A Miraculous Story of Redemption: Kudakwashe and Amanda

This past Sunday, September 22, our South African community celebrated the wedding of Kudakwashe (Gift) Mangwande and Amanda (Mandy) Gill. As we shared in a previous post, Gift is from Zimbabwe. He was raised by a godly mother but had drifted far from God. He met some of our brothers in the farmer’s market in South Africa, where he was selling the beautiful wooden products that he carves. He experienced a complete transformation this past year after being filled with the Holy Spirit and was baptized last December.

Mandy and her twin, Luanda (Lulu), are part Xhosa and part European. They lived with their mom until she died when they were six. Mandy, Lulu, and their two-year-old sister, Nikki, were placed in an orphanage. Brother Rowan and Sister Gaylin came to know them through a missionary family who sometimes brought the girls to their home for weekends and holidays. When the missionary family had to return to America, they asked the Gills to consider looking after the girls. After much prayer and soul searching, the Gills took the girls into their care in July 2005.

When brothers from our Texas and New Zealand communities visited Brother Rowan, he recognized that God was showing him more truth. He and Sister Gaylin received the Spirit and began making radical changes in their lives. Brother Rowan half-jokingly says that when he stopped playing golf, his children believed that he was serious. Although Mandy and Lulu were 19 and were living as nominal believers, they chose to follow the greater light that Brother Rowan shared with their family.

In 2018, the Gills and three other families moved to a property in South Africa’s Western Cape Province, where they began to build the Heritage Farm. Lulu and Mandy faithfully served their family and their community, both working in the bakery/cafe and helping on the farm and with crafts. Mandy loves to sew and helps to lead worship in their meetings.

In February, Lulu married Brother Shannon Muir, and they currently live in Texas. This past week, their younger sister Nikki requested baptism.

Here are a few pictures from Gift and Mandy’s beautiful wedding.