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HELLO FROM THE HORNES:
March 31, 2006
GREETINGS FROM SOUTH AFRICA: The month of March traditionally comes in
like a lion and leaves like a lamb. We Hornes, however, are more characterized
by the lion than the lamb. This month we have pounced from one project to
another, with the lion's share having to do with Three Weddings and a
Funeral. First, there was the death of Al's older brother, John. Since Al
was asked to perform his brother's funeral service, it meant a 1000-mile-journey
by air to Cape Town. Now there are just two brothers left -- Al, of course, and
a younger brother, Alick, who lives 6 hours away by car in Durban at the coast.
As for the three weddings, they all took place within a few days of each. The
last one took place 4 hours away in the majestic Drakensberg Mountains where we
stayed at the Cathedral Peak Hotel. Fortunately, the bridegroom showed his
gratitude to Al's performing his marriage by picking up the hotel tab those two
nights. The wedding was held in the small chapel on the hotel grounds and it was
also the place where Al conducted our worship service the following morning.
With four Benoni church families attending the wedding, our little congregation
that met that Sunday morning was quite sizeable. (Probably the most unusual
aspect of the wedding itself was an uninvited guest, a huge daddy baboon, who
followed one of the young teens into the bungalow next to ours. When he started
jumping up and down on the bed, she started crying and locked herself in the
bathroom. Fortunately, her father soon missed her and as it turned out, came to
her rescue. "No more monkeying around", she tearfully agreed).
COMING AND GOING: Visitors from Kerrville, Texas, are few and far
between but this month, Brother Ken Willis spent a week with us. He'd been doing
mission work the previous month in Ghana, West Africa, and was returning home
via Benoni. Ken is a very accomplished and talented music man and it was
with joy that our Bible College and congregation learned some beautiful new
hymns from him. Also arriving this month was Ann and Jerry Hogg from Tennessee
who spend 6-9 months every year working with us at Southern Africa Bible
College.
On the departure side of things, we lost another two Benoni church families this
month who emigrated -- the Rob Wilsons to Australia and Jean and Lawrie van
Druten to the States. We have had so many Benoni church families emigrate
overseas the past few years, by the way, that the church where the Wilsons will
be worshiping in Perth already has three families from our congregation.
Emigration over the past few years has really taken a serious leadership toll in
the South African congregations.
CRIME MARCHES ON: Tish and Charles Markotter, one of our church
families, and their two children were asleep last Saturday evening when Charles
was awoken by two whispering figures entering the master bedroom. Charles
immediately went into attack mode and chased the two intruders back through the
house and out the back door. The two jumped over the wall into the neighbor's
yard and melted away into the early dawn. This type of thing happens frequently
in this country and we can only be thankful to God that the Markotter's story
didn't have a tragic ending. Reading about crime victims in the newspaper is one
thing but when it happens to our church friends and family, one gets the
shivers!
Someone else at church, Zelma Botes, lives in a fairly isolated area in an old
mining captain's house. The property is rather large and has, or rather, had
a separate little brick house at the edge of the yard. We have had almost daily
rains in South Africa since January and as a result, the grass at Zelma's grew
higher and higher, finally obscuring that little building. One day Zelma hired
someone to cut the grass and lo and behold, the building was gone! It had been
dismantled brick by brick and carried away until just the foundation was left.
"The Case of the Disappearing Building" has never been solved, of course.
Typical, typical!
BLACKOUTS IN DARKEST AFRICA: Talk about a state of emergency! The
tip of this country is scrambling to head off a massive electricity crisis
before winter arrives in a couple of months' time. The Mother City of Cape Town
faces the possibility of months of blackouts because the Koeberg nuclear power
plant there needs to be refuelled.
The trouble started when a loose bolt mysteriously found its way into a key
piece of equipment in the unit's generator, the rotor, so that the authorities
had to shut down the plant. They put into operation an old nuclear plant but it
will play out after a month or two -- and to build a brand new nuclear power
plant will take a full ten years to get it operational!
Meanwhile, in order to share out the power to all of Cape Town, suburbs have had
to take turns receiving electricity. Though it is so far away from Benoni, this
has affected us personally in that Robert Bothma, long-time song-leader at
Benoni church and present resident of Cape Town, was refused his cancer
treatment a few days ago. He went as usual to the clinic to get radiation
treatment only to be told there was a power outage. Greatly distressed, he and
his wife returned home. You must admit that the clinic's black-out had far more
serious consequences than the fact that power outage will cripple and
inconvenience the normal workings of a big city like Cape Town.
For example, the traffic lights fail, information technology shuts down, shops
and stores have to close their doors, some police stations have to take
depositions by candlelight, and of course, keeping warm in an impending winter's
chill will be impossible! Oh, for centrally heated homes in South Africa and
adequate electricity to make that dream a reality.
SAVE THE CHILDREN! Sub-Saharan Africa has about 10 per cent of the
world's population but sixty per cent of the people living with HIV/AIDS. Last
year alone, more than 3 million Africans were infected with HIV representing 64%
of all new infections around the globe and more than in any previous year in
this country. The saddest part is that 9 million children in Africa have
lost a mother to AIDS and many of them have lost both parents!
By 2010, it is predicted that at the current rate of HIV infection, this number
is likely to increase to 18 million. This is because there is a lack of
testing facilities and this means that, especially in the poorest countries,
AIDS victims did not know their HIV status until they were too ill even for
anti-retrovirals. The typical scenario shows children missing school to care for
their desperately-ill mothers and having to work to support their families if
they can find employment.
We must help all these orphaned children!
One of the best ways is to support and empower us and to send even a greater
number of missionaries to change the hearts of people so they will avoid the
sinful situations resulting in their becoming AIDS infected. Yes, help us save
the children!
IN CLOSING: We are so thankful that God has blessed us with four
God-fearing children who faithfully worship and serve Him with their families.
Our daughter, Lynda, with her husband, John Staiger, and their three children,
have just completed ten years of working with the Morningside Church of Christ
in central Auckland, New Zealand. Of course, John was born in New Zealand, but
Lynda has been there a whole decade by now. The congregation surprised them with
a beautiful cake to mark the occasion plus a special card, enclosing the cost of
two nights' holiday away from home.
Meanwhile, here on the Benoni home front, the new library
complex is rapidly taking shape. It's thrilling to visit the campus and see
the fantastic daily progress. Neatly laid face-bricks have appeared between
concrete columns and the upper floor concrete will be poured early in April.
Door frames are in place and window structures are ready for installation.
Earlier the excessive and unusual rainfalls impeded the project, but now the
structure grows moment by moment as you observe the construction team. We praise
God and thank you for providing this essential facility for the Bible College.
Perhaps you can help us to furnish the new library. Send donations to SABC
LIBRARY, Memorial Church of Christ, 900 Echo
Lane, Houston, TX, 77024. Thank you!
YOURS FOR REACHING OUT TO ALL OF AFRICA,
AL AND DONNA HORNE, YOUR MISSIONARIES.
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