Love from South Africa

The last month has been full of ministry and excitement as we finished off our last Woman of Worth conference of the year, closed out youth group and our young adults small group with end of year Christmas parties, had our annual Thanksgiving celebration and BBISA/DTC graduation. What a blessing to be able to celebrate the goodness of God with the people we have the opportunity to serve and minister alongside. Our Thanksgiving celebration and DTC/BBISA graduation which took place last Saturday was such a special time as we gathered as a staff along with some of our ministry partners and families of the students just to reflect on all the Lord has done this year as well as celebrate God's work in each of our student's lives. It has been a challenging year for them as many of their hopes and expectations this year were stripped away as they were limited in many of the things they were meant to do as part of their year with us. However, God continued His work in each student's

 Missions trip to Potch Thank you all again for partnering with us in ministry. We are always thankful and grateful to you from our Lord Jesus. As you all know, this year we had to cancel most of the events, camps and trips we had planned due to COVID-19. That only allowed us to keep encouraging youth leaders and pastors that we work with by calling and finding out how they are doing and how we can be praying for them. However, in September, the doors opened for additional ministry when our President lessened the regulations gave us more freedom. We had the opportunity to take the DTC students and interns on a missions trip to Potchefstroom where we did some evangelism, children’s ministry and different projects in the community. We served alongside True Word Bible Church with Pastor Lance, a former DTC student. Though our original plan to serve in Durban did not work out, we had a an amazing week of ministry and it was such a blessing seeing the hunger that we all had as a team to sha

The last 2 months have been filled with much joy and learning as we have adapted to our new life as parents with our sweet little Leilani. The Lord has already taught us so much and we are so grateful for this sweet gift. She is growing so fast, smiling a ton, and brings much joy (and less sleep) to our lives. As we have been adjusting to a new routine, we have also had more opportunity for some of our "normal" ministry as the country has gradually been opening up more. It has been such a blessing to be able to reconnect with people and resume various ministries. Praise the Lord that we are no longer just making calls but can meet with Pastors in person which is a blessing. Virtual Leader's Mid-Year Conference We were still able to hold our annual Leader's Mid-Year Conference via Zoom and had the blessing of having speakers from 3 different countries since there were no physical restraints. There were 30 youth and children's leaders in attendance and many commente

It has been amazing to see the Lord work over the past several weeks in the continued opportunities he's given us to minister to others. Several weekends ago, we participated in another virtual camp, this one geared toward young adults. This one was even better than the first with many who attended, small groups that we connected consistently with throughout the whole weekend, and of course and improved virtual camp experience as sorted out kinks from the first camp. It was so encouraging to receive feedback from many of the young adults who attended. Here's a testimony from a young woman named Whitney who share how this camp impacted her life. "I'm very grateful for this...I've been on two sessions-Saturday morning and today evening. I thank God for the experience..I never thought 'online classes' [camp] was a thing until I tried it and it turned out beneficial. On the topic of suffering, I learnt -Not to escape from it but endure it because I

This season has been a challenging one for all of us. There are days when it's easy to become anxious, questioning what the future might hold or discouraged about what our present reality is. However, in spite of these challenges and discouragements, the Lord continues to teach us and give us opportunities to be used by him. As we face these unprecedented times, we would like to thank all of you for your support for us as a family. We are thankful and appreciative of your partnership in reaching the youth of South Africa with the gospel of Christ.  Lessons learnt in lockdown When the lockdown started 10 weeks ago, I (Thato) did not know how we would be reaching the youth of South Africa with the regulations on social distancing. That seemed discouraging because we had planned on so much this year as a ministry but the virus changed everything and changed how we minister right now. The first 21 days was trying to figure out how we move forward but before the 21 days finished th

February flew by and March is already almost over! It's been a crazy past few week but the Lord is definitely still at work! The students are have almost completed their first term and already learning and growing a ton. The interns have settled into their various roles and are also growing as they are stretched and given new responsibilities.  Word of Life's South Africa's theme for this year that runs throughout our camps, conferences and events is "Connected". We're thankful for several opportunities this past month to connect with our partnering churches and leaders in different provinces. It was such a blessing to catch up with them, do some training, and plan for future events. Cape Town Connections As always, it was such a joy and blessing to catch up with people in Cape Town. We are so grateful for the many partnerships we have developed there and excited for how our ministry there will continue to develop. We had a great time of leadership traini

Our staff came together at the beginning of the year along with our 3 new interns for our annual staff conference. We were privileged to have a team from PLACE Ministries come to teach us about our personalities, spiritual gifts, and how we could better work together as a team and utilize the unique strengths that we each possess. It was an awesome time of refreshment and learning together. Can't wait to see how God will use us better as a team this year! As mentioned, we have 3 new national interns this year in addition to one other national and one American intern who are with us for another year. Our 3 new interns completed the DTC program last year and are considering the possibility of long-term ministry. I (Ashley) am so excited to work with this awesome bunch this year and can't wait to see how God will continue to shape and grow them through this year of training, ministry, and service. Leaders Kickoff As usual, we officially started off our year of ministry

We hope you had a Merry Christmas celebrating the gift of Christ's birth & a wonderful celebration of another year God has blessed us with. What a great time to close the year with our end of year Summer Camps. We had the privilege of ministering to teens & kids from different churches that we work with the provinces of Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State, KZN & North West. It is always great to see the team effort from our counselors & staff working together to impact the teens and the kids for Christ. Truly thankful to the speakers who did a great job in sharing the message to challenge the teens to live fearlessly for Christ in the world that is forever changing. Pray for our Teens and kids as they face different pressures from school and their communities, that they will stand firm in Christ fearlessly. Kids Camp We started the camp season with Kids Camp with a whopping 124 kids, the largest number we have ever had. Despite the constant rain & frequent po