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Tuesday, April 29, 2003 Dear Praying Friends, Praise the Lord that the luggage arrived safely! Thank you for praying. Not one piece of the 360 pieces of chalk was broken! It ended up that it was left behind in Atlanta . Security or someone opened up my easel and tore it apart, but everything made it safely back inside with only one three inch tare on the bag. This is nothing compared to dreadful scenes that I have imagined since I watched the easel bag fall onto that conveyer belt in Atlanta , GA. Charles' accordion, however, did not fare so well. He spent a few hours last night taking it apart. Two thirds of the buttons were jammed inside and he had to take the mechanism almost totally apart inside and then reassemble it. It is working fine now. We are now on South Africa time in body as well as in spirit! Monday was a public holiday here in SA. The Hope Now Prison Ministry offices were closed, so we were not able to get our prison passes yesterday. After family devotions, we spent the day orienting ourselves, checking on the forgotten luggage, and so forth. We were able to see the areas in and around Cape Town . Neither words nor pictures can describe the scenes that we have seen. The beautiful and the despicable are both observed at once. The magnificent mountains and the vast ocean are truly wonders to behold. However, the pitiful and awful squatter settlements of the poor are a dreadful sight to behold. Food? Well we have had some new things and common things. We have enjoyed eating ostrich, and I love litchi juice! Animals? The first African animal we saw yesterday was at Cape Point. They are called baboons. Little one year old Joshua Young is scared to death of them. This morning after family devotions, Small Paul, Charles and I went to Pollsmoor prison. Every person should see the scenes that we saw in the prison. They are no more than "kids" bound in sin. Pray that God would continue to work in hearts and work through us as we bring them the truth that can set them free. Charles led singing with the inmates using the accordion and harmonica. I (Stephen) did not do much more than lend a hand, observe, and share my testimony thereby gaining the opportunity to watch the inmates. In my own mind, I do not fully understand nor comprehend the things that I have observed; thus I cannot yet articulate it on paper. There were at least a dozen inmates today who responded to the gospel. We followed along with Small Paul who did most of the preaching while we got a feel for things. Tomorrow, we are heading out early to another prison for the day. We will tell you more about the prison ministry later when we have more time to write. It is a wonderful opportunity. The inmates were very attentive and responsive, more than many groups that we have taught and worked with in the US . As we walked through the prison to the cell on the back side, there were fellows continuously calling out greetings to "Small Paul" through the prison windows. In the first cell 95% of the 50 inmates gathered around for the accordion/harmonica and then for the chalk talk. Well, I will have to wait until another day to share more...I need to "hit the sack" now! Small Paul has a life-long habit of rising between 4-5 am for personal and then family devotions! He is constantly quoting Scripture during his chalk talks. He rarely has opportunity to read directly from his Bible while drawing. I assume that most of this Scripture memory over the years has occurred during his early morning hours in the Scriptures. Charles and I have also been greatly encouraged by the Young family in many ways. We have heard many of their life stories and illustrations of how God has led and moved in their lives over the years. The children are also very responsive and respectful to their parents. It has impressed us to hear how Evangel and her brothers have a loving and open relationship with their parents, and yet they treat them with the utmost of respect. If they do not hear an order correctly they reply with "sir?" or "ma'am?" and also give their folks direct eye contact, and respond in like respectful manner when an understood order is given. James is doing much better now. He thanks you for your prayers on his behalf. In His Service and loving it, |
