Investments

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.  Thato 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 to see that he is continuing to serve at his church and wanting to reach out to other churches see their youth leaders trained as well. This shows that if we continue to train up leaders they in turn seek opportunity to train others so that they too see the importance of reaching the youth with the gospel.

Alumni Reunion

We had such a great time reconnecting with many of our alumni who went through the Genesis Program (formerly called the Discipleship Training Center) as well as some of our previous camp counsellors. It was so encouraging to see how God has continued to work in their lives in the midst of joys and struggles. It has been a blessing to  continue serving alongside many of them as they serve in their local churches and continue to get involved in various WOL ministries. We are so thankful for how God continues to work in and through them. 





Local Church youth retreat

In October we hosted a youth retreat for a local church we work with. In addition to sharing with them about how they can deal with the topic of homosexuality from a biblical perspective we also trained them to share the gospel and took them out to go and share the gospel too. It is always fun to see the response of young people when they go and share their faith for the first time as they depend on God for strength in the midst of fear and uncertainty as to how people will respond to them as they share their faith. It was a great weekend of challenging and encouraging the teens while coming alongside their youth leaders as they faithfully disciple them.

Staff Retreat

In September we took some time as a staff to take a break from our normal routines and spend time together being encouraged and challenged as the WOL directors in Mozambique shared with us about the importance of drawing near to God.  It was a great time of prayer, reflection and sharing as a team and individually. We are so grateful for the team God has given us to serve alongside.




Zamdela Satellite Camp

In October, we had an opportunity to go to the Free State to host a satellite camp. This camp too was actually organised by one of our Alumni too because he cares about reaching his community with the gospel of Christ Jesus and not only that but train his leaders too to see that there is a need to reach the youth in his community. God is great and he uses you guys to work through us to reach the youth with the gospel of Jesus Christ and not only that but train youth leaders too. But what I am excited about is the ones who have come through our Discipleship Training Program (DTC) and then going back to their community and applying what we have trained them through the year that they have been with us. God is good all the time.

As we always say, we are thankful for what your partnership with us in ministry because without you we can not do what we do. We are thankful for your prayers because they do keep us going, and we are thankful for the financial support too because it enables us to continue in the ministry God has called us to. We are always thankful to the Lord first because he put you in our lives. Even through these financially hard times God has provided through you and we are thankful. We can’t wait to see many of you soon as we are on furlough! 

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