Dear friends and family, The almost monthly ministry update from the Smith’s in South Africa has returned. 2009 has been a wonderful year, and we’ve had some exciting events take place. We will have had 5 different times throughout the year with house guests from the USA. All our visitors have been an encouragement and a big help in reaching our rural community for Christ,
If you’ve been visiting our blog http://newsfrom7rivers.blogspot.com/ you’ll have seen the progress of our coworker’s house. We’ve beenworking on it for many months and will soon have the roof complete. The Otto family is very excited to move in, and we are shooting for February for completion. The round house is what most of the Zulu people live in here, so we’ve had a lot of fun building a larger version.
We’ve completed the purchase of the clinic and will start renovations when the rondavel is finished. It was a long haul working with the Ingonyama Land Trust to secure the 40 year lease agreement of the land, then a separate purchase of the building.
In January we’ll be meeting with a Zulu man who will have just completed his seminary to become a pastor. Being affiliated with a great church an hour away, they’re interested in partnering to plant a church here with us. The building can serve as a clinic and a church to reach the community holistically.
Our skills class has really taken a leap forward with a contract to provide a big chain store with plant pots decorated for Christmas!!! The Otto’s who will live in the rondavel lead this project.
The Christmas parties for the 3 schools (200 children) are in full swing. We had our first party two days ago and the next week will be Dec. 9. I was able to put together a small skit to share about Jesus’ love and it was a big hit.
Merry Christmas from the Smith family.
