Dear Friends,

This is the first of 365 days of new challenges, hopes and goals as we enter the spiritual arena of our final preparation for the return of the King of Heaven. What a privilege to be part of this era that God’s people through the ages prophesied about and looked forward to.

As many of you may know, on 5 October 2009 I had a bad fall, the injuries being described by the surgeon as ‘unusual’, resembling more the injuries incurred in a car accident.

It was 6:30 am and our daughter had just made her way to her car to leave for work, when I realized that we had not prayed with her for protection on the treacherous dirt roads and the busy national roads.  I rushed out to remind her, when I tripped over a couple of poles and in a split second our lives changed forever.  I was flung high into the air in a most unusual way and came crashing down onto the rough paving with such force that I could feel and hear the flesh of my arm tear and the bones in my hip crack. My head landed a few centimeters away from the wall. Walter managed to get me into the back of the 4X4 and we traveled the agonizing 28km dirt road and another 27km tar road to the nearest hospital and from there another 90km in the back of the car to the hospital where the surgery would take place, all without a painkiller.

To make a long story short, during the surgery the surgeon placed the severed ball in the hip into formalin for analyses, (which later showed no osteoporosis or other weakness), when he realized that the socket and parts of the pelvis were also shattered.  It was too late to use my own bone for bone grafts, so now the search was on for artificial bone. After a lengthy search bone was found and was immediately sent by courier, but there was a police road blockade on the only road to the hospital. The local police eventually managed to get the courier vehicle through and delivered the bone some 6 hours later.  That meant that I was on the operating table and under anesthetic for 11 hours instead of the usual 3 hours.

But that was not all. I had lost too much blood and they had to send for four units of blood. Just before the sister hooked up the second unit she noticed with a startle that this one bag of blood was the wrong type.  hree times the Adversary tried to end my life and three times the Lord saved it. Why did He not let me die? Could it be that Jesus still had some unfinished business with me?

Due to the nature of the injury, I was not allowed to place any weight on the leg for 3 months, in order to allow my own bone to grow into the artificial bone. Total healing will probably take about a year.  Just a few months previous to the accident we had bought a small caravan to travel with and do the Lord’s work from one place to the next. What a disappointment for both of us!  Now I was confined to my bed, wheel chair and crutches and Walter had to care for me, do the cooking and housekeeping, work on the farm and still keep his evangelistic appointments. This was the most grueling time of our lives, and yet God used the time to rearrange our minds, to help us see new perspectives and walk with a more determined step on the road that He has set before us.

We both underwent a period of introspection, and as Paul said, we both realized how miserably we ‘fall short of the glory of God’ and how unworthy and unprepared we are to meet our Saviour. Like Moses in Egypt or Peter drawing his sword for his Master in Jerusalem, Walter had fought against the powers and principalities to uphold the truth, but often he felt he was getting nowhere and his strength was failing more and more. The opposition to the message was getting stronger and many times he wanted to run like Elijah from Jezebel and lie under a juniper tree, ready to die. But he continued his journey to Horeb, to the place where God revealed His Law and His character and it is here that he hears God speak in a ‘still small voice’. Now he realizes the battle is not his, but the Lord’s. Now he is ready to lay down his sword and take up a staff for tending the flocks in the wilderness as did Moses.     

“Moses was naturally of an impetuous spirit. In Egypt a successful military leader and a favorite with the king and the nation, he had been accustomed to receiving praise and flattery. He had attracted the people to himself. He hoped to accomplish by his own powers the work of delivering Israel. Far different were the lessons he had to learn as God's representative. As he led his flocks through the wilds of the mountains and into the green pastures of the valleys, he learned faith and meekness, patience, humility, and self-forgetfulness. He learned to care for the weak, to nurse the sick, to seek after the straying, to bear with the unruly, to tend the lambs, and to nurture the old and the feeble.

In this work Moses was drawn nearer to the Chief Shepherd. He became closely united to the Holy One of Israel. No longer did he plan to do a great work. He sought to do faithfully as unto God the work committed to his charge.” {HDL 14.1}

If we are too busy, even with the Lord’s work, to listen to the prompting voice of God in times of ease and prosperity, we will be brought through times of trouble and hardship to learn the lessons the hard way.

With renewed vigour, Walter now started a new series, quite different from his previous ones and, God willing, we hope to record it by July 2010.  He has titled this series ‘Total Transformation’ - a walk through the types and experiences of ancient Israel as a lamp unto the feet of modern spiritual Israel, a guideline for our final preparation just before entering the heavenly Canaan.

I too have set my priorities straight and have probably read and studied more in the last 3 months than in the past 5 years with all the farm duties previously taking preeminence.  A much-needed transformation from Martha to Mary has taken place.

“Our only safeguard against the wiles of Satan is to diligently study the Scriptures; to have an intelligent understanding of the reasons of our faith; and to faithfully perform every known duty. The indulgence of one known sin will cause weakness and darkness, and subject us to fierce temptation.” {HS 154.6}

Why am I sending you all this?  Well, we have received so many enquiries from all over the world about what is happening in the world, in our church and in Walter Veith’s ministry, that we decided to send out a short update to keep you abreast of our situation. There has been much speculation and misinformation concerning Walter and his lectures and, in the future, we hope to iron out some of the problems by providing further updates.

Please pray for us this year, for as we near the end of time there are sure to be obstacles and challenges more stout than those of the past, but, as a good friend says, “Trials seen as educators will produce joy.”  And this is what we wish you all and ourselves for the new year – a joy in Christ that the world does not know, and a steadfastness to stand, whatever happens.

“Men and women are wanted now who are as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men and women who will work without having their way smoothed and every obstacle removed.” {CEv 57.1} 

 

Your sister in Christ

Sonica Veith