Lindie Kleinhans

Lindie Kleinhans joined Japan Mission from South Africa as an English Evangelism Teacher in September 2018. She now travels to a number of churches to serve as an English Teacher, to help those churches reach their communities for Christ. Many, who would not normally attend church, come to learn English and make friends with a foreigner. Each class ends with a Bible Time and a time of discussion and fellowship.

Lindie recently shared:

Being in Japan is a dream come true and being a missionary is a prayer that has been answered! It was a big cultural shock for me, a Free State girl from Bloemfontein in South Africa that came to a country with a different language and culture. With every day that I’m in Japan I’m falling in love more and more with Japan and her people. I’ve found so many friends while in Japan and their hospitality makes me feel at home.

My students at the Churches where I serve have become my family and friends. I praise God for every student He gave me. Every student He entrust me with to share His love. Preparing for classes is so much fun. With one church I’m using my talents of writing plays (scripts) for theme classes. I’m able to use my talents that God has given me to share Him with the students. All the glory to God!

Read more about Lindie’s journey below:

My name is Lindie Kleinhans.

I’ve grown up in a Christian home and knew about Christ and what He did for us. Though I can’t recall that I had a deep relationship with Him when I was young. As I got older I didn’t really spent time with Him guess you could call me a lukewarm Christian back then.

When I was 18 years old in my matric year I passed out at school and was rushed to the Doctor. He heard something strange in my heart. He suggested that I go see a heart specialist to find out what the strange sound was. When I got at the heart specialist with my mom he did a sonar to see what was wrong with my heart and found that I had a whole in my heart. My mother phoned my dad and the doctor informed us that we had one of three choices.

The first choice was to do a close heart surgery then they won’t have to cut in the chess, but they will use some sort of balloon that they will sent up from my groin. The second choice was an open heart surgery; they will need to cut my chess in order to get to my heart. The third choice was to not have a heart surgery. We asked the Doctor the pros and cons of all three the choices. The first choice would be cheaper, but the balloon might break over a few years and might cause a stroke thus I would need to come for a check-up every three to five years. The second choice would be expensive and there could be a lot of danger in doing the surgery, I would have to have steel threads in my sternum in order to keep them together, but they will only do it after my matric exam. The third choice would be very daring as I can get a stroke, heart attack and my lifetime will be shortened with ten years.

The Doctor told us to think about it and let him know. I was so angry with God. I asked Him why would He make me so incomplete. Why would He do this to me. That night it was like there was a light of understanding shone upon me, and I realized that God had a plan with me. He knew that I would be able to handle this even I thought I wouldn’t be able He knew that it would make me a stronger person and that I was a strong girl even though I didn’t think so. Within weeks I was too weak to go to school and my dad told the Doctor that he’ll need to do the surgery as soon as possible. The surgery would take place on the 8^th of April 2008. We decided on the close heart operation but that didn’t work as the blood flow was too strong and he only then realized that the whole in my heart was 3.57cm and that a close heart won’t work. He informed us and for some reason I was happy to hear it and more at ease to have the close heart surgery.

The Doctor informed us that he will have to do the open heart surgery on 10^th of April 2008 as I became too weak. The morning of the operation the Doctor asked me if I were ready for the surgery. I told him yes and that they can proceed. After the surgery I lost a lot of blood and was out cold for about a day and a half. When I woke up they found that I had too much dam around my lungs and that it needed to be removed as soon as possible. They placed a draining pipe between my ribs and immediately there came 250ml of dam out. I made a promise that as soon as the recovery period is over I will plant a flag in honour of what God did for me. On 22^ndDecember 2008 we planted a flag on top of a mountain hill.

Since I can remember I wanted to do missionary work and every time the doors closed. I started doing outreach camps with the church and about 5 years ago we started a group the Jesus freaks and did outreaches to juvenile centres. I never lost the hope of doing missionary work. I knew that what I was doing in the past five years were mission work. I wanted to do more and more mission work as I found peace and joy in doing it. And I knew that through what I’ve been with the surgery I was able to understand pain that some of these kids had. Maybe they didn’t have this kind of operation but they felt far away from God. I felt the same and sometimes it was hard for me to accept that I will always have a scar to remind me about what happened and then I also had times of joy for remembering how amazing it was to be able to have gone through this process it was almost as if God renewed me so that He can use me in His way.

I prayed a lot to be used in a mission field and one day in March I received a calling to go to Japan. At first I thought it was only a thought of wanting to go to Japan to learn more about the history, so at first I didn’t make anything of it. I decided to pray about it because I wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity that I can be used to do God’s work. As the days go by I felt it lying heavier on my heart. I prayed and said to God that I will fast for a month to get an answer if it is from God or if it is just a heart thing to go and enjoy the sights. I also told God that as soon as I get an answer that I know I can stop the fasting. I didn’t tell anyone about it as I didn’t want to create and expectation, because my family knew about the hope of becoming a missionary. Within a week since I started fasting I received word that said ‘Then said I, ah Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord’ – Jeremiah 1:6-8. I knew that it was from God.

That morning I told my family of the calling and since that day I kept on getting confirmation about the calling and I know for sure that God called me to work in Japan to spread the good news in any way that He wants to use me. I am willing to do the work of God come what may. I trust God to use me according to His will and I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.