Author: elmi de beer

I have so much to say; I hope I find the words to get it all out on paper. My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the King; my tongue is the pen of a skilful writer.
Psalms 45:1 NIV

The kids and I like to explore coffee shops in every town we visit. Recently I came across a jewel, a coffee shop where I felt God closer than I’ve ever had in any church. It made me think. We are all called by God not only to be light-bearers but to be workers for His Kingdom where He plants us. I felt recharged, refuelled and filled with possibilities. What if we could bring Jesus not only to people but into a place, like a stamp, especially where hardened hearts need grace.

My heart has been to leave a physical footprint to honour God for a while. A place of rest for weary pilgrims. When we arrived in Swellendam, it went quiet, but the spiritual world was in an uproar like I’d never experienced before. God spoke to me clearly and assigned me to revamp an old shed into a prayer room. Desolation is exchanged for hope! To redeem the ground for God, a physical manifestation for spiritual transformation! My heart was pounding in my chest as I prayed on my way to ask permission. God gave favour. Tian could not phantom why I wanted to take on such an endeavour, but I knew what God said! I saw the vision of the finished shed. So I started counting the cost and doing research.

I laughed a little to myself. When we were in Lambert’s Bay, ex-missionaries we met told us about their work as missionaries. Uncle Wiets told us he had to build with little building knowledge, but God equipped him after seeking His guidance in prayer. I thought to myself: “Oh God, please don’t call us to build!” God humbled me. If God chooses to use us any way He pleases, who am I to stand in His way! Now I was in over my head because I am not paint-fit, nor do I have the know-how.

The very first challenge was gnats infestation! Nasty little buggers those are! I could identify with the Egyptians during the plague a little; this plague was minor in comparison, of course. God led me to pray over the building and command the gnats to go for three consecutive days. Then I fumed the stubborn ones, which angered them. It was a running game, trying to keep my mouth shut as not to swallow any. Then, this scripture came to mind: He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in His eyes, if you pay attention to His commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
Exodus 15:26 NIV

Then came the cleaning out and preparation by the washing of the walls. The shed was baptised! We tackled the outside – scraping the old paint off the walls. Challenge two: There was water damage. Scraping was not a pleasant task, and the kids gave up very quickly. God spoke to me about enduring hardships. What kept me going was that Jesus did not do His ministry half-hearted. No place for lukewarm; it’s all in! That night my body ached, and my hands were raw and cramping. We took a break and rested while researching damp proofing.

God also spoke to me about keeping our campsite and surrounding neat and tidy. He has called us to be an example and stewards of His creation. The campgrounds are in pretty much the same condition as the shed. I swept the road in front of our caravan as a prophetic act (more than once). Like I was sweeping into existing the things as if they are, although not yet seen. It was rewarding to see fruits when finally the workers came to cut the grass, and in town, a cleaner was sweeping the roads of rocks.

Finally, we started painting the undercoat. Great muscle power was required to spread the paint and get into uneven surfaces. Up and down the ladder, I was crouching to get to every angle while clutching to that roller handle, cramping, aching, exhaustion. Challenge three: It seemed like we might be short of paint! There is work to be done. God asks us to labour for His Kingdom in obedience, no matter how it looks like to us in our small capacity to grasp His masterpiece. I honestly had to keep my attitude in check. Negativity wanting to creep in. I wanted to give up; why am I doing this again? One morning, clocking in for painting, I found someone had a good time drinking and smoking in the shed. God reprimanded my thinking. “Do you think you are better? Did I not come for the ungodly and unsaved? What is it to you how I use this shed to reach people, focus on the work I gave you!”

Again, humbly I set myself on God’s course. To lift the spirit to joy, we started decorating. Oh, how great it felt to be doing something other than roller painting. Creativity flows from our brains through our hands. Nanke drew shapes while I painted them. Maybe Nanke enjoyed it a little too much, going big, to my frustration, because the babies were getting unmanageable. I just wanted to finish off for the day. Accidentally, without realising, we created a snake. We had to call Tian in to try and save it, but he said to make an opportunity out of our embarrassment. I prayed about it that night and woke early morning with: “Kill the snake with love!”

We took nature walks to clear our minds at the end of almost every long day. God often shows us His spiritual principles through the physical. Just as we exercise our physical muscles, we must exercise our spiritual muscles and vice versa. I can see how even God’s blessings rarely fall into anyone’s lap; it asks something of us, then God moves. Challenge four occurred when I fell during a walk and severely sprained my ankle. In nursing, they say to rest the foot, but I loudly, above the pain, heard God saying: “Get up! Walk it out!”

Slowly over the next few days, we painted the chalkboard paint, the waterproof paint, the roof and floor until finally finishing off with the white topcoat. At this point, I had it with painting; I had enough! Jusia got hold of a white paintbrush at this particular breaking point and passionately made white brush strokes on the black chalkboard wall. I will refrain from words right now, except I was very close to tears.

The final touch was God giving me the idea of doing the gospel on one wall. The end product delighted me, as I’m sure God smiled down on us. Our prayer is that everyone who comes into the shed will encounter God. Thank you, Abba, for pouring into my character during this project. Also, thank you to our patrons for making this project possible and helping to birth the shed.

I want to try and give you an overview of the past few months since our travel started. God has been working in and through us for the past six months. I sincerely hope that you are seeking, growing, and trusting God to work in and through you also.

Starting our journey during school holidays brought some undesired financial implications, which I tried to avoid, but Tian was pressing. In his defense, he waited two years already. First, we planned to go to the Western Cape, but the doors closed last minute, leaving us nowhere to go. Then, two days before departure, Tian had a dream about a road and had a supernatural knowing where to go, after which Jesus would take the wheel. So off we went with no idea what to expect.

The first stop was Badplaas. We never really camped before, so this was just a pit stop to figure things out. Planning and budgeting for peak seasons became a requirement. Secondly: While washing cloth nappies by hand, the need for a washing machine became obviously apparent. We had our first divine encounter (as Tian mentioned in an earlier post). When brethren in Christ meet up, I can best explain it like edifying and imparting in each other by leaving your colour handprint on each other. In the end, we will all have speckles of rainbow colours in our spirit.

Traveling with kids is challenging. Traveling with your home is slow, and uphills are a matter of prayer, God pushing us up. In faith, we left Badplaas, letting Holy Spirit lead us. I made the kids part of trusting God, to know that we’ve arrived at our destination. Nanke gave the colour purple and Ruhan the number 3. At 3 o’clock, we arrived in Hazyview, our stand showered with purple leaves. It was beautiful how God showed Himself faithful by sending people. God taught us the importance of building relationships and also to keep on loving onto those who reject the Gospel.

At ATKV Eiland we met up with my parents. The kids were thrilled. Even in that, God had a plan. I had extra time at hand to write, read and spend time with God. Looking back, it was storing up for the dry season to come. God taught me more about spiritual warfare and the discernment of spirits. He was busy aligning Tian and I, so that we would function better as a team.

Then we had a quick touch base in Joburg. We stayed in our caravan on friends’ property. It was a humbling experience in the sense that: At times, we will need to depend on others to aid us, similar to the mutual giving and receiving of disciples in the book of Acts. While the President closed the borders of Gauteng, we had to leave for Springbok to meet up with other missionaries. It was a dilemma that we prayed into, and God opened the way.

I was really anxious to go to Springbok because of a dream God had given me to prepare. The battle was tough and came in ways and shapes I never expected. We were tested, tried, bent, and purified in many areas, but one particular focus was endurance. In short – the circumstances will not change, but our attitude must burst with peace and joy in it! Yes, God does the work, but it requires a step of boldness every time. We felt so blessed having been invited for supper by Hardus, Cornelia, and their family. Sitting next to the fireplace was a very welcome change of scenery from camping in the winter elements.

In Lambert’s Bay, we mainly focused our efforts on spiritual warfare. Connecting a local house church, it quickly started feeling like home. Some local street kids frequently visited us, creeping into our hearts almost instantaneously. For a while, we felt like we had six children. Growing closer revealed the heartbreaking circumstances in which these children grew up. Something we’ve heard of but never experienced firsthand. The enemy retaliated, catching us off-guard, coming after our family’s health, knocking me down for three weeks. Tian, fortunately, recovered in three days but barely managed to keep the household afloat, taking care of kids and feeding everyone while still working. The enemy preyed on my biggest fear: “I cannot afford to get sick with four kids!” Knock after knock until we came to the end of ourselves, but God carried us through. Leaving was sad. Unsure if we completed our work there, we felt burdened to leave our new “family” behind. Thank you so much, Bertina and Francois, for having us at fellowship, allowing us to share our hearts with you guys at Mad Hatter’s coffee shop. Wiets and Ina for serving by helping with shopping and lunches. Graeme for assisting with meds and monitoring vitals. And everyone else that touched our hearts deeply.

Following the Holy Spirit with no idea where we were heading had such an incredible impact on us that we wanted to experience it again so badly that Tian lost sight of God’s guidance for a while. One cannot force God’s hand. We left and ended up traveling for almost 10 hours because we could not find accommodation anywhere. Everything was full. Friends of ours who live about an hour’s drive away were so kind to accommodate us last minute.

From there, we stayed at Ou Skip for a week to recoup and get our bearings straight hearing from God.

Langebaan it was. God really dealt with us about rest. God wrestled with us about our character and attitudes during this rest time. I was so blessed by these words: “I’ve learned to sleep in the storm!” We’ve decided to make some changes in our lifestyle, wanting to be better stewards of what God entrusted to us. On the homeschooling front, we finally managed to get a better routine that works around the babies. God humbled me here too, and I had to lay down the perfectionistic me and lower my expectations. Ministering looked different here. We got involved in packing and handing out food parcels for the elderly. In the quiet, God is touching hearts. I enjoy how God ordains our spot and neighbors every time, neighbors in the true sense thereof, caring and looking out for each other. I had an emotional patch where I just missed home and family. Working through my emotions, I had to mourn home and the comforts thereof. Still, I would not rewind anything or change where we are. The world is hungry for Jesus, and they don’t even know it. My world has become bigger than just me, family, and friends. The commission to Gospel might be a lonely road, but nothing can compare to it!

The first week after we left the property we no longer call our home, God showed me: Here in the open, you might feel vulnerable, but you are also more open to hearing the true condition of your surroundings, needs, and hurts.

As the 6 of us nestled into our caravan like peas in a pod covered by God. God showed me that our ministry is also like peas in a pod. In addition to the Gospel, to be God’s love to the world encompasses bringing healing, teaching, exhortation, service, and praises.

We left our first destination with no idea where to next. Tian said that Jesus will take the wheel. I just prayed. The kids were part of trusting God for our destination. Nanke gave a colour and Ruhan a number by which we will know that we are where God wants us. At precisely 3 pm, we arrived at our new ‘home’ showered with purple leaves. The number and colour the kids were given. Traveling with/for God is super exhilarating and frightening at the same time. God works in mysterious ways, and I stand in awe of His mighty work.

In obedience, we are tools in God’s hands, and we were extremely blessed during our stay @ Hotel Numbi. How lovely to have made some new acquaintances and friends. Our campsite was next to an airstrip. I tried daily to meet up with Wally and Daveen, running their own flying business (at the blessed age of 70+). The kids went flying as a reward for washing the dishes the whole month. I would really recommend anyone visiting the area to pay them a visit for a microlight flight over Hazyview.

To Goodman and Timothy. Continue the good work that God called you for and spreading the truth of Jesus Christ. The work that God has started in you He will finish. Amen (Philippians 1:6).

We are grateful for the fellowship with Mike and Pauline, sharing their wisdom with us about missions. We are looking forward to seeing you on the road shortly.

Oom Eugene and Tannie Engela, for your practical camping advice, late-night coffees, and investing time with Nanke and Ruhan.

During our stay, we were privileged to meet an Israeli tourist. We got the opportunity to share the Gospel with him, but he declined the new testament Bible Tian offered him though. Moshe, we pray that you have a divine encounter with Jesus.

So we are off to our next destination. You can read all about our new adventures in a few weeks…