Prayer Update

We were excited on Sunday night to answer a phone call from Community Baptist Church in Montoursville, PA. They called us on skype during their evening service for an update on our ministry for the missions conference! The phone rang around 12:10 am, as we're 6 hours ahead of EST, and we were able to use our webcam for them to see us on screen. We so appreciate their part in our ministry and it was exciting to share with them what God is doing here in South Africa.

You'll notice if you look at our calendar that the ministry is growing! We are doing orientation with 2 new churches, and it's been great to see their excitement and desire to see spiritual growth in their youth.

Here are a few upcoming events that we would like you to pray for:

1. Soccer Outreach, March 17 - We are coordinating an outreach with a church in a nearby informal settlement, Diepsloot. This event is hard to plan for, as it is impossible to do registration ahead of time. We don't know how many teams will be involved, but we are praying that many will be exposed to the gospel and that many will come to know Christ as personal Saviour! A group will be here from Maine to help with this outreach, as well as several people from local churches in Joburg.
2. Brad is preaching at Southern Suburbs EBC, March 18 - Brad is excited for the opportunity to fill in the pulpit as this church is currently without a pastor.
   
3. Battlezone Camp, March 26-28 - This camp is during school holidays and has a focus on discipleship with a ministry opportunity. Our goal is to encourage the kids to share their faith.
4. Ladies' Bible Study, March 30 - This will be the first of bi-weekly Bible study meetings that Mary will lead in our home. We will be studying a book of the Bible using the book Discover The Bible For Yourself by Kay Arthur.

The kids are doing well! It's hard for me to believe they're getting so big as they insist on reminding me that they are not 4 and 7, but almost 5 and almost 8. Tomorrow is Brandon's last cricket game for the year. The year's going so quickly - I feel like he just started!

I have been teaching them, along with a few friends, how to play the recorder. They have so much fun! And it's actually beginning to sound like music.

We have also started learning Afrikaans, thanks to Genevieve, who is living in our flat. We are having lessons on Saturday morning, and I will share with you what we've learned after our first lesson (pronunciation in parenthesis as best as I could type it)....
Hallo (hallow) - Hello
Ek es Mary - I am Mary
Kop (cope) - head
Skouers (skoewers) - shoulders
Knee (k-nee-a) - knees
Tone (two-wanna) - toes
en - and

In case you wonder why these words, we're learning to sing "Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes".

We have previously learned a LITTLE Afrikaans, but hopefully soon we'll be able to have small conversations in it!

Love,
Mary, for the fam
Brad, Mary, Brandon & Marissa Hawkins
Word of Life South Africa