(DER-bun) – If you swap out Santa’s sleigh for a surfboard, the snow for some sand, and make it summer instead of winter, you’ve got yourself a South African Christmas! While going home for the holidays is often associated with sweet family traditions, yummy holiday favorites, and being reunited with loved ones, for many university students, it can also be a difficult, spiritually dark time, with very little to be joyful about. Missionary apprentices Luke and Leslie Montgomery meet and minister to many first-generation Christians in their university work. Going home for the Christmas holidays means being surrounded by nonbelieving family members, ancestor worship, ceremonies of animal slaughtering, and consultations with the local “sangoma” (witch doctor) — all with expectations that demand their participation despite their new life in Christ. Please pray for students like Sarah who are trying to honor their parents and grandparents culturally, while first and foremost learning what it means to honor Christ in these situations. “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15 ESV).

montgomerysgo@gmail.com
http://www.imb.org/sub-saharan-africa/