July 2017

Swartland Baptist Church

Lately we’ve experienced a couple of months with low attendance as people are preoccupied with their children’s school events and sports on the weekends.  People are also working longer hours due to work pressures, as the country is now in a financial recession. There have, however, been some encouraging things happening too.  This month we saw the start of a new home Bible study with two young couples.  There is a third couple that we hope will join, and so we ask you to be praying for them.  The past 3 weeks we have had a new couple and a new family who have attended every week.  Nancy is excited to have 2 more children for SS which usually runs between 0 and 5 children.

Grace Baptist Church (Lingelethu shanty town)

Visitors have come and visitors have gone, but the core group has remained faithful.  Our most recent sermon series has been from the book of Philippians, and people tell how encouraged they are by the messages.   Marc continues to meet each week with Godwin for discipleship and it is a blessing both to see his growth and his servant’s heart.  An example of this is how Godwin sprang into action and mobilized a work group to make repairs, when a huge storm hit and blew off a portion of Catherine’s tin roof.   Catherine is a middle-aged widow working here to support her family some 2000 miles away in Zambia.  She attends church faithfully, and struggles with loneliness as she misses her family.  It was special to see how she was cared for and reminded that she is a part of God’s family – who love her, too.

We ask you to pray earnestly for one of the young men in the church who has been influenced by bad friends and is smoking dagga (weed).  A couple of weeks ago I confronted him about it, and spoke with him about how he was grieving the Lord, and that he needed to seek God’s forgiveness.  He was ashamed and promised to stop but since then nothing has changed and after catching him twice more, his unsaved mom has told him to leave the house at the end of this month.

Paardeberg Mountain Retreat

Winter camps were well attended and we are thrilled that 17 young people accepted Christ as their Savior.  Special to us was that one of these was the youngest son of Marc’s best buddy in high school.

Family

Our son Matthew helped, both as a program assistant and then as a junior counselor, at the winter camps.  He also enjoyed working alongside his good friend Rian (lives 900 miles away) who also spent his vacation time working at Paardeberg camp.  Matthew never complains, but as we minister in small churches, and in a place with few Christian friends, we ask your prayer for our son.  Nicole’s summer of ministry at Ironwood Camp in the USA is coming to an end this week.  She has learned a lot in counseling young people, as well as cleaning, helping with activities and working in the store.  She has also been able to make some new friends that will also be attending Maranatha Baptist University in the Fall.  Thank you to all who contributed to her school scholarship fund through the Camp.  It is wonderful for us and for her to see how God is providing for her financial needs. 

                  Thank you for your support and prayers!

                  Marc, Nancy, Nicole & Matthew