There is NO "911" in South Africa!

Psalms 62: 1-12 (excerpts)

“Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.  He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved… My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.  He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.  In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.  Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them”

THERE IS NO “911” IN SOUTH AFRICA!

‘BANG!” “BANG!’ …During this past month, one Saturday evening after the boys had gone to bed Deon and I experienced a great scare. Deon was studying for one of his Church Ministries Institute classes and I was talking to my Mom on the phone. We suddenly heard two extremely loud SHOTS go off right behind our house.

WOE IS ME? Deon told me to get down on the floor (What a sight to behold when you’re six months pregnant!) and stay down while he checked to see what was going on. He stayed in the house to check and found a huge crowd of people on the street on the other side of the wall from our back garden.

On the Other Side of this wall Our House 

LIVING IN AN ISOLATED SMALL TOWN … but near the rural regional police station. Deon called the police, and told them what we had heard. The policeman responded by telling us that THEY FIRED warning shots to disperse the drunken crowd of people. Approximately fifteen minutes later two more shots went off further down from where we live. NOW, at least, we understood the reason for the shots going off… or so we thought!

 RIOTS ARE SERIOUS STUFF! Our neighbor said it was teargas they had used, we decided to go to bed. MORE shots continued until the early hours of the morning and finally the noise of the crowd subsided. We were able to get three hours of sleep before needing to wake up and get ready for church on Sunday.

Police Station

THANKS FOR PRAYING! We live in a small farming town, approximately 5000 people, and did not expect to experience such an incident as this. We thank the Lord for protecting us, for it could have been much worse. The reminder when reading Psalm 62 before going to bed was a great encouragement as we take refuge in our Savior’s arms. We also realize it is because of the prayers of our supporters that the Lord hears and answers and we thank you for praying.

ANTI-CHRISTS! HERE? “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.” 1 JOHN 2:18

Later in the same week we heard the real reason for the riot outside our back door from a couple in our congregation. In previous months a man came to town proclaiming that he was “Jesus Christ”. He went to many homes collecting money from them and as he did so came across a family that’s daughter was dying of tuberculosis. He told them to bring her to his house and he would heal her. He, of course, did not heal her but instead she died in his home. The community became extremely upset and angry! They wanted him arrested for the lies he told and the money he took from them. They were rioting (behind our house) because the police were not listening to them!

MISSIONARY LIFE IS NO ADVENTURE … but at times, missionary life can be a sort of “mis-adventure”  reminding us that there are so many confused people! Lost people who are all around us – people still without the basic knowledge of the Lord. People needing to hear about His precious Gift of Salvation. This incident reminded us of just how many do not know who Christ is! So few have ever read His Word!  They know little to nothing about false prophets or anti-christ’s in their midst. Please be praying with us as we use this experience to witness to our neighbors.