Today we received some heartwrenching news from South Africa. Sylvia, a godly Christian woman, and her husband Tshepo, also an example of true Christian faith, are going through a severe trial in their life. Please see below for the news that was shared with us:We are asking for your prayers for Sylvia and Tshepo and their family. Syliva is a housemother at The Pines, her husband is Tshepo. Tshepo's daughter, Ivy, 20 yrs old was murdered last Saturday. Tomorrow is the funeral.
This morning Sylvia and Tshepo shared with us the story about Ivy being murdered. Ivy was walking to their house around 5:30am after being at a wake and a guy or maybe 2 guys jumped her. Sylvia & Tshepo weren't notified that she was missing until about 11:30am, but from then on they started looking. After looking for a few hours they found some of Ivy's clothes (undergarments) along the tree line. They looked until about 11pm that night. Sunday morning they received a call that a neighbor near the place where she went missing was calling to say his son came home with blood on his clothes. They went over there with the police and found Ivy's cell phone with this boy. This boy had called Tshepo earlier that night saying he had his daughter and was going to kill her. This boy told them where to find her body. He had raped her and then killed her with a screw driver in her head. Tshepo shared that the autopsy showed 5 different holes from the screw driver and her skull had been crushed with a hammer. There are now 2 boys in jail for her murder. One of them had been released from jail 2 weeks earlier after serving a sentence for murder. This is his third murder.
I also want to share what a testimony Tshepo and Sylvia are sharing with their family and community. The very first thing Tshepo told us was "To God be the Glory". They know Ivy was a believer so she is now in heaven. Sylvia said "they have harmed her body but can not do anything to her soul". They both continued to share that yes, they do have a pain but not so much because she is now in heaven. Tshepo said he has forgiven the man who did this to Ivy and he is praying that he will come to know Jesus so he can have a new life.
Brian & Lois are planning on going to the funeral tomorrow morning. I'm confident that the gospel will be shared clearly.
They asked Sylvia if we could share their story and ask for prayer for them. I told them our church and friends would be praying for them and their family.
We thank you for lifting this family up to the Lord in your prayers. Please pray with us that other friends and family will come to trust Christ as their Savior through the testimony that this family is sharing.
Photos are of Sylvia.
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