January and February 2023
Ref Hendrik du Plessis
By the grace of the Lord, we were able to visit Bere, Mababe, and Motopi early this year. From the 26th to the 30th of January we visited Bere, and from the 9th to the 17th of February we visited Motopi and Mababe.
Bere
Our prayers and goals are to train people at each of these points with the sole purpose to exuipe them to be dissiples. Even if one starts small, the ripple effect can spread bigger and bigger.
We started with the two headmen and we supplied them with Bible studies which they can listen to in their own time and later also share with others.
I prepared the Bible studies in D’kar in advance in written form. My colleague , rev. Gaobolelwe Ngakayaja re-checks and edit were needed. Afterwards, we record the Bible study lesson digitally. We are currently working through the book of Genesis without which one can not understand the New Testament. Without Genesis, you have a distorted idea of the New Testament, and this, I believe, is one of the main reasons, if not the most important reason, for so many false churches in Africa. In our Bible lessons or Bible studies, the poimts refering to the new Testament are then highlighted
Like a road map, everything points to the cross and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord is good to us here in the ministry. Brothers Tiddo Voogt and Cobus Rudolph went out of their way to donate us a compact studio with a soundboard made to mute the sound for the recordings. We are very excited about that. This will enable us to make quality Bible study surveys. Our dream is to provide people everywhere with this Bible study material. The remote cattle posts, settlements, and towns are our sight, and if they can expand to the bigger cities and countries, why not. My colleague is particularly excited about the material we are preparing. He has his ministry points where he distributes the Bible studies. We even plan to give certificates to the people after we have worked through Genesis. The certificates are not intended to give them any status, but rather to give them recognition for modules that we worked through with them. Your prayers are requested for this initiative because, without the Lord’s blessing, it is not feasible.
During our visit in Bere, we showed the people a video in the evenings.
Walking with Jesus film shown
The wall of the one chief’s house was the screen. It is a touching video, translated into Tswana. The video’s name is “Walking with Jesus”. It is a typical African drama to which they can easily relate. It is about a chief who spared nothing and nobody and one day after seeing the Jesus film he came to a deep state of repentance. The cross scenes were one too many for him and he couldn’t sleep that night. He then went to the local pastor who explained the Gospel to him. After that, he began to struggle with his conscience, and the injustice he had done to others. Before his conversion, he even went so far as to take someone’s land and claim it for himself in his capacity as chief. After he met the Lord Jesus in his life and confessed his sins, he then went back to various people one by one to ask forgiveness for the injustice he had done to them. For him, of course, the most difficult thing was to return the land. After intensive discussions with the vicar, in the end, he managed to return the land to the rightful owner and humbly begged for forgiveness.
Then in the same film, there is also the plot around a young boy who, after a fight with another boy, came to a deep end and went back to restore his relationship with the other boy. In the end, they were part of the church as partners and he openly confessed how the Lord forgave their sins and also changed their lives.
Towards the end of the film, there was a sangoma(witchcraft) who did not want his son to become a member of the church, and the intrigue around that. It is a film with which the African person can relate and yet can learn a lot about what it means to be a Christian. If you are a Christian, your whole life changes. If you have given your life to the Lord Jesus, you cannot remain the same – you are a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). Two nights we showed the film at the request of the chief at his house and then at the request of one of the police officers at her house, also against a wall. Everyone who walked by was welcome to sit and watch.
We have an old data projector that uses a lot of power. The bakkie had to idle the whole time, otherwise, the battery would run out. It happened to us once and we had to push.
The success behind similar films lies in the discussion among themselves over time. Even the next day one could hear them discussing the film among themselves.
Another positive aspect of the film is the conversations of the people with the reverand and the passages and verses from the Bible that are quoted all the time. Those who watch it, cannot help but become familiar with the Scripture passages.
The Sunday school class is growing well and one is very grateful for that.
The Sunday school teacher is dedicated to what she does. The way she teaches the children and makes them recite Bible versions is very positive for me. Those children will remember those verses for the rest of their lives. It is nicely drilled into them. On Sunday I conducted the worship service and we were grateful for the turnout. I again gave her Bibles and Bible study materials such as tracts to use and distribute.
Motopi
Dorette is doing well. She is back on Motopi and going full steam ahead. More and more adults attend the worship services, not just children. Also there we have someone who is very eager to be trained. His name is Hendrick Keitshokile. He regularly attends the worship services and figures like an elder although he has not yet been confirmed in office. He and his wife now live with aunt Dorette on the plot. He helps her three days a week and his wife two days. Aunt Dorette only speaks highly of them. According to aunt Dorette, he often listens to the Bible study material I gave him and I am very grateful for that.
Africa has a tremendous lack of Bible-based people who can give leadership in the church, and the only way is to provide them with Bible study material through which they can train others.
My words to aunt Dorette were: We dream of a Bible school, but we can transform every livestock post and settlement into a Bible school if we unofficially make the one we train there the headmaster of his group. If he is truly seized by the Lord in his heart, he can turn that whole environment around for the Lord. In the photo above, Hendrick is standing second from the left. On Sunday we gave each of them a Bible.
During our visit there we once again had a good conversation with Hendrick and prayed with him and his wife. Dorette is the unofficial coordinator of the project and encourages him to listen to the Bible study material, but according to her, it is not necessary. He works through it without any encouragement. We ask for your intercession for such people whom the Lord sends our way. For the kingdom of the Lord, they are worth gold.
Mababe
From Thursday the 9th to Sunday the 12th we were at Motopi where I also lead the worship service. On Monday we left for Mababe. Motopi is 80 kilometers from Maun and from Maun, to Mababe it is 127 km.
It is an incredibly bad road, especially if it has rained. In places, we were almost stuck. Because my bakkie does not have a 4×4, we have to take this into account all the time. At some pools, you have to rush to get through. In one of the pools, we found that the water had started to run into the outlet pipe. The pool above looks completely passable at first glance, but in front of it was a false place like a hole that we underestimated. Abdul and another man had to get down into the water and push until the rear wheels could reach solid ground again. There you learn not to simply drive past people who ask for an opportunity on the side of the road, because they are the ones who are going to help push you if you get into trouble.
Mababe is a place where we need no introduction.
Every evening a Bible study is held at some one’s home. People trust you and discuss their problems with you and we are grateful for that. On the way to Mababe from Maun we gave someone an lift. Later we would find out that she is one of the teachers in Mababe and she wanted to know if we could come and hold a Bible study for them as teachers one evening. A few nights later, we eagerly complied to her request. The photo above is of people to whom we distributed Bibles and tracts. The man on the right in the photo is very diligent and attends all our Bible studies. He has an old laptop and I downloaded the Bible study lessons from Genesis for him. He is eager to be further trained. Last time I also downloaded the film “walking with Jesus” on it for him.
I still have a few audio Bibles left, which I give out very sparingly, only to someone who is old or cannot read at all.
To conclude
In Matthew 9 from verse 35 we read how the Lord Jesus and his disciples went around and taught in their synagogues and preached the gospel of the kingdom and thus also healed every disease and every ailment among the people. In verse 36 it says: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” It says, his bowels turned or moved or contracted over the crowd that He saw before him. The commentator, Gill translates it, “his bowels yearned for them.” The reason for this is, they are tired and worn out like sheep without a shepherd. In verse 37 he brings them to the heart of the problem: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;”. The question then is, what does one do with such a labor problem? The Lord Jesus gives us the answer to this problem in verse 38: “therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” From these words, it is clear: Without Him who sends laborers into the harvest no one labors, and without the one who prays the Lord will not send. Hence the instruction: “therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Of course, the Lord can do this without our prayers, but He does not want to. One more thing: The harvest belongs to Him. He is the Lord of the harvest, empowered to send laborers into his harvest if we will only pray for fellow laborers. It is a given, but it is also a command, pray. This is also our prayer here. The reason why the laborers are so few, I believe, is because the prayers have become fewer and fewer. May the Lord awaken us to have this prayer constantly on our lips.
Your brother in Christ,
Hendrik du Plessis