NEWS July 2016 - Orphans & Refugees

Hi from Potch. It is the middle of winter for us and we are looking forward that the season would start to change that we can utilise the swimming pool! Our son is currently doing DTS in Muizenberg as we continue to obey God daily. What an adventure it is to obey God and to see what he is doing!

It is about refugees and orphans

1 John 2:10  Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

In this month we have grown into our mercy ministries. As Ywam we differentiate between evangelism, discipleship and mercy. In my last newsletter I expanded a bit around what God is doing around discipleship which is key but the mercy ministry is also extremely important. I felt a Word from God: “It is about refugees and orphans”. God is continually giving us identity as a base and leading us in our personal calling. It is amazing the dimensions that God leads in and it is in no way all we are called for but it was a Word of clarity of the heart of God for us as a base. Every DTS we had at least one orphan in our DTS and our next DTS it seems to be the case again. We are also praying for 2 specific refugees to join us at the base. In this month we saw growth at these two growth points.

Coming in contact with a new orphanage

 In this month we came into contact with a new orphanage of 25 children. Although there are thousands of children orphaned the government has a policy to put these children out with extended family. Normally an aunt, or grandmother or somebody they know. Most orphans where the father and the mother are absent are dealt with in this way. It is a good policy that gives life. So it is the absolute last resort to bring children to an orphanage. But we met this lady whom is given children from the court and the police.

 We were already ministering at an orphanage of about 10 kids but now God has expanded that ministry considerable. Our weekly base ministry is now more around the orphans and it is satisfying to know we make a real difference and also to see the impact we can make as a growing base in children’s lives.

Our role in the orphanage

The caretaker is talking about “the gods”. It is obvious that there is some kind of forefather beliefs still present. Yet she allows Christianity and wants us to teach the children and to do bible study. One of our DTS students that are working towards staffing is from Zimbabwe and is a pastor and a real father to the kids. Our strategy is not to take over but to empower. We want to lead the person taking care truly to Jesus, establish discipleship and care for the children. In this way we can establish a father and a mother figure for the children.

We could take Louise with (she did the TPM course with us) and she could do some counselling with the children and in this way we can help emotionally as well. But there are also a lot of physical needs. About 30 people is staying on a property about half of our house. There are just children everywhere and the need to eat all the time. They eat 20 loaves of bread per day and get porridge and meat sometimes. You would think that the support would be comprehensive but there is very little support even for the food. We are helping as we can and we would like to see some toys, fruit and upliftment of the property and a bigger property in the course of time. We could get a gas-stove donated as she was cooking on a fire outside. Pray with us for the work with the 35 orphans we are supporting at this stage.

Refugees

The last few months were a time of trying to get through all the red tape of visa and passport for Steven and then the registration of the non-profit organization. We finally got the registration of the non-profit and we are now in the final stages of setting up paypal and internet banking with the bank.

At this stage we have money for 4 Refugee DTS students – we want to send them to a YWAM base close to them in Malawi. Steven is crucial for the job and he is now waiting for the answer for his visa. The South-African government are extremely strict with the Congo visas and it was really expensive. He travelled four times to Rwanda for his visa. But finally it seems we got all the documentation in order and hopefully he will get his visa this week.

In an unexpected twist my partner in the refugee project walked into diplomats of different countries and could talk directly to the diplomats of countries. Now we might get a quicker way for the visas! Keep on praying with us. 

Prayer topics:

·        Our family’s health – we all had some kind of flu in the past week.

·        Job’s DTS outreach fees – he still needs R13300 for their outreach to Namibia.

·        Kids school  & Andrea ‘s matric responsibilities.

3 TPM counselling courses:

¨  Wikus’s TPM course is nearing the end

¨  The Education students’ course is halfway.

¨  New 8 weeks shorter course will start 11 August

·        Staff that’s applying for VISA  & our other staff that is on their way.

·        DTS students – Please pray all those that are interested.

·        Operation refugee – please pray for the 50 refugees waiting for dts.

·        The two orphanages we are involved – all their physical needs as well as spiritual breakthroughs.

CONTACT US

Phone: Wikus 084 549 0914 Christien 082 9666753

Address: Parys Ave 60 Potchefstroom 2531

Email: ywampotch@ gmail.com

FaceBook pages: Ywam Potchefstroom ; WikusChristien Vorster

Please notice: NEW Account details:    

EC Vorster Standard Bank Potchefstroom Check acc. 030 584 566

Website: ywampotch.com

Easy payment with PAYPAL – ask us for details

Non Profit Company – YWAM Potchefstroom No. 2013/217961/08

You are welcome to join our:

DTS Discipleship Training school        5 months full-time  from 18 Nov 2016

TPM New Prayer counselling course – 8 weeks once a week from 11 August 2016

MORE info:  http://ywampotch.com