Love from South Africa

Pushing to the end... It’s crazy to think that we are almost at the end of the year! Since returning from our missions trip to Cape Town, we have been pushing full till in preparation for summer camp. This year, we also have the opportunity to help with a camp in Richard's Bay (about 6 hours away) directly after our camps here in Joburg. We are thankful and excited for this new opportunity. We look forward to all the Lord will do during that week and anticipate him doing great things! Punching holes in the darkness... We had a great time at our church's missions conference this year. The theme for this year was "Punching Holes in the Darkness". What a blessing to be challenged in God's Word, hear what God is doing through missionaries around Africa and the world, and also be able to share what God is doing in our lives and ministry. We are thankful for our church family and their involvement in our ministry.   WOW take 4 We ended of our women’s mini...

SMASH Cape Town The highlight of this last month would definitely be our SMASH (Students Ministering And Serving Him) trip to Cape Town. Our group ended up being smaller than we expected but the Lord knew and blessed the time in amazing ways! It was clear in the weeks and days leading up to the trip that Satan was trying to throw us off course and discourage us from what the Lord wanted to do. But praise the Lord that in spite of the challenges and discouragements surrounding this trip, He did some amazing things! Our team of 24 split into two teams for the week to cover more ground. The team I was a part of ran a 3 day Holiday Bible Club at the church we were hosted at while Thato's team traveled to different churches and communities for evangelism, outreach and work projects. The Holiday Bible Club started with 97 children on the first day and grew to 180 by the last day as kids kept on bringing their friends to join in on the fun. On the last day, we invited the fa...

The Lord gives & the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. This last month has held some really high highs and some really low lows. There has been weeping and rejoicing. But through it all, we continue to say through tears and smiles, "blessed be the name of the Lord". Just a few weeks ago, Thato and I joyfully received the news that in less than 7 months, we would become parents to our first baby. We were ecstatic and so thankful for this gift the Lord had given us. However, the excitement was short lived. Just 5 days after discovering I was pregnant, we were told by the doctor that we had a miscarriage. Though we had only known about the pregnancy for less than a week, we were devastated to hear that we had lost our baby. We struggled to understand exactly why the Lord had allowed this but we continued to trust that He is good and faithful and that he would use it for our good and His glory. Our hearts still hurt but we are thankful for the Lord's lo...

A few weeks ago, we welcomed this group of 28 teens and leaders for Student Fusion, a trip out of the US designed to get teens involved in and exposed to missions around the world. We loved hosting and ministering alongside this awesome group. We prayed for each of them as they were preparing to come that the Lord would do a work in each individual's heart. We didn't know where they were coming from or what their walks with the Lord were like but we prayed that God would use the trip to make a lasting impact in their lives and that he would use it possibly even lay on some of their hearts a burden for full time ministry or missions. The Lord definitely answered our prayers and we are grateful for all the Lord did in the team's lives as well as the lives of those we had the opportunity to minister to. We look forward to seeing how God continues to work. The day after the team arrived, we hit the ground running, We had the opportunity to do a youth combined at a local...

So much exciting ministry took place during the month of June from camps, to missions trips and lots of kids ministry. It has been a blessing to be a part of all the Lord is doing in 3 different provinces. We are thankful for the opportunities to work alongside several local churches, including our own, in order to help their ministries continue to grow to reach more people for Christ! Satellite Camp Thank you for the prayers while we where at Potchefstroom. What a great weekend for a Satellite camp that side. We were at True Word Bible Church working alongside the pastor who is an alumni of the DTC program. I was his discipler during his year at Word of Life. It’s been great to see what the Lord is doing through him with the church plant in Potch. There was 46 kids the Friday when we arrived and on Saturday we had 60 +- who came to the camp. 12 got saved. Please be praying for Pastor Lance as he reaches this community for Christ and that he will train others to in his community to...

During the month of May, we had the privilege of spending three weeks in the States to be a part of two of our dear friend's weddings as well as spend some time with family and connect with some churches for support raising. We are beyond grateful to have been able to make this trip and to catch up with family and friends as well as be able to expand our support team. What a sweet blessing from the Lord it was. Ashley: The wedding extravaganza began in Florida where we celebrated the marriage of one of my best friends from my time at Word of Life Bible Institute. What a sweet blessing to stand beside her on this special day as well as be able to spend time with other dear friends from my WOLBI days. Thato: It has been great being involved in our friends lives by celebrating their new journey of life. I had the privilege of being a part of Kyle Paradis's (former missionary in South Africa and close friend) wedding and look forward to what the Lord is going to do in his and...

Thank you all for the prayers for us while we were at Mozambique. We had the opportunity to minister to 70 teens over 2 weeks & 6 of them made the decision to trust Christ as their Saviour. It was great being able to help lead, counsel, & share from God's Word during our time there. It is amazing to see the fruits from camp. I thank the Lord for Paulo's life & have loved seeing him grow into who he is today. Paulo got saved at this very camp while he was still in school & this year, I got to see him share with & challenge the students who were sitting in the very same chairs he was sitting in as a student when he gave his life to the Lord. Paulo now serves as an intern with the Word of Life Mozambique team. He continues to minister to many of the same students who were at camp at the student ministry that happens every second Friday at the school. The dream team! From a full team to almost half of them dropping out last minute due to various rea...

From left to right: Biruk, Corina, Lis, Jack & Sihle. The interns are now 2 months into their internship and are each doing a fantastic job. A few weeks ago, Biruk (pictured on the left), headed to his assigned field in Uganda. It was such a pleasure getting to know him and we are missing him already! Lis who has been serving as the kitchen intern since she arrived will also be headed back to the states next week as her 3 month internship is coming to a close. While we will be missing 2, we will be gaining another from Kenya soon provided that his visa comes through. Corina and Sihle have done a fantastic job working alongside the students and Jack has done a great job heading up maintenance. This year, I have the opportunity to disciple Corina while Thato has the opportunity to disciple Sihle. It's such a joy and privilege to be a part of their journeys and see all the Lord is doing in their lives. Taking Camp to new frontiers After years of anticipation, we had a...

Leader's Kickoff As usual, we started off the year of ministry with a Leader's Kickoff conference in 4 different locations - Johannesburg, Daveyton, Potchefstroom & Cape Town. We had an awesome time encouraging the various leaders & are thankful for the opportunity to work alongside them in their ministries. All together, we had about 141 people attending from 34 different churches. We are thankful for the fact that the leaders were able to see the importance of making Christ as the final goal for their youth and they should continue to learn for themselves in order to reach the teens better. LKO Cape Town LKO Potchefstroom LKO Joburg LKO Daveyton The month of love On the evening before Valentine's Day, we had a WOLZA Valentine's banquet. Thato & I had the opportunity to share our journey together & what the Lord has taught us along the way as well as offer the students & interns some encouragement on how to have godly rel...