Finding a Rhythm

After several weeks of adjustment and getting into the swing of things, we are now settled into a good rhythm both in our ministry at Word of Life and at our church. It has been a great month of investing, building relationships, and serving. We look forward to a busy month ahead with several camps, a missions trip, and preparation for a missions team coming over in April.

Cape Town

This year has been different for me (Thato) as I do training for the leaders that we work with in different parts of South Africa. I have seen the youth that I lead at my local church decrease and increase in the same year. I have seen the challenges and the praises of being consistent when leading the teen ministry, and many different youth pastors I have talked with have struggled with the same things. But one thing that I am thankful for is the reminder of prayer and serving.

In February I had the opportunity to facilitate a Leader's Kickoff Conference in Cape Town. The Friday before the training, we hosted a youth rally. There were 98 youth from 4 different churches who attended. It was a great time of fellowship through games and a message as we talked about sharing our faith with others. A goal for Word of Life is for every teen to reach their friends with the gospel. Most of the teens are afraid to do that and I got to share how we can do that through our testimony too. This is another tool we can use to share the gospel and  tell others what Christ has done through us. Let’s be praying for the youth to use their own personal testimony to share their faith with others.

The Friday Youth Rally

The following day we had the Leader's Kickoff with 28 leaders were present. Our theme is "fully known". I am thankful for Xolani (one of our alumni/associates) who came along with me to help with the training. It was encouraging to look at how we can better reach our community and come up with different ways to meet the youth where they are and minister to them without compromising on the biblical truth. It was a great time to learn from each other and see where we are and how we can better serve.

Students & Interns

We are already over a month into our Genesis Program and having a great time with our students. It has been a blessing to get to know them and we can't wait to see how God will use this time in their lives. Our interns are all doing a fantastic job in their various work and ministry areas and have done so well building relationships with and investing  in the students. We are so grateful to have these interns as part of the team. We truly could not do all the things we do without them. It is such a blessing to see God growing them and using them.

Please pray...

- For our Genesis program students as they continue with their studies and ministry

-Upcoming Satellite Camp in Potchefstroom (17-20 March)

- Our first ever Young Adults Camp (25-27 March)

- Upcoming young adults missions trip to Mozambique to help with teen camp (27 March - 2 April)

- That we would be faithful in all God has entrusted to us

- For strength and to rely on the Lord in the busy month ahead.


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