[cid:image004.jpg@01CD368D.D8AB8360] Daily visitors: people are streaming in get their wounds treated and bandaged. The first weeks were the worst: many had huge tropical sores again (like in the beginning), but things are slowing down a bit now. Hopefully soon we will just see “fresh” wounds again!

[cid:image006.jpg@01CD368D.D8AB8360] Our three helpers taking a mid morning break.

[cid:image008.jpg@01CD368D.D8AB8360] Nadia and MayeApete visits every Saturday morning. What a privilege to now not only visit with a dear friend, but also with a fellow sister in Christ! Her son is still very sick with Aids. Please pray for his healing.

[cid:image010.jpg@01CD368D.D8AB8360] Little Mino (see earlier blog) is doing somewhat better since we could give his family some nutrition education. His mom is still struggling to make ends meet with four small children, while her husband is away at his other wives’ homes.

[cid:image024.jpg@01CD368D.D8AB8360] We LOVE holding the babies! Heidi in a tender moment.

[cid:image025.jpg@01CD368D.D8AB8360] Don’t squeeze so hard!! No, seriously, this baby just looks like this – with our without a hug! He is one of twins – who usually have a very high mortality rate. He has clubbed feet and no hope to have it fixed, but stole Heidi’s heart.

[cid:image026.jpg@01CD368D.D8AB8360] Our main focus this month after moving back in: Visiting, building and establishing relationships and learning language! Coming up next: Literacy classes, discipling new believers, Bible lesson development and more! We will keep you posted as things move forward towards a mature Mwinika church.

[cid:image027.jpg@01CD368D.D8AB8360] Franco teaching his friends a new “game”! Guess who won?

[cid:image029.jpg@01CD368D.D8AB8360] “I knight thee, sir…” The Hattingh and Henderson kids acting in a play that Callie (Henderson) wrote herself! They “performed” to a very appreciative audience last weekend when Danny and Marilyn Germann visited.

[cid:image013.jpg@01CD368A.0F1E1970] Back home!

[cid:image014.jpg@01CD368A.0F1E1970] Moving in. Mwinika neighbours taking an impromptu break while helping us to move in. Guess what’s on the screen? A car of course! Cars: the universal “men” language of all ages!

[cid:image015.jpg@01CD368A.0F1E1970] Food for Africa! We are so grateful to the two congregations that supplied food for us – enough to share!

[cid:image016.jpg@01CD368A.0F1E1970] Kobus and Ida helping us to drive up and move back in – our heroes!

[cid:image017.jpg@01CD368A.0F1E1970] Our car after the accident on the way back: Francois getting in through the window since the door couldn’t open. Our car is still not fixed – we hope to get the right parts from South Africa soon to make it save to drive again!

[cid:image023.jpg@01CD368A.0F1E1970] Dog meets chicken: “How do you do? Are you SURE your ok… ? You don’t look like any dog I have ever met before!”

[cid:image024.jpg@01CD368A.0F1E1970] Doing business Mwinika style. Francois at a market in the closest town to us (one hour’s drive away).

I think we forgot how intense it is to live here – there is no “down” time or “our” time… only a being available at all times, living and working in the same place. One little girl stuck a small bean in her ear, but by the time her parents brought here, the bean has been pushed so far back into her ear canal, that we can’t dislodge it either. So, Francois took them to the closest clinic – about 7 km away, but we do not think they will be able to help this family there. They are not open on Sundays and do not have the expertise or instruments for this kind of emergency. They probably need to go all the way to the closest town (an hour’s drive away).

That something so small can cause such a big problem! At least this is not live threatening – something we are dealing with nearly on a daily basis. The responsibility to make the right decisions is huge, since it can mean the difference between life and death. I find myself constantly in conversation with God, asking Him for His leading and help, wisdom and insight. I would visit a family where the husband is already very, very sick and weak with Aids, his family stick-thin from lack of food (since there is no income) and I cannot turn around and say: well, all the best! I came home, and packed a bag full of (good) food and sent it back to them. How can I eat when my neighbour is starving?

Still, this is our reality and there is no way that we can help everybody. So, we help those that cross our path and pray that the Lord will raise up a strong, mature church under the Mwinika that will be able to break free of the cycle of poverty, ignorance and immorality, able to help their neighbours … and caring enough to do it.

In the mean time our partners, the Hendersons, have less than three weeks left before they leave on their year home assignment to the US. There are much that we need to discuss and sort out before they leave so that we are all on the same page concerning the church plant here under the Mwinika people.

There is a mammoth task ahead of us when they leave and we need to decide with them what is priority and what not. We pray for wisdom, good communication and focus during these last weeks together. Pray too for the Hendersons as they start their (official) good-byes in the community, packing and tying up (many!!!) lose ends.

We want to ask you especially to pray for our language ability that has suffered – as expected – during our time away. We need to restart working on that among so many other things that are consuming our time and energy. Pray that our minds will be swift in understanding and our tongues able to form the words and speak what we need to in order to communicate well with the Mwinika.

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Photo: Phil giving a demonstration of contextualisation (of a “potjie*” lunch Indian style?!) during our team meetings this past weekend with Danny and Marilyn (NTM leaders in Africa). We had a very blessed meeting together on Sunday, eating a “potjie” lunch together afterwards here at our house. (* “potjiekos” is a traditional South African meal cooked over an open fire in a big pot. Yum!)

They are dying… of hunger.

The baby’s mother is already pregnant again. She is one of many wives and her husband cannot provide for them. They have nothing in their gardens but cassava (a root that has very little nutritious value).

This little boy is an orphan. Both parents died in the last year and his grandmother, a widow, is not able to take care of herself and this little boy. She is just as thin and wasted.

Pray that there soon will be a functioning Mwinika church that will be able to take care of the orphans and widows in their community!

More updates about the Mwinika people group >>

However, he has been going to the Bible teaching over the last year and seemed to be tracking very well. When his wife visited me, I asked her if he is still the same as always.

“No!” she answered. “He has changed completely. He does not go away for long periods of time anymore and has not seen any other women.”

Wow.

But the best was when she said: “His heart has turned.” In eMwinika this means: he has had a complete turnaround or life change. It is also the words we have been using to describe a conversion.

Looking at this guy, you can literally see the difference! Something in his face changed… He looks at peace.

Praise God! Such a testimony from a wife is truly one of the most honest of all…

This man and his wife recently bought the piece of land just behind our house where they soon will build a house. Praise God for the opportunity to walk a road of discipleship with this family!

Photo: this photo was taken in 2010 before the Bible teaching. Today, he looks much different!

Waldo will continue his malaria treatment for the next two days. Malaria is really hard on one’s system, so please pray for full recovery and complete healing.

Day 3 Waldo got up this morning and was at the breakfast table, although he still ate very little (he lost some weight) and had to get back in bed halfway through the meal. His sense of humour is back and we praise the Lord for his recovery. He still has some ways to go, but is getting there! Thank you for praying!

Photo: Waldo on Day 3 after getting malaria. We praise the Lord for his recovery.

Testimony: We had difficulty in getting out the first blog posting on Waldo’s malaria. Somehow we often find that our communication systems break down when we are in a crisis… However, that night the email did go through at around 12 o’clock. Within an hour after that, we were finally able to sleep! (After a very rough night up to that point). Waldo did not wake up for the rest of that night! Miracles happen when believers pray! We find that sometimes even before they have prayed – the Lord answers them! Communicating our needs somehow releases the power of prayer (or rather the power of the One to whom we pray!). Praise Him! Keep on praying…

Please pray that Waldo will be healed soon.

One man Eliasa, MayeApete’s son, is very sick and on the brink of dying. He was so weak this morning that I (Nadia) had to feed him like a baby before his family and I could carry him to the road where the vehicle could pick him up. Please pray for him.

Pray for our friends that they will receive the correct treatment soon and continue to use it. Most of all: pray for their salvation!!

Pray too for a HIV/Aids clinic to open closer by (the village is an hour by car/ 4 hours on a bicycle away) so that the people in our neighbourhood will have access to the government sponsored anti-viral treatment. This pandemic is completely out of hand on our peninsula!

The Mwinika’s godless culture is killing them…