Hello from South Africa

I finally have an opportunity to sit down to my emails after a successful trip for our first 2023 summer team here at Emoyeni. I dropped the remaining team members off at the airport last night.

The past three weeks have been crazy. In all, we have driven over 2,600 miles (the distance from Courtland to Los Angeles) transporting team members all over the place. Praise God for unlimited mileage on the rental cars! The team hailed from South Carolina and Alabama. We spent 13 days together doing a mixture of ministry and sight-seeing adventures. What a joy it has been. Tami has been AMAZING at hosting, cooking and keeping the team comfortable. We have also been joined by her sister and my mom, both of whom volunteered to help on the weekends with the team.

Here is a summary:

• Delivered 40 top-grade blankets to select recipients in the Emanzana community ($1,000 cost funded by team – priceless value)
• Visited homes and church plants in rural areas
• Team members prayed for children and adults and ministered in word and song
• Gave away soccer balls and gifts to kids
• Completed minor construction-related projects on the new farm house
• Climbed HlumuHlumu mountain (1,500 ft elevation gain over 3/4 mile – steep!!!) for a bird’s eye view of the farm
• Drove the Panorama Route through Blyde River Canyon and the Abel Erasmus Pass (fun fact: Tom Cruise just filmed the upcoming 2024 Mission:Impossible 8 film here)
• Spent two spectacular overnights in the Kruger National Park on a game-viewing safari (leopards, lions, elephants, buffalo, hippos, giraffes, zebras, warthogs, baboons, etc.)
• Hours of late-night star-gazing in the epic Southern sky – STUNNING! There are constellations visible here that you can’t see in the US.
• Enjoyed wonderful team devotions and worship times in the prayer chapel.

Things are looking beautiful on the Emoyeni Farm. Winter here is mild at the moment, and the grasslands are golden brown. We are currently burning fire breaks to prevent wild fires, and I am amazed at how skilled the staff are. Accommodation for the team has been very comfortable and almost everything is working (with the exception of the hot water from time to time). We all did great with the scheduled rolling blackouts, and apart from having limited connectivity and spotty phone service, no-one seemed the worse for the wear. Truth be told, it feels really good to look at the stars instead of a TV.

Pastor Selby Hlengwa (our local anchor) is now living on the farm permanently with his family, and the two of us are like Joshua and Caleb. We’re identifying leaders and developing the new strategy for the youth ministry together. This weekend we will attend a local youth gathering with ten churches represented, where we will observe and interact. I hope to have the local team of leaders selected and activated before we return to the States in August. Please pray for us as we discern the Lord’s will.

By God’s grace we have received a few small gifts to the ministry that will keep us operating through August without much stress. Please pray with us that ample provision will be made for the rest of the year.

We do need to purchase a plow, disc, box blade and roller for our tractor, which will probably run about $3,000 in total. I plan to purchase used equipment from a dealer about 50 kilometers away. Pastor Selby will use the equipment to maintain the fire breaks and the farm road. We also have an idea to let local unemployed graduates of agricultural school try their farming skills on some small projects on the farm, and we’ll use the equipment to prepare fields. We are eager to empower locals who show initiative and promise, while coaching and guiding them in Christ at the same time.

Tami and I will be heading off to the cities of East London (the South African one) and Cape Town next week. We will participate in a youth camp in Cape Town that we hope will become a future partnership between Emoyeni and Youth For Christ. I will also be looking to recruit a South African construction / plumbing team.

We will return to the farm in time to prepare for the CBC / Texas team in early July.

Thank you all for your prayers and your support. We can hardly wait to be with you all in August. We’re scheduled to drive a moving truck to Courtland from Cape Cod on August 7th, and our first Sunday with CBC will be August 13th. We have not yet sorted out a home in Courtland, but the Lord has always gone ahead of us to prepare a way. He is faithful!

All love and grace from your new family in South Africa,

Erik and Tami Eskelund