SOUTH AFRICAN SCENE APRIL 2010
Dear Friends,
We are already coming to the end of April, and they have been a very busy four months at Union Bible Institute. Let me share some highlights:
January
The Lord blessed us with 27 new students, as well as 4 more in April. We now have 74 fulltime students who come from 6 of the 9 South African provinces, as well as one from the country of Lesotho. That means many different languages, although the dominant ones are Zulu and English. I knew one of the 1st year students, Prince Ntuli, when he was still at school 20 years ago at Mseleni! Two others are German SIM missionaries learning Zulu.
February
Thanks to large gifts of money from my home church, Eastwood Baptist, and also Mission Press here in South Africa, we were able to ease some of our water problems by reactivating an old borehole and installing several new 5,000 litre tanks. This was necessary because we frequently get very little water from the municipality. In February and March I taught my usual two first term courses, Library Skills and English. It makes life very busy for me, but it is a delight getting to know the two first year classes.
Andrew and the Library student work team UBI photo 2010 (staff in front 2 rows)
March
Fellow SIM missionaries, David and Anne Stearn came with their two Zulu colleagues, Pastor Ntuli and Mama Zimu, and shared in one of our chapel services about their ministry in some of Pietermaritzburg’s poorer townships. Testimonies of the opportunities the Lord is opening up and of people coming to Christ impacted many of the students. At the end of the service Anne presented UBI with 3 puppets sent from England for our students to use in Children’s Ministry. Anne taught puppets to our students last year and will do so again in May.
During first term, we were joined by a young man from England having a gap year before starting university. Andrew Jack is a ‘whiz’ at computers and he and his family and church raised money for new computers for the Library. Originally from Pietermaritzburg, he still has family in South Africa and his uncle was able to give us more second-hand computers from one of the big chain stores in the country. Students now have 12 computers in the library for typing their assignments and for internet research, along with the 17 computers already in the computer room. They are networked, so students can go and find their work under their password at any of the computers. A great job done by Andrew and also Richard Murray, one of our lecturers at UBI.
A personal highlight for me in March was celebrating my 60th birthday. I was spoiled with gifts from various staff members and cakes from my first year classes, and many cards and emails from overseas. Two days later, about 20 of us, friends and those I call ‘family’, (the extended Fredlund clan), got together at Jocelyn & Siphiwo’s for a barbecue thanksgiving celebration. It was a time when I wanted to thank those who have played a part in my life the past 27 years here in South Africa, and to thank God for His mercies and blessings through the years.
The new water tanks Our new puppets Life begins at 60! Water relay at UBI social day.
April
Good Easter meetings were followed by SIM South Africa’s annual conference, and then the start of a new term. This past week was notable for lengthy power failures 6 days out of 7, and almost no water from the municipality. Thankfully, one of our staff has a small generator and was able to keep water pumping from the borehole. Thursday night in the midst of another failure, I came up with a new way to crack more ribs – not by falling, but with my torch!
Prayer and praise:
· Praise God for another large first year group. Pray for the spiritual growth of all our students.
· Praise for the provision of many new computers and for the work done by Andrew and Richard.
· Pray for healing of my cracked ribs and for a busy period (4-28 May) of teaching and supervising our students at after-school clubs as part of the Children’s Ministry course.
· Pray for the provision of our needs – an urgent need at present is for replacement lawn mowers and trimmers, also assistance for some of the students with their fees. If you would like to help in any way, please send your gift to SIM Australia (address below), marked Student fees or maintenance for Union Bible Institute ZA 89510 (SIM’s project number).
God is good! A verse I shared at my birthday celebration was one that I had dated in my Bible in 1986 during my first term of service, Psalm 16:5,
“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”
Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and support in the ministry here at Union Bible Institute.
Jackie Bolger
SIM Australia
PO Box 42
Penshurst NSW 2222
Tel.: 02 9580 1422
Email: sim.australia@sim.org.au
Webpage: www.sim.org.au