The following a from a prayer letter from Div and Eleanor du Plessis who
work with Operation Mobilization on Lake Tanganyika.
Good
News II Clinic Boat on
Lake Tanganyika
Part of the original
vision for Good News II Ministry which the Lord gave ProChristo was to
put a medical boat on
Lake Tanganyika
. Not only will it serve the
villagers along the lake, but it will also give the missionaries an
entry strategy into the villages. We
will visit the villagers on a regular basis through which we can share
the gospel and also start with discipleship.
We are currently
working in four villages along the lake and have targeted the 5th
village. Peter is one of the
missionaries working in Nsumbu. During
his research of the area he came across an old boat lying abandoned on a
beach at
Kasaba
Bay
. He immediately saw the
ministry potential in the boat and began to pray.
After a short period of time the Lord opened a way for us to buy
this boat.
On one of our trips
to Nsumbu, we were accompanied by people from TTN (To the Nations).
The purpose for the visit was to visit the clinic where they plan
to get involved and help with medical equipment.
They also have a vision to build a maternity ward at the clinic
through the churches that are supporting them.
We showed them the boat and they immediately become excited about
the possibility of using the boat as a mobile clinic.
They promised to equip the boat with medical supplies as well as
aiding with its restoration.
We thank the Lord for
bringing the ministry to this stage.
We are amazed at the way He used the whole body to be a part of
this vision; to reach people through the Good News Boat Ministry.
God willing, the plan
is to restore the boat and have it equipped and functional by October
2009. We are partnering with
the local clinic in Mpulungu, the clinic in Nsumbu and the medical
officers in each area in order to serve the villages on the shores of
Zambia
, from the
Congo
border up to the Tanzanian border.
We will start in the villages where we are already busy with
church planting, then move out to the nearby villages and expand from
there.
The boat will also be
used to take outreach teams to the villages for medical service,
evangelism and discipleship. In
all we do, we want to build the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We ask for your prayer and support of this vision; to take the
Good News to the lost people around the lake.
-
Pray for God’s
will to be done.
-
Pray for the
fulfilment of His plan and purpose.
-
Pray for wisdom and
insight for this venture.
-
Pray for the Lost
who are to be reached, for fertile soil, for openness and for growth.
-
Pray for the people
who will serve on this boat.
Salvaging of “the Nyati” – Good News II Mobile Clinic
Essay written by Riaan du Plessis
The hot African sun beats down on the weary diggers.
White skin is burned to a crisp, black skin is burned even
darker, as they dig. The
sweat glistens on their back as they strain every muscle to lift the
spades of mud. Wearily, they
strain their eyes from the glare of the sun, as the hippos wallow in the
lukewarm water and the crocodile awaits its next prey.
The antelope graze not far away, and the monkeys stare
inquisitively from under a bush. The
sun does not relent its ever-present glare, and as the day wears on, the
diggers draw nearer to their goal.
What would
compel a group of men to leave the comforts of their home to dig a hole
the size of a container, under the African sun?
Could it be adventure? Yes
and no, for it is more than adventure.
It is the fulfilment of a vision; a vision given by God more than
a hundred years ago. A
vision to put a boat on
Lake Tanganyika
, a mobile clinical boat to be used as an entry strategy into the
villages around the lake.
A
team of men, consisting of 6 members from Good News II ministry, 1 from
TTN (To the Nations) and 2 people hired to help.
We set out of from Mpulungu, to
Kasaba
Bay
, north east from Mpulungu, to salvage the boat, “the Nyati”, of the
former president of the
republic
of
Zambia
, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda. The
boat had been beached 20 years ago, and been stripped of all its finery,
the engine rusted beyond repair, and all the wood rotten.
Yet, the hull is still intact.
One or two tiny leaks, easily plugged and she is ready to go.
There is only one problem. The
boat is three meters from the shore line, and weighs two tons.
Normally one would call for a tractor and pull her out, or
something in that line. However,
in the middle of
Africa
, a thousand km from the nearest city, your first problem is, “Who do
you call?” If you could
call someone, how do you get the equipment there?
There are no roads! So
we have to do it the hard way, the manual way.
WE DIG! For six days,
from six-to-six, WE DIG! Through
sand and gravel, through grass and rocks ranging from the size of your
hand to 300 kg boulders, WE DIG! Every
muscle you can think of, and some you cannot, hurt.
The sun burns your skin dark and the temperature above over 35ºC.
On
the fifth day we believe (and hope) that our hole is deep enough.
Div takes a long pole and, standing from a safe distance swings
at the braces keeping the boat from falling.
As the last brace falls, the boat gives a groan of relief and
falls beautifully into the hole we dug.
The shouts of eleven men rise high.
The boat is floating on the water that fills the hole.
But we are not done. The
boat may lie in the small bay we dug for her, but she is still three
meters away from the lake. And
so we dig again, only this time we dig in the water.
The area from the small bay to the actual water is no more than
two square meters, but it is only about a foot deep.
Again, WE DIG! for yet another day.
On the seventh day,
the hole is deep enough for us to pull her into the water.
Ten men pull and push, lift and rock.
With a lot of help from a jet boat pulling, the Nyati rides the
waters of
Lake Tanganyika
again, and isn’t she a beauty. So
now the first step into fulfilling the vision has been taken.
Praise
the Lord! Amen!
