Phil and Elin Henderson For Occasional Updates... PACKING UP THE HOUSE
We are in the final stages of packing our house up. Slowly but surely things are coming down off of walls and shelves and into boxes and trunks. With only 2 weeks to go before we leave the pressure is on to get all the packing done.
LAST TEACHING SESSION COMPLETE
Monday there was a good turnout for the final lesson for our initial teaching program in our village. We have been calling these lessons “esiikhi” because that is the term for the main support poles used in building a house. These poles provide structure and form to the house. In the same way this first cycle or phase of teaching was designed to provide a general structure to the overall teaching program we would like to complete in the years to come.
As we go on home assignment our partner Francois will be preparing to teach the second cycle of lessons. He has also been getting around and meeting with the different believers as part of intensive discipleship plan.
Praise the Lord with us for the great work He has done in bringing many to Himself. Continue to pray for the work as it moves forward, that many more will come to know Him and that the new believers will continue to grow in Him.
LEADERS – LOCAL AND NOT SO LOCAL
On our last day of teaching we had our Africa director in attendance. Here is a picture of him with Phil and two of our local clan leaders.
FRIENDS
Callie and her friend Heidi-Marie Hattingh.
TOGETHER AGAIN
Here we are with our partners at a recent team meeting. It is nice to be together again, even if it is only for a short time.
Please pray for us as we hand over a lot of the jobs we were doing while they were on home assignment. Pray for Francois and Nadia as they get back into the swing of things.
TRIP TO PROVINCIAL CAPTIAL
Last week Phil and Francois travelled once again to our provincial capital to finish up our paperwork for leaving the country as well as meet with two ministry teams that work in our same province.
CALLIE’S 12TH BIRTHDAY
On Thursday we celebrated Callie’s 12th Birthday! Not a big party but fun nonetheless!
TEACHING CONTINUES
Since arriving home we are preparing to finish teaching the last of evangelistic lessons in the remaining weeks before we start our home assignment. Please pray for the teaching and for those that will be listening.
HATTINGHS ARRIVE…
Our partners, the Hattinghs, arrived in the village late last night. After 5 long days of travel and numerous breakdowns they made it safely home. Early yesterday afternoon, about a three hour drive from the village, they suffered their worst breakdown. The steering mechanism literally fell off the truck as they were driving down the road. They lost control and headed off the road into the forest. They were heading straight for a tree when they hit a rock. The blow from the rock veered them off on an angle and the tree only grazed the side of the truck. You can see some of the damage in the picture. A local mechanic happened to drive by and they were able to get back on the road again. They were within cell phone range at the time and they called me to come fetch the family while Francois and his guest limped home. They made it in at 11pm. This morning they have started the long process of cleaning up their home after a nine-month absence.
Praise the Lord that they made it home safely. Pray for their adjustment to life in the village.
BAD ROADS
Here is a picture of the truck splashing through a mud puddle on our survey. Every now and again we are VERY thankful for our truck and its off-road abilities. Several times on our survey and on the way home to the village we were thankful for having such an able vehicle. On the way home we had to drive through a 40km stretch that was almost impassable. Because of the heavy rains we found 30+ trucks stuck in the mud awaiting a lone tractor that was working overtime to pull them through the muck. We were worried about getting around them all, but praise the Lord we made it (praying all the way!). It is not often we need the wide tires and the 4×4 and the limited-slip differentials but this last two weeks we have been very thankful for them.
With the rough roads the truck has taken a beating and we are hoping to be able to afford to have some major work done to it while we are on home assignment. Praise the Lord with us that we were able to buy 4 new springs for it (our partners just brought them up for us from South Africa) but it still needs a lot of work. Pray with us that it will keep working well until the work can be done.