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Finishing Well..A New Adventure Begins

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We can’t believe that 2024 has already come to a close and our time with Word of Life has officially wrapped. Our desire since making the decision to transition our ministry to the Bahamas has always been to finish well. We are thankful that we could end the year with our annual Summer Camps.. the very camps we have had the opportunity to serve at and Thato has been able to lead for many years. It was definitely bittersweet but truly a blessing. Summer Camps There are so many wonderful things about camp but one of the highlights definitely has to be seeing the evolution from camper to counsellors. Many of our counselors were at one times campers whose lives had been changed in part because of God’s work in their lives at camp. This year was no exception. It was so encouraging to see these once campers now pouring into the lives of other campers. Another highlight of course is witnessing God draw campers into a deeper relationship with him. Overall, we had 65 campers and kids camp, 4 of...
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Every generation reaching their generation

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SMASH Teens Missions Trip Our annual SMASH missions trip In September was really an encouragement for me this year. Some of our church’s youth joined us on the trip. This year we went down to Cape Town and partnered with a ministry organisation called Genetik. They do ministry in a different way. What they focus on in their ministry is not only sharing the gospel but equipping kids and teens with life skills to be involved in the community as they grow into working adults. That was very encouraging. I participated in making a rap song in one of the Genetik workshops and it was encouraging to see how we could come up with a rap song that shares the gospel. The group that I was with were very encouraged by what we wrote. We also had the opportunity to go and feed homeless people in one community and this opened our eyes to the extreme poverty and even drug issues we face in different parts of our country. It was great to be involved in this because as Ephesians 2:10 encourages us that “...
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Camps Near & Far

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It’s been a while since our last update and so much has happened since we arrived back from furlough. Thato took a trip to Zimbabwe to help with some camps alongside the WOL Zim team, we assisted with our church’s Holiday Bible Club (VBS) as well as a winter camp alongside one of the churches we partner with in the East Rand.    Our team also continued with our annual camps happening at Potchefstroom (True Word Bible Church) and Mozambique (Trichardt School). The biggest thing that has happened over these past few months though it that we welcomed our third baby girl, Aliyah Mphonyana (translated ‘little gift’ in Sotho) 3 weeks early. We are thankful for the smooth delivery of our sweet Aliyah on Thato’s birthday (June 4) The pastors cooking for the campers Zimbabwe I had a privilege to go to Zimbabwe after coming back from furlough to help teach at camp. The trip was great ias we were able to meet with Pastors and have fellowship with them as well as teach the word of God to ...
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There & Back Again

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It's been a month now since we returned to South Africa and have been settling back into a normal rhythm. We are so thankful for the time we had on furlough to reconnect with friends, family and supporters. It really was such an encouraging time and though it was quite busy with lots of traveling, it was also refreshing. We started out our time with some downtime with our family over the Christmas holidays. It was a wonderful and special time especially since it was the last time we were able to spend with Ashley's Pop Pop before he went home to be with the Lord in March.  We officially began our furlough the first week of January as we caught up with friends and supporters and shared in churches in Abaco, Spanish Wells and Nassau (3 different islands). We were so overwhelmed by the love, generosity and care we felt as we visited with different people and churches. It was also encouraging to see God at work in each person's life and their own spheres. Our time in the US was...
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Ending the Year Right

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We finished off 2023 with a bang as we finished final prep for and had our summer camps along with closing out our various ministries with end of year events. It was definitely a sprint to the finish but it was a great end to the year. Summer Camp We are thankful for a fruitful and encouraging end of year camp as we had many outside volunteers as well as more campers than we've had the past few years, many of which were first time campers.    Our theme for camp this year was ‘Crossroads’.    We challenged the campers to filter their decisions in light go God’s truth rather than the world’s so called wisdom. It was a blessing to see God working in their lives through our various speakers and counselors as some made decisions to trust Christ as their Saviour and many others confronted their own crossroads to make choices glorifying to Christ. Another highlight of camps was having my dad as the main speaker for the teen camp and mom as part of the worship team. It was a...
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Investments

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It’s been a while since our last update and we sure have a lot to share. These past several months have been nonstop with several leaders trainings, an alumni reunion, our staff retreat, a camp, and lots in between. We have had so much opportunity to continue to build and invest into leaders, teens and young adults who will continue to make disciples where they are. Leaders Mid-Year Training Our mid-year conference is always a great time to see how the leaders are doing at the halfway point in the    year. We are thankful for the opportunity to continue to train and learn from how they are doing things as well.   T hato had the opportunity to share about how to intentionally reach out to Gen Z youth and we had some great discussions amongst the leaders as to how to continue growing in how we minister to youth. Hazyview Leaders Training We also had the opportunity to do a leaders training with several churches in Mpumalang organised by one of our alumni. it is always nice...
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