Galatians 6:2 (ESV)
2 rBear one another’s burdens, and sso fulfill tthe law of Christ.

We just received word that Todd Vanderpool, Chairman of the Deeper Still Missions Board of Directors, has been admitted into the hospital. He will be having surgery tomorrow to remove a tumor or mass on his brain. We find this news alarming and would seek focused prayer from those who follow our ministry.

The word for burdens in Galatians means weight. It could be compared to a boulder that is too large for any one person to carry. We find ourselves over 9,000 miles away from home and unable to get by his side and to share our love and care. Would you join us in lifting this weight to the throne of our Lord? We would appreciate your participation in this request.

Cathy and Danny Sartin
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t  1 John 4:21; See John 13:34
  The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ga 6:2). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
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Copyright © Danny Sartin and Deeper Still Missions. All Rights Reserved.
This on the field report is written for those who support Deeper Still Missions and our goal of missionary retention.
Re-Prints: Deeper Still Missions devotionals are protected by international copyright laws. To request reprint permission contact the offices of DSM. Permission is granted and encouraged to forward this post in its entirety to others without making any changes or deletions.

Prayer Focus!

Today begins our first pastor retreat in Mpumalanga, South Africa and the anticipation is very encouraging. We will spend several days helping those church leaders and missionaries relax, refresh and reconnect with the Lord in an intimate manner.

Renewal and refocus is always needed among leaders in the ministry. So many pressures, concerns and issues can make a ministry heart weary.  Meanwhile. . . other issues push for our attention and our prayer focus.

Pictured above is the building used by Euro Relief on the Island of Lesvos in Greece. Cathy and I have walked among these refugees and volunteers from all over the world at this location. Friendships have been forged and their concerns weigh heavy on our hearts.

Pray for Kim and Jenny Garrity as they seek to replace the destroyed container and supplies that were ruined. This is a difficult setback that will pressure the relief agencies resources amid a global tragedy.

Pray for Pastor Bonface of Zimbabwe as they face the consequences of marauding raiders who steal corn planted for starving orphans. The famine they face from the staggering rain drought over the last year is creating desperate circumstances. God’s miraculous feeding of the five thousand is certainly reflected in these circumstances.
 
In the book of Isaiah chapter fifty God the Father wakens Jesus the Son to give Him an instructed tongue. He taught him the words that sustain the weary. Those words are spoken in the presence of the fatigued. But they are also spoken at the throne of God the Father. Thank you for the prayers.


Cathy and Danny Sartin
www.deeperstillmissions.com

Greece 

​Danny is feeding a vulture at a rehabilitation center in Africa. The bird was heavy and strong. His claws could be felt through the thick leather glove. He pulled at the meat between my thumb and fingers. His size and power was a surprise as he jumped on my arm and went after the raw meat.

Once he gobbled the small snack I dropped him to the ground. He could have easily turned and pecked at my face. It was certainly an uneasy feeling once he latched on to my arm.

Cathy and I are traveling on Monday to a volatile area of the world. A large portion of the refugees escaping the Middle East are coming through the Island of Lesvos in Greece. We will be going to visit missionaries on the island and in Athens. This will take us to parts of the world that are deeply troubled.

The places we will go and some of the people we will interact with have seen the atrocities first hand. Many have never met a Christian before. The stories they tell are moving and powerful. We will see some who have witnessed visions from the Lord.

Pray for our understanding, wisdom, graciousness and courage as we come alongside Christians and Muslims who have seen this tragedy up close and personal. Pray that we encourage and guide everyone's heart toward Jesus.

Cathy and Danny Sartin
​ www.deeperstillmissions.com 
​
Copyright © Danny Sartin and Deeper Still Missions. All Rights Reserved. Photograph was taken by Cathy and Danny Sartin in Central America.
This on the field report is written for those who support Deeper Still Missions and our goal of missionary retention.
Re-Prints: Deeper Still Missions devotionals are protected by international copyright laws. To request reprint permission contact the offices of DSM. Permission is granted and encouraged to forward this post in its entirety to others without making any changes or deletions.

A Critical Journey

This past week I have been in Athens with a missionary friend and team. We found ourselves in the middle of a rushing refugee flow of thousands. Pictured is an Afghanistan family on a  journey from their native land to a future place. They hope to find the peace that is so illusive in their part of the world.

The little boy in the picture is Avesta. When he arrived in Greece he was completely withdrawn and clutching at his parents. He would barely look anyone in the eyes. His world had been turned upside down.

Over the next few days his transformation was a site to behold. The withdrawn child became an explosive bundle of energy. He would put out his fist to me wanted me to bump my fist to him. Then a big smile would hit his face and laughter would ring around the room.

This Muslim family found a new reason for hope and peace. They picked up the cross of Jesus Christ and found His peace.

The incredible work transpiring here is a sight to behold. I found myself deeply touched and desiring to help in any way. BBC did a report on the refugees that would be worth a look. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33665787?SThisFB

Thankfully they didn't mention the ministry which started three years ago to serve and help these displaced people. Confidentiality is important for those Christians who are reaching out to these wandering people. Their lives are under threats of peril for their service.

I was told stories that made my eyes grow wide open. One was a twelve year old boy who was serving at a refugee camp in Turkey. He came to Jesus during his three months in the camp. He went back into Syria when ISIS was defeated in his town.

Unfortunately Isis was shamed by the Kurdish women who killed them. According to certain teachings those men killed by women could not enter paradise. ISIS attacked the town again and killed all the Christians including this young boy. He was beheaded for his new found faith in Jesus.

Thank you for the prayers that were so fruitful and powerful. I feel like Paul in the New Testament times.

Danny

Copyright © Danny Sartin. All Rights Reserved.
Spiritual Safaris are written for those who support Deeper Still Missions and its goal of missionary retention. 
Re-Prints: Deeper Still Missions devotionals are protected by international copyright laws. To request reprint permission contact the offices of DSM. 

From the Field: 

I took this picture as I entered Ground Zero at the World Trade Center back in 2001. I will never forget the smell, feel and atmosphere of the pile. This building showed the gaping hole in the front wall as debris fell from the twin towers.

Working as a chaplain in the recovery of remains left an impression on my heart that will follow me throughout my life. This was an event that people all around the world saw on television and remember even today. We go nowhere in the world that people cannot comment on this moment in time.

Today I am walking in another "Ground Zero" on the other side of the world. I am not able to give you specifics, names, or places because of the spiritual battle that is going on. But the Lord is walking with me during this time.

I wanted to ask you to pray as this week begins that I will faithfully represent our Lord and be the servant that He desires that all of us will be. I feel the same way as I did in 2001. I knew that where I walked in New York was a pivotal place and moment in history. Buildings were shattered along with lives, minds and hearts.

I am sure that you can understand the necessity for confidentiality. Please pray for God's guidance, wisdom and courage as I walk among the lives of so many who are directly in the heat of battle. Thank you.

Danny Sartin

The last two weeks have been a sad time and celebration. My dad stepped into eternity on January 16th and we buried him on Tuesday of this week. What a joy to see the promises of Jesus fulfilled!

I at least wanted to share with you a few words I spoke at his funeral. He had a major impact on my life.

These final thoughts I wrote a couple of years ago in anticipation of this day:
 
At this moment my Daddy stands . . . no. . . He kneels before the presence of God almighty. With a deep sense of awe he glances at the face of God knowing that His power is endless. He nods with respect and looks at the loving face of God. He has always shown that same grace to others during his life. No pretense, just genuine admiration that ends with a slight smile and a warm handshake.

Daddy has taught me the true meaning of grace. He has taught me the deep value of people. He has modeled the traits of hard work and love.

From his humble beginnings in Dexter, Mississippi to the moment his last breath was taken, he modeled an inviting man of God. Everyone was attracted to him.

His wit never dimmed. His responsibility never failed even when the disease ravaged his body. His character remained intact. He wanted to pay the meal ticket in the nursing home. As he would look at me holding the ticket saying, we need to take care of this.

The meal ticket is now being paid by the blood of Jesus.

If you would be interested in reading his obituary which I proudly wrote, here is a link to that document. http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Sedgie-Sartin&lc=9773&pid=173894708&uuid=15040069-5729-4586-83aa-6f7b65e3c5ca

Thank you for praying with us during these weeks. We are deeply proud to call you a friend.
 Copyright © 2015 Deeper Still Missions, All rights reserved. 

Anticipation. . . anticipation. . . is making me late. . .is keeping me waiting.

A melody written by Carly Simon dances through my memory as we prepare for our next trip to Africa. A feeling of excitement is racing through our hearts and minds. You see prior events raise the level of excitement as we contemplate the promises of God mixed with events we have already seen over the past five years. Words are completely inadequate to describe the amazement of watching the Holy Spirit move among a group of pastors. The sensation of seeing hearts awakened to the messages of Jesus and the powerful Word of God is astounding.

So we find ourselves expecting and looking forward to the wonder of God! This week alone has revealed shattered hearts, dreams and pain in the hearts of some missionaries. I see forethought in another dreaming of a missionary retreat that might benefit thirty missionaries in their area. They want to know if we can get together with them. Timing seems to be perfect as we bought tickets and leave in the next week. Some need rest while others need a shoulder to cry on. We can see that this three month trip will take us deeper still in the lives and hearts of so many.

I see the faces of orphans throughout Mpumalanga, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. They long for a personal connection that will demonstrate their worth in this world. Their eyes search back and forth for a connection. The smile on their face blossoms and validates your glance. All they want is to crawl in your lap and feel the security of those arms. Someone is going with us to do just that.

Today is pregnant with violence, division, deception, murder, hate, and illness. Leaders seem to be indifferent, detached and focused elsewhere. Political correctness has taken over plain reason. If a politician speaks, the words seldom match the behavior or result. What is to come of us and this world? God has already shown us. It is all prophesied in His Word.

We can never know about the days to come. . .but we think about them anyway! But this act of looking forward visualizes some of the pleasurable expectations of watching God work in our life and the lives of so many others. We have read the final chapters in His book!

Pray with us as we prepare, feel excitement about something that is going to happen. Because He lives!

Cathy and Danny Sartin

www.deeperstillmissions.com

Copyright © Danny Sartin and Deeper Still Missions. All Rights Reserved.

This on the field report is written for those who support Deeper Still Missions and our goal of missionary retention.

Re-Prints
Deeper Still Missions devotionals are protected by international copyright laws. To request reprint permission contact the offices of DSM. Permission is granted and encouraged to forward this email in its entirety to others without making any changes or deletions.

I drove up to Khanyisani Alliance Church on a dusty dirt road. Bumps and patches of grass littered the way. It was more like a trail than a road. Pastor David Mazini was standing outside as I pulled up. His familiar broken smile and gray beard. His face is rugged from age and his statue simple and inviting. His quiet voice was warm and tender. He placed his arms around me in gratefulness. Oh thank you Pastor for cominghe said.

He directed me to park the car behind the building under the shed. I pulled around to a tin roofed area with irregular boards on three sides. It reminded me of the shed in my grandfather’s barn. It was where he parked his tractor. This now open shed had been the church building for the first twenty years of its existence, David later told me.

When I joined David around the front I noticed the outhouse near the building. It was more of an open structure than private. It also took me back to my childhood and my grandfather’s farm. It felt like rural Mississippi in the 1950′s. The church building, which was built several years ago is still unpainted on the outside. Everything feels rustic, simple and bare. No signs are on the building. But at the same time it is majestic for this community.

I stepped inside with David and saw a simple service area with plastic chairs. The pulpit had been draped in cloth and decorated with a few simple items. There were seats for well over a hundred people. I turned to David and said how many people come here? I expected maybe twenty and he said over a hundred people attend each week. He introduced me to two elderly ladies who sat in the room ready for the coming service.  These ladies each smiled with missing teeth and clothes that seemed aged and unkempt. One had her hair covered with cloth tied into a bun. Out of respect they grabbed their elbow and reached out their hand of greeting.

A high percent of the people in the church have no job and little income to sustain them. But you could not tell by their hearts. Happy and content they were excited to be in the Lord’s house. Big smiles and quick laughter were followed by dancing and shaking their heads. I felt so welcome.

He took me to the back area where their Sunday School was meeting with young people and children. When I walked in each leader immediately reached out their hand in greeting and said welcome Pastor.

We came around the corner and I saw dozens of little children with a bowl of food in their lap. They were eating before the service. David said it would be the only meal for many of them today. Most of the small ones have lost both of their parents to Aids. The rest had lost at least one parent. I was stunned.  Where does the food come from I asked. He said the teachers cook it and the church pays for the food.

We stepped outside to see a large water tank that is filled by the church for use on Sunday’s There is no water well anywhere in the community. This tank is filled by a water truck. Children were filling a cup of water to drink with their meal. They were very careful to close the faucet and not let water drip on the ground. It is a precious gift for them.

All of a sudden I realized that my heart was not prepared for the simple beauty that I was witnessing. This church is a haven for the broken, lost and desperate children who must continue without their parents. These teachers call them all by name and treat them like their own little ones. Zodwig, Sipho, Lesego, Sindy, Excellent and Nokwanda were introduced to me along with many more. I glanced into the eyes of children who looked at me with a longing that tugged at my heart. They smiled and showed gratitude that they were being remembered by someone. I had to choke back the tears.

I did not understand the depth of ministry that was going on. When the service began their voices hit the top of the ceiling. There was no piano, organ, or any instrument. Everything was human voices only.  On occasion a tambourine was used to accent the voices. But they sang and danced to every song. The depth of their worship was so enjoyable, spontaneous, rich and continual. Then the little children went forward and sang this little light of mine. I am gona let it shine. How can they want to shine in such desperate circumstances?

Greetings began and everyone in the church came to me and welcomed me. Even the little children made their way around the adults. Nothing plastic or formal but it was warm words, hugs and smiles. The little children gleefully told each other about meeting the big tall white man. No one wanted to miss my hand. One of the elder ladies came up and said, yea bo (a popular African greeting), I am so glad you are here.

I felt very inadequate to share with this crowd. They speak Swati and Zulu. Some understand a little English but it is very little. The Scripture reading was in Zulu and presentations were in Swati. How do I connect with them?

The Word of God was the bridge and they responded well. Many had the Zulu Bibles we had provided last year through special gifts. They leafed through the Gospels to follow the stories and listen to Pastor David as he translated my comments into Swati. The children sat on the edge of their chairs when I told the story of Balaam’s donkey from the Old Testament. Laughter and comments filled the room as I demonstrated Balaam on his donkey. The children were amazed that the donkey spoke to Balaam.

Afterwards several wanted the verses from Numbers about the donkey. I want to go home and read the story myself! But most importantly you could hear the gratitude in each voice for the sermon. Oh Pastor, God spoke through you today. Thank you for coming.

I have been amazed at the presence of the Lord in such unique circumstances. I went with missionary Ronas Marule into Kruger Park to rest, reflect, refocus and renew our hearts. We drove on the Sabie River bridge and I was stunned at the damage from the floods in late January. Water levels had gone up above the bridge and destroyed the railing from debris. It had gone up over three stories. But more amazing was the absence of the animals. They had left the area two days before the floods hit and moved to higher ground in the North. How did they know?

I have also been amazed at the presence of Satan at key moments. I was sitting with a dozen ministry staff and we were deeply involved in Bible study that was at the moment of climax. The staff were smiling and excited about what God was showing them. The next moment we heard a pop and spewing sound. One stepped into the next room and a water pipe had burst and was spraying water all over the floor. Scrambling to catch the heavy spray and keep the water contained in a specific area. Phone calls for help and trying to find the cutoff for the building. After an extended time we sat back down and one staff said, Satan is trying to take our focus off God’s Word. Amazing.

This week has been full of Bible study and speaking to Pastors throughout the area. Over one hundred church leaders have attended three separate meetings this week. It is moving so fast. Tomorrow I begin teaching at the African School of Missions.

But let me share with you what Ronas Marule has to say about this past week.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

We always look forward for Danny and Cathy to come visit us every year because they are a blessing to us as a family we feel refreshed by their encouragement to both Busie and me.

One of the areas Danny is helping us is ministry to the local Churches and Leadership sessions which is a great need in Africa, his knowledge of the word of God is so valuable to us. Last Sunday at Bushbuckridge Word of Life Church at Pastor Israel Malele’s church I was so blessed as he preached about two of the secret disciples of Jesus and showed us how they let Jesus down and yet they had courage and boldness to recover and had great impact. I could sense the anointing upon the preaching it was not just knowledge but with the power of the Spirit of God.

It is really valuable to have such a great teacher of the word to come share with us his experience in ministry and leadership he has accumulated over the years. I’m glad that they are coming to us and assisting in whatever way to help in the work that we are doing for His Kingdom.

I’m also blessed to spend the last two days with Danny looking at how to lead my team to achieve better using everyone’s gifts, I have learnt that what I do not have someone in the team will balance that. When Danny and Cathy came the last three year I was not sure if I was the right person to lead Province the reason I was only looking at what I do not have but they introduced a book that help me to see my strengths and also letting the strengths of the other team members balance what I do not have. Right now I’m excited looking forward for our meeting on Friday with the other leaders in my team to see how to complement each other from our different strengths.

Thank you for your prayers.

I watched yesterday morning as a large troop of monkeys went over the roof, through the trees and right up to my window. I stepped outside and watched. When one would notice my presence they would quickly move and jump into the tree. Yet others would just stare as they chewed on pieces of food they had found. The mother and baby was so touching.

I sat and began to watch closely. Then I noticed a spider web as a insect flew into the trap. Multiple spiders raced to the point seeking to capture the meal they had worked so hard for. They had strung webbing across the top of the bushes and plants to provide an almost invisible barrier to capture unsuspecting meals. It flexed with the bush as the wind blew.

Next I noticed the hundreds of ants walking around on the ground. Following one another on invisible trails that seem to have a predetermined purpose. I couldn’t find a single ant that wasn’t moving. Busy about life and each focused on a responsibility for the colony. I see a dozen or so crawling over the remaining seed from a piece of fruit. They have picked it clean.

God is so marvelous. From the smallest to the largest in His Kingdom. Every time I stop and contemplate what He has done I am amazed. And the wonder of God is at my window and all around me when I walk. I am so negligent to stop and take notice.

While in Africa I have been exposed to the spiritual battles that are very obscure in America. Here spiritualism is very obvious. I have seen and experienced it firsthand. There is even a radio station in Johannesburg that interviews Satan worshipers who discuss sending spirits to sift people in other parts of town. The Dark Continent still has a strong influence from ancestral worship, Sangomas (witch doctors), Inyagas (medicine men) and a need to please the ancestors.

But the most exciting time this week was watching the changes in the hearts of Buyela young people. One wrote, Uncle Danny’s teachings have encouraged me to live the Word of God and be obedient to the Word. All the meetings made me realize the Word of God is true. My eyes have been opened to a whole new world. I’ve never been so touched. There has been a new seed planted in my heart and my lifestyle. I can’t wait to reach out to others. 

God’s handiwork in our hearts is a true marvel. His Word has such power to change a spirit. Tomorrow I will be preaching at two churches in Bushbuckridge. Please pray that his Word will have the same affect on the hearts of the people.

Thank you so much for praying during this past week. Buyela is now in Mafeking, South Africa beginning their ministry. More wonders will become evident as His Spirit moves.