H D Leach 16 October 2020 (The anniversary of my arrival here!)
The Lord called me to live and work at KwaSizabantu Mission the moment I drove through the gates for the first time in October 1991. I was seeking where the Lord wanted me in the world and to which missionary organisation I should be attached to. I had spent three years praying about this and as soon as I passed through the gates, I experienced a great joy in my heart and a knowledge that this was where He wanted me to be.
I had come from England to visit my brother and had been given the book God Among the Zulus by a church friend. As I had read it I realised this was the only place on earth that I wanted to come to. I was free at that time of my life, unemployed by choice, with no commitments and responsibilities in the UK and with money in the bank. I could have gone anywhere. But God called me here.
God called me here. This is the foundation on which I stand. This was before I had even greeted one person or experienced one meal, one service or one counselling session. No one told me to come. No one persuaded me to stay. No one told me to leave everything in the UK. No one prevented me from going back, only God and the compulsion in my heart to become involved with His work here.
Many people over the years have asked me was it difficult to come to South Africa and stay here? The question puzzled me as I was walking in the Lord’s footsteps and following His voice. It was easy to stay here; it was easy to stay at the mission. I was searching the work God wanted me to be part of, but I was also seeking freedom and victory over some sinful habits and painful memories of things I had done as a teenager, before I became a Christian in 1983.
In the first three days I was here I listened to the evening services and they mentioned specific sins I was still troubled by. I realised that if they had the power to stand and talk about these things then they had the victory over these sins. I realised victory was possible and it gave me courage to ask to speak to a counsellor and to bring my sins to the light. The Lord lifted those burdens off my shoulders, and I felt a great lightness. I had heard much about the power of the Spirit in other churches mainly in teachings about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but when the Lord freed me from my sin I realised that was the true power of God working in a person’s life. I was free.
I have lived permanently and worked at KwaSizabantu Mission for 28 years now. I am an integral part of the work and I have experienced only love and kindness from my fellow Christians I work alongside in the Lord’s work. We work together harmoniously as a great team and seek a common goal in furthering the Lord’s kingdom here on earth. I would not want to live and work anywhere else. This mission of mixed cultures and languages suits me fine. I am one with all those who love the Lord and I respect and honour the one who started it, namely Reverend Erlo Stegen.
I was called into the Lord’s service, to be here at KwaSizabantu Mission. This is the Lord’s work through which He is honoured and uplifted, and those trying to discredit it are poking their fingers in God’s eye.