Our day begins at 6.30 am where singing starts in the lounge. Once everyone has got up and joined the worshippers, we start praying.
We always pray God's blessing on those who have given to the ministry in cash or kind. We pray for those in the USA and all over the world who keep in contact with us and encourage us. We pray for the leaders of the ministry. We pray for the local pastors. We pray for our national leaders. We pray for financial provision and for the provision of food. We pray for the girls who are out on the beachfront.
At 7 pm each person will read, meditate and pray over scripture. They will ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the Word to them.
At 7.30 we will share what we have received. This causes us all to focus on the word and ask the Lord to teach us the Word so we all have something to share. Those who have nothing to share are often needing counseling.
Then comes the excellence program. This is a very important part of the rehabilitation program.
1. The girl will be given work to do. She will them assess how well she will do the work. She will give herself a mark as to what she believes she achieve.
2. After the work is done she will mark herself.
3. the supervisor will then mark the work. Encouragement will be given, or guidance as to more excellence.
as time goes on the girls will achieve higher and higher marks. This will give them a sense of self discipline, self achievement and higher morale and self esteem.
Breakfast follows at 9.30 then at 10 teaching is given, usually by the house manager, Patricia.
Lunch and then in the afternoon, skills program between 2-5.30 Local people will come and teach cooking, sewing, crochet, computer or basic work skills.
Supper and then teaching by Petra, myself or an African pastor, Pastor Julius.
In the mornings Pastor Steve will be writing, but in the afternoon there will be staff meetings, administrative work, meeting community pastors or counselling girls.
Finally half an hour of prayer and then bed at 10 pm.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
PETRA AND STEVE MOVE
Petra LUNA and Pastor Steve BLOMEFIELD were living in Umhlanga in Durban. Umhlanga is 12 kilometers from the beachfront where we do outreach to commercial sex workers. It is also 35 kilometers to the suburb where the rehab center is.
They have now moved into the house and Petra is a mother to the girls, and Steve a father to the girls. There is a resident married couple. Patricia is the house manager, and Peter, her husband is a co-pastor of a church.
Some of the girls are orphans, and others come from homes where they suffered violence and rape. The vast majority of the girls involved in commercial sex work have suffered rape, often repeatedly, and this usually this was first experienced in the home. So home life was one of fear and abuse. Thus at the HOUSE OF LIFE we have to create a family atmosphere of love, acceptance, teaching, discipline, harmony and personal growth. We have to inspire the girls to have vision and to teach them how to grow so as to achieve that vision.
When the girls leave home they come to the city to find work. They often move into a shelter and pay 3 US Dollars per night. There may be 50 people in the shelter, both men and women in bunks in one warehouse style room. They quickly run out of cash and are encouraged by other commercial sex workers in the shelter to learn the trade. Out of desperation they agree. They then seek the protection of a pimp who manipulates them using tools of sex, pseudo love and drugs to enslave them into a new life where they serve him and work only for his prosperity.
At the shelter they have no discipline whatsoever. Because they work late at night they wake up late in the day. If they find food, they guzzzle it down on the spot. Food is obtained by Take-Away Restaurants. Rarely do they cook a meal with proper vegetables and rarely do they buy fruit.
They soon learn that life in the shelter is all about survival, and if this means deceiving, lying, arguing, fighting, dominating others, manipulating others and violence, then this is what they will do. It is all about survival. This lifestyle becomes a habit, a culture.
When they come to Jesus, they have to learn a whole new life. They learn love, forgiveness, kindness, honesty, discipline, order, walking in the light, excellence of work, and most importantly, the Word of God and who Jesus really is. They learn that while man is sinful, Jesus can give him His righteousness by faith.
This is why Petra and Steve have to be in the center. All day there is a continual stream of encouragement, counselling, discipline, teaching, prayer and preaching. By continually focusing the girls on Jesus as they Way, the Truth and the Life, they are continually changed into his likeness.
Now we live in the HOUSE OF LIFE, we can join the pastoral community here. Church women from the community here can teach the girls cooking, sewing, knitting, crochet work, gardening, and other home skills. Supermarkets can provide food. Pastors can come in and teach the girls.
We are beginning to meet local pastors, attend their churches and are inviting them to come and teach in the HOUSE.
I thank God for the way that the ministry is growing. From midnight outreaches to feeding programs and then finally to the establishment of the house, then us moving into the house and establishing links with the local Christian community, we are growing, growing, growing.
They have now moved into the house and Petra is a mother to the girls, and Steve a father to the girls. There is a resident married couple. Patricia is the house manager, and Peter, her husband is a co-pastor of a church.
Some of the girls are orphans, and others come from homes where they suffered violence and rape. The vast majority of the girls involved in commercial sex work have suffered rape, often repeatedly, and this usually this was first experienced in the home. So home life was one of fear and abuse. Thus at the HOUSE OF LIFE we have to create a family atmosphere of love, acceptance, teaching, discipline, harmony and personal growth. We have to inspire the girls to have vision and to teach them how to grow so as to achieve that vision.
When the girls leave home they come to the city to find work. They often move into a shelter and pay 3 US Dollars per night. There may be 50 people in the shelter, both men and women in bunks in one warehouse style room. They quickly run out of cash and are encouraged by other commercial sex workers in the shelter to learn the trade. Out of desperation they agree. They then seek the protection of a pimp who manipulates them using tools of sex, pseudo love and drugs to enslave them into a new life where they serve him and work only for his prosperity.
At the shelter they have no discipline whatsoever. Because they work late at night they wake up late in the day. If they find food, they guzzzle it down on the spot. Food is obtained by Take-Away Restaurants. Rarely do they cook a meal with proper vegetables and rarely do they buy fruit.
They soon learn that life in the shelter is all about survival, and if this means deceiving, lying, arguing, fighting, dominating others, manipulating others and violence, then this is what they will do. It is all about survival. This lifestyle becomes a habit, a culture.
When they come to Jesus, they have to learn a whole new life. They learn love, forgiveness, kindness, honesty, discipline, order, walking in the light, excellence of work, and most importantly, the Word of God and who Jesus really is. They learn that while man is sinful, Jesus can give him His righteousness by faith.
This is why Petra and Steve have to be in the center. All day there is a continual stream of encouragement, counselling, discipline, teaching, prayer and preaching. By continually focusing the girls on Jesus as they Way, the Truth and the Life, they are continually changed into his likeness.
Now we live in the HOUSE OF LIFE, we can join the pastoral community here. Church women from the community here can teach the girls cooking, sewing, knitting, crochet work, gardening, and other home skills. Supermarkets can provide food. Pastors can come in and teach the girls.
We are beginning to meet local pastors, attend their churches and are inviting them to come and teach in the HOUSE.
I thank God for the way that the ministry is growing. From midnight outreaches to feeding programs and then finally to the establishment of the house, then us moving into the house and establishing links with the local Christian community, we are growing, growing, growing.
OUR MINISTRY MODEL
The HOUSE OF LIFE has a model which is a guide to all the counselling, teaching, preaching, discipline, encouragement, discipline and skills training.
We cannot go into rehab work willy-nilly. There has to be a clearly defined approach to all we who minister, say and do. While our goal is to evangelize and disciple the commercial sex work community, we must have a strategy by which we achieve these goals. That strategy must be biblical, because the Word of God has a clear understanding of what drives women into prostitution, theft, addiction, conning and broken relationships. The Word of God not only can define the problems, but has simple but profound answers to these problems.
Every problem in the HOUSE OF LIFE family can be traced to SPIRITUAL PROBLEMS [not knowing, loving and obeying Jesus]; MORAL PROBLEMS [integrity, righteousness]; COMMUNITY PROBLEMS [being unable to get on with others, unforgiveness, pride, jealousy,anger etc] and EXCELENCE PROBLEMS [being unable to do work with excellence].
If you can imagine a tree which has three roots which are invisible to the secular world [but of course are visible to Jesus]- these are spirituality, morality, community harmony. If you pass someone on the street, you cannot see by mere looking if the person is moral, spiritual, and lives with others harmoniously. But the tree [branches and fruit] itself is visible. The visible tree is the product of work in the real world, and this work has to be done with wisdom, knowledge and excellence. Unbelievers can have wisdom, knowledge and excellence of work, which is why we will send girls to secular training programs, colleges and universities. But without the roots of spirituality, morality and community, they will be unable to build a proper career or business.
Of course Jesus himself is the whole tree, because he draws us to salvation, calls us to our calling, enables us to live in righteousness, gives us the model of the Godhead and the church as a community and gives us the example of himself as a model of excellence.- We live for the glory of God in all work we do here on earth.
Now that we [Petra and Steve] have moved into the house, we can observe all the people here. We can quickly identify which of the four areas a person is struggling in, and we can then provide biblical answers to sin in any of these areas. We have found that the Word of God truly identified the roots of the evils that drive people to addictions, commercial sex work, an inability to form friendships and live in community with others, as well as an inability to work properly.
By preaching, teaching, counselling, casual exhortation at tea and meals, and by training in skills, we are providing a proper foundation at HOUSE OF LIFE that will enable a girls who has gone through the rehab center to build a proper life for all her future. When she leaves the house of life, she also can identify to herself where she is failing or succeeding and can go to the Word of God and to Jesus and receive Christ's righteousness and grow into maturity.
We cannot go into rehab work willy-nilly. There has to be a clearly defined approach to all we who minister, say and do. While our goal is to evangelize and disciple the commercial sex work community, we must have a strategy by which we achieve these goals. That strategy must be biblical, because the Word of God has a clear understanding of what drives women into prostitution, theft, addiction, conning and broken relationships. The Word of God not only can define the problems, but has simple but profound answers to these problems.
Every problem in the HOUSE OF LIFE family can be traced to SPIRITUAL PROBLEMS [not knowing, loving and obeying Jesus]; MORAL PROBLEMS [integrity, righteousness]; COMMUNITY PROBLEMS [being unable to get on with others, unforgiveness, pride, jealousy,anger etc] and EXCELENCE PROBLEMS [being unable to do work with excellence].
If you can imagine a tree which has three roots which are invisible to the secular world [but of course are visible to Jesus]- these are spirituality, morality, community harmony. If you pass someone on the street, you cannot see by mere looking if the person is moral, spiritual, and lives with others harmoniously. But the tree [branches and fruit] itself is visible. The visible tree is the product of work in the real world, and this work has to be done with wisdom, knowledge and excellence. Unbelievers can have wisdom, knowledge and excellence of work, which is why we will send girls to secular training programs, colleges and universities. But without the roots of spirituality, morality and community, they will be unable to build a proper career or business.
Of course Jesus himself is the whole tree, because he draws us to salvation, calls us to our calling, enables us to live in righteousness, gives us the model of the Godhead and the church as a community and gives us the example of himself as a model of excellence.- We live for the glory of God in all work we do here on earth.
Now that we [Petra and Steve] have moved into the house, we can observe all the people here. We can quickly identify which of the four areas a person is struggling in, and we can then provide biblical answers to sin in any of these areas. We have found that the Word of God truly identified the roots of the evils that drive people to addictions, commercial sex work, an inability to form friendships and live in community with others, as well as an inability to work properly.
By preaching, teaching, counselling, casual exhortation at tea and meals, and by training in skills, we are providing a proper foundation at HOUSE OF LIFE that will enable a girls who has gone through the rehab center to build a proper life for all her future. When she leaves the house of life, she also can identify to herself where she is failing or succeeding and can go to the Word of God and to Jesus and receive Christ's righteousness and grow into maturity.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
HOUSE OF LIFE UPDATE
In the House of LIFE June was the month of breakthrough and growth. I am so grateful to Jesus for bringing me into the kingdom of God. What a blessed life it is. The life of faith is rewarding, challenging, and stimulating. But we are also mere servants to the King of Kings. It is not our burden, it is His. It is not our plans, it is His. It is not our power, it is His. It is not our wisdom, it is His.
THE THREE GIRLS UPDATE
The girls who
featured on our first Blog are as follows.
P. is at the House of LIFE rehab center. More about her further down. …. N. has been thoroughly saved, reconciled with her mother and has returned home to the Cape. She is living there and is attending church there. B. has returned home to the Gauteng area after having been saved. She is also back with her parents.
PHOTO: P in March
PHOTO: P in June
JUNE UPDATE
In mid June we accepted four girls to the House of LIFE Rehabilitation Center. J, P, M, and Pa. There are at least 20 girls who wish to come, but we made a decision to vet them first so as to start off well, and continue well. We also decided to not fill up the center before we had the entire bedding, lounge chairs, plates etc. Please see the Blog for the things still needed for the house.
THE THREE GIRLS UPDATE
The girls who
featured on our first Blog are as follows.P. is at the House of LIFE rehab center. More about her further down. …. N. has been thoroughly saved, reconciled with her mother and has returned home to the Cape. She is living there and is attending church there. B. has returned home to the Gauteng area after having been saved. She is also back with her parents.
PHOTO: P in March
PHOTO: P in June
JUNE UPDATE
In mid June we accepted four girls to the House of LIFE Rehabilitation Center. J, P, M, and Pa. There are at least 20 girls who wish to come, but we made a decision to vet them first so as to start off well, and continue well. We also decided to not fill up the center before we had the entire bedding, lounge chairs, plates etc. Please see the Blog for the things still needed for the house.
- We have decided to preach the Word of God unadorned in all its power and simplicity. We have not bought in secular techniques, fads or fashionable philosophies. Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more [Rom 5:20].
Our method is by passionate and loving evangelism, and solid, pointed, no-holds-barred-biblical teaching. After all, Paul said that he preaches nothing other than Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Our aim is to look for Jesus Christ to be formed in the lives of the disciples.[gal 4:19]. Despite the fact that Paul was a formidable intellectual, he looked to the simplicity of Jesus Christ 2 Cor 11:3. That is our aim. We have found this to be astonishingly powerful.
P …………….
P was photographed before. She is on the blog titled three women. Her face was puffy and swollen with drug addiction and a commercial sex lifestyle. After the previous report, she became very sick, nearly dying. One day she asked for a hug. I gave her one, but the smell of rotten flesh was overpowering. She lost huge amounts of weight in two or three weeks. She requested and received prayer and became healthy again.
Her face has been radically changed into a young woman of poise and beauty. She has an angelic voice qualified to glorify Jesus in Gospel songs. However, first she must get her foundations or roots right. These are spiritual roots, moral roots and community harmony roots. She has woken up to the fact that Jesus is here, he is alive, well and loves her.
She is also undergoing social transformation as she realises that she has been put in a family, the family of God. Previously she would be hostile and antisocial with people in the Durban shelter. They would shout at her and sometimes punch her and kick her till she became quiet. This has traumatised her, but she is rapidly healing as she realises that she should love her Jesus family and be loved by them. She now abounds with love and affection, and joyfully receives love from Christian women visitors.
She ran away from home. Her mother advertised on TV and the newspaper that if anyone knew where she was, they were to contact her. P phoned home from the rehab center and there was rejoicing that she had been found, was well and was being discipled in Jesus. She is very keen to learn the computer, and she has received a couple of small lessons on my own computer.
Pa ……………….
Pa is in her late 20’s. She was a commercial sex worker, standing on the streets. She was driven to this because she has two children who are not with her but are being looked after by their father. She was not being supported financially by the father of her children, so she was forced to seek money on the streets for rent and food. Sex work was so abusive that she began drinking heavily to dull the inner pain she was feeling. She responded to the preaching of the Word of God by Petra, and came to Christ. She also is responding to the teaching given by Pastor Steve Blomefield.
PHOTO: Pa .............
She was not addicted to rocks [crack cocaine] or other drugs.
She is a good cook and often cooks for the people in House of life. Her whole countenance has become radiant because of the inner spiritual change. She has rapidly grown in Jesus and her whole manner is changing as she becomes more and more like Jesus. She has realised that her previous lifestyle was sheer madness. It was not at all sensible.
J ………………
J is an orphan. She fell in love with a fellow schoolboy, got pregnant and was thrown out of her family home. She moved to Durban and found a new boyfriend from Burundi. She believed strongly in the power of Sangoma’s [witchdoctors], and magic and muti [magic medicine].
Unfortunately J’s boyfriend was abusive and violent. He abused her by slapping, punching and kicking her often. Her response was to learn the same style of violence. Petra has encountered J fighting with claws bared and seeking eyes to puncture and make blind, and fists lashing out, uncaring of 
punches received. Several times Petra has had to pay for a shelter so that J could find temporary refuge and a place to stay.
PHOTO:J ........................
She responded to Petra's preaching of scripture and her love. She has renounced this way of life of violence, magic and muti. She has fallen in love with Jesus. She formerly was an orphan, but now she has a spiritual mother [Petra], a spiritual father [Steve] and a family – Christians.
She says that Jesus has changed her life from the former life to a new life. Jesus has a plan for her life. he has helped her resist temptation of the devil and she has no desire to return to her former way of life. She is filled with joy, and fun, and bubbly happiness now that she knows Jesus loves her, forgives her and has placed her in a loving family.
Margaret …………………….
Margaret, formerly the Queen of Durban, [see the Blog on the Queen of Durban] has also come to the center. Petra met Margaret many years ago. Petra met up with her on her return to South Africa from the USA. Margaret was so happy and desired to hear her at the Tuesd
ay and Thursday meetings when Jesus was preached. The more meetings she attended, the more she lost the desire to do practice prostitution.
PHOTO: Margaret reading the Word of God
She came to House of LIFE in mid June. She has been completely delivered from the desire to drink, to smoke cigarettes and to engage in prostitution. She has well and truly given her life to Jesus, seeing his love, mercy, grace and forgiveness. She reads scripture most of the day and gets revelation from the Word of God. Instead of turmoil and stress, peace and quiet joy have taken over.
Margaret can also crochet and is making a blanket for someone.
Steve Blomefield
Pastor
HOUSE OF LIFE
A SORRY GAY NIGHT
It was a Friday. A dark Friday. Very dark. …. but warm and the hookers were out to make money. It was going to be a busy night preaching Jesus to them. On this night I was to meet T. a professional gay [but broken] homosexual prostitute.
I am Steve Blomefield. I am part of House of LIFE ministry team, headed by Petra Mercedes Luna. I am a
Pastor to commercial sex workers. Drug addicts, alcoholics and the abused of Durban inner city and red light districts. Petra does the evangelism and the deeply personal counselling and I do the most of the teaching. Rachel Thomson teaches the girls about life skills and some vocational skills. Christian women teach life skills and pastors come in and teach the topics they love.
Photo: Steve Blomefield Pastor to Durban inner city
Normally I am the driver. I am not an evangelist so I do not work outside my ministry area. Usually I wait in the hotel for the evangelistic team, led by Petra. Then I drive them home. But tonight it was going to be different. I was going to cruise with them in a combination of red light districts in Durban. We would spot a girl standing on a corner, Petra would get out and I would wait in the car. When she got back in the car, I would cruise to the next girl, or group of girls.
The first area we focussed on was the Point Road area. Suddenly Petra saw a male homosexual prostitute, T. He called himself a woman and spoke and acted like a woman. While having a gay manner, and clutching a fistful of money, T was clearly broken and distressed.
Photo: Petra Luna and T
T said ‘I don’t want to talk to you Petra, I want to speak to this one [me]!” I said to him “ T., out there no one wants to talk to you. No one is interested in you. They only speak to you to abuse your body. They pay. They go. No one cares for you, but I am different. I want to listen to you. I want to hear your heart…..” T. immediately broke down in tears and jumped out the car, running along the sidewalk. We followed him. Finally we stopped the car and Petra jumped out and hugged him, saying “Jesus loves you and so do we.”
T started crying again, and then sat on the sidewalk. After some time he got into the car. “I earn a lot of cash and then I spend it on rocks” [crack cocaine].” That is normal. Commercial sex work is abusive, whether it is consensual or not, paid or not.
God’s plan is for sex to be between two people who have a lifelong covenant of love and special loyalty to eat other; between two people, who support one another, build one another and who laugh, cry and struggle together. It is built on deep intimacy and companionship.
Commercial sex is soul destroying. The one who pays [the client] is driven by jungle instincts, satanic lust and often utter cruelty. The sex worker is not a warm, loving human being. They are seen as people who are so vulnerable that the payment of money will entitle the paymaster to do or be whatever he desires. If any sex worker will not submit to his demands, there are plenty of other sex workers who will, because of poverty.
The sex worker also does not see the client as one made in the image of Jesus, often lonely, but instead as one in bondage to lust, therefore can be manipulated, drugged and plundered from. Many times the sex worker has been abused at home, so stealing from the client is payback. The client is a piggy bank, a stupid victim. ……. Which is why so many sex workers just disappear never to be seen again. Revenge is sweet to a client who has lost his credit cards, money, cell phone, and dignity.
I am Steve Blomefield. I am part of House of LIFE ministry team, headed by Petra Mercedes Luna. I am a
Pastor to commercial sex workers. Drug addicts, alcoholics and the abused of Durban inner city and red light districts. Petra does the evangelism and the deeply personal counselling and I do the most of the teaching. Rachel Thomson teaches the girls about life skills and some vocational skills. Christian women teach life skills and pastors come in and teach the topics they love.Photo: Steve Blomefield Pastor to Durban inner city
Normally I am the driver. I am not an evangelist so I do not work outside my ministry area. Usually I wait in the hotel for the evangelistic team, led by Petra. Then I drive them home. But tonight it was going to be different. I was going to cruise with them in a combination of red light districts in Durban. We would spot a girl standing on a corner, Petra would get out and I would wait in the car. When she got back in the car, I would cruise to the next girl, or group of girls.
The first area we focussed on was the Point Road area. Suddenly Petra saw a male homosexual prostitute, T. He called himself a woman and spoke and acted like a woman. While having a gay manner, and clutching a fistful of money, T was clearly broken and distressed.
Photo: Petra Luna and T
T said ‘I don’t want to talk to you Petra, I want to speak to this one [me]!” I said to him “ T., out there no one wants to talk to you. No one is interested in you. They only speak to you to abuse your body. They pay. They go. No one cares for you, but I am different. I want to listen to you. I want to hear your heart…..” T. immediately broke down in tears and jumped out the car, running along the sidewalk. We followed him. Finally we stopped the car and Petra jumped out and hugged him, saying “Jesus loves you and so do we.”
T started crying again, and then sat on the sidewalk. After some time he got into the car. “I earn a lot of cash and then I spend it on rocks” [crack cocaine].” That is normal. Commercial sex work is abusive, whether it is consensual or not, paid or not.
God’s plan is for sex to be between two people who have a lifelong covenant of love and special loyalty to eat other; between two people, who support one another, build one another and who laugh, cry and struggle together. It is built on deep intimacy and companionship.
Commercial sex is soul destroying. The one who pays [the client] is driven by jungle instincts, satanic lust and often utter cruelty. The sex worker is not a warm, loving human being. They are seen as people who are so vulnerable that the payment of money will entitle the paymaster to do or be whatever he desires. If any sex worker will not submit to his demands, there are plenty of other sex workers who will, because of poverty.
The sex worker also does not see the client as one made in the image of Jesus, often lonely, but instead as one in bondage to lust, therefore can be manipulated, drugged and plundered from. Many times the sex worker has been abused at home, so stealing from the client is payback. The client is a piggy bank, a stupid victim. ……. Which is why so many sex workers just disappear never to be seen again. Revenge is sweet to a client who has lost his credit cards, money, cell phone, and dignity.
Photo: T and 
Petra Luna
Petra Luna For these reasons- the abuse suffered by sex workers, the fear of revenge, fear of pimps, fear of police, the memory of soulless, mindless, loveless repeated, weird sex; the memory of slaps, punches and kicks suffered. The memory of people shouting abuse, cursing them. The memory of unfulfilled love and the many rejections, nearly all sex workers become obsessed by alcohol or drugs or both. The inner pain and torment is far too great, chemical friends have to be invited in to help the searing inner agony.
We dropped off T at his flat. Other residents looked at him. Their stares spoke volumes. He was not gay, he was pathetic. He was not gay but tormented. He was not gay but a victim. Despised. Yet Jesus sees him with such enormous love that if T was the only sinner in the world, Jesus would have died for him. Jesus sees him as made in his image, then marred through sin. Jesus sees him as a person broken but the potential of total healing….. For eternity.
Steve Blomefield
Durban Inner city pastor
HOUSE OF LIFE
Friday, June 5, 2009
THE THINGS WE NEED FOR THE HOUSE
Many people have asked us to provide for them a list of things we need.
People have started to give things to the rehab center and so in order that donations are not duplicated, we are posting a needs list on the blog site.
As the soon as the needs are filled, we will delete them from the blog so we don't get two of the same thing. If we were disorganized and allowed two or three of the same thing to be given to us, it would not be good stewardship on our behalf, and would be a disappointment to our donors.
KITCHEN
4 PLATE STOVE WITH OVEN ........................... PROVIDED
FRIDGE ,.................................................................PROVIDED
DEEPFREEZE ........................................................ PROVIDED
MICROWAVE ........................................................ PROVIDED
FRYING PAN ...................................................... 1 PROVIDED
SET OF COOKING POTS ................................. 2 PROVIDED
SERVING DISHES ......................................SOME PROVIDED
BLENDER
FOOD MIXER
WHISK
COOKIE BAKING TRAYS
BREAD BAKING TRAY
BASTING BRUSH
SCISSORS
BREAD KNIFE
CUTTING KNIVES
CAN OPENER ......................... PROVIDED
SPATULAR
POTATO MASHER
POTATO PEELER .................. PROVIDED
EGG LIFTER
DRAINING SPOON
WOODEN SPONS
GRATER
OVEN GLOVES ..................... PROVIDED
APRONS .................................. PROVIDED
DISH CLOTHS ........................PROVIDED
OTHER COOKING EQUIPMENT ..PROVIDED
DINING ROOM
1 DINING TABLE .................................. PROVIDED
10 CHAIRS ............................................. PROVIDED
15 KNIVES .............................................. 6 PROVIDED
15 FORKS ................................................ 6 PROVIDED
15 TEASPOONS ............................................. PROVIDED
15 PUDDING SPOONS ....................................... 6 PROVIDED
15 PLATES ................................................ PROVIDED
20 COFFEE MUGS ......................................... 10 PROVIDED
20 COOL DRINK GLASSES ................................. 10 PROVIDED
8 PLACE MATS
2 TABLE CLOTHS ............................................ PROVIDED
1 DINING SIDEBOARD
TRAINING AND TEACHING
DVD PLAYER ............................................. PROVIDED
TELEVISION ............................................... PROVIDED
VCR PLAYER .............................................. PROVIDED
DVD TEACHING BY SOLID BIBLE TEACHERS
VIDEO TEACHING BY SOLID BIBLE TEACHERS
STUDY AND WORKING TABLE ........ PROVIDED
SCULLERY
2 WASHING UP SPONGES ................. PROVIDED
2 WIRE WASHING SPONGES .............................. PROVIDED
1 DRAINING RACK ...................................... PROVIDED
LOUNGE
2 SEATER COUCH ................................ PROVIDED
4 SEATER COUCH .............................................. PROVIDED
5 OR 6 SEATER COUCH ......................................... PROVIDED
10 LOUNGE CHAIRS ............................................ PROVIDED
7 BAR STOOLS ................................................ PROVIDED
1 COFFEE TABLE .............................................. PROVIDED
BEDROOMS
5 STEEL BUNK BEDS [SINGLE WIDTH] ............................ 3 DOUBLE BUNKS
10 COILED SPRING MATTRESSES TO FIT ........................... 6 PROVIDED
3 DOUBLE BED 70MM MATTRESSES ................................. PROVIDED
5 70 MM BY THICK, SINGLE FOAM MATTRES........................ 1 PROVIDED
5 BY 70 MM CM THICK SINGLE FOAM MATTRESSES............2 PROVIDED
2 DOUBLE BEDS WITH BASES
15 BED COVERS [SINGLE] ........................................ 5 PROVIDED
3 BED COVERS [DOUBLE] ....................................... 2 PROVIDED
15 DUVET SINGLE ................................................. 3 PROVIDED
15 BLANKETS [SINGLE] ...................................... 5 PROVIDED
2 DUVET [DOUBLE] ................................................. 2 PROVIDED
3 BLANKETS [DOUBLE] ............................................ 3 PROVIDED
People have started to give things to the rehab center and so in order that donations are not duplicated, we are posting a needs list on the blog site.
As the soon as the needs are filled, we will delete them from the blog so we don't get two of the same thing. If we were disorganized and allowed two or three of the same thing to be given to us, it would not be good stewardship on our behalf, and would be a disappointment to our donors.
KITCHEN
4 PLATE STOVE WITH OVEN ........................... PROVIDED
FRIDGE ,.................................................................PROVIDED
DEEPFREEZE ........................................................ PROVIDED
MICROWAVE ........................................................ PROVIDED
FRYING PAN ...................................................... 1 PROVIDED
SET OF COOKING POTS ................................. 2 PROVIDED
SERVING DISHES ......................................SOME PROVIDED
BLENDER
FOOD MIXER
WHISK
COOKIE BAKING TRAYS
BREAD BAKING TRAY
BASTING BRUSH
SCISSORS
BREAD KNIFE
CUTTING KNIVES
CAN OPENER ......................... PROVIDED
SPATULAR
POTATO MASHER
POTATO PEELER .................. PROVIDED
EGG LIFTER
DRAINING SPOON
WOODEN SPONS
GRATER
OVEN GLOVES ..................... PROVIDED
APRONS .................................. PROVIDED
DISH CLOTHS ........................PROVIDED
OTHER COOKING EQUIPMENT ..PROVIDED
DINING ROOM
1 DINING TABLE .................................. PROVIDED
10 CHAIRS ............................................. PROVIDED
15 KNIVES .............................................. 6 PROVIDED
15 FORKS ................................................ 6 PROVIDED
15 TEASPOONS ............................................. PROVIDED
15 PUDDING SPOONS ....................................... 6 PROVIDED
15 PLATES ................................................ PROVIDED
20 COFFEE MUGS ......................................... 10 PROVIDED
20 COOL DRINK GLASSES ................................. 10 PROVIDED
8 PLACE MATS
2 TABLE CLOTHS ............................................ PROVIDED
1 DINING SIDEBOARD
TRAINING AND TEACHING
DVD PLAYER ............................................. PROVIDED
TELEVISION ............................................... PROVIDED
VCR PLAYER .............................................. PROVIDED
DVD TEACHING BY SOLID BIBLE TEACHERS
VIDEO TEACHING BY SOLID BIBLE TEACHERS
STUDY AND WORKING TABLE ........ PROVIDED
SCULLERY
2 WASHING UP SPONGES ................. PROVIDED
2 WIRE WASHING SPONGES .............................. PROVIDED
1 DRAINING RACK ...................................... PROVIDED
LOUNGE
2 SEATER COUCH ................................ PROVIDED
4 SEATER COUCH .............................................. PROVIDED
5 OR 6 SEATER COUCH ......................................... PROVIDED
10 LOUNGE CHAIRS ............................................ PROVIDED
7 BAR STOOLS ................................................ PROVIDED
1 COFFEE TABLE .............................................. PROVIDED
BEDROOMS
5 STEEL BUNK BEDS [SINGLE WIDTH] ............................ 3 DOUBLE BUNKS
10 COILED SPRING MATTRESSES TO FIT ........................... 6 PROVIDED
3 DOUBLE BED 70MM MATTRESSES ................................. PROVIDED
5 70 MM BY THICK, SINGLE FOAM MATTRES........................ 1 PROVIDED
5 BY 70 MM CM THICK SINGLE FOAM MATTRESSES............2 PROVIDED
2 DOUBLE BEDS WITH BASES
15 BED COVERS [SINGLE] ........................................ 5 PROVIDED
3 BED COVERS [DOUBLE] ....................................... 2 PROVIDED
15 DUVET SINGLE ................................................. 3 PROVIDED
15 BLANKETS [SINGLE] ...................................... 5 PROVIDED
2 DUVET [DOUBLE] ................................................. 2 PROVIDED
3 BLANKETS [DOUBLE] ............................................ 3 PROVIDED
BLANKETS SINGLE .................................... 10 PROVIDED
30 SHEETS [SINGLE] .................................................. 10 PROVIDED
6 SHEETS [DOUBLE] ................................................... 4 PROVIDED
30 PILLOWS ............................................................... 4 PROVIDED
30 PILLOW SLIPS ...................................................... 4 PROVIDED
100 HANGERS
3 WARDROBES
8 BED SIDE TABLES
8 SIDE LAMPS
OFFICE
3 COMPUTERS [to teach computers]
1 PRINTER
COMPUTER DESKS 3 .......... PROVIDED
LAUNDRY
1 WASHING MACHINE .............................. PROVIDED
2 BROOMS ...................................... 1 PROVIDED
2 IRONING BOARDS .............................. 1 PROVIDED
BATHROOM
15 TOWELS .................................. 6 PROVIDED
2 BATH MATS .............................. 1 PROVIDED
2 TOILET BRUSH ...................... 1 PROVIDED
NEW TOOTHBRUSHES ...................... MANY PROVIDED
TOOTHPASTE ............................. MANY PROVIDED
EXCERCISE EQUIPMENT
1 EXCERCISE BIKE
To all thosewho intend to bless this ministry with material donations, may the Lord Bless you abundantly. Those who give to the poor lend to the Lord.
Love in Jesus
Petra Mercedes Luna
30 SHEETS [SINGLE] .................................................. 10 PROVIDED
6 SHEETS [DOUBLE] ................................................... 4 PROVIDED
30 PILLOWS ............................................................... 4 PROVIDED
30 PILLOW SLIPS ...................................................... 4 PROVIDED
100 HANGERS
3 WARDROBES
8 BED SIDE TABLES
8 SIDE LAMPS
OFFICE
3 COMPUTERS [to teach computers]
1 PRINTER
COMPUTER DESKS 3 .......... PROVIDED
LAUNDRY
1 WASHING MACHINE .............................. PROVIDED
2 BROOMS ...................................... 1 PROVIDED
2 IRONING BOARDS .............................. 1 PROVIDED
BATHROOM
15 TOWELS .................................. 6 PROVIDED
2 BATH MATS .............................. 1 PROVIDED
2 TOILET BRUSH ...................... 1 PROVIDED
NEW TOOTHBRUSHES ...................... MANY PROVIDED
TOOTHPASTE ............................. MANY PROVIDED
EXCERCISE EQUIPMENT
1 EXCERCISE BIKE
To all thosewho intend to bless this ministry with material donations, may the Lord Bless you abundantly. Those who give to the poor lend to the Lord.
Love in Jesus
Petra Mercedes Luna
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
THE TESTIMONY OF MARGARET, 'QUEEN OF DURBAN'
The night I was nearly murdered was a direct result of the commercial sex work [CSW] I was engaged in.
As usual I was in a nightclub, but there was only a little business. I had had a few drinks and my normal clients were not there to give the cash I was looking for. I had rent to pay, food for my child to buy, pay for the child minder. It was in the early hours of the morning when there are very few people around, and the darkness seems especially dark and the night felt especially lonely. There were a few moth-eaten, dirty rats scurrying around snatching the remnants of hamburgers, and the odd piece of fish or a lonely chip or two. These were thrown away by half drunk, half full, half empty night club revellers. Some, like me, were disappointed that
their hopes and lusts were unsatisfied, so the exodus home had begun. The first few were getting into their cars and fading into the blackness of the night.
Fig. 1. Margaret, the Ex 'Queen of Durban'
I decided to get a lift home while I could. Sometimes a lift turned into good business. Talk might arouse desire and the man might pay for services rendered, or at least money for a midnight takeaway or a morning breakfast. A car stopped for me. It was a man who was alone. Things were hopeful. He offered to take me all the way home- it looked like business was going to come my way after all. I agreed and got into the car and soon we were chatting away. But then suddenly he drove past the turning. I asked him to drop me right there, but he only accelerated. He drove past Kloof, then Pinetown. I began to fear. My heart began to pound. My mouth became dry. My knees stared to shake. About 40 km from the club in a rural area he turned into an isolated property. Visions of kidnapping, violent rape and murder filled my imagination. I had heard of girls just disappearing, never to be heard of again. Now I was really frightened. No one knew where I was. If I disappeared, no one would know that I had been to this club, so no one would be able to find me. Only the child minder and my son would be waiting in vain. He drove between waterfalls towards the gate of the house. No one would hear my screams. No one would come to my rescue.
I had to do something, and quickly. I started begging for my life. I begged and begged and begged. And he relented. This time he drove me to another house. But this house was as frightening as the last one. On the garage there were weird paintings in red paint of human heads and human bodies. The heads were apart from the bodies, and the legs were apart from the bodies also. The house was dimly lit. I was once again scared for my life. I got out of the car and ran for my life, but the house I ran to was empty. The man followed me in his car,
calling out for me to get into the car, but I was terrified. Finally he asked me if I had whiskey in my flat. I lied and told him I had all kinds of drinks. He then agreed to take me home. This time he did take me home, but as soon as he stopped the car I ran out of the car and into my flat and locked the door behind me. I was shivering with fear and it was not until near dawn that I finally managed to get to sleep.This was a risk I ran on any night of the week in this business.
Fig. 2. Margaret, beginning to attend House of LIFE services
I was 15 when I started to doing CSW [Commercial sex work] in Cape Town. A friend who was already engaged in CSW told me that I could make a lot of money for very little work. I was strongly tempted because I came from a very poor background. To me easy money looked better than the struggle of poverty. I found that my beauty and my charisma drew in the clients and I was quickly earning money I only dreamed of, money that only those with high educational qualifications could bring in. I told my mother that I was staying with friends, but in reality I was staying in the houses and hotel rooms of strangers.
Another friend invited me to come to Durban with her, and I agreed. Her child became sick so she returned to Cape Town, but I stayed on in Durban because the money was plentiful. It was not long before I became pregnant by a white man who worked for Mondi Paper Mills. But he abandoned me and the baby when he went back overseas. This forced me to work even harder to pay for baby care and all the things my baby needed.
Fig. 3 Margaret in worship at House of LIFE
I would go to clubs and meet sailors, then they would smuggle me on the ships and I would do whatever they wanted. In the morning they would give me 100 US dollars. One night’s work would pay for two weeks accommodation. Any extra cash would go for food and buying high class clothes and the kind of hairdo’s that the rich pay for. This would bring in more money.
They called me the Queen of Durban and my fame grew and grew. Often I would be paid for getting new girls for my old clients. They would then also pay the girl for their services.
But eventually I tired of it. My life was empty. My son would know I was a CSW and he would despise me. At times I would have to be treated for diseases. At times I would be cursed for giving men the diseases other men gave me.
In 2007 I started to go a church called 'The Well,’ in Winder Street, in the Point area of Durban. It was at that time I met a woman called Petra Mercedes Luna on the beachfront. She preached Jesus to me and I began to be interested in the gospel. I followed her to Doctor
s for Life in Pickering Street, a ministry she started. I would go there daily to hear the gospel, but there was no rehabilitation centre so I was forced to continue doing the CSW work I began to hate. When Petra returned to the USA I went to Cape Town and worked in a Bed and breakfast there. At last I was able to stop CSW. But that job came to an end and I was back into poverty. I had to return to my old ways.
Fig.4. Listening to a sermon at House of LIFE
I returned to Durban in 2008, and it was there that I saw Petra Mercedes Luna once again, on the beachfront. She invited me to meetings in Fisher Street. These meetings are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sometimes Petra preaches, sometimes Pastor Steve Blomefield preaches and often other pastors preach. They then feed us. This food is really needed because many of us have just no money. Through their teaching I am learning about Jesus. But because we have no way of earning money, we are sometimes forced to go back to the streets to pay for our accommodation which costs USD 5.00 a day.
I am helping House of LIFE staff feed the people at the end of each service. The food is donated by supermarkets, people in Phoenix [Durban], Grace Cafe and the Container Ministry of Grace community church, Durban.
Fig. 5. Margaret and Petra with Container Ministry food
Very soon I will undergo rehabilitation at the House of LIFE rehab centre in the Bluff, Durban. I just want to learn more about Jesus. I want to forsake my old ways. I want to ask Jesus to come into my life and change me from the inside out. I want to learn about a job so that I can go out and work and earn money to feed my son and pay for his schooling, and live in my own apartment and pay my taxes and help other girls come off drugs and CSW.
As usual I was in a nightclub, but there was only a little business. I had had a few drinks and my normal clients were not there to give the cash I was looking for. I had rent to pay, food for my child to buy, pay for the child minder. It was in the early hours of the morning when there are very few people around, and the darkness seems especially dark and the night felt especially lonely. There were a few moth-eaten, dirty rats scurrying around snatching the remnants of hamburgers, and the odd piece of fish or a lonely chip or two. These were thrown away by half drunk, half full, half empty night club revellers. Some, like me, were disappointed that
their hopes and lusts were unsatisfied, so the exodus home had begun. The first few were getting into their cars and fading into the blackness of the night.Fig. 1. Margaret, the Ex 'Queen of Durban'
I decided to get a lift home while I could. Sometimes a lift turned into good business. Talk might arouse desire and the man might pay for services rendered, or at least money for a midnight takeaway or a morning breakfast. A car stopped for me. It was a man who was alone. Things were hopeful. He offered to take me all the way home- it looked like business was going to come my way after all. I agreed and got into the car and soon we were chatting away. But then suddenly he drove past the turning. I asked him to drop me right there, but he only accelerated. He drove past Kloof, then Pinetown. I began to fear. My heart began to pound. My mouth became dry. My knees stared to shake. About 40 km from the club in a rural area he turned into an isolated property. Visions of kidnapping, violent rape and murder filled my imagination. I had heard of girls just disappearing, never to be heard of again. Now I was really frightened. No one knew where I was. If I disappeared, no one would know that I had been to this club, so no one would be able to find me. Only the child minder and my son would be waiting in vain. He drove between waterfalls towards the gate of the house. No one would hear my screams. No one would come to my rescue.
I had to do something, and quickly. I started begging for my life. I begged and begged and begged. And he relented. This time he drove me to another house. But this house was as frightening as the last one. On the garage there were weird paintings in red paint of human heads and human bodies. The heads were apart from the bodies, and the legs were apart from the bodies also. The house was dimly lit. I was once again scared for my life. I got out of the car and ran for my life, but the house I ran to was empty. The man followed me in his car,
calling out for me to get into the car, but I was terrified. Finally he asked me if I had whiskey in my flat. I lied and told him I had all kinds of drinks. He then agreed to take me home. This time he did take me home, but as soon as he stopped the car I ran out of the car and into my flat and locked the door behind me. I was shivering with fear and it was not until near dawn that I finally managed to get to sleep.This was a risk I ran on any night of the week in this business.Fig. 2. Margaret, beginning to attend House of LIFE services
I was 15 when I started to doing CSW [Commercial sex work] in Cape Town. A friend who was already engaged in CSW told me that I could make a lot of money for very little work. I was strongly tempted because I came from a very poor background. To me easy money looked better than the struggle of poverty. I found that my beauty and my charisma drew in the clients and I was quickly earning money I only dreamed of, money that only those with high educational qualifications could bring in. I told my mother that I was staying with friends, but in reality I was staying in the houses and hotel rooms of strangers.
Another friend invited me to come to Durban with her, and I agreed. Her child became sick so she returned to Cape Town, but I stayed on in Durban because the money was plentiful. It was not long before I became pregnant by a white man who worked for Mondi Paper Mills. But he abandoned me and the baby when he went back overseas. This forced me to work even harder to pay for baby care and all the things my baby needed.
Fig. 3 Margaret in worship at House of LIFE
I would go to clubs and meet sailors, then they would smuggle me on the ships and I would do whatever they wanted. In the morning they would give me 100 US dollars. One night’s work would pay for two weeks accommodation. Any extra cash would go for food and buying high class clothes and the kind of hairdo’s that the rich pay for. This would bring in more money.
They called me the Queen of Durban and my fame grew and grew. Often I would be paid for getting new girls for my old clients. They would then also pay the girl for their services.
But eventually I tired of it. My life was empty. My son would know I was a CSW and he would despise me. At times I would have to be treated for diseases. At times I would be cursed for giving men the diseases other men gave me.
In 2007 I started to go a church called 'The Well,’ in Winder Street, in the Point area of Durban. It was at that time I met a woman called Petra Mercedes Luna on the beachfront. She preached Jesus to me and I began to be interested in the gospel. I followed her to Doctor
s for Life in Pickering Street, a ministry she started. I would go there daily to hear the gospel, but there was no rehabilitation centre so I was forced to continue doing the CSW work I began to hate. When Petra returned to the USA I went to Cape Town and worked in a Bed and breakfast there. At last I was able to stop CSW. But that job came to an end and I was back into poverty. I had to return to my old ways.Fig.4. Listening to a sermon at House of LIFE
I returned to Durban in 2008, and it was there that I saw Petra Mercedes Luna once again, on the beachfront. She invited me to meetings in Fisher Street. These meetings are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sometimes Petra preaches, sometimes Pastor Steve Blomefield preaches and often other pastors preach. They then feed us. This food is really needed because many of us have just no money. Through their teaching I am learning about Jesus. But because we have no way of earning money, we are sometimes forced to go back to the streets to pay for our accommodation which costs USD 5.00 a day.
I am helping House of LIFE staff feed the people at the end of each service. The food is donated by supermarkets, people in Phoenix [Durban], Grace Cafe and the Container Ministry of Grace community church, Durban.
Fig. 5. Margaret and Petra with Container Ministry food
Very soon I will undergo rehabilitation at the House of LIFE rehab centre in the Bluff, Durban. I just want to learn more about Jesus. I want to forsake my old ways. I want to ask Jesus to come into my life and change me from the inside out. I want to learn about a job so that I can go out and work and earn money to feed my son and pay for his schooling, and live in my own apartment and pay my taxes and help other girls come off drugs and CSW.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
HOUSE OF LIFE REHAB CENTER
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
The Rehab center has been acquired and is in the process of being established with furniture, kitchen equipment and staff.
We have 15 girls who are ready to move in ..... not so fast!!!! We need to set up the home first!
I would like to introduce you to Peter and his wife, Patricia. Peter is a c
lothes designer who makes suits and other fashion items. Patricia will be with the girls during the day and will oversee them at night.
The house is very big- about 200 square meters or 600 square feet. The picture on the right is the cottage where Peter and Patricia will stay.
The right side of the house, showing the kitchen, and two bedrooms
The bathroom. There is another shower in a separate room, and another toilet in another room.
This is the tiles lounge. It is very spacious and very cool. It can hold about 40 people seated in chairs, ideal for morning discussions, lectures and public meetings.
This is the outside barbeque area, ideal for social events and also for teaching homecrafts.
The house is bare of furniture. The kitchen is bare of cooking and kitchen equipment. The laundry is bare and so are the bedrooms.
If you have anything you can donate to us to get the Rehab house off the ground, please phone Petra Mercedes Luna or Steve Blomefield. Our contact details are on the blog 'Contact details'
We need everything that someone needs when moving into a new house.
Blessings in the Lord,
Petra Mercedes Luna
CONTACT AND DONATION DETAILS
CONTACT DETAILS
POSTAL:
HOUSE OF LIFE MINISTRY
P.O.Box 360
Bronx, NY 10475
DONATION DETAILS
ACC name: HOUSE OF LIFE MINISTRIES
Bank: Amalgamated bank of New York,
1067, bartow Ave,
Bronx, NY 10475
Phone Petra Mercedes Luna
cell: +27 74 666 8304
POSTAL:
HOUSE OF LIFE MINISTRY
P.O.Box 360
Bronx, NY 10475
DONATION DETAILS
ACC name: HOUSE OF LIFE MINISTRIES
Bank: Amalgamated bank of New York,
1067, bartow Ave,
Bronx, NY 10475
Phone Petra Mercedes Luna
cell: +27 74 666 8304
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
HEALED OF CANCER AND SHINGLES
Barbara [Not her real name] is a person who stays in a shelter for the poor in Durban, South Africa. She pays 15 rand per night to sleep in a dormitory of about 100 people.
If she goes to the state hospital she has to wait between 6 hours and 2 days to receive treatment.
She was diagnosed with cancer. She then started to go to Christian meetings and asked for prayer. One of the meetings she regularly attended was House of LIFE. The result was that 2 weeks ago she was underwent a scan in preparation for surgery. She was completely free. The cancer which showed up on the scan was now absent.
Last week she asked for prayer. She was prayed for by myself, Steve Blomefield and other team members - and her shingles disappeared.
She is very poor but she is rejoicing in the Lord.
Petra Mercedes Luna
House of LIFE ministry
Monday, April 27, 2009
THE REHAB CENTER IS HERE
God is good!
Finally after much searching by Steve Blomefield and myself, and prayer, we have a wondeful building for the rehab center. We have been going to house after house. Some were overpriced. Some had rooms too small. Some had too few rooms. Some had inadequate security. Some were in dangerous neighbourhoods. Some had tennants in who refused to leave, though they had not paid the rent.
There are four large bedrooms; a small bedroom; a huge lounge suitable for public meetings; a large kitchen and a large bathroom and laundry.
It was decided by the team to not pay more than 7000 rand per month [USD650], but this was a big house [2000 square feet or 220 square meters]. In addition there was a small cottage with a bedroom and lounge. The landlord was planning to rent that seperately. So we suggested that we pay the R7000 for both. We waited for two weeks and the state agent phoned us to say that we had the house.
We have signed the lease and move in on May 1st.
I will add photos within the next few days.
Meanwhile, for you who are in South Africa, if you have any bunks or beds; Blankets, curtains, furniture, stove, fridge, deep freeze etc that is lying idle at home, and you would like to sow these into the kingdom of God, please phone us at the numbers in the title page.
Bless you,
Petra Mercedes Luna
HOUSE OF LIFE MINISTRY
Finally after much searching by Steve Blomefield and myself, and prayer, we have a wondeful building for the rehab center. We have been going to house after house. Some were overpriced. Some had rooms too small. Some had too few rooms. Some had inadequate security. Some were in dangerous neighbourhoods. Some had tennants in who refused to leave, though they had not paid the rent.
There are four large bedrooms; a small bedroom; a huge lounge suitable for public meetings; a large kitchen and a large bathroom and laundry.
It was decided by the team to not pay more than 7000 rand per month [USD650], but this was a big house [2000 square feet or 220 square meters]. In addition there was a small cottage with a bedroom and lounge. The landlord was planning to rent that seperately. So we suggested that we pay the R7000 for both. We waited for two weeks and the state agent phoned us to say that we had the house.
We have signed the lease and move in on May 1st.
I will add photos within the next few days.
Meanwhile, for you who are in South Africa, if you have any bunks or beds; Blankets, curtains, furniture, stove, fridge, deep freeze etc that is lying idle at home, and you would like to sow these into the kingdom of God, please phone us at the numbers in the title page.
Bless you,
Petra Mercedes Luna
HOUSE OF LIFE MINISTRY
Saturday, April 18, 2009
CO-WORKERS AND CO-WORKERS
The Lord has mightily blessed us with a growing team of co-workers. It is miraculous how people have been attracted to the ministry. Team members come from Dominican Republic, Nigeria, and from the Indian community in Durban. We are one in Christ and have different gifts and ministries, all working together for the building up of the girls.
Pastor Julius, from Nigeria has been with me a long time. When I returned to South Afri
ca last December, he immediately joined with me and has been a treasure to the ministry. He comes out with me, Peter and Patricia[Peter's wife] until all hours of the night. He also is very helpful in giving me understanding about African culture and African thinking.
Steve Blomefield, who has had a lot of experience in Drug
Rehabilitation in Zimbabwe. He was on the staff of 'Bread of Life', a rehab Center for men in Zimbabwe for three years. He has a prophetic teaching ministry, using the principles of the Word of God to know where nations/churches/economies are going, just as the Old Testament prophets did. He has a very strong teaching ministry. He has done some teaching to us co-workers, some disciples and to a Phoenix [Durban] Churches. He knows how to use computers and he helped set up this blog site. He contributes wisdom to the daily running of the House of LIFE ministry.
Steve Blomefield
Rannimah from Phoenix. She is a helper, an intercessor, a cook, and an encourager
Silvia Moodley from Phoenix. She is an intercessor. She is an exhorter and has a ministry of helps. She helps call people from off the street and into the church. She also is a mature woman of wisdom, often giving very helpful advice at the right time.
Sally from Phoenix. She is a good cook, an organizer and a helper. She has loads of potential to help organization in the ministry.
Sheelan from Phoenix, Durban. He is a very active helper. He is also a very good cook. He has a lot of potential for the ministry.
Rannimah, Silvia, Sally, Sheelan, the Phoenix team.
Keiko Kawasaki, from Japan. Keiko is an excellent violin player and her music sometimes brings tears to the eyes of the commercial sex workers. Once she played at midnight and the African sex workers began gathering into a crowd, singing and dancing worship to Jesus. She has heart of love and compassion for the girls.
Keiko Kawasaki
Thank you Jesus
Petra Mercedes Luna
Pastor Julius, from Nigeria has been with me a long time. When I returned to South Afri
ca last December, he immediately joined with me and has been a treasure to the ministry. He comes out with me, Peter and Patricia[Peter's wife] until all hours of the night. He also is very helpful in giving me understanding about African culture and African thinking.Steve Blomefield, who has had a lot of experience in Drug
Rehabilitation in Zimbabwe. He was on the staff of 'Bread of Life', a rehab Center for men in Zimbabwe for three years. He has a prophetic teaching ministry, using the principles of the Word of God to know where nations/churches/economies are going, just as the Old Testament prophets did. He has a very strong teaching ministry. He has done some teaching to us co-workers, some disciples and to a Phoenix [Durban] Churches. He knows how to use computers and he helped set up this blog site. He contributes wisdom to the daily running of the House of LIFE ministry.Steve Blomefield
Rannimah from Phoenix. She is a helper, an intercessor, a cook, and an encourager
Silvia Moodley from Phoenix. She is an intercessor. She is an exhorter and has a ministry of helps. She helps call people from off the street and into the church. She also is a mature woman of wisdom, often giving very helpful advice at the right time.
Sally from Phoenix. She is a good cook, an organizer and a helper. She has loads of potential to help organization in the ministry.
Sheelan from Phoenix, Durban. He is a very active helper. He is also a very good cook. He has a lot of potential for the ministry.
Rannimah, Silvia, Sally, Sheelan, the Phoenix team.
Keiko Kawasaki, from Japan. Keiko is an excellent violin player and her music sometimes brings tears to the eyes of the commercial sex workers. Once she played at midnight and the African sex workers began gathering into a crowd, singing and dancing worship to Jesus. She has heart of love and compassion for the girls.
Keiko Kawasaki
Thank you Jesus
Petra Mercedes Luna
Food, Glorious food [and clothes]
Food, glorious food...... so goes the Oliver Twist song.
One would think that with the high incomes that commercial sex workers, thieves and drug dealers get there would be plenty of money to go around. But it does not work out that way. What you sow you reap. ..... Give money to the poor and you lend to God- who pays with interest. Steal, make money from sin and the craving for the high, and Satan makes sure that those made in the image of God end up in the gutter.
Making an alliance with the devil may turn to your favour in the short term, but in the end satan is a destroyer, a thief, a liar. Those who serve him end up in need, in hunger, and live day to day in desperation.
A child cuddles sacks of maize meal - in eager anticipation- that comes from the USA via the container ministry of Grace Community Church, Durban.
Needy women and children fill small shopping bags with maize meal- enough for 3 to 4 days of meals.
One would think that with the high incomes that commercial sex workers, thieves and drug dealers get there would be plenty of money to go around. But it does not work out that way. What you sow you reap. ..... Give money to the poor and you lend to God- who pays with interest. Steal, make money from sin and the craving for the high, and Satan makes sure that those made in the image of God end up in the gutter.
Making an alliance with the devil may turn to your favour in the short term, but in the end satan is a destroyer, a thief, a liar. Those who serve him end up in need, in hunger, and live day to day in desperation.
A child cuddles sacks of maize meal - in eager anticipation- that comes from the USA via the container ministry of Grace Community Church, Durban.
Needy women and children fill small shopping bags with maize meal- enough for 3 to 4 days of meals.
Many familie from Phoenix, Durban regularly give cooked food to the ministry. Itgoes straight from the stove in Phoenix to the plate in the city center. The food is always eaten by co workers to ensure taste, health and quality. Dre Kruger from Grace cafe of Grace Community Church, Durban, also regularly gives fantastic, top quality meals weekly.
.
.
Clothes are also given out
A family has a box of food from Umhlanga Baptist Church that originated from Lions Club,
a donated Bible from Umhlanga Baptist Church and some clothes
.
Thank you all who give weekly. It is all seen by the Almighty. It is enjoyed by people who cannot thank you in person.
Petra Luna
House of LIFE ministry
Lonely in a crowd of 100
Queen [not her real name] worked on the streets as a commercial sex worker for over 21 years. At 13 years old she was raped by 7 unknown men. She ran away from home and lived by prostitution. Many years later when we found her she was very thin, but able to walk and able to come to meetings. This photo was taken in the premises of an HIV center, where we hoped she would be admitted for HIV treatment, but she was rejected.
We took her back to Durban and put her up in a shelter. At the shelter there are about 100 men and women staying in double bunks all together, including women with babies and whole families. There is no privacy.
Last week when we visited her in the shelter she was dying- but not from HIV but from thirst. With 100 people around her, no one cared enough to get her water from the tap. She was almost unconscious but when she saw Steve [Blomefield], and he held her hand, she started to cry. In the midst of a crowd of people she was utterly alone and in deep despair. Then I came to her and she bega
n to tell me her story, I burst into tears. Steve and I rushed her to hospital [ambulances take 5 hours to come]. In hospital she was put on a drip as she was highly dehydrated. In spite of being in the terminal stages of AIDS, she was 'discharged' the next morning by the hospital. She had no strength to walk home.
She is too weak to line up to get her medicine. She simply cannot stand up long enough, waiting for the queue at the hospital to finish, so she gives up and goes home. Neither are we allowed to take her medicine for her.
Fig. 2 Queen When stronger
Right now she is dying of hunger as she has no appetite. Her arms are being shaped, not by flesh but by the bones of her arms. She is weak but she is able to eat the Chinese noodles we buy her that are cooked by adding boiling water. She lies in bed at the shelter, paid for by House of Life Ministries each day. At some point the desire
to die will be greater than the desire to live, and from that point the end will come quickly.
However she has hope, because she has surrendered her life to the Lord, and is a born again Christian. When her suffering ends, her life in glory will begin.
Fig. 3 Queen in the last stages
of HIV/AIDS
In South africa, 25% of adults are HIV positive, and nearly 100% of commercial sex workers are. They also have sexually transmitted diseases of various kinds. Most commercial sex workers have been raped by close relatives or family friends. Then they go and work as commercial sex workers in order to live.
Petra Luna
House of Life Ministries
We took her back to Durban and put her up in a shelter. At the shelter there are about 100 men and women staying in double bunks all together, including women with babies and whole families. There is no privacy.
Last week when we visited her in the shelter she was dying- but not from HIV but from thirst. With 100 people around her, no one cared enough to get her water from the tap. She was almost unconscious but when she saw Steve [Blomefield], and he held her hand, she started to cry. In the midst of a crowd of people she was utterly alone and in deep despair. Then I came to her and she bega
n to tell me her story, I burst into tears. Steve and I rushed her to hospital [ambulances take 5 hours to come]. In hospital she was put on a drip as she was highly dehydrated. In spite of being in the terminal stages of AIDS, she was 'discharged' the next morning by the hospital. She had no strength to walk home.She is too weak to line up to get her medicine. She simply cannot stand up long enough, waiting for the queue at the hospital to finish, so she gives up and goes home. Neither are we allowed to take her medicine for her.
Fig. 2 Queen When stronger
Right now she is dying of hunger as she has no appetite. Her arms are being shaped, not by flesh but by the bones of her arms. She is weak but she is able to eat the Chinese noodles we buy her that are cooked by adding boiling water. She lies in bed at the shelter, paid for by House of Life Ministries each day. At some point the desire
to die will be greater than the desire to live, and from that point the end will come quickly.However she has hope, because she has surrendered her life to the Lord, and is a born again Christian. When her suffering ends, her life in glory will begin.
Fig. 3 Queen in the last stages
of HIV/AIDS
In South africa, 25% of adults are HIV positive, and nearly 100% of commercial sex workers are. They also have sexually transmitted diseases of various kinds. Most commercial sex workers have been raped by close relatives or family friends. Then they go and work as commercial sex workers in order to live.
Petra Luna
House of Life Ministries
The story of three girls
Mar 6:34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
This describes exactly the situation in point road in Durban. So many people, especially the girls are being exploited, abused, deceived and rejected. Satan paints a picture of hope and money and popularity and luxury but the truth is that they are poor, they become addicted to drugs, alcohol and are enslaved by their pimps.
A good example is N..... who is 18 years old. She was sexually abused by her stepfather. Her mother is also a commercial sex worker who did not have time to spend with her and care for her. The only choice available to her was to continue with the tradition that her mother set for her.
She ran away from her home in Cape Town and came to Durban, but her life rapidly fell apart. Instead of hope, there was despair. Instead of cash, they she was penniless. Instead of freedom to do what she wanted, she was addicted to alcohol, cigarettes and drugs such as crack cocaine and ‘sugar’.
But Jesus in his love and compassion reached out to her. I told her that Jesus loves her and died for on the cross of Calvary. With tears in her eyes, she received Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Then I sent her to a nearby mission where she heard the Word of God daily.
Fig. 1 N.......
She returned to Durban where she is receiving more discipleship daily. She is also being used by God in the meetings that I am holding, where she is testifying of how God has touched her and delivered her. The street girls are being touched and they are surrendering to Jesus. They often ask to be taken to a rehabilitation center, so I am in the process of looking for a place where the girls will be taken for salvation, deliverance and discipleship.
N ... has returned to Cape Town where her family are. She is beleived to be serving the Lord and has expressed a desire to come back to house of life as a staff member. Steve Jan 2010
Another girl is B...... She has been sexually abused by family members. She has been beaten up by family members and clients. She now has no family to care for her. She felt that the only choice available to her was to become a sex worker.
One day she heard the gospel from me. I told her that Jesus loves her. She had a hunger for Jesus and the sacrifice he made for her on the cross. She kept coming to the meetings, and one day she felt Jesus in her heart and decided to leave her sinful life and live for Jesus.
At present B....... is being discipled and counseled. Soon she will be ready for baptism. She wants to learn computers, so she can be empowered in order to rejoin the community as a fruitful individual. Training for this At present Bridget is being discipled and counseled. Soon she will be ready for baptism. She wants to learn computers, so she can be empowered in order to rejoin the community as a fruitful individual.
Fig.2. B........
Training for this and other vocations will be done at the rehabilitation center and with Christians that have a desire to assist with life skills.
B ... has returned home to Johannesburg and is believed to be with her family. Unfortunately we have lost contact with her.
I met P...... on the street corner, selling her body to any who came by. My heart was moved with compassion when I saw this young, pretty young girl in despair. At the time I saw her she was in the act of being beaten up by a man. P.... is only 17 years old. She was sexually abused from the age of three years. The abuse continued from that time on till the recent present. She ran away from home at the age of 14, and became a sex worker.
I preac
hed Christ to her and prayed for her. I invited her to a meeting and to see me for counseling. Ever since she began to come, listening to the Word of God, her life has been transformed. Today she is a new creation in Christ Jesus and she is full of the joy of the Lord. Isn’t Jesus an awesome God!
Fig 3. P.....
P ... went home for several months but has now returned to the streets in the point Road, Durban. Please pray for her. Steve jan 2010
This describes exactly the situation in point road in Durban. So many people, especially the girls are being exploited, abused, deceived and rejected. Satan paints a picture of hope and money and popularity and luxury but the truth is that they are poor, they become addicted to drugs, alcohol and are enslaved by their pimps.
A good example is N..... who is 18 years old. She was sexually abused by her stepfather. Her mother is also a commercial sex worker who did not have time to spend with her and care for her. The only choice available to her was to continue with the tradition that her mother set for her.
She ran away from her home in Cape Town and came to Durban, but her life rapidly fell apart. Instead of hope, there was despair. Instead of cash, they she was penniless. Instead of freedom to do what she wanted, she was addicted to alcohol, cigarettes and drugs such as crack cocaine and ‘sugar’.
But Jesus in his love and compassion reached out to her. I told her that Jesus loves her and died for on the cross of Calvary. With tears in her eyes, she received Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Then I sent her to a nearby mission where she heard the Word of God daily.
Fig. 1 N.......
She returned to Durban where she is receiving more discipleship daily. She is also being used by God in the meetings that I am holding, where she is testifying of how God has touched her and delivered her. The street girls are being touched and they are surrendering to Jesus. They often ask to be taken to a rehabilitation center, so I am in the process of looking for a place where the girls will be taken for salvation, deliverance and discipleship.
N ... has returned to Cape Town where her family are. She is beleived to be serving the Lord and has expressed a desire to come back to house of life as a staff member. Steve Jan 2010
Another girl is B...... She has been sexually abused by family members. She has been beaten up by family members and clients. She now has no family to care for her. She felt that the only choice available to her was to become a sex worker.
One day she heard the gospel from me. I told her that Jesus loves her. She had a hunger for Jesus and the sacrifice he made for her on the cross. She kept coming to the meetings, and one day she felt Jesus in her heart and decided to leave her sinful life and live for Jesus.
At present B....... is being discipled and counseled. Soon she will be ready for baptism. She wants to learn computers, so she can be empowered in order to rejoin the community as a fruitful individual. Training for this At present Bridget is being discipled and counseled. Soon she will be ready for baptism. She wants to learn computers, so she can be empowered in order to rejoin the community as a fruitful individual.
Fig.2. B........
Training for this and other vocations will be done at the rehabilitation center and with Christians that have a desire to assist with life skills.
B ... has returned home to Johannesburg and is believed to be with her family. Unfortunately we have lost contact with her.
I met P...... on the street corner, selling her body to any who came by. My heart was moved with compassion when I saw this young, pretty young girl in despair. At the time I saw her she was in the act of being beaten up by a man. P.... is only 17 years old. She was sexually abused from the age of three years. The abuse continued from that time on till the recent present. She ran away from home at the age of 14, and became a sex worker.
I preac
hed Christ to her and prayed for her. I invited her to a meeting and to see me for counseling. Ever since she began to come, listening to the Word of God, her life has been transformed. Today she is a new creation in Christ Jesus and she is full of the joy of the Lord. Isn’t Jesus an awesome God!Fig 3. P.....
P ... went home for several months but has now returned to the streets in the point Road, Durban. Please pray for her. Steve jan 2010
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