Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Mahlatsini Society

Today Bethuel took me to visit a small society (congregation) that has been trying to build a church for at least 5 years. Their previous structure is very old and was in such a state of disrepair that they decided to build a new one. Bethuel isn’t sure where they are currently worshiping; probably at one of the member’s homestead. There are 3 gogo’s, 7 young, working age females (probably 20 – 30’s), 4 men in the same age category and 34 orphaned children. They want the building to worship in, but they really want the structure so that they have a place to do things such as start a feeding scheme for the orphans, start a pre-school, or maybe start other endeavors that might bring some income into the church to help care for the elderly and orphans. Our next step will be to meet with the stewards of the circuit to get more specific details including drawings, a list of materials and quotations of cost as well as discuss some ways of finishing the building in a less expensive way to reduce some of the costs up front. At a later date if they raise more funds, they can finish the church the way it was initially intended. I’m going to guess though that assuming they provide all the labor, the materials will probably come close to 90K to 100K rand which at a 8.5 to one exchange rate, which is about where is it right now, would translate into approximately $11,000. to $12,000.



This site has a good feel to it. The landscape, as always is beautiful. When I look at how much they did on their own, I am encouraged that this structure is really needed and that they would make very good use out of it other than using it just for worship on Sunday mornings. Please pray for the Lord to guide us as we consider this project and if it is His will to provide the funding from somewhere.





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