Msindisi newsletter # 90

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER:      88       Jan 2012

PO BOX 1481
VRYHEID 3100
KWAZULU NATAL
SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008

Email:  msindisi@gmail.com ,
salv.di@gmail.com

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

Personal Website: http://msindisi.googlepages.com

 

 

Dear Friends and family,

Greetings in the most wonderful name of Jesus. We hope you are all well. Well after we returned home from house sitting on the 2nd of Jan Di had clothes to sort through graciously given by some people in Vryheid with some old books. Di gave out the clothes and had a clinic run to do the following day. Salvi continued discipling with the guys from Alpha. There is definite signs of growth though sometimes they have problems in coming to the Sunday meetings. However they rarely miss the discipleship classes where we have been spending much time on the basic doctrines of the faith. It has been interactive with many questions posed to them. Salvi has just finished a lesson with them based on Jacob Prasch’s message ‘Christ, the foundation’. It is a message that says that there are many truths in scripture but there is only one ‘the truth’ and ‘the truth is Jesus. When you take ‘a truth’ and treat it as foundational truth you turn ‘a truth’ into ‘a lie’. How very apt in the area that we minister into where churches build on many different focuses. In our first cell group of the year Phumlani taught us concerning Christ being the rock on which the church is built and how we are to stick together as blocks cemented together. He said that he was inspired for the message while building his extra room for his hut. He has almost finished and his hut is now a home with three rooms. Phumlani is such a hard worker. At the cell, Phumlani’s sister, Celani, and his niece Khethiwe also attended. On the Sunday afternoon we went to visit Salvi’s friend, Tony who was visiting from New Zealand. His sister lives in Vryheid and runs a guest house. In fact Tony and his sister, among other people, were instrumental in the directing of Salvi and his friends, Caleb and Sophie to this area in starting the KwaZulu Mission 10 years ago.

The next wednesday after Cell we went down to the brethren in Stanger to Calvin Josiah, Mark Van Niekerk and the church there for 5 days. We planned it so that it would not interfere with home cell and discipleship. We also planned it around the time that Khethiwe needed to go back to Durban south in order to do her second year of studies in Business management. This saved her catching taxis. But upon reaching the area of umhlanga our bakkie/ute/truck overheated due to a leaking water pipe. Fortunately no damage was done to the engine but it was hard for the garage to fix it as the whole pipe was corroded and so it did not respond well to welding. They patched up the hole with epoxy eventually but this gave us some time to visit umhlanga which happened to be right on the sea. We were able to take Khethiwe paddling in the sea. Khethiwe had never been to the sea before and she waded in to her knees and was truly excited by the experience. She said that the sea reminded her of how big God is. When the bakkie was fixed we rushed Khethiwe to the place where she is living in the south of Durban and got to Mark and Marie Anne’s place in Stanger who received us with a warm welcome, lovely food and a kind reception from Dean and Taryn also, who are their son and daughter in law. During our time staying with them we got the opportunity to witness to a really nice guy called Dave who is searching for truth and had many thoughts that he is thinking through. It was a pleasure talking to him and he and Mark may be visiting us in Northern Natal in the future. Salvi taught three sessions over the weekend and did a questions and answers session also. The first teaching was on Friday evening concerning John 1 and the new creation. And the two sessions on Sunday were about the miracles of Jesus in John being signs pointing to Jesus and revealing His glory. On Monday morning we shared a breakfast with Calvin, the pastor there and his wife Jean before heading back. While in Stanger Di made contact with a group called Natural Balance to buy 10 wonder bags. The wonder bags are heat retention cookers which cook food that has been heated for 5-15 minutes on a stove element. The food is then placed in the bags which retains the heat , not letting it escape, this allows the food to cook through slowly for about hour. As you can tell from the title the company believes in the myth that people are causing climate change. However the bags are brilliant for the people in the local community for it will help them save on their gas, thus saving them money by making their gas last longer. Di had come across them when friends called Debbie and Riaan gave her one. Di was so impressed she thought it would be fantastic for the women of our community. This month she has sold all ten to local women, giving them demonstrations concerning how they work. The response was so good that in the future we will purchase more and have various women in the local areas responsible for collecting data and monies so that they can receive a small income from the sales.

This month the older gentleman who Di had rushed to hospital because the ambulance did not arrive, sadly died from a stoke, also the man she often takes to clinic was hospitalise in Mountain View hospital with TB.
Sal has spoken to this man several times about the gospel but he is convinced he is right with God and God is fine with him honouring and sacrificing to his dead ancestors. Tradition and culture cannot replace the truth of the scriptures.

Di started her reading lessons with Tholakele again for the year and she is is making progress slowly. Her desire is to read the bible for herself.

Finally we have received no further news about visas. Di’s visa application is still in process. We have received news that they will now fast track it, that was in Dec last year. Her last visa ran out in Feb 2011.
As for Salvi’s application for special consideration for permanent residence… For those of you who don’t know, Salvi although being in the country on and off for 10 years, has only continuously been in the country for 6 years this April. He was in the UK working between Dec 2004 and April 2006. Normally a person can apply for permanent residence if they have been in the country for 5 years on a work permit. However Salvi have been here on a visitor’s permit. Salvi does not qualify under any category to apply for permanent residence. However through the advice of a believer who works for home affairs Salvi has put together a port folio, application form and testimonies of 20 something ministers, company directors and even the local chief and a petition of over 150 local signatures with the request that a special exception be made for Salvi to get permanent residence. Last month we got news that the particular office of Home Affairs which are handling the case in Pretoria, are making application in Salvi’s place that Salvi be granted Deviation. Deviation means that Salvi be granted permission to apply outside of the regular process. As Home Affairs are doing this it means that they believe that Salvi has a case and if Salvi is granted permanent residence it will not matter if Di gets her visa granted or not as she will be able to apply for permanent residence also. So we will keep you updated in our newsletters as and when news comes in.

We thank you all for your prays and support, may the lord richly bless you as we labour together in His work.

Shalom

Salvi and Di

P.S Please don’t forget to look at Salvi’s petition concerning ecumenism in the Lausanne consultation for Jewish Evangelism which has been signed by several people including Jacob Prasch and others from Moriel ministries and Jackie Alnor among other people. For more information please visit www.lausannecje.wordpress.com and for the petition please visit www.ipetitions.com/petition/lcje