News update from Joan Adams - April 2010


20 – 04 – 2010

Dear Friends

Well, in just over 2 weeks from now I’ll be winging my way to the northern hemisphere for my 2010 UK Fundraising Trip. How the past 4 months have flown by! I thought there was plenty of time to get myself organised and up-to-date here at Morning Star but each day new challenges present themselves and I’m distracted from the task at hand!

You’ll be pleased to know this isn’t a full-scale newsletter. There are, however, a few issues to share with you before I leave and, of course, we’d love you to keep praying for Morning Star in my absence and also for Glenys & me as we travel around England & Wales.

Uppermost in all our minds is that 5 of our precious children have died over the past 3 weeks. Tragic beyond words and a colossal grief to come to terms with! The deceased are 14-year-old Palesa Seekoei (such a shock), 1-year-old Boikanyo (terribly malnourished and already far gone when brought to our Centre for the first time on 23rd March), 12-year-old Manana Tau (the little girl who was so very ill whilst we were in Durban), 18-month-old Paballo Tau (pneumonia accompanied with diarrhoea/vomiting) and, only this past Monday, 7-year-old Mpai Witbooi  (we think, AIDS dementia).
Both Manana and Palesa accompanied us to the sea last month and we had the opportunity to get to know them fairly well. Their deaths, thus, hit us very hard. All 5 children come from troubled backgrounds and at least 4 of them were noticeably neglected by their carers at home. That’s the hardest pill to swallow of all, that so many little children are suffering beyond comprehension and that we don’t get to know about their pain sooner – or not at all! Please remember us in your prayers. We’ve been shattered – to varying degrees – and are struggling to cope with the immense tragedy of having to bury 5 little ones over so short a period.

Hopefully, before I fly off to Heathrow on 6th May, our new Morning Star Toyota Bus will have arrived! We’ve been patiently charting its progress over the weeks and have recently learnt that the truck chassis is now up in Johannesburg and in the process of being transformed into a bus! That we’ve coped – somehow – over these past 3 months is amazing! Perhaps knowing it wasn’t forever helped? Or, perhaps, hoping for a miracle and having it arrive earlier than anticipated has always been a possibility? Our transport problems continue. Just yesterday Elizabeth vd W met with our drivers/assistants once again to iron out newly identified issues and ensure that none of our vehicles is grossly overloaded whilst a free space is available somewhere else! That new bus of ours is going to be kissed so many times the day it arrives! I hope I’ll still be around for the joyous occasion!

We’re not much further in our quest for additional premises in Thabong Township, I’m afraid. Our local government is bankrupt, the former mayor has been ousted, the new mayor is taking his time appointing his councillors and nobody at the municipal offices ever answers the telephones! Perhaps God is closing the door to Thabong and we need to start negotiating further a field (e.g. in Virginia, Hennenman, Ventersburg – where there are no services at all) instead? In the meantime, though, the 2 additional rooms we’re building at our Kutlwanong Morning Star Centre are nearing completion and it won’t be long before Tshidi Mohapi, our Grade R teacher there, will be able to move in and have her own space at last! Building materials are so very expensive these days. It’s cost us almost as much to build these 2 rooms as we paid for the entire new hall in Kutlwanong just over 2 years ago!

Coming up soon, my UK trip. It’s a very busy schedule with little free time in-between. Thankfully, I’ll have Glenys Barham from Woodgreen Evangelical Church, Worcester, driving me around this year, making sure we’re not late for meetings or criss-crossing your beautiful country unnecessarily. Thanks to all of you who have opened your hearts and homes to us once again. I’m so looking forward to seeing old friends and to meeting new folk at our several new venues.

What I’m bringing over with me this year, in addition to the power point presentation of 2009, is a new DVD of our Morning Star activities entitled “Now and Then”. Having just had our 10th birthday we thought it appropriate to record where we started in January 2000 and compare it with where we are today, 2010. It’s absolutely incredible what the Lord has done here and we give Him all the glory! To have used simple, ordinary people like us to be His hands and voice to hundreds of unfortunate, suffering little children in our care over the past 10 years is humbling indeed. I stand amazed at all He’s wrought in our midst!

We will have Glenys’ laptop accompanying us on our travels but will still need you to organize the electronic equipment required for your particular venue. I am bringing over some Tshedisanang (sewing project) merchandise but, because I’m travelling alone, it will be far less than in previous years. Glenys will be ‘in charge’ of sales and we are trusting that there’ll be lots of orders and that we’ll still have a sample of everything right up to our final presentation.

My e-mail address whilst away: joan.elizabeth.adams@gmail.com
My mobile number whilst in the UK is: 078 566 822 08

I’m sorry it’s different every year. Somehow, I never remember to utilize it within 6 months of each trip – to prevent it from expiring – and, thus, have to acquire a new starter pack with each successive visit. If you have any queries relating to our itinerary and meetings, please don’t hesitate to contact me or Glenys Barham. If not, pray for us and God willing, we’ll be with you very soon.

Love in Him
Joan

PRAYER REQUESTS:


N.B. PLEASE REMEMBER ‘CHRISTMAS IN JULY” 2010
Even though we’re still receiving the odd parcel posted over 6 months ago, the majority of last year’s Christmas gifts did reach us in good time.

 

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