doubles in size during the arts festival. Some drive north from the nearby cities of Port Elizabeth and East London, while others fly in from around the world. It’s an international, colourful and fun event, where it is easy for the OM team to connect with strangers, artists and spectators.

The OM team of artists brings their easels, canvases and paintbrushes. While painting, they hope to engage the visitors who stop by. In addition, they sell their previously finished work. This year the art team will be strengthened by two musicians, playing the harp and the violin, as well as a prayer group.

Marie is thankful to God for His faithfulness as she took steps of faith to pioneer a new ministry. Looking back, she says, “It’s been a roller coaster ride of faith, with God leading the way at every turn. It’s been scary, exhilarating and beautiful.”

She continues: “It’s been amazing how God has worked in so many of the artists’ lives who took part in the outreach last year. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing last year, but God did, and all of us were transformed. I’m looking forward to see what He will do this year.” 

Please pray that the Gospel will find open hearts through the paintings, music, prayer and conversations taking place during the festival.

One of these volunteers, Kathryn Jenkin, came all the way from Australia for the outreach. While on the outreach, she saw the Holy Spirit work obviously while she prayed for the first time in her life.

“I have never been particularly confident that my prayers make a difference, but my team members’ testimonies and the prayer experiences I had in Lesotho dramatically opened my eyes to the power of prayer,” she said.

One morning, a few of the team members visited two elderly ladies in their homes. One of the ladies was well over 100, and both were visually impaired, while one of them had cognitive difficulties and the other had troubles with her legs. They expressed thankfulness for the team’s visit, because many of the older ladies in the community were regarded as witches and therefore feared and avoided.

The team spoke with them on the topic of loving your neighbour and read passages from the Bible. When they asked the ladies if they could pray for them, the women agreed, asking for prayer for healing.

When Kathryn prayed over one lady, she could physically see the woman's demeanour change as the Holy Spirit ministered to her. Kathryn says it was unlike anything she had ever experienced, but she believes that God used it to both encourage and give her a new passion for praying with people.

After the outreach, Kathryn went home changed, far more aware that God has much for her if she would trust Him. She believes that, once God calls you to do something, there is no longer “hopefully” or “need to try,” because He will come through for you when you are obedient.

“He called me to step out, and when I did, He turned up big time,” she reflected.

For Kathryn, it was a life-changing trip that God used to further reveal His calling for her life. 

At first, Jabulani struggled because he wasn’t used to being free to be a child free of worries. However, in time, he began to discover the gift of childhood and even enjoyed playing with other children.

After a few months in hospice, his mother recovered, and the family were reunited. They were able to rent another home and were ready to start a new life together. Unfortunately, storms were still to come for Jabulani and his family. When they visited family in Mozambique, they contracted malaria and were all admitted for treatment.

Jabulani shared his heart with the team, “If we suffer like this right now, what will it be like when my mother is gone?”

The team knew the need was much more than medical care, so they got to work. They were able to build onto an already existing home of a co-worker so that Jabulani and his family have a safe place to stay. They are continuing their work with the family to bring hope and to help them reach a place of sustainability and joy, despite the pain around them.

This family suffered great pain physically, emotionally and socially due to the lack of awareness regarding HIV and AIDS. Most of their suffering could have been prevented if people only knew that they had nothing to be afraid of.

Please pray for the OM teams ministering to other children like Jabulani. Also pray for those who are educating people about HIV and AIDS.

One of these outreaches is the World Faiths Outreach, in which participants get go to a local community and reach out to people of other faiths. For the second team of 2014, this outreach was scheduled for December. As it was their last outreach for the training, many of the trainees already felt tired from their busy time in South Africa.

David Houser from the USA, who was appointed co-leader for this outreach, was struggling to stay focused on helping others when he wasn’t doing so well himself. He was faced with the challenge of renewing his passport and preparing for his next step. To crown it all, he was pick-pocketed during the outreach and lost his phone.

One morning, David felt like it all became too much for him. He asked a lot of people to pray for him and, during his devotions, felt that he should just cling to God. Despite not feeling like doing devotions the next morning, he felt strongly that he could not miss it.

The message he received from it was clear: “If you walk with Jesus, He will walk through all of life’s circumstances with you. To focus on Jesus instead of focusing on the circumstances, especially when the storms hit, is the most important thing you can do.”

After finishing his devotion, David felt the Holy Spirit invite him for a walk. So he walked around the school where they were staying, just talking and praying and listening. He experienced so much joy that he could literally not stop smiling, because despite all the things he needed to take care of, Jesus was taking care of him.

“MDT will stretch and grow you in multiple ways, but it pushes you to your limits in a good way,” David explains.

During his time with God, the Lord confirmed that David only needed to walk with Him and surrender all his burdens and worries to Him. David concluded that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or even imagine.

AIDS Hope, in collaboration with Stanza Bopape Clinic, arranged an event on World AIDS Day 2014, 1 December, in an attempt to bring light to the situation. Candles were lit in memory of those who have died from AIDS, and to remember those currently living with it. The team enjoyed seeing people acknowledging Jesus and singing “This Little Light of Mine” after the candles were lit.

AIDS Hope Director Nico Leonard spoke about zero discrimination, and those gathered pledged to be part of the solution of helping those affected by HIV and AIDS.

People who attended the World AIDS Day event received booklets on positive health and HIV and AIDS. One lady was shocked when she received an encouraging word on a card with a chocolate. She assumed that all of the cards distributed had the same verse on them. Seeing the different verses on each card, she cried, explaining that God had answered her prayer. She was tired and hopeless, but when she read Matthew 11:28, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (NIV), she knew it was especially for her.

The team prayed with the woman and invited her to join them on a weekly basis for counselling. She left the clinic with tears of hope and light in her eyes.

Because of the success of the event, the manager of Stanza Bopape Clinic and one of the doctors suggested that this event should become annual. A week after the event, a meeting was held to plan for 2015. The AIDS Hope team feels privileged to be part of God’s hope for hurting people.

The handover ceremony took place on the rooftop of OM’s headquarters in Hatfield and was attended by OM staff members, partners and supporters. The atmosphere was one of mixed emotions, as speeches and words of affirmation were expressed.

Over his six years as director, Pranesh played a large role in sending and receiving volunteers to the OM South Africa team. He expressed his encouragement in seeing the development of the ministry teams across the country, as well as seeing lives transformed through the Missions Discipleship Training in Pretoria and Intensive Missions Training in Port Elizabeth. He also shared that a highlight for him was journeying alongside the South African church to mobilise workers for the Great Commission around the world. 

Pranesh and his successor, Andrè van der Bergh, worked together with OM previously in Albania. Andrè was involved in ministries in Europe for a number of years before God called him back to his home country of South Africa.

“After we heard that I received the blessing from the board at the end of August 2014, we knew that this is the beginning of a new journey together with God,” Andrè explained.

He says that one of his passions is seeing a team that is healthy and thriving, and for that reason Andrè plans to focus his first year on the OM South Africa team. “When I arrived the first day, I shared the lift with someone who told me they feared the new director will come in and change everything, and that he needs to be careful in what he does. This person did not know that I am the new director,” Andrè said. He is supported by his wife, Lidy, who said, “I want our house to be an open house for team members, where they feel welcomed.”

As OM South Africa enters a new era, the team is excited to welcome their new director and his family.

Please pray for both Pranesh Anandlal and Andrè van der Bergh in the transition. Pray for the future impact of OM South Africa for the Great Commission in the country and around the world. 

It took nearly three hours to read from Genesis to Jude. To conclude, 38 people read the 22 chapters of Revelation, one chapter at a time in 17 languages.

For many years, September has been a month of prayer for OM in Africa. Last year God spoke to Africa Area Prayer Coordinator, Heather, about declaring His Word over the land.

She and other leaders from the African OM fields brainstormed and came up with the idea to simultaneously read aloud the whole Bible on the rooftop of the OM offices in Pretoria, South Africa.

The event not only took place in South Africa, but also in other African countries, including Malawi and Zambia. Some fields also incorporated additional portions of Scripture and weekly prayer meetings into their events.

In Malawi, 13 people read the Bible every morning from 7:00-7:45, Monday to Saturday, starting on 1 September.  

Following each session, they prayed through the Scripture passages Heather had sent them. Each person read at least one entire book of the Bible, choosing their favourite books to start with, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament.

For most of the team members, it was their first experience sitting down for such an extended time to read Scripture, and to tackle an entire book of the Bible. However, it proved to be a positive experience.

The leaders of OM Malawi are now encouraging each of their team members to start a similar programme in their own villages.

In Zambia, the Lake Tanganyika team in Mpulungu read the Word of God at Niamkolo Church, which was built by the London Missionary Society in 1895-96. It was abandoned in 1908 when the missionaries moved away from the Lake’s shores due to illness and is now derelict.

On Saturday, 13 September, 20 of the Lake Tanganyika team members read the Bible for three hours, out loud and simultaneously, at the stone monument church where the vision for the Gospel to reach the Lake first started many years ago. On Monday afternoon they finished the chapters that had not been read on Saturday.

In South Africa, a few days after the Word had been read on the OM office’s roof, Heather learnt from a colleague that the roof has a tile floor with the pattern of a cross, which can only be seen on images of Google Earth.

The OM Africa team believes it was no coincidence that the people had gathered around the image of the cross and read the Book of Revelation, declaring its promises over the city of Pretoria, OM’s ministry, its missionaries, South Africa and beyond.

OM Africa now trusts that the events that took place in Africa will bring God’s message of salvation, forgiveness, reconciliation and eternal life through Jesus’ death to the African continent.

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:10-11; NIV

While trekking up Table Mountain, climbers Hettie Brittz, from South Africa, Michelle McIrahan, from the US, and Carlos Correa, from Brazil, each experienced something special from God.

Making a difference

For Hettie Brittz, a well-known Christian author and speaker in South Africa, this year’s trek reminded her of the previous Freedom Climb she had done in 2012 up Mount Kilimanjaro.

“I thought my sacrifice so far towards the cause was big enough, until Ngina*, a lady from the Freedom Climb project in Kenya, explained how a micro loan that bought a big bag of popcorn kernels changed the destiny of her whole family,” shared Hettie.

“I could not stop my tears as I imagined this granny, popping popcorn, tying it up in little bags with her knobby old fingers, selling it in the dusty streets until she had enough to repay the loan of six US dollars and to start with the second batch. She seems to have been prepared to do anything, ready for sacrifice. She faithfully kept at it until it turned into clothes and healthy produce and maybe a blanket.

“It made me realise a few things: We have not given anything yet. We have not worked hard yet! Even my two young children, who joined this time and did some of the climbs, left after the week asking and thinking of ways to get ready to make a difference.”

Being a living sacrifice

Climber Michelle McIrahan, who has a ministry of worship through dance and painted silk veils, held several veil-painting workshops in Franschhoek and joined the Freedom Climb prayer teams. She discovered that one of the Table Mountain peaks had formerly been called “The Altar”, which inspired her to climb as a living sacrifice to God.

“I felt led to climb with a silk called ‘The Strength of a Woman’, which represented the many women that have been or are being abused, exploited and trafficked,” she reflected.

“As I climbed, the silk got pierced by my walking poles, and I felt the Lord speak to me that the climb to freedom isn't free of pain – that there is a cost. But the pain is not unto death, but unto life. Just as Jesus was pierced on the cross for us for our freedom, His pain wasn't unto final death, but unto resurrection life!” 

Michelle climbed for women like Sheela*, from India, who was rescued by OM workers out of prostitution. Now she is in a rehab centre and determined to finish her tenth grade school exams. She is learning embroidery and helping other women learn the valuable skill that will grant them a basic livelihood and keep them from prostitution.  

Proclaiming freedom for captives

Climber Carlos Correa, with OM South Africa’s SportsLink team, climbed Table Mountain carrying one of Michelle’s veils, named “Freedom for Redemption”, which he waved at the top of the mountain.  

While climbing, Carols understood that God is “Jehovah Shebaoth”, meaning The Lord of Hosts, and that He has the power to set people free.  

Carlos said, “I saw an image of Jesus in the banner that was painted during the prayer session … and the Lord spoke to me, saying He is the Lord of the Heavenly Hosts, and He has an army that fights His battle, because the battle is not ours –  it is [His].”

At the top of Table Mountain, the passionate Brazilian blew a shofar made from an African antelope’s horn to proclaim freedom for captives, one of whom is Chisomo*, a six-year-old Malawian boy whose father died of AIDS in 2011. His mother barely made a living selling baked goods and sent the boy to live with his impoverished grandmother and four other children.  

Chisomo could have become like many other Malawian children, working in the tobacco industry, but instead he and his family have received help, food and care from OM workers through the Chiembekedzo School for Orphans in Ntaja.

Caring for victims

Locals of Cape Town say that there are only 10 perfect days during the year when Table Mountain is not covered in clouds, or when the wind is not too strong. Freedom climbers rejoiced that God had provided one of these days for the climb.

Participant Retha Nienaber reported that during the climb she noticed the small and seemingly insignificant stonecrops and blue scepters along the route.

“These beautiful, perfectly made flowers could be compared to the vulnerable women and children that we climb for, who are almost always insignificant in people's eyes … but are also beautifully, wonderfully made in God's eyes,” she reflected. “And God knows about each and every one of them.”

How does the Freedom Climb help vulnerable women and children? From this year’s Freedom Climb, hundreds of thousands of South African Rand have been raised. Still more resources are expected to come in to support more than 12 African ministries of prevention, care and rehabilitation for victims and potential victims of human trafficking and slavery. 

Additionally, the “prayer effect”, as the OM Africa Prayer Coordinator calls it, breaks down spiritual barriers. She describes what happened during last year’s climb: “The day our climbers summated Kala Phattar, on the Mount Everest Base Camp climb in April 2013, a ring of 10 traffickers were arrested in Kathmandu! Two weeks later, two more traffickers from the same ring were detained.

“Although we realise that the Freedom Climb is not the only organisation asking the Just Judge (Romans 2:16) to bring perpetrators to justice, we do give praise to Him for allowing us to see some fruit for our spiritual labour.”  

The 2015 Freedom Climb will challenge participants to climb the Summer Haute Trek between France and Switzerland by the end of July 2015, to pray for Europe and to raise awareness and funds to give a voice to the voiceless. For more information, visit thefreedomclimb.net.

** “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9; NIV).

Tami and Alu are part of the Diaspora team in Cape Town, South Africa. They explain how there has been a growing burden on their hearts for the Somali people living in the city. “God has really put some special love in our hearts for the Muslims of Somalia,” they shared and added how this motivated them to go to the area where many Somalis live, with the hope and intention to develop friendships with some of the women.

At first it was a challenge since many of the women didn’t want to open up because of fear and language barriers. Henna, a paste used mostly by Indian ladies providing temporary, decorative tattoos, was always a good topic to start a conversation with. Tami and Alu knew how much these women enjoyed drawing decorations with henna. One lady seemed more open to talk to them and they ordered henna from her to make another appointment.

When Tami and Alu went back the following week, it became apparent that this lady wanted to use them to get money. But God protected Tami and Alu, not giving them a single working ATM to withdraw more cash from, and through this woman they met two other Somali ladies who took Tami and Alu to what they called ‘a real beauty shop’ where the henna was much cheaper.

There were no men allowed in the shop. Tami and Alu spent two hours there, allowing the ladies to apply henna on them, laughing and talking freely with them. By the end of this two hours Tami and Alu were considered friends by the women in the shop. They took photos together and even exchanged phone numbers.

Tami and Alu described the experience to be a miracle, “We could really see God directing us to this place.” They hope and pray that these contacts may continue and develop into deeper relationships.

Up to 25 boys attend the programme every week since its start over three years ago. The boys participate in small groups, hear a message and then play football.

The team is passionate about these boys, as they need role models, leadership skills and life lessons. Many of them do not have a father or other male figure in their lives.

“We can now love each other and stop fighting,” the boys said on one occasion when asked what they have learnt from the devotions.

Even though the SportsLink team personnel changes every three to six months, the boys remain open, though it can take a while to build new relationships. A local pastor and the AIDS Hope team have partnered with the SportsLink team to coach and mentor the boys.

“Being able to work in an area like Mamelodi is rewarding,” said one SportsLink member. “Just seeing a smile on one of the kids’ faces can make your day.”

To see this ministry up and running every day by the grace of God is a blessing for the team, as they believe God is the glue that holds the boys in place and helps the team to work well. 

The team seeks God’s help with meeting the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of these boys, and they hope and pray the boys will grow up to make a difference in their community.

For information about opportunities to serve with OM SportsLink or OM AIDS Hope in South Africa, visit OM’s website here.

Grace Au, from Hong Kong, was part of OM South Africa’s Missions Discipleship Training (MDT) 2014. During the training, shortly before taking part in an inner-city outreach, Grace received news that her granduncle had committed suicide back in Hong Kong. After receiving this terrible news, she felt sad, puzzled and angry. She wondered what made him so desperate and why he hadn’t talked to someone about it.

Grace started struggling to trust God and, even when the outreach started, she said, “I struggled to put aside my emotions so I could focus on our ministry in the inner city.” But through many different people God showed her there was still hope only in Him.

During the outreach Grace met a lady in the park who had come to Christ while she was in prison. “She shared with me how she was lost, but Jesus had found her in prison and brought her to Him. It had completely restored her life and her relationship with her family. Her testimony was such an encouragement to me that in the most hopeless situations, Christ is the hope of life.” Grace explains.

In the midst of the storm, Grace recognised and experienced one of the truths of God’s Word through her teammates and fellow trainees. During this time the MDT team did what they could to support her and were like a family to her. She quoted Scripture from 1 Corinthians 12:26a: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it…” (NIV).

With the encouragement she received from her teammates and strangers God introduced her to, Grace concludes, “I cannot always understand His ways, but I can recognise His power and compassion and the transformation of hope He brings. I do not want to see anyone passing away without knowing the way to the Father.”

Life is harsh for many in Mamelodi, the largest township of Pretoria with an estimated one million residents. Sometimes killing their baby seems the only solution for many women.

However, the OM AIDS Hope team and Bophelong Community Centre, a local baby shelter, envisioned another solution for desperate women. In July 2013, the baby safe opened in Mamelodi.

The initiative of the AIDS Hope team, a donation and a willing local church got the project off the ground. Now a room is set up to receive the babies at the Bophelong Community Centre, and from there they are taken to ABBA House, which seeks to find a loving family for each child.

The next step for the OM team – making sure pregnant women knew about this option for help – was equally important. This too, happened through a sponsor. The Ford Motor Company supplied posters and flyers, as well as provided staff to help the OM workers talk to woman and girls at the clinics and schools.

AIDS Hope was also given the opportunity to speak on MAMS FM radio in Mamelodi. As they shared about the baby safe, they also encouraged desperate mothers to not just drop their babies at the safe and leave, but rather take them inside and receive support in their decision.

So far, every baby received at the baby safe has been brought inside, which has allowed the mother to receive counselling and support, as well as provide the baby with a history. It also allows the ABBA House to retrieve important medical information so that the baby can be best cared for.

In one instance, a mother and father brought their baby inside and explained their desperation. They loved their child but had no way to care for her and wanted to give her up for adoption. The counsellors offered assistance and connected them to a social worker, which enabled them to keep the child.

Working together with different organisations, the AIDS Hope team is convinced the baby safe will be of real help to women in desperate situations, as well as save babies from being aborted or discarded at the dump.

AIDS Hope leader Alma Leonard explains the handover from OM to the community centre: "To me, the best part is that we took the initiative from God to help the process so that the community can take ownership of this initiative. This is what makes it sustainable. God has transferred this passion for hope and life from us to the community! We are there to encourage and support and help with the awareness campaigns and to get funds for brochures, etc.”

So far eight babies have been saved through the campaign and baby safe. The OM team praises God for saving lives.

Please pray for the situation of desperate mothers in South Africa, and that the lives of future babies will be saved.

The team made a new parcel with the few items still left and added a bag of mieliemeel, or cornmeal, donated by a local church.

When the AIDS Hope team arrived at the family’s home, the grandmother gave them a warm welcome. She works five days a week to care for her daughter in primary school, as well as her four grandchildren left behind when her oldest daughter died. Her salary is far from sufficient, and although she is eligible for a government grant, it has not yet come through.

The grandmother pointed to the big bucket where the mieliemeel is kept in her home. It was totally empty – there was no food left in the house. "You came just in time," she exclaimed. "This is a gift from heaven."

Returning to the AIDS Hope centre, the team discovered that the food parcel had been there all the time! They could hardly believe their eyes. It was standing in the middle of the cooler room, and there was no way they could have overlooked it.

They concluded that God must have blinded their eyes. Had they taken this bag as planned, they would not have brought the mieliemeel, which was just what the grandmother had needed. It seemed to the team like a mieliemeel miracle.

The training centred on the issue of fatherlessness in South Africa and how coaches as figures of authority have a tremendous impact on young lives, especially in light of the lack of such figures in the child's family.

The participants had an enjoyable time brainstorming and coming up with their own ideas on how to use sports to share biblical messages, from soccer to karate and even chess.

One important aspect of the training was that the session only provided suggested guidelines and the participants had the freedom to follow their own passions and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to start initiatives, with the main focus on connecting with youth and sharing godly values with them.

One participant, Koos, was extremely excited about the idea and immediately after the training session invited the team over to his home to share his plan of using his home gym as a platform to share about Christ with the teens that come over to lift weights.

It is exciting to think of the many other potential initiatives that could be started by other participants to share the love of the Father to the fatherless in Randfontein.

One Thursday, the UNIC team visited the University of Cape Town and spoke with the international students during their break time. They met one Namibian young man and two female students, one from South Africa and the other from Italy. After introducing themselves, the team explained about UNIC. The three students showed enthusiasm that the café was available to them.

As the day progressed, the team opened the café and the young Namibian man was one of the first to arrive. He was out of breath as he spoke, stating that he had run to see them and could only stay for a few minutes, but insisted on sharing something that was on his heart. He explained that he had just finished studying theology and was also a Christian.

He then shared that the previous night he had prayed to God for an opportunity to share his faith with the other two girls. He called the team a “miracle” and “an answer to prayer” because, after they had left the university, he had conversed for another two hours with the girls about what it means to be a Christian and have a real relationship with God. He thanked the team for the work of Diaspora Hope and said he is looking forward to seeing them at the university again.

Similarly, a few weeks ago, the team visited the Cape Peninsula University of Technology for a meeting with the international students to promote and introduce UNIC to the students there. They offered an opportunity to sign up for a Christianity Explored course, a course for improving their English skills and an opportunity to eat with a local family. Many signed up for these activities.  

Said one UNIC team member, “It has been encouraging to get a glimpse of what God is doing behind the scenes when we work at or visit the universities. He is keen on using UNIC to reach out to the international students for His Kingdom’s purpose.”

Please pray for the work of UNIC and pray for the participants that will soon start the Christianity Explored course. To learn more about UNIC, visit the website: http://iamunic.com/ or join them on Facebook here.

“We’ve always seen this. We need help on prevention,” said Ladia, a secretary who has worked at the dump for nine years. “When the babies get here, they are always dead.”

City dump workers typically discover two or more every week, which adds up to over 100 newborn babies every year. This number does not account for babies that might also be in the plastic garbage bags, as the workers do not open these.  

“The babies that are found are usually in buckets, old tires or containers,” said Patience, an advisor who has been employed by the dump for 20 years. 

Unfortunately, in every case in the past five years, the babies found have been deceased. However, about five years ago a worker found a baby just outside the city dump. The newborn girl was wrapped in a plastic bag and was still alive. Workers immediately called an ambulance. Against all odds, the girl survived.

The garbage comes from the surrounding dumping areas in Pretoria, but the babies are usually brought in from garbage trucks servicing Mamelodi, the largest township of Pretoria with an estimated one million residents.

Abortions are legal in South Africa, and when asked if the babies could possibly be late-term abortions, Ladia said, “It’s not the abortion people. The women do this on their own and put the baby in there. When you put it in there with no oxygen, obviously it can’t survive.”

She continued, “We always phone the police, and they come with the government mortuary. They take information and take the baby.”

We have to talk about what to do if an unwanted pregnancy occurs, and we have to offer alternatives to aborting or abandoning a baby.

ABBA House, a baby shelter in Pretoria, plans to donate a “baby safe” that will be placed somewhere in Mamelodi East for women to drop off their babies. Workers from AIDS Hope, a ministry of OM in Mamelodi, plan to collaborate with these efforts by starting an awareness campaign to teach high school students about alternatives to abortion or abandonment.

“We have the unique opportunity to talk about making good life choices to pupils in grade seven at four local schools,” said AIDS Hope worker Anne Linke, who mentioned that a large percentage of the students are involved in sexual relationships at age 12 or 13.

“For a whole school year we teach them about the choices and challenges they will face when they grow up, especially when it comes to having sex. So far our main focus has been on HIV prevention, but we realise that our focus must be wider. We have to talk about what to do if an unwanted pregnancy occurs, and we have to offer alternatives to aborting or abandoning a baby.”

Please pray for the women and babies of Mamelodi. For more information about getting involved with the ministry of AIDS Hope in Mamelodi, please contact OM South Africa at: info.africa@om.org.

 “It was hell!” Madelyn Sherwood said of experiencing what it feels like to be poor in the poverty camp simulation that AIDSLink International conducted for Operation Mobilisation (OM) in Pretoria, South Africa, recently.

In the simulation, families lived in shacks and made bags out of newspapers to sell in order to pay their landlord, pay for food and pay for schooling for their child, etc.

AIDSLink facilitators played the roles of shopkeepers, landlords, a missionary, a pimp and a human trafficker. If the families could not make enough money to pay their landlord, they were evicted to the garbage dump. Some families never made it out of the garbage dump and spent the entire time there.

One family sent a daughter to school, only to find out that she had been captured and sent to work in a brothel. Only five of the nine families managed to send a child to school, and two of those were sponsored by the missionary.

Denise Healey, from New Zealand, described her simulation experience: “I have seen a lot of poverty, but being that person, where all the choices of how to survive came at me, made it more real. You get so tired that you make decisions you normally wouldn’t make. I was sold to a brothel and it was my choice, because I knew my family could then pay our landlord.”

In relation to how she will apply lessons learned to helping the poor, Denise said, “I can’t always change people’s circumstances, but I can help them dream. It’s getting them past survival. When I see a deeply abusive situation, it breaks my heart, so I am drawn to help. I look to the young person’s community and connect them with resources that can help them out of the poverty cycle.”

Naudeen Bonthuys, from South Africa, added her thoughts about the simulation facilitators, saying, “You broke my trust. Because you are missionaries, I thought you’d take me out of the situation.”

Andy Milligan, from the US, concluded, “The opposite of poverty is not wealth—it’s justice.”

The reason the poor stay poor is injustice. We haven’t given them a vision.  

Holly, originally from the United States, is currently serving with OM partner organisation AIDSLink International in South Africa with her husband, Nigel.

*AIDSLink International partners with OM to transmit hope in the worldwide HIV and AIDS pandemic.

They prayed and looked at various buildings, but no option seemed right. Then in 2010, a few businessmen acquired a well-known building in the centre of Hatfield, an eastern suburb of Pretoria that hosts the University of Pretoria. The building, constructed in 2000, had been the vision of a businessman who wanted to build a link between the business community and God. Now, the men who acquired the building made it available to OM.   

“To move into this dream property was more than the OM teams could ever hope for, and we experienced God’s Father heart in a new way,” says OM Africa Area Leader Francois Vosloo.

OM named the building The Link, in tribute to the original vision of the owner. It also contains a bookstore and coffee shop. “OM’s dream for the building is that it would serve as a platform to link God’s Kingdom with the world in many different ways,” says Francois. “May we be a link with the church, with the nations, with the students around us and with partners, but most of all, between individuals and God.”

Even giving up the business Philip started and developed did not stop this couple. “We lost everything before, in a fire,” says Philip, “and afterwards experienced how God provided. Going into missions is not about money. It has, however, been important for us to find a place where we fit well with our gifts, experience and our basic knowledge of Russian.”

Philip and Riana embarked on their first missionary journey in 2006 when they spent six months in Ukraine with another organisation for a crash course in the Russian language, living as the only foreigners in a small village and with no interpreter. “We had to learn the basics really fast,” smiles Riana. “To put it mildly, it was not an easy time!” They later spent nine months starting a ministry in the country and have since returned for annual visits to encourage and follow up.

After four years at home in South Africa, God again nudged their hearts to return to missions. They were ready to go. Their church was also ready to pray for them and send them out, but the question was: where should they go? Being of mature age, they felt it was important to find a ministry that would fit both of them. Language was an issue; they desired to build on the basic Russian they already knew rather than embark on learning a new language.

They attended OM South Africa’s bi-annual Engage conference and liked what they saw and heard. “Even for us who already had some field experience, it was a significant weekend,” agrees Philip and Riana. “We were impressed with this course that quickly took us through the basics of mission and OM.”

After identifying a handful of options, the couple set out on a short-term trip to different countries. It was the ministry in Novosibirsk, Russia, that drew them the most. God appeared to open one door after another, including practical issues. This, combined with opportunities that seemed to fit their personalities and gifts, it soon became clear to them that Russia was the place God had prepared for them.

Riana is a professional nurse and hopes to bless the elderly by caring for their feet. “Feet are very personal,” she explains, “and in order to touch somebody’s feet you first need to gain their trust. Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, and it is a servant’s role that I like to identify with. In my experience, treating somebody’s feet has led to many deeper conversations and opened many hearts.”

Philip hopes to start small with B4T (Business for Transformation) while also working through the local church, sharing the gospel in culturally sensitive ways.

The Dyasons, with their past experience, have clearly heard God’s call to ministry and know that being convinced of God’s will is of utter importance. They know that struggles on the field will come, including many unfamiliar situations. Several people have even voiced concerns and tried to convince them of the needs in their own church and country.  

However, Philip and Riana agree, “When God calls you, anything else would be second best.”

Gunhild explained how trucks arrived with more garbage and the strongest would run to meet them, hoping to find something of value that could be sold or possibly something to eat. It was really a “survival of the fittest” situation.

Visiting the garbage mountain obviously made a deep impact on the students. Tor shared how he related to the people by playing football: “We instantly connected as we spoke the same language, the language of football!”

For Helene, the contrast was emotionally difficult – first being exposed to the grim situation at the dump, and afterwards being able to leave and to be among the fortunate who could go home, take a shower, change clothes, and enjoy a meal, while the inhabitants of ‘garbage-land’ had to stay behind; they had nowhere to go. The teams’ simple living quarters suddenly felt luxurious and even ants in the shower were no longer a reason for complaint.

It was important for the Norwegian team to connect with the people at the dump and not just come as tourists to watch the sad plight of the poor. They came to give the hope of God in an otherwise hopeless situation.

Helene shared about Stephen, one of the residents, joined them as they prayed for some elderly ladies. Afterwards the team offered to pray for Stephen and got to hear his story – no family, no job, no place to go, no status in ‘garbage-land,’ so he got the worse jobs. And yes, he would like them to pray for him please.

“I had purchased a Bible the day before and felt compelled to bring it,” Helene explained, “but yet it felt like a stupid idea. Why would I need it at the garbage mountain? It could even get stolen, so  I left it in the van.” This was before they met Stephen.

Questioned whether he would like to be a child of God, Stephen gave a positive answer and said he’d love to also have a Bible! Helene thought about the Bible she had bought and realised that he needed it more than she did. They managed to get hold of the driver, who found the Bible and brought it to Stephen, who immediately sat down to read. When they spotted him again later in the day, he was still reading. Please pray for Stephen to continue reading the Word of God.

The Bible school students have returned home to Norway, but the situation and needs for most people at the garbage mountain remains the same. Would you pray that God would send others (maybe you?) to take their place?

“How do you teach the poorest of the poor? We give training sessions. We show that you can grow vegetables in the centre of tyres,” Steve said. Micro-farming does not need a big farming area, just a small plot that is literally measured with a person’s feet (2x2).

In order to help feed 75 orphans each day, Steve launched “Garden of Life.” The children would take broth, made from vegetables, home to their caregivers, who were sick and dying of AIDS, and soon many of them showed improved health.

Based on this experience, Steve wrote “Mpho: Garden of Life”, a story of a young boy visited by an angel who instructs him in planting a vegetable garden using seeds, chicken droppings, and two-liter plastic bottles.

Steve shared these skills with AIDS Hope, OM South Africa's ministry in Mamelodi, the largest township outside of Pretoria. 

“They came and did a gardening workshop and 30 community members attended. Steve taught the basics of starting a vegetable garden with simple household objects. All of the participants received free tomato, beetroot, cabbage, onion, and spinach seeds and seedlings to take home and begin their own garden,” said Heather van Buskirk, AIDS Hope team member.

One of the men who attended the training said, “I already had mealies (corn) and butternut planted at the back of my property, but now I’m going to rip out the flowers in my front garden and start a Garden of Life. I can’t eat flowers.”

Since 2000, Steve has trained over 1,500 households and individuals how to micro-farm. “If you teach a man how to be sustainable, he’ll remember that his whole life,” Steve informed. 

The kids at Charity & Faith, a Christian school in Mamelodi, a township outside of Pretoria, actually were interested in playing basketball. Every Thursday, OM’s SportsLink now leads a basketball session at the school. About 12-20 high school students come to learn the basics of the sport.

“We’re using Ubabalo with basketball,” explained Kelly. “The first week we were there, we met a young guy, maybe 23 or 24 years old, who works every day teaching basketball. We’d never seen him before. We found out that he lives in the community and is a Christian. It’s good to have a local person involved. The kids respect him and listen to him well.”

Ubabalo—meaning “grace” in Xhosa—began in South Africa to address the challenge of fatherlessness. Ubabalo uses sports, specifically soccer, to teach life skills to youth while also equipping them with Biblical knowledge and values. Sport coaches are trained how to be “whole life coaches” so that they can continue transforming lives through the power of Jesus.

Establishing a partnership with Max, a local believer who wants to work with the kids, was an answer to prayer for SportsLink. Max works for an organisation that was searching to incorporate life skills and the Bible into sports, but they didn’t know where to begin. Once SportsLink became involved, they were able to begin training the staff in Ubabalo.

“Now we can work together,” said Kelly. “That was the coolest thing that’s happened so far; an answer to prayer.” Max brings students from another school in Mamelodi to participate as well. Some of the students are growing in their Christian faith, which is evident in their prayers. Others may not be Christians, but now they are being exposed to Bible studies and Christian values through the programme.

“They’re good kids,” Kelly Said. “They enjoy the sessions and are willing to learn a new sport. We’ve seen improvement in just the few weeks since we’ve started.”

SportsLink plans to continue partnering with Max while leading the basketball clinic in Mamelodi. SportsLink also provides Ubabalo training to coaches so that they can reach the youth of their community. If you’re interested in Ubabalo training, contact OM’s SportsLink through www.omsouthafrica.org.

More than 20 people, ages 18-56, recently participated in OM South Africa’s Engage conference. This conference, held twice a year, invites South Africans interested in OM and missions to participate to find out what it’s all about. It has proven to be a tool for information and training, as well as building relationships with future OMers.

The programme includes simulation games, classroom teaching, fellowship, worship and prayer. Even for those who decide not to join OM or missions, it is often a weekend of spiritual input and helps them understand the issues missionaries face on the field.

One morning, an OMer led the group in a prayer trip around the Mediterranean Sea, focusing on the Transform outreach and each of the countries in the region—a first-time experience for some.

The programme also included classroom studies, games and re-enactments of difficult situations a missionary might encounter.

Participant Reo already had an interest in missions and, having been invited by an OM leader, she seized the opportunity to see what OM was about. “Engage was very realistic!” she exclaimed. “It’s really a good preparation for missions.” Reo is still praying about her future and found Engage a helpful part of the process.

Other participants Philip and Riana attended Engage in December 2011, followed by short-term outreaches in Russia and Moldova. “Engage was really a crash course going through the basics quickly,” they recalled. “Even for us who have previously been on the field [with another organisation] it was significant.” The couple, already in their 50s and with grown children, is now preparing for a long-term ministry in Russia.

In May, Hein van der Merwe attended a five-day conference at OM South Africa, called Engage, which gives South Africans interested in missions an overview of life as a missionary and a chance to learn more about OM. 

“It was awesome. I’ve never experienced something like that before,” Hein said. “I’ve never been on such a spiritual high or amongst such spiritual people.”

Leading up to the Engage conference, Hein had worked at a golf course as an accountant but was unhappy in the job. “I started praying for change, because I had hit rock bottom,” he said.

He attended a course at a local church in Pretoria to pursue his options and had the feeling that the course would lead to work in the church’s video ministry. Instead, the woman running the course told him about missions work.

Soon afterwards, Hein was informed that his accounting job would be eliminated. He decided to look for missions work and began contacting different organisations. He spoke with two organisations in the United States but quickly realised that neither ministry would work for him. Then, in South Africa, he was immediately offered a position with Support Sudan, but it fell through.

Finally, he decided to join Campus Crusade for Christ. He met with the HR manager, even though he had also just learnt about OM. He was interested in OM but felt that it was too late to change his mind. A missionary from his small group at church suggested that he ask God to open and close doors. 

“I prayed that if I was meant to come to OM that God would shut the door with Campus Crusade and open the door with OM,” he said. “That’s what happened. The meeting with Campus Crusade didn’t go as planned, and then I met with [OM South Africa Director] Pranesh and the door was clearly opened.”

Pranesh Anandlal was quick to contact Hein, as OM SA had prayed for a financial development manager for a long time. Pranesh met with Hein and told him about Engage. A few days later, Hein signed up and attended the programme.

“The last night’s final challenge just pushed me over the edge—no, more like a shove or a kick. [OMer] Hercule’s story about how many unreached people there are…that was scary. It kept me awake for a while. On the following morning people seemed to be still bothered by the things Hercule showed us,” Hein said.

That night Pranesh focused on Isaiah 6:8: “Here am I. Send me!” (NIV). “That started my whole movement on how to live a closer life to God—closer than I had been living,” Hein said.

Hein lost his job on 7 May, but he already had his foot in the door with OM South Africa and has since started working in the finance department.

Hein had prayed for a change, and God immediately led him to mission work. A door opened at OM, and Hein walked right through.

The OM South Africa SportsLink team members, along with avid cyclists from Campus Crusade for Christ, rode from Pretoria to Bellville, just outside of Cape Town from 25 February – 11 March. This wasn’t a trip for pleasure, but a way to minister to the youth in townships along the route. The team’s plan included Ubabalo, a whole-life coaching approach, as well as well-known public figures, such as South African gospel artist Steyn Fourie and Olympic athlete Reuben Ramolefi.

Ubabalo began in South Africa to address the challenge of fatherlessness in Africa. Ubabalo uses sports, specifically football, to teach life skills to youth while also equipping them with biblical knowledge and values. Sports coaches are also trained to be Whole Life Coaches so they can continue transforming lives through the power of Jesus.

Each morning, the cyclists woke up at 4:30 to prepare to leave at sunrise. Some days they travelled up to 110 kilometres (about 68 miles). 

“The stronger cyclists helped the weaker ones,” said Kelly Long, a SportsLink team member. “I remember watching other cyclists go up a hill and someone put his hand on another’s back to support him.”

The team passed through many towns and had to get permission to cycle through each one. Overall, they were able to stop at seven places within villages. Most of the villages were made up of people who are considered outcasts because of their mixed ancestry. These people are the third largest population group in South Africa today, numbering just over three million.

“The people in the villages are not used to having outsiders come minister to them,” Kelly said.

At one point, the cyclists had an appointment to meet with a rugby high school team. The directions weren’t clear, and the OMers showed up at a school that was holding a football session. They got permission to lead the group with football activities and ended with a gospel presentation. Every player responded to the gospel! Only later did the group realise they had been at the wrong school. God obviously wanted to use them at that location.

In all, an estimated 4-5,000 people, mostly teenagers, made a decision to follow Jesus during the 16 days the teams cycled. Of the experience, one member said, “We learnt a lot from each other and about our different sport’s ministries. We work for the same God, and we have the same goal.”

It’s said that women born in South Africa have a higher chance of being raped than learning how to read. When statistics show that one in four people in South Africa is HIV positive, the two facts do not look good for the future of girls and women in this country.*

A teacher by profession, I received the Churches Channels Of Hope (CCOH) training in South Africa in 2010, along with the tools to help women and children at risk of contracting HIV.

From August 2010 to August 2011, I worked with AIDS Hope at their after-school programme for vulnerable children, in schools teaching life skills, making home visits to children orphaned by AIDS and conducting HIV and AIDS workshops around the country. In August 2011, I joined AIDSLink International, an OM partner organisation, as the director’s personal assistant to help her be more effective in ministering to those at risk of HIV and AIDS, as well as continuing to work with AIDS Hope every Wednesday. 

One of the girls at the AIDS Hope after-school programme is a 12-year-old named Jewel**. She was orphaned by AIDS and is living with her siblings and cared for by her grandmother. Jewel’s older brother, Tebogo**, who is 15 years old, just went away to initiation school so that, culturally, he can be considered a man and make decisions for the whole family.

Jewel has been taught about HIV and how it is transmitted and worries that her brother will become infected when he has to go through the circumcision ritual, in which one knife is used on all the boys. Furthermore, Tebogo will be expected to sleep with as many girls as he can to “prove” his manhood.

Jewel, wise for her years, prays for her brother, that the knife used to circumcise many boys will not pass on the virus. While Tebogo is away, Jewel said, “Now, there’s no one to protect me.”

At the after school centre, Jewel is fed a hearty meal, has a safe place to play, gets help with her homework and learns about Jesus. Weekly, she receives a food parcel to take home to share with her family. Through her relationship with the staff at AIDS Hope, Jewel gets the emotional, social, physical, spiritual and academic support she needs to stay HIV free.

A woman in South Africa is raped every 17 seconds. One of the biggest lessons I learnt from my training is that it takes the whole community—the whole church—to care for those most vulnerable to contracting HIV. Jewel can do her part, but so must we.

Yesterday, I asked Jewel if a male teacher, a boy or any strange man has ever tried to do anything sexual to her. Her answer—praise God—was a vehement “no”. 

* www.rape.co.za

**names changed

“We taught them about the persecuted church and how to live as a Christian. They asked us questions about relationships, purity and how they can honour God. We also taught them how to share the gospel,” Emma, an OM team member, said.

In order to get their message across, the OM team planned a simulation exercise. About 80 youth crammed into a dark room. There was no room to sit down or turn around. They spent several hours in this predicament, experiencing briefly what many persecuted Christians around the world experience daily, especially those from the African country of Eretria.

Although the Eritrean government proclaims that it does not persecute anyone for their beliefs, thousands of Christians have been oppressed. Church pastors, leaders and their families have been kidnapped and placed in metal shipping containers, with no relief from the extreme heat or cold. Some are given a daily piece of bread and forced to live in a cage for hours, days, weeks or even years. 

News reports have shared horror stories of Christians who are beaten, sexually abused and neglected while in captivity. The prisoners are humiliated and have no reprieve from the abuse. Others have died without medical treatment.

Candace Moodley, OM Young Hope team member, commented on the simulation exercise, “The young people, even the guys, were crying. Some of the youth were tied up with ropes. We told the ones that weren’t tied up that they had to pray for those that were. The person couldn’t become untied until three people had prayed for them.”

Candace shared from Hebrews 13:3: “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering,” (NIV).

The groups then participated in an outreach. At the First Baptist Church in East London, the OM team could tell that the youth were nervous to begin their outreach, as many had never shared their faith before.

The team first stopped at a local grocery store to ask for cardboard boxes. The youth made signs to use as evangelism tools. Some people chose to write out Scriptures, while others promised free hugs or offered prayer.

Emma shared that one woman who they prayed for during the street ministry came to church the following Sunday. She accepted Jesus into her life. 

“The youth were challenged. They were encouraged to continue outreaches and to collect money for missionaries,” Emma said.