Sunday, April 27, 2003

 

Hello everyone!

 

    We had a busy day today!  We tried to hit the ground running this morning after 48 hours of traveling... so far we are holding on with just a short nap this afternoon.  We are hoping to be "feeling" as if we are living on S African time by tomorrow.  (We are 7 hours ahead of Northern IN. )

    We went from the airport straight to church this morning (after 18 hours of straight travel time).  Small Paul preached.  They then decided to ask him if he would also preach in the evening for their people and also for another Baptist church next door having a special "family emphasis" (a couple hundred people all together). 

    In the evening service the pastor asked Stephen and I to be a part of their family emphasis service by sharing a testimony with all the church folks about our family and some things that the Lord has done for us.  (He came from a family of seven and wanted to encourage his families in the church.)  Small Paul then preached on Cain and Abel.  There were at least four adults who raised their hands openly wanting to accept Christ as Savior!  He openly asked them three different times to raise their hands and worded the question differently each time just to be sure that they were serious. 

    At the end of the service, the pastor had everyone break up by families and join another family in the church for a prayer time which was then followed by a fellowship time.  One of the men who raised his hand was seated just in front of Stephen and I along with three of his children, and we offered to join him.  He has been coming to this church since Christmas.  Since that time, he has read repeatedly through the books of Ephesians, Philippians and 2 Timothy.  His name is "Virgil" and two of his kids names are "Jamie" and "Jessica." 

    Please pray for Virgil and his family.  Since Christmas he has not touched drugs or alcohol or cigarettes; he attributes this to the Lord's help.  He is especially burdened for his wife and a couple of older children in the family.  It sounds like his wife is resisting the Lord and might be thinking about leaving him.  I am sure that Virgil would be encouraged to get a general letter from any of you saying simply that you are praying for him and his family.  His address is "4 Street Francis Place"  Stand Fontein, Cape Town , South Africa .  (Regular mail makes it over here fine with just a little extra postage.)

    After the service, the pastor asked if Stephen and I would do a special program for the youth some Friday night during the time when we are here.  Both pastors also asked us to preach in their churches one of these Sundays.  I will probably be preaching in the one church on Mother's Day and Stephen is scheduled to do a chalk talk in yet a third church next Sunday.

 

    Here are a couple of other things to pray for specifically:

 

    1.  Pray for Paul's nephew James' health.  He has had a fever, etc., over the weekend and seemed to have gotten a lot better since yesterday, but this evening he took a definite turn for the worse and Paul is took him to the hospital to have things checked out.  They diagnosed some sort of viral infection.

    2.  Pray that our final two pieces of luggage arrive and are delivered safely.  Stephen's chalk easel and my accordion and part of our clothes were forgotten along with about 1/3 of the planes total luggage on the flight which went on to Johannesburg after dropping us off yesterday.  This means more potential for damage to the equipment as well.

 

We will probably spend a better part of the day tomorrow getting organized.  Thank you for your prayers!

 

In Christ,

Charles & Stephen Wesco

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