Blanton's in the Plain

Heaven Bound

2012-01-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-15T13:28:00.000-08:00

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

2011-10-22T02:10:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-14T16:01:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-02-25T05:58:00.000-08:00

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

FIGHT!!!!

2011-01-13T00:39:00.000-08:00

12 January 2011

Dear Pastors and prayer partners,

We’ve been fighting on the mission field!

The first thing we had to fight was the holiday spirit. School ended with end of the year parties. Christmas was coming. The teenager who helps with babies and preschoolers during the preaching time took a holiday from helping. The children were so excited that they couldn’t sit still. They must have all eaten sugar for breakfast. Whatever we were doing they wanted to be doing something else. They didn’t want to learn a new verse (too much like work). I tried to get the wiggles out with more action songs. “If the devil doesn’t like it he can sit on a tack- ouch!” may not contain doctrine but they needed the exercise. We spent more time on crafts and games as the stories got shorter to match the short attention spans. Then one Sunday morning, 2 minutes into the story, Camille sat straight up and glared at me. “Hey. I know this story. You told the same one last year.” I had to laugh. We’ve had the usual Angels told the news, Shepherds came to see, Wise men traveled far and now baby Jesus is growing up with brothers and going to school- 4 weeks of Christmas stories and its just occurred to her that these aren’t brand new stories.

We fought exhaustion. Camp for the national pastors and wives started Tuesday after Christmas. You know what its like when every day you’re preparing for tomorrow and the things you had pulled out for today’s work didn’t all get put away properly? It took a week of work to put away all the school stuff, hold and clean up after S.S. Christmas parties and get ready for out of town guests before camp started. We arrived at camp early to help set up the kitchen and as soon as we sat down for the first Bible lesson – these eyes refused to stay open! How embarrassing. Besides, all the prayer and hard work will be wasted if my brain and eyes don’t cooperate. Between sessions, while others caught up on what’s happened since I’ve seen you last; I took a nap. As the week went by, it became apparent that others in the ministry were having the same problem. Christmas had exhausted us.

We fought death. Several of us have a brother or sister dying still unsaved. Our whole church has been praying for them. Eleanor was still angry that God gave her cancer when they started her on morphine for the pain. We think she died unsaved. Theodore told me that he was afraid of the dark, not ready to meet God but he was also very weak and miserable not really up to visitors. We encouraged him to talk to the Lord. He passed away soon after. Charmain Frantz visited her brother in the hospital after pastor’s camp. She witnessed to him and pressed him to accept Christ as his Saviour. David Whidlend has finished the 6-month treatment for TB but now he’s dying of heart failure. Charmain had to go home to Calvinia Thursday but we promised to keep praying and to visit David again. Praise the Lord! He accepted Christ as his Saviour when we visited Saturday. My brother, Paul, lived through a week long diabetic coma and a stroke. I’m so glad that he’s still alive and able to think clearly. We’re praying for him to realize that he needs a Saviour.

We fought heat, big spiders, and injuries. Remember that this is our summer time. We held a children’s camp during a week long heat wave. We thanked the Lord for every fan that we had. Hikes on the mountain were in the cool morning. (One boy sprained his ankle.) Water in the swimming hole was warm and the sun beat down on heads, arms and legs draped over the floating inner tubes! (One girl slipped and cut her foot getting out of the water: 5 stitches.) One of the men thought of freezing huge blocks of ice to throw in the small pools to cool them down. We 3 ladies in the kitchen took turns either running for a quick cold shower or a short exhausted nap. (Twice I slipped going down the hill and landed shaken and dusty but uninjured.) Trust the kids to keep going when the adults are dying. We had to entertain whoever wasn’t taking an afternoon nap to keep them from going off to explore the mountain on their own. Did I mention that this was the first camp held by pastors and wives with no 19 or 20 yr old volunteers? We all took turns with stories, lessons, sports and kitchen duties.

Through all this the Lord blessed. It’s Ruby’s goal to win all 17 grandchildren to the Lord. Five of them are now attending Sunday school and 16 yr old Kim accepted Christ as Saviour December 5^th. Hayden (16) accepted Christ as his Saviour on a Wednesday night and was baptized on Christmas morning! Tamlin (16) accepted Christ New Year’s eve. We’re hoping to start a new converts class for them when school starts again. Fred Frantz joined our church after months of visiting and thinking about it.

Thank you for all your prayer and support.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Personal Side of Things

2010-10-27T03:55:00.000-07:00

27 October 2010

Dear Pastors and Friends,

It’s good to be home. We’ve unpacked. Once again, thank you for your generosity. We have brand new Bibles to give away, new Sunday School materials to be used, and plenty of ink cartridges to print colorful handwork pages. We have new sheets, towels, sharp knives and Corelle dishes. We have new books to read! Furloughs are better than Christmas!

Our congregation learned to love Brother Richter. They quote him often. If someone is absent they look at each other and wonder out loud, “what do you think? Sick, lame or lazy?” Absentees are quick to tell us, “I wasn’t being lazy.” The new converts are already much loved and an integral part of the congregation. Bro. Richter led them to the Lord. They love him. Two of the ladies couldn’t imagine replacing him with the old pastor whom they had never met! So far, things are going well. We’re still trying to round up some who fell out of regular church attendance while we were gone. Six-year-old Camille is very happy. As she tells it, “my Mother and my Father and my Brother are all being baptized next Sunday!” We’re all looking forward to 5 adults to be baptized on Sunday.

I was so disappointed when Carol told me that she wouldn’t be teaching the preprimary Sunday School class any longer. How could that be? Those children are affectionate, full of energy, bright and communicative. Their lessons are short! What more could a teacher desire? Surprise! The Lord really laid it on her heart to gather all the younger teen girls and teach them the lessons on boys, infatuation, dating and true love put out by the Mailbox Club. The girls greeted this news with groans at first because they were hoping we would start up the Friday baking classes again. Study and fill in little booklets instead of making chocolate cake? The groans have been replaced with smiles. Several of the girls have told me how much they love their time at Carol’s house on Friday afternoons. The discussions are lively and the homework is fun!

Jeff started teaching and preaching again as soon as we were home while I couldn’t seem to figure out which direction to go. (I was trying to find people who didn’t want to be found. Also my alcoholic friends weren’t ready yet to stop drinking.) The Lord has now opened the door for me to teach reading/phonics as a volunteer in the school next to our church. This is the last quarter of the school year but there are still more than 50 first graders who can’t distinguish between mat and man. Besides absolutely loving to make flash cards and point little noses back to the page before them, it gives me more opportunities to meet the people in our own neighborhood on a regular basis.

Now A Note from Judy....

I know that one reason I was in a hurry to get home is that ‘home’ feels safe. It seemed as if coming home the nightmare of malignant tumor and surgery and wondering if that malignancy might show up again one day – it just seemed that it would be over. Okay, life isn’t that easy. I wanted to jump into visitation and teaching but I was something of a basket case sometimes. The month of October has been declared National Breast Cancer Awareness month here in South Africa. There are lots of commercials on TV urging women to go for mammograms. One lady smiles and tells that she was diagnosed just 6 months ago with breast cancer and now everything is fine. Whew, I don’t know how she does it. (maybe it was a case of Cut! Kleenex! Touch up make-up and roll again 20 times) I apparently won’t be on a soap box talking about it with a smile for a long time. Several people in our congregation wanted to know if ‘I was really alright’. Bless them, it is good to know that I am loved. And I am alright. The tears don’t come as often now as they did the first month after surgery. Someone told me that I’d go through a grieving process after surgery. Guess she knew what she was talking about. I ought to list all of the Lord’s tender mercies and little messages of love He’s sent my way before I forget them. Satan challenged the Lord to let him touch Job’s own health and see what would come out. Job passed the test. Judy Blanton isn’t doing so good. Esme Frantz was telling me of her friend who just died of cancer at the age of 60. She had a wonderful life of serving the Lord and a beautiful funeral. Esme is smiling but anger is simmering, coming to a sudden boil in me as the thought comes into my mind that 60 is a short life. (Jeff and I just turned 55.) Lord, what kind of a reward is that? Why didn’t this good woman live 80 yrs? Now where did that anger come from? We aren’t born with a guarantee - 80 yrs if you’re a good Christian. Just a little later in my Bible reading I saw good King Josiah who died at the age of 39. I had to camp there for a little while and consider that. The Lord has ways of answering our questions.

Early in this diagnosis I looked long and hard at Hezekiah. The Bible says that God gave Hezekiah 15 years more than he’d originally planned to give him “but Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him.” Hezekiah served himself the last years of his life. The Lord had a right to expect better of him. I want to be an effective witness for Christ. Please pray that we’ll know, really know what the Lord wants us to do and put heart, soul, time and energy into accomplishing those goals.

Love,

Judy

(Presently very busy with 6 yr olds who would rather be playing outside than looking at meaningless squiggles on paper and other 6 yr olds who are Xhosa speaking and still struggling after 9 months in the English class at school. )

Headed Home

2010-09-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

4 September 2010
Dear Friends,
We are sorting and packing, checking the weights of various bags and going to the post office. Though this was only a six month furlough, we still visited many of you again. We were in 41 churches. Besides photos, we have a collection of church bulletins, the fliers that introduce your church to the community and notes we jotted down as we drove away so that we would remember specific things about you. A couple of months ago, I greeted a church member with the words, “I remember you!” And I did remember him because he reminds me so much of my brother, David. He evidently didn’t believe that I remembered him out of all the church members after being away 4 years and so he asked, “oh yeah? So what’s my name?” He got me! Four years from now I’ll still remember that his name is Bill. You that uphold us in prayer and support us with your missions giving are important to us. We want to know you well enough to also pray specifically for you.
We want to especially thank each of you who prayed for our peace of mind and a speedy recovery after my surgery. The Lord is so good. In the weeks before the second surgery, the Lord spoke to us through pastors and the preaching of His word. Mrs. Albright quoted her husband to me, “cancer is just like sin. Don’t wait. Get it all out now.” Bro. Berry told us, “when cancer first shows up, hit it with all you’ve got. It won’t be as easy to fight it off later.” I soaked a handkerchief while a Sunday School teacher taught from the book of James, “count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations…”. Different sermons at the missionary retreat spoke of the need for courage and the fact that Jesus always has a plan; he knows what he’s doing. Another missionary witnessed of God’s care in her fight against cancer. After my surgery another pastor preached on God’s all-sufficient grace. God’s word is the best medicine. Christian friends are a rich source of comfort and encouragement. The doctor says I’m healing beautifully and fit to travel. The oncologist thinks we’ve seen the last of this malignancy.
Monday, September 6th we fly out of Kansas City to go home to South Africa. Our mailing address is Post Box 19617, Lentegeur 7786, South Africa. Or email joblanton@gmail.com
Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

On the Road

2010-05-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

11 May 2010

Dear Pastors and prayer partners,

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. As I looked around the auditorium I could see grown sons who had traveled to be with their mother in her church for this special day. The choir sang, “ You may have a fancy car, a brand new house that shines by far, you may live to be a 100 yrs old, but if you have not been saved, it all ends in the grave, but I want us to be together in Heaven.” This was not a teen choir; grandparents and parents were giving voice to the desire of every Mother’s heart! The choir sat down as the congregation sang, “Christ Receiveth Sinful Men”. Amen.

We’ve been in several missions conferences. What a thrill to hear that the Lord has missionaries in Viet Nam, a communist country! More missionaries have been called to England and to Mexico where the need is still great. Others have answered the call to countries where we know they’ll be sick often, suffer from oppressive heat, need to learn more than one language and Skype isn’t available. We’ve enjoyed every missionary presentation. Our hearts wanted to go help, to give more and to pray! Surely the Lord spoke to every heart. In one Wednesday through Sunday missions conference, we each had the opportunity to speak to many groups of children. It was a pleasure as the days went by to see that children greeted me enthusiastically. They were beginning to know my name! I’ll take that as a sign that they enjoyed our time together as much as I did. Two other churches decided to give the missionary wife a day off. Pastors, don’t be afraid of overworking the missionary or his wife! We’re here, we are prepared and we want to be a blessing.

Back in South Africa, Brother Richter reports that there are now four new regular visitors. They have a Church of Christ background which has led to discussions of eternal security. Pray that they will understand and believe clear Bible teaching.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Difficult to leave

2010-02-06T02:29:00.000-08:00

6 February 2010

Dear Pastors and friends supporting us with your prayers,

Three weeks ago, Glenda was in church on Sunday morning! I hurried over to greet her. Glenda looks timid, lost and alone even sitting on a pew with other people because she feels so out of place. She has lived in the world of alcoholics who have hit rock bottom for a long time now. I shook her hand and told her how good it was to see her in church. She nodded her head. As I turned to someone else, she tugged on my sleeve. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she whispered, “I came today to repent.” On the way to a quiet room, I asked what had happened that she had made that decision this morning. In the mumbled answer, I only caught the words “I could have died.” We sat and read a few Bible verses and each of us prayed. (It looked like Glenda was saved!) Pam told me later that Glenda had come to visit on Saturday morning. In an effort to witness to her sister, Pam put in a DVD of chalk talk Bible stories and they watched the whole video of 20 Bible stories each closing with an invitation for the lost to come forward and accept Christ as their Saviour! They had discussed the stories and Pam had urged her sister to make a decision for Christ. Glenda finally left saying ‘I need time to think’. Surely Sunday morning was the result of her thinking it over and the Holy Spirit speaking to her heart? Since then it has become obvious that Glenda has slipped back into the world of drinking, fighting, lies and petty thefts.

In Calvinia, Neels Baadjies, walked to Pastor Strafford Frantz’ home to tell him,” I think God wanted me to come here today.” (Neels and Strafford worked together a few years ago painting window and door frames as the new hospital was being built. They are neighbors now and Strafford has been witnessing to him.) They talked for quite a while and then Neels bowed his head and asked Jesus to forgive him of his sins. Afterwards Neels didn’t want to leave. He told Strafford that he was so afraid that he’d go out the gate and right back to the drinking! Strafford assured him that the same Jesus who forgave him was now going to give him the victory over the sin. He went home with Philip. 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” and instruction to crumble all the cigarettes into the toilet and flush it! Neels was in church Sunday morning and evening. Monday morning he came for the first lesson in the series for new believers and asked if we have church tonight, too? “Pastor, no cigarettes or liquor have touched these lips in 2 days! Do you think it’s going to continue to be this easy?” He’s looking forward to being baptized and joining the church.

2 Corinthians 7:10 “ For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” Peter denied the Lord and went out and wept bitterly. He was sorry and turned in faith to God for forgiveness. He never denied the Lord again. Judas Iscariot betrayed the Lord and was so sorry that he threw the money away and hung himself. I talked to Glenda about the difference between the remorse Judas felt and the repentance and faith of Peter. Surely the Lord will continue to work in her life. In some ways it is hard to leave for furlough.

We are flying to Kansas City on the 15^th of February. Thank you for the wonderful response to our letters, emails and phone calls to help fill our furlough schedule. We still have a few dates open. If you would like us to report back, we can be reached at joblanton @gmail.com

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Merry Christmas

2009-12-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

29 December 2009

Dear Pastors and Prayer Partners,

This year we skipped Thanksgiving Day. It just seemed, looking at the calendar and thinking of all the work that needed to be done, that the Thursday marked for Thanksgiving was urgently needed as part of a weeklong trip to visit the churches in Upington and Calvinia. Of course we would miss the fellowship with other missionaries and the time of sharing thanks and singing praises after eating good things but we reasoned that we visit often and can’t we be thankful and praise the Lord even while we drive down the highway? This trip was important. I needed to talk to Sunday School teachers. I also needed to check the other churches’ file drawers of Sunday School material and bring home any envelopes missing a piece of flannel-graph or the lesson plan so that I would have time to fix them before we leave for furlough the 15^th of Feb. Skipping Thanksgiving Day was the dumbest thing we have done in a long time! Two weeks later we were asking ourselves, “What is the matter with us?” We were snapping at each other, making many mistakes and getting tongue tangled – all sure signs of exhaustion. Taking a whole day to sing, pray and talk about how the Lord has blessed us is a wonderful tonic for the body and soul.

Christmas was wonderful! We did get together with other missionaries. We sang all of our favorite carols and thanked the Lord for all he is doing. We’ve had a few naps too!

We’re ready for the New Year and a 3-day camp for national pastors and their wives. Bro. Feni and Anna from Upington, Strafford and Charmaine Frantz from Calvinia, Nicholas and Ursula Perrang from the church in Atlantis will be meeting 10 other independent Baptist pastors and their wives. We American missionaries will be in the kitchen and on the sidelines. It is our desire that the national pastors learn to know and encourage each other.

We hope the Lord blessed you with good health, a good job, unity in your church family, and fellowship with family and friends over these holidays. Happy New Year!

From your missionaries in South Africa,

Jeff & Judy Blanton received………….

More Blessings

2009-11-12T02:58:00.000-08:00

12 November 2009

Dear Pastors and Prayer Partners,

Three boys sat together during the preaching Brent, 12 yrs old, Jodie, 11, and Marco, 12. They confronted me as soon as church was dismissed. Teacher, why doesn’t Marco have a Bible like ours? He got saved at camp, you know. Good question. Camp was back in July! We have a box of beautiful BEAMS Bibles to give out to new converts. After camp, I stopped by Marco’s home several times. Either I was there when it was his weekend with his real mother or the house was full of people and we got sidetracked talking to his father or aunt. I went to fetch a Bible and sat down to talk to Marco. He looked nervous. I explained that these Bibles had been given by people who wanted new Christians to have a Bible of their own. I had heard that he was saved at camp. I just want to know, what did you ask Jesus to do for you when you prayed that day at camp? He brightened right up and told me that he had asked Jesus to forgive him and be his Saviour. He told me that he had wanted to accept Christ as his Saviour in Sunday School but then thought, “what if I got saved and all my sins were gone and then I sinned again?!! Wouldn’t that be bad? And so I didn’t do it. Then I listened to the teaching at camp and I understood. I understood that it would be alright. And so I did it.” Sometimes as a teacher, I am so sure that I see conviction on a face and wonder, “what is hindering that child from being saved today?” We have a wonderful Lord who speaks to individual hearts.

Keith had a sudden pain in his side and was so short of breath that he was utterly miserable. One of his lungs had collapsed! With long lines at the government clinic, a shortage of doctors, chaos with every shift change, it was 24 hours before his lung was re-inflated and he could rest in a bed but Keith was rejoicing when we saw him the second day. He’d led his roommate to the Lord in the early morning. Nyanga died just a few days later.

Tania moved into a tiny backyard apartment near the church a few months ago. She told me that she’d accepted Christ as her Saviour just a year ago while attending the Assembly of God church. She visited our services because we are now so close. It was difficult for her with a 6 yr old and a big baby to walk to her old neighborhood. She attended all of our services for a month and then quit. She started coming again. One Sunday evening she stayed to talk. Tania had started smoking again and some other things were bothering her. She wanted to feel clean. Did I think she should rededicate her life and be baptized again? We looked at 1 John 1:9 and then I turned to John chapter 13 where Jesus is washing the disciples feet. Peter had objected to Jesus washing his dirty feet but Jesus said ‘if I don’t wash you, you aren’t mine’. Now Peter wanted Jesus to wash his feet, hands and head, the equivalent of a bath. In vs 10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed (bathed) needs not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. I explained that Jesus was teaching a great truth, this is an object lesson. Jesus was telling Peter that when he was saved, all of his sins had been forgiven, washed away and he was clean. He was saying, ‘Peter, you disciples have been washed clean, but not all, - that refers to Judas Iscariot’. Tania interrupted me, “You mean Judas had never… Judas had never been baptized?” Then she gave her head a little shake, “no. That’s not it. Is it? It’s not the water.” We went back to 1 John 1:9. We confess our sins and He washes every sin away (one bath) and then for the rest of our lives, we confess the sins that sneak in or pop up and He washes our feet to keep us clean. Pray for Tania to come faithfully that she might learn and grow. I think also that she’s been to several churches listening to different teaching. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and another they will not follow.” Pray that she’ll know which church is teaching the truth and stick to it.

The Lord has really blessed us. Albert Richter and his wife, Sandy, have recently returned to South Africa after years of working and living in Australia. They came back to South Africa when Sandy needed medical care not covered by their insurance in Australia. This couple loves the Lord. They worked for years representing Regular Baptist Press Sunday School material. Albert has experience both preaching and pastoring. They have years of experience training Sunday School teachers. Albert is working as a tax accountant both to earn a living and pay for medical insurance. They couldn’t see their way clear to starting deputation to raise full time support at their age but asked the Lord if they could do relief work for missionaries. Albert has been preaching and helping another Independent Baptist missionary who suffered a heart attack and needed to curtail his activities and stress level for a while. He comes highly recommended. We feel as though the Lord has given us a precious unexpected gift. As South Africans they speak both English and Afrikaans. They have a heart for the Coloured people. And they would love to help our church for 6 months while we are gone on furlough!

We are planning on being in the States from March 2010 – August 2010, 6 months. If you would like us to report back to your church during this time please let me know so we can work out a time. I can be reached at joblanton@gmail.com or jblanton@telkomsa.net , we also receive normal mail at PO Box 19617, Lentegeur 7786, South Africa.

Your Missionaries,
Jeff & Judy Blanton

Rejoicing!!!

2009-10-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Jeff & Judy Blanton

South Africa

14 October 2009

Dear Pastors and prayer partners,

We’re praising the Lord that Ambrose accepted Christ as his Saviour! We’ve known him since he was about 7 years old. Ambrose is bright, he could read before other kids his age had learned yet but he had some problems. While most others sat quietly, Ambrose patted his knees with his hands or snapped his fingers by his knees. He turned his head and watched the flannel graph pictures change using only his peripheral vision or cocked his head toward the ceiling while listening to the story. He never volunteered to answer a question but when I called on him, he knew the right answers. We got used to Ambrose being different. If something catches his interest, he’s intensely interested, otherwise he’s in his own world. He doesn’t look people in the eye, doesn’t care for conversation and he isn’t interested in making friends.

Ambrose turned 13 yrs old. He seems calmer, chewing gum during church instead of patting his knees. The teen SS class doesn’t use flannel graph. They discuss verses and fill in an outline. Ambrose is bored and his attention wanders. Keith calls on Ambrose frequently in an effort to help him focus. Ambrose started coming to Friday afternoon teen time. He doesn’t listen well. Pretty soon the others his age are looking at him because he’s done or said something that seems odd with the result that Ambrose often bursts out with, “what are you staring at?” He’s been dragging his feet on Sunday mornings to the point that his Mother had to leave him at home a few times.

Wilma had told us a couple of years ago that Ambrose prayed with her at home asking Jesus to be his Saviour but we’ve never been able to get him to talk about it. So we were surprised Sunday when Ambrose came forward and asked to be baptized.

We were talking about Ambrose on Thursday. Keith was concerned that he might not be saved. Part of their SS lesson that same morning brought out the fact that Nicodemus didn’t understand how to be saved. Keith called on Ambrose to tell the class how to be saved. Ambrose tried to explain it but got confused and quit. Why did he ask to be baptized an hour later? We talked about how difficult it is to get Ambrose to answer a question with a whole sentence instead of a shrug, a look, or mumbles. We prayed. We prayed that the Lord would help us get his attention and that Ambrose would open up and talk! We prayed for his salvation.

There was a youth rally Friday night. I picked Ambrose up first and asked him to sit up front in the pick-up. “Ambrose, tell me again why you want to be baptized?” “Pastor, I want to make sure my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (Now that is a whole sentence! Something from the sermon got through too.) “That’s good Ambrose. But being baptized isn’t how you get your name in the Book of Life.” “Oh.” It looked like Ambrose deflated. He turned his head toward the window. I explained that baptism is a witness after salvation. Was he listening?

At the rally, Ambrose leaned forward and listened intently for 30 minutes! The guest speaker told that God compares each of us to his own perfect Son and we fall short. He gave an illustration of a time in his own life when he knew that he’d ‘blown it’. Only mercy had saved him. He got out his Passport and talked about the Visa that allowed him to come into South Africa. His desire to come and the money spent on the ticket would have been wasted without that Visa. Ambrose raised his hand for prayer.

Time to go home and Ambrose rushed for the seat up front! We got on the road and I asked, “Ambrose what did you think of the speaker?” He said, “I’ve figured it out. I need to be more like Jesus!” “Good. Now how are you going to do that?” He thought about it a long time before he answered, “I can’t be like Jesus. I’ve blown it. I need that Visa to get into heaven.” “And how do you get the Visa, Ambrose?” “Pastor, I really did listen but I don’t know how to get the Visa.” “Ambrose, all you have to do is ask.” “Just ask?” “Ambrose, if you needed bread and went to the shop –what would you ask for?” He looked at me like I was crazy. “So would you hand the man your money and say ‘give me a Coke’?” No! “Ambrose, people tell me that they want to be forgiven, want Jesus as their Saviour, want their name in the Lamb’s Book of Life but when I ask them to pray… They say, “our Father which art in heaven…” Ambrose do you know that prayer? Yes, he can say that prayer. Is there anything in that prayer about wanting Jesus as your Saviour or your name in the Book of Life? No, not really. “Ambrose, talk to the Lord and ask for what you want.” By this time, we’d dropped the other teens off at their homes. We pulled over and Ambrose prayed a long prayer asking the Lord to be his Saviour.

Look what God did. When we thought Ambrose was in his own world, the Lord got his attention. The Lord focused our attention on Ambrose so that we prayed for him. The Lord sent a good speaker. We didn’t think Ambrose could pay attention for more than a few minutes but he kept that train of thought through a 30-minute devotion and a 30-minute drive home! The Holy Spirit opened his understanding and brought conviction. He wasn’t just parroting words. In the middle of his long prayer, he slowed down, and then he said, “Lord, you know, I prayed this prayer before… back then I was just saying the words but this time I really mean it.” I filled the baptistery and baptized Ambrose on Sunday

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Good intentions not enough

2009-09-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Pastors and praying friends,

Last month we ordained Nicholas Perrang to the Gospel Ministry. Immediately afterwards, Bro. Perrang baptized a few more converts and all the baptized members signed the charter organizing into the Atlantis Bible Baptist Church. It was a wonderful day of rejoicing for all of us. An odd thing happened that day. Bro. Perrang and another man came to tell us later that a woman caught up in the excitement of the hour jumped into the line and signed the charter as a founding member who didn’t qualify to be a church member! She had attended their services for months. She professed to be born again but came from a charismatic church in Namibia. They had urged her to accept Baptist baptism and become a member but she had refused. Bro. Perrang couldn’t get to her fast enough to quietly pull her out of the line before she signed as a member. A few weeks later, our ladies hosted a ladies meeting on National Women’s Day and invited the ladies of Atlantis BBC to join us. Between times for lessons, handcrafts and refreshments we all had a good time getting better acquainted. At some point I found myself sitting next to this lady. She was smiling and telling me how she had realized that day that she just had to be a part of this church. Yet I knew that 3 weeks had gone by since that day and she’s still not baptized.

Desmond stood up in church and testified that his heart had been touched and he’d decided that he needed to do something, to stand up and be a part of this church and really serve the Lord. Weeks later different ones were asking “Pastor, why hasn’t Desmond been baptized yet?” Because after that church service Desmond has never responded to the invitation to walk down the aisle and ask to be baptized and join the church!

Siann stayed after a church service for almost an hour and we went through the Romans Road and talked about repentance and salvation. I didn’t know Siann very well. When my mind searched for an example of repentance I had no idea that the one I came up with would land like a brick on her toes. I told Siann that some people wanted to accept Christ as their own ‘get out of hell free card’ while they continued with the life of sin that they were enjoying. True repentance means that we agree with God that sin is wrong, feel some sorrow over that sin and agree to give it up. So if a woman had perhaps been living with her boyfriend acting as though they were married and she asked the Lord to be her Saviour, she would have to go home afterwards and tell her boyfriend that she wouldn’t be sleeping with him anymore. Siann wanted some time to think about all of this. I visited her in her home a few days later and she told me that she’d made up her mind. She asked the Lord to be her Saviour with a very short prayer. It’s been several months now and Siann is still living with her boyfriend. She assures me that they are planning on getting married and he is going to pay a lawyer and adopt her 4 year old little girl too so both the children will have the same last name, etc. But they aren’t married.

This past Saturday we had another ladies meeting. Two of our long time members gave their testimonies. One lady ended her testimony with “and every week after the preaching, I look into the class where the littlest ones are coloring and my heart goes out to them. They are so precious and I want so much to be in there with them but my husband doesn’t want me to get so involved. So I have to be content with knowing that I’m being a submissive wife.” I was shocked. She wasn’t even asking us to pray that the Lord would change his heart!

Each of them is acting as though good intentions are the same as having actually done it! We’re trying to build churches here. “What doth hinder?” and Philip baptizing the Ethiopian keep going through my mind. Pray for all of us. Pray that we will serve the Lord with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

A Saint Goes Home

2009-07-15T23:48:00.000-07:00

Dear Pastors and praying friends,

We buried Michael Whitlend on the 20th of June. Funerals for the saved sure are better than those for the lost. As I stood before the packed auditorium, I was able to give them Michael’s own testimony. A year ago, Michael was doing his best to avoid me as I visited in his parent’s home before his father’s death and during the time of his Dad’s funeral. But when Michael himself became seriously ill, he called for me. By the time I got to the hospital, he’d changed his mind about calling for the preacher. Said he’d been thinking about it and realized that he’d been prepared to bargain with God; but it won’t work, Pastor. It doesn’t work like that does it? At that point Michael wanted God to restore his health so he could go back to work to earn the money to support his drug habit! He’d been quite content with his life. It was weeks later that Michael confessed his sin and accepted Christ as his Saviour. He lived another six months with drug resistant TB. He couldn’t walk a block down the street without almost fainting from difficulty breathing. He didn’t stand before the church to give a public testimony, he wasn’t baptized and didn’t become a member though when an old acquaintance asked ‘do you still smoke (drugs) as much as you used to?’ he answered, ‘no. I read my Bible now.’ At the close of the funeral sermon his aunt raised her hand for prayer. When we returned from the cemetery she came to tell me that she needed to do what Michael had done. Levine was ready to ask Christ to be her Saviour. Levine’s husband is quite uncomfortable with her decision to accept Christ as her Saviour. He has been quite active in his own church for years, living a life of good works. His fellow church members obviously agree as they’ve made him a deacon. He knows people who talk about accepting Christ as Saviour and being ‘born again’ but he doesn’t see any need for it himself since he’s never really been a sinner.

We’ve just finished with taking children and teenagers back and forth to the various camps for their age groups. Keith and I have become the unofficial fix-it guys for the camp. This year we fixed a hot water heater and hung baboon proof lights in the shell of a new all-purpose building. Some of those kids thought the invasion of 30 baboons that came from the top of the mountain looking for food was the highlight of camp! Kim, one of our church members, led 2 of the girls in her cabin to the Lord. 10-year-old Marco has been attending Sunday School for the past few months as he’s come to live with his real father and stepmother now. Belinda (his stepmother) testified at Ladies meeting that Marco came to tell her that he’d accepted Christ and asked 15 yr old stepbrother Hayden, ‘so, when are you going to get your heart right’? She welcomed him with the words “now, there are 2 of us to pray for the family. I’m not alone anymore.”

Thank you for sending us to South Africa,

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Sunday School

2009-05-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

27 May 2009

Dear Pastors and prayer partners,

One of the national pastors called to ask for Sunday School lessons for all ages, in Afrikaans to teach how we got our Bible. Teach something of the men God inspired to write. How about a song with a catchy tune to teach the names of the Books of the Bible? (in Afrikaans not English) Knowing that we’ve been missionaries so long and used to work exclusively in Afrikaans, he was pretty confident that I could open a file drawer and pull out a series of 6 – 8 lessons complete with handwork and take-home pages!

Now this is something I’ve roughly pieced together myself in the past when I also had the idea that it would be useful and interesting. Unfortunately, we never did have a complete series dedicated to this theme. If it had been done in English, and if we’d had it, we could have simply translated it. I called another missionary who also works in Afrikaans. She didn’t know of any such series by any good

Sunday School publishers either. We decided it was worth taking the time to work on it together, to get it right and do 6 sets for the 6 churches we know are using Afrikaans. We raided our respective files for anything that might help, worked up an outline and set some goals. Deciding to do it was easy! Getting it done is another story: keep it simple but include all the important and interesting stuff, keep it interesting; find pictures or think of interesting objects to keep the kids attention… I had all the kids think of as many ways as they could to leave an important message if they had no pencil, pen or paper… they thought of writing on the ground with a stick or better yet writing it on the wall in blood! Then we talked about how the Lord prepared Moses to write the first books of the Bible by having him adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, who sent him to school in a time when Egypt had invented paper but also often carved on stone, wrote on clay tablets or engraved on metal. When Moses broke the stone tablets God had made, he had to make the second set himself! Cathy and I determined not to break any copy write laws. If I have only one page of a coloring book, showing Moses dressed as an Egyptian writing on a long sheet of papyrus – no running off 6 copies. Pray for us. I need creativity, inspiration, and brevity.

I’m trying out my ideas on our present English speaking Sunday School. iTunes offers several different groups singing the Books of the Bible (English). You can download for $ .99 the Justus Brothers singing the Books of the Old and New Testaments from their Open Any Door album or Thing-a-ma-kid singing Books of the Old Testament, Books of the New Testament from their Sunday Bible Tunes album!

Pray that God will call more Sunday School teachers. Pray that God will call men out of our ministries to serve as Pastors. Pray that God will give many good gifts to his servants – we need more who can do things like put a tune to the Books of the Bible in Afrikaans.

Thank you for sending us to South Africa,

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

FINISHED

2009-05-27T13:37:00.000-07:00

19 April 2009

Dear Pastor and Prayer Partners,

When Strafford casually said, “Pastor, we started building 8 months ago today” I thought, “no, that can’t be right”. I checked the calendar later and sure enough, this small building has taken 8 months to build! Almost everything that could go wrong; did go wrong. Listen to the last tribulation; we had wired the building and passed inspection. All we needed was for the Power Company to run a line from the street to our building and hook it up! Strafford called to report that he flipped the lights on as soon as the electricians had packed up and gone. The fluorescent fixtures glowed brightly for a few seconds and then bulbs began to blow! He quickly switched them off even as his brain was registering that they smelled burnt and had made odd noises. An electrician with years of experience mistakenly hooked us up with 415 volts (which is what the farms use) instead of 220 volts. That took a few days to straighten out and someday they will process the paper work and reimburse us for a dozen fluorescent tubes! Everyone is glad that the church didn’t have a refrigerator or computer!

We held the building dedication in Calvinia over the Easter weekend with good groups from Upington and Mitchell’s Plain also attending. We will forget the swarms of mosquitoes that dive bombed innocent sleepers and remember the good stuff!

In a quiet time, Carmen (in her 30’s) gathered the teenagers together and shared her testimony. Like many of them she grew up in poverty because both of her parents were drinking heavily. The Lord helped her to finish High School, get some secretarial/office training and make a life of her own. After her testimony, a couple of the teenagers asked Kim (20 yrs old) about her life. They were amazed that Kim has been a Christian for so long! (since she was 9 yrs old) They asked her if she doesn’t find it difficult to live a Christian life. Kim admitted that sometimes she does find herself in places and situations where she suddenly realizes that a Christian shouldn’t be here. She was able to tell them that it’s not hard to turn around and leave when you really want to please the Lord. One of Calvinia’s teens promised to try again to live a life pleasing to the Lord.

Everyone was admiring the building. It has that brand new, not a fingerprint on it yet, beauty. And one of the men said, “built by tithes…this is what we can do when we all tithe.” At the beginning of the morning service, Pastor Frantz reminded the people that as soon as they’d had a small group meeting regularly they had saved from the tithes to purchase this land. Bro. Feni charged the new congregation that they should continue in tithing and go forward in the Lord’s work. At home again on Wednesday night when Jeff asked for testimonies, Keith said – “we built that church. We sent Strafford, we prayed, we supported them from our tithes and offerings. We preached while Pastor was gone. We built that church!” (We had originally borrowed $10,000 from the revolving fund. When everyone was talking about worldwide inflation and the Dollar being so down – we decided to see how far we could get without using borrowed money. The Lord was really good to us. Last month we returned the $10,000 to the Missions Office.)

Faith (16) shared her testimony with Raymie and Leroy, teens from Calvinia. Jermaine (17) didn’t speak to anyone he didn’t already know! And neither did 15 yr old Byron. So it wasn’t perfect. Most of our people moved around and met others from both congregations. It was good, really good to have 3 churches together for this celebration.

Thank you for sending us to South Africa.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Almost Finished

2009-03-07T13:50:00.000-08:00

Greetings from South Africa,

Everybody keeps asking, “Is the building done yet? When’s the dedication? Are they using it yet?” No. Don’t know. And yes! Yes, the congregation in Calvinia is using the building, but we have not been able to finish it. It has been painted inside and out, the bathrooms are in and working, the building has been wired and lights fitted. When we had an electrician’s certificate in hand saying that we’d done all required of us and were ready to be hooked up; the one municipal technician was first off to a conference and then started a 2-week vacation! We need power to finish the eaves, cut the floor tiles and do the baptistery lid. We are patiently waiting. As far as a dedication service, I am hoping that we will be able to have it during the school Easter break.

The world economic recession has also come to South Africa. After gasoline prices stabilizing they are back on the rise; this time the American dollar is getting the blame. As Americans, we get tired of hearing America blamed for all the ups and downs of the world economy! The American dollar had been low and it was time for that pendulum to swing the other way for a while. There has been another round of factories closing their doors due to the loss of overseas (American) contracts. One reason that offerings are down in several congregations is that people who were tithing have lost

their jobs. The government suggests that the unemployed go into business for themselves! Please pray for our people who are seeking employment.

Last Sunday could have been called Cousin Sunday. Almost every visitor introduced to me was someone’s cousin; even a family of regular visitors brought a cousin and his wife. All total we had 76 present with 22 of them being under the age of 6. Judy really had her hands full.

We want to thank you for your faithfulness towards us.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

New Year

2009-01-05T15:19:00.000-08:00

Dear Pastors and Prayer Partners,

As monthly prayer letters go; this letter is late. It’s easy to write letters when everything is going well, when people are getting saved and growing, when we’re excited. This letter is late because we got tired and down in the dumps!

This is our end of the school year; summer vacation, Christmas and New Year slump time. It happens every year. School has ended. The children who passed are breathing a sigh of relief and the ones who failed are ducking their heads in shame. School is out and they think Sunday School should close for the summer as well! Besides it’s hot and they’re tired and want to stay home, visit grandma or head for the beach. Even with 21 teens at the Christmas Party we were missing 5 and then Sunday morning only 2 came for Sunday School. We’re ready for them to get their enthusiasm back again.

Counting our blessings:

This past year we rejoiced as our son, Michael, returned after a 12-month tour of Afghanistan. We weren’t expecting our 42 yr old son-in-law, Lynn Curry, to get called up for Baghdad! But the Lord has been watching over him and he should be back with Jennifer and the children in April.

What a blessing Skype has been to us! May its inventor/ founder be blessed coming and going! We thought email was a wonder till Skype came along. It’s so good to hear voices and so much easier to chat than to type long letters.

We’d like to thank the Lord for His continual watch over us. In Kansas, our daughter Sherry’s car turned circles in the other lane and then slid off the road into a ditch without anyone being injured. Here in South Africa, Jeff pulled out of a parking lot into the nearest lane of traffic at the same time that someone else changed lanes without signaling any such intention. I’m convinced angels jumped in to prevent a disaster.

What a year financially! Prices went up and the dollar went down. The Lord must laugh at human attempts to understand, predict and control the stock market. It looks to me as though the world is headed for another Great Depression but the Lord works on an entirely different plane. He has provided everything we needed. The savings account is smaller but we aren’t in debt. We thank the Lord for you, our supporting churches and your faithfulness.

The church building in Calvinia is almost finished. We’re tired. Perhaps we got stretched a little too thin and some things suffered because we couldn’t do all the usual things and build at the same time. Our church members, who had been working and witnessing, worked harder while Jeff was away. But the ones who need constant visits to encourage them towards faithfulness, weren’t so faithful.

Several new teenagers have been visiting. Delia, 15 yrs old, accepted Christ as her Saviour. Also, Tino, 28 yrs old, has been attending Sunday mornings for a couple of months now. He accepted Christ as his Saviour the first Sunday in Dec. and was baptized yesterday, 4^th of January. His Mother, sister and brother-in-law came to see him be baptized. That was a good way to start the New Year.

Your Missionaries

Jeff & Judy Blanton

We are building!!!!!

2008-09-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

Dear Pastors and Praying Friends,

The adventure has started. We’ve been working on the building in Calvinia for a month now. It hasn’t been boring.

Challenge #1 Living arrangements: I’m staying in the pastor’s home. I have a foam mattress, sleeping bag and other stuff to pull out on the living room floor at night. I’m trying not to disrupt their normal life. They have one small bathroom and only turn the hot water heater on in the evening. The tiny mirror in the bathroom is positioned for children. I’m too old to hang a mirror on the tree and fill my helmet with warm water for a shave. I have a beard now. It’s a real joke at home in Mitchells Plain. Camiel, 4 yrs old, told her Mama we have a new pastor now. Our pastor went off to build in Calvinia and the man who came back is someone else! She can’t see it’s me under this white beard.

The Frantz family object to my eating 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and half a can of pork-n-beans for lunch. “Pastor, that’s prison food!” Charmaine has learned to make gravy after no amount of urging could convince me to eat either mayonnaise or chutney on my rice and they thought it a pity to see Pastor eating plain rice with the chicken and green beans.

Challenge #2: Winter. Calvinia is in the middle of a desert. Winter is drawing to a close but temperatures still often fall to below freezing at night. This wreaks havoc with sundried cement brick making. Some batches of bricks were brittle and had to be broken up and recycled. Cold rains have also slowed the work down. Never have I spent so much time looking at the weather forecasts!

Challenges #3,4 & 5: Location, budgets and time. Pastor Frantz chose a plot for its visibility on a main street across from the health clinic, on a hill. First we tried to level the ground with a backhoe. Then we dug the footings, and laid the foundation walls over 6 feet high on one side, only 18 inches high on the other side (think of a walk out basement) because we couldn’t level the whole hill and didn’t want to build a retaining wall. (For those who remember the photo and think ‘it looked flat to me’ all I can say is looks can be deceiving.) Budgets and time schedules are apparently papers to chuckle over some time in the future. The desert is one or two inches of sand over rock. It took a long time to chip out those footings, dig the baptistery and septic tank with men, pick axe and shovels. Back filling and tamping down has taken another week. I never dreamed it would take a month just to do the foundation! Also building 5 hours from the big city, 1 ½ hours from the nearest big town means that absolutely everything costs 30 -50% more because of delivery charges. It does no good to think ‘but it only costs so much in Cape Town’ this isn’t Cape Town. Inflation means prices are going up and quality is going down. Today’s metal window frames are only half as thick as previously and rust. I wouldn’t have dreamed that I’d be thanking the Lord for previously used steel window frames; but after much searching and comparing prices and quality; that’s exactly what I’m doing. The Lord blessed us with all the second hand window frames we needed, for the price of just one new window frame. Hallelujah.

Next Challenge: back at home. (from Judy) Jeff leaves Monday and comes home Thursday or Friday. Things go wrong when husbands are gone. So far the shower drain and one sink were going down v-e-r-y slowly. The car only started on the 4^th or 5^th try. The bulb went out on my sewing machine and I couldn’t even figure out how to get the blown one out to replace it. It’s no fun cooking for just myself and it’s awfully quiet around here! Lessons in appreciation for a good husband and reminders to pray for all the women whose guys are overseas. The normal stuff is still going fairly well. Jeff found time to help the kids make their pine wood cars for the grand prix. Isaac and Keith are teaching on Wednesday nights. Everyone at home is helping more with regular church work.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Time to Pray

2008-07-23T07:10:00.000-07:00

23 July 2008

Dear Pastors and praying friends,

Camp is over! Whew. Some of the counselors were a little disappointed that there weren’t more children saved at camp this year. (That’s because most of them were already saved! It’s something you only do once.) Bringing the children home, they told us every exciting thing they’d done. Faith and Albie both announced that they want to be camp counselors as soon as they’re old enough. Jeff noticed Ambrose was singing the new songs he’d learned as he brought his bag out to the pickup. We visited Jodie’s unsaved Mom a few days later and asked if Jodie had talked much of his camp time. So now we know that Jodie wasn’t impressed with the number of vegetables in Chinese stir-fry or with his taste of sushi. Did he talk about any of the lessons? Talk about? She peeked in the bedroom and saw Jodie with an open Bible giving a lesson to grandpa and his 19 yr old brother! Grandpa finally said, “That’s enough for now”. And big brother told him, “Yeah, yeah, we all know you’re going to grow up to be a Pastor. Save it for someone else.” His Mama thought it was quite a joke. 9 yr old Jodie is the only Christian in the home. His brother has been a drug addict since he was 15 yrs old and has stolen everything in the house that was small enough to carry to support his habit. Jodie accepted Christ as his Saviour May 30 and is always one of the first at church. He comes Sunday and Wednesday evenings as well. His Mama figures he’s going through a phase; like the year that he refused to cut his hair so he was the only kid on the block with an Afro and he’d accept any wild dare so all the other kids called him George of the Jungle. Grandpa has told us that Jodie often invites him to church. Pray that we and Jodie will be effective witnesses in this household. And wouldn’t it be something if he did grow up to be a Pastor?

Brent has told everyone that he’s almost a teenager since he had his 11^th birthday. He also accepted Christ as his Saviour May 30. He really wanted to be baptized but his Mother doesn’t believe that he’s old enough to understand the decision that he’s made. His aunt got all excited about church and told everyone she was saved at the same age and she’s an alcoholic now, which just goes to prove that kids this age can’t really understand this stuff. He may be a well-behaved kid at church but she assures us he’s something else at home! When Brent’s Dad sees us in the living room, he does an about right face and goes in through the kitchen door!

Children are such a blessing! We brag on them as much as other people brag on their grandchildren! Many of the children who attend each Sunday have lazy parents at home enjoying a cup of coffee in the quiet house. I honestly think they tell their friends in the neighborhood to also send their kids over to the church so they too can enjoy a lazy, quiet Sunday morning! We visit these parents often but so far very few of them have accepted Christ as Saviour. We’re afraid the children are actually learning that church is for little children and old ladies. Pray for us to be effective witnesses and pray that the Holy Spirit will convict, really convict these hearts.

Matters of the Heart and Wallet…

For a few months now we’ve been discussing finances. Inflation, a poor exchange rate for the Dollar, changes in our bookkeeping system and in what’s considered taxable by Social Security have all given us something to think about.

We’ve even been having some little disagreements in the grocery store. When a price really jumps, I figure they’ll put it “on sale” next week at the regular price so I’ll just wait till next week! Jeff on the other hand has some other mindset and apparently isn’t above putting things in the shopping cart when I’m not looking. I’ve threatened to leave him at home next time I go shopping. Joking aside, I began to worry about Charmaine Frantz in Calvinia.

Also Jeff has been looking at building costs. He had planned to start putting up a building for the church in Calvinia and then had to wait. All the prices for building materials are soaring. If our mission church borrows $10,000 at 7 Rand per dollar and the exchange rate swings to 9 Rand per Dollar; they could borrow R70,000 and need to repay R90,000. The answer to this is to borrow as little as possible!

Missionary and Pastor needed to discuss finances. What could they afford to repay per month on a building loan? So it was off the Calvinia to discuss money eye to eye.

In the meantime, we talked with our people here. We discussed what a family of five might need these days for groceries. They voted to give the Frantz family a substantial increase in their monthly support. They also brought groceries and gifts to send with us. It was good to see how they love their home missionary.

Strafford had lost his part-time job (the contractor is looking for another contract!). Charmaine had worked for various people who hadn’t paid her. The other church that had been supporting them dropped their support. Tithes and offerings are really down. (We were stunned. As often as we pick up the phone to chat, they hadn’t told us any of this.)

Now we were worried about the church in Upington. It’s apparently a sad fact that some people tighten the budget by cutting their church giving. Brother Feni and Anna have been praying earnestly over this situation.

How do we put up buildings for mission churches? Usually the mission’s congregation has grown to the point where they can carry some of the costs. The other churches ought to be at a point where they can support their own pastor and help the new church. And the well-supported missionary generously gives out of the money available to him. And yes, churches in America help by supporting the revolving fund and with special gifts as they feel led. At this moment we have a problem and the answer isn’t to plead for more American help. (We do appreciate all that you folks have done.)

We need to win more adults especially men to the Lord. Single moms living on welfare are precious souls and we rejoice over the salvation of teens and children. But to build strong churches; we need dedicated men! Pray for us. Pray that each member will learn to be an effective soul winner. Pray that our members will have a heart for the work of the Lord and worship Him with their tithes and offerings.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton, South Africa

True Stories

2008-05-09T00:17:00.000-07:00

8 May 2008

Dear Pastor and Prayer Partners,

Your Missionaries,

The garage door swung up and a man’s voice was saying, “Pastor, I just don’t know what to do with my wife.” I thought, “oops, not for my ears!” and turned to leave the kitchen when I heard Jeff say, “Have you tried taking her to a book store?” I was hooked, my feet stayed planted. “Books are expensive! Women like restaurants.” “Books aren’t expensive at the second hand shops. Look in the windows next time you pass a bookshop; it will be full of women. They can stay happy in there for hours. And when you come out, you get an ice cream cone and walk on the beach! It works with my wife.” I left chuckling; I think Jeff deserves that ice cream cone for his patience! Keith had better study his own wife and figure out what she likes. Not everyone enjoys reading. But everyone likes stories especially true stories.

True stories of real people capture the attention. Though camp is still six weeks away, we’re gearing up for it. At counselor orientation, I taught ‘How to Lead a Child to Christ’. To illustrate some important points I wanted to make, I began with 3 simple stories of true conversion experiences. I knew they were true because I chose Jeff’s story, my own and one of our daughter’s. I challenged the would be young counselors to think about and write down their own stories giving careful attention to ‘where’s the repentance’. One of our own young ladies who’d been at orientation told me she’d received an odd phone call later. One of the guys called to ask if it was her Pastor and wife at orientation? He wanted to know if we were ‘for real’? Kim assured him that she’d heard our testimonies before. I’d told the teen girls class before of 5 year old Sherry coming out of her bedroom one night in tears to tell us that she couldn’t sleep until she got saved. A few years later she came out of bed in tears again with the same words! What? Haven’t we been through this before? The first time, 6 year old Jenny had been leaning down from the top bunk whispering, “you know, Sherry, if Jesus comes tonight, Daddy and Mommy are saved, and I’m saved and Stephanie and Michael are just babies, so we’ll all go to heaven and you’ll be left here all alone if you don’t get saved.” No wonder she couldn’t sleep! We pray for the Holy Spirit to work and we’re all waiting for children and teens to step forward but we’ve got to ask a few questions and listen to each child individually before we start quoting Bible verses. Kim’s friend was supposed to be writing his own testimony (emphasis on: where’s the repentance?) but he got stuck comparing his own story to ours. “I haven’t had any grand adventures, nothing good like that has ever happened to me.” Kim was sure that her friend meant that his conversion was ordinary and not that he wasn’t saved. Grand adventures? At first I laughed and then I thought about it. Yep, when Jesus spoke to my heart and I understood clearly that without Him as my Saviour I couldn’t go to heaven; it was grand! And accepting Him was the start of grand adventures! Perhaps after camp this young man will be able to say, “the lights were out, when this kid came out of his bunk to tell me, I’ve got to accept Jesus as my Saviour before I can go to sleep”.

Sunday evening Carol asked us to pray for a neighbor she’s been witnessing to. Early Monday morning Mrs. Hendricks called to tell her, “I’m ready to accept Jesus if I can come over for a minute”. Grand adventures and lots of stories still to be written!

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Rejoicing

2008-04-02T03:46:00.000-07:00

27 March 2008

Greetings from South Africa,

We had a great Easter weekend. In South Africa more people attend church services on Good Friday than any other day of the year. So Keith and I canvassed the neighborhood around the church with over 1200 tracts and invitations to our Good Friday and Easter Sunday services. On Friday morning I went to the church just a bit earlier than usual to make sure everything was ready and sure enough visitors started showing up 15 minutes ahead of our members. By the time everybody arrived we had 68 in attendance with 10 being first time visitors. Sunday we did not have quite so many but we did have repeat visitors from Friday. It was a real blessing, we felt we had such a good reward for our work. Of course visitors give us good prospects for the next visits as well. Even while we rejoice over visitors, we often wonder where are the regulars? Ten Alexander grandchildren had missed church so we stopped by their house to discover the twins have chicken pox and one of the cousins has German measles!

We watched a new subdivision of houses going up and started knocking doors as soon as people were moving in. Carmen lives right on the line of the older homes so the new ones are her neighbors. She’s welcomed, befriended and invited many. 13 year old Aiden started coming and accepted Christ as his Saviour!

Over in Calvinia Brother Frantz is also rejoicing. Strafford has been praying, “Lord, where are the men?” for some time now. Some men have made professions of faith but never followed through with baptism and soon faded from the scene. Geradhus van Schalkwyk accepted Christ as his Saviour, followed in baptism and is coming for discipleship twice a week besides attending regular services! Please pray for Brother Frantz and for us as we get ready to build their very own church building. (baptistry in photo rented from Assembly of God.)

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

New Beginnings

2008-02-14T02:07:00.000-08:00

14 February 2008

Dear Pastors and friends who uphold us in prayer,

This year seemed to start with more New Year’s resolutions, challenges and changes than other years.

Pam earnestly prayed that this year would bring freedom to her family. For years now her drug addicted son has plagued the whole family. With Mama to protect him, he’s stolen money from her wallet, the video machine and small appliances, his sisters’ name brand tennis shoes, cell phones and lunch money. As long as Mama bailed him out and begged his sisters not to show up in court after they’d charged him, nothing was going to change. This time she did it. She got another court order for him to stay away. She changed the locks and when he broke the window and came in, she called the police and allowed them to take him away. Godfrey Louw is 26 years old. His sins are going to have real consequences for the first time. Now there’s a chance that he’ll repent.

Hazel and Isaac have also decided to quit giving grocery money and money for Pampers to a drug addicted daughter and husband.

For Carol May, this is the year that her sister will die. Caring for Dawn has now become a full time job. Nothing more can be done to curb the growth of the brain tumor. When she lost the ability to swallow, doctors put a feeding tube through her abdomen. Carol is doing a marvelous job of keeping to the schedule for feeding and medicine and preventing infection and bedsores. Carol was always the first to volunteer to help clean the church and Judy’s personal visitation partner. It’s our turn this year to be there for her as her vigil is a lonely one.

Godfrey Petersen feels the Lord would like him to start working with the teens. He’s organized a mountain hike for Saturday morning.

And this is the year we’ll help build a church building in Calvinia. Strafford and Charmaine left here full of real faith, enthusiasm and youthful energy. Dry desert heat, clouds of mosquitoes in the night and the search for safe drinking water didn’t slow them down. They survived homesickness. (two sets of grandparents, siblings and cousins wanting to know why they couldn’t come back to Cape Town for weekend visits!) They’ve been through the honeymoon year when they were new to the neighborhood. In the first year, attendance is often high. The curious and bored come to see what’s new. The window shoppers looking for the perfect church come for a few months or a year before they go window-shopping again. The beggars, con-artists and thieves come to see what they can get. In that first year, Strafford had plans drawn up for a big beautiful auditorium. When he asked, “Pastor, what do you think!?” I asked, “Strafford, how many are tithing?” Now they’ve been through the year of seeing people leave. Adults who made quick professions with no real repentance have gone back to the sins that kept them busy before. Teenagers who had learned to stand up and give testimonies have left one at a time to join the Saturday night drinking and dancing. Children who used to flock to Kids Bible club on Thursday afternoon have “been there and done that”. When you pour your life into people who disappoint you, it hurts. Strafford was discouraged and began to talk of turning this church over to someone else and going to start a church somewhere else. Praise the Lord! Strafford and Charmaine have made it through the hard time. Some of those professions of faith were real. Some have stayed. They’ve got a start and they’re going to go forward. This is the year that we’ll help build that church building!

Would you like to help with this project? For the VBS and Sunday School children who are interested: we’ll need 15,000 bricks @ 15¢ each and 250 sacks of cement @ $12.00 each. If you would like to participate please mark your specials Calvinia.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

God Provides

2008-01-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

17 January 2008

Dear Pastors and Prayer Partners,

Talk among some missionaries was that our money had been cut in half over the last couple of years by low exchange rates and massive inflation. I thought that can’t possibly be true, how would we all have managed on half the amount of money when no one had a great surplus before? Jeff took the other side, saying it was true, so we settled down for a good old ‘let’s look at the facts and see who’s right’ discussion. When the Dollar to South African Rand exchange rate was good; what did we pay for hamburger, milk, bread, soap, gas, shoes, a new dress, etc? What’s the exchange rate now and what do we pay now? Wow! The effective buying power of the American dollar in South Africa and perhaps all around the world has really been cut in half. How did that happen and I wasn’t even aware of it? How did churches send out new missionaries and keep so many others on the field? I can’t think of anything we needed that we suffered on without and we’re not in debt. We have some pretty nice stuff. It was a miracle. God did a wonderful thing and we didn’t even recognize it to say a proper Thank You! Now that we’re looking right at it and really seeing it; it’s a good time to stop and Thank the Lord. And we’d like to Thank you also for your faithful support. To the churches who were forced to cut their Missions budget and dropped us; don’t waste a moment feeling guilty or sad. You supported us a long time, you are still serving the Lord, and the Lord is still meeting our needs.

Are you asking yourself why the Blanton’s are praising God for providing so well and another missionary is desperate for more support? Without taking away for a moment from the fact that the Lord is gracious and well able to provide in spite of any negative circumstances, let me say…

Jeff and Judy Blanton are in a good (less expensive) stage of life.

1. The children are grown and gone. We save up for 2 tickets for furlough not six. We don’t have children constantly outgrowing their clothes or visiting the doctor. No teenagers are eating us out of house and home. There are no school fees due. If another wedding comes along; we’ll Praise the Lord first, not check the savings account balance.

2. At 52 years old, we’re not expecting any more babies except grandbabies. We’re in fairly good health and haven’t either one of us faced a heart attack, the need for dentures, knee replacement surgery, or hearing aids yet. If we did, some of those would be covered by insurance.

3. Since it’s just the two of us, we live in a smaller home. It’s also paid off. We only pay a small amount each month into a maintenance fund.

4. We do not live in one of those countries where you have to pay a dollar for an apple! Food prices here are reasonable.

5. We drive normal cars. We don’t need a four-wheel drive, a boat or an airplane to go a few miles. Our cars are paid off and haven’t been wrecked or stolen.

6. We didn’t put up any new church buildings last year. We’ll do that this year!

7. We don’t run a health clinic or school.

8. We aren’t on furlough. It’s much less expensive to stay quietly at home in South Africa than to travel through America!

Life is not fair and no one down here can even things up to make it fair! Are you supporting some missionaries who seem to need much more money than others? Or who have a special expensive need right now? Then may the Lord use you to be a blessing to them!

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

The Lord is Good

2007-11-30T02:10:00.000-08:00

30 November 2007

Dear Pastors and Prayer Partners,

We enjoyed Thanksgiving day. Getting together with other Baptist missionaries and hearing of

God’s undertaking on their behalf was as good as a missions conference! Brother Mauer told of several instances of the Lord sending help just when they needed it with their building. We kept saying, “isn’t the Lord wonderful?!” and, “isn’t that just like God?!” After dinner we had a tour of the new ¾ finished facility; it’s beautiful. We’d heard that another family had turned their church over to a national pastor and started work in a new area. We were so excited to learn that their ministry has taken a new direction and they are reaching Xhosa people! (Our church in Upington is Xhosa.) We were able to give them a Xhosa hymnal. They hadn’t known that such a thing existed; Xhosa hymnals aren’t being printed any more.

Fifteen year old Clair-ann wanted to know if I’d seen the sun set last night? Yes, I had, because we’d been out knocking doors. We had clouds on the horizon that looked like furrows in a plowed field. As the sun was going down those clouds blazed with pink, orange and gold. Clair-ann’s Mother decided that it was the end of the world and they’d spent several minutes holding hands, in tears waiting for the fire that would burn this old world up! I looked at her and said, Clair-ann, repeat after me, “We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump!” You’ve got your star for learning the verse! Why were you so afraid? Pray for our people that they will learn and grow. We have several members who just can’t seem to apply clear Bible teaching to their own lives.

It’s been a year since Godfrey accepted Christ as his Saviour and still he had not been baptized. (He’s also been alcohol free for a year.) One Sunday a teenager was baptized and we were planning on baptizing again the next Sunday. Godfrey stopped by in the week to explain at length why he was not going to be baptized. (He’s still angry that Jeff asked his long time Christian wife to submit to Baptist baptism before accepting her as a member of the church. Carol isn’t angry, its Godfrey holding the grudge.) Saturday night he stopped by again to

tell us that the Lord hadn’t quit speaking to him since he’d left the other night. Could he join the others in baptism tomorrow? Every baptism is special but our folks almost cheered when Godfrey stepped into the water. God is so good. Carmen, a single lady, and 15 yr old Jermaine were also baptized.

Christmas is Spring clean-up time in South Africa! More paint, tiles and do-it-yourself stuff are sold in December than at any other time of the year. We’re on our way to Upington to help the church put insulation above the ceiling, paint interior walls and hang new curtain rods and curtains.

Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support this year. May your Christmas celebrations be blessed with family, friends, laughter and witnessing opportunities.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Rejoicing

2007-10-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Pastors and Prayer Partners,

Saturday night South Africa beat England to win the Rugby World Cup. Horns honked, firecrackers went off and there was dancing in the streets till about midnight. As our faithful streamed into church Sunday morning (only the faithful got out of bed) even we wives who don’t watch Rugby were excited that South Africa had won. Our song leader, Isaac, wore his green and gold rugby shirt under his church jacket and tie. The song service started a few minutes late after everyone got it out of their system. After the preaching as the preschoolers streamed out of their class to join their parents going out the front door, Jermaine was headed my way. “Teacher, I want… I want…” I leaned close and asked, “Yes, Jermaine, what do you want?” “Teacher, I want to be saved.” Joy exploded in my heart! I gasped and sucked in a deep breath because this wasn’t the time to cry. This ball was headed straight for the goal posts but we needed a few more minutes before the victory dance. Angels were waiting to write that name and start the rejoicing. (Jermaine is the teenager who months ago told a friend when asked if he was saved at camp, “No! They almost got me but I escaped!”) We’ve waited a long time for him to see his need of a Saviour.

Yesterday we met a dying woman when we went to visit a Sunday School child who has missed several Sundays. Leanne’s Aunt Ruwaeda has come to live with them while she undergoes radiation treatments for bone cancer/leukemia. Ruwaeda was quite animated while she told me that she’s not in denial or bitter. The cancer is actually a blessing because it has given her a chance to make things right with her Maker and find peace before she dies. She talked awhile about the children she sees coming for chemo treatments. When I got the chance I asked her what she’s counting on to get her to heaven? She looked quite startled. “You say you’ve found peace. By that I assume that you know your home will be heaven and not hell. How do you know that you’re going to heaven?” She said, “I pray, I pray several times a day. And I’m on the right path now.” What is the right path? “You know, I was on the wrong path, I did bad things. But I’ve stopped doing them. Now I do good things.” That sounds good. Let’s say you can be good every day from now on. What about the bad things you’ve done? What’s going to get rid of them? “Well, most of the bad things I did when I was young and didn’t really understand how bad they were. If I’d known how bad they were, I wouldn’t have done them; so surely those don’t count.” Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me. He also said that he is the Door. Anyone who tries to climb over the wall or comes through the window is a thief, a robber. We need to come through the door and he’s the door.” Her eyes had lost their sparkle and she was turning away from me. She’d heard enough of that for now. Pray for Ruwaeda. We hope to visit there again.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

Visitation Time

2007-09-13T00:38:00.000-07:00

13 September 2007

Dear Pastors and Prayer Partners,
We knocked on a door, introduced ourselves and handed the lady a tract. She wasn’t smiling and judging by the big spoon in her hand and smells of food cooking, we’d called her away from the stove. (Don’t let supper burn Lord! We don’t want to get blamed for that.) She listened to us a few moments frowning and shaking her head ‘no’ and then called us back when we were halfway to the sidewalk. She quickly turned off the stove and came back to ask, “Do Baptists baptize children?” And here is a pretty girl who looks to be about 10 years old being pulled forward. (We often meet people who want a church to sprinkle their child with a heavenly stamp of approval particularly if the parents weren’t married when the child was born. So I thought, “here we go again”.) “We baptize children who understand the difference between right and wrong. Who know that they’ve done things wrong. Who understand that Jesus paid the penalty for sin and who want Jesus as their Saviour. We baptize believers.” The floodgates opened. This lady was angry with the Anglican Church. She was raised Muslim and married a Christian. Her little girl said she wanted to be a Christian so Shamielah attended the Anglican Church with Leanne for a year. At the end of the year she asked the church to baptize Leanne and accept her as a member. A few adults came to visit the parents at home and then said that since Leanne’s father wasn’t interested in becoming a member, it really wouldn’t do any good to accept Leanne as a member. (What happened to “let the little children come unto me…?” Someone dropped the ball.) The first Sunday that Leanne attended the preaching service and Sunday School, I walked her home. I asked if she knew why Jesus had to die on the cross? Did she understand what sin was? Could she name any one time when she knew that she’d done wrong and was sorry for what she’d done? She gave good, clear answers. By this time I could see her Mother waiting on the sidewalk in front of their home. I told her Mother all that we’d discussed, assured her that Leanne understood what she was doing and asked Leanne if she’d like to pray now and tell Jesus she wanted him to be her Saviour. She asked Jesus to come into her heart and erase all her sins and assured him that she was asking with her whole heart. Shemielah looked at her daughter with big eyes and said, “oh my… wasn’t that cute?” Heavens bells are ringing! Angels are rejoicing! But I’m not sure if Shemielah understands what she just witnessed.

Another day of door knocking and a high school boy answered the door. He took the tract but assured us that he grew up in the Anglican church and attends every Sunday. We’re Baptists, but your church has also taught you that we’re all sinners, it’s easier to do wrong than it is to do right. Christ died on the cross for our sins. Have you made the decision to accept Christ as your Saviour yet? “Oh no,” he said, “we’re Anglicans. We don’t believe in getting saved. We just attend church.” “What do you do with Jesus’ words you must be born again?” “Not Anglicans, we attend church” and the door was closing. Perhaps 17 and he’s grown-up in church. I know Satan blinds people and our own deceitful hearts tell us we’re okay but I figured someone had dropped the ball.

I handed the car watcher in the parking lot a tract with his tip. As I drove away I could see that he was reading it and I thought of all the times car watchers have been reading the tract as I drive away. And it suddenly occurred to me that if I’d given him the tract when I first went into the store, he’d have had plenty of time to read it and we could have discussed it when I finished shopping! Dumb, dumb, dumb! How many years have I been doing this? Pray for your missionaries not to drop the ball.

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton

July Update

2007-07-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

28 July 2007

Dear Friends and Prayer Partners,

I went to Upington prepared to listen. Johanna was frustrated and miserable as a Sunday School teacher. When she’d complained that the lessons were too long; I simplified them. When she said that she didn’t know how to teach children verses; I sat with her and a group of neighbor children one afternoon and we acted out several fun ways of saying the verse together. I mailed tips on classroom control and how to keep things interesting. Still something was wrong. This time I was going to listen and ask questions till I could find the real problem.

I ended by telling her to quit. Johanna stepped in when another woman who had been teaching had suffered a stroke. Johanna was a new convert and one of the children in the class was her own daughter. Everyone assured her she’d be a good teacher! Wish I’d figured it out earlier and saved her and the children some grief. The Lord calls Sunday School teachers. And when He calls them; He gives them the heart for it. Every new believer needs to learn and grow and find their own place of service in the congregation. If children sit with no teacher, someone else may see the need and feel a burden. Please pray with us that the Lord will touch hearts and call more workers.

Nicolas Perrang and his wife Ursula have answered the call of the Lord to start a Baptist church in Atlantis, where they live just outside of Cape Town. Ursula is one of Charmaine Frantz’s sisters. Fourteen years ago these four young people attended an interdenominational Bible College together. In some ways they received a good education, very conservative but not Baptist. (They went out on mission trips to the rural areas, led farm workers to the Lord and were supposed to point them to the nearest church before leaving.) The Lord moved Strafford and Charmaine to our neighborhood and to our church! Nicolas had become the pastor of a Rhenish Mission (protestant) Church. As Strafford learned that Baptist doctrines are really the Biblical way, he shared, argued and debated with Nicolas. Nicolas and Ursula left the protestant church and began to attend a Baptist church a 40-minute drive from their home. Three years later, they’re starting a Baptist church out of their own home. Jeff built a folding pulpit after Ursula told me how embarrassed she was the first Sunday when her husband was desperate for something to set his Bible and notes on and pulled out the ironing board! The outpouring of love, interest and gifts from all the missionaries has amazed them both. I told Ursula to think of it as the shower for a new baby! A new Baptist church has been born.

Thank you for all your prayers and for your faithfulness towards us.

Your Missionaries,

Judy & Jeff Blanton

June Letter

2007-06-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

19 June 2007

Dear Friends and Prayer Partners,

We had carefully made plans. Jeff was going to be busy out at the youth camp for several days helping a team of American volunteers finish a 30 bed cabin. It looked like the perfect time for me to spend ten days in Upington. Jeff would be so busy with both construction and regular church services that he wouldn’t miss me! I’ve been tutoring children here in Cape Town, 10 and 12 years old who can’t read Afrikaans on a second grade level. Trying to keep lessons short and interesting for them, I kept thinking of Anna Feni in Upington. I wanted to go back and try again to teach Anna to read. If I could stay long enough to show her husband how to work with her half an hour each morning, I believe he could follow my lesson plans and teach her to read. We also have a Sunday School teacher there who hasn’t been able to come here for teacher training classes. I needed to go there and hold evening training sessions just for Johanna.

Those plans changed when my Mama passed away. Death is an unwelcome interruption. Even though we know it’s coming, its easy to convince ourselves that it’s still a few months, even years away. One of my brothers left his house full of wedding guests to attend Mama’s funeral. One of our daughters was able to take her vacation early, two others couldn’t and Michael was in Afghanistan. Everyone who came had rearranged plans or schedules in order to be there. I doubt if any of us asked, “Pastor Boren are you busy on Wednesday?” We just assume that Pastors will be there for funerals. Thank you to all who gave of your time to comfort us in our grief.

Changing gears:
After all these years in South Africa, getting on an airplane and going back to America is a little like finding myself in a science fiction story. America has changed in little ways that I need time to catch on to and I’m also not the same person who left. Perhaps things changed so gradually that you didn’t notice the change? When did adults become so disobedient? The purser asked everyone to take a seat and fasten their seatbelts. A minute later the stewardess told a passenger that the plane would not take off until he took a seat and fastened his belt. He was mumbling, “but I want to…” when she commanded him to “Sit!” Later in the flight everyone was again asked to take a seat and buckle up. Everyone sat but within a few minutes, first one and then six were standing again though the glowing signs still said, keep your belts fastened. When a passenger later argued with the stewardess, the captain himself made an announcement to back up her authority to limit alcoholic drinks. On another flight, several minutes after we’d all been told to turn off cell phones; the stewardess leaned over and told the woman in front of me, “either you turn it off or it will be confiscated”. All of these people were adults, disobedient adults. I came home and told Jeff we’ve got to teach people to discipline their kids. How are we going to convince people that they are in fact sinners when they all think ‘the rules don’t apply to me’? Jeff listened to my little tirade and said, “Judith, while you were gone, South Africa passed a new law. It’s now illegal to spank children in public.” The Devil keeps busy, doesn’t he?

Your Missionaries,

Judy & Jeff Blanton

April/ May Letter

2007-05-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

4 May 2007

Greetings from South Africa

It was good to be able to baptize Theodore. I especially enjoy baptizing people who come out of the water with a big smile! He’s been doing well staying sober and now he’s decided to give up the cigarettes. Theodore still talks softly, only a sentence or two at a time. Wednesday night he surprised us all by asking me to explain one of the verses again. He’s also enjoying reading a book of simple devotions, Biblical people whose lives were changed when they met Jesus.

Lydia’s life changed just a few months ago when she suffered a slight stroke. No longer able to work as a live in maid here in Cape Town, she went home to Calvinia. She was drinking a lot. Then she started attending church. Saturday after Easter, Lydia accepted Christ as her Saviour. She says she should have done it Easter Sunday. As she listened to the sermon she realized for the first time what Easter was all about. She said, “all this time I’ve been praying and telling God all my troubles and complaining. I never even realized that I had no right to talk to Him or expect anything because I wasn’t His. I didn’t know. And then on Easter I heard and I could see it so clearly but I didn’t do anything. I should have prayed Easter.” Charmaine and Strafford Frantz prayed 3 years for Lydia. Her own son, 13 yr old Boelie has prayed for 2 years. And we in Cape Town have made her an especial object of prayer since she went home after the stroke. And Satan couldn’t snatch away the Word as she went out the church door and the Holy Spirit worked especially from Easter Sunday through Saturday afternoon to bring her to the point of making a firm decision. In Upington, the Pastor’s wife found a woman standing in tears outside the church building while everyone else was going home. Eva and her husband and children came home to Upington when her husband lost his job at the game park a month ago. She and the 2 children have attended Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday nights too. Anna was certain that the Holy Spirit was convicting Eva of her need for salvation but even when the tears finally dried up, she wouldn’t talk. And on Saturday they were kicked out of the temporary home they’d found with an elderly relative. They left Upington. Pray that the Word will not be snatched away, that the Holy Spirit will continue to speak to her heart and that Eva will trust the Lord. One of our Sunday School teachers overheard two teen boys talking. One asked the other, “didn’t you get saved at camp?” And Jermaine answered, “No! They almost got me but I managed to escape.” Ahh! Even the apostle Paul “kicked against the pricks”. Pray with us that the preaching and witnessing will be with POWER. We need the help of the Holy Spirit.

The Mother-Daughter banquet is coming up and we’re hoping to reach some Mothers who send their children to Sunday School but don’t usually attend services themselves. Like you, we also have a few Mothers and Daughters who’ve been on the prayer list for salvation for a long time. Some even attend faithfully but haven’t accepted Christ as Saviour yet. Pray for the working of the Spirit in every witnessing effort and service.

Your Missionaries,

Judy & Jeff Blanton

February Update

2007-03-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

Greetings from South Africa,

Summer vacation has just ended here in South Africa. From the time that school lets out at the end of November till it starts again in mid-January is school and summer vacation time. Absolutely everyone is in an “I’m on vacation” mood. Other than painting the house and cleaning so everything looks good for Christmas; no one wants to do anything! Seven weeks of apathy is too much for Judy and myself, we want to change the whole system but haven’t managed it yet. This year we put one week of that down time to good use. We brought Pastor Frantz and Pastor Feni, the wives and little children together for a conference. We discussed tithing and church finances, how to teach hymns and teenagers. We ourselves were in for a few surprises. Short visits and frequent phone calls are apparently not enough to keep up with what’s actually going on. Both Pastors are teaching tithing but Strafford is putting all the church’s money into the building fund and supporting a missionary because he doesn’t feel comfortable accepting a salary from such poverty stricken people. And a rascal in Upington convinced the congregation that the church needed a contingency fund and the way to build it up was for each church member over the age of 17 to give an additional 5 bucks a month. They set up a book and tick off the names as the 5’s come in. Every denomination in South Africa that’s moved away from tithing began in just such a way! We know that rascal, he never could quit buying things on credit long enough to tithe himself. We prayed after each session especially for teenagers and our own children. Two weeks later, Anna and Bro. Feni called from Upington to tell us that Sharon Jacobs accepted Christ as her Saviour! In the weeks since then she’s stopped by their house to discuss it again and to pray, she’s been baptized and the other teens are avoiding her because she’s been witnessing to them and they’re afraid its contagious. In Calvinia 2 teens who’ve attended faithfully for over a year have quit. And here in Cape Town 2 more teens have turned rebellious at home and quit attending services. Please pray for our teens.

It is start up time again! All of the Sunday Schools are back in full swing though one Sunday School teacher is leaving for college. We have some new kids attending. Jeff’s Thursday Woodworking class for young teens is now open to the girls which has added a lot of laughing and teasing to the usual sanding and painting.

My Mom is recuperating from heart by-pass surgery. Judy’s Mom is not coping well with life in a nursing home. Our son, Michael, has been sent by the US Army on an all expenses paid tour of the scenic mountains of Afghanistan for the next year. Sherry and Jeremy are looking for a cure for morning sickness and wondering how people manage to have more than one baby?!!!

Your Missionaries,

Jeff & Judy Blanton