News from the Van Straatens

1 Cor 1:31 "That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."

Date of first term 23/02/04 - 28/05/04

As the College moved from the mission station of the Petauke Baptist Association, where the Frasers run the College for three years, to the neighboring Mission farm, many challenges were at our door - the most important; the College to be established on the new sight.

A New Start

The living conditions had to be established. For that purpose a group of volunteers went up from the beginning of Febr 2004 to get things in order that the College could be opened the 2nd of March. By the end of Febry, when we arrived on the New Mission Farm, Neville and Margaret Rasmussen from South Africa, Geoff Bailey from the UK and Cammy McCley from Scotland by God¹s grace and help, left a mission station ready to start the College. After the opening of the College for 2004 on 02/03 the volunteers left for RSA and Scotland. We want to thank them for their role in making it possible to continue with this great work in Zambia. Also for Drs. David and Helen Clegg, with whom we could stay in Petauke for the first week on arrival.

After the volunteers left ,we moved in into the one- room chalet ( with small kitchen and bathroom), where we lived for the first term. We lectured, till the lecture hall’s roof was completed, in the remaining chalet – in the evenings the desks were piled up to use the chalet also as sleeping quarters for the students. Soon the lecture hall was completed and we could enjoy this real African luxury, to lecture under a much cooler thatch roof and use a black board, plastered on the front wall.

Building projects

Although we could function for a beginning , there were many things to be done to bring the situation up to standard : The students needed proper accommodation, a bathroom, kitchen and toilets. Fransa came up with the idea why not extend the old rabbits building ( the roof was destroyed by fire) to form a proper building for the students - the walls were well build and it would imply some savings. So the snail-going Zambian builders started. It took 2 months and two building teams to complete the spacious house – able to house 20 students, the toilets, bathroom and African kitchen. Many days I had to slip away from lecturing for a few minutes to bring some more bricks, water or sand for the builders - my wife Fransa became a real transport agent with Venture and trailer helping in this building proses - thank you Fransa to be part of this multi-task mission. A couple of times I went on a Cement hunt, to spot some of this powder gold needed for the building projects. I found out that all this was also part of Gods plan - I picked up this young Zambian man who was to direct me to the two bags of Cement somewhere in an unknown village - the road was actually only for bicycles. Amid all the up and down and shaking and dodging, I started to ask him questions. Which church are you? Answer : Roman Catholic, I have a Bible study group. My prompting questions brought him to a conclusion - we must be sincere and do good. I answered : but what about our sin and quilt before God - He is just and must punish sin, no matter how many good deeds you are doing. Jesus died and received God's just judgment in your place - do you believe that? The conversation went on, explaining the gospel to him and as we finally returned with two of the precious bags of dust, I ask him: do you trust in Mary, answer - no. Do you trust in the priest? Answer, No. Do you trust only in Jesus? Answer, Yes. As we traveled on I heard him as speaking to himself : "I do not trust in Mary, I do not trust the priest, I trust in Jesus only". It was as if I heard the angels in heaven singing for joy.

This building project, which we never anticipated, took about 50% of my time, but, become at the end, a witness to speak of missions and theology as not just theory remote from every day realities. In fact the old missionaries were required to have in addition to there mission training, also a practical skill, like; medical knowledge, agriculture, carpentry etc. We must mention that some dear friends and supporters came in as a real help in this process at a time we needed help the most. When I received from Bruce Barrow the e-mail - if you need my help I will be there on short notice, we knew it was God¹s answer to our prayers - the buildings must be roofed and there was no time - thank you Bruce for coming and doing this task, mostly on your own - the buildings are roofed and the students could move in the last week of the term.

I also remember the day in Lusaka, as we again failed to draw money from the offshore account, so dearly needed to complete the buildings and the running cost of the College. I said casually to Dr. Clegg, I need at least 6 miln. Kwachas, but unable to draw - they have no direct line to Barclays offshore here. He helped us.

The Students

We had 13 students for the first term - how wise is God's ways – there could have been many more, but how would we be able to accommodate them? All worked out well.

The lecturing, tests, examination, Chaplaincy in the hospital, all went well. The Lord provided also in lecturers to help : Rev Kabongo from a Seminary in Lumbumbatshi, Congo lectured in Church History for 3 weeks and completed the module for the year. He is a real professor and an experienced lecturer, thoroughly reformed. Rev Piet de Wet lectured on the epistle of Romans and Pastor Conrad Mbewe on homiletics. The College is run on a circular basis, which means that students can enroll every 6 months and, if they stay for 3 years, they would complete a full course. So the end of the term we had one man who finished his 3 years. - Alefa Banda who graduated and received his diploma in Theology - we will miss him next term, he was of great help in the class - a real living concordance.

Four new students were enrolled the first term, two from Lusaka and two from Petauke. We must always keep in mind - this is not a College for general training in the Bible, but to train existing pastors or those with a calling for the ministry. This implies that we work with smaller numbers and we work in depth. My principle is to train the men in Reformed theology but the classroom is far more then a lecture hall - many days we had dialogues, discussions, finding answers from the Bible about the problems in Theology and pastoring in an African context. Death, witchcraft, adultery, the tragedy of a childless couple and famines are very near realities that need answers from God¹s Word.

We lectured 4 days a week, 5 hours a day. Every lecture was an experience, although tired after 5 hours lecturing, we just had the sense that it is good to be busy with the things of our Father. Twelve of the thirteen students passed, with Stuart Lungu as the top student, a 88% average. Part of our task was to inform church leaders of the College, it's aims and the curriculum we follow to equip church leaders. We had meetings with five groups from where new students could come. Rev. Kabongo mailed and informed that their church want to send 2 new students from the Congo. We believe that as the College is well on its way on the new premises and news spread faster than fire by traditional mail, we expect more new students to arrive on the opening date of the second term - 6 July.

To show their gratitude to us, we often received a bag of groundnuts, a pumpkin, sweet potatoes or Zambian watermelons from these students, as gifts. Out of their poverty they shared what they have with us and how we appreciate that.

Children's and Women's ministry

Fransa had a children's class every Wednesday afternoon at 3 pm to 5 pm in the lecture hall. The class started with 7 children and at the end of the term, she had 70 children on the register. An average of 30 to 50 attended at a time, with ages between 3 and 17 years. She did the CEF curriculum of Beginnings (from Creation to Noah) with the children, taught them Bible verses, songs and told them a missionary story. They were also tested through questions and rewarded for participation and correct answers. Before the class started the children played games. Fransa with Helen Clegg's help gave them a party with chocolate cake , popcorn and sweets for the last class. The children came from two different villages. Some walk for more than an hour to get to the College. Some of these children are from very poor homes and dressed in rags. Children's clothes are a great need.

We invited all the graduates wives of last year together with this year's students wives and the wives of our workers to come for a women's meeting (whole day's conference) on the 13th of May. Eighteen arrived and we had 3 teaching sessions in the morning, with Fransa doing the devotional and prayer time, Helen Clegg doing health matters and Clarissa de Wet talking on the topic of how to be a godly wife for our husbands. After lunch, we had a practical session on sewing and the ladies each received material to make a t-shirt and a pair of trousers for a little child. We helped them to cut and begin with the sewing, all by hand as no one has sewing machines. Afterwards they all agreed that it was a most profitable time and that they learned a lot and would like to have such meetings again in the future. Please pray for wisdom and guidance for Fransa.

Other activities on the Mission

There were a constant flow of visitors coming and going. We were blessed with visits from all 16 graduates of last year. How heart warming it was to see their faces again and hear how the Lord is using them in their different ministries and villages to spread the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some also came with their wives to introduce them to us. Then we also had visits from local and distant pastors and teachers to see and hear what we are doing at Covenant College. Some had just tea and refreshments and others lunch with us. It was wonderful to welcome friends from our hometown,
Villiersdorp, the van Heerdens and de Wets, who came so far and made the effort to visit us and treat us on "braaivleis" and all sorts of delicious goodies. What a blessing and encouragement are Christian friends to missionaries in remote areas!

The farming activities also went on, with Bilison Mwanza, our farm manager and Philip and Amon his assistants. The Lord blessed us with good crops of cassava, maize, sunflower, beans and groundnuts, this season. Right now the "big" harvesting is going on. A storeroom was completed the day before the College closed to keep the maize harvest as it will be used mainly to feed the students. The sunflower is pressed to produce oil also for the students food. We are looking forward to receive Phil Bailey from the UK next term, and Lord willing ,he will develop the agricultural side of the Mission.

We have a good library, well equipped with books and tapes, mostly donated
by Rev. Fraser's late father, who was also a minister in the Free Church of Scotland. Florence Chiwama, our librarian, comes 4 afternoons a week to assist the students. She also helps with the correcting of the Bible Correspondence Courses.(more than 500 Zambians participate in these courses from Covenant College). We are so grateful to Stan Phiri,one of our students who does the translating into Nyanja for us.

Mondays were taken up by buying and planning the week’s food for the students and getting things done in the Boma (town),14 kms from the mission. Fransa had a constant flow of requests for medicines from the students and, although not trained as a nurse, often had to give out pills, ointments and treat wounds etc. Then the administration of funds and keeping record of things, also took up much of our time, especially with the building projects going on. Nearly 40 milj.kwacha was spend at the College this term.(R1=K700) All glory to God who provided through His faithful servants.

Thanksgiving

There are people that constantly bring great sacrifices to make this College possible :
Don and Christine McDonald with their heart -warming ministry to street children in Lusaka, have opened their home and there is a constant flow of missionaries through this halfway station to the rest of Central Africa.

The Cleggs, (both are medical doctors) two of God's very special servants, the most humble and helpful couple, were such an inspiration to us and we thank the Lord for the wonderful times of fellowship we shared together. Also for their input in the students lives on a Thursday afternoon in the health classes at their home next to the hospital.

The volunteers - many retired people, mentioned already, who on own cost,
amid the risk of malaria, travel far to fulfill a specific task. Bruce Barrow is right now down with malaria.

We want to thank all the supporters from various churches: Monte Vista Presbyterian and Reformed Church, Villiersdorp Community Church, The Evangelical Christian Fellowship of Bellville, Christ Church Somerset West, Christ of Church Horizon in Gauteng, The Free Church of Scotland Continuing.

Many others like Banner of Truth, Evangelism Resources, Frontline Fellowship, who contributed books, Bibles, tracts and other equipment for the Mission. Also friends , family and prayer partners who brought us daily before the throne of grace. Thank you.

At Covenant College in Zambia we lived far away in the bush, it is real Africa, with high Teak, Mahogany even Ebony trees. We are not so far from the Victoria Falls and near a non-commercialised Game Reserve on the banks of the Luangwa river. We invite you to come and see, come and spend some time with the students in the lecture hall and hear how the Gospel gives comfort and direction to people who suffer much, but are always so friendly amidst a short life expectation of 40 years. We give all thanks and glory to our God whose hand was so graciously on us this past term. He called us to this ministry, He supplied in our needs, He gave the strength and health to continue to the end and a love for the people we serve.

Specific needs

1. We need a man from Scotland to teach the students to sing the Psalms – we received the Psalters and we sing every morning, but much can be improved - may be, there is someone who can come for a few weeks and help us every morning during devotion time.
2. An effective communication system - e-mail system.
3. Every first year student who passed, receives a Thomson Chain Reference Bible - we discovered the less expensive "Missionary" version for R280 a copy and need to pay R6000 for the order. Any contribution to this cost will help.
4. The Christian School Association is in need of a man who can stay at the College on the New Mission and move out to the many schools and help this great work to be established. A beginning was made but is at a critical stage and in need of one who feels called to take this task on.

Prayer requests

1. For help to overcome the devil who in various ways try to bring this work down.
2. That we will be in good health and have the daily strength to continue.
3. For the right kind of students, to be prepared for a fruitful ministry.
4. The constant supply of lecturers who are truly men of God.
5. That the vehicle, now in the customs, would soon be imported to be available for Rev. David Fraser who will need it on arrival the 3rd of July, to travel to the College for lecturing the first three weeks of the new term.
6. For a effective and economic communication system to keep in touch with the outside world.
7. Thanksgiving
• Fransa's small heart operation was successful as the heart palpitations did not recur in spite of hectic times.
• The Lord provided in all our needs and we can report safely back for two months before we leave again end of July.

To God all the glory,
In His service,

Jan and Fransa van Straaten