Infinite Wisdom

Greetings in the Lord Jesus,

It is my privilege to share with you the work that I have been doing until thus far. Although limited by COVID restrictions and a few hiccups along the way I have taken this time to make preparations and do tasks that were allowed within the lockdown regulations.

Mobile BEC Trailer Project 

I am glad to report that all the preparations of the mobile BEC have been completed and are ready to be implemented!

I have been faced with some unfavorable challenges such as planned market shutdowns due to Covid and South Africa going into the third wave with serious lockdown restrictions. Despite these circumstances, God, in his infinite wisdom, has created new opportunities for us to utilize this project. Close to our house is an informal settlement called “Wolwe” (the Afrikaans word for ‘Wolves’) and another low income housing estate called Green Village, both of which are very poor. God willing, we will be running a soup kitchen at these two locations and simultaneously have the mobile BEC set up there to both feed people physically and spiritually.

Preaching in Afrikaans

I am extremely excited about a door that God has opened to us via our Brother Errol Klein. Brother Errol lives 2 hours away from Cape Town in an area called Du Doorns. This town mostly houses farm workers from the many vineyards in the area. Brother Errol has been actively preaching in the area. However, due to the farms being so far apart, holding regular bible classes has not been viable. Recently, in a town nearby called Touws Rivier (the Afrikaans word for ‘river’), an interest has spiked in young people looking for God. We will, together with Brother Lucas, God willing, start hosting Bible seminars in Afrikaans in August/September. We have been busy translating all of our English courses into Afrikaans, as well as preparing further courses to preach with at the seminars. The mobile BEC will also be in use at this location on these Preaching Days. 

Brother Errol has a Facebook page for Afrikaans preaching that has more than 2,000 members! We will be creating Afrikaans digital content to support this preaching effort. Brother Errol himself has been without work since the start of Covid and is struggling to get work due to his age. By his request, I have helped him to set up a small vegetable garden which will feed him, and his family. He plans to, God willing, sell any additional produce to gain a small form of income. My prayer is that as the seeds are planted in his garden and start to grow so the seeds that he has harvested in preaching will also grow.

CUDDLE Trust

As a volunteer for the CUDDLE Trust, two specific tasks have become my responsibility whilst our movements have been restricted. First, if the Trust could get two vehicles donated by manufacturing companies. Unfortunately, right before COVID started in March 2020, the CUDDLE Trust’s only “people-carrier” suffered electronic damage up to the point where the car was totaled. I was tasked to see if I could get a new van donated. Sadly, due to all the economic damage South Africa has suffered due to Covid and the recent looting, that was not possible. It is rather unfortunate due to the fact that we need a people carrier to help transport volunteers and also brethren and sisters especially to fraternal events. We continue to pray that God will provide for this need.

The second project with which I am helping the CUDDLE Trust is to find a container (and sponsorship for this) for the work we are doing at the house of safety (Little Brinks). The owner has graciously agreed that we may set up a classroom container on their premises, which we can then use for our various CUDDLE projects as well as for education enrichment activities with the children that are there as this has posed a challenge on rainy days. We prayerfully hope that God will bless this endeavor. 

Online Ecclesia

As part of my proposal to WCG, I mentioned that we wanted to create an online Ecclesia. We have decided to rather use the term hybrid ecclesia. Thus far we have linked in with the brotherhood in Kempton Park since the beginning of the March 2020 lockdown, and recently the Congolese ecclesia in Pretoria have also begun to join this platform. The goal is to encourage brothers and sisters to meet together where possible and then have small groups meet and join the breaking of bread online. This has proven to be an effective way of meeting and having face to face contact and interaction. We have been blessed with many great memorial meetings and Bible Classes. We have brothers and sisters often join us from other countries (mostly expats) where they are in isolation. They have expressed their appreciation at still being able to enjoy fellowship with their brothers and sisters. We have also started an online Sunday School program, and Youth classes, with the ecclesia rostered to present various discussion topics. We pray that the Lord will continue to bless our efforts and that many more brothers and sisters will join us in this forum.

Fraternal 

As part of our goal of encouraging face-to-face interaction when and where possible, we were able to host a praise and worship focused fraternal gathering just before the third wave lockdown. The brothers and sisters and children that attended were spiritually refreshed through singing hymns, having fellowship and sharing a meal together. We pray that we will soon be able to continue hosting such events, as well as, God willing, Youth Camps and even Bible Schools again soon

Puppet Ministry 

After lots of positive feedback from the OCBS classes, Lilandi and I have decided to resurrect our old puppet ministry effort. However, instead of doing it in person we will be doing this on a digital platform. God Willing the first videos will be uploaded in August. We will be recording these episodes in both English and Afrikaans and will be posting the videos and worksheets on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram. We are very excited about this as this was a very fun and effective project when we were still doing outreach in Johannesburg.

With love in the Lord Jesus,
Michael Furstenburg
Cape Town, South Africa