OPEN SEASON

Dear Prayer Partners,

In last month’s letter we gave thanks for the rain. We had more rain putting the  De Bos Dam on 48% and increased our ‘marsh land ‘ in front of Oak Cottage. From the office we can see the geese and African spoonbills swimming and wading in the water

The walk to the waterfall is rather muddy in places. The rain, accompanied with the lovely sunny weather we have had, has increased the size of the vegetation. It is still a worthwhile walk to see the waterfall which is flowing strongly.With the rain we had strong gusts of wind, which has brought down a number of trees on Volmoed. There has been no damage to property but it has kept the staff busy clearing  them and the other debris left in their wake.

One tree that gave us cause for particular concern was a large gum that had come down but was caught in another tree. Many hours was spent trying to dislodge it. This included a visit from Maarten Turkstra who came to help, all to no avail. The tree feller we contacted never arrived and the bottom road was closed off. Then on a wind-free Saturday afternoon at lunch time the sound of ‘car tyres on gravel’ had us waiting for the inevitable noise to indicate that Appeldraai had claimed yet another victim. The sound we heard was that of the tree coming down of its own accord.

• It has been a quiet July as the brothers were on a two week long retreat, so the regular sound of bells was absent for most of the month. During this time Brother Roger celebrated his birthday.

Don’t wait, plan your visit now!

Our special runs until the end of August.

Contact the office for more info!

• WILMA’S CORNER

See I am here, says the Lord, see I make all things new” – these are the words of a beautiful song from the Taize community, based on Revelation 21:5. No matter what these lockdown months have brought us, in all the difficulties and traumas, God is near to us, God is here with us. We long for newness, for an end to the lockdown with all its restrictions and all that we miss, especially being present with our loved ones.  We long to sing and pray and break bread together.

At Volmoed we are  beginning the conversation about when we can safely restart our weekly Thursday Eucharist and open other prayer services to the public. We know that it will not be in August.  We balance our desire to gather, with the need to comply with government regulations. Please keep us in your prayers as we discern. On a personal note, I welcome your prayers for my annual 8 day retreat starting 19th August, and for the continued tasks of transition, which seem never ending. I love my new life at Volmoed and all that it brings, and I am grateful for so much! Thank you all for your prayers.

Thanksgivings  *Little Zoe finally had surgery to remove the liver tumour in July. She is in Tygerberg Hospital with Evette to monitor her recovery, hoping to come home soon. Prayers for them and Peterus.

*For all who have donated to our staff contingency fund and helped sustain Volmoed.

Prayers  *Pray for the safety and protection of our staff and their families, who live in  areas where there are lots of gang related activities.

*For our bookkeeper, Penny Pelders, as she spends many hours working to navigate the TERS application to try and obtain UIF money for our staff.

*For the trustees meeting in August and the process of discerning the future at Volmoed.

• JOIN US FOR MORNING PRAYERS

We shared some of the morning prayers, which you can access on our website, if you would like to join us at 10  o’clock from Monday to Friday . They are also available from the office should you prefer an email. 

• *Even in difficult times we remain a community as you can see from Edwin’s response for an update on his and his family’s health:‘Please thank everyone for their prayers and concern. Special thanks to Wilma who came to drop off some flowers from the Tutu’s and Elvia who came to our house to drop off some of her doepa! We have all recovered fully, thanks be to God!’