Trip to South Africa

Dear Friends,
Liz, Levi and I (along with Liz's Grandma) recently took a trip to South Africa to see family, friends and see how the mission was developing in Africa. We arrived Wednesday night after a long day flying. It was dark when we arrived so we didn't see much until the next morning. It was great to see the developments of the plot since I last visited 2 years ago. So much hard work has gone into building new units for disabled children, making the plot a place of agriculture and also new children! Before this visit I had never met Carlos or Siphiwi and was very delighted to meet them. Siphiwi has cerebral palsy and cannot communicate at all but has the most amazing smile and laugh. She enjoyed me playing peek-a-boo with her and making a fuss of her when I saw her.
All the kids are doing well and look healthy. Luke and Baden were younger than Levi the last time we were in SA and are now cute little boys. It was good to see how Baden is doing. As most of you may know he had a real bad case of pneumonia when he was a baby and was very close to death. Through God's grace and a love of a Christian family these kids have a hope every South African orphan dreams of. The Bible talks openly about the spirit of adoption and our adoption as children of God. It is good to see those principles being played out and being blessed by what you can learn from kids who had nothing, abandoned and left to die, to being transformed and having a home filled with the love of God.
During my visit I was asked to speak the two Sundays we attended Aletheia. The services are now bi-lingual speaking English and Zulu. They now meet in a gospel tent on the Ebyown plot. Aletheia has changed a lot since I left South Africa with lots of new people. It was also nice to see some familiar faces. The two sermons at Aletheia were recorded onto DVD and we also recorded another two teaching sessions with just the camera. These teachings are available for free. Please either contact me or my brother Chris at morielmissionscollege@gmail.com
The title of these teachings are-
The Gospel of Peace
Psalm 105
The Humanity of Jesus
How to interpret Bible Prophecy
Even though I was blessed with the opportunity to preach, this trip was primarily to rest and see family. As you can imagine it was great to spend time with my family and see South Africa again. We also got to see Cape Town and had a wonderful time exploring the city and experiencing the view from Table Mountain.
We took every opportunity to experience Africa. I even got to eat some Ostrich and Springbok. When we celebrated my 25th birthday we had a BBQ and was presented with a 2 kg steak... it was huge! I asked for a little help finishing it off.
As young missionaries in training we took the whole experience in to see what we could learn. My parents, my brother Chris, Salv and Di and all the other Ebyown gang do an amazing work under some difficult conditions at times. There are power cuts every second day in South Africa to save energy for the 2010 World Cup. This makes things a bit difficult for Ebyown and I guess for the locals and small businesses. Also because the South African government having been maintaining the water systems for the past 15 years we were without water for a few days. But thanks to Moriel supporters the generator and the Boer hole that were funded by generous donations meant the Lord's work was not hindered.
May God's work in South Africa continue to be strengthened and grow for many years to come.
Shalom,
Anthony