Surprising response to Youth Alpha meetings.

Fifty to Sixty young people are enthusiastically coming every Monday night to a youth Alpha course at Sarepta Church in Gillitts South Africa. The course introduces Jesus and the Christian faith. Zolani Phakathi who heads up the programme said that the course was promoted on social media, and people were inviting more friends every week. People travel up to an hour on public transport to get there. The programme provides a light meal, teaching, discussion, worship and the opportunity to socialise. In the smaller groups, young adults pray for and encourage one another. Phakathi said the programme was attractive to young people who were searching for hope and meaning, and needed a safe and healthy place to meet.

A Week of Farewells

Saying goodbye is not easy. There is always the hope, the promise that the bridges built together will last. What has been learned in building those bridges will never be lost.

Gabi Guerrero arrived here from Dallas Texas six months ago to do an internship with the local Focus on the Family office. She became part of our family, and travelled on holiday with us both to the Drakensberg, and to Cape Town over Christmas. One of her highlights was attending a traditional Zulu wedding in rural Zululand with my youngest daughter, Sarah.

Gabi left on Friday to return home on Emirates. We received a Whattsapp message yesterday afternoon, with a picture of her family welcome at Dallas airport. We miss her.

Nokuthula Mngomezulu arrived here about a year ago. She had been a patient in a rural hospital where my daughter Sarah was working as a physiotherapist in 2013. Nokuthula had been in a motorcar accident, and as a result was suffering from epilepsy. Both her parents had died a few years before. She was the only person at the hospital who could speak English, besides the doctors, and she was a great help to Sarah.
A year ago, when Sarah returned to work in Durban, Nokuthula came here to register for further studies. Somehow, her identity document got lost in the process. We then found that she had no copy, did not have the number, and did not have a birth-certificate. All attempts to find her on the system via finger-prints and relatives failed. This continued through last year. She was hospitalised a few times due to traumatic epileptic seizures.

At Easter last year, she returned to her rural home for a few days to try to sort out her documentation. She also spent some time with her longstanding boyfriend there.

A few weeks later, much to her shock and initial denial, she found she was pregnant. A beautiful daughter was born in December. The baby is perfect despite the medication for epilepsy.

So Nokuthula has been part of our family for a year, and there has been much prayer for her and the baby Nkosiphile.

Yesterday Nokuthula, Nkosiphile, Sarah and I drove back to the rural home – six hours from here. The baby is healthy and growing well, and we pray for Nokuthula as she adapts back to rural living for a while. Neither Nokuthula, nor the child, officially exist as her applied for documents still have not arrived! However, we believe that the Lord has great plans for them and we pray for them daily.

 Nokuthula (in purple shirt) and my daughter Sarah holding Nkosiphile at Nokuthula's rural home, Saturday.