Beloved Encouragers, this journey, the road that
has lead us back to my homeland would have been too rocky to pass through
without you. For five years you have
believed in the work of Christ in us, from Sunday School’s colorful letters
that brought us to tears, to care packages spiced with thoughtfulness, to
hearing about daily prayers being made by children by their bedsides for us in
Africa, we arrive home grateful for each one of your personal investments.
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| Mawande off to first day of school..with a few extra farm friends |
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| Come on up to our loft for cuts by donation by me! |
You have believed in the advancement in the kingdom of heaven in Cape Town, and now, we are ever so happy to announce we believe in the explosion of this same irresistible Happy News of the Gospel here in Manitoba, Canada. Indeed this is a time of training for Mawande at SBC where he is delving into the richness of the Word, studying a degree called Christian Leadership that will sharpen him in areas of church planting, pastoral and organization development.
Yet all the
while, we are praying to have the eyes of our hearts wide open to join in with
how God is currently moving in you, his Church, to…
“Preach good news to the poor, bind up the
broken hearted, proclaim freedom for the captives
and release prisoners from darkness…” (Isaiah 61).
HE has proclaimed the year of His
favor, the season of his super abounding GRACE is upon us! So even whilst I
have opened up a little hair salon in our home and offering a house cleaning
service (both by donation please call 204 381 6172!) we am praying for a coming
back to our “First Love” as I scrub off
those lady bugs one by one!
We’ve joined
in a few prayer and worship meetings here and have met with pastors, local
leaders and families that have long been discipling the saints for such a time
as this.
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| A fiery prayer and worship night with beautiful new sisters here in this community |
As Mawande has been studying the history of the Anabaptists, low and behold he has found out that the founding fathers of the Mennonite tradition were radical revivalists proclaiming this same grace of God! And yet more, they were martyrs, as those bound by religion and rules rather than the freedom we enjoy in shameless fellowship in Christ, were determined to keep them controlled and condemned under their thumbs. You can read the book first complied in the 1600’s as wide as the bible, filled with stories of these heroes in the faith called The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs Mirror. These men and women have gone before us and have been added to that great cloud of witnesses now cheering us on to continue where they couldn’t go themselves.
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| I think it finally is sinking in for both of us that we arent just visiting |
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| Quality time with our wild west coast brother |
So as you have poured out yourselves on our behalf, we are
now here for a time to pour back into the life of the church, the Body of
Jesus, for the salvation of many. We are so excited to be joining in with
leadership of the Young Leaders (collage and career) group in our church as
well I’m working with The Loft Program which meets basic needs of those less
privileged. Both of these ministries are birthing with life and we are so
excited to see where the Holy Spirit leads us accordingly!
Though this
consumes many of our conversations after hours, we also know we need to enjoy
spaghetti picnic date nights, Mexican feasts with new bible school friends and
the first Canadian snow to the full! Since arriving here we have been blessed
to visit our brother Trev on the West Coast, showing off these great Canadian
Rockies to Mawande’s delight! Catching up and savouring long lost time with
dear friends and family has been incredibly beautiful, I can roll up to have
Earl Grey tea with my mama whenever the prairie wind blows. In the midst of
change in every direction, what a joy!
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| Family Camping crazzzy |
One of these major changes has been our housing scenario. Just when we thought we were settled in a little home that seemed to be the plan, through various circumstances we had to find another place and I’m so grateful to say that God has blessed us tremendously through a dear family whom have invited us to share in their home and their lives. They invited us to stay with them the day before we knew our existing housing option would fall through! What a divine time of community living it has been, learning that we idolize our individual space and time sometimes far too much and miss out on doing life together with others, sharing what God has given us in a very tangible, heart to heart way.
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| The final SA goodbye send off with alot of warrior prayers that got us miraculously through the border with only a "come back any time!" |
Plus! God had spoken to dear friends of ours the day before
they left for long term missions…to just give us their car!! So a few weeks
before the insurance on the car we had been borrowing expired, bam, God blessed
us with a car of our own! Get out right?! Its even the same kind of car that I
had to sell initially to move to South Africa! Isn’t Holy Spirit so in tune
with our needs long before we are, apparently yes in the most obvious way these
days!
He is our
Praise!
May you see
Him moving to meet you right where you need him most today. Keep your ears open,
He is wooing you with his loving kindness around the clock.
Love The
Manis
