Mission Orientation Weekend Report

A Few Talks and a Campfire

The Mission Orientation Weekend went very well, with 24 participants joining us on a vast, remote farm (about a 2 hrs drive north of Capetown). Starting Friday afternoon, we discussed cults and sects as well as secular humanism. Questions were many, and I was encouraged especially by the eagerness of those taking notes and asking. That evening, we had a time of singing, sharing missions stories, and worship in front of a fire. It was such an awesome time of hearing how God had worked in the lives of several others there, and ways He had used them and changed them in the process. To the others, I pray it continued in motivating and deepening their desire for missions.

Saturday’s Events

First time I've fired a revolver

            We started the next day with a 5:00 PT, running up one of the hills near the camp—an exercise which oddly few seemed too keen on. But the reward was great when the rising sunlight splashed over the clouded horizon. The day was filled with lectures on faith, evangelism, Islam, self-defense, Creation/Evolution, and a couple films. The one described Islam very thoroughly, while the other, Ee-Tauw, was the story of a mission couple’s tribal ministry in Papua New Guinea (well worth seeing!). For the Creation/Evolution talk, we had the privilege of hearing from Mark Labrum, in association with ‘Answers in Genesis.’ In addition to the lectures, we did an outreach for a few hours to a nearby town and in the afternoon were able to use the farm’s shooting range

Arab Threat!

            Throughout the weekend, there was a continually developing story we became a part of. We had gone into an Islam territory to bring in the Gospel. However the border was heavily guarded by Arab militia, obstructing us from crossing back over the border. Come Saturday night, we were waiting for a break in the guard, an opportunity to cross back into safety. And after a few hours’ sleep, the very opportunity had come! We woke the participants up at 2:00 for a river border crossing simulation, and amoung 3 teams, saw who could do it the most inconspicuously. We used the nearby pond as a river substitute while one of the leaders shone a spotlight from the top of his bakkie when he heard anything.

Sunday

            After completing the exercise, we all got a little more rest before church the next morning. Michael (who was on my previous Frontline missions) came in on the Sunday morning to give the sermon. He gave a very good message on faith. After talking with several of the people who had come and spending some time in prayer, we headed back home.

           

Praise in Answered Prayers

            Throughout the week, we saw a few people who were showed much eagerness in the lectures, who were keen to participate in the exercises, and who showed a genuine interest to carry on with missions. There were also many whom the camp didn’t seem very motivated at all, who didn’t show much of an interest at all to participate in and learn from the course. And yet the most encouraging thing through the entirety of the course was going into it knowing that God had already answered prayer; that He was convicting people of their sins, revealing Himself to those there so they might know Him more fully, and giving them a strong desire to become the fishers of men God has called them to be. I am eager to see how God has and will work in the lives of those who were there, and am so incredibly grateful that God has given us the gift and power of prayer at all. Praise His Name!