PLETTENBERG BAY BEACH MISSION PRAYER UPDATE #4

We Praise the Lord for:

·         Good weather and for the many people who came to the beach yesterday and today.

·         Answering our prayers that the two Jewish boys Jet and Chase would return to the beach. They came on Wednesday and Thursday and participated fully in soccer and volleyball. Chase has developed a close relationship with Sammy.

·         All the children and teenagers who feel so comfortable being with the team that they come and sit at our gazebo and participate in refereeing games, corporate prayer and other duties.

·         The positive response to the team’s testimonies and gospel presentations.

·         Blessing the team with boldness to speak about Jesus and for physical strength to perform their many duties. For the Lord’s healing of some of the team who were getting sick.

Pray for:

·         Continue to pray that the Lord will germinate the seeds of the gospel in the hearts of Jet and Chase. Their father explicitly told them not to listen to us.

·         All those with whom the team have developed friendships, that those who do not know the Lord will re-evaluate their standing with the Lord in light of the challenges the team has given them.

·         Healing for those of the team who are injured. For refreshing rest tomorrow as the team has the day off from ministry.

·         Michael and Mark from Jews for Jesus as they engage with the Jewish people on the beach. Pray for a gentleman who was verbally very abusive and physically pushed and chased them off the beach. (Michael and Mark went as far as the parking lot and then returned a while later. This incident was witnessed by the whole beach.)

·         The team as they were profoundly impacted by this event. It deeply challenged them causing them re-evaluate their commitment to the Lord despite persecution. This was the first time they had encountered such anger towards Jesus and His Word.

PLETTENBERG BAY BEACH MISSION   PRAYER UPDATE #3  -- Wednesday, December 14, 2011

We Praise the Lord for:

• Continued interaction with people who have come each day this week. We thank the Lord that they came despite overcast and very cool conditions.
• Those people wanted to know more after testimonies and gospel presentations were given.
• Divine opportunities for one-on-one evangelism.

Pray for:

• The Jewish father who did not want his two young sons to listen to the testimony before the tournament. He called them away but allowed them to come and participate. The boys were involved in both the soccer and volleyball tournaments on Monday and Tuesday. They did not come today.
• All those with whom the team were able to interact with and build relationships. The locals return everyday to play.
• Good weather for the duration of the week. Yesterday 19 teams participated in the tournament-the weather was warm and sunny. Today it was overcast and cold and there were not many people on the beach- seven teams played in the tournament. Presently it is raining.
• Lord’s physical strength and spiritual protection and boldness in proclaiming the gospel.

PLETTENBERG BAY BEACH MISSION PRAYER UPDATE #2

We Praise the Lord for:

·         The rest day on Sunday, for fellowship with the people of St Thomas Methodist Church and time of relaxation at Keurbooms Beach.

·         The people who participated in the soccer and volleyball tournaments on Saturday and Monday despite the windy conditions. For the many meaningful and encouraging conversations the team had with children and teenagers.

·         A windless day on the beach today. Many people were already on the beach upon our arrival this morning.

Pray for:

·         Kaylin who is back home in Port Elizabeth and as she travels to Johannesburg for the national ladies soccer camp on Thursday.

·         The Holy Spirit’s continued working in Kaylin’s life and that she will understand that salvation is by grace and not by works.

·         Continued favourable weather.

·         Lord’s physical strength for each team member for each day. Some are weary from the sun, wind and sport activities.

·         The Lord’s wisdom and discernment for the team as they seek to make the most of every opportunity to share the gospel with the people.

·         Those who said they will come today to play soccer and volleyball with the team. Pray for continued meaningful conversations with these teenagers and children.

PLETTENBERG BAY BEACH MISSION PRAYER UPDATE #1

 Praise the Lord for:

·         Safe travel and the reliability of the vehicles travelling to Plettenberg Bay on Wednesday.

·         Ministry opportunities on the beach among children and teenagers despite the strong wind which blew all day. Many more people on the beach today the wind picked up at lunch time and is blowing strongly now.

·         Kaylin being able to join the team until Monday, she is a U20 national soccer player.

·         Unity amongst the team and their passion to share the gospel with people on the beach.

·         The blessing that St Thomas Methodist Church is to us in allowing us to use their building and its facility from which to operate

Pray for:

·         Spiritual and physical protection of the team on the beach.

·         Favourable weather.

·         Lord’s continued working in the hearts of every person who hears the gospel on the beach. Pray that He will convict them of their sin and need of a Saviour.

·          A deepening in our hearts as we grow in a love and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

·         The Lord’s wisdom and guidance for the leadership team.      

·          Kaylin- that the Lord will reveal Himself to her.

First day at Plettenburg Beach

First day on the beach! Good but very windy.

In Plettenburg now!

Arrived safely in Plett last night. Thank you for all your prayers.

Tuesday, December 6th

The Plettenburg AIA Team is ready to go, but have had a minor set-back: one of the vehicles has already blown an engine, and the Team has not left Joburg yet. We value your prayers for a safe journey.

November at a Glance

The Family at Carnivore

Oh man... So I feel like a lot of these blogs start out with an apology. I am sorry this update is so long in coming. Things got a little bit out of routine with my parents visit, the girls exams and holidays, our upcoming beach outreach. And I never quite managed to rein it all back in. First off I wanted to thank you all for your prayers about my shin. With God’s grace and some powerful antibiotics it healed up in a couple of weeks and was much better by the time my parents visited. The post from my parents highlights a lot of what we did while they were here. We also had the chance to eat some crazy exotic meats at the Carnivore restaurant including Zebra and Crocodile. It was such a blessing for me to have them here and they came laden with a Christmas package from the ladies at church which was amazing!! Thank you so much. And a Christmas gift of a much needed printer for my ministry! More importantly than that though, they came with wisdom and some much needed love. It was crazy to have them come and stay in my house for the first time ever. This led to a bit of dynamic figuring out... but in the end it was a great time! The best part of their visit was the way God answered our prayers. Our prayer going in was that their time here would not just be a holiday but that they would be a part of the work God is doing here and that was definitely the case. Between the increased friendships from the braai and some heart to heart conversations with Shorty and lunch with Kaylin, I know their time here had a lasting impact and will continue to bless the girls and the work that is being done.

Kyle, Sdu and Missy at Carnivore

Thank you HBC Family!

After their visit I got back into the swing of training and we began to  really gear up for our Plettenberg Bay outreach mission. We screened our kit with logos and the phrase “Playing from victory not 4 it.” And just worked to organize and work out the final details. We also had an end of year function for the hpc girls and it was bittersweet to say goodbye to some of the girls that won’t be returning and to celebrate the ones that graduated, and to just look forward to the upcoming year with the rest. It was here that we talked to Kaylin. She is the top keeper at the academy and I have really begun to connect with her. She is going to be joining us for 5 days at Plett which is really exciting.  I have included her feelings on the trip:

Kaylin and I 

“I find great pleasure for you and the team allowing me to join the camp. The reason I want to join is to strengthen my faith and have the courage to speak to people about the Christian faith. With this camp I would love to meet new people in the lords place, whereby I can share my views of God and my life as a Christian.
I'm willing to receive the grace of God and if it will make me a better then that's what I'm willing to do, I also find it hard to pray and I believe with this trip it will give me the drive to pray anytime. I'm excited to experience what God has in store for me... Kaylin”

This is an amazing opportunity to really connect and chat and for her to see God working in a tangible way.  And just for me to build into her and love on her and to grow our friendship. I can’t wait to see what God has planned for this time and I will have her write a reflection when she is done with us.

For the next 2 weeks starting tomorrow we will be travelling and serving. Mom will be sending out emails daily with prayer request as well as positing them on the blog. This will allow you guys to stay connecting with what we are doing and the challenges we are facing. This outreach goes from the 7^th to the 21^st and your prayers are greatly appreciated!! Thank you all for the blessing that you are to me and for all of your thoughts and prayers. I have been doing well just need some continued discipline. Oh and two more opportunities coming up. We will have a chance to run a National Training Camp with the HPC girls next year. Please pray that we find a camp to host it at, and that the doors stay open with that. Also please pray for an elite soccer camp that we are planning to run during the holiday. It is kind of up to me to get that going and it is a bit of a daunting task. But God will provide.  Also for the Trinity Western Women’s Soccer Team that is coming out on tour in may. Pray for wisdom in how best to use them.

Thank you guys for everything that you do! Love you tons!!

Rachel

Just a few photos from Kruger National Park

Battle at the Tropic of Capricorn

Dad and Mom's SA Reflections

After spending two weeks here with me in South Africa I asked them to write a short reflection on their time. I hope you appreciate their experience.

Reflections about our South Africa trip

South Africa is another jewel in God’s creation, and we were very pleased to have had an opportunity to visit there and to be able to witness first hand Christians serving God in an open and welcoming environment  We were a bit surprised at how modern and large the cities of Pretoria and Cape Town were.  Cape Town hosts over 4.8 million people and has modern shopping centres, soccer stadiums and office towers. From our perspective everything looked reasonably priced and the malls were full of people--things looked fine on the surface.  Pretoria boasts a new modern train link and new toll highways. In Pretoria we spent a lot of our time at the High Performance Centre (HPC), which is adjacent to the University of Pretoria campus.  The weather was gorgeous and the various sports fields were manicured and green. A large staff ensured that everything was taken care of properly. 

Our trip to the Kruger National park was a highlight not to be easily forgotten.  With Rachel driving, and Shorty being our resident “Zuluologist” explaining South African culture, linguistics and animal voices, we were ready for an adventure. God blessed us on this trip with an overabundance of animal sightings, including a front row seat of two impala males fighting, and a mother hyena feeding her pups by the side of the road. We saw over 40 different animal species including Lion, Buffalo, Rhino, Giraffe, Hippo. and tons (literally!) of elephants--  God is good!!

The AIA team is working hard at the universities and through sports camps.  On a Sunday afternoon we had the opportunity to share a braii (barbeque) with 11 girls from Rachel’s core group of U17 girls and a number of AIA and Campus for Christ missionaries. Despite the odd rain shower and small braii for feeding 25 people, everyone pulled together and a good time was had by all. It was really special to meet many of the people whom Rachel has become close to & interacts with.

One of our favourite activities was to have lunch overlooking the rugby fields at the High Performance Centre. The food was good, but the people encounters were even better.  As we sat and talked and ate with Rachel, a number of the U17 girls would inevitably walk by to say hi to her. We would all get a big hug as they greeted us warmly and then we got a chance to get to know each one a little before they hurried off to study or prepare for training. They came from all over South Africa to follow a common dream of one day playing soccer on the national team or on some professional team in a foreign land

We ended out trip in Cape Town, where we were toured around by Dominic. He considered it his land, and he was so proud to show it off to us. Dom took us under his wing and drove us all around the Cape. We saw beautiful beaches, the area where two oceans meet, penguins, and even walked up Table Mountain together. Life doesn’t get much better than that. When you see the massive views from the top of Table Mountain it’s impossible not to think of our great Creator who made the heavens and the earth, with all its beauty.

Just a quick update

Hey… just wanted to drop you guys a quick line and an update on how things are going. I also want to apologize for the lack of photos lately… I will be taking some more soon. Things are continuing to move forward here. Last night I went to a braai with my soccer team. It was great to get to know the girls better and show off my lack on dancing skills. But I am learning and there is more than enough ability going on down here that I will learn. This was an opportunity to get to know some of my teammates better and to have a few more one on one conversations. I had a moment where I was filling my water and I was floored with how blessed I am once again. I prayed that God would let me impact even just one of these girls lives. That would make it all worth it. The team is very special and very welcoming. Some of the girls opened up to me a lot tonight and just confirmed my call to be here as they trust me with more of their lives.

Our second Plett training camp went very well, once we got there. We were using Kyle’s GPS that had the coordinates right, but really it had no idea how to reach the site. Luckily God takes care of us and Kyle looked up at just the right time to see the sign where we needed to turn. The fact that it was dark didn’t help… haha. Our team is really gelling and although we will be few in number, everyone works hard and it will be cool to see how God carries us through our mission.  It was great to hear everyone’s stories and get to know them better. Carol taught us a lot about understanding and presenting the basics of what it means to be a Christian and I am looking forward to the conversations God has planned for us at Plett.

I am still waiting to be registered so I can play with TUKS as they need some sort of international clearance… not really sure about that. But so far all of our games have been cancelled so it hasn’t caused me any trouble. Yesterday we showed up, but there was no ref so the game didn’t go. I had a chance to catch up with a couple of the girls that I knew from camp last year that play for our opposition. It was great to talk with them and they are interested in starting up a team bible study as well! God is moving!!!

There have been six girls consistently going to church from the HPC which is great! I haven’t been able to go with them since the first day because we have been away but they are taking the initiative and I was blessed that our assistant Pastor was willing to go and get them!

Today we are running a 6v6 soccer tournament and I will likely be sharing my testimony there. Please be praying that God will take my words and transform them to impact those who are present.  Also my housemates went back to the US for support raising and so a couple is house sitting upstairs but I’m all alone in my basement here.  It is good and bad. I enjoyed a night of hanging out with Shorty on Friday. It is great to be building into her life and I am very blessed by her friendship! My Zulu lessons have begun so that will be interesting!!

I guess the final exciting thing is that my parents are coming in a week!! I am looking forward to giving them the chance to see what I am doing here and hope they begin to understand why I love this country so much. Please pray for safety as they travel and that they will be a part of the ministry and not just tourists while they are here.

I pray that you are all keeping well and look forward to hearing from you!!

Mid October Update!

Hey guys,
I wanted to give you a quick update before I leave for our second Plett training camp. Things  have definitely been moving forward. The goalie coach for the U17 girls plays on my team at TUKS (University of Pretoria) and she invited me to come out to their training sessions. Mandy (the coach) wants the girls to see what it looks like to train with intensity and pace.  This is all God because last year there had been some girls doing some sports ministry with the girls and they were asked not to come to the training any more. To be allowed into their sessions is crazy. My body is feeling the training a fair bit as one team is running a ton and the ground is pretty hard for diving on (kind of like home mind you...). But I know it will get me back in shape and I am so grateful for that!!
The second thing that has been going on is I am getting involved tutoring the girls as I mentioned. That has been going well and the girls are seeing it as an asset. The other great thing about it is the positive response from their floor mentor, Linda. I met her the other night and it was great to hear the response and her excitement to meet me. The unfortunate thing with her is that there were some misunderstandings between her and one of our AIA staff and she had said that she didn't want to ever see this staff members face on the floor. That was a tough blow, so her response to having me there is a real answer to prayer!!

I have started meeting one on one with Shorty, and Mary is very excited to be discipled and spend more time together! This is exciting. I also have a bunch of girls who are excited to be going to church and took 5 of my young ones last week. I spent some time with Rachel (one of my under 17's) last Sunday and she is looking forward to more times like that to just talk and pray and answer questions.

Last Saturday we had an outreach in Joburg... Photos are in the Previous post. It was a big success. Shorty shared her testimony and we are looking to build a deeper relationship with the Jannis Kids club down there. This will be a cool opportunity for more girls to talk about their faith and their passion for their sport!!

I am also building some good relationships with Kaylin one of the keepers and Shenell (one of the girls I tutor). I am excited to seek more opportunities and doors that God will be opening including a bible study with the TUKS girls and Saturday's to build into the younger girls.

Lastly I am going to attempt to get names and photos and details of each of my girls at the hpc. I would love if I could get 25 of you willing to take one of the girls and be willing to pray for her! I will keep you guys updated on that idea!

Love you all tons and please stay in touch!!!
Rachel

A Photographic View of Saturday's Soccer Clinic