Today, being Father’s Day, was observed in a special way at the Evangelical Bible Church.  During testimony time, a young father stood up and said that he was a ‘loose cannon’ and an ’empty tin’ (made a lot of noise, but not much inside) when he first came to the church, but now he was an ‘overflowing tin’ because of the teaching at the church.  You could tell that many were moved by his candid confession and desire to serve the Lord.

 

Another older man and his wife were there this morning that we had not seen in 24 years.  They immediately greeted us by name.  Although we recognized them, we had to ask to find out their names.  The last testimony was given by this same elderly man, but it was not what you normally hear.  He pulled out his harmonica and began to play an old hymn.  Shortly, you could hear the older members begin to sign softly as he played.  The tune seemed familiar, but we could not recall the words.  You could tell that the congregation was touched by his simple tune.  We did remember that he used to frequently play his harmonica during the time we lived in Swaziland.  It was then a special treat to hear him play his harmonica while accompanied by one of his peers on a guitar.

Just before the sermon, the four young people paid tribute to their fathers.  The first three were teenagers, but the fourth was a younger boy who said, “I love my father, because he reads the Bible to me.”  What a simple, touching tribute to his father!  When he finished you could feel the emotion among the congregation, and they then applauded — a response which is uncommon in this conservative church.

Pastor Deon spoke on God’s Model for Men and his text was from Philippians 2:19-30.  The five points were that godly men should be compassionate, consistent, cooperative, committed and courageous.

At the end of the sermon all the fathers were called to the front to sing a hymn, titled “I am a man..”  [see lyrics below].  Although I do not recall ever singing it before, it was in the hymn book and had the same tune as “Be still, mysoul” (Finlandia).  Each father then received a ‘torch’ (flashlight) as a reminder that we are to be a light to our families and to others.

The service this morning was well attended.  The number on the attendance board was 110.

After church we were invited to Ruth’s house for dinner.  Her son, Calvin, and his wife were there.  As usual, Ruth put out a big spread — samoosas, boerewors, and curry and rice along with salad and dessert.  For many years, Calvin had been involved in accounting and IT for companies in Swaziland, but quite recently has taken over management of the family’s farm.  He admits that it has been quite a change for him.  After dinner, Calvin’s son and his girlfriend dropped by.

We didn’t get back home until 4pm.  We both took short naps then checked our email.  I started to work on our blog, but the internet completely shut down.  I decided to type this text and save it in the computer while the events of today are clear in my mind.  Hopefully, we can post it tomorrow.

I also tried to make some phone calls using Skype this evening, but with no success.  The internet connection has to be really bad to keep Skype from working!

I Am A Man

I am a man created in God’s image
Of Adam’s race, now marred by pride and sin.
But through God’s Son, Lord Jesus Christ, my Saviour,
I am a man who’s now restored to Him!
The Mighty God who made me has redeemed me,
Now I’m His man, for Jesus reigns within.

I am a man appointed by my Saviour
To show His love in all I do and say!
His Holy Spirit is my source of power,
To live in light and point to Christ–the Way!
Lord, fill me now, and help me seize this moment,
As as Your man, I’ll serve your cause today.

I’ll be a man who walks with God in worship,
I’ll be a man who walks with men as friend.
I’ll be a man who loves and serves God’s family
I’ll be a man on whom God can depend!
Lord Jesus Christ, my King and my Commander,
I’ll be Your man until my life shall end.

written by Jack Hayford

Jabulani Africa (Rejoice Africa)

Sing for joy O Africa
The Lord your God is
Risen upon you
Sing for joy O Africa
The Lord your God is
Risen upon you now

Jabulani Jabulani Africa
Jabulani Jabulani Africa

Jesus river of life
To our thirsty land
Savior meeting our needs
From Your mighty hand

After two long, hard days of tower work, I shut off the alarm before going to bed last night and we slept in until 8am.

After breakfast, we checked our email and discovered that the internet connection was the best that we have had in a long time.  I decided to try to get our blog caught up to date.  Amazingly, the connection remained good for most of the day and updated the blog through yesterday.

In the afternoon, we took a break and checked on what could be harvested from the garden.  We still have about a dozen small bananas left from last week, so decided to leave the remaining bananas for now.  They seem to ripen slower on the ‘tree’, probably due to the cool nights.  We picked about a third as many nartjies (mandarins) as last week.  There are only about a dozen nartjies with green patches on left on the tree.  They should be ready to pick next week.  We found only one grenadilla (passion fruit) that was ready.

Virginia made some peanut butter cookies while I completed the blog entries and added photos.  We then took some of the cookies to Steve and Lorraine to take on their vacation.  We also gave some to the TWR intern, Jonathan.

 

While nearly everyone in the U.S. was sleeping, we were busy here in Swaziland topping out the FM tower on the 4,550 foot mountain top about 5 miles (8 miles by road) west of Mankayane.  The job was finished by about 11 am. Thanks for praying!

From the top of the tower it is possible to see long distances in every direction, which is what is needed for ideal FM radio coverage.  This project is being done to assist VOC (Voice of the Church) to expand their ministry.  Electricity is ‘supposed’ to be connected next week and VOC hopes to have the transmitter on the air by the end of June.

This FM network in Swaziland was initially set up by TWR in the mid-1990s and consists of five FM stations located throughout Swaziland.  The FM network has been turned over to national Christians to operate.  They raise the funds to cover their own expenses.  TWR still assists occasionally, in cases where special equipment, such as for erecting towers (called ‘masts’ here), is needed.

We arrived back in Manzini about 1pm and were given the rest of the afternoon off.  Virginia was in town helping sort through the hostessing items that are stored at the office.  She also had a couple of other appointments.  I caught a ride home to Singing Pines with Graham and his wife.  I was able to get into ‘our’ house, but realized that Virginia had the keys to all the inside

security gates.  I had access to only the kitchen, dining and living rooms, so I ate my lunch, then reclined on the couch, promptly falling asleep.  Its been a busy two days full of physical and mental exercise!

Today we dismantled a tower located at the top of a 3,000 foot peak near Kaphunga.  By 11am it was loaded onto the truck for the two hour trip to a 4,550 foot  mountain peak about 8 miles west of Mankayane.  There we were able to get all but a 10 foot section of the tower up at the new site.  We had to stop because the sun was setting.  The drive down the rocky mountain road to Mankayane and on to Manzini in the dark took a little over an hour.

Tomorrow morning we plan to complete the job.  Thanks for your prayers and please continue praying for us as the tower gets topped off tomorrow.

Tomorrow, 12 June 2013, we plan to take down a FM tower at Kaphunga and put it back up near Mankayane, here in Swaziland.  We will have to complete the work on Friday, if there is not enough time.  Unlike those of you experiencing the 15 hours of daylight in the U.S. as the solistice approaches, it is winter here and we have about 10 hours of daylight.

We would appreciate your prayers for safety and for the success of this project.

For those who are wondering why there have been few updates to our blog recently, the internet connection has been so bad that it is impossible at times to post even text to the blog.  Hopefully this one will work.  Monday night I tried for over an hour, without success, to upload one small photo.  Ended up giving up.  Tuesday night I could not even connect.