February 11, 2012

Saturday Feb. 11th

Finished our first full week with the students.  Everyone seems to be settling in.  We now have 18 students and 2 student leaders.  Today is Saturday and Lawrence has walked with the students to the beach.  Yes, the beach is within walking distance (long walk) but good exercise.  Many students have begun to share with us and is good to be able to get to know them and hear their story.  We shared our testimonies with them on Monday evening and it opened up lots of dialogue as they had many questions.  Most South Africans will say they are Christian because they believe in God, but we found last year that the students didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and knew little about the Bible. 

We were able to purchase a vehicle yesterday and thank those of you who helped make that possible.  It is a 2009 Toyota Avanta that seats 8 people which will help with student transport.  All but front seats fold down flat so lots of room for Louise to transport groceries.  We praise God for His leadership in directing us to just the right vehicle.  It is in great condition with low mileage and still under warranty.

Continue to pray for Leo O'Connor.  We miss him so much this year as he was such an integral part of the program.  We know it is difficult for him not to be here.  Pray as he battles the cancer with ongoing radiation and chemotherapy.  The treatments made him quite ill last week but he continues to be in good spirits and gives God glory and praise no matter the situation.

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Lawrence and Louise

February 4, 2012 thoughts

Feb. 11, 2012

Feb. 4, 2012

Greetings from South Africa,

We have been here for about a week and a half and time has flown by.   We appreciate those of you who have sent emails of encouragement.  We apologize that our responses have been slow but we literally have been working from approximately 6 am to 10 pm at night preparing for the students’ arrival.  They arrived on Wednesday, Feb. 1^st, even though the house is still a work in progress.  The owners were slow in moving their belongings out of the house and we ended up packing their things and placing it all in one room.  There was a lot of cleaning to be done but we had many church members helping each evening after their work day. 

Late Wednesday afternoon we were able to move into our flat.  It is actually much smaller than our cabin last year but we do have a nice bathroom and hot water.  The doors were too small to get our loveseat  or chairs into the area so we will be doing reading and lounging in our free time on the bed.  We have internet going now (sometimes quite slowly) so let us hear from you.  Haven’t tried skyping as yet but Pastor Richard was able to get through to us on our McKinney skype number.   

We have 17 students plus 2 student leaders.  Not all came that were enrolled.  We are spending lots of time getting to know the students.  They have been very willing to help with cleaning and cooking.  They seem to be enjoying the meals that Louise has cooked.  Not a bite is left after each meal so guess that speaks for itself.  Cooking is definitely a challenge and quite time consuming.  This week has been mostly orientation, but classes begin in full on Monday.  Lawrence has been busy creating English literacy and Math skills tests to give in order to determine their level of understanding. 

Praise and Prayer items:

1.       We are thankful for safe arrival and for Pastor Marius Gradwell and his wife Linda who opened up their home with such good hospitality.  We had many good talks late at night and got to know each other well.  Thankful our jet lag seems to be over or maybe exhaustion has hit.

2.       We praise God for the students that He has sent us and the openness they have shown thus far, and a good start despite all the little inconveniences (like flooding from heavy rains on Thursday).

3.       Pray for Leo O’Connor who began radiation and chemotherapy this week.  He is in Durban (about 5 hour drive from East London) where he is undergoing treatments. 

4.       Pray for a suitable used vehicle will be found soon for us to purchase.  At present we are driving Linda’s vehicle but this puts a strain on their family transportation.   

5.       Pray for our students.  Many of them come from an undesirable background but seem to really desire to change which is only possible through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Thanks for your prayers and continued support.

Louise and Lawrence

Departure Date to return to S. Africa

We are departing to return to South Africa on January 23, 2012, to again minister in the GAP Youth Mentoring Program.  We have had a great time visiting family and friends but looking forward to the new class of students which begins on February 1st. 

Back Home

We left S. Africa on July 28th and was able to spend some time with our son in Washington DC prior to his deployment to Iraq.  We returned to McKinney on Aug. 9th and has been good to be with family and friends.  We will be sharing about our mission experiences in several venues at First McKinney including BFG's, Ignite, and Baptist Women on Mission during the months of October and November.  We are preparing to return to South Africa to work in the GAP Youth Mentorship Program in January. 
Prayer Requests:  Remember the GAP students in your prayers that they will feel God's leadership as they graduate from the program in early December, and that they will continue a close walk with Jesus as they step out into the secular world in jobs or further education.
Pray for us as we prepare to return to minister in South Africa in January.
We also ask for prayer for Leo O'Connor, GAP director, for divine healing of his cancer and restoration of his health. 

While our GAP students were on holiday, God provided us an opportunity to minister at First City Baptist in East London.  A group of 20 from The Journey Church of New York City came to minister to children here in South Africa.  We joined this group in providing a Holiday Club for 100+ children, ages 3 through second grade.  The children either have AIDS/HIV or affected by the disease.  Some are orphans and are up for adoption.  It was a wonderful time of sharing God's love to the children through Bible stories, music, crafts, and games.  We also fed them breakfast, lunch, and snack and lots of love.  They loved to sing about Jesus and our prayer is that when the hard times come they will remember how much Jesus loves them.
Our GAP students returned this week from Holiday, and we will be having a teaching and emphasis on missions.  The students will be ministering along side us in a orphanage and school this next week.
As we prepare to depart South Africa on July 25, we are thankful for the opportunity God has given us to be here and share Jesus and His love with young people here. 

GAP Youth Mentoring Programme update

Praise for a busy but good week with the GAP students.  Our main duty here is to be camp parents but we are also teachers, mentors, and spend lots of time with discipleship of the student.  They are half way through their 10 month program so our days and evenings have been spent in reviewing, testing, and evaluating the progress of the students.  We had 157 essays to grade on topics the student’s have studied since February.  As the essays were to incorporate their life experiences, it was very eye opening as to what all these students have endured in their short lives as they wrote about topics on Wisdom, Family, Love, Self-Esteem, Health Addiction, Friendships, Sex and AIDS, Keys to Success, and Facing the Future.

Pray for our students as they have a two week vacation from GAP.  All have accepted Christ since coming to GAP and have left an unhealthy life style and made big changes in their lives.  They most likely will be faced with temptations and find it difficult back in their home environments.  Pray for their strength and they made wise choices while back in the townships. 

While the students are gone, we will spend the two weeks with a one week Vacation Bible School for about 100 elementary students, as well as some other ministries in the area.  We also will start sorting and packing for our departure July 27^th.

Activities this past week

Lawrence taught Bible lessons all last week on forgiveness.  On Friday we had one on one sessions with the students praying God would grant them ability to forgive others and be released from bitterness.  Most of these students were dealing with issues of abuse from family members, parents (especially fathers) who deserted them at an early age, and murders of family members.  We praise God for the results seen from these prayers and ask you to join us in prayer for the future that the students can now put these issues behind them and look forward to God’s great plan for their lives.  This week the Bible lessons center on seeing God as the perfect Father.  Pray with us that the fatherless students will see that God is the example of the perfect Father.   

We are thankful that our cabin renovation is mostly complete.  It has given us a little more space to meet with students.  This week we are having 3-4 students in our cabin each evening for cookies and refreshment to assist us in getting to know each of them better and building meaningful relationships.