Country Fair Bethal South Africa

(posted by Dr Neels du Preez)

It was a chilly Friday when the much anticipated Christian Country Fair weekend dawned. The fair was hosted on the grounds of one of the 2 Primary Schools in our town. 

 It was an initiative of the local Afrikaanse Protestante Church 
Congregation to have a weekend country fair where the local 
agricultural machinery agencies, schools, social 

societies and churches come together to advertise, exhibit their wares, advertise their activities and provide an outdoor stage for Gospel singers to perform. 

 The pictures say a thousand words. 

Our congregation was invited to put up a stall to sell “Vetkoek”. 

This is a typical South African delicacy. It consists of dough cooked in oil which is divided in half and filled with whatever you fancy. It can be mince meat, honey, jam, chicken etc. On this occasion we filled them with mince meat which was either curried, mixed with cooked vegetables or plain mince. 

There was a playground as well pony rides. 

 Although our concept of church unity and evangelism differs we decided to use the opportunity to make ourselves more visible in the Bethal community. It afforded the opportunity to add a drop to our congregation coffers. It also presented an occasion to our congregation members to be involved with an activity in the Bethal community. 

Church life in Bethal, Winter 2011

Some of our members have taken a break from the winter cold of Bethal and have had a nice time of rest elsewhere during the school holidays.

With the beginning of the new school term the cathechesis classes started again. There are one baptised member in the confession class.

For some of our members, with this winter, came enormous difficulties. The bussiness of elder Wimpie van der Westhuizen has to be closed. He has to go and work in Pietersburg(Polokwane) in the Limpopo Province to provide for his family. In the meanwhile the family will stay in Bethal. Although he will try to be at home in Bethal every alternative weekend, the situation will have an influence on their family life as well as on his work in the congregation.

Because of restructuring, sister Annemarie du Plessis was retrenched by her employer. And on Friday 22 July, sister Riaana du Plessis, wife of elder Cloete du Plessis and mother of Annemarie, passed away after a sudden illness. 

The funeral was held on Saturday, July 30^th. What a loss for her husband and children, and for the congregation. But the Lord’s way is good. His council is good. We know our sister is with our Lord. The congregation embrace brother Cloete and his family with support and affection. The Lord also provided for Sister Annemarie. She has found work again.

With the severe winter comes influenza and other illnessess. Because of the climate and its effect on the members, the Bible Study Course on Wednesday evenings is not as well attended as one would expect.

Three of our brothers still work shifts – that have the effect that they are absent from half of the worship services. They are not able to change this arrangement. There is no possibility to change from employer.

Many difficulties? Yes. But we rejoice in the Lord our God. We are glad for Him. We find that He guides His flock through this difficult times with His wonderful Gospel. We may come together for two worship services every Sunday.

Bert Veenendal's visit to Bethal

(Text by Br Neels Du Preez)

What a pleasant visit we enjoyed from Bert Veenendal. He arrived on our farm on the Friday evening.

 It was bitterly cold. We had a hot supper and he proved an entertaining guest. We initially thought he was born in the Netherlands, but it became apparent he was born in Canada. As a young man he went on a working holiday to Australia and never returned to Canada. We were impressed to learn that our guest was actually a Professor! He told us about his department at university, life in Australia, the church, and his involvement with the church and it`s affairs.  The next morning the water was frozen in the farm pipes. Early morning washing was out. Fortunately he took it all in his stride.

Saturday morning was spent discussing the needs of the Bethal congregation with our minister and myself. We appreciated the fact that the Australian churches has questions regarding how their support is and whether the members of church in Bethal put in an effort to support their minister and the true preaching of the Word in their congregation. Saturday afternoon and supper in the evening Bert spent with our minister and his family.

Sunday morning He attended our morning service. Following the service Bert presented our congregation with a power point presentation of the churches in Australia. 

We were impressed. We have to be wary not to be envious of the beautiful church life in Australia, of the schools the church is blessed with, of the wonderful growth of the church in West Australia, of the the stimulating outreaches to other countries and islands and of the stability the church enjoys there. The church in Australia is truly blessed. We pray the Lord continues His blessing and we are so thankful that our small congregation is considered by the church in Australia. We in turn are truly blessed.

The womenfolk of our congregation prepared several traditional South African soups for Sunday lunch. Bert savoured each of them.

Bert attended the Consistory meeting after the evening service. He taught us that tithing, amongst other acts of thanksgiving, is a measure of the faithfulness of the members. He stressed that Spiritual growth is more important than growth in numbers. If the churches in Australia are satisfied that the preaching is true, there is spiritual growth, obedience and faithful commitment of the Bethal congregation to the Lord, the members in Australia will continue their support with all their heart.  We do realise that they have to distribute the blessings they receive from the Lord responsibly. He encouraged us to put all our effort into maintaining the true Gospel here in our town. Not to live our lives for ourselves and grant the Lord the little time and effort what we have left, but rather to apply our lives faithfully and totally in the service of the Lord.

Bert Veenendal was a phantom e-mail correspondent before he arrived. He left as a friend a brother in Christ.

Women's Conference 21 May 2011

At last! It was 21 May 2011! Everybody was very excited.

 At 9h00 the registration started

        

Shirley and Marizelle doing the registration

Women arrived from Bethal, Pretoria, Pretoria Maranatha, Acasia and Johannesburg. In the end 79 women attended the Conference

        

Marietjie Breytenbach welcomed everybody

          

Dr Hannes Breytenbach handling the theme from Romans 12:1,2

        

Powerpoint presentation about the theme "Wêreldgelykvormig?" (The God focused women in a selfcentred world).

        

The ladies managing the sweets, juice, coffe, tea, milk and sugar as well as the sandwiches and the muffins.

Annemie and Leentjie Breytenbach and Leonora Venter

Wynand Deysel of Marietjie Skool told us about the school for 247 handicapped children in Secunda.

      

Ladies in the conference concentrating on Wynand's presentation about the school. Afterwards ZAR 3000.00 was collected for the Marietjie School.

After the day was closed everybody could help themselves on a meal of traditional Bobotie, as well as buns, vegetables and salad. Chocolate pudding and custard were served for dessert. A delicious meal!

Preparations for the Women's Conference on 21 May

In October 2010 the women of Bethal were asked to host the annual Women's Conference on 21 May 2011. With great enthusiasm they decided to do as was asked. A lot of work was done and every woman in the congregation did her part to make the Conference of 2011 very special. On Friday the 20th everybody had to be at the church at 14h00 to help with the final preparations.

 

Shirley du Preez

Mariaan van der Westhuizen

 Mariaan Nienaber and Shirley du Preez

 Poppie Troskie did the flowers for the Conference

 Annemarie du Plessis and Mariaan van der Westhuizen with the buns

 Mariaan van der Westhuizen and Mariaan Nienaber cleaning all the crockery for the day

 Inside the envelope was the day program, a pencil, a name sticker and sweets - the "file" for the day.

On the envelope was also the name of the group for the day and we named the groups after Women from the Bible like Sarah, Debora and Hannah.

 Auntie Riaana with the dried Agapantus's that she painted white  

 Poppie and Monja Troskie with Riana Venter busy with the flowers

 Marietjie Postma helping with the flowers

At the end of Friday afternoon everybody deserved a cup of coffee.