On Saturday, 24 January, we had at least 45 visitors to our study day in Lamontville township, on the south side of Durban. The township next door, Umlazi, is very large, and has the largest number of Bible course students at the Bible Education Centre, compared to other areas of the city. Since there is a Good News Centre in nearby Lamontville operated by the 2010 initiative, we decided to use it as the location for the study day. All BEC students from both townships (who have been active within the past year) were invited to the day.
We took pictures, but unfortunately our camera was a casualty of the day. Electronics and concrete just don't seem to play well together. We're shopping for a new camera, and when we're able to read the pictures off the chip, we'll add some of them here. But for now, words will have to do.
We say "about" 45 visitors because it was impossible to get a true count of the house; there was some inevitable coming and going. We do know that we had 60 chairs, and they were all used, plus a few standing. There were roughly 20 volunteers and members of the local congregations helping out, hence our estimate, which is probably on the conservative side. Jane organized the food and led its preparation & cleanup. She and her dedicated group of helpers didn't hear much of the sessions, but they were glad to handle the physical side of things, so that the students could concentrate on the spiritual food.
People started arriving before the announced 9:00 start time. We've always been told, and have seen, that published start times are never the real start times here. You publish a time earlier, and plan to actually start later. We arrived to set up a little after 8:30, planning for tea & biscuits (cookies!) at 9:30, and getting the sessions going at 10:00. On this day, the folks who came were clearly eager and arrived early; we had a good crowd by 9:30. We launched right at 10:00, with a nearly full house. Before long it was full to overflowing.
The program included an international group of speakers: Dumisane Qwabe, a local brother, was the president and gave the second talk. Bro David White from UK led off, Paul (USA of course) did the talk after lunch, and the wrap-up was by Bro Matthew Blewett, also local. The theme was "Good News of the Kingdom of God", with individual talks on "How to Study the Bible", "Jesus is Coming Back!" (delivered in isiZulu), "The Kingdom of God on Earth", and "Your Future: What Will It Be?". It was unlike anything we've seen in North America. First of all, just the number of people interested. But beyond that, they all paid close attention, all day, and took notes! These people are truly serious about understanding the Bible's message. It was delightful to see. At the end, they spontaneously gave Matthew very hearty applause--he is a very dynamic speaker, and they clearly appreciated both him and the whole day.
Now, of course, we have to think about what to do next for these folks! We're thinking in terms of a monthly half-day program, but many details have to be worked out. We'll probably also try to get into Umlazi; we got feedback that transportation is even more of an issue than we thought, and there would have been even more attendees if they hadn't had to get to Lamontville. And then, there are many students in other areas round about Durban...lots of work to be done!
God has already greatly blessed the launch of the work in Durban for the new year. We pray for His continued guidance and blessing, that His name may be glorified!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Banner day at the Durban BEC
Sorry that we haven't posted for quite awhile. It's been terrifically busy!
The study day in Lamontville township will be tomorrow - between preparing for that, reopening the BEC after the holidays, and hosting visitors, we have not had time to do much else.
If Blogger is working as planned, you should be able to click on the title for this posting, and it will take you to a posting we did on the P2P (Prepare to Preach) blog. We had a terrific day at the Bible Education Centre last Friday!
The study day in Lamontville township will be tomorrow - between preparing for that, reopening the BEC after the holidays, and hosting visitors, we have not had time to do much else.
If Blogger is working as planned, you should be able to click on the title for this posting, and it will take you to a posting we did on the P2P (Prepare to Preach) blog. We had a terrific day at the Bible Education Centre last Friday!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Gearing up for the new year
As we've mentioned before, most things have paused for the holidays. So this is the time for gearing up for the new year.
We've been putting together schedules: lining up volunteers to staff the BEC, and scheduling speakers and food providers for the biweekly Sunday afternoon class. We're also working on the schedule for Bro Norm Fadelle from Illinois, who will be here for a week starting the 12th of January. He wants to be kept busy, so we're trying to expose him to as much of what's going on here as possible, without running him completely ragged.
We've also been doing the prep work for a Bible study day in Lamontville township later in January, on the theme "The Good News of the Kingdom of God". We put together an invitation, which will go to all of our current students in Lamontville and nearby Umlazi. Thes
e have been printed, stuffed, addressed and stamped, and will go into the mail in the next day or two. (Hoped to attach the invitation to this posting, but doesn't look like Blogger accepts attachments--if you know how, leave a comment!) We will also make use of a nice facility they have here in South Africa, called bulk SMS. Using an internet interface, you can send a text message to the cell phones of multiple people. Since the mail is not 100% reliable, we will also send a text (SMS) message to everyone. More prep work remains to be done, including getting a banner ready to put on the front of the Lamontville Good News Centre, where the study day will be held. (Paul also needs to write the talk he will give!)
Now that the new year is here, another thing we need to do is extend our visa. We came in on a regular tourist visa, which is good for 90 days--our current one expires 10 Feb. We need to renew for another 3 months, to take us to May. "Volunteer worker" visas are also available, and are required for anything over 6 months total. But there is a great deal more paperwork to get one of those, so we are hoping that the tourist extension will work out. It has worked for some of the other overseas volunteers here.
The biweekly Sunday classes have not paused for the holidays (next one is this Sunday, with Jane providing the meal), and the weekly Lamontville class will resume this coming Tuesday, so things are beginning to move again. The BEC will reopen on 12 Jan, and we'll spend some time on Saturday the 10th getting it ready.
Another activity during the break is preparing a multi-part handout version of Bro Rob Hyndman's book The Way of Life. This will become our 3rd level course at the BEC, replacing some older material. Sis Leah Egginton has done the major work to format the book into groups of lessons that can be given to the students, with assignments they can do and return. Paul is acting as reviewer/editor - always need another set of eyes to catch the little things that try to slip through. We are excited about having this new course to offer.
We pray that all of our friends, family, and brothers & sisters in Christ will have a blessed year. And above all, we pray that this year we may see our Lord's return, to fulfill all that has been promised, and to fill the earth with the glory of God! "Even so, come Lord Jesus!"
We've been putting together schedules: lining up volunteers to staff the BEC, and scheduling speakers and food providers for the biweekly Sunday afternoon class. We're also working on the schedule for Bro Norm Fadelle from Illinois, who will be here for a week starting the 12th of January. He wants to be kept busy, so we're trying to expose him to as much of what's going on here as possible, without running him completely ragged.
We've also been doing the prep work for a Bible study day in Lamontville township later in January, on the theme "The Good News of the Kingdom of God". We put together an invitation, which will go to all of our current students in Lamontville and nearby Umlazi. Thes
e have been printed, stuffed, addressed and stamped, and will go into the mail in the next day or two. (Hoped to attach the invitation to this posting, but doesn't look like Blogger accepts attachments--if you know how, leave a comment!) We will also make use of a nice facility they have here in South Africa, called bulk SMS. Using an internet interface, you can send a text message to the cell phones of multiple people. Since the mail is not 100% reliable, we will also send a text (SMS) message to everyone. More prep work remains to be done, including getting a banner ready to put on the front of the Lamontville Good News Centre, where the study day will be held. (Paul also needs to write the talk he will give!)Now that the new year is here, another thing we need to do is extend our visa. We came in on a regular tourist visa, which is good for 90 days--our current one expires 10 Feb. We need to renew for another 3 months, to take us to May. "Volunteer worker" visas are also available, and are required for anything over 6 months total. But there is a great deal more paperwork to get one of those, so we are hoping that the tourist extension will work out. It has worked for some of the other overseas volunteers here.
The biweekly Sunday classes have not paused for the holidays (next one is this Sunday, with Jane providing the meal), and the weekly Lamontville class will resume this coming Tuesday, so things are beginning to move again. The BEC will reopen on 12 Jan, and we'll spend some time on Saturday the 10th getting it ready.
Another activity during the break is preparing a multi-part handout version of Bro Rob Hyndman's book The Way of Life. This will become our 3rd level course at the BEC, replacing some older material. Sis Leah Egginton has done the major work to format the book into groups of lessons that can be given to the students, with assignments they can do and return. Paul is acting as reviewer/editor - always need another set of eyes to catch the little things that try to slip through. We are excited about having this new course to offer.
We pray that all of our friends, family, and brothers & sisters in Christ will have a blessed year. And above all, we pray that this year we may see our Lord's return, to fulfill all that has been promised, and to fill the earth with the glory of God! "Even so, come Lord Jesus!"
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