South Africa Base News

Greetings from Kommetjie! We trust you had a wonderful Easter with family and friends. It is always good to be reminded again that we serve a risen Saviour and we pray that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead will dwell within you, giving life (Romans 8:11) and power (Ephesians 1:19-20) to do His perfect will.

During the week prior to Easter, we sent out a request to our prayer groups asking them to pray for our co-workers inside China who would be using this opportunity to enlighten their students about the true meaning of Easter. Following that, we asked ‘Darius' to give us some feedback from his experiences and this is what he had to tell us:

"Last week, I presented the Easter story as a cultural festival to over 200 students who heard, some for the first time, what happened on that weekend long ago that forever altered the world we live in today. Monday's lesson were a bit onerous; I felt I was pushing against a wall of indifference (little incoming prayer?) as I struggled to teach, but from Tuesday, once the ‘troops' at home were alerted, it went exceptionally well!
 
After relating the full, unexpurgated story, a group activity followed, where they were given 12 pictures along with 12 written clues and they had to correctly sequence the events depicted, from the last supper to the empty tomb. A competitive activity called ‘shouting diction' (pair-work) followed, where they had to communicate to a partner a summary of the crucifixion. I concluded with playing a rendition of the song ‘How deep the Father's love for us', supplying the lyrics as a vocabulary exercise. Wow! What an opportunity. The Lord gave me boldness to speak and grace in providing the opportunity. What a blessing. Exhausting, challenging, but well worth the effort! Nobody left the class; they were glued to their seats - I did dramatise a few parts to keep them engaged, but they got to hear the whole story, some perhaps for the first time ever. My prayer is that the seed will take root in the heart soil prepared so perfectly for it."

Thank you all those who prayed - what a powerful testimony to prayer!

In conclusion, we take this opportunity to thank you for all your prayer and financial support. To those anonymous givers, we want to say, "Thank you and bless you," as we are unable to identify you to send a thank you letter. Bless you all for partnering with us in serving the church and people of China.

Richest blessings,
Richard and Bernice Anderson


Praise the Lord for the good time and opportunity afforded to ‘Darius' in relating the Easter story to his students and for the positive response.

Pray that the students will come back with more questions and that there would be fruit coming out of this.

Pray for a family of six from Cape Town and one lady from KwaZulu Natal, who are currently in the process of preparing to attend the next Antioch School of Missions, beginning in August, with the intention of serving the Lord full-time in China.

Pray for your local CCSM base here in South Africa, that we would see more opportunities afforded to us to network and that we would see more South Africans participating in short-term teams into China.