4th Year College Students in the Western Cape - CCE 4^th-Year Outreach 2011
(written by Ms J. van Vuuren, Primaria)

The annual CCE 4^th-year outreach took place during the first two weeks of the July holidays.  Our team of 2011 included 17 of the 4^th-year students and 6 lecturers.  We set out on a sunny Saturday morning, loaded with “padkos” and very excited.  The trip was to be a circular route from Natal to Virginia (KSB Mission Goldfields), then on to Moreson Mission at Malmesbury in the Cape Swartland.  Coming back through the Eastern Cape, we would visit the Williams family on their farm close to Jeffreys Bay, after which we would tackle the last stretch of more than a 1000km back home.

At each stopping point, we would reach out in various ways, including skits/dramas, choir singing and testimonies.   Before going to the mission in Malmesbury, we joined Oom George Oesch and his team for a youth camp in Wellington.  There, our daily tasks included leading the singing in the services, performing plays, washing dishes, cleaning bathrooms and dishing up at meals.  It was hard work but proved to be a very fruitful time.  The days following the camp saw the team/part of the team visiting an old age home, two groups of children (school holiday program for the community), a prison and squatter camp (door to door visits).  The Lord also made it possible for us to go sightseeing and we could visit Franschoek, Hout Bay and Vishoek as well as see spectacular mountain views (Lions Head, Signal Hill, Table Mountain...).  In the Eastern Cape, at the Williams’ farm we did skits and sang for the farmworkers’ devotions.  

We would really like to convey our thanks to everyone who contributed to making the trip possible, as well as all the families that sacrificed so much to make our stay so enjoyable.

Each member of the team has his/her own story to tell and learned much from the entire outreach.  We went to reach out, but also found many reaching out to us and teaching us precious lessons.  Wherever we went, we also saw people hungry for the truth, eagerly listening to the message of the cross.  There were those who accepted the truth and allowed it to change them, and there were those who did not respond.   We must pray that the Lord will give growth to each seed that was planted.

“The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the labourers are few.  So pray to the Lord of the harvest to force out and thrust labourers into His harvest.”   Matthew 9:37-38 (Amp.)

(more should be available on the CCE website shortly)

One of the 4th year students, Mark Gule, is from the newly born nation of South Sudan