To endure is greater than to dare! 

CYB GREETS YOU ALL IN THE WONDERFULL NAME OF JESUS CHRIST.

The words on the front page reflect the work in 2005 on this farm. It was a challenging year. We start to realize that God is not only in control, He is also opening new venues that we never considered.

Listen to this: When we became aware of the crisis in the schools through the media, we knew God has provided an answer: Jesus Christ. So wherever we were already working in the 23 schools in Mpumalanga , learners, teachers were so thankful for any spiritual input, a prayer, a word of encouragement etc. Cross Roads starts to have a deeper impact and spreads quite fast.  

Izak and the team in Zambia

From 22 June until 11 July the team of 9 traveled ± 6500 km. They met with pastor Jack and his church in Lusaka , from where they moved to Mwinilunga to reach out and plant a church. They also managed to do a follow-up visit in Kabompo. The Kabompo church planted the Mundanja church. The Mundanja church planted 5 other churches. The pastor has a vision to equip Angolese refugees to reach out to their own people. Our team was challenged to come and do the training.

Cross Roads in Msukaligwa

 Praise the Lord, we could continue doing Cross Roads in the Lothair and Warburton area – 14 schools! We couldn’t do Breyton (4 schools) because of a lack of manpower. This will change God-willing in 2006 – see “In the pipeline”.

When Daniel Hugo joined our team in May, he had a great impact. He fitted like a glove. All glory to God. With his guitar and his kindness, he won the hearts of the children. Daniel’s decision to stay on next year (for some time) opens new venues like Belfast (3 schools want to get involved), Witbank (5 schools), etc.

Our relationship with the Department of Education (Gert Sibande Region) grew stronger. Although we are still waiting for a written approval, we know that we have won the headmasters’ hearts; especially these days when discipline becomes such a big issue. We still need R25,000 to provide the activity books for all our children.

Evangelism and discipleship

took off like never before. Every Friday between 7:30 and 11:00 two legs of discipleship take place. Watch:         

                                        Izak                                         Ingrid

Israel Jacque Samson    Zelda Marthie Soekie Jeanna Lehani

Out of this connection evangelism takes place in Emthongeni and Waterval Boven.

Mozambique – an outreach with a difference

While organizing this outreach, I was discouraged because I had no extra time to go and look for young people to join us. It seemed that we at CYB would go alone. I cried before the Lord until He told me to release the Mozambique outreach completely. I had no choice – there was no time left to do anything on my own, and guess what? God took over and brought in 15 people from the outside. He handpicked them and together with 15 CYBers and 1 child, He put together a perfect team of 31. By “perfect” I mean no strife, no selfishness, no gossiping! Unbelievable – we just had a natural love for one another. 5 strong leaders took each 5 other people: Israel , Jeanna, Samson, Lehani and Paul. Each and every one was placed in the right group, which resulted in an exiting team spirit, which lasted until the end of the project. No wonder God blessed us to the full – see statistics.

A Boiler Room in Imemeza

Jacque struggled with a lot of questions during this year. When he broke through, God blessed him: He gave him the desire of his heart – the boiler room, and a youth center.  

God added when Zelda could bring together ± 20 mothers who want to pray for Imemeza.

Children of Imemeza High School being taught through some fun games 

Marthie Erasmus arrived and had an immediate effect on the team. She put the Trainers Training beautifully together and motivated all the students to present 1 lesson. Now she is managing the office and the office was never in such a good shape. Well done Marthie!

Watch this spot!

Wild bush, uneven area, no order right behind the park home – Marthie’s house.

 Suzette writes out of Nelspruit

Although we were very quiet in 2005, we experienced God’s goodness through a time of difficulty. We had to move to Nelspruit for Stephan’s sake. He had to be placed back in an Afrikaans school to receive occupational and speech therapy. After 8 months of adoption, Stephan starts to find his feet. Praise the Lord.

Fanus finished the main part of the building project on the farm. When we find the outstanding R30,000 he will complete the campsite. Please pray for this.

I am still doing the financial statements for CYB. Marthie has taken over a lot of the bookkeeping. We work very well together. To all of you: Thanks a lot for being faithful in keeping us in the field. We appreciate you!

 IT IS THE CONSTANT AND DETERMINED EFFORT THAT BREAKS DOWN ALL RESISTANCE AND SWEEPS AWAY ALL OBSTACLES.  

Bruce (Tshifiwa) wrote from Germany

We had opportunities to minister in four different schools once a week to teach the Cross Roads curriculum. However, we had to adapt most of the curriculum in order for it to fit the German school set-up. The response that we got from the teachers and the students was encouraging because the curriculum was speaking and addressing the needs of the students and the strategy of team teaching was an “aha” experience for most of the teachers. Right now I have discipleship with some young people from the community in which I stay every Friday evening. Every second week we have a youth church in the factory that my host owns.

We visited more than 30 schools as day guests. Since September about 1200 young people received Christ. To do mission work here in Europe is not easy, generally speaking people are living in the state which they call post Christianity and they see Christianity as a primitive and out dated religion. But God has been gracious and convicted people again and again in our evangelical programmes and reminded them by His Spirit that He is not dead or out dated but that He is alive and active. Hallelujah.

Statistics for 2005

Zambia : 3825 (attending), 860 (decisions)

Mozambique : 2016 (attending), 1517 (decisions)

South Africa :

Jesus Film Showings:

1582 (attending), 552 (decisions)

One-on-one:

42 (shared with), 36 (decisions)

Cross Roads was taught in 23 schools to approximately 2500 children.

In the pipeline for 2006

• A closer walk with the Department of Education in 4 provinces: Mpumalanga , Kwa-Zulu Natal, Cape Province and the Free State .
• Financial support can come from big companies when they realize that we work with the children of their workers.
• Cross Roads in the whole of Belfast because 3 big schools and the children’s home want to get involved. Together we can fight any social issues through character building.
• Through a faithful man Ignatuis Mahlangu Cross Roads is in Witbank. He has got the permission to work in 5 schools in Witbank.
• A large Cross Roads conference from 26-29 January in Johannesburg . Organizations like OM , Zoe, Potchefstroom University , 8 schools from Polekwane and many others are attending.
• Two couples from Botswana are joining us next year. What a faith challenge!

Time to pray

Please praise the Lord for everything that seemed to be impossible in 2005. He made it possible. Please pray for our “pipeline”. This is going to determine our direction in 2006.

Dear friends + partners

WE APPRECIATE YOU!