W4Christ Presentation December 2015

Enjoy this video presentation about our news big and small from the Combrink family!

Home sweet home

Kirstein speaks at Bellville Uitsig NG Kerk, Cape Town

The Combrink trio are now safely in Cape Town as we look forward to Christmas and New Year with Kirstein's family. We will have a great two months or so of quality family time, meeting with supporters and MAFSA, and reflecting on the last four years of Kirstein's time with MAF Tanzania.

We would love to see you at the following services:

13th December - Bellville Uitsig NG Kerk, Cape Town for Johann's Dedication
10th January - Table View NG Kerk, Cape Town
17th January - Neos Gemeente, Centurion Pretoria

We will post Kirstein's presentation slideshow shortly so that you won't miss out on our latest news if we are unable to see you. As a family we would like to thank all our supporters for their prayers and for partnering with us financially for these first four years and for 2015 in particular.

May God bless you all with a peaceful and joyful Christmas time and New Year!

a growing team..

 

Our team serving in Tanzania is growing with the addition of our youngest member, Johann Peter Combrink. We are currently on home assignment in South Africa, visiting with family and supporters.

a great reminder

Shortly after Amelia left for the UK (now already 7 weeks ago!) I flew the regular South Maasai medical outreach, but this time it was a little bit different. First of all I did what we are starting to call the Maasai-Link, the idea with this is that we will like our two Maasai areas (Malambo (north) and south) every third month. In the north there is a well establish Maasai Evangelism School and MAF has been supporting them for many years by taking evangelists from Malambo to different villages in the mountains and around Lake Natron. What we now aim to do is exchange on Malambo safari every third month and instead fly teacher from Malambo to the south. A recent generous donation from friends in Canada allowed the village of Katahe in the south to nearly complete a building at the runway which has a fuel store, pilot accommodation, accommodation for teachers and a classroom. This building will serve as the centre for the Maasai-Link.

My ‘great reminder’ during this trip came in the form of another motorbike (pikipiki) ride deep into the Maasai bush to explore three different locations where there are Maasai bomas without any medical services. The previous time we did a trip like this was in December 2013 when Amelia and I spent more than 10 hours in the saddle of a little Honda 125 in 24 hours to cover 200 kilometres. It was not easy, it was back breaking following mostly single or no track and sandy dry river beds. I’ve made my mind up about marrying Amelia long before this trip, as a matter of fact we were already engaged and wedding plans were well under way. But just in case I wasn’t sure, I received this text message from my Maasai friend after we arrived back home: ‘Amelia is very fit for bush pilot you must take her for your wif I warn u.’ On this last trip I realised just how ‘fit’ she is when I also rode on the back. It is much more tiring to be the passenger than the driver (maybe a bit more when your normal ride yourself), especially on the little 125 with a very uncomfortable flat seat.

She didn’t have to do it in the first place, she did and I love her for it, but she probably won’t be doing it again, certainly not soon with the little one on the way...

10 minutes that could save a life

On the last week of every month we go out to the northern Maasai area and spend a couple of nights there to help a local Bible and Evangelism School by flying Maasai evangelists to nearby villages in the hard to reach mountainous areas or around Lake Natron. One morning, before starting the pick up run to collect the evangelists I dropped off the day before, I was told by the leader of the Bible School that they have received word that there is a very sick girl in one of the villages where one of the evangelists worked. It was good to get this call early as we usually fly with minimal fuel in order to reduce the weight, so I added a few litres in order to fly an extra rotation.

With some low clouds on the peaks surrounding the airstrip, I managed to get in. A messenger came to inform me that they were on their way with the sick girl. After not too long a whole crowd showed up with two men carrying the nearly unconscious girl. The mud that they were all covered in was evidence as to why the journey from the village took a bit longer than anticipated. Loaded, with a couple of family members and another sick boy, we were ready to go, the mountains and the valley to the next village was still covered in clouds and the weather report from the next village, only 5 minutes away but on the other side of the mountain, was vague at best. We managed to get out and over the clouds but had to fly past the destination in order to descend and return under the layer of clouds for another low level approach into another marginal airstrip. All worked out well and we received news of the girl's improvement later on.