I am passionate about serving God, promoting healthy living, and using my gifts and experiences to inspire and encourage others.

My journey in health ministry began with completing Medical Missionary Module 1 in 2011, followed by Module 2 in 2015. In 2019, I launched The Beehive Lifestyle Ministries, which was officially registered in April 2020. Through this ministry, I am committed to sharing practical knowledge and encouraging people toward healthier and more purposeful lives.

I also serve as a CEO for Mannatec, where I work with associations in 40 countries around the world to distribute glycan technology. In addition, I am a distributor for Annique Health and Skin Care Products, allowing me to further promote health and wellness through quality products.

My passion for learning and ministry has also led me into theological studies. I began studying at the South African Theological Seminary in 2011 and continue to pursue my studies. I am currently nearing completion of the Christian Life Certificate, which forms the foundation of my first year of theological studies.

Writing is another passion close to my heart. I participate in the annual NaNoWriMo novel-writing competition whenever I can and have published several e-books through Smashwords, many of which I continue to edit and improve. I am currently working on a plant-based cooking book titled The Beehive Plant-Based Recipe Book, combining my love for healthy living, writing, and practical wellness.

I am a member of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church, and my faith continues to be an important part of both my personal life and ministry.

You can connect with me and learn more about The Beehive Lifestyle Ministries on Facebook: TheBeehive LifestyleMinistries.

Links:

http://Smashwords.com

https://www.facebook.com/nombu.sand

Hi, I'm Angel.

This mission starts right in our home.

So for my wife and three sons, thank you for standing with us.

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God chose for us to have a conversation with us, his creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you, Maria.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

I am in the western Cape of South Africa, specifically a very small town called Klover.

Okay.

How did you come to meet Jesus?

I basically grew up in a house where God served.

My father did not serve God.

He was a Freemason, but my stepmother was the person that kept us close.

She made sure that there was Bible readings and children's Bible was read every evening before bedtime.

We were spending time in prayer and in conversation around God.

She was the one basically that guided our footsteps to God.

From a very young girl, I already knew that I was going to serve God somehow.

At first, I didn't know whether it would be as a missionary or as a nurse.

I've always been the nurse in the house.

I used to cater to little women's needs whenever they get sick.

There used to be a little dining bell or something put by the bedside.

If they need anything, they would ring it.

I grew up in an environment where I knew God, I knew Christ, but I still had a lot to learn because it was very basic.

As I grew up, I realized that I am on the right path to serve God, but I didn't quite know in what kind of environment or in what way.

I still needed to find my feet and to find out exactly where I fit into the picture.

I had a very basic relationship with God because the only information that I had about God was either from school or when my mother read the children's Bible to us and prayed with us and so on.

But that is not a relationship per se.

The relationship part only really came when I joined the church that I'm in now, the Seventh-day Adventist church, where in-depth Bible studies became the norm and where my faith was really tested because of my relationship, my poor relationship with my father and where the people around me basically adopted me at the church, where they guided me to get to know Christ better.

How many siblings did you have when you were growing up?

You talked about being the nurse for everyone.

How many siblings did you have?

Okay, I have two sisters from my late biological mother and a half-brother and a half-sister from a marriage before my father married my biological mother.

My stepmother never had children.

So there were five of you in total, yes?

All together, yes.

There used to be a sixth sibling, but she passed on long before I met her, so yeah, she was not part of the family that I grew up in.

How old were you when you started your relationship with Christ on a next level, on a higher level?

As I said, I met him as a child with a very basic...

He was almost like an acquaintance more than a friend at that point.

I would say that was as early as six years old.

And my real deeper growth became, I would say, when I was around 22.

That is where the relationship really started growing.

What have you found to be your purpose now that you've gotten closer to Christ?

Okay, that was when I joined the Seaman's Adventist Church because of scoliosis and osteoporosis.

Okay, scoliosis more at that point.

When I left school, of course, I was not very good at school work.

When I left school, I thought I was going to do nursing, but I was turned down because of scoliosis.

They said that my spine would not tolerate the amount of the hours and the standing and the picking up of heavy patients.

So that fell on the wayside.

But when I joined the Adventist Church, I learned of a movement that they call the medical missionary movement, and that is when I realized, okay, here is where I'm going to find my niche.

I started pursuing training.

It took some time before I found the contact details of the organization that does the medical missionary training.

I went for training and I started pursuing ministry within that niche.

I started studying towards Christian counseling, theological Christian counseling in 2011, thereabouts.

Only then I started doing the medical missionary training.

I did those in two modules over a stretch, so it wasn't something that happened overnight.

It took time for me to really get moving and get acquainted with my studies there.

In 2020, I registered my ministry, the Beehive Lifestyle Ministry.

That was during the hard lockdown, just the day actually when the hard lockdown ended and we were allowed to start traveling again and moving about.

That is when the ministry's registration came through.

That is how I got started in my career, per se.

How has it been seeing God seeing you through, even though you were turned down from becoming a nurse to ultimately having the opportunity to be a nurse again?

Okay, it's a bit of a struggle because of my financial situation.

I'm on a disability grant because of my spine.

The financial situation is such that I cannot afford accommodation, proper accommodation.

Because of that, I also cannot afford a place from where I can properly work and stay at and really make progress.

While I'm making progress, it's incredibly slow progress.

At one shelter we are staying for a year, there's a motto that says, slow progress is still progress.

I'm making progress, but incredibly slowly and frustratingly so.

Most of my ministry work is really done online at this point, although I have been able to save up some money because of sponsorships and so on, small sponsorships.

I've got my uniform going.

That's basically also part of my testimony because though I cannot afford to have a premises from where I can work, where I move, even if it's just to go to the shops, the people see me moving in my uniform and my uniform tells them who I am and what I am about.

They see me walking and they start asking questions.

That basically opens doors and windows and opportunities for me to start sharing.

Well, Maria, I thank you for passing by and having a conversation with the goal of inspiring others.

If you had the opportunity to leave a message for future you, for the future version of yourself listening to this, what would you leave as a message for yourself?

I would say, keep on going on.

No matter what your situation is, keep on praising God.

Keep praying, keep believing and push forward and always remember to thank him for answer prayers and also to thank him for prayers that you cannot yet see, that he promised that he is ready to work on behind the scenes.

Even though you may not see or know what is going on, believe that God is there and working on the situation and that he will someday also pull in for you and you will see where you needed to be.

Even if that only happens the day that Jesus comes and we go to heaven and you see people there that tell you that they have started serving God because of you, although you didn't even know that you had that influence on them.

And that might very well happen because you speak to a person now and you serve them with a smile, you give them a prayer of hope and you may never see them again until we meet with Jesus someday.

Maria, it's a pleasure, I treasure.

Thank you for being on what is inspired by 12-Minute Converse.