Presbevents 11

4th November 2009
Many thanks for contributions received, and an encouragement to everyone to send in news that would be of interest to others, be it family news, church news or whatever. It will all help the church to know where the church is at and what the church is doing. Doug Moshe Rajuili (Johannesburg): There are times in Christian ministry when it seems as though nothing significant is happening or even likely to happen. Weeks and months go by with one week not different from the next. All of a sudden the Lord breaks forth, as it were, and surprises us with tangible evidence of His grace as he nudges His church forward into new growth.
In August three elders were ordained at St Giles’. All three are outstanding personalities who have been used by the Lord over many years. A month later, eight new elders were added to Session at St Marks, where I am Interim Moderator. This was followed by four University of Johannesburg students who made a public profession of faith. And then this weekend (25 October) St Giles’ witnessed four baptisms of believers following 13 months of teaching basic Christian doctrines. At the same service there were six confirmations. Is this what Rick Warrren terms Surfing Spiritual Waves?
Doug and Avril Muller (USA): One gets very out of touch being so far away and when visiting South Africa the time is generally taken up with family matters. It is good to get to know what others in the UPCSA are about.
Christo and Edwina de Wet (Harrismith): tel: 058622290  After coming back from a working holiday in London, July 2004 we settled in Harrismith and believe it or not we are still here. Christo is 75 years old and loves working in his garden. He has 23 fruit trees.
Unfortunately the Mouse birds love his fruit and much to his consternation constantly demolish his vegetable patch. Since there is no Presbyterian Church in Harrismith we attend St John's Anglican Church together. I will be ordained into the Priesthood on 23 January 2010 in the Bloemfontein Cathedral. The process of Ordination has been a long road, having worked through being a Lay minister, a Deacon and now finally a non-stipendiary Priest. For two years I attended the Fellowship of Vocation and this year, Post Ordination Training as well as lecturing full time at Maluti FET College.
Christo remains the wind under my wings and is ever supportive. We celebrate our 50th Wedding Anniversary (Golden) on Saturday 7 November 2009. We will be at the Anglican Retreat Centre at Modderpoort (10 k's outside Lady Brand) on that very special day. We have 8 grandchildren ranging from 25 years to 7 years. Christopher has been married for the last 18 months and is presently doing a show in Holland and then on to the Caribbean. Ashleigh his wife. a Shakespearean actress has just done a stint at the Globe Theatre in London. Mark and family have emigrated to Australia. Fran and family continue to do well in Cape Town and Mandy has moved to Pretoria. We are very grateful for the Lord's constant, unfailing love in our lives.
Eddie and Val Perkins (Australia): I tried to open the URL that Greg van der Lingen suggested but got an error message. But when I chopped of the details after http://www.oikoumene.org I got the WCC home-page and then used the Google slot with Masango and found a whole page of references to Maake and the WCC, including, at the top of the list his address on 10/9/2009. I thought some of our colleagues might be trying to solve the same puzzle as I am.