The Road from Pietersburg to Tzaneen

When you head east from Pietersburg (Polokwane), in a matter of minutes you encounter a huge mountain range with some of the most gorgeous views EVER! Tzaneen is at the foothills of the Wolkberg which are part of the breath-taking Drakensburg Mountain range. This plunges you (literally) into a subtropical paradise as they call it. You go from brown, dead, arid desert to lush, green, tropical HUMIDITY instantly. It’s like walking into a greenhouse. Here is a picture tour of the ‘trek’ between your two missionary families over here. I hope it gives you a better perspective of our reality!

What do you Want??? Part Three

Mark 10:14, "And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet".

After we have met a certain people that God has prepared, and given them a clear proclamation of the Gospel, we are looking for a complete persuasion on their behalf, to the truth of Jesus Christ. Without a doubt, one of the hardest decisions that a missionary has to face, is determining when it is time to move on and preach to other hearers. We realize that it takes time for a person to hear, understand, and apply their heart to the faith of the Gospel, however, there are so many that are in darkness, that one cannot spend all his time going back to only the same crowd that remains unmoveable and seemingly unshaken by God's Word. The difficult question is, where is the line? When is it time to move on to new ground?

Jesus gives a clear directive to His disciples. They were to look for people that received them and received their words. Obviously a people must be willing to receive us before we can do any work in their lives. It does not much good to preach to someone who would rather that you just drop dead. However, we oftimes find people that are willing to receive us, but fain to receive the message we bring from God's Word. So many are cordial, warm, and kind, until you begin to shine the light of God on the darkness of their heart. How refreshing it is when we find one who not only receives us, but receives the message from our Savior! What a joy when we find those who will choose to agree with the Word of God! There is nothing more exciting than to find a people with a complete persuasion of the truth of the Bible. This persuasion must not stop with being born again. Actually, quite to the contrary, Jesus said that "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed". What a great disservice has been done in so many modern churches where all the emphasis is only put on praying a sinner's prayer and being saved from hell. Only to find that these 'converts' disappear just as quickly as they were found.

Furthermore, many churches are full of 'disciples' who have a corrupted mentality that it is the job of the paid staff to do the work of outreach and ministry, rather than a personal responsibility of every disciple! If one is completely persuaded of the truth of God's Word, it will be impossible for them to turn aside to other endeavours, or merely relegate the work of ministry to the 'hired staff', while they pursue their own causes. If the burden of ministry all rests on the shoulders of the missionary, then the work can only continue as long as the missionary is their to pump everybody up. As we labor on the mission field, we are looking for the same thing that is needed in churches back home. We need and desire a people that are so completely persuaded of the truth of God's Word, that they will stop at nothing until they see the Great Commission completely fulfilled for the glory of Christ!

Are you so completely persuaded about the truth of God's Word that it permeates the thoughts, words, desires, and pursuits of your life? What if YOU were the only one that God was counting on for the growth of His church that you have joined....how well would His church be doing? Fully surrendered and committed disciples. Isn't that what Jesus is looking for?

If ye have love one to another

John 13:35...."By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another". A very simple, yet profound command by our Savior. I am afraid that we often overlook the importance of it and underestimate the power of it. Very few ideals have been distorted as badly as Biblical love has been, in our present day. Biblical love is not for sissy's. Biblical love is not about sensuality. Biblical love is not about spineless acceptance of all things. Biblical love is defined in I Corinthians 13. Biblical love between God's children, is an evidence of salvation to all the world around us. Today I watched a manifest token of such love between 3 brethren, that brought a tear to my eye.

After David and I finished a Bible study with Thomas and Kenyas today, David went to the car and pulled out a bag with 2 of his shirts that he brought to give to these 2 men. Now you have to understand that David is a South African and Thomas and Kenyas are from Zimbabwe. South Africans and Zimbabweans typically despise each other. David probably has less than 10 articles of clothing to his name, yet T. & K. have only one change of clothes. David has no job to buy any replacement clothes, but he saw 2 brethren with a definite need. Though he couldn't do much, he wanted to do what he could. He didn't ask me if I had an extra shirt or extra money to buy them something. He didn't ask what I thought about their need at all....he just took the initiative to give what he could to his new found brethren! It was a humbling experience to witness. Biblical love is truly only wrought in a man's heart by the power of Jesus Christ. May each one of us reassess our commitment to fulfilling God's love through us to those in need around us.

It's Heritage Day!

One of the joys of living in a foreign country is that we get to celebrate twice as many holidays in a year than we were previously accustomed too. Today is Heritage Day here in RSA....if you are interested you can read more about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_Day_(South_Africa). Though I have no heritage here in the culture or traditions of this country, I took the occasion today to reflect a little bit on the heritage that God has blessed me with. The Bible has a lot to say about a heritage. Two verses of note are, Ps 16:6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. and Ps 127:3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD...


It just so happens that Heritage Day also coincides with my wife's spiritual birthday! She's 13 today....lookout we've got a teenager in the house:-). The first aspect of the goodly heritage that the Lord has blessed me with, is without question, my wonderful wife! She was the heritage given to her parents, by the Lord, and passed on to me with their's and the Lord's blessing. Most certainly she is the helpmeet that the Lord prepared for me and the mother that our children need. She is a Godly example of love, surrender, faithfulness, commitment, compassion, and patience. Without her, we could not be what the Lord has made us today. Without her, we will not become what the Lord desires for us in the future . I have every confidence that my wife will always desire to be exactly where and what the Lord wants her to be. What a blessing to have a wife that is saved and truly loves the Lord! Thank you Lord for such a goodly heritage!

Prayer Alert

Thanks to all who have prayed for us this week. The Lord has been so good to us. You already heard the great news about my daughter, now let me give you some more. We have seen 3 men from Motupa give testimony that they put their trust in Christ!!! Godfrey told me today that he was saved on Sunday night after he got home from the service. Thomas and Kenyas, both from Zimbabwe, met with David and I for a couple hours on Wednesday afternoon and both of them accepted Christ before we finished. Here's the exciting thing.....We reached David about 2 years ago with the Gospel. David led Fels to the Lord a couple months ago and began discipling him. Fels began working on many folks, one of whom was Godfrey. Together Fels and David worked with Godfrey to lead him to Christ. What a tremendous joy to witness these guys working for the Lord and passing that burden on to those they reach. Should be a great service on Sunday in Motupa!!!!! We are planning to baptize Fels....if we have water that is. We will find out tomorrow if they got the water fixed at the school where we meet, otherwise we will have to wait for another day....TIA:-).



Pray also for Silas and the village of Dan where he lives. We met with him last Sunday in lieux of beginning some Bible studies at his place. We are going tomorrow to meet with him and try to find some others who are interested in the things of God to meet with us for Bible studies on Sunday at his house. Please pray for the Lord's will!

Thanks for praying!!!!!

Anna Update...

Anna's urologist gave us a great report today! He was so very pleased with the results from the ultrasound, that he said no further tests are needed at this point. He said "This is exactly what I hoped to find." Her cystic kidney is less than a 1/2" in size now and continuing to shrink. No tumors or such kinds of growths were indicated in any of the other organs, and her good kidney continues to increase in size to make up for the one that is lacking. Given the circumstances, he gave us the best report possible today. They will continue to monitor her on a yearly basis with ultrasounds as they did today, for another 8 years. We are so thankful to our God who has been so gracious to us. Thank you to so many who have voiced assurance of their prayers and concerns for our little girl. We are so grateful for each one of you who included us in your thoughts and prayers.

Rejoicing,
George and Kristin

Here are a few pictures of the excellent Urology Hosptial in Pretoria. We are so grateful for Dr. Dirk Ligthelm and his expertise. He has been a tremendous doctor. From the very beginning - just 3 days after Anna was born - he has looked after our little girl and been available to talk on the phone whenever we needed it. God surely led us to you. Thank you Doctor!

Pray for Anna!

On Tuesday, Anna has her annual kidney check-up. We are so grateful to the Lord for the good health Anna has been blessed with these 20 months of her life. For those of you who may not know, our daughter Anna was born here in Africa (January 12, 2006) with one functioning kidney. And although the diseased kidney never has worked nor ever will, they must monitor it to watch for tumors, monitor it as it shrinks, etc. until Anna is 8-10 years old. All praise be to God that her good kidney is functioning over 100%; meaning that it is doing all the work for both!

When Anna had to undergo testing at birth, they mentioned that the tests might need to be repeated when she was older. We know that our little girl is safe in the Father’s Hands. We are so grateful for our Princess. Would you pray that they won't need to run all the tests again? They were so awful and invasive, they would have to totally sedate her (and her parents too). No fun, but whatever is best for her health. We will post updates via email and here, as to the report from her appointment.

In the Everlasting Arms,
Kristin