Zach Turko Update

A month has gone by now since I’ve been in South Africa. Time has passed quickly, even with things taking awhile to come here. Life has really thrown curve balls at me lately such as hearing that both my sisters were in the hospital back in Canada. Thankfully nothing was too serious with either of them.

These last two weeks have been very interesting. We finished a plumbing job and started a new project to drain some water in the girls bathrooms. We will hopefully finish up that project this week. Many things have happened here in South Africa. One that stands out to me was on April 27, we had a group staying in the guest house and the stove top went out. This made things interesting as it was a holiday here in South Africa. I had to open the main kitchen for them to use and show them how to use the facilities.

We finished the current term and now the students are on break. We were at ten students but two completed their studies and are preparing for their internships. The other 8 are taking a break to recharge.

An event that reminds me of being back in Florida is the church we went to on April 29th. This church was massive and I felt majorly out of place. The church service was great. It was awesome worship and a great sermon.

Each day I have been here presents a different challenge for me. Many of these challenges are simple but some are going to take a long time to figure out. One blessing that I am very grateful is that potatoes here are so cheap. I am also blessed by many of the students. Before the term ended I had a chance to talk with Paul Henri (or as we call him Papa Paul). He told me that I should get married. He told me this after he had asked if I had a wife or a girlfriend, to which I answered no. On the last Saturday before the term ended we had a Fun Night. We were supposed to play sardines and talk around a fire. Instead it became a bucket-of-water-dumping festival. Pretty much everyone except a few students and Jason and Karen got wet. After that we played two games of sardines which was a ton of fun

We also had an oppurtunity to talk to two Samaritan ladies. These are ladies who sell their bodies for a living. I did not talk with any of them but through two of the students we came to find out that at least one of the seven they talked with believed in Christ. I sat in the vehicle and prayed while the students talked with the ladies.

I want to praise God that He has kept me healthy for the most part. Also I want to thank everyone for their constant prayers. God is teaching me things that I am still trying to understand. A thing that He has taught me so far is to come before Him first in fear and humbleness then present my prayers before Him. I really need prayer for understanding and strength. A verse that is always encouraging to me is Psalm 25:1. “To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.”

Thanks again and please continue in your prayers for me.