Rev Hendrik Du Plessis
Report November 2023
Certificate distribution
Recently, on Sunday before the service, we handed out certificates to our Sunday school children, the standard sevens. Because we don’t have a high school here in D’kar, they have to go to Gantsi next year or to other high schools in the Gantsi district should Gantsi be too full.
Some time ago, the OCC or “Operation Christmas Child” introduced themselves to our Sunday school teachers with their material to which the latter found a good response. Their goal is as follows: “The mission of operating Christmas Child is to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide to share the good news of Jesus Christ.” It got its start thanks to volunteers from different churches in America. From time to time they send shoeboxes with gifts to the children to show that they care. Along with this, the children also work through a course where they are taught how important the children are to the Lord Jesus. The main goal is that the children become a follower of Jesus Christ at a young age.
Motopi
After the tragic incident at Motopi a few weeks ago, things are going well again. There was a support group from South Africa that planned to help Dorette on Motopi for a week. I would have joined them, but unfortunately, an urgent meeting with our member of parliament here locally put a damper on the plans. On the way, the support group went to visit someone in Gaborone who took up their time. They didn’t arrive at Motopi until half past 11 on Saturday night. Louwtjie van der Walt, one of the group members in the photo on the left, who planned the entire outreach, did not feel well throughout the day and began to complain of tremendous heartburn. He even sat in the car for half an hour after they arrived at Motopi. Jerry Minny, also one of the team members told me, he (Jerry) was still in the shower when he heard Louwtjie’s wife screaming in the tent. Louwtjie just had a massive heart attack. For half an hour they pumped him on his chest and administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but all to no avail. At around 5 a.m. the ambulance arrived and took him to Maun and pronounced him dead at the hospital. It was the Sunday morning of the 1st of October. Because it happened over a weekend they could not issue a death certificate, and to make it even more difficult,
Monday and Tuesday were public holidays in Botswana. They could only issue the death certificate on Wednesday and then they could go back to South Africa on Thursday. For everyone, it was a tremendous shock. No one expected such a thing. Dorette, who had to assist them through everything, says she was spent after the week.
The week after that I was able to visit Dorette and she could calmly share her part of the trauma with me. On Sunday I led the worship service. Dorette received a donation to bake fat cakes for the children on Sundays, which she and her team very much welcomed. We could all eat a “madombi” and sauce together after the service. A “Madombi” is something between a fat cake and a sauce dumpling. Dorette is still up and running and happy on Motopi. This is where she wants to be, she says. Next year, God willing, she will celebrate her eightieth birthday. The work she does there for the church is a call for her, she says, and she will want to do it until she is no longer physically capable of it. In the meantime, it is our prayer that someone will come to Motopi to help take the work the Lord has started there further.
After the service, we invited the congregation to a movie that evening at the church. It was the film “Walking with Jesus” which I had not shown there yet. The attendance was really good. Young and old arrived. In between, I made an effort to explain how everything fits together. As I have mentioned in previous reports, the film succeeds very well in explaining the total repentance of people who came into contact with the Lord Jesus. It is impossible to stay the same. It is impossible to remain the same one who is greedy, a thief, an adulterer, or an impatient old curmudgeon.
If someone remains the same as he was before, it is clear proof that he has not yet come into contact with the Lord Jesus. Unfortunately, because it was Sunday night and school tomorrow, we couldn’t show all the episodes. We agreed to show the film next time but on a Saturday night instead. Dorette was particularly impressed with the film. She had seen him before, but a long time ago. Her words to me were that next time she wants to invite specific people in the town to the film. The film is available on YouTube and if you look at their lips it looks like the film was originally shot in English and then later dubbed into other languages.
Mababe
On Monday we left for Mababe for the week. It was windy but very hot. We sweat a lot because the mopani trees don’t have leaves yet. It just started budding. During the week we showed the film at three different points in the village. Throughout the day people visited us a lot for Bibles. After the film and the explanation surrounding the film, many people were desperate for Bibles. They then come from far away for Bibles. When they come, one has a lot of time to talk with them about their relationship with the Lord Jesus and about the churches they belong to. For those who belong to the ZCC church (Zion Christian Church), I expressed my concern, that they are part of a group that openly still worships their ancestors at the expense of the fact that they claim to be Christians. I tried to explain to them that if you are in a boat, and the boat sinks you go down with everyone. The problem with the African is not only to lead him to conversion but especially to free him or her from his church or traditional superstitions. Many of them who accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior and Savior, are still part of some false church that he or she must subscribe to, to remain part of the church. You must observe certain rituals to remain part of the church. The person who does not belong to any church is the easiest to work with. Every false church has cultic conditions that make it extremely difficult for a member to turn his back on his church. I constantly shared my concerns with them and said, I am worried about millions of black people who will one day be lost because they did not want to break their ties with their ancestors and traditional superstitions.
On the left, we are getting ready for the evening. If we find a building with a white or yellow wall, we show the film to everyone in that area. What was outstanding for me about this visit was the effect of the film on more and more people.
One of them, when we were driving somewhere one day, said to me: “Whenever you go back, I can see a change among these people. It made me think of the chiefs of Bêre who once told me, that since you got involved with the audio Bibles here there has been a turnaround among these people, even two shebeens have closed, and the crime has drastically declined. My answer to them was, that the Word of the Lord never returns empty. It is not me who does something, but the Holy Spirit who works through the Word in the hearts of people. He alone can soften the hardest heart.
Then there are the memory sticks that we distribute among them. We are engaged in training from the book of Genesis. My colleague and I here in D’kar put our lectures or Bible studies on memory sticks. In every village, certain people are interested in being educated from the Bible. By the Lord’s grace, the interest is growing more and more. Every time we visit our respective visiting points, Bible studies or readings are supplemented with new lectures. Genesis is an incredibly rich book. Without Genesis and the covenants with it, the New Testament makes no sense at all. When you go through Genesis to the New Testament, there are so many questions that the Africans struggle with, which are answered. If you wonder in Genesis how you as an African can be part of the eternal covenant with Abraham, you get the answer in the New Testament. In Galatians 3 verse 29 Paul says: “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to the promise.” I believe that much of what the Lord Jesus explained to his followers on their way to Emmaus must have come from the book of Genesis. I dream that eventually every city or town in Botswana will have these lectures to evangelize people. These lectures are specifically prepared apologetically to refute heresy or distorted views of Africa.
We again ask for your intercession for this great task. I especially think of the words of our Lord Jesus in John 15 that without Him we can do nothing. On the mission field, it works like this, some missionaries plow and plant (sow), and then some missionaries come after them and harvest. It can take generations. Blessed are you if you can reap where previous missionaries planted. In many of these villages, it feels to me like I am still plowing and planting and turning the soil over. In itself, it is essential because without it no one can come to harvest later. Where we do harvest as missionaries, we harvest on the fields of previous missionaries who planted or sowed. It is not our ingenuity, but the Lord who made the harvest ripen at the right time, and with that comes the command of our Lord Jesus in Luke 10 verse 2: “And he said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” I am reminded of the words of reverend Daniel. I hope I am spelling his name correctly. He worked for years among the Vendas, in the early years of the last century. He worked under the Vendas for 30 years. Once someone asked him: “Reverend Daniel, for thirty years you worked among the Vendas. How many Vendas would you say have been converted under your ministry?” Reverend Daniel sat and thought for a while and his answer was. “I don’t think it will fill these five fingers on my one hand.” Today Vendaland abounds with Reformed Churches. Years ago I was able to visit some of the churches there. I was surprised to see so many little churches served by so many pastors. Reverend Daniel, who plowed and planted, was not destined to see the harvest. This is how it is with many missionaries, but where you do collect the harvest it is usually thanks to previous missionaries plowing and planting work. In short, it comes down to this, you as a missionary must not be discouraged if you do not see the harvest yet, and where you do begin to harvest, do not be arrogant and think that it is your achievement. There were others before you who plowed and planted. In 1 Corinthians 3 from verse 5 to 7 Paul explains it to the Corinthians like this: “5What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”
Your brother in Christus,
Hendrik du Plessis