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Monday, November 14, 2011

A Fun Day Out

 Here in South Africa we are nearing not only the end of the year on the calendar but also the end of the school year. The older children are spending every spare minute studying for their final exams and the younger children are getting very excited about moving to the next grade level.
 
For many of our churches this is the time for end of the year parties and celebrations. This past weekend we were able to participate in one of these celebrations. Bethel Temple IAG in Tlhabane in the Northwest District had over 30 children come to their celebration. They enjoyed all kinds of games and water fun as well as a service.

Thank you for praying for us and making it possible for us to live here and have these opportunities. Enjoy the pictures


 
Fun, Fun, Fun in the sun

Working together

A very fun time of singing


Reviewing the Memory Verse with a game

 

Learning the Memory Verse
Slippin' and Slidin'

The whole group at the end of a fun, wet day

A bit more jumping

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Living the Dream

For many years we have dreamed about creating Sunday school curriculum for South Africa. Other companies try to repackage curriculum from the USA or Australia but it isn’t always a good fit. It’s like wearing someone else’s shoes. We have been dreaming of plans and possibilities but realized that to truly write something that fit South Africa we needed South Africans.

Each year our national IAG children’s ministries department gathers all our district CM directors for a time of reporting and planning. We planned to use this time to enlist the help of those we know are passionate about children and understand how to teach them. We presented them with our dream of creating curriculum for South Africa written by South Africans. They loved the idea and we immediately went to work.

The group spent the entire Saturday organizing how the curriculum should look, deciding what should be taught and discussing how to best implement it for all the various languages and cultures of South Africa. Our task is massive but we have confidence it will be accomplished. We know we serve a God who is able to take our efforts and multiply them into something great.

Please pray for this endeavor. The enemy of our souls is already trying hard to stop the work. Pray for wisdom, protection, and creativity as we work. If you want to join us in a bigger way, consider joining us for the first Monday of each month as we fast and pray as a team for the development of this curriculum and the children of South Africa who still need to hear the gospel.



This is just for fun. We found this wonderful little
Rhino Beetle trying to get to his destination on our way to breakfast on Saturday morning.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Partnering (us, you and God)

KIDS CAMPS 2011



Alex and Nathan helped lead Worship
during our camp services this year


Much of life is about partnering. We partner with friends to have a fun day. We partner with the one we love for a lifetime of memories and experiences. We may partner with others to conduct business, play games, or complete a project. However, the best partnership we can ever experience is partnering with the Holy Spirit to tell others about Jesus.

This month our family had the joy of partnering with the Holy Spirit and some great Sunday school teachers to bring the joy of Kids Camp to the wonderful children of South Africa. The part we played was primarily in teaching the children through services either in the evenings or mornings. We actually helped with two camps during the first 6 days of October.

The first camp was for the Northwest province of South Africa. At this camp there were about 70 children and 15 teachers. Each morning of camp we held a worship service for the children. Besides learning some really great songs to worship Jesus through, the kids also learned about living a Godly life with the help of the Holy Spirit. At the conclusion of our second service we saw over 30 children baptized in the Holy Spirit. It was an incredible service marked by a strong presence of the Lord that touched us all.

From the 3rd-6th of October we assisted the Gauteng Province with their annual kids camp. We have helped this group of churches host kids camps for 11 years now. Each year is so much fun and exciting and this year was no exception. There are a great team of Sunday school teachers who worked tirelessly (including staying up all night the final night making t-shirts for the kids). The children loved it all – swimming, sports, bounce houses, Bible quiz, crafts and awesome services. Again we saw God move mightily and over 40 children were baptized in the Holy Spirit.

We are so thankful to the Lord for allowing us to be His partner in these endeavors. Truly He was the one working while we were the partners. However, this partnership is not just between us and God. It includes all of you who faithfully and generously support us. Without your continual prayers we would certainly lack the anointing we need to tell children about God’s great love for them. Without your financial support we would not be able to live in South Africa and travel to camps and churches where we do our work. Thank You for Sending Us to South Africa!