And so with that being said, what we're going to do
is we're going to have Brother Skolke come up here,
and he's going to give us a testimony of how
things went in South Africa.
And then after that, then we will go to the second song,
and then we'll have the Bible reading.
So Brother Skolke, why don't you go ahead and come on up here.
All right, morning, everybody.
So let me start here.
I wrote it down.
So thank you, obviously, Sheila Fave Baptist Church
for obviously making it possible and backing us.
And thank you all for all your prayers.
It sure was.
I could.
I don't want to say I felt it, but I knew
you guys all were praying.
And then can you guys also just turn for me to John,
chapter 6 in your Bibles.
And then I'm going to give the testimony,
but just keep your Bibles open by John, chapter 6.
We'll do the first 12 verses.
But anyway, so to give a short testimony,
the soul winning in South Africa is obviously very good.
It's a very receptive country.
I was just telling the guys earlier,
like, you're preaching the gospel,
and then there's just people going by, and you're like,
I'm missing that person.
I know that person would get saved,
but then they don't because you're only one mouth,
and this is just so many people and not enough laborers,
you know?
But where do we do the soul winning?
The soul winning was done in the Overberg region.
So it's like saying, like, the treasure valley, right?
It's made up of a bunch of towns and cities.
So we were in Brdasturb, and neighbor towns like Napier,
and Onesten, and Streisbei.
And Brdasturb was like the main place
where we did most of the soul winning,
and we did a school in Brdasturb,
and we did a school in Napier.
The people there are all bilingual.
Some of the Afrikaans folks that's like above,
let's say, 40 years old, their English is not like the best,
you'd say, but then there was a lot of other groups.
It's a very diverse area, actually,
and also versus last time when we went,
it seemed like there was more people from Zimbabwe and Malawi
also there.
So that was great.
We were reaching Zimbabweans and Malawians in the area.
So at the end, we had 328 salvations total.
The Tuesday was Brdasturb.
The Wednesday, we were in Brdasturb all day.
Wednesday night, we had the preaching, Pastor Tavener.
He preached the sermon for us.
And then Thursday, we were in Napier.
So Thursday, we went to Napier, and it was, I think,
out of all the towns that Napier was the most receptive.
And so we did the schools in the morning.
We had a good lunch, and then we went to basically just one
street.
You don't get to knock all the doors because there's
so many people walking.
So you're just like in this valley
of all these pedestrians.
And Brother Arthur from Switzerland,
he and his soloing partner was preaching the gospel
to a gangster.
We believe he was either a 26 or a 28 of the gangs over there.
And very receptive.
He's taking the gospel.
And so Brother Arthur is just trying
to get comfortable, and he's putting his bag down.
And another group joined the conversation,
and they basically pulled a screwdriver.
So they were getting ready to either take his bag
or rob him, or who knows what they would have done.
But the Lord just protected him and his soloing partner
to where the soloing partner picked up his bag.
And those two guys that was kind of looking,
because Brother Arthur is busy giving the gospel,
so these two guys are looking at him.
But nonetheless, the Lord protected him,
and he got the gangster, or ex-gangster guy,
he got him saved.
So totally, it's a real cool story, actually.
But yeah, he immediately turned around
and started heading more to where we were.
But it was great.
Brother Arthur was great.
And then Pastor Tavener, he gave the gospel
to 210 seventh graders at once.
And it's hard to, when you preach to a real big crowd,
there was a few scuffles among the kids.
But I believe the majority got saved
by the sound of who was praying, because there was clearly
kids that didn't pray, as opposed
to those that actually took in the word of God and got saved.
But anyway, so Napier was really good.
Brother Arthur was good, all this.
A few things I noticed this time versus last time
is it seemed like we already touched it,
but it seemed like we got to talk to a more diverse group.
So the other time, I think we were all just South Africans,
except for my wife.
But the last time, we did more Afrikaans and bilingual people.
But this time, we had the Zimbabweans, the Malawians,
and Xhosaas, and guys from that region.
Well, they speak different languages.
But anyway, a few things I wanted to touch on
is obviously just the importance of soul winning.
South Africa is really fruitful, but there's just so many,
so much work to be done.
So it's just hopefully to encourage other people also
to go to these places, don't be discouraged,
don't obviously be wise, don't do foolish things.
And then the future of South Africa soul winning,
I think there's a solid group there
from the area where we were.
Obviously, there's a bigger group in the Gauteng, Pretoria,
Johannesburg area, but they're doing their thing up there.
But down in Berdahlstorp, or the Overberg region,
there's over 350,000 people just in that region.
And it's probably more because there's also
a lot of people that's illegally there.
But the future, I think, it looks bright.
I think those guys need to pull up their pants
and pull up their socks, and they can have their own church
there in the future, five years, 10 years from now,
but they do need to do the work.
And that leads to a third point that I wrote down here
is Christians need to get busy.
Christians need to get busy because we only have
this short life here, and that's all the difference
we can make.
So in coming back to the boat is just filling in with fish,
and it's just the fish is just falling out
and slipping through the nets,
and that's literally how it felt.
Fourth point is don't lose momentum,
and this is a spinoff of what Pastor Taverner was preaching
on the Sunday morning, like don't lose momentum.
Like don't go and pat yourself on the back now
and like think, okay, we got 328 salvations.
One-on-one, we're talking to people.
You know, we need to reach higher goals.
We need to reach more places.
We need to do more soloing locally, abroad, wherever.
We need to, we had that knock to your drop challenge.
You know, that was pretty tough, but it was good.
We had a good six or seven salvations that day.
And just forget and shun the cares of the world.
You know, the world has its own problems.
We don't have to worry about all that stuff.
We don't have to get too involved in that,
but need to just stay focused with what is the goal?
What is the end goal for all of us, right?
And be a sellout for the gospel.
Be a sellout for preaching, doing soul winning,
being a soul winner.
Be a sellout for the gospel.
Be a sellout for the Lord Jesus Christ.
And because South Africa is very Christian,
but it's all works-based.
So it's like, what religion?
It's just all works-based.
Because they all think you can lose your salvation.
They all think they need to repent of their sins.
They all think they need to go to church and tithe
and all this crazy works-based nonsense,
in my opinion, obviously.
And obviously not what the Bible teaches at all.
And then another point that I would say
is just disciple people close to you.
People that you do win to the Lord, disciple them.
So I have a friend there that I pulled in
and gave him the gospel and taught him,
discipled him over the phone with the Bible and stuff.
And he's been doing personal soul winning by himself
for 2020, 21, 22, and obviously this year.
So almost a little over three years.
And he has nobody there that wants to go with him.
Or they talk a big talk and then they don't go with him.
But he's done a lot with personal soul winning
where he makes this goal just to speak to one or two or three
people per week.
Sometimes it's more, sometimes it's just one.
And he has made a difference, in my opinion,
because he has reached people.
But for him, obviously, also in that region
that want to reach more people, he's
going to have to put in that work.
But it just paid off.
That's what I'm saying, disciple people close to you
because it's worth it at the end.
It's long hours on the phone and it's
reading the Bible and explaining and learning
what you learned from your pastor
and whatever online preaching and re-preaching and teaching
people over the phone.
It is hard work in it with itself.
But then just lastly, I just wanted
to say this that God gave to us the ministry of reconciliation.
So on that day, I mean, on that week of that mission trip,
we reconciled over 300 people to the Lord.
And with that being said, we did have three baptisms also.
So that was great.
Anyway, so look down there in John chapter 6,
if you guys would real quick.
John chapter 6.
I just want to read this passage for you guys
because people is always like, they always
diss on the small churches, right?
But we are doing what the Lord wants us to do, right?
So John chapter 6, verse 1, look at this.
After these things, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee,
which is the Sea of Tiberias.
And a great multitude followed him
because they saw his miracles, which
it did on them that were deceased.
And Jesus went up into a mountain,
and there he sat with his disciples.
And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
When Jesus then lifted up his eyes
and saw a great company come unto him,
he saith unto Philip, when shall we
buy bread that these may eat?
And this he said to prove him, for he himself
knew what he would do.
And Philip answered, 200 penny worth of bread
is not sufficient for them, that every one of them
may take a little.
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother,
saith unto him, there is a lad here,
which have five barley loaves and two small fishes,
but what are they among so many?
And Jesus answered and said, make the men sit down.
Now there was much grass in the place,
so the men sat down in a number about 5,000.
And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks,
he distributed to the disciples and the disciples
to them that were set down, and likewise of the fishes
as much as they would.
When they were filled, he said unto his disciples,
gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
And look at that verse there in verse 9.
This is a lad here which had five barley loaves and two
small fishes.
This is not a lot, right?
This is like enough for my family, or not even enough.
But then look what he says right after.
He says, but what are they among so many?
What are we among so many?
What is shield of faith among so many?
We're a small church, but we're doing the work
that all these other churches are failing to do.
And in South Africa, too, Christian Protestant
percentage, 80% Protestant, but why is nobody
doing solvening there?
Where's all these churches?
Why aren't they doing the work?
So I just wanted to say that as an encouragement
that even though we're few, you're
in Boise at Shield of Faith Baptist Church,
we have Pastor Jones and his family, a great man
to stand behind, and all of us that
are doing the labor of solvening and reaching people,
that it's a very important work.
But don't be discouraged by numbers,
because that five loaves and two fishes fit 5,000 people.
So just think about the work that Shield of Faith
has done over this last four or five years.
And even if we don't see them in the pew,
there's differences that we've made and eternal souls
that we have saved.
So thank you very much, everybody.