July 9, 2003

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

May God bless you richly.

In some ways it seems premature to be sending a report back home, as the course is only half way through. But some dear folks have emailed me and asked very detailed questions, to which I have written a response. Since I'm sending to some, it seemed best to not neglect others, so this has become my first general letter from Africa.

In all ways, things are going smoothly for me here. Thanks be to God.

The trip to Capetown was as smooth as silk. My father's rules for dealing with jet-lag have served me well- I did most of the adjustment en route, and I had no trouble functioning on the first day here. The KLM pilot did a full aerial tour of the Capetown region for us before landing. Most of the city scape is built on plains amidst numerous mountains rising hundreds of meters above the sea below. We hiked up one on Monday which was about 600m. Capetown is a fully modern city, but while some of the suburbs are quite rich, other suburbs are shanty towns. Khayelitsha is the biggest, with about one million people. A typical shack is about 6 foot by 12 foot; some are smaller.

The skies have been beautifully clear every day but one. They tell me it ought to be miserably wet in July. I have not had reference to a thermometer, but I think our days have been about 12C to 23C degrees. They tell me it should be colder in July. Bear in mind that the houses are not heated, so 12C all day can chill you if you're not dressed for it.

So who is on the course with me? 2 Nigerian pastors, 3 Zambian pastors and a deacon, a lady from Zambia, an evangelist from Zimbabwe, 2 young South African men, and an American from Colorado Springs. The American and myself are the only ones who have applied to join Frontline-the others are on the course to be better equipped to serve in their homelands.

What does a regular day consist of? At 06:30 we have 30 minutes of physical training (go for a run and do some calisthenics). After showers, quiet time, and breakfast, the morning is filled with lectures. After lunch we go on outreaches in the Capetown area. After dinner, we have another lecture and a film (such as a missionary biography). The day does not end until 22:00 or 23:00, so finding time to answer emails is difficult.

Lecture topics thus far have included missionary biographies, demographic statistics on religion and mission endeavours today, prevalence of missionary themes in the Old Testament, child evangelism, tackling evolutionary philosophy, the Humanist agenda in South Africa's public schools. Practical training includes items like a late night stealthy hike down a stream with a backpack full of literature, security rules, conduct rules for staff, coping with crisis, and basis for work ethic. Outreaches have included distributing evangelistic tracts and showing films in shanty towns, participating at a prison Bible study, and visiting a hostel for prostitutes, alcoholics and drug addicts.

On Sunday morning we were at a small church in the Khayelitsha shanty town. The youth choir, with about 18 voices, was thunderously loud, harmonious and beautiful.

This course finishes on 18 July. Within a few weeks after that I expect to start going on trips with veteran workers into some of the nearby countries.

God be with you all until we meet again.

In Christ,
Lawren M. Guldemond
Frontline Fellowship

"As long as I see anything to be done for God, life is worth living; but O, how vain and unworthy it is to live for any lower end!" -David Brainerd