Mmabatho Moments: September Update

Hello Everyone. What a privilege it is to share with you the things that God continues to do in us and through us.

GODS WATCH CARE

God continues to show His faithfulness to us. We had to go to Johannesburg last week to get the kids passports renewed. We were barely away from Mmabatho for 24 hours. But in those 24 hours, we experienced our first break in. It certainly wasn’t as bad as others have experienced. After all has been said and done, everything that was taken and thought to be taken was returned and found. Also, those that broke in were neighborhood children that have been in our yard playing with the boys. They got bored waiting for the boys to come home, saw that a window was left open – one thing lead to another and they got in and took some items. In fact, one item was taken on the previous Sunday out of Andy’s room. But through this, I was able to talk to the boys about ‘stuff.’ The stuff we have is not ours, but it is the Lords. He has given it to us to take care – we need to do our best – but it is not ours. There were also some things that we thought were taken, but were actually misplaced. We thought that Caleb’s new wallet was taken, but Bethany had taken it and had hidden it in her closet. We found it changing out winter clothes for summer clothes. Caleb’s MP3 player was missing and we found in the car under the seat. I also told them not to jump to conclusions – even though it looked like those item were stolen.

This event just gave us a little ‘wake-up’ call about being careful and diligent about safety and security. So, it certainly could have been worse and it turns out to be a good lesson learned.

THE WORK

Work continues out in our areas of focus. Dennis and Kagiso have been regularly going out to Extension 39 prayer walking and witnessing. They are looking for a place to start a group for Bible study. They have had several good conversations with willing people, but then they find out that they do not live there, but live somewhere else. Dennis will be showing the JESUS Film out there in the next week or so. He hopes to be able to start a group from those that make decisions and those that are willing.

Jody has continued her work in Moshawane and Ex. 39. She will start a new Bible study group out in 39 on Wednesday. She is excited about that as she and Lorato have been visiting out there for the last several weeks. Jody mentioned last time a little boy name Mosime. We would ask that you continue to pray for him as he is not getting better. We have found out that those that care for him have been taking him to the “village doctor.” As you can imagine, this is heart breaking as they are exposing him everything under the sun except the power of Christ.

THE CHILDREN

The kids are all doing well. We came through winter without anyone getting sick, flu or cough. Our winter was rather mild. Even though would get down to freezing, it would seem to warm up to the mid-60’s. It was still cold in the house, but not as bad as previous years. Andy started 8th grade a couple of weeks ago and is doing very well. Josiah is finishing 5th grade and has decided he wants to be homeschooled. In January, Jody will work with him in math and English to catch him up and make sure he is where he needs to be. Caleb still is doing fantastic work in second grade. He is doing swimming and cricket for his after school activities. Bethany turns 4 on the 24th of this month. She is getting so big so fast. Melody is a nugget! Whatever your mind conjures up with the description – she is! She is very loveable, but on the other had she has some Roberson-Cragg rascal in here. (that is from the other side of the family.)

STATESIDE

Jody was looking at the calendar a couple of weeks ago and we realized that we had made a serious mistake. We had planned to be over here another 3 ½ years and come back after Andy finished his 12th grade year. We would come stateside, put him in college, and stay through his first semester. Well, under that plan, we realized that he would only finish his 11th grade year and then come home. So, we will now take a quick 2 month stateside starting November 18, 2009. As it stands, we’ll be back home in about 14 months. It sounds weird to say that knowing that we were just home 8 months ago.

PRAYER

Continue to pray that God would show His power in the life of Mosime.