Sometimes God has other plans. As a pastor, I was exploring the potential for a ministry partnership in West Africa or maybe Eastern Europe when God directed us to… South Africa and Blessman International! I was drawn by Dr. Jim Blessman’s vision and passion for the people of South Africa. So, in May of 2021, three of us from my…
Today’s Mission Moment comes to us from Dustin Blessman at the Ledile Creche. This is one of five sites where Blessman International, together with Hy-Vee, and The ‘One Step Water Program’ have been drilling for water.
New Year’s 2022 2021. It was the worst of times; it was the best of times. All around the world many of us suffered losses. So many people have dealt with severe illness and even the death of loved ones. The economic impact of covid and fear of covid has been devastating in the US and in Africa. In Africa,…
Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite holiday where most Americans focus on family, food, and football. I am thankful for many blessings this year.
Beth and I have had an amazing month here in October. The peak of our experience has been the culmination of two year’s worth of work on our Sports 4 Christ program. Eight local churches have formed a league of soccer and netball teams.
Fall has always been my favorite time of year in Iowa. I especially enjoy biking our beautiful bike trails and savoring my last few days before heading back to South Arica. This last month, I befriended a homeless man who I see sitting along the bike trail…
September 2021 It is with a happy heart that I can share with you that things are looking and feeling much better every day in South Africa. The riots, looting and burning that took place in the Durban and Johannesburg a month ago were terrible, but South Africa came together like never before and cleaned and rebuilt. Blessman International…
In June we had a successful mission team with Joshua Christian Academy. It felt so good to be able to host mission teams again. Most of these youth had never even been on an airplane before and their first experience of that was a 9000-mile trip to Africa. They came with good attitudes, worked their tails off, and had a…
July 2021 It brought tears of joy to my eyes as we were able to welcome our first American mission team back to South Africa after a 15-month dry spell! This team was made up of 3 members from Trinity Bible Church in Cedar Falls and 9 representatives from Joshua Christian Academy in Des Moines. This was a perfect group…
Bethany Kester, Program Coordinator at our U.S. location, and her husband Jack and my wife Beth and I arrived in South Africa on May 17. Dustin also recently returned here after two weeks in the U.S. It has been a whirlwind of activity for us since we arrived! Bethany and Jack are working to get our computer lab up and…