Biography

Good day,

I would like to share an abbreviated biography regarding myself:

My name is Sakkie Parsons and I was born in Port Elizabeth on 30 April 1947.

I cannot remember much of my childhood. I think that our Lord installs some kind of mechanism in one’s brain that deletes certain things or conceals it so deep in the archives, so that it could no longer trouble His children.

In my childhood years, my siblings and I were taken away from our parents and from there we went to a foster mother who treated us very badly. She had other children in her foster care as well as her own children. In the years thereafter whenever I thought about her, she reminded me of the witch in the Hansel and Gretel story. Although I did not wet my bed my brothers did and then she would push the wet sheet into their mouths. One day the welfare came and took my brothers and sisters away and left me there alone.

It was really one of the most traumatic events in my childhood. First I was taken away from my parents and now my brothers and sisters were also taken away from me and I had to stay behind with this terrible aunt. I had to stay behind since I could not go to a regular orphanage because they discovered that there is something wrong with my eyes.

I continued my schooling at the former school in Worcester for the blind.

I finished school and later found a work opportunity with Rustenburg Platinum Mine, or better known as RPM, as a switchboard operator.

I can remember that I was so grateful for finally finding this work opportunity after searching for so long that I told Mr. Stander, who took me to the interview, if I get this job I will either retire there or they will bury me there. I started working there July 1967 then 39 years and 10 months later I retired.

In 1969 I got married and we were blessed with three beautiful children.

Through my brother, Charlie, and his wife’s patience, they talked to me about our Lord.  I adopted JESUS as my Saviour on Wednesday 25 April 1973 which was one of the greatest days in my life. On a very, very cold evening somewhere in Hartbeespoort I was baptized in someone’s pool.

A month or two later I started working for our Lord and the years that followed were wonderful years.

For five years I was a youth leader and for another two years or so a deacon.

In the late 1970’s, when my eyes started deteriorating quickly, I knew that I would one day no longer be able to see my children’s faces and would be completely blind.  It was a terrible mountain for me to climb but our Lord was with me all the way while I climbed over and down to the other side and I could put it behind me to continue with my life.

I discovered somewhere in 1981 that my wife was having an affair with another man and in December of that same year she left me for this man, and we separated.

Early in 1982, I met a wonderful woman who was part of a choir with her mother which I coached years earlier.  We were married on 4 December 1982 and only beautiful and happy years followed. After 37 years of happy marriage to my wife Cornelia, where she has walked the path with dementia for 9 years, she died and moved on to Jesus on 27 April 2019.

In 1984, I was chosen as a youth leader at the VEK in Rustenburg.

Something wonderful happened that year which I would like to share with you.

As youth leader, my wife and I contacted many of the Pentecostal churches in Rustenburg and made the following agreement with those who wanted to participate. We would send invitations once a year to one of our youth meetings and arrange something special for all the invitees and then the same would be done for us once a year. The reason behind this idea was to bring the young Christian people together and help them build more Christian relationships. By occasion the AGS Central arranged that we went to visit them, and they arranged a special minister to speak to us.

From the following I want you to get a glimpse of how, in detail, our Lord plans certain aspects in a person’s life just as He’s still planning today. Something happened that day, which I cannot remember, but it caused me to arrive late at the youth service that evening. Towards the entrance of the church I was still reprimanding myself about what kind of example it will be when the youth leader of the VEK arrives late for church. But it seems that was the least of my problems.   When we walked into the church my wife whispered to me that the church was packed and the only seats available was in the front pew. The youth leader of the VEK had no choice but to do the walk of shame in front of a packed church to sit up front. I must deviate to share something with you:  As a rule, I never go to the front upon an invitation during an event, not because I don’t want to, but rather to avoid people’s sympathy. Sometimes in undue haste, someone will grab me or my head and pray for my blindness. It so happened on an occasion that there was a man who commanded the blind devil in me to leave.

That evening, the preacher’s invitation went something like this: “If anyone here tonight seeks something special from the Lord, come forward and ask Him.” A thought hit me; Here I am sitting right in front and if I get up and respond to the invitation, I will not make people aware of the fact that I’m blind.  I got up, raised my hands in the air and said to our Lord: “I’m not greatly educated and I do not have many talents, but I ask you Lord to give me a task to do for you”. Nothing special happened. I did not get any funny feelings, but it felt good to do this in public where no one came to pray for my eyes when I asked for something else entirely.

That evening after the service, as we drove home, I received the words of a song with a melody in my heart. As soon as I got home, I grabbed a tape recorder and started singing the song, so that I would not forget the melody or the words.

I wanted so much to be a witness for our Lord. It was also the title of my first production in Afrikaans, namely:

“Julle sal My getuies wees” (“You will be my witnesses.” The song and words are available in the section “Songs” on the Website)

Later in the year, it was our turn to do something special for the youth of the AGS Central. Someone then told me about the blind singer Pastor Willie Botha and suggested that I approach him. Willie Botha and I went to school together and I contacted him. After the service Willie and I talked, and he listened to my song. He suggested that we should do something with it. At first, I did not really think that this is the kind of thing I would be able to do because I’m a bit of an introvert, but I took the bull by the horns and with Willie continuously motivating me, I tackled the matter. To begin with, I did not have the money to take action. My wife and I prayed about it. Then we decided to make an appointment to see the bank manager for the funds so that the production could take off, which our Lord has helped me with greatly.

In the election of 1985 for the church’s various positions, I indicated myself as not available for selection and with the love and grace of our Lord I started my singing ministry in 1985.

From about 1987, I’ve been fortunate enough that when February/March came, every weekend thereafter was fully booked for the rest of the year.

I said it then and I still say it today: I am not a Mario Lanza nor an Elvis Presley nor anybody like them, but in all the years I’ve had this wonderful grace from our Lord where I was always willing to go where He wanted me to go and although I never asked for a fee, our Lord always provided.

In 1997 my wife saw something on my body that she didn’t like and advised me to make an appointment with the doctor. I went and I was then diagnosed with melanoma cancer.

The worst of those times, funny enough, was not the treatment because I was still able to go hundreds of kilos every weekend to proclaim the Gospel through song and word throughout my treatment. The worst for me was when my wife and I sat with the doctor and to my question, what my chances were, the doctor answered us that if they cannot stop it, I had 3 at most 6 months if I was lucky to live.

After the treatment, where I got my last injection in February 1999, I suddenly felt for one reason or another that I am no longer able to get around to all the things on my plate. Unlike the past where I had been grateful, I caught myself being more grateful when I did not have to do any performances on a weekend. Later I started declining performances and said that I am no longer doing performances anymore. I so badly wanted to continue to do the work for our Lord, but I could no longer see myself travelling for a whole weekend on the road while living out of a suitcase. Then my wife and I still had to get ready for work on Monday morning and the late-night travelling started to affect my wife as well. But I still, very much, wanted to continue doing work for our Lord.

Then, sometime in 2003, my employer said, because of the technology upgrade at the switchboard, which was my department, I now also had to work with a computer. I knew nothing about computers and according to my knowledge at that time; a blind person could not work on a computer anyway. We then found out about this wonderful technology where a computer could talk to you and a whole new world opened for me.

I immediately searched what I could do with this new technology for our Lord – and so my email ministry began. Our Lord helped me, and by His grace my ministry grows every day from strength to glorious strength.

Thank you for this opportunity to share my testimony with you.

Sakkie Parsons.