26 November 2009
25 November 2009
GETTING READY FOR THE RETURN
“Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food that endures to everlasting life.” (John6:27)
LOPIT SUDAN HAS DROUGHT
We have received news from Stephen Matusik who is in Lohutok Sudan that it is very hot and dry. People did not have a good harvest and there are food shortages. Pray for us as a team as we prepare to go into these conditions. Pray that people will have open hearts to receive the food that has everlasting life, our message, the JESUS FILM and a FILM presentation I have made of Martins my husbands life.
THE QUELLA TEAM
QUELLA in German means “a spring”, and we as a team hope to bring a refreshing from the Lord in our message and in building the water tank for the church field. Our team consists of:
a) Cath – serving my team, reconnecting with my people in Lopit, sharing Jesus, praying
b) Carol from my church in South Africa - a Kindergarten teacher, gift of love and service
c) Janina who serves as a DIGUNA missionary in Kenya, administrator at the office and helps at our AIDS children home, she is musical and plays the trumpet and guitar.
d) John from my church in South Africa – enthusiastic and has a passion to share the love of Jesus and is a good handy man – fixing and building are his skills!
WHAT EXACTLY WILL THE TEAM BE DOING?
The first few days will be settling into SOHOT, getting unpacked, sorting water filters, setting up tents and we will probably have lots of visitors. We will make a tour around SOHOT and a few of the villages so we can orientate ourselves and give opportunities for the people to become familiar with the team.
Below is our daily plan which you can keep in your prayers. It is Africa so things will change and we will be flexible and trust God for other opportunities He provides.
NORMAL DAILY PLAN (Except SUNDAY)
MORNING PROGRAM
1) Breakfast at 7am, team devotion and prayer 7:30 - 8:00am
3)The ladies will remain in Sohot to do household duties, baking bread in a coal oven, cleaning and washing dishes and clothes of guys and girls if need be etc
4) The men will go down o work on Stephens compound - the water tank project.
5) Village life is very unpredictable so we will be juggling household chores with visitors.
MIDDAY - AFTERNOON
1) Before lunch we will bring sandwiches down to the guys for lunch and we will join them.
2) After lunch it will be so hot and not good time to work, so it will be a rest time.
3) At about 3pm the ladies will return to the village where they can do some ministry with children and women and the men return to work on Stephens compound.
4) I will then need to visit the church compound and village chiefs to organize our visits to different villages.
AFTERNOON - EVENING
1) Ladies prepare supper on coal stove 4:30pm for supper at 6:30pm
2) 7:00 - 8:00pm wash time, rest time - FREE TIME
3) At about 8pm on each evening it will be different depending on what the church program is and what the village chiefs decide. Some evenings will be resting, other evenings showing the Jesus film or the film I have made of Martins life. There will be 2 or 3 outreaches to Ohilang where we may spend one night there to show the Jesus Film and on another occasion the testimony film of Martin.
PRAISE:
1) Thank God I received 90% for my German exam at the beginning of this month
2) Praise Him for good health
3) Thank Him for the amazing technical equipment and Jesus film I was able to acquire for our ministry in Sudan.
PRAYER.
1) Pray for the Lopit Sudan people in drought
2) Pray for us as a team as we prepare to go to Sudan
3) Pray for all our travels in and out of Sudan, border crossings etc
4) Pray for me as this time will be emotional and memories of Martin will be in Lopit Sudan.
5) Pray for all the equipment to work well and that the Jesus film and Martins film and testimony of our lives will touch lives and bring people to a genuine commitment to Jesus Christ
6) Pray for our health and protection
Thank you for being a part of our calling into Sudan and praying with us as we go!
All my love
God bless
Cath
01 November 2009
Faith like a Tomatoe!
God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.” CS Lewis
Tomato Plant
This tomato plant was a gift from my church friends Thomas and Susanne in Germany. I was given many plants and seeds before and after Martin passed away and DIGUNA let me use a piece of their land to plant all my gifts. It´s been very healing for me as I have watched things grow. Corinna sent me an email picture of the tomato plant so I could see its progress while here in South Africa. I have felt very much like this tomato plant. People have watched us and now me as we embraced my husband, Martins life with cancer and passing from this earthly life to his heavenly one. I have seen how God has used it to grow many people closer to Himself, bearing much fruit for His glory. However I was reminded by a picture my mentor Janine had where she saw that I was like a tomato plant. The main supporting holding pole is Jesus Christ and the other smaller supporting poles are my families, my brothers and sisters in Christ who often pray for me, hug me, cry with me, send an email, card or gift. Each one of you has together with Jesus Christ held me up as I have grown in this journey of grief. I could not have walked this journey without you all on my side. I would have fallen into a heap with the weight of it all. But praise God I haven´t because you have all stood alongside me – thank you!
Martin and I met in Sudan, both missionaries passionate about God...we served alongisde each other, prayed and fell in love...God showed us that behold he is doing a new thing and now it shall spring forth...and we saw how our earthly life is like a flower that is here today and gone tomorrow. I thank God for the love we shared, the depth of friendship was incredible, totally honest and completely vunerable and real. We were married on the 7th April 2009 and he died on the 21 April 2009 from cancer...I thank God that Martin loved Jesus deeply and that he is now free from cancer for eternity! I believe God is painting a wonderful picture...the last 6 months have felt like the shadows and the dark colours of the painting. But I am excited to see God work as He paints brighter colours in my life. It is a bit like a rainbow, full of promises and the plans He has for me not to harm me - a plan, a hope for the future. I am glad my hand is in His and that He is leading me...to return to Sudan and the work we began.
DESIRES AND DREAMS
For if dreams die
Life is a broken winged bird
That cannot fly
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow (J. Elderidge, “Dreams”)
“The ‘joy set before him’ enabled Jesus to endure the agony of the Cross (Hebrews 12:2) In other words, his profound desire for something greater sustained him at the moment of deepest trial. We cannot hope to live like him without a similar depth of passion.” (J. Elderedge – Desire) Looking back over the last 6 months, it began with an intense beautiful spring time with Martin. My dreams of marrying and having a family serving as a missionary wife alongside my husband were stripped away when Martin died. It felt like I had no summer and plunged into a winter, frozen with snow. But in the midst of it I trusted that Jesus had something greater…and this has truly sustained me in the deepest trial of my life. I can honestly say that this month the snow is melting around my dreams and I have been able to pick up my dreams one at a time and recommit them to God. I have felt the passion and love to serve amongst children again; I have felt the passion for the lost Lopit, my people in Sudan. I can smile and laugh again and I have started to dream and hope in the beautiful plans God has for me. I was a broken winged bird but am healing and am ready to fly again.
I have been told that my German is improving and I am grateful to God that He has helped me thus far. I have worked and studied hard at the school and it has really helped me in all the presentations and travels I have had to make by train. However I still make mistakes and one particular mistake I do not think I will forget. After a meal with some of the church family I asked them if I could quickly go to the toilet…”Entschulding, ich möchte ins Toilette gehen”…the response was laughter and then I laughed too as I realized I had said: “excuse me I would like to go into the toilet”!!!
We had our autumn holidays from German school for two weeks and I decided to use this time to visit areas where Martin had worked as a farmer over ten years before joining DIGUNA. I visited and spoke with many people in Bad Essen where Martin and I had been before. It was very emotional, but as I arrived the children had made me a poster and was hugged and embraced by the Heitmeyer family and many others. The amazing thing in all my travels is that the sunflower seeds that we gave people at Martins memorial service people had planted and wherever I went I saw the fruit of these sunflowers smiling at me. This somehow encouraged me that out of Martins death something new is springing forth. In my time in Krelingen where Martin worked for seven years, it was a great privilege to meet more of Martins friends and learn more about his past life. I felt blessed with the huge group of people that came to hear my presentation and God gave me the strength to present mostly in German. I however was grateful for my translators who were there to support me when I didn’t have the right words. I received many gifts, encouragements and prayers to continue the work that was started in Sudan. One of Martin friends and workers, Matthias took me around the farm and showed me where Martin slept when he looked after the turkeys. During our tour Matthias told me how amazed he was that I was considering going back to serve the people in Sudan alone without Martin. Then I shared with him how when Martin died I saw how he went peacefully to be with Jesus and my heart breaks for the Lopit people who need to hear more and know more that Jesus is their Savior. I wept as I shared with him my heart for the lost and how if Jesus carried His cross for me, then I too with the joy set before me want to carry my cross and go back to Sudan. (This picture on the left is of Sister Charlotte, and Martin used to deliver vegetables from the farm here…and a seed was sent to her as Martin was special to her too)
The Quella Team going to Sudan
Thank you for your prayers, so far all is going to plan for our mission trip to Sudan in December/January. All flights have been booked and the arrangements for visas, food and building materials is coming together. Next month I will introduce you to the 4 wonderful people that are coming with me and will share in more detail the specific things we plan to do in our time in Sudan. Please pray for us in this preparation time.
God bless you
All my love Cath
