Rev Hendrik du Plessis
The start of the outreach was greeted with adversity. On the way to Maun, the right rear tyre of the bakkie burst. I drove over something on the tar and the next moment we only heard a loud bang. About a kilometer further we realized we had a flat tyre and I pulled over to replace the wheel.
That evening we spent the night at Dorette Cronjè. The next day we couldn’t find that specific type of tyre in Maun. Brother Tiddo Voogt in South Africa responded quickly and was able to transfer money to me for two new tyres which would only been available the next week in Maun due to the public holiday. All the tire sites stock would only arrive next week. Driving to Mababe without a spare wheel would be a big gamble. Luckily one of the tyre shops in Maun borrowed us a spare wheel and we were able to venture on the road to Mababe.
Just before Mababe we ended up in a waterhole and could not move forward nor backward. After my first attempt, Abdul immediately warned me and said that the vehicle is digging itself deeper into the mud. Around us were hippos snoring and behind us, an elephant was drinking, and after winding down the windows we could hear the mosquitoes. The thought of sleeping in the bakkie full of mosquitoes for the rest of the night and the wild animals around us was not pleasant.
To get out you had to climb into the water. I wondered why I drove into the hole? If I had driven faster I would have made it, like all the vehicles before me did. Their advantage of course is they are 4×4 vehicles that I do not have. Luckily I had some of the people in Mababe’s phone numbers and not long after that they came to rescue us.
Mababe and Sankoyo
As for handing out Bibles and tracts, this time we focused on Sankoyo. We had Bibles and Audio Bibles with us. Idea, our host in Mababe, accompanied us everywhere. He knows everyone in Sankoyo and knows exactly to whom we gave Bibles the last time, written aswell as Audio Bibles.
The chief was particularly grateful. In a previous report, I posted a photo of him and his brother sitting and listening to the Bible starting from 7 a.m. We surprised them at about 11 o’clock with our visit. We were grateful to hear that they were listening to the Bible since 7 o’clock that morning. The chief did not yet have his own Audio Bible and was therefore dependent on his brother who came to visit him from time to time.
He is sitting here above in the photo with the Audio Bible and an ordinary Bible that we gave him. He wants to use the written Bible for their council meetings. His name is Sepoposamakata and like many in Sankoyo is a member of the Yeyi tribe, with the Yeyi language as his mother tongue, although they are fluent in Tswana.
The Yeyi language differs from Tswana as English from French. Standing in the photo is Idea. Idea’s mother tongue is Ts’iiga and it again differs from our Naro here in D’kar as German from Afrikaans. Yeyi is a Bantu language and Ts’iiga is a Bushman language. They communicate with each other in Tswana.
The people to whom we have distributed Bibles are all people among whom Idea grew up and whom he knows personally.
We went looking for people individually who had asked for an audio Bible the previous time.
These are people who sit for hours outside busy with their daily chores with the Word of the Lord that resounds in the background.
Our goal is to expose people, perhaps for the first time in their lives, to the Word, people who have been dependent on false preachers all their lives to hear what the Lord wants to say to them. Now they, even those who cannot read, can hear thr true Gospel for themselves. I once phoned one of them from D’kar, and in the background, I could hear the audio Bible speaking, clearly and distinctly.
Our prayer is that the Lord, through His Word and Holy Spirit, will bring about His Kingdom and that villages will repent. Not only the older generation but also the younger generation were eager to have a Bible in hand.
During our visit to Mababe, I was able to have in-depth conversations with one of the few people among the Bushmen who has a degree. He is one of the Ts’iiga Bushmen. He and his wife live in Gaborone and from time to time he visits his father in Mababe. He is a devout Christian and someone who knows the Bible very well. He is currently immersing himself in Law because the Bushmen’s fate across Botswana is very close to his heart. What stands out to me about him during our Bible studies is his prayer. I would like to see him one day as a minister of faith. He was recently the leader of a team that wants to start recording their language. It is a language that is dying out if nothing drastic is done about it.
During our conversations with Idea and his wife, I told him that they were very zealous for the establishment of a church, and we are grateful for that, but both them and their children have not been baptized. I said to him that there are only two kraals (like cattle pens) in this world, the devil’s kraal, and the Lord’s kraal. There is no middle way or middle ground, and if you are convinced in your heart that the Lord Jesus is the only way to salvation, you must be earmarked (baptized) to use the example of a sheep. Idea and his wife responded very positively to this.
To conclude, we once again ask for your intercession for Mababe and all the surrounding villages, so that the kingdom of the Lord will come there. Africa is full of churches, but with very few Scripture-based churches and the reason for this is people who can not read, or have difficulty reading, and the only way for them out then is to rely on the opinions of false preachers who have so-called prophetic gifts.
Motopi
Dorette is doing well. She would like to go back to stay in Motopi, hopefully by the end of the year. She still conducts the worship services there every Sunday – back and forth you drive 160 kilometers. We also ask for your continued intercession for her who is no longer young and we are thankful that she can still contribute in the service of God’s kingdom. Unfortunately, we could not go to Motopi this time. Abdul’s son suddenly fell sick and we decided to come back to take him for medical attention. In the end, it was glandular inflammation that could be treated with antibiotics.
Your brother in Christ,
Hendrik du Plessis.