June 16 1976

“He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him,” Is 53

Today is the anniversary of one of South Africa’s darkest events. The Soweto uprising. Black school children protested for having to learn Afrikaans, police opened fire. 178 died. They were only children. It is one of those things that leave you speechless at humanity’s capacity for evil. It is scary to think that I am human and have that same capacity.
Or to want to reach out as a missionary to these children who are now grown up. No one will ever know how deep the scars run that were left by the apartheid regime. In Christ alone will we be able to reach out, and make a difference. I guess I’m just babbling, I just know that so many of my fellow country men are dying and going to Hell. When I close my eyes I see their faces in front of me and it makes my stomach hurt.
There is good news, there is salvation. You can be saved from this planet and all the pain that it has brought. Christ is risen, He died for you, that is all that matters. No matter what, Jesus Christ died for you- “But the Lord was pleased to crush Him.”

Twenty-Three

I’ll be 23 tomorrow, I wonder if that means that I have to be more mature now. I guess I’ll see if I feel more mature when I wake up tomorrow morning. This past year has been amazing. Thanks to all the people who have made this one of the best years ever, Colleen and Erica, The Messimers, my wonderful parents all the friends at triple C, Mike and Dezi, and my wonderful loving husband. It is exciting to think of all that God has done in the last year, and what He is going to do in the coming year.

We have been back in the Sates for a few months now, and it semms as though our trip was a lifetime away. I still miss the girls and I am excited for them, to see what they will do with their lives. There are so many people that we met on the trip, some who know Christ personally, and then there are the ones who do not know Him at all.
There is an older setswana couple that I think about often, they worked at the flea market selling things that they had made. I know like 5 words in their language, so I tried them out, they seemed to enjoy it. When I left this old lady came up and hugged me, it was not just any hug, but another human reaching out, crossing a language barrier. She clung to me for a while and then we left. I went back looking for them the next week, but they were gone.
It is strange how encouters such as this one can make us feel so close to Christ, while at the same time it gives us a taste of a hopeless life, lost whithout Him.

Sometimes

Sometimes I really miss my Family. They are all in South Africa. I worry about them alot, especially my three brothers. Please pray for them, for my parents and my brothers, for their safety, and that I might be able to see them again soon.