New year, new beginnings

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 with a Leaders Kickoff Conference for youth and children's leaders. We held the conference in two different places. One was at the Word of Life property and the other was at a church in Etwatwa in the East Rand. Overall, we had 140+ leaders join us. It was a great time of training, encouragement and fellowship! We look forward to continuing to work alongside and equip these leaders and churches throughout the year. Can't wait to see how God will continue to use them!



Welcome!

Last week we welcomed our DTC class of 2020 and welcomed back 3 or our 2019 students to complete the program. We have several other students who are still hoping to join in so please pray that they will be able to acquire the finances needed to come! We are so excited with the group we have so far from 4 different provinces and can't wait to see what God will do in their lives this year!


Family Update

- Baby Sathige coming July 15 - We are so excited & thankful

- We're moving! - we are so thankful for how the Lord has provided so far & trust Him to continue. Please pray that we find affordable housing before the end of March!

Please pray in this new year for wisdom & strength as we continue to pursue God in life & ministry. Thank you for your partnership in sharing the gospel. We are so grateful for your prayers, support & encouragement as we continue serving Him!

Please pray...

- Leaders Conferences in Welkom & Cape Town
- that the Lord would provide the remainder of our support
- that we would grow in our marriage & personal walks with the Lord
- continued discipleship relationships & new ones that will begin this year
- Thato's ministry at BOSASA (boys juvenile prison
- additional students who are thinking of joining DTC

Praises...

- We have received additional funding for our intern program!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Camps Near & Far

Image
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 ...
Read more

There & Back Again

Image
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...
Read more

Weeping & Rejoicing

Image
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...
Read more