Dear Everyone,
Seems like it's been forever since we've written a group e-mail. We've tried to write to a few of you in the mean time, but it's probably time for a little update on our lives.
Probably most of you know that Stephanie's Grandma died just over a week ago on Saturday. She'd been fairly low for a while, and we knew that she didn't have long to live. Of course we'd hoped that we'd see her again, but we know she's much happier in heaven.
Another item of interest might be that we got tickets to come home. I leave on the 12th of November from Bloemfontein and arrive in West Palm Beach, FL the following day. Steph flies on the 5th of December from Bloem to Kansas City arriving the following day also. The travel agent got us good connections. I think Steph has the longest layover in Atlanta. It's a little over 3 hours if I remember right. We're in the U.S. until the 15th of April.
Last week on Wednesday Nt. Mokoena and I helped Bro. Chele pitch a tent near his home village. Today Nt. Mokoena goes back to move it to another village. I think Bro. Chele will have services there every night for several weeks. I'm going to try to go this Thursday. We trust that the end result will be another church planted. Please pray a lot for this for!
Thursday last week was a one-day youth conference. Uncle Gideon from Smithfield preached in the morning. He spoke very well about the hidden life with Christ Jesus. In the afternoon the youth committee reported on their work over the last two years, and a new committee was chosen. I had to come to Ladybrand for an urgent meeting at the school, so I'm not sure who was chosen.
The meetings at the school ran fairly late Thursday night. We slept at Michelle's place that night, then left for Bloem that next morning. I returned some parts from Philip's truck, bought a chairs for one of the congregations in Lesotho (they saved up enough money to buy 11 good quality stackable chairs), plus all the usual errands. We spent the night at Heidi's place and went to the craft fair Saturday. We had hoped to finds some little gifts to give to pastors that have us for services on deputation, but didn't find anything. We went to a big wholesale place and found a few things that will have to do. On the way home I had to stop at Philip's house to write an important letter on behalf of the school board. (I'm the secretary.) It was just after 7 when we finally got home. It was a long weekend, but we really enjoyed the time together as a family!
Sunday I preached at Matukeng. The attendance has been down for the last several months. Some of the new converts seemed to have kind of lost out and only attend once in a while. Please help us pray for them.
Today (Monday) we're in Ladybrand again. Steph's at school. Kaitlyn is sweeping the floors with her toy broom. It's nice when she plays on her own for a while so I can get some things done. I need to work on TEE, schedule deputation services, type some minutes for a meeting, etc. etc. Of course it won't all get done, but I better get started.
Cheers (as the Brits say.)
Glenn
After the church was all set up and tied down, the young men in blue built a low stone wall around it to keep water from running inside. We also poured a floor inside. The church isn't very big, but it was a lot of work! All the sand had to be shoveled out of the river, and we mixed the cement by hand.
Grandma Matumo, one of the "founding members" gave this little house to the church for a parsonage. The thick rock walls make in cool in summer, and the thatched roof makes it warm in winter. It's a comfortable place for us to stay when we visit this congregation.
