Our Last Week

Good Bye
The last days all of us finished off their work at the various ministries and said good bye to the people they had been in touch with. Tuesday afternoon was a highlight for us as a team. Though it was a sad occasion to say farewell to the students at SCO it was also very touching. The teenagers had written letters, poems and even prepared a song for the whole team. We left in knowing that we had made an impact in their lives.

Our Foreigners
Last week we told you about our Zimbabwean bible study group. We had heard on Saturday that Nicolas had to move due to a raise in rent and that Portia moved into his old place. Fortunately a group of us found Portia while she was fixing and cleaning the shack and we could help her finish quickly so she could move in that same evening.

What we did not realise was that the whole situation for the foreigners in Masiphumelele was getting more and more tense. The news spoke about the burning of shacks and the killing of people in Johannesburg, but we did not expect anything similar in Masi. It was on Wednesday and on Thurdsday night that threats were made against the foreigners living in the township. The whole night people were shouting on the streets saying that if they would not leave by Friday they, too, would have to be scared for their lives.

On Friday we got a phone call with the request for help. The refugees living in Masi had to leave the township. Kindly we received an offer that our Zimbabwean friends could stay at the team house of “All Nations”. Our whole team (plus the others that had just arrived from Uganda) prayed for the situation, while Chris and Ben headed to Masi in order to help. They found that most of their friends had already found shelter outside of the danger zone.

It was only Portia, her son Michael, and Cathryn that needed our help desperately. With only their most important belongings we drove them to the “All Nations” team house where they are still staying with other believers. We also drove two other women to the police station where people were taken to other safe places.

God answers prayer
God has worked through us and in us. We were ministers of God’s love to the people in Masiphumelele. Many seeds were sewn. Some even gave their lives to Jesus and made him Lord of their lives so they will have eternal lives in heaven. With the Holy Spirit in them they can share his love with other people, too. But of course the threats against the foreigners made us leave with a heavy heart and the question if it was of real value what we did. It was on Monday that we received the answer to our prayers as the headline of the Cape Town newspaper read: “Masiphumelele leads way with apology to foreigners.” The leaders of this community are the first in the whole country to reconcile and ask for forgiveness for what is going on.

Let us not stop here, but let us carry on praying that many more will receive Christ in Masiphumelele and that we will see much more evidence of God’s love in our township.

PS: Take a look at a video that shows what we did