plodblog

I have been in LA this past week with about 40 other men from around the world at the annual The Master’s Academy International (TMAI) symposium. Monday was interesting; I was at Joni & Friends (the ministry to the disabled founded by Joni Erickson Tada) for a long day of meetings. They have a quite large international ministry. We learned about ministry to the disabled and discussed how we might be able to integrate some of the material into our pastoral ministry curriculum. Joni is about the most pleasant and kind person I have ever met.

The rest of the time we have been at Calvary Bible Church in Burbank. There have been presentations and reports from schools, training centers and various ministries from all round the world. Seminary professors sure have a lot to talk about when they get together. I shouldn’t say much because I will have my time in front of the mic on Monday. I’ll give a report on how things are going in South Africa. But, I will be giving the report with two of our graduates; Thomas, who is from Germany, and Kwacha, who is from Malawi. Thomas is now working back in Germany and Kwacha is here in LA working on his master’s degree at The Master’s Seminary.

Next week I will still be here in LA, but I will be at the Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church. It will be a working conference for me though. I’ll be at special meetings for missions and missionaries, manning a missions booth and answering any questions I can that the conference attendees have about me, our ministry in South Africa and about the ministry of TMAI.

Please pray that all of the meetings and interaction with people are fruitful for us all.

Steve

A CONCISE AND BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL AND THE JEWS

Creation – 2091 BC

There were no Jews and the land was called Canaan.  It was simply a region known by that name.  The people living there were nomadic herders or members of small independent city states.  There was no Canaanite state or nation.

2091 BC – 1446 BC

The call of Abraham.  For his descendants it was the time of the patriarchs and the Egyptian captivity.  Descendants of Abraham lived in the region of Canaan, but it was still not a Jewish nation nor any other nation.

1446 BC – 586 BC

The descendants of Abraham leave Egypt and are forged into the Jewish nation.  They conquer the independent city states in Canaan and establish the nation of Israel.  This is the first time the region of Canaan becomes a nation.  For most of these years the nation of Israel is autonomous.

586 BC – 72 AD

The Jews are taken into the Babylonian captivity, but return to the land 70 years later and remain in the land until Rome finally destroys the nation in 72 AD.  During this time the area is recognized as the nation of Israel, but the nation is weak, less autonomous and a vassal state for the ruling empires.

72 AD – 1948 AD

The Jews are dispersed throughout the world and the nation of Israel does not exist.  Rome renames the region Palestina.  During this time the region is ruled by seven different empires, but it is always a dependant territory.  No empire or people ever annex the region and make it part of their country, nor is the land ever made a separate, autonomous country.  There are always Jewish communities living in the land.

1948 AD – Present

The Jews reclaim the land and re-found the autonomous nation of Israel.  Since creation the region has been known as Canaan, Israel and Palestina (Palestine).  But, it has only ever been one country – Israel – and one homeland – for the Jews.

This update was written by my wife, Karen Plodinec in South Africa

As I write this I am sitting outside in a hospital courtyard waiting for Timothy to come out of emergency surgery.  It is Friday, February 5^th, about 2:00 in the afternoon.  This is the end of a very trying week, but knowing, and believing, that God is faithful and sovereign and that even this week is His plan for us, that has made all the difference.
On Monday morning it began – we were finally getting a borehole (a well).  City water is very expensive, its quality and purity is getting worse and it isn’t always dependable.  We watch how much we use and last year the water ran out, for the whole town, for two weeks.  Fortunately a friend of ours has a well and Steve was able to fill up some water cans every day for us to use.  So, we need a well, and we live in a part of town where everyone within 10 blocks of us hits water between 25-30 meters.  Our neighbor has a well just 5 meters from ours and he hit water at 30 meters.  At 7 meters, we hit rock.  The gray dust from the rock started to cover the yard and seep through the cracks in windows and doors.  We hit rock at about 8:00am and all day Monday it continued, nothing but rock.  Tuesday around noon we had to stop drilling at 100 meters due to finances (we had planned and saved for a 45 meter well).  Tuesday at 12:00 noon and still no water – only rock.  Now we have one DEEP hole in our yard, no water in the well, and a HUGE mess to clean up both inside and out.  We will probably lose what little grass we do have and some of the plants as well.
Tuesday at lunch the kids and I were talking about the dry well.  Stephen said we should celebrate – I agreed.  God is sovereign and He knew all about this.  Kimberly said we were biblical – our house is built on the rock.  My desire was to “blow off” the rest of the day and spend money we don’t have and get fast food for lunch, even for dinner.  Instead, we did what we should – stick to the budget, make sandwiches, and get on with the major job of cleaning up.  We talked about God’s goodness – food to eat, a roof over our head, clothes to wear, enough water for today, etc.
On Wednesday morning some of the kids and I were heading out on errands and my car window broke – it slid down in the door.  We have a 15 year old mini van and it is starting to show its age.  The passenger side window had done the same thing a few weeks ago and Steve had got it up and taken the handle off so we wouldn’t roll it down, as it will also fall into the door, an interesting feature of 15 year old mini vans.  We headed back home because you never leave a car parked in Africa with the window down, everything would be stolen, and on the way home the passenger side window fell down AGAIN as we pulled into the driveway!
Then, Wednesday afternoon we received the confirmation for our plane tickets to Israel.  God is SO gracious and He provided for all of us to go to the GMI missionaries conference in Israel in June.  The problem was – they had Luke going on the correct flight, and the seven of us going on a different one!  The bottom line is – Swiss Air would charge us about $200 a ticket to change to the correct flight.  Steve decided to switch me to Luke’s flight.  So, we all fly from Johannesburg to Zurich together; three hours later Luke and I continue on to Tel Aviv.  The rest of the family will have a 16 hour layover and arrive in Tel Aviv at 3:30 a.m. the day the conference begins.
Wednesday afternoon we had a major blessing – we found out that God was providing some funds to take care of the oral surgery Stephen needs.  We didn’t know then that we would need some of the funds for other things.
Wednesday night Steve and I were talking about how thankful we were for good health, a roof over our heads and food to eat.
Thursday morning my mom called from the States to tell us that our credit card company called and we needed to call them because of potential fraudulent charges – it turned out to be nothing.
Thursday evening we had some students over for dinner and to watch a soccer match – even though we didn’t feel like it with the week we were having.  With God’s help, we just kept plugging along, and a good time was had by all.
This brings me up to today (Friday).  Everything started out as normal – up with Luke at 6:00, breakfast with Michael at 7:00, etc., when at about 7:45 we heard a big crash and Timothy started calling for help.  I didn’t think too much about it; I thought he dropped something on the floor and it shattered.  He started calling calmly for me, so I handed Luke to Kimberly and walked toward his bedroom.  As I reached the hall, I saw a lot of blood on the floor trailing from his room to the bathroom.  Timothy was fairly calmly asking for help and a towel.
Timothy had been trying to scare a cat outside his bedroom window – he “tapped” the window, and it shattered.  The result was two very bloody hands and forearms.  Blood was flowing everywhere.  He wrapped a towel around his wrist and applied pressure while I drove to the hospital.  When we got there they wrapped both hands and arms up, and we waited for the doctor.  After a LONG time the doctor still had not come and Timothy said he could not feel his right pinky.  The nurse said the doctor was hung up and sent us to a doctor’s office.  The doctor realized Timothy’s tendon was cut on his pinky and he needed surgery – so back to the hospital we went.  The doctor called a surgeon and he met us at the hospital.
At the hospital God graciously put a good friend in our path.  She is a nutritionist and sees patients at the hospital.  She stuck with me for a good portion of this morning – helping expedite things, getting me something to eat, praying with me – God is so good!
Timothy should be out of surgery soon – the doctor said he should make a full recovery – praise God!
We have had a lot of teaching times with the kids this week – what a great God we have!  I am so thankful that I have kids that trust in Him as well.  Timothy’s emotional state is fine, Kimberly is “holding down the fort” at home.  When I called her a few minutes ago Luke was asleep and she was having Bible time outside with Catherine and Michael.
I’m so thankful for His provision, protection, and perfect timing.
Many Christians (especially in Africa) would say we are not in God’s will because of these trials.  They would say He isn’t blessing us this week.  In fact, many Africans would say that when these kinds of things happen a person is being cursed by God.  But, we KNOW, however, that blessings come in all shapes and sizes.  We are thankful to be serving, and to be blessed, right here.
Please continue to pray for His protection and provision for us!
Because of His GREAT love,
Karen
P.S. added by Steve

Timothy was released from the hospital about 9:00 p.m.  He should have a FULL recovery in about six weeks, and he didn’t have to spend the night in the hospital – thank you Lord.  When Karen and Timothy were on the way home from the hospital on Friday night, the mini van had electrical problems and now the fan and headlights don’t work.

It is now a few days later and nothing else has happened, except Catherine now has tonsillitis and Karen has the stomach flu.

Karen & Steve Plodinec

Acts 20:32

Luke Augustine Plodinec came into the world on Thursday, September 6th, 2007. 9 1/2 pounds, 22 1/2 inches long. He has big feet and hands. He is doing fine and so is his mom. Thank you Lord.

The few posts I have on Church Elders have been very popular.  I have lots and lots of material on this subject.  In my old church we went from congregational to elder rule.  It took 3 1/2 years and I researched and answered every question the congregation had.  At the end, it was bloodless.  We went to elder rule and did not lose anyone in the process.  I’ll be posting more on church elders soon.

More facts are coming to light about the lack of water here in Polokwane (see the previous post about the water situation here).

It is now known that the reason the main reservoir was running low is because its manin feeder pipe was shut off two weeks ago.

After it was shut off the reservoir slowly emptied and people started running out of water a little over a week ago.

Why did the main feeder pipe get turned off? Because it was too small to keep up with demand so the water utility decided to replace the pipe with a larger one. They began tearing up the old pipe and putting in the new one two weeks ago.

OK. But, didn’t they make a plan to provide water some other way?

Sort of. They were going to pump water from a few wells and a back-up reservoir. But when they tried to turn on the pumps to supply more water nothing happened. Those back-up pumps had not been used in five years and no one had checked them and they discovered the power lines to the pumps had been stolen some time ago.

Then some genius at the water company decided to replace the pumps just when they were needed most, but then the new pumps were stolen, etc., etc. See the previous post about how we got in this mess.

The only problem is, the wells and back-up reservoir are for short term emergency use only, like one week at the most.

Their plan for providing water while the pipe is replaced could only make up a small percentage of the ammount of water required. We lost 50 percent of our water supply and the utility company only made plans to replace about 10 percent. Now, even that 10 percent isn’t being supplied because of the stolen pumps.

The kicker is, the pipe they are replacing is 63 kilometers long. It takes a while to replace 63 kilometers of pipe. It is suposed to be done by – Christmas! This is February.

What all this means is – the main reservoir is empty, the main feeder pipe for that reservoir is off and won’t be turned back on until Christmas, the plan to replace the main line is worthless and won’t even come close to keeping up with demand.

So, everyone is wondering where the water for this year is going to come from.

Sad to say, but stuff like this is not unusual here in Africa.