Discipleship in South Africa

Life on base. A base not far from the heavy trafficed city Durban with beating night clubs and dangerous side walks (even though the area right where the base is, is really calm and nice), a city with a population of four million people. A DTS (discipleship training school) is in progress and students representing USA, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana alongside with staff from South Africa, Australia, England and Sweden are all occupying the base. A sweet mix of nationalities which makes life more fun and interesting

Creativity took over during valentines day

... and the guys on base served breakfast for the ladies. The nicest silverware, sweet background music and an honest smile made their day. It was nice observing the guys from other nations, not totally used to do that for valentines day


I've soon been here for two weeks and eve though it was kind of a rough start, not knowing anyone and trying to fit in, I really feel at home (I realized that the other day when I came back after a long walk in the city. I was exhausted and felt true joy entering the gate to my new "home") I've spent these two weeks in prayer and consideration - A lot of prayer walks (I even learned how to jog and pray at the same time, before I always needed to focus to keep up the pase "come on! you can do it!... etc. But not any more) and a lot of thinking. The schedule has been super flexible and I like it, most of the times and if I'm right it will continue to be like that even if I have my schedule written down by now.

I will probably spend about 20h a week in Burlington, the poor township - it's my main ministry being here and I will aim to share life with young men. Beside that I'll teach some guys the guitar, having some time to organise and plan events like preaching and worship sessions, some carpentry and maintenance on base, travels in the country and observing leaders in action - like joining the base director Wilson to Cape town while he's speaking at another base.

This is Wilson. He's got a great heart and he's a leader I will learn a lot from. His leadership has an African relational touch to it, which I like and will gladly observe his way of making things happen.


As I told you before my main ministry will be in Burlington where they all speak zulu - so that's also on my agenda, learning zulu. The criminality is high and as I was talking to a lady I was told that the police doesn't care about murder happening over there any more. Because the whole village is like one family and will never tell the police what really happened. Their mentality is more like tooth for a tooth, eye for an eye with revenge as a result. The lady told me that a man once was dragged to the centre of Burlington (right where the church is located) and they lit him on fire in the middle of the day in front of the inhabitants, kids and women... The circumstances are bad as you can understand, eve if a positive trend is visible. The base in Durban have been distributing food the last five years to the people over there and it has been helpful in the process of building relationships. Nowadays the people from this base are safe walking in the village and kind of protected because the people accepted us. The feeding scheme is meant to serve women and kids in the community, so what God put in my heart is to disciple a few young men. We'll see how that turns out.


I recently got home from a Sunday service at the church in Burlington. It's a church with few members, 20-30, but they are alive in Christ! A pastor from elsewhere is coming every Sunday to preach and to worship they use an awful keyboard with awful sounds accompanied by a beating drum machine. It's noisy and awesome! They also dance up "stage", sometimes in a more African groove but now and then the young woman in the group starts dance moves you would use on the dance floor at a club. It's funny and God gets glory. They're part of the body of Christ, my family and it's great

I still try to get tickets to the world cup and if the economy allows me I will enjoy atleast one game at the new built stadium.


I've got a zulu name by the way - with a CLICKSOUND - yeah! My name is Nqobane (Nq=click sound at the same time as you pronounce the letter "n") Igami lami Nqobane (My name is Martin/Nqobane in zulu)



Over and out
Peace, love and understanding.
Jesus is King
Tjipp

Crazy! One continent to another

 

 

Log:

·         31 Jan – Belize (took the kayaks out, snorkeling equipment , a fishing spear and Luke to catch a fish and a conch to later prepare and eat )

 

·         31 Jan – USA (because of 20h waiting in Houston TACA airlines gave me a sleepover at a sweet hotel (worth $399, yeah!))

 

·         1 Feb – 7 Feb  – Sweden (Met family, surprised friends, ate sour milk, fruits and cereals (Amen!) and went sledding )

 

·         8 Feb  - South Africa (Got to Johannesburg and as I didn’t think click sounds were used in zulu  I was surprised by the way a guy working at the airport introduced himself (with click sounds))

 

 

 

I arrived after 19h of travelling to Durban and James, my mentor and friend I’m gonna have one-to-one with, picked me up. He gave me a ride to the Durban base, where I’m supposed to stay for four months.

 

the base in Durban

 

While being here I’ve been using my time preparing for what God has for me here. I’ve been taking prayer walks (went for a 3,5h long walk around the neighborhood and prayed for different locations in Durban, different people and areas in my life where I have no clue what’s gonna happen.  It was sweet and I got some words that I think is guiding from God – grrrreat). I’ve also been jogging around the neighborhood just to get a better picture of what the community looks like. The base in itself have some ministries going on through the staff working here so I’ve been trying to join as many different ministries as possible and will keep on doing that for the coming week.

After consideration and prayer I think I will work more towards a poor village close by, Burlington. The needs are big and there are a lot of things you can do to help. I think I’m meant to share life with men in their twenties, thirties to just show them how life could be like. During my time in Mexico our team decided to help a guy by replacing a front door to his house. I enjoyed serving in that way and would love having some locals joining me doing that. One thing I know I want is consistency and ministry which is not in the need of me but Jesus and people being obedient. I also think it’s important to get the right people on the bus, that I can’t be available for everyone but invest in a few to bring the kingdom glory.

 

the view from the base, perfect spot for prayer

 

We’ll see what the upcoming week shows

A multicultural country with several languages is fascinating

I’m doing great and I’ve got a few friendships to build on

 

Glory to God!