Jerrod Runkel’s Africa Blog

Hello everybody!!  It has been forever since i have updated so I figured I better do it. These last few days have been awesome!!  God has been doing great things and we are expecting even greater things.

Last weekend the Davis’, the other aimers, and I went into downtown JoBurg into a place called Braamfontein to have church at Pastor Mpofu’s church and we had an amazing time. Braamfontein is a part of Hillbrough which the most dangerous peace of real estate in the world. On Friday night Bro. Davis preached and he tore it up! He talked about all the Xenophobic violence and how the Holy Ghost has our back and it was a great message. At the sunday school camp the next morning Matt, Brandi, and I taught a mornign devotion to 112 kids that stayed over at the church that night.  We acted out some stories and talked to them about the Holy Ghost and had an awesome time of prayer at the end. Then after the devotion we all went otu to the park and played games and had a Braai and Bro. Davis’ done a little sermon for the kids. Saturday night we went back to the church and Pastor Freeman preached a good message. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday we went downtown to pass out tracts in the downtown Alberton. WE have currently passed out about 4,000 tracts, but we have a ton of more work to do!

Thursday night we went to cell group and had a good time of fellowship.

Today we went to a Roodekop ext. 2 and passed out tracts. After we where there for about 1 hour until we realized that a funeral was going on.  Im pretty sure we are going to go back sometime soon and try to get a few bible studies.  But while we were there this woman got off of a taxi and her hands we so full she started to drop things so I asked her if I could help her carry some of her groceries to her house and she said yes. Even though it was just a little thing I couldn’t stop smiling cause i knew I had helped someone and I knew that that’s what it was all about!

Well I will update more often. Everybody have a good day, God Bless!!

Here is an excerpt from last Sunday at Turning Point Community Church.

Here are some pictures from some fo the townships we have been in. Eden park is where we go on Tuesday nights to a bible study Bro. Ishmael teaches. There are usually about 10 people that show up and we have bible study for about an hour. 

Rundebelt is where Bro. Elphus pastors and has a great church there. The church is curreently running about 80 people.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we went down to the city strip of Alberton where the two malls are and we handed out tracts for two hours each day. I think we probably handed out close to 800 tracts in those two days but we have about 4,200 more to pass out. So pray that we get good responses out of that and that we get a lot of visitors.  Ill be back with more pictures later.. Have a great day!

Money money money money money….. LOL>>> This morning we had an awesome time at church.  Bro. Davis’ started a three weeks series called GOD ECONOMICS and it was an awesome message… We also started our missions conference today and Bro. CLive did an awesome job teaching about Australia and Papua, New Guinea…

Back to the message. Bro. Davis’ preached out of Matthew 6 and talked about the the biblical principles of how to handle your money.  Awesome message that i was able to get a lot out of too, but it was also kind of sad at the same time because South African are 1 trillion Rand in debt… But i believe this morning opened a lot of peoples’ eyes and I am praying that in these next three weeks we will have a breakthrough…

To hear the whole message go to www.turningpointza.com

I would like to give thanks to my Pastor Ronald Hendricks.  He is a great man of God and has led me for the last 13 years and has been a great guidance and his support on my trip.  I would also like to think everybody that supported me from Greater Lighthouse and everybody else who supported that I failed to mention earlier… This thanks was long overdue, sorry I forgot to mention earlier…

Well everybody have a good day and God Bless!!!

Hey everybody. SOrry i havent posted in a while. Here is an update on the last three days:

Sunday June 1st, 2008-  After getting up at about 6:55 a.m. The Davis’ and us went to church- TURNING POINT COMMUNITY CHURCH.  We pulled up and i got it and walked down the drive and walked into the building and just marveled and thought to myself what a beautiful place to worship.  When we had gotten there, Bro. CLive the music minister at the church was already there and I got to meet him and talk to him.  After a couple minutes some of the young people started to walk in to help set the sound equipment and all of the chairs out.  At 9:45 sunday school started and Bro. CLive talked about the gifts of the spirit and did a fantastic job.  And at 10:45 worship started, and the praise team was made up of a few of the young people.  We had started singing and the Lord began to move and people got to worshiping and the praise team got to moving and it felt so good… Bro. Flowers preached on the oneness and he teached it like I have never heard it taught before in my life. Bro. FLowers’ is a great teacher!

Later in the evening Bro Davis and I traveled out to the Thokoza center were the government sent all of the refugees that had gotten ran out of their homes and some had their homes burnt down.  When we arrived at the camp I wanted to bust down in tears at what i seen.  Little kids everywhere playing on garbage cans and pushing each other around in chairs.  When we walked in the was about 150 people sleeping in the auditorium and underneatht he seats and on the stage.  I was thinking my gosh how horrible it must be to have to live like this.  While outside I seen three kids playing together and just smiled, but as i looked again I realized their main toy was about 7 garbage cans that were gathered around each other full of garbage. As I watched the kids over the next couple minutes they would tip the cans over and get on top of them and and sing and jump around and smile.  Then when they were finished they would kick the empty 2 liters back into the can and laugh while doing that also.  I had to fight back the tears came.  Those little girls and boys had no idea what was going on or how dngerous the situation they had been in was, but I realized that the sadness I was feeling at that moment was the joy they felt at that time…… I AM A BLESSED PERSON!!!

Monday June 2nd, 2008-  Monday is kind of our day off, our sabbath day in relation… One thing interesting though happened…. We were sitting at the McDonald’s that morning just sitting their enjoying our food when something outside caught our attention.  It was a man who had stolen something and the security guards had taken him down and all of the mcDonald’s employees ran outside and the cops pulled up. But after a moment the cops kinda made a loose fist and shook it up and down \, which means you take care of it yourself. and then they left.  As we continued to watch the security and the employees drug him around the back of the resuarant, but what they did to him I dont know but it might not have been to pleasant, If you know what i mean…lol… 

Today we are about to travel out to eden park to a bible study with some of the people in the church , a township with no electricity… We also visited a place earlier today called Rundebelt, another little township that has a daughter work church.  Bro. Elfis’ pastors that church and it runs about 100 people and is doing very well…

I will be able to post pictures soon so you will be able to see some tings going on here… GOD BLESS!!!