Monday, September 29, 2008

WILL YOU FOLLOW US

This is to inform you that we are moving our blog to a new site. Since we are members of Aim (Africa Inland Mission) and we just found out about Aim's site for missionaries, we decided.. NOW IS THE TIME TO MOVE...will you follow us?
Please look at glswanepoel.aimsites.org

Monday, September 22, 2008

Building walls and dams

It was "business as usual" with the TSB (Tirrim School of the Bible) student, Lesantan and Grant starting to tackle the book on the wall- building leader, Nehemiah last week.

We also had a 'field day' travelling to Larabasi (35km from Korr) to assist again with the water catchment building.
Grant (left) and Morgan Knowles from Ngurunit are at it sweeping and blasting the rock-face to prepare the area for some cement. Grant and Lesantan put in a hard day's work with the men from the local village and Temple and his kids . Temple and his family has spent a lot of time camping there lately, digging out the area with his tractor. There are real chances for relationship building with the Rendille of that area. They are begging for literacy classes and to hear more about God's Word. There is talk of a possible church plant later on by AIC (Africa Inland Church), if a suitable person could be found etc.
Loki had a chance to go with Beth to the nearby village and did the translating(into Rendille) for Beth's gospel talk to the women. It was stilted, but the women seemed to get the message.
PRAY for God to bless the work so that the catchment area will be done before the rainy season. Pray that people's hearts will also be as prepared to receive the life-giving Word of God.
Pray for GRANT as we leave tomorrow on another journey. This time to Gatab on Mt Kulal, about 5 hours away. He has to attend the District Church Council meetings and it looks like there will be a lot of wisdom needed for some very hard issues. Grant and the other missionaries view these meetings partly as a teaching oppurtunity, modeling how to use the Word of God as our final authority in all matters.
Loki and the girls are going with for the fellowship. There will be a chance to learn from ladies like Peggy Heidorn (who has raised a set of twins!) and to pray with dear friends like Beth Knowles for the meetings taking place Wednesday and Thursday. We aim to travel together with the Knowles and the in their big lorry and hope to be back on Friday, 26 September in Korr.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

BUSH AND BIBLE



Bush and Bible sort of describes our time in Laisamis last weekend.
Bible, because this time one day was dedicated to Bible training and one day to the business meeting.
Grant (see left) taught on church unity on Friday, 12 Sept.
Bush, since we were camping on the church compound (see photo), us ladies cooking for the 22+ men on an open fire.
Things got rather hot in more than one way. Laisamis is a really hot place, cooking on an open fire doesn't help and even in the Branch meeting things were getting pretty hot.
That is, there were some hard discussions. There is (like in any culture) a huge battle going on re whether one should take the Bible seriously in all respects (e.g. Church Discipline) or not.
Please pray for ongoing growth and maturity in both us, the missionaries and these dear brothers whom we seek to serve.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

COMINGS AND GOINGS

Working with nomads means that one also has to be somewhat nomadic. All church business involving more than the local church involves travel, transport logistics and time.
This week on Thursday, 11 Sept, we are all piling into the Landy.
Destination: Laisamis (on the Great North Road, somewhere between Isiolo and Marsabit).

Occasion: Branch Church Meeting and Leadership Training.

Who is going: The whole family. Daddy Grant is teaching at the Leadership Training and attending the Branch meeting. Mommy Loki is helping with cooking for the men. Caity and Abby will go and play camping in their tent.

Others attending: Elders from the various churches in our Branch. Our friends, the Knowles, from Ngurunit will also be there, Temple attending meetings and Beth and their daughter Morgan coming to cook. We are expecting about 30 participants.

Estimated time of arrival: We hope to be there by lunchtime, Thursday. We will set up camp on the church compound and get the fires going. All the cooking will be done on an open fire, as no other facilities are available.

Estimated time of return: Depending on the Branch meeting's length, we hope to be back Sat 13 Sept in the evening. Last time the guys arrived around 10 at night!

Our expectations: We are looking to the Lord Jesus to bless these meetings with individual growth in people's lives and with progress in terms of resolving some of the sticky issues the Branch has had to deal with. We trust Him to inspire some of the men to make some tough decisions and stick to them, because that is what the Bible asks of them.

Your participation: We VALUE your prayers for this event. For the teachers, for us who cook and for participants to come with prepared hearts.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Nomads Pulpit hits the blog world

Welcome friend. Thank you for your interest in our ministry and lives. We hope that keeping this blog and my Photo blog (grantmind.blogspot.com) will give you greater insight into our daily lives on the mission field than our newsletter ever did.

Please come back frequently and keep up to date.