Not too long ago, one morning after attending church, a friend of mine, Tanja Smith, calls me closer. She introduces me to Karien Bosman, saying she should ask me. Like the obedient friend I am, I stand closer, ever so slightly confused with what needs to be asked of me. The conversation leads in the direction of selling tickets for a table, attending a Cherish morning for women, at our church, Doxa Deo Xanadu. To be a hostess at this event.
I have never in my life before, portrayed the role of a hostess at an event such as this (I was always hesitant for these types of things, the one reason is the fear of the unknown, and also fearing that I will be asked to do something that is outside my comfort zone). None the less, here I am, acting as a hostess. I must sell 9 other tickets and then ensure that the tea pots are full of hot water and filter coffee. I reckoned that this is easy enough and agreed to this, selling tickets to other friends and people I know.
One Saturday, at my nail appointment, I chatted with Irene about this event and she asked what it entails. I shrugged my shoulders saying that I don’t know much. Just that it includes something to eat. She started to laugh, because that was not what she had asked. She wanted to know who the guest speaker is and what she is going to talk about. Again, I could not really answer her, and we left it at that. She reserved a seat at my table, and so the process started with other friends reserving seats at my table.
The day before the event, all the hostesses had to get together to help set up in the hall. Everyone is responsible to set their tables with everything that is provided by the church. It does not sound too difficult to do, and here I go from the one side of Hartbeespoort Dam to the other side, to fulfil this task that was assigned to me. Part of the things that have to be placed on the table, is Khayelitsha Cookies. Now let me tell you quickly – I took a photo of the biscuits and I had to double check the spelling of Khayelitsha from the photo, because man of man, I would not get this right on my own.
None the less, I do as I am told and don’t wonder too much about what is going to happen. I did not try to figure out who Adri Williams is and didn’t think twice about the biscuits. At some stage I heard Karien saying that when Adri flies in that evening, she will bring this, that and the next with her. Now in my mind I am starting to do calculations about where Adri is from. Khayelitsha (oh my hat I must check this word’s spelling the whole time!!) is in the Cape Province. So I reckoned that she is somewhere from the Cape area.
On the day, someone mentioned to me that Adri purchased Khayelitsha Cookies for something like R1 in 2013, I think, and turned the business around. Again, my head starts doing calculations and I reckoned she will be giving her testimony of how God turned that business around into one massive profitable business. And like that, the morning started, coffee, tea and boiling water is carried to the table, and I convinced myself that I will get my daily steps recorded on my exercise watch, because, my table is on the far side of the hall, right on the opposite side of where the coffee and boiling water is. Then it was Adri’s turn to speak.
I am trying to remember all the facts, but I must admit, she talked a lot and mentioned so many things, that I just cannot remember everything. I also did not sit to make notes, so here it goes. I am going to say what I remember from the morning. I also reckon that her story cannot be fitted into a blog entry, so I will give the short version. Her story is worthy of a book, I don’t even think a morning like this, can describe in detail all God’s miracles. Because that is what it is about, is it not?
You see, I am someone that likes the detail. I like to hear HOW God lets people’s paths cross, how someone prays over here and someone, 700 km away, hears something, experiencing how God just brings everything and everyone together in His Godly manner. Something that cannot be fabricated by people. The long and the short is – Adri was in a cosy corporate job. Had a company car, marble countertops in the kitchen and the works. Real fancy. Then at one stage, she quit her job and joined Khayelitsha Cookies (oh man me and the spelling of this word). The role that she portrayed, I could not detect from her testimony, the year I cannot remember – was it 2003 or 2007?
Adri mentioned that her family thought she was crazy to do something like this, but now they are rock solid behind her, supporting her. Somewhere in her testimony, she was involved with a Children’s home (I think with her church…?) and every second Saturday, they would do an outreach to these kids. She always kept to the toddlers rather than the babies (from what I could understand, she was afraid she will break them if she holds them, so she rather just avoided them). One particular Saturday, a baby was placed in her arms, the nurse asking her to help give the baby 15 ml of milk before she leaves that day, else the child will surely die.
She mentions a shocking fact that 1 out of 5 children die annually because of malnutrition. Now this is where the Cookie company came in, somewhere around here (now I am avoiding the spelling of Khayelitsha because it frustrates me too much to constantly check how it is spelt). She shared with us how she became a fellow shareholder, after the previous owners wanted to close down the company, because they were operating at a loss and just could not pay the bills anymore. This company does not receive government funding I learnt, and they also bake at a profit margin of 1% (I may have the % incorrect, but it is not very big) on the sales of the biscuits. She tells us where she started with three small ovens like those you would use in your home (I know exactly what oven she refers to – for many years, that was what I had to use in our house before we upgraded to a bigger one). She showed us pictures of where they are now, a wonderful space with big ovens, something that looked like a vision that God gave her right at the start when she joined the Cookie company.
At this point, her testimony turns to something that I did not expect. She tells us how she heard God’s voice audibly, one year on Christmas day, while having Christmas lunch with her family, about cattle feed that she must take to a farmer. She proceeds to tell us how God just let everything fall into place, like only He can. How cell phone calls dialled through to places where there is no cell phone reception. How the farmer prayed to God for help on that same Christmas day that she heard God audibly, 700 km away, about what to do. It is just AMAZING and the detail is too much to share here (I am most probably going to get the detail wrong, I would have to sit with her, making notes, because I want to get the detail right).
The story progress further about how she started to arrange and organise a fleet of trucks to deliver cattle feed, doing research about what feed different types of cattle eat (because yes, there is humour in this story – the very first feed truck that she arranged, was food that sheep do not eat and from what I gathered, it was taken to a sheep farmer). She further had to do due diligence investigations about the farmers that needed help, because it is other people’s money and donations used in this process and she cannot afford for anything to go wrong here. She drove with each truck where feed is delivered, arranging the diesel, drivers, trucks, cattle feed. You name it, she had to arrange it. We learnt how God touched farmer’s lives (and hearts) who had become hard hearted towards God, how communities turned back to Him. How they prayed for farmers’ wives, serving others like only God can.
Then came the accident. A gruesome accident where they thought she would not survive. She tells us how the car rolled 6 and a half times after a tyre burst. How her right arm twisted twice I think, in an unnatural manner and was totally out of place. The arm was crushed in medical terms. She tells us how God sent someone, to pray for the woman in the car. A man that looked like her dad and called her Miss (Juffrou in Afrikaans), something that only her dad called her. She was freed from the car after 3 and half hours of cutting away at the wreck, with who knows what machinery (I cannot remember everything). How God sent farmers to pray for her health, because it looked like she was not going to survive.
An ICU ambulance was sent from the Cape, to transport her for medical assistance. She tells us jokingly, how the coloured paramedic was fighting with her to stay alive so that they can help her in the hospital. It is just trauma upon trauma upon trauma in her testimony and all the way, one cannot help but to notice God’s hand in everything (and His humour too, because three years after the accident, she learnt that the local doctor was not available and the doctor that was standing in at that time, assisting her, was also the local veterinarian). It was so amazing to notice God’s hand in everything, to hear how He is in the detail in everything that happened with her. She tells us that she flatlined when she saw her family at the hospital and how they resuscitated her. How she had all these thoughts going through her mind, while she was lying in the wreck, coming in and out of consciousness. How she wondered if she was truly a good mother to her children and whether she really did everything right and did enough?
The core of her message was this – we are enough, but we are also at times our biggest enemy. Every person has a story. We must testify of God’s goodness, how He provides. How He helps us when people can’t. She told us further that the doctors did not have hope for her arms, that she had to go in for the umpteenth time for an operation, signing forms beforehand authorising doctors to amputate her arms if they feel they cannot do anything more for her. How her husband pledged R777 at a local radio station in the Cape province, how he was praying for the healing of his wife and her arms. At this same event at the Radio station, was Gary Kieswetter.
Gary felt that God told him that her arms will be God’s trophies. She goes on by telling us that Gary phoned her, telling her what he felt God told him. After all the operations, the lack of life that the doctors spoke over her arms, she still has both her arms and full use of them. God restored and healed it completely! Only a living God can do this! The biggest miracle of all? The scars on both her arms are 27cm long – this represents the number of trucks that God asked her to arrange. The total holes in her body, as a result from the stitches, amounts to 161. This represents the number of farmers that God assisted through the feed trucks that were arranged. I cannot help but to see someone standing in victory, arms flexing upwards.
True trophies with engravings of God’s goodness and favour. Just like Gary Kieswetter experienced and shared with her. Even after all the revelations, there were more operations, and the other miracles of these operations? No additional stitches or cut marks were made on the surface of her skin. If there were stitches, it was placed internally. How wonderful is God? Wow. I did NOT expect to hear this type of testimony. I almost felt ashamed about how boring my life is and how I feel that I do not do enough for God. How I almost started to listen to the lies from the devil, that I can only write a blog and nothing more. I mean, what does a blog help for draught and cattle dying from a lack of food? But a very important thing was said by her – we must not compare our stories with those of others. Everyone has their own story, unique and written by God.
Of course, I got my answer from God about Beroepsvrou. I have been struggling for a while now about the purpose of Beroepsvrou and whether I should not retire the Pink Feathers ® range of Beroepsvrou. To just focus on writing and my day job and life that keeps on happening, raising two kids and just doing my part when it comes to that… but God’s answer this morning was clear, audible, spoken by Adri. Do not stop, keep on doing something for God. It does not have to be something that you make a living from. Just keep on. I cannot recall her exact words, but this is what I got from it. Testify, because everything comes back to our Creator. How great He truly is. How He is in every single detail.
Adri, my prayer for you is God’s goodness and favour over you (here I go again with the spelling) and Khayelitsha Cookies and everything that God lays on your heart to do. Your obedience and testimony are so inspiring. It is wonderful to know that there are other crazy people out there, doing things that do not make sense, but just being obedient in that what God lays on their hearts to do. There is a song from Casting Crowns called Crazy People – one of my favourite songs. Go and testify and keep on praising God’s name, bringing glory to Him, because it is His breath in our lungs, and we cannot do less than that – to praise and worship His Name!
