Greeting from a very wet SA!!!!

Greeting from a very wet SA!!!! Yes finally the rains have arrived!

It poured down for two days solid so you can imagine what a swamp the plot turned into. But everything is already looking a lot greener.

Marg from Australia left us on Friday. Me, Di, Pru & Tombi all cried, we will miss her greatly. She was a great friend & brought a lot of encouragement, love & care.

Pam arrived last Wednesday.......she & Marg work together, running Moriel Australia. She will be with us until the 16th October. I have already been with Pam before at Ebyown. We both looked after the children last March when the family went to England for Ant & Liz's wedding.

Dave & Lyn are in Wales until the 12th October. I have been doing a housing project with the children. We have been looking at different kinds of houses & we designed what our dream house would look like. Funnily enough both S'phiwe's & Joe's had Spiderman climbing up the side of theirs lol.

On Thursday we celebrated the Jewish festival of Sukkoth. This is when the Jews remember the time the Israelites lived in the wilderness after coming out of Egypt. It is traditional to make a 'booth' outside & sleep under the stars but with all the rain there was no way that was going to happen (plus I had no idea how to make one or even where to begin!) So the kids all decorated their beds with pictures of fruit (this is what the Jews decorate their booths with) & we also made muffins for people over on Kwazenzele to show them how God provides......it went really well. We made a batch each for Patience, Lorraine & Victoria & for their families, one for Lorraine’s gogo (grandmother), and one for a lady, Diane knows who has 7 children all under 5 years of age!!!! & for a gogo who has her 8 grandchildren to bring up as their parents have died. We also put a tract in & colouring sheets for the children which Lorraine wrote a gospel message on in Zulu.

Pheonix the puppy is growing up very fast, she is only 6 months old & is already as big as rouge......& it is now becoming evident that she has some sort of hound in her........she has killed 2 of our ducks (the 2nd this morning) so we are having to keep a close eye on her.

We have had the joy of having some baby geese born last week too. There’s four of them so we have called them Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, lol. It is so funny to see the father & mother geese charge at anyone that goes near, they even gave Aaron a run round the chicken area when he tried to get a closer peek. hee hee!

The other thing is all of our mission vehicles broke down at the beginning of last week so we have had a hire car now for 6 days, its a little blue golf.......but because of cost only Di & Salv have been put on the insurance sniff sniff........I did get to drive it around our driveway the other day......its so small I was able to do a few loops before parking it lol.

All the children are doing well at the moment.......I thank you for your constant prayer, thoughts & support.......I have been very homesick lately & any contact has been very much appreciated.

I think that is all the news for now........oh I do have some wonderful news.......4 of the bezaleel children gave their life to the Lord last Sunday.......that is what these 2 Ministries are all about........showing these children that God loves them & wants to spend eternity with them if they will repent & let him come into their hearts forever & that one day they won't be sick anymore, they have HIV, they won't have hurt from their past lives before Ebyown or Bezaleel, they will be with Jesus in Heaven......there will be no more tears.

This reminds me of something I ask for a lot of prayer about............little Ruth at Bezaleel is now starting her last course of ARV treatment that the doctors can give her. I think she is eight & her & Alan are inseparable........please pray that this course of Meds will prolong her life as long as possible & that she will be protected against side affects such as Jaundice .

Paullina has been told by the doctors that they may not have to amputate her whole leg, they may just be able to remove the infected bone from her right foot.......this is such an answer to prayer as when it was severely infected the doctor feared the only course was the amputation of both legs.......please pray that her foot stays uninfected until the operation (which I think is next month sometime) & that this operation will be a success for her.

Soooo.....hot!

12th September 2007

Hello everyone,

I hope this email finds you well.

The weather here is soooooooooooooo hot! It is only just spring & already the temperature is in the high 20's (d.c.)

Jacobs’s conference went very well the other weekend, since then he & Chris have been to Port Elizabeth & Durban on tour. Jacob left for Ireland yesterday.

Last Friday Dr.Calvin Smith arrived from England. He lives in Kent & runs a bible college in the mid-lands. He also did a weekend conference at ALethia (our church). I enjoyed his teachings very much except I messed the one I wanted to hear most........it was on Israel & the churches relationship with her as a nation............but unfortunately I had the babies that session so I'm waiting for Chris to put it onto DVD.

Calvin is a great guy & has an amazing testimony. If can organise him to come & preach at your church sometime I highly recommend him.............he also has a really wicked sense of humor. Within minutes of meeting him he was saying how 'scouse' I was.....................he obviously hasn’t heard a proper Liverpool accent in some time because mine is a pitiful excuse of 1 lol!

Calvin leaves us to go home next Monday. Marg from Australia also arrived last Thursday. She is a fantastic lady & we are all getting on really well.

The babies have taken to her instantly!

Dave & Lyn leave for England next Wednesday. They are going to spend 3 weeks with Ant & Liz & see their new grandson, Levi.

I would ask if you could please pray for poor Diane, she has been sick all last night & today with either food poisoning or a tummy bug. As you know we have all had sickness like this a few times so I know she would really appreciate your prayers, thank you.

Must dash..................love & miss you all.............

God Bless

Erin

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1st September visit to Quazenzele

Hello everyone.

I have just got back from visiting Lorraine on the informal settlement, Quazenzele. I went with Di & Salvador to visit her on Thursday. She comes & works at Ebyown during the week with Patience & Victoria to help with house cleaning etc. She has not been very well. We feared it was pneumonia so we took her to the doctors on Thursday but she was told it was just a bad case of flu.

She is doing a lot better today & walked with us to see her gogo (grandma), cousin & children as they have been staying there while she has been sick.

Aaron came with me & Di & it was very special to share the experience with him. He has already been on the camp when he walked Lorraine’s gogo home from a prayer meeting she, Di & another gogo had here at Ebyown.

It is actually amazing how the Lord provides because poor Lorraine was in such pain & with having no car or money, she could not get to town to see the doctor or even to buy some painkiller. But that previous week my mum had sent me &Di lots of Ibuprofen & cold & flu drinks as we had all been sick too.......so we were able to give her some. & also drive her to the doctor.

I must tell you about the town......& that’s what it is really...it’s a proper little community. It’s AMAZING! My little sister was doing a geography project & asked me for some info on the settlement a few months back....I only wish she could have come with me these last few days & seen it for herself. You fall in love with the place immediately. I think it is because of the simplicity & yet beauty of the place. There is a main road with estates on both sides of it. Every house is made from pieces of metal hammered together. Half of the town has electricity & the other half does not. But everywhere has running water & communal toilets (when I say toilet....I mean a long drop) which are surprisingly well built & hygienic.

Lorraine lives quite far into the town, it’s about a 10minute walk. On the way everyone says hello & wave...of course its all in Zulu. I can say some basic words but I have no idea how to spell them yet (I am planning to join Di & Lorraine for Zulu lessons now!) The children are gorgeous!!!!!!! I also saw a supermarket which is in one of those HUGE metal cargo things you find on ships! How they got it there I do not know! We saw the shabene (illegal drinking house) with the music booming! & Di says they have two hair salons & a beauty parlour! I cannot tell you how amazing & cool it is there! All the houses have fences around them & some of the gardens are beautiful, with fruit trees & vegetable patches & flower gardens. They are so house proud!

Lorraine’s house does not have electricity. she & her neighbors live in temporary house because the land where they have built is too close to the railway& mining lands so the government has classed them as illegal. They have been given permission to move across the main road by us to another plot of land so Lorraine hopes to be moved & settled by the end of the year.

It will be an amazing process & I am actually looking forward to seeing it happen & help if I can.

Lorraine’s house is very small, with only one window & no electricity so when she was very sick last week we were all sitting in the dark! her living room/kitchen is one room & is about (I’m rubbish at measurements...but if I had to guess I would say....) 10ft by 20ft& then her bedroom is about 6ft by 15ft and she has one bed that she & all her children share. She has 3 children. Her youngest is three. We saw her today at her gogo's and she is so much like her mum!

I also met her cousin; she is very young & has a year old boy that has been across to Ebyown to play with our children.

The streets were so busy today because it is Saturday; it is usually so quiet during the week. But everyone was very friendly. After visiting her gogo, salvi met us in the combi & drove us home.

I cannot wait to return. It stirs up something in your heart & you just want to learn their language& get to know them more. I think what you feel is part of the love that Jesus has for them. They are beautiful people who live in a totally different world to us westerners but at heart they are just the same.......they are sinners & need Jesus.

I have been praying a lot lately that I would have more opportunity to witness more somehow....I know I always have the opportunity with our own children to speak about Jesus & his wonderful gift of salvation, but now I hope that with the grace of God my fearful tongue will be untied & I will step out in faith & tell these gorgeous people about our loving God, our Lord Jesus Christ who loves them & died that they might live with Him in eternity & know His love, joy, peace & grace in their hearts & lives.

I pray God gives you all a special blessing today.......I know he has blessed me tremendously through these people & I only hope & pray that today you feel the love & joy of the Lord in your hearts like I am feeling now

God bless & take care

All my love

Erin

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