The Virtue Family African Experience

2009-04-08T22:47:00.000+02:00

Makron Junior

2009-04-06T12:13:00.023+02:00

Kya Sand Informal Settlement - About 6 weeks ago, our team met a young mother named Sizakele. She had recently given birth to a son, Makron Junior. Our interpreters, William and Pearl, had the opportunity to get to know her, They found she was HIV positive and sick. Sizakele attended our Tuesday morning kids club once but due to her illness, William and Pearl had to visit her in her humble settlement shack. They shared the Good News and she accepted the Lord. They prayed for her and her newborn son. The virus kept destroying her immune system. She had become extremely sick and the anti-retro viral treatment was started several months too late.

This last week her illness became much worse and she was hospitalized. Her husband, Makron phoned William and asked if there was anything they could do for his son. Dealing with his wife's illness and other aspects of his life, he was unable to care for him.

William and Pearl contacted us and asked if there was anything we could do. Shelly telephoned our good friends Mark and Sue Knocker, who created Barkston Place. Barkston Place homes are safe, clean, wonderful places where orphans are raised in a loving, godly environment. The Knockers have adopted 4 children on there own and now have 10 children in their homes. Sue immediately offered to take the baby in.

On Friday, April 3rd, Shelly and Pearl picked up little Makron Junior and his dad and took them to Barkston Place. Makron completed the paperwork giving his approval for the acceptance of little Makron Junior into Barkston Place. Now his involvement in his son's life is up to him, as much as he wants, or a little. He commented, "At least one thing is done."

When Shelly and Pearl left the baby's father, it was obvious he was relieved. His son has a future of hope. He smiled widely.

We are relieved to find that Makron Junior is virus free. We are so grateful. The community of believers have brought Light into a story of extreme darkness. It's so obvious that if we put ourselves into the path of righteousness, the Lord will provide glimpses of our eternity with Him. He is all around us. His presence is now. Don't look upon the darkness with shame, look for His Light and join Jesus, His Love and His Kingdom!

Sizakele died on Sunday morning, April 5, 2009. I am assured by Scripture that she is relieved of the sufferings she faced, the sadness of leaving her son and family and her impoverished life as an Zimbabwean refugee. And for Makron Junior, what does God have in store? One thing we know, his life will never be the same again.

Love, faith and hope,

Dwight and Shelly

Reach4Life Shongwe February 2009

2009-03-16T12:02:00.003+02:00

Shongwe, Mpumalanga, South Africa – Located in 10 kilometers north of the Swaziland border and within an hour drive of the Kruger Game Reserve and the Mozambique border, the Shongwe area has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world. IBS-STL Southern Africa has partnered with Bryanston Bible Church of Johannesburg and Thembalethu, a regional NGO, to reach the youth of this community before they are infected by this life snatching disease.

The local leadership team works in six local schools having distributed nearly 2000 Reach4Life books since the outreach began in January of 2009. Reach4Life area coordinator Vusi Dube and his group leader team meet daily with young people inspiring them to live godly lives that are sexually pure and committed to Jesus Christ and their local church.

The principle of Lugebutha High School, Mr. Mdaka, praised the Reach4Life program saying, “I am so excited that the program is here. We are grateful that you have chosen our school.”

Lugebutha High is our first Reach4Life school in Shongwe. We look forward to seeing what the Lord will do in the lives of the school’s 900 students.

Please pray for the young people of Shongwe, their teachers and school leaders. Pray that their lives can be transformed, HIV free and glorifying to our Lord.

Please pray for our Reach4Life team. Pray that they will remain healthy, with great stamina, love and boldness for the Gospel.

Reach4Life Students on Radio

2009-03-16T11:53:00.004+02:00

Waterkloof, Gauteng, South Africa – Reach4Life student participants from Mamelodi High School with Reach4Life Development Coordinator Dwight Virtue and Reach4Life Group Leader Brandon Bonventure were interviewed on on Impact Radio, FM103 Pretoria on March 12, 2009.

At the invitation of program host Laura van Niekerk, 10th grade students Charmine Makgalathiba, Esther Mokwena and Malebo Senoge cheerfully answered questions from the host and by local listeners via SMS.

The interview subjects varied from gambling to sexual purity to the advantages of staying in school.

Partnering with Reach4Life, World Hope International has worked with students in Mamelodi High School since January 2009 bringing the life changing message of hope.

The goals of the Reach4Life program is to have an HIV free generation who commits to sexual purity in God’s view, to a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ and to a community that will support these life changing commitments namely the church.

The Reach4Life message is already impacting students at Mamelodi High School, during the program an encouraging SMS was received stating, “Reach4Life is turning the tide of peer pressure. Abstinence is cool!”

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T11:46:00.003+02:00

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God!
It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His Name.
For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100

When we left for South Africa we had huge plans of technologically advanced communication; blogs, emails, web pages and all. Our prideful promises were met with challenges, heartaches, ignorance (ours), and a mountain of learning. This first blog post is a fulfilment of at least a small portion of those promises. Our hope is that this blog will serve as place where our descriptions of life in South Africa and our experiences can be shared with you.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Well, not here. At least not by the vast majority of the population for now. Those of you who know my wife Shelly can attest, she'll stir up some incredibly delicious dishes. The temptations will be too much to overcome, then, several friends and I will moan from over indulging. But before we dive into the blessing of His provisions, I pray we can pause and truly take stock on what this day means to us.

As I write this post and reflect on what I want to say, I can't help but thank our Lord, Jesus, first and foremost. We tend to "take for granted" the bountiful harvest that is provided before us each day. But truly I must acknowledge and humbly thank the One who "grants." What a privilege it is to serve the Most Highest and to share His love.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the Light of Men. The Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

John 1:1-5

There are so many people that we give thanks for. All of you who have supported us, financially, prayerfully and lovingly! You are such a blessing. Someday you will each personally know how much we love you. If not here, in eternity.

This last year has gone by quickly. Trying to get our feet solidly grounded on African soil has been a challenge but we get by with the support of friends and family.

We are blessed by our church family here in South Africa at Bryanston Bible Church more than we could have ever thought or imagined. They still don't know how to take this American family but they love us just the same! We love them, too.

Our church family in Lancaster continues to shower us in love, we feel their prayers daily and let me state virtually and any other way, we couldn't do without them and love them dearly and deeply.

Our family in New Mexico continues to send us care packages of tangible love; chocolate chips, green chili, and even beef jerky! It's hard to describe the excitement we feel when we get a priority mail package from home. Yes, it's those things you just can't get here, but really it's the connection to our loved ones that excites us most. Thank you to the Hill's, the Keenan's and the Robert's. We love you all!

We are thankful for our son Ryan and his success and life in Seattle. The hardest aspects of our moving to South Africa was leaving him a continent away. We miss him dearly. Please pray that he get his passport together so he can visit us soon! Sorry Ryan, I think you're coming to Africa soon!

We are thankful for our past careers. They have allowed us the freedom we enjoy and our colleagues for fond memories filled with cheer and friendships we long for.

We are so privileged to serve people; whether we are in a government clinic helping an newly diagnosised HIV+ women plan a future of hope, encouraging a young Reach4Life group leader to go and change the world, or feeding a homeless refugee who lives on a river bank a meal and the Word of God. Oh my, who are we? Thank you for opportunity to be your feet and hands my Saviour!

Aren't blogs suppose to be short. I'm new at this so please bear with me. Happy Thanksgiving! Know we lift you in name to Him whose feet are the highest place. God bless you all!