Baptism of Bro. William Madlala

Bro. William enrolled for the Bible Course in 2007 at the BEC when it was still in a shopping centre. After going "missing" for a while he re connected with us at the BEC at Aphiwe and completed the Bible course. It was SO rewarding to hear his confession of faith and receive him into our family.

With love from the Ignite2020 team in Kempton Park

Baptism of Sangani Amane

Sunday 11 November was a beautiful day and the setting at Bro. Mickey's house was perfect for the baptism of sister Sangani Amane. Sangani is the wife of brother Ramazinni Amane. The two of them live an hour's drive outside of Pretoria and they attend the Pretoria Congolese meeting very faithfully every Sunday. It takes them an hours drive each Sunday in a taxi and then an hours drive back home. Sangani is a lovely sister and it was a privilege to see her search the scriptures and eventually becoming convinced that she wanted to commit her life to God by taking the first step of baptism.

The Congolese brethren and Sisters live in difficult circumstances but they are always very joyful on Sundays when they get together. This Sunday it was even more so as they witnessed the baptism of their new sister. We all have come to learn a lot from them in terms of being faithful in whatever circumstances we might find ourselves.

Your brother by grace

Lucas

Reaching out leads to preaching

I went shopping with Dudu, Thembisile, and Jabu, who are all 10 years old, and Mqaltsu, who is 13. We were getting them new school uniforms. When we met the girls they were pretty shy and quiet in the back seat of the car, but by the end of the day they were not feeling shy anymore! One thing that struck me was when the three younger girls chose new backpacks that were plain and black, but that also had wheels. When I showed them the colorful, girlie ones they said they would rather have the others because they have a lot of books, and their bags wear out easily.

Later I felt how heavy their backpacks were and it was so true! I really enjoyed talking with Mqaltsu and getting to know her a little. She was very quiet, and it was fun trying to make her laugh. We nicknamed her Miss Serious, and that made her smile. I told all the girls about Sunday school at Aphiwe Center, and Mqaltsu was really interested. She said that it is really boring sitting around her house on Sunday morning. She gave us her cell number, and then later last night she texted to ask for more information about the activities at the center. I can’t wait to see her again!

Leona Scheepers

Doing it to the glory of God

Today our volunteer team spent the entire day upgrading a crèche (preschool). An upgrade entails converting the COPT Isuzu into a hardware/paint shop on wheels. We drove to Letswele’s crèche at 9 am and got our first peak at just a few of the 38 kids she looks after, and the two small concrete rooms that we were going to transform into an educational oasis. The process began by washing the white plastered walls. Some spots in the walls crumbled away with the rag. Each room was equipped with rebar burglar bars over the windows; we tried to brighten them up a little bit with some red, green, and yellow paint. We rolled on a beige and brown two-tone split on the walls, divided with a bold red line. We installed two sets of shelves, a couple wires to hang posters, and painted two huge murals! One mural was of Noah’s ark, complete with lions, elephants, giraffes, and a rainbow of shapes. The other had a cosmic theme, decorated with the earth, several planets, the sun, many stars, and a South African rocket blasting into the unknown. Even the broken doors got fixed and painted all the colors of the rainbow. When Letswele came into her new classrooms, she stood in the doorways with her hands over her mouth and cried, overwhelmed with the transformation of her crèche! The day was capped off with her saying, “I know this is the work of God…Most surely He answers prayers.” She explained, “God’s love is shown to me, so that I can show God’s love to others.”

- Matt Drabenstott

Today our volunteer team spent the entire day upgrading a crèche (preschool). An upgrade entails converting the COPT Isuzu into a hardware/paint shop on wheels. We drove to Letswele's crèche at 9 am and got our first peak at just a few of the 38 kids she looks after, and the two small concrete rooms that we were going to transform into an educational oasis. The process began by washing the white plastered walls. Some spots in the walls crumbled away with the rag. Each room was equipped with rebar burglar bars over the windows; we tried to brighten them up a little bit with some red, green, and yellow paint. We rolled on a beige and brown two-tone split on the walls, divided with a bold red line. We installed two sets of shelves, a couple wires to hang posters, and painted two huge murals! One mural was of Noah's ark, complete with lions, elephants, giraffes, and a rainbow of shapes. The other had a cosmic theme, decorated with the earth, several planets, the sun, many stars, and a South African rocket blasting into the unknown. Even the broken doors got fixed and painted all the colors of the rainbow. When Letswele came into her new classrooms, she stood in the doorways with her hands over her mouth and cried, overwhelmed with the transformation of her crèche! The day was capped off with her saying, "I know this is the work of God…Most surely He answers prayers." She explained, "God's love is shown to me, so that I can show God's love to others."

 - Matt Drabenstott