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.