HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020!
Dear Ones,
We hope this finds you well and trust that you have all
celebrated a wonderful Christmas with your family and loved ones. We
want to wish you a very happy and fruitful new year 2020! And to thank
you for your faithful partnership, love and support. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
The definition of routine is: a series of actions regularly followed! We
would venture to say that this year was filled with routine, actions
repeated over and over again, such as: teaching, preaching, ministering
to the poor physically, emotionally and spiritually, laying brick by
brick as when building. At times routine mighty lose its sparkle. But
the Bible promises in Galatians 6:9 that if we will not get weary in
well doing, that we shall reap in due season. So although a lot of our
accounts of what happened in the month that passed may appear very
routine, let’s not lose sight of the fact that faithfulness to the
Lord’s call will in time result in a harvest coming in.
We want to start by thanking all of you who have formed a partnership
with us and have stuck with us through thick and thin. You are the
reason our work has prospered and that we are now getting better
positioned to reap the great harvest the Lord is about to bring in. We
believe, and therefore know, that this year will yield a bigger increase
than ever and that we will continue to go from strength to strength.
CHRISTMAS MEAL/SPECIAL EVENT:
On the 20th of December we served a meal of chicken, French fries and
green beans, with ice cream as desert in Sir Lowry’s Pass in order to
celebrate Christmas together. A couple of our young girls danced (see
above) and I, Rita, shared a message titled ‘Great Joy’ - which also
included how to truly experience the great joy by learning how to lay
hold on all the Jesus provided for us through His finished work.
Some new-found friends, A. and D. joined us and helped serve, etc. They
also brought the ice-cream desert which was greatly appreciated by all.
And they were a big help and blessing to the overall work. Thank you!
Before leaving each of the children received a Party Pack which A. and
D.s 3 year old daughter was very happy to help hand out.—A great time
was had by all!
CHRISTMAS SERVICE THE 25TH:
On the 25th we had a beautiful time of praise and worship together with
our Gracelife family. Five of us then got up and shared our personal
testimony bringing out how Jesus is real and how He transformed our
lives by bringing us into relationship with Himself. At the end we
served an abundant and delicious snack of sticky barbeque chicken and
minced fruit pies along with tea and coffee! Our 2nd Christmas feast
together. We thank the Lord for His goodness and generosity towards us.
The abundant life He promised! Praise God!
FELLOWSHIP SUNDAY THE 29TH:
After our time of worship the girls did spiritual dancing and Philip
shared a Word about entering the new year, encouraging everyone to leave
the past behind and to put our hands to the plough and look forward to
all the good things that God has in store for us, remembering that we
are the light of the world for the lost.
At the end we served chicken and egg sandwiches and apples (which were
in such abundance that a couple of our young men went to the streets
distributing apples to the poor villagers and children passing by. We
also had left over sandwiches which some gladly took home to share with
other family members. We also distributed two boxes of Weet-Bix making
sure that every family that attended got at least a package.
FOOD HAMPERS AND VOUCHERS:
We want to thank each and everyone of you who helped make it possible
for us to continue reaching out to the needy families at this time of
year with Food Hampers/or vouchers. As seen we also received some
chicken and chicken giblets for our distribution. People were very
appreciative and thankful! Praise the Lord!
PARTY PACKS:
We also want to than SA Sweetlands for enabling us to pass out Party
Packs to 300 children in Sir Lowry’s Pass and Nomzamo. For many of these
children it might be the only gift they receive at this season.
SKILLS TRAINING:
This month the ladies attending the Skills Training course learned to
make jewelry from clay. They also started attending a special
entrepreneur course learning to budget and be self-employed. Philip
helped them get back and forth a couple of times. This course still
needs to be completed in the new year!
PROJECTS:
A couple of projects started the previous month were completed, like the
housing for the family that had to move form the homeless shelter that
we had erected years ago at the soup kitchen.
We also brought a bed and mattress to the son of the two girls that we
helped get off the ground last month by providing new beds for them. The
whole family is now sleeping on new beds and mattress. And we were able
to get some more lights installed so that they have a light in each
room,
SUPPLIES:
We thank Dis-Chem and assistance as well as the dedicated team of ladies
that help us sort and distribute the supplies. Besides what is seen
here we also distributed milk and Weet-Bix, etc. And we are grateful to
Woolworth’s for the twice weekly contribution to the Sir Lowry’s Pass
soup kitchen.
OUR NEW YEAR WISHES AND PRAYERS FOR YOU:
Many people at the start of the year have many good goals,
plans and aspirations. Many times however these soon fall away as life
gets busy and the human nature tends to return to our comfort zone
whenever possible.
But we would like to pass on some very good advice which was
passed on to us. Rather than seeking “What” in the new year, let’s seek
“Who”! Let’s strive not for what we can do, but rather, if we are to
strive at all, let’s strive to build our relationship with the Lord. To
cultivate it to become deeper and more intimate. To learn to hear what
the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate with us (by taking time in the
Word and presence of the Lord, taking time to slow down and listen,
study the Word, etc.) This can only be accomplished by prioritizing our
relationship with the Lord as there will always be more to do than what
we can physically accomplish.
However, as we let the Lord into the picture more and more and give the
controls over to Him we will be finding that rather than being worn out
in the flesh, which if the pressure is kept up, will soon lead to burn
out, that we will be energized by the Spirit which will enable us to do
things that we never thought possibly. The apostle Paul said, “I labor
more abundantly than they all, yet not I but the grace of God which was
with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Our prayers for you, and ourselves likewise, is that we will learn more and more to wait on the Lord, to be led by His Spirit.
In closing we also want to thank you for upholding us and the ministry
in your prayers. And if any of you have some specific prayer requests
that you would like us to pray for, please do not hesitate to let us
know.
If you are reading this and are not yet partnering with us we would like
to extend and invitation for you to please pray about doing so. AS you
have seen we face many needy projects in our ministry.
With love,
Philip and Rita
PS: We want to thank each of you for partnering with us and for the
wonderful work that has come about as a result. We pray that you and
your families may be mightily blessed.
When giving we ourselves never look at it as a loss, but
rather as a farmer planting a seed. The farmer knows that that seed,
although in the ground and seemingly lost, is an investment and he
expects a great harvest and a manifold return on his investment. So
likewise we, when sowing ought to always pray over our seed that it will
bring forth much fruit. And then be expectant the our prayer will
indeed be answered. We trust that you have each experienced the goodness
of the Lord and that He is more willing to give than we have the
capacity to receive.
We thank you for each and every sacrifice you have made to help
establish the kingdom of God on earth. And we pray that you may go from
strength to strength, and glory to glory!
|
|
|
