South African Christian Mission

Where To Go

2010-09-08T14:58:05Z

“We should always thank God for you, brothers and sisters. We really should because your faith is growing fast. The love that each of you has for one another is also becoming stronger.” II Thess 1:3 (Simple English Bible)

He didn’t want to be there. Prison wasn’t a good place but he was paying the price for his folly. Being incarcerated with drug dealers, thieves and scamsters was too unsettling and disturbing. He found himself always looking over his shoulder, keeping to himself and remaining viligant, even at night in his bunk. There were always fights, scuffles and intimidation and he really didn’t know who to turn to. That is, until he saw a man reading a Bible in the exercise yard. This man was quiet, yet peaceful, or so it seemed. He stopped and asked questions, the man with the Bible answered and they struck up a friendship.

The apostle Paul wrote this second letter to the churches in Thessalonica, praising them for their faith and love. Very praiseworthy but if you will read the very next verse, it will become apparent that they were also being persecuted. There were troubles and trials. Yet, they were attracted to each other because of their faith in Christ! This was a safe haven during times of interference and tribulation. They were a family, loving and carrying one another’s burdens.

If there ever was a time for this attitude among Christians, it is now! We are the ones on whom others can rely and find comfort. We are the last line of defense in a world sliding into oblivion. It is our faith which will keep us on track!

Steve

By the way, the man in prison was immersed for his faith in Jesus this year.

Things are fired up at BCC

2010-09-08T12:12:55Z

Some of you might have received some of these photos but I have a “group” of addresses that I use and the information I am sending is additional information.

In the last 5 weeks, Lorna and Marty have been working non-stop, accomplishing a lot. As long they have fresh brewed coffee, they keep on going!

As it has been reported BCC “adopted” two creches in Bloekombos (area where BCC is) and we are helping them to upgrade the facilities.

In some of the photos you will see a “before” and the “after” – toilets that consisted on a few tins now have proper toilets, tiles have been put on the floors, walls have been re-painted, toys which have been donated and we don’t have use at BCC, went to the creches, etc, etc, etc. There’s a guy (handyman -his name is Video) who works at the school where Lorna worked before and on weekends he’s been coming to help us in various things – he appears in some of the photos – he and Marty make a good team.

We now can see that when we were VERY disappointed when the local government closed the creche we had running at BCC, the Lord turned into a bigger blessing that the creche would have been; BCC is a channel of blessings to the community, through these other creches.

The English classes are also going full steam; they have now divided into groups so they have classes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

On Tuesday evenings Lorna and Marty are attending a Xhosa conversation class (can you believe it, the teacher is an Afrikaans gentleman who is fluent in Xhosa) and the majority of the group is Afrikaans; so we were joking last night that Marty paid to learn Xhosa but now he’s also learning Afrikaans !!!!

Marty’s access to email is on-off because of the poor signal he gets at Anathoth, so take notice of this when he doesn’t reply to emails – he doesn’t always get them in one shot.

The other day, Lorna was talking to a mother of one of the children who was at the Aftercare where Lorna worked up to July last year, and Lorna was saying to this mother about the needs at BCC, and one of the needs is the ad-hoc need of someone who works with wood. There was a guy working at this lady’s house’s roof, who was on a ladder and sometime he asked Lorna if this children centre was the one in Bloekombos; then he said that many times when he was unemployed he went there to get soup, so now he can “pay back” by offering his services when he’s “off-duty”. The soup kitchen is having far more reaching effects than anyone of us could imagine.

Anyway, these are some of the news – others will follow sometime.

Table Top Experience – Trip Notes

2010-07-30T02:24:15Z

]The most prominent feature in Cape Town is Table Mountain. As you fly-in at night it is the black void among the lights of over 4 million people in the greater Cape Area. In the daytime it is a visible mountain from anywhere in the region. It’s quite literally a large mountain plopped in the middle of a large city that ranked 110th of the world’s largest cities in 2008.

I had been waiting for the conditions to be right for us to go. Often the winds can be fairly high on top of the mountain or it is covered with a “table cloth” of clouds. Several times we had wanted to ascend to the top but chose to wait for better conditions.

A Near Perfect Day

Finally the weather became ideal for a trip to the top and Mattie McLaughlin (her husband, Dave, was the Chairman of SACM for many years) was going to join us.

After checking on the new container building’s progress we headed to the mountain. The sun was shining with calm winds.

We purchased our tickets and took the next available cable car to the top as we watched the ground grow distant.

A View Of The City

One of the first things I noticed at the top of the Table Top is that it isn’t smooth.Instead the top is rather non-table like except when viewed from a distance. Along the top are a shop and restaurant along with several scenic paths that span the mountain top. It is textured with beautiful rock formations and plants. There is wildlife and one such creature is the Rock Hyrax, a small rodent like creature able to scurry along the rocky cliff areas.

The most striking feature is its location. Such wildness is featured within the heart of a large population. Something lured some hikers into a false sense of security only to lose their lives while climbing the mountain.

The People Below

It was a thrill to see the mountain. Yet I was mindful of Moses on Mt. Sinai. What was going on in the hearts below? I felt a sense of so many people and the importance of our message-a message not for one group of people but for many different people of various languages and background.

Soon it was time to come off the mountain and do what we came to do-to teach others about their Creator and find those whose hearts had turned to Him and His son Jesus Christ. Soon we were on our way to teach the next group that evening.