October 2017

Trina's Notes

Hello to all our friends and family around the world! Rodney is making me write a little as a part of the changes that we have made to our website, so here are a few recent highlights to help our family abroad keep informed:

September ended with winds that took off some roofs in our area but praise God only a small section of our fence was damaged. At the same time, we were very blessed to host our Zulu friend and spiritual daughter Irene Mkulise while she studied for her teaching certificate. We actually missed the storm by a few hours because we drove her back to her home in the Drakensberg Mountains nearly 3 hours from our home. We took the time to share in John and Irene’s church and the combination of wonderful scenery and humble hearts was great. We also had a little time on the farm of our friends, Hendrick and Ina Goosen. Their place is truely “a home away from home” that serves as a critical base for our outreach to a number of rural Zulu communities. Bridget used to call their farm her happy place because it reminded her of Texas and our family in the USA. It is an amazing home to Rodney and I because the Goosen’s have become profoundly encouraging spiritual family here in South Africa!

October brought a second storm that caused major flooding in our region. Several lives were lost and many homes were damaged or destroyed. Some missionary friends of ours had almost 24 inches of mud and storm water rush through their house causing irreparable damage to everthing it touched and leaving them looking for new accommodation. We count ourselves very lucky to have only lost the other half of our fence! Rodney and I have definitely gotten acquainted of late with our hammer and nails!

 

We had the opportunity to get reacquainted with a lovely group of people in Estcourt at Harvestime Tabernacle. This congregation is largely Indian and was founded by Pastors Steven and Premy Frank more than forty years ago. We have ministered there a number of times but we really enjoyed catching up because it has been several years since our last visit.

Finally, I was very humbled to be asked by Celine Choloe of Living Stone Church in Durban to speak in a Congolese Womens Convention. It was a very unique experience as I danced and sang with the ladies while Rodney sat outside the meeting with the other men, a very rare occurrence in African culture! The theme of my message was from Genesis 16 about the story of Sarai and Hagar. The teaching was on what humility and submission mean even in a difficult situation like the one Hagar faced.

Please pray for us as we prepare for a Congolese Pastors Conference at the end of the month and the arrival of our friends and guest speakers Scott McClellan and Billy Bohannon who are making the trip from Texas.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *