God's People Show That He is Busy Amongst Them

Every country is different.

Some are hit hard, while others still have not been 

fully reached by this pandemic.

Zambia has just begun to see this virus.

A month ago President Edgar Lungu, 

announced that schools and churches are not allowed to meet. 

Our church started sending messages by phone to people 

to encourage them during this time.

Every Sunday, they send us a morning and afternoon sermon to listen to.

Not everyone, of course can listen, because many are poor 

and lack the type of phone to hear the messages 

(believe it or not, people here are still using the old Nokias).

In that case, Scriptures are sent for them to read 

and church people will visit them.

In fact, I am encouraged to hear how the faithful are praying more, reading their Bibles to find answers, and are taking time to call of visit others. 

Most people gather their family and 

neighbours on Sundays to listen together to the preaching.

They sing together, pray together, and listen together.

God is truly reaching people.

It has always been Him and not ourselves that makes people change.

This past Thursday was the first time we were allowed

 to have a small group gather for prayer meeting.

What a blessed time to sing and pray with God's people.

The sincere gratitude in their voices as they expressed praise to 

God for just these few brief moments.

I know God was moved by the hearts of His people.

We continue to only be allowed short, small meetings, but believe me,

 God is still busy.

Matthew 18:20

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, 

there am I in the midst of them.

Philippians 1:6

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Every weekday morning I...

Every weekday morning, I pray for the school students'day.

I ask the Lord how I can be the influence that He wants me to be, 

on these precious children.

I ask Him to give me wisdom in knowing how to deal 

with things as they come up.

I ask Him to show me how to assist these children 

in their individualized learning.

 I ask Him if He could give them the desire to learn new things.

I ask Him to bring joy to our classroom.

I ask Him to prepare their hearts for the Scripture 

from each subject, 

that they will be confronted with.

I ask Him for souls to be saved,

the saved to be discipled, 

and for these children to be the next generation at out church.

Spiritual Warfare

The Bible tells us, as Christians, that there will be spiritual warfare in our lives.

Things may come up that are out of our control.  

We may even wonder why circumstances happen.

We can know that God has a purpose for everything 

and that

purpose is that He might be glorified through it.

Trials may even come to strengthen our faith-

Romans 4:20 

" He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; 

but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;"

I find right now that my faith is being strengthened.

This is our church, 

Village Bible Baptist Church 

in Hillcrest, KZN South Africa.

We are a small church.

Our Sunday morning usually looks like this,

but there are only a few faithful families.

You can

PRAY FOR OUR CHURCH:

1. FACILITIES- while I was in the USA, the building was broken into.

-Praise the Lord, no one was there and that they only took minor things

- Pray for a NEW BUILDING: the rent for the one in the above picture

 has been raised almost 50%.

We do not currently have a facility, 

so we have been meeting in my & other's homes for Sunday AM services.

One of the homes we met for church in.

2. FAMILIES - we have 4 families that come most of the time.

In each face that you see,

there are separate trials that are faced.

Each person is at a differant stage in their spiritual growth.

Each has a battle going on inside between the flesh and the spirit.

You can also pray for their and our safety.

Hillcrest is a big place for crime. 

One of the older couples above had a break-in recently.

The robbers broke into their home,

tied her up and put her in the bathtub,

while they robbed her.

Praise the Lord, she and her husband were unharmed!

You can pray for our Zulu young men.

They have so many temptations that they are faced with each day.

Many Zulus use the "cultural" excuse to sin.

For example - drinking, drugs, immorailty are all permissable in the Zulu culture.

Please pray that these young men will stand strong in the Lord and if they fall, 

that they will be willing to confess their sins to God and walk right.

Also pray for the single ladies in our church.

Many are going through times of discouragement,

loneliness, depression, lies from satan to compromise in order not to be alone.

Busyness takes up the lives of some to fill the gap of loneliness,

but sadly, it is not busyness for the Lord,

but rather more worldliness.

As you know, I have a huge burden for the single woman, because I am one.

I praise God for putting me in a ministry where I can 

encourage others through personal experience.

He has been my very present help & joy!

I can encourage these ladies that He is ALL WE NEED!!!

3. FAITHFULNESS- please pray for the faithfulness of the people.

Not a week goes by when one or more people 

are not at church because of one reason or another.

Satan does his best to keep people from growing.

This is one of the hardest things for a missionary working 

amongst the people here in South Africa.

People do not see the importance of being faithful to church.

We know that they cannot grow in Christ unless

 they are under the preaching and teaching of His Word.

2 Peter 3:18 

"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."

Missionaries : Robbin & Jeff Demarest

There is so much unfaithfulness.

It can get frustrating from a missionary's perspective, 

because we are giving our all 

to help them grow in love and obedience to God, 

but yet they don't want to.

"Have they lost their love for God, Do they have a heart of rebellion, Are they really saved?"

these questions have come through my mind.

Robbin & I

After a time of feeling very frustrated and discouraged,

God reminded me that His will for me as a spiritual leader/missionary

is just to do His will - 

love & obey Him in my personal walk,

study His Word,

teach what He asks,

in love confront those who are disobedient to His Word,

lead those who are willing to grow in their spiritual growth,

and leave the convicting & chastening to God.

A few verses of encouragement when going through spiritual warfare-

1Timothy 6:12 

"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, 

whereunto thou art also called,

 and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses."

Romans 4:20  

"He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief;

 but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;"

2Corinthians 10:4 

"(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, 

but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)"

 Ephesians 6:10

 "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, 

and in the power of His might."

Ephesians 6:12 

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, 

but against principalities, against powers, 

against the rulers of the darkness of this world,

 against spiritual wickedness in high places."

My heart's desire is not to have my eyes on people,

but on the One who sent me to South Africa

to do the work He has called me to do.

May we each be Faithful to the one who is the Author & Finisher of our faith.

Hebrews 12:1a&2

"...Let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

 Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; 

who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,

 despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Prayers for Protection and Saftey

To all of you who pray for your missionaries, thier protection, and the protection of the people in thier ministry - THANK YOU!!!

Today, as I took some of the children home in the car God protected us. It was a beautiful day, so the windows were rolled down and we were chatting in Zulu and English. A slight breeze came through the car as I turned a corner and out the window went one of the work sheets that one of the kids had colored in church.
Yes, I felt sorry for him and saw where it landed, so I turned around to go back for it. I said a few times in English and in Zulu for him to wait until the car stops, to be careful, and when I am stopped he can get out and get his paper in the middle of the street.
What you need to know, is that the Zulu kids are not used to riding in cars, except to church. Many times they get out and never close the door because they are just not used to a car.
My car has automatic locks, so the doors were locked. BUT, children are children. As we got close to the paper, he unlocked his door and started to jump out. I slammed my brakes on because my little brother did something like that before and was badly injured. Thankfully the boy did not get out because he heard the panic in my voice. Meanwhile, a car zoomed up behind us and blarred his horn. Drivers in South Africa are very rude and impatient (and that is all I had better say right now). Praise the Lord he did not decide to ram into my car.
I was able to park like I wanted to and the little boy got out of the car and picked his paper off of the middle of the street. We praise the Lord for His protection for that little boy and all of us. The rest of the way to thier homes I tried to explain why it was dangerous. the Zulu lady with me said, it was good it happened, because the children will learn a lesson from it. I never want anything to happen to our kids, but sometimes things do happen. I praise the Lord for giving me wisdom and for His safety today. Thanks again for everything you pray for!

Finding "THE CAR" & Car Quiz

Well, there were a few things I had to learn before purchasing a car.

First thing I had to learn was

 how to drive a manual (what we call "stick shift") car.

So, my friends, the Kilmers, gave me a few lessons.

Notice, which side of the car the steering wheel is on.

Very different compared to what we know in the States.

See the concentration on my face!

My "teachers" said I did a great job shifting, 

but working the clutch was a whole other story 

(actually quite the opposite of my gear shifting ability).

There are alot of things that are different here in South Africa.

Besides, my steering wheel being on a different side of the car, 

I also drive on the opposite side of the road.  

The traffic patterns are different too!

Most of the traffic signs just look like giant lollipops to me,

because they don't have words like "STOP" or "YIELD" 

on them, like they do in the States.

*Don't worry, I have studied their drivers' safety book 

and I do know what they mean (at least most of them).

driving in Embo

Another thing that will be different to me is the

type of areas I will be driving in.

The above area is the tribal area.

driving in Hillcrest

This area is in town.

So I go from a place where cows, chickens and people are crossing the road

to a busy road with lots of other cars and people.

Getting gas (or as they call it "petrol") will also be differant.

If you notice, the price is R11.32 per liter.

I know, I am no math wiz, but how do you figure that out?

I am so used to how many US Dollars per gallon.

This is very new to me.

Also, for all of my New Jersey friends reading this, 

I think of you every time I get gas/petrol.

Here in South Africa they pump the gas for you

(in case you didn't know, they do that in New Jersey too).

Do you know this car? - QUIZ

Now its time for a quiz.  

Every week we searched for a day or two to find a car for me. 

During the search I saw so many different cars that I have never seen 

or heard of before. 

I thought you might enjoy a little quiz

 to see if you know what some of them are.

So get out a piece of paper and number it 1- 20.

Now its time to take the quiz.  Are you ready?

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#16

#17

#18

#19

#20

How did you do on the quiz?

Check your answers below:

  1. DODGE          2. RENAULT       3. AUDI                      4. VOLKSWAGEN
  5. MERCEDES-BENZ                    6. MINI COOPER          7. SUZUKI          
  8. LEXUS           9. PEUGEOT     10. HYUNDAI               11. KIA RIO         
12. OPEL            13. MAZADA      14. CHEVY!!(I did the Frey family proud by getting a Chevy!)        
15. (I don't know this one.  If you know, please tell me)           
16. FORD (I hope you got this one right)                       17. DIAHATSU          
18. MITSUBISHI                          19. PROTON               20. CITROEN

Well, how did you do?

I didn't do too well and don't go saying, "that's because you are a woman".  

I grew up as "daddy's girl" and know a lot about cars, 

but most of these were "foreign" to me.

Shopping for a car also took me out of my comfort zone in a number of ways.

Here are just 2 things that were different for me:

1) Since I did not know much about these "foreign" cars, 

I asked the salesman, "How many miles to the gallon does this car get?"

He looked at me funny.

Then, he realized what I wanted to know.

He said, "This car will get ___ kilmometers per liter".

Did you get that? - kilometers and liters!!!

I was totally lost!

2) The other thing that took me out of my comfort zone,

were the cars I had to choose from.

Most (in my price range and good on gas) 

were little cars like the one pictured above.

I grew up in the country, so my idea of a good vehicle (to feel safe in)

 is a 4x4 truck or SUV, like pictured below.

Again- 

my idea of a car...

...the type of car that is affordable and economical.

I tell you, during this whole process I had to keep telling myself that I cannot have what I want and that I had to just be thankful with whatever the Lord provided.

Some days, I really did not feel like looking, 

because I didn't really have a peace about any that we saw.

Still, I continued in the search.

Afterall, I could not have my ministry without a vehicle to get me there.

You see, even us missionaries need to give our own will 

over to God, from time to time.

We may be committed to raise support and go to the field, but there are many struggles along the way that test us.

I know lately, I have been asking the Lord to direct me, to have a peace, and to be able to accept His will and direction in my life as it comes to where I will live and what ministries He will lead me to serve Him in.

We all have to continue to die to self.


Here are a few verses that the Lord has been reminding me of-

Philippians 4:6,7

 “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 

“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, 

shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct thee and teach thee

 in the way which thou shalt go: 

 I will guide thee with Mine eye”.

How did I finally find - "the car"?

Well, I had a set amount that I could spend,

lots and lots of prayer

and

finally, a few weeks into looking, we found a car

that would suit my needs at a reasonable price.

This nice man, named Ozayr,

helped us get it all sorted out.

Of course, there were a few difficulties-

- there were dents and scratches all over it

(which one of the salesmen told us to fix 

by coloring them in with a black Sharpie marker.  

I know, "brilliant"!)

- it took 2 weeks for them to get the car ready to sell

- when it was finally ready, we checked it out and drove it home,

only to find that the passenger side door did not lock.  

So, I returned it on the same day I got it.

- two days later, I got it back

Its a 2008 Chevy Aveo and thankfully an AUTOMATIC!!!!
(which is a rare find here- nothing is impossible with God!)

Praise the Lord I have a vehicle that I feel safe driving,

was within my budget and

has room for the many Zulu passengers I plan to transport.

This car will enable me to go into the village of Embo,

go out on visitation, 

and take people to/from church, 

to my house for discipleship, 

to the hospital,.....

Since my car is black, one of my friends calls it the "miniature African Queen".

Thank you for praying with me about this special need.

South Africa has a lot of injuries and fatalities on its roadways.

Please continue to pray for safety while on the roads.