Streams in the Desert – Beverly Hammett

By Beverly Hammett

Dear Ladies,

What an interesting two months it has been! The month of October was filled with visitors. We began the month by welcoming our oldest son and his family to Africa and celebrating a few days together in South Africa. Then we had the privilege of having Connie and Kristen Nadaskay with us for a week. About the middle of the month our oldest son and his family came here to visit with us and the Castners, so we had a fun time enjoying the grandkids and spending time together. It was sad to say goodbye to them and send them back to America, but we are so thankful to our home church for letting them come to visit.

The month of November was a month of traveling. As most of you know, our visas run out the end of January, and at this point it does not look like they will be renewed. So we have been praying and looking at different places where we might be able to move. We planned a trip to South Africa the middle of the month, but then my husband realized that he was down to one empty page in his passport. That may not seem like a big deal to you, but here they take it pretty seriously. If you get to the border and want to cross, but only have one empty page in your passport, they will not let you cross. So we had to make an unexpected trip to the American Embassy in Gaborone to get some pages added to his passport.

We had a fun Thanksgiving/birthday celebration with the Castners and our son from South Africa. My husband turned 60 on Thanksgiving Day and our grandson’s birthday is 2 days later. So we had a big celebration with lots of food and lots of dessert! Then the day after Thanksgiving we headed to South Africa to look over a couple different areas there as possible places to move to.

Please keep our visa situation and our future place of service in your prayers. At this point, we are not sure where we will end up or if we will be able to stay here. As you can imagine, it is all rather unsettling, and sometimes overwhelming. We love the people here. We have seen them saved and growing, and our hearts don’t want to leave them behind. Are they ready yet to stand on their own? Only the test of time will fully disclose the answer to that question. We are thankful that Garry and Michelle will be able to stay here and continue to work with them. But they need your prayers also as they will be carrying a heavy load.

I have been reading lately the book titled Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret. Today as I was reading I came across this quote by Hudson Taylor which I thought was very appropriate. “It doesn’t matter, really, how great the pressure is. It only matters where the pressure lies. See that it never comes between you and the Lord. Then, the greater the pressure, the more it presses you to His breast.” Pray that I keep a right perspective and that I don’t let all the uncertainly about the future hinder my relationship with God. We know He has a plan for us and a place to serve Him. We just need to be sure that we follow His leading and not our own.

Love to all,

Beverly Hammett