Heaven Bound

Dear Pastors and Prayer Partners,

Brother Simon passed away in Upington. We didn’t make it to the funeral but prayed that God would bless the preaching of His word knowing that some of Bro. Simon’s children and grandchildren have not yet accepted Christ as their own Saviour. Simon Mshlangu was one of the 5 adult founding members of the church in Upington 26 years ago. He was a very quiet man. Everyone loved him. He’d come home from his job at the electric company and change clothes before he headed out to check on his pigs. Boys would pile into his little pick-up truck. They would help him feed the pigs and clean the truck. They would tag along if he went to town and they followed him to church. Many people attended his funeral.

Just a few weeks later we did travel to Upington as Jeff was scheduled to officiate at a wedding. One of Brother Simon’s daughters was getting married. The bride, Janetta, was an 18 yr old senior in high school when we met her in 1985! She loved and served the Lord then and she’s been a faithful witness as a single lady the past 26 years. This was a beautiful wedding and reception. There were so many smiling faces. A few of them were Janetta’s friends from her years of working in a big city hospital and a few from her recent years of working under contract in a Saudi Arabian hospital but the great majority were people fairly well known to us. One after another, I looked at faces and remembered when they were babies, children, teenagers, newly weds, parents of our Sunday School children a long time ago. Yet only a few of them would be in church the next morning. I left very burdened for those who still aren’t saved. Saturday evening and all day Sunday I prayed for one person and family after another that the Lord would work in their hearts and lives again to bring them to salvation. A month went by. I called Anna and she was very excited to tell me that Brother Simon’s grandson, 23 yr old Elrico, had accepted Christ as his Saviour! Elrico grew up in his grandfather’s home and in our church. In recent months he dropped out of church and then went looking for a church that doesn’t frown on young people living like the world. Anna Feni told me that she’d been very burdened for him. She’d also been distressed thinking of how few of the children and grandchildren are still in church. She’d cried out to the Lord, “Lord, not Rico too. Can’t we even keep Rico?” Elrico and several other guys were driving back home to Upington from their jobs in another town when the car flipped and rolled over the veld. None of them were seriously hurt. Elrico took that as his wake-up call from the Lord. He came to church on Sunday and accepted Christ as his Saviour. He spent some time with Pastor Feni Monday discussing it further. We’re all walking on air.

Just two Sundays ago Church had been dismissed and the little ones streamed out towards mothers when Belinda came through the door with 8 yr old Camielle and told me, “we need to talk”. I thought, “Someone is in trouble!” I slid the door closed and we all sat down. Belinda told me, “Camielle wants to be saved. She’s been talking about it for a couple of weeks but she’s confused. She’ll do something wrong and then tell me she’s not going to be naughty anymore and when she’s good then she’s going to ask Jesus to be her Saviour so she can go to heaven. I’ve been trying to tell her that she can’t wait till she’s perfect. Even after she’s saved she won’t be perfect! Today I could see she was thinking during the invitation. I thought now she’s going to step out. But the invitation ended and she looked up at me and announced, “I’m going to Heaven.” And Belinda said, “oh No, you are not. Not without getting saved, you aren’t. What is she thinking? That she’s good enough now? What more can I say? This has gone on long enough.” Camielle looked so small and so miserable. Looking at her, I remembered when one of our daughters was about her age. It was bedtime and I was there to pray with her. I told her that she was old enough to think back over her day; had she done anything wrong today? She could tell Jesus what she had done, tell him that she was sorry. My daughter began to shake her head and protest, “No! No! I couldn’t do that.” Why not? “Because, it would make me cry.” I told Camielle that story and talked about how hard it is even for big people to tell God out loud that they know they’ve done wrong. We looked at Romans 10:9 &10. She already believed in her heart that she was a sinner and Jesus died on the cross to pay for her sins; all she had to do was confess with her mouth. While we listened, Camielle prayed. (When she was finished, one tear rolled down her cheek. Think about it, very few little children cry when they pray the sinner’s prayer.) The next Sunday morning Camielle was waiting for me! As I set my bag down and began to take out the flannelgraph, she plopped down on the bench, slid over to look up into my face and told me, “Teacher, I’m still happy! I’ve been happy all week!” What a wonderful relief it is to know that things are settled, that she’s forgiven and on her way to heaven.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Christmas Time

Dear Pastors and prayer partners,

Merry Christmas from South Africa! It’s summer here. We went out door knocking at 10 in the morning and I never thought of putting on sun block. It was such a beautiful morning and we were finding lots of people actually home so we decided to knock doors till 12:15. Was I ever sun burnt! And it wasn’t even a hot day. At 12:15 children were streaming out of school waving their final reports in the air and telling everyone they met that they’d passed another school year. As we knocked on doors we met several house sitters, people without school age children had already gone on vacation. Traffic is heavier now, most of it streaming to the mall as parents are receiving their Christmas bonus with the last paycheck of the year. Others are headed to the beach. Even our church members head for the beach after Sunday morning services and slide into evening services a little sun burnt and out of breath. This is the month for weddings. On Saturday morning there were 3 different wedding parties at our local park posing for pictures on the lawn and among the roses. With people in a holiday mood and money in their pockets, the beggars and thieves are also busy. Children want to be entertained. We’ve planned a movie and game night for the teenagers. The guys will stay till midnight but the girls are aiming to stay awake all night! I protested that we’re to old to stay up all night so the girls roped aunty Chantel into promising to come and stay awake too. For the younger children we’ve planned an outdoor game day. They need a chance to run and yell before they burst.

We are 7 or 8 hours ahead of you; so it was just before midnight last night, when we got the phone call that Jeff’s Mama was out of surgery and on her way to the recovery room. Doctors closed a hole in her heart, grafted in tissue to strengthen the heart walls and replaced the mechanical valve, which she’d received in September. She has been so weak and ill; in the hospital fighting one set back after another since the 3rd of October. She knows Christ as her Saviour. If He strengthens and heals her, we’ll all be blessed. And if He decides she’s had enough and takes her Home, we’ll understand but we don’t want to think about that right now.

Our new grandbaby, Annaliese Danielle Knewtson, kept us waiting by the telephone till midnight a few weeks ago. We knew when they shut the cell phone off that the real work of ushering her into this world had begun! We sat quietly and prayed and walked the floor and prayed. What a world we live in now that grandparents in South Africa can use Skype to call the cell phone in son-in-law’s pocket in the delivery room in Kansas City! And don’t we have a good, kind, and patient son-in-law!

Madeleine Hendricks was baptized last Wednesday night. We’ve all waited a long time for her to take that step of obedience. Her elderly mother had threatened to kick Madeleine and the 2 children out of the house if she joined the Baptist church. She doesn’t want to hear that Madeleine repented of her sins and trusted Christ as her Saviour. Their family has been Dutch Reform for a long time; she wants to believe that all of her children entered the family of God when they were sprinkled as babies.

Anthea’s (13) best friend, Renee, just accepted Christ as her Saviour. She’s been attending the teen girl’s Friday class. We’re hoping her parents will let her start coming on Sunday but their family is New Apostolic.

We want to thank everyone for all your prayers and support this past year.

Your missionary and his wife,
Jeff & Judy Blanton

Back in South Africa

Dear Pastors and Friends,

While I was in Newport News, VA with the grandchildren, Michael called from Korea. “Mom, we tried to think of everything before you came but I never thought of an earthquake.” And we laughed at the hurricane coming right on the heels of the quake. And then Jeff’s Mama suffered a heart attack. It’s so good to know that the Lord isn’t caught by surprise. He strengthens and helps us at every turn. Both Jeff and I ended up in America for 6 weeks with family. I finished my original plan of caring for grandchildren, then visited other family members and my brother, Paul. Paul didn’t really want to talk about the Lord. He let me talk and then changed the subject. Jeff and his Dad spent 3 weeks at the hospital with his Mama. The airlines let each of us extend our tickets so we could be there for them when she came home after surgery. We were glad to be at home with her for 2 weeks. Since then she’s been hospitalized again with all kinds of little setbacks. It may still be a while before she’s home again but it looks good.

We had a lot of catching up to do when we got home to South Africa.

· Several S.S. children showed me where they’d lost teeth for the tooth fairy.

· Chantel loved being a S.S. teacher! She says the children are all little characters. They totally exhausted her and she loved every minute of it! She wants to continue teaching.

· Carmen and Fabian, newlyweds married 9 months, are expecting a baby!

· We sang Happy Birthday to Glenda. She’s turned 50 and looks wonderful! Glenda has been sober for 8 weeks now. She stands straight and looks us in the eye. Though still shy, she’s made a friend so she isn’t sitting by herself anymore. Her face has filled out; she looks healthy. She has short, soft, pretty hair. I didn’t realize till I saw her this Sunday that I’d never seen her hair before. She’d always worn a knit cap as well as long sleeves and long pants that covered her bruises. Pray for Glenda that she’ll continue to stay sober. And pray that she’ll find a job. That will be the crowning glory when she’s not only away from the evil but actively doing good.

· Wilma and Ambrose weren’t in church Sunday so we went to visit them. I need to remind you that Ambrose had a lot of problems. He always seemed to be in his own world. 2 years ago, at the age of 14, Ambrose woke up and paid attention long enough to get saved. Since then he’d developed more problems. He covered all the floors in the house with papers and bags claiming the patterns on the tiles bothered him. He had nervous ticks and twitched. Wilma said he often drooled till his shirt was wet while he watched TV. She took him to all kinds of doctors looking for answers. And we prayed that Ambrose would wake up again. Praise the Lord! Ambrose is awake. (Why are we so surprised when God answers our prayers?) Ambrose grabbed Jeff and pulled him towards the bedroom saying, “I have questions!” He flipped through his Bible to James 1:5-6 and read it aloud! “How do you get wisdom? How do you get faith? How do you get more trust?” The guys came out of the bedroom and Ambrose sat next to me on the couch. Ambrose told me that he remembered that I had gone to America wanting to talk to my unsaved brother who’d had a stroke. How did it go? Did my brother listen? I couldn’t believe it! 7 weeks ago, I thought Ambrose was lost in a fog but he had heard. He remembered and he cared. We don’t know if he’s on medication or if the Lord just cleared the clouds away! Wilma is all smiles. All she’ll say is that the doctors say there’s nothing physically wrong with him.

It’s good to be back in South Africa.

Your missionary and his wife,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Trip

19 August 2011

Dear Pastors and friends praying for us,

Things are going well here in South Africa. It’s been a year since my (Judy’s) surgery. The follow-up checks say everything looks good.

Last November, my brother’s life changed drastically. Paul thought he had the flu. He couldn’t keep much down and was surviving on fruit juice. He went into a diabetic coma and while in the coma suffered a stroke. He hasn’t been home since. Paul is living in a nursing home. I don’t believe Paul knows Christ as his own Saviour. Sometimes letters and phone calls just aren’t good enough. About 6 weeks ago, the idea came to me that I should just hop on the first airplane and go talk to my brother face to face. Jeff checked the price of tickets and that stopped me. Two of our girls live in Kansas City and have been visiting Paul. They told me that my brother-in-law, Allen, has been witnessing to Paul and Paul doesn’t want to hear it. Jeff and I talked about it, prayed about and decided to wait. And then our son, Michael, called. Michael is in Korea. Sanaa and the children, Yasmeen (5 yrs old) and little Jack (1 1/2 ) are in Virginia. Sanaa needs to attend a 2 week seminar in connection with her job and there’s no one to watch the 2 children. They decided to ask me to come stay in their home with the children rather than pay a stranger. They’re paying for the tickets! We took that as an answer to prayer. I’ll be feeding and playing with 2 of our grandchildren for 2 weeks and then I’ll hop over to K.C. and see Paul and the rest of the family before coming home. Please pray for my brother, Paul.

Jeff told our church members that I would be gone for a while and asked for volunteers to help out, especially a volunteer to take the preschoolers during the Sunday morning preaching. Jeff told me later that Ruby met him with a big smile right afterwards to tell him she wants to volunteer! Jeff was so pleased. Ruby is a grandmother who loves children, a dear soul. The next day, Ruby greeted me with a big smile and these words, “Teacher, did Pastor tell you I volunteered to go with you and help out with the little grandchildren?” Oops. Somehow in the confusion of church letting out, Jeff heard what he wanted to hear!

We’re still chuckling over that. The Lord took care of it. Ruby’s daughter, Chantel, is a single lady who loves all her nephews and nieces. Chantel is going to take that class while I’m gone. The Holy Spirit calls Sunday School teachers and it may be that Chantel will turn the class over with a sigh of relief when I get back but the Lord just might use this time to show her that being a Sunday School teacher is wonderful, something she could gladly do forever! Ruby has become my visitation partner. For the past three weeks she’s told many people that if they’ll just call the phone number on the back of the tract that she will gladly give them a ride to church! She herself was an unsaved Anglican till the age of 60 yrs. When people tell us that their parents had them baptized as babies, Ruby doesn’t want that door to close till she’s had a chance to convince them that babies can’t make important decisions! She’s a real blessing.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Camp

Dear Pastors and friends praying for us,

Sasha (15) was determined to become a helper with the preschoolers during the preaching time. First she came with my regular helper to ask if she could also help. Next she sent her new stepmother to ask if she can’t be a helper and then she sent her father to Pastor! After 5 months of attending the Sunday morning preaching when she’s with her Dad every other weekend, she seems to have decided that the only way to escape the actual preaching is to help with the little ones. She’s already making a habit of going to the bathroom before the end of the sermon and not returning till church is dismissed. Her father was upset when Pastor suggested that she might not be saved and is miserable under Holy Spirit conviction. How could Pastor even think such a thing? According to her father she made a profession of faith several years ago. Unfortunately she’s not the only teenager in services who looks like she was dragged here and refuses to smile or sing in spite of the fact that they made professions of faith before the teen years. It’s just about enough to make this Sunday School teacher paranoid; deal carefully with children, we don’t want them going through the next few years thinking they’re saved if they aren’t.

Camp is over. These are the days of follow-up. Jeff and I are out to visit each child. Ryan is 10 yrs old. This shy little guy amazed his mother by talking non-stop for hours when he first got home. Much of what he says starts out with ‘Jason says’. ex. “Jason says that everything will be brand new in Heaven! If a man’s arm is cut off – when he gets to heaven, he’ll grow a new one cause everything is new in heaven!” “So Ryan, what does a person have to do to go to heaven?” He fairly shouted, “be saved!” Ryan isn’t saved yet. I’m hoping he’ll respond to the invitation one day real soon.

We’d heard that Craig and Kelly, 12 yr old twins, and their cousin, Les, also 12 all accepted Christ as Saviour at camp. We arrived at Craig and Kelly’s to find their Dad going out the door for his sports night with the guys. Older sister Kim is out on a date and the twins and Mom are settling down in front of the TV. Michelle told us that Craig had told her right away that he accepted Jesus as his Saviour and then asked her if she was saved. When she admitted that she hadn’t done it yet, he pressed her to do it so she wouldn’t die and go to hell. This was the first that she’d heard that the cousin also accepted Christ. She asked what his Dad had said when he heard? Craig pretended to be the uncle, “Humph, how could a kid his age understand such things?” Michelle looked at Craig and back at us. “I have to admit, I wondered the same thing. Look at Kim. She’s 16. At Christmas she made a decision for Christ. She told us that she understood. She said she wanted to attend church but when I go to wake her up on a Sunday morning, she tries to crawl back under the covers. I’ve tried reasoning with her that she’s the one who made this decision. If she wants to be a Christian, then I want to be behind her 200 % but I’m not going to be the mean mother to call her back from wherever she’s gone in time for evening services. Maybe they don’t understand.” This is an unsaved mother and I’ve got to explain that sometimes children respond to the invitation to please a beloved Grandmother and other adults who they know are hoping they’ll be saved soon. Sometimes they go forward because others are doing it. We’re actually here to listen to Craig and Kelly to reassure ourselves that they each made a true decision. Craig piped up. “Like Les. I was really listening and Les was flicking stones. I wanted to tell him, hush, pay attention, this is serious stuff but I couldn’t reach him and listen too. Then when I got up to go forward, Les was going too!” We had such a long visit that I promised to come back another day so we could find out if Les had been listening. Pray for Michelle. She has 2 recently saved sisters and a Mother praying for her. She wants the children to understand these things and be saved but she herself is holding back. I came back another day and Craig fetched his cousin from down the street. Cousin may have flicked pebbles down the mountain while the preacher talked but he was listening! He gave good clear answers to my questions. School is still out and Kim was home babysitting. She finished frying bacon and came to sit and listen while we discussed what it means to be a new creature; that we’ll have a real desire to do the things that please Jesus and to avoid the old sins, a desire to see others get saved, etc. She admitted that she can’t think of anything that has changed in her life since she was saved in Dec. Pray for Kim. Many teenagers have to be dragged out of bed.

Jade (12) also accepted Christ as her Saviour. I reminded her of an earlier time when she had prayed and asked her what was different this time? “Teacher, I know that I’m a sinner.”

Camp was wonderful! It started with a good time of training for the counselors. All the training could be summed up as: all counselors working together, each doing whatever it takes to be sure no camper is overlooked or left behind! Plan A- we are a team, my partner/fellow counselor has my back! Plan B- all counselors are swamped, I need to trust the Lord will help me take care of the problem staring me in the face! And remember- Satan is fighting, there will be difficulties! ‘Take care of the problem’: I killed the scorpion myself! I sat down after giving a testimony and …CRACK the chair broke and dumped me right there on the floor. Ahhh, Satan will be fighting.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Easter Time

Dear Pastors and prayer partners,

From Judy:

This year I had the opportunity to tell the Easter story to a class of third graders at our local primary school! You just can’t imagine how happy I was to get that invitation. I’ve been working as a volunteer teaching phonics in this class for the past 2 ½ months. Many of the children are from Muslim families and won’t be visiting our Sunday School. I pray for them and twice we’ve made special children’s tracts to pass out to children as they come out the school gates. Mrs. Blaaw, the class teacher, is herself a Muslim. She told me that she remembered being very curious about Christian holidays when she was a child (what are the neighbors doing?) and thought it would be good for all of the children to hear the whole Easter story and have a chance to ask questions. I had plenty of notice to get prepared and 30 minutes of class time. It was wonderful! The children were very attentive and Mrs. Blaaw was listening also though she sat at her desk grading papers. I started with Adam and Eve in Eden and the Lord’s promise to send a Saviour. The Christmas and Easter stories tell how God kept his promise to send a Saviour who paid the death penalty for our sins. Going door to door on visitation, we’ve met Muslims who simply closed the door in our faces and others who (as they were closing the door) demanded to know how we could believe that God could die? Or how we could believe that God would allow people to humiliate his son like that (if he had a son)? This is the first time a Muslim has ever allowed me to tell the whole story.

Monday after Easter is also a public holiday. We held a Family Fun day at church. The men brought their black cast iron pots and built fires to prepare their own favorite stew. The children played games under Belinda’s supervision. It was a sight to see tall teens falling down with the little kids singing ring-around-the rosies. Jeff taught the men to play the Monopoly card game, Keith brought 60 seconds and I taught the mothers and grandmothers to play Blink. People had turned out in good spirits, on time, each doing their part and stayed to help clean up; it was a good day. That sounds so simple, so ordinary doesn’t it? But it is very frustrating when many people don’t come, some make no effort to be sociable, and people sit expecting to be waited on and leave without a thought as to who is going to clean up! Family fun day was a good day.

On a cultural note:

Mrs. Blaaw asked why all the Christians eat pickled fish on Good Friday? (Yes, it would have been nice if she’d asked a question about Jesus.) Anyway, this is a story I’ve heard many times but the Lord had also given me a refresher course the night before! Keith was remembering when he was a child and they didn’t have electric refrigerators. They had an ice box that kept things cool, it couldn’t be trusted to keep meat fresh. Easter was a wonderful holiday when schools closed and everyone had time off from work. All the shops closed on Wednesday before Easter and absolutely didn’t open again until the next Tuesday. On Wednesday everyone bought fresh fish and it was a family affair to clean the fish, fry them, and prepare the vinegar, sugar, onions and spice that would preserve the fish in warm weather. The first few days of pickled fish and bread or hot cross buns were wonderful but by the time they’d eaten fish twice a day for 5 days everyone was thankful when Tuesday dawned and shops opened! Mrs. Blaaw shook her head in wonder. She could remember her Muslim Father and Uncle looking for the freshest fish at a good price and secretly thinking they were copying the Christians. It never occurred to her that the shops were closed and no other food was available! Keith is 46 yrs old. I asked why they didn’t buy canned ham? Keith didn’t know if shops had canned ham when he was a kid. He remembers cans of corned beef and Vienna sausages as a special treat for Christmas.

From Jeff:

After a short absence Kim along with her distraction started back attending services and about 4 weeks ago Sean came to our 5 o’clock class for new converts and at the end of the class he indicated that he also wanted to be saved. Brother Richter went with him into the fellowship room and after a while Sean came out and told me he had accepted the Lord as his Saviour.

Isn’t it wonderful that God can even get the victory with distractions.

We want to thank everyone for your faithfulness, prayers and support. Recently I have received several requests to send our prayers letters by email. If you would like to receive an electronic copy instead of a paper copy please drop me a note at joblanton@gmail.com .

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

February

Dear Pastors and praying friends,

Something had to be done about my left knee. First it didn’t like to go up and down ladders anymore or kneel on the floor. Then it wanted to sell the little pick-up truck and buy something without a clutch. When it didn’t even want to sit quietly at the desk; that was too much. Dr. Morkel was confident that he could go in and clean torn cartilage from the knee joint and that it would heal fairly quickly. So that’s what we did yesterday; we gave him a chance to see how well he could fix that knee. Today I’m hobbling around, dozing off, answering the phone, receiving visitors and licking stamps.

It doesn’t look like we’ve mentioned this in previous letters but the Richters are now part of our church family. They grew to love our congregation while we were on furlough (our people love them too). We made it a matter of prayer and Albert and Sandy joined our church right before Christmas. They are such a blessing. This missionary/pastor now attends the adult Sunday School class and enjoys hearing someone else teach! I had knee surgery Wed. morning and Brother Richter taught that evening.

Keith desperately needs a good job. It’s been 2 years since SA Nylon Spinners closed its doors leaving 2500 people unemployed. Keith is a good electrician and a hard worker. More than that, he loves the Lord and has tithed and given generously since he was saved years ago. Today he was up on the ladder at church painting the fascia board we’d replaced after a recent storm. The newly painted side looked so bright that he scrubbed down the other boards and gave them a fresh coat of paint as well! He’s a cheerful worker. The Lord has given him all kinds of odd jobs and Keith has helped all kinds of friends, family and neighbors with hot water heaters and home wiring but he’s in danger of losing his own home if he doesn’t find a permanent job soon. Keith is taking this better than we are. Over the years the Lord has answered so many prayers, so quickly… we’re struggling with this one.

Thomas (in his 6o’s) visited our services Wed. a couple of weeks ago. He’d invited the Mormons in one afternoon and they’d so confused him that he decided to come to church to clear his head! I went through the plan of Salvation with him Saturday and he admitted that he needs to get his heart right with God but he chose to put it off. Pray that God’s word would be preached with power and that people would make firm decisions for the Lord.

Thank you for your faithfulness in both your prayers and support.

Your Missionaries

Jeff & Judy Blanton