Greetings in Jesus name.
I attended the convention meetings in Saldanha which is on the west coast,
about 200 km from the VGR Cape Town office. It was such a blessing to me, I just
have to share.
The meetings were arranged months ago and the hosting pastor, Brother Henry
Billet, indicated that he would love to have VGR make material available to the
believers. Because of the distance, it is not always possible to visit the
office in Gordon’s Bay as often as they would like.
I was real excited about the opportunity to spend a weekend in church and in
fellowship with brothers and sisters of like precious faith since I first heard
of the meetings. My dad, Brother Keith Herne, said he would love to take the
material to the people, but he would not be available to stay all weekend and
asked if I would “man” the VGR display table.
Being in the office as VGR representative is something I’m used to, but this
would be something different for me, and I would not have my dad there to assist
all the time, so I was scared about the idea but did not want to have my
brothers and sisters miss out on getting Spiritual Food when they were asking
for it.
Since starting work at VGR, about 11 years ago, I have realized more and more
how important it is to always try to be in God’s Perfect Will in everything, so
I obviously did a lot of praying.
The young people of Brother Randall Barnes in Atlantis have through the years
faithfully come to VGR to stamp books, and whenever they could make a way to
come, they would travel to the office just to spend time helping where they can.
Because of their desire to always get involved with VGR, I asked a few of them
to go to Saldanha with me to assist and they were only too pleased. Dad gave us
fuel to go, and I made arrangement with believers in Saldanha for accommodation,
so we were on our way.
We went to the hall early the Saturday morning to set up our table, and while
waiting I noticed my sister Melissa and the other young people started quieting
down. I thought it was nerves because stamping books at VGR and distributing
tracts on a Saturday morning, which is what they’re always doing, is quite
different than standing behind a table and exhibiting the material to the Bride
of Christ. I decided to speak to each one separately to see if they maybe had
changed their minds about helping. What I got from each one was exactly the same
and reciprocated what I was feeling. Every single brother and sister felt so
humbled that they had the opportunity to be a part of VGR even just for one
weekend.
My dad, came through to Saldanha the Saturday morning to see that all was
like it should be with the VGR table, and he seemed pleased with the way things
were going.
To see the people’s faces light up when they arrived and saw that VGR had
brought material for them just left me at a loss for words. I was so shaken by
the appreciation everyone expressed so many times that I had to just walk away
to wash my face, because the love the people have for the staff of VGR just left
me crying. I left the young people behind the table and stood aside just
watching the believers. After a while I would notice they took it in turns also
to just go aside and have a cry. It meant so much to the youth that VGR had
included them.
I had older believers who were involved in spreading the Message since the
1970’s come to me to say how happy they were to see that there were young people
who were active in getting the Message to the people with the help of VGR.
On Saturday evening I told Brother Henry Billet that we would be packing up,
but he was very disappointed and said that there were so many more people coming
from outlaying areas on Sunday, and the drawcard had been that VGR would have
material available for them. So we spent the day standing behind the table, but
this was more than a blessing for us.
Having the opportunity to be hands on has left such an impact in these young
brothers and sisters lives and when we departed last night they could not thank
me enough for giving them the opportunity to get that extra blessing that they
got from being “tape boys” for a while.
There were so many who said that we are so privileged to be a part of VGR,
but to us it was just so humbling that we could be available so God could use us
to be a part of it.
The young people have now decided that they want to be wherever VGR is, and
fortunately they will be on school vacation when the CTV is in Bloemfontein
later this month, so they have decided to start saving now to attend those
meetings since most of them are students who don’t work.
We were truly blessed, and I personally have come to appreciate the
opportunity that I have to be working in this office more than ever before.
God Bless
Sister Gaylene