1 March – Jannie takes Pastor Antonio and the elders to a funeral in Mphatsa.  They only arrive back in Chandame late that evening.  We help Paulina, a 12 year old at the clinic.  She got burnt because she got an epileptic fit and fell in the fire.  She returns every second day for burn treatment.  It’s a slow process, but progress was made. 2 March – Rory Benette gives a huge gift of Vetiver grass (a type of grass to stop erosion) to help with the erosion at our water source.  This gift helps us stop erosion. 3 March – We head to Vila Ulongue to hand monies over to workers that were sent by Helen Meyer. 4 March – Jannie celebrates his birthday by towing a 2 ton lorry with the tractor. 5 March – We head to Karacher for a Sunday church service with Pastor Antonio, his wife, Vasco (Skiba) and Stella.  Every day the clinic is up and operational at Chandame from 9:00 – 12:00.  We have many malaria cases. 15 March – Jannie is busy with “recovery” in Agua Boa, a mountain pass close to Chandame.  Johan and Heidie Kruger and their 3 kids arrived at Chandame late in the afternoon.  They are on an Africa trip with their camper and bikes heading to Jerusalem.  Along the way, they do evangelical work.  They stay with us and only leave CHandame on the 18th of March.  Jannie also fixes Johan’s bike.  The few days we spent […]

We are still in South Africa. 5 February – We attend a cell group meeting with Rian and Saretha Terblanche.  An awesome experience. 7 February – We visit Lance from Josua Generation for breakfast. 8 February – We have lunch at Huis Lafras Moolman, the retirement home in Rawsonville.  We pray for our power station and are so thankful for all the prayers from the people at HHM.  Jannie contracts malaria again. 10 February – Rian and Saretha Tereblanche visit us for breakfast. 12 February – We meet up with Dean Labuschagne, his wife Sarah and their 2 daughters.  They live on a farm in Malawi. 13 February – We are still in Rawsonville.  We enjoy the visits from family and friends. 19 February – We depart Rawsonville at 4:00 in the morning to get to Rita and Andre Fouche in Kempton Park. 20 – February – We do shopping before leaving South Africa. 21 February – We decided to head to Chandame via Botswana, Zambia and Malawi. We leave Kempton Park at 5:00 in the morning and start the long drive to Botswana.  After a long day’s drive, we reach Elephant Sands in Botswana. 22 February – Due to problems with the Colt’s alternator, we are forced to spend a luxury night at the Kafue Hotel in Zambia. 23 February – We eat breakfast at the hotel and find someone in Lusaka to fix the alternator.  Of all places, the job is completed on a side walk.  Thombe takes […]

At this time, we’re still visiting family and friends in South Africa.  We also visit our dentist, optometrist and doctor for an annual checkup. 2 January – Riaan and Saretha Terblanche visit us in Rawsonville.  They reside in Tete, Mozambique.  They approach us with the idea of planting coffee at Mwala Madzi, a 900 hectare farm we rent from the Mozambique government. 14 January – We attend a missionary weekend in Strand, South Africa.  Young and old, new comer and veteran missionaries attend and share information and stories.  We always find it interesting to listen to these tales of mission work. 16 January – Jannie heads to Cape Town in search of parts for our Colt Bakkie. The Colt’s gearbox needs to be redone before heading back to Chandame. 19-20 January – We attend our grandchildren’s athletics day in Porterville.  It is really something special to be part of your children and grandchildren’s lives and we are truly blessed. 21 January – We head to George for our youngest grandson’s birthday party.  Jannie heads to Prins Albert with Janiel de Kock to see Janiel’s farm, Hangklip.  I stay in George to spend time with my youngest daughter Susan and her family. 26 January – We head to Brackenfell to see our grandchild, Andreas van Dyk, take part in his school athletics day.  We head back to Rawsonville and arrive home at 20:00.  Jannie takes Willem de Villiers to Cape Town for a meeting and his search for Colt parts continues. […]

1 December – 75 patients visit the clinic.  At 13:00, I went to our kitchen feeling weak and realize I have malaria.  I was horribly ill.  Jannie was busy with a recovery for mpy in Harare. 1 – 4 December – Piet and Estelle du Plessis from Nkohoma visit us.  It was great having them at Chandame.  Estelle assisted in cooking and Piet made a scrumptious potjiekos meal.  I was not a good host because of the malaria. 10 December – We spend the night at Johan, Anina and their kids.  They are new friends we met in Mozambique. 11 December – We depart at 5:00am to transport Fernando’s belongings from Vila to Milange.  He is a student at Hefsiba, Vila.  We drive in the pouring rain and spend the night in Milange.  The next day we head for Milange to pick up Hennie Smit’s items to be sent to South Africa. 14 December – We depart for South Africa at 4:30am. 17 December – We arrive in Rawsonville.  It was great seeing our family and friends and spending time with them. 25 December – We head to church and enjoy the Christmas sermon.  A definite presence of the Holy Spirit and love of the community is felt.  We spend Christmas day in Porterville with our children and grand children.  We also spend time with friends in Rawsonville under “the tree”. We end off our year feeling that God put us here for a reason and we just need to […]

On Wednesday the 9th, the worker at the pump station at Linthipe river informed us that the river dried up. They had to switch on the pumps. The next morning, they switched on the generator with the 3 pumps. God has provided again! Everyone praised and worshiped God’s goodness.   On the 14th, Rian and Saretha Terblanche slept over at Chandame. Rian does Veritas training. He is empowering leaders to spread the word of God.   The 16th, Jannie transported loads of sand and wood for the locals. It seemed like the rain was coming. We have been praying for rain because the locals needed rain before they could start with sowing.   I had about 50 patients on the 17th, most of the cases being malaria. This time of the year, malaria is bad.   On the 18th we drove to Tete for a dentist appointment and to do some shopping. We visited evangelist, Joshua at Nkondedzi. We gave him bananas and 4 bags of instant soup. His ministry’s people are poor and in need of food. We now get rain every day and is so thankful for it! About 40km from us, Frelimo killed 19 people! One must pray for Mozambique in these difficult times.   On Sunday the 20th we had a big downpour and we thanked God for the rain!   The 22nd, Jannie use the road-grader to level the road. It was raining and Jannie ended up drenched but he was satisfied about work he did.   On the […]

At four o’clock on the 2nd, we headed to George from Kempton Park. Close to Uniondale, the gearbox started giving us trouble and we had to drive in 4th gear to George. God was so good, he protected us and guided Jannie with the right tools to get to George.   Our children and grandchildren were so surprised to see us and we had a lovely get together. Jannie had to hire a trailer to transport the Colt to Rawsonville. Jannie’s younger brother, Herman helped to tow the trailer with his Everest. Jannie left the Colt in Rawsonville and lucky for us, the Ford was still in Rawsonville. Jannie decided to drive back to George with the Ford Bakkie.   After Jannie drove back to George, he picked me up.  We fetched the generator on his older brother’s farm with the help of Jacques and Christian.  We then headed back to Rawsonville on the 4th of October.   We were fortunate to celebrate Christian and Gabriella’s birthdays on the 4th and 6th. It was special to us because our plan was only to go back to South Africa in December.   On the 6th, Jannie asked Rawsonville electric to build him a 3 phase board.  This would help with the electricity supply from the generator to the 3 pumps. Jannie ordered all the cables that he needed for the completion of every bore hole. Andre Fouche was such great help and he collected 6 pumps that we ordered in Johannesburg. This made our life easier so that we can get […]

On the weekend of the 10th we visited Nkhoma. Jannie fixed a lorry and helped with other repair work.   The 19th, I saw 43 patients at the clinic. Most of the patients were elderly. It was Pensioners’ day and the state uses our property to hand out the pensions. On the 20th, Jannie worked on Chembekeso’s bakkie clutch and gearbox. He needed to get a new kit from South Africa.   On the 21st, Jannie worked on the generator. The solar toilets’ pipes were painted and we transported a load of sand. Pastor Isaias came to visit us; he was our previous pastor. At the clinic, one of the mothers left her new born baby at home without a babysitter to come to the clinic.   On the 24th, the police came to fetch Jannie. A lorry had an accident and 2 people were stuck in the cabin. He got both passengers out. One unfortunately died and the other was taken to the hospital.   He towed out two big trucks and helped to start one of the trucks. The next day he had to tow out a truck that went off the road. It took him 4 hours and he had to use all his cables because of how far the car had fallen.   On the 28th, we started driving to South Africa.  We had to collect parts we need to fix the Nkhoma missionary station’s water pumps. Jannie phoned his brother and asked if we could use his generator for the missionary station.  Malawi’s […]

On the 2nd, Kobus Odendaal from the Western Cape Missionary office visited us for 2 days. We took him on a tour of the farm and showed him our water project. There are 2 reservoirs that can each hold 40 000 litres of water. The water is from a natural spring and are carried by gravity for 4.7km by means of an irrigation pipe to the different places in Chandame. We appreciated his visit a lot!   On the 4th, Jannie transported corn and worked on the hooks that he needs when he tows in the containers. I had to drive to Limbuni to go and get some eggs. I left the bakkie running when I got out at Peta Bennet’s place to get the eggs. When I reached the back of the bakkie it started rolling backwards. I tried to get back in die bakkie to hit the brakes but I was unsuccessful. Suddenly the bakkie came to a standstill and behind the right wheel there was a big rock! I was still in a lot of shock while driving home but also so thankful that nothing bad happened. Later that day I returned to the scene and the rock that stopped the bakkie was not there! I was so amazed! We serve a wonderful God! He saw that I was in trouble and he did something about it. Jes 59 verse 1   Every day we had a standard routine. I had clinic duty from 9 to 12. Most […]

Proverbs 27 verse 9 Ointment and perfume delight the heart.  And the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.   On the 3rd of July we had a sermon at Chandame and the scripture was John 15 verse 1-8. The message was to bear good fruit and abide in God.   On the 6th, Hennie and Elsabet Smit surprised me by visiting us on my birthday.  It was really special for me.  An outreach group from Wellington also spent the night on their way back to South Africa. The visit from the group was also very special because we made new friends in Christ.  A group of Potchefstroom also slept over at our place on their way to Malawi. We are feeling blessed with all these visits from different groups.   We had 9 days of light rain here in Chandame.  This is good for the crops and the plants. On the 10th of July Jannie got malaria again. Every one prayed, because he was very sick. There is definitely power in prayer.   I AM A GIFT FROM GOD!  Everyone must remember that!   On the 14th, Wynand, Martin, Lance and Candice (all members of Joshua Generation) spent the night.  It was an amazing visit! They prayed for Jannie’s knee and since then his knee is much better. There is power in prayer! They also prayed for the healing of my hernia.   Psalm 94 verse 19, 22.  “My God is the rock and my refuge” […]

On the 4th of June we arrived at Woodlands in Botswana where we spend the night. The 5th of June, we were in Zambia and we stayed the night at Fawlty Towers, Livingstone. The 6th of June we were still in Zambia and spend the night at Bridge Camp.   On the 7th we crossed the Malawi border. We had to spent 2 days in Nkhoma because Jannie had to help with the parts that he brought back from South Africa.   Proverbs 9 verse 10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”   Proverbs 9 verse 11: “For by me your days will be multiplied.  And years of life will be added to you”   On the 9th of June, we were back at Chandame and thanking God for keeping us save all the way. The next day Jannie had to help pull out a trailer (that was overloaded) out of a ditch. He had to use his tractor and trailer to get the job done.   On the 12th we went to Tsangano to visit one of our congregations to welcome their new pastor.   On the 13th, Helen Meyer visited us with the ACRIS clinic. They just visited us and didn’t see any patients. She brought ointment and bandages for our clinic.  A big welcome and huge gift.  We were working at full steam again. I was busy with the clinic and Jannie helped the locals […]