EBC Wentworth Conference

This week we ran the youth program for the Evangelical Bible Church Wentworth Conference. There are around youth from ages 13-25. It was a privilege to be able to encourage them to take the next step in their relationship with Christ and be ready the stand tall in their faith when they return home.

BattleZone Camp 2024

Please pray for our upcoming BattleZone Camp from 21-23 March! We look forward to the work that God will do in the lives of those who attend. 

Durban S.M.A.S.H. 2021

As COVID lockdown levels were down, we decided it was time to have our annual S.M.A.S.H. (Students Ministering And Serving Him) missions trip in April. Yes, it would look different this time, but that's a sign of the times. We were excited to reconnect with our youth and challenge them, both in the Word of God and in their service for Him. While we were unable to travel or to stay overnight, we could have "day camp" and would serve right where we are, redecorating the youth room at church and renovating and serving at the Word of Life Durban property.

Every morning we had meetings and were challenged in the Word of God with messages from Dwight Hostetler. small group time for personal application, and of course some songs & games. Then, after lunch, we spent the afternoons serving. 

We painted, cleaned, and reorganized the youth room at Grace Baptist Church and did a few small projects around the property.

We had a generous donation from a supporting church and some help from some friends that run a business doing renovating, and we were able to remodel the interior of the cottage on the WOL Durban property! We are super grateful to Miccol Renovating Services for setting aside other work and travelling from Joburg to help with this project! Thanks, Michael & Eric. Below are some before and after pics.

Before

And After

They repaired and renovated the shower in the main house, built a new set of steps down to the cottage, and they also did some odd jobs around the Word of Life property. 

July Prayer Letter

Please click on the newsletter below to read!

BZ Camp EBC 2016

We had a great whirlwind of ministry with the team from Johannesburg! We had 10 young adults come from Joburg, along with 1 that joined the team from the Durban area. Some of these were giving of their spring break, some taking leave from work, in order to spend some time with us in ministering in our local community.

We spent 2 days running a camp alongside Ekukhanyeni Baptist Church in New Germany. The gospel message was shared with over 17 teens and 125 children! The focus for the camp was relationships, first and foremost being their relationship with God.

The teens delved deeper into other relationships - parents/authority, friendships and dating. They had a lot of hard questions about how to honour God in their every day lives. Please pray for them, as well as  Pastor Henry and Janet,  Pastor Phakamani and Philani as they continue to minister to these young people on a daily basis, pouring into their lives and living an example of what it means to walk with God.

The team also helped with some work projects while they were here. We were able to purchase a storage shed to store our supplies for Word of Life, and the majority of the team helped finish it off - sealing the outside, painting the roof and putting up plywood on the inside.

While they worked on the storage shed, a few of us slipped over to Little Feet Baby Home and were able to help them clean and organize the donations that they've received recently. They are a fairly new baby home and have 4 sweet little babies that they care for.

The time that the team spent with us was fruitful and encouraging. Thank you for giving of your time and energy to serve the Lord! We appreciate each one of you!

Ekukhanyeni BattleZone 2016

One week from today we welcome a team of 10 young adults from Johannesburg to help with a BattleZone camp for Ekukhanyeni Baptist Church! This is a 2 day camp for Grades 1-12. It will be held at the local community hall where the church meets. We are excited about the opportunity to minister to this community and support this local church. This is our second BattleZone Camp at this location. Pray for us as we seek to strengthen and encourage the youth in their walks with Christ and help the church reach out into their community. Please pray, also, for good weather. With the age span that we have, we really will be running 2 programs, and will need to work with one group outside while the other uses the hall, and vice versa.

December Prayer Letter

Click on the newsletter below to read! (2 pages)

Coffee Helping Missions

Do you like Coffee? Does your church serve coffee? We have a way you can buy your coffee and support missions at the same time. Through a joint venture with BMW Coffee for Missions project, you can buy coffee and support two missionary projects, one with WOL and one with BMW. First click on this link, http://www.coffeehelpingmissions.com and follow the prompts. When you buy the coffee, ½ of the profit goes to a BMW missionary of your choice, we suggest the Janse van Rensburg family. They are missionaries in South Africa, and Brad discipled Deon. Or, if you know a BMW Missionary, pick them! And then ½ goes to our camp scholarship fund for Word of Life South Africa camps. Our summer camp is in December. The web site gives you a total for the donation from the purchase at checkout. In order for Word of Life donation to kick in, as you check out and after you select a BMW missionary, you have to put in our fund raiser code in the space provided- WordofLife_158 -for the camp scholarship. This fundraiser code is unique to the Hawkins' Team! Then check out and pay…it’s as simple as that. If you do not choose a missionary ½ of the profit will go to Biblical Ministries Worldwide's Indonesia project.

Prayer Update

Please pray for the Bible students at Durban Bible College (DBC) as they take their exams this week for the second term of classes! Brad is giving his Evangelism Class exams on Friday.

Brad's DBC Students

Saturday, Brad will be meeting with the new leadership team at Reservoir Hills Bible Baptist Church to plan a kick off for their new youth in July, after the winter school holidays. Pray for wisdom in planning and preparation, and pray for a good turnout, as they will be reaching out to draw in youth from the community.
Also, this week we are busy planning ahead! Brad, Brandon & Nhlaka will be involved June 12-14 with Shawn S'the Duma in a youth camp on the South Coast.
Then June 28-July 5 we will be hosting a SMASH team (Students Ministering And Serving Him) on a missions trip from Word of Life in Johannesburg. While they are here, we will be helping with Holiday Bible Club (Vacation Bible School) at two churches, Ekukhanyeni Baptist and Grace Baptist Church Queensburgh, as well as training some of the youth from those churches in evangelism and providing outreach opportunities.

July Hawkins' Headlines

Click on Newsletter to read (2 pages)

Update

From Brad:

Had a great couple of days with the kids at camp last week! Several of the campers made decisions for Christ and many others made decisions to better know God through Quiet Time, Scripture Memory, and Bible Study.  It was such a pleasure to share God's Word with them and the leaders. Check out the video below!

I am heading off tonight to the first Young Adult Bible Study for this term, but only for this one as we are all heading to Jo'burg next week. We are going up to help with Word of Life's Student Fusion, a missions team arriving from the US.  I am excited to have the family coming along on this trip, as often that doesn't always work out. We are grateful to God's "yes" answer to our prayer to find a house sitter so that we could all go together. Pray for us as we now need to get the house ready for the month we will be gone and pray for God's work in the lives of those coming on the trip.

July Hawkins Headlines

December Prayer Letter

Here is our most recent prayer letter. Follow this link to download it to your computer.

Brad, Mary, Brandon, Marissa & Mya Hawkins

Help send someone to WOL South Africa Summer Camp

Here's the latest from our Country Director, John Page:

Being involved with Christian camping for about 20 years has proved to us that God works in the lives of teens and children when they are in a camp atmosphere. Would you prayerfully consider sponsoring someone to come to camp? (Read more in the attached letter!)

Although Teen camp is $90 per camper and Kids Camp is $50, any amount that you are able to share will benefit a camper! (If you would like to sponsor a camper, you may do so online by following this link and choosing camp scholarships, OR print the attached "form" and mail it to Word of Life.)

Thank you to all who helped sponsor 40+ campers for the 2009 camp season. We thank the Lord for your generosity!

Attachment: 2010campschol-letter.pdf
Attachment: 2010campschol-form.pdf

2009 Camp Registration Information

Attachment: Camp Registration Info 2009.pdf

Prayer Update

So sorry for the recent lapse in communication! I have been feeling under the weather with the flu & sinus infection, and just being wife & mom was enough for me for the last couple of weeks! I am finally starting to feel like myself again....
Brad has been busy running to different churches administering the end of year verse quiz so that campers can earn their way to camp. It's exciting to see children memorizing His word! They also must maintain a consistent quiet time through the year, participate in Christian service, and attend their local church faithfully to earn this trip to camp. If you are interested in helping cover the expenses for these children to be at camp, please follow this link.
The kids and I have been busy finishing up the school year with a unit on Obedience, Horses & Cowboys. We even made a trip to see the Lipizzaner Stallions practice last week!
We are thrilled to share with you that the last apostille that we need for Mya's adoption arrived at Brad's brother's this week and it is on it's way to South Africa via Steve Bowen. Once we turn that in, and our fingerprints come back from the SA Police Clearance, we should be DONE! Mya has now been in our home over 2 years, and what joy she still brings to our lives daily!
We are looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday. We will have 27 people here from several cultures, including American (of course), Zulu, Irish & Afrikaans, among others. It should be a great time of fun, food & fellowship!
I am excited to be playing my flute in a small orchestra this coming Friday night to accompany a collaborative choir for a concert! The concert is all in Afrikaans - Somerkersfees, which means A Summer's Christmas. It's a good thing I can play in Afrikaans! ;)
Please pray for us as we prepare for summer camp! It's coming up quickly and there is much work to do. We are going on a Piratey Adventure!

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

Summer Camp Scholarship

Here is a note from our director and his wife, John & Christy Page:

Being involved with Christian camping for over 16 years has proved to
us that God works in the lives of teens and children when they are in a
camp atmosphere. Would you prayerfully consider sponsoring someone
to come to camp?
You choose what type of camper you would like to sponsor. It could be:

1) someone who has “earned” their way to camp by completing an
intensive discipleship program that includes a faithful Quiet Time,
scripture memory, Christian services, and reading Christian
literature, or

2) someone who has never been to camp because they are an unsaved
friend being brought, or

3) someone who will be involved in a new Bible Club that we want to
“jump start” their excitement for the new year. Their excitement
rubs off onto the other teens that they will be in the Bible Club with.

Please help us to encourage a youth by sending a check made payable
to Word of Life Fellowship to PO Box 600, Schroon Lake, NY 12870
with the attached response slip or by donating online by clicking here.
Your sponsorship will impact a life for eternity. Please indicate “South
Africa camp scholarship” in memo section of the check or in the
comments section on line.

Thank you to all who helped sponsor 35 campers for the 2008 camp
season. We thank the Lord for your generosity!
Serving YOUth in South Africa,
John and Christy Page

Attachment: summer camp fund raising letter 2009 electronic.pdf
Attachment: Camp scholarship form 2009 electronic.pdf

April Prayer Letter

Sorry for multiple emails for this month's prayer letter! I'm having a problem getting it linked correctly.  Trying again!!!

Here is a copy of our most recent prayer letter.
You will need Adobe Reader to open the file. Click here to download free.

Brad, Mary, Brandon, Marissa & Mya
Word of Life South Africa

Attachment: April 2009.pdf

Pictures from BattleZone Camp!

Rather than uploading pics twice, as we pay for uploading and downloading here in SA, I thought I would try a link to the pics I already uploaded on facebook.  If you have problems following this link or seeing our pics, please let me know!
BattleZone Pics

BattleZone Camp

We are busily packing and preparing for BattleZone Camp this weekend! Camp starts tomorrow at 1:00 at Hillbrow Independent Baptist Church.  We are expecting around 60 people, and are looking forward to a few days of focus on the persecuted church. Of course we'll have lots of fun, too - it's camp!
Please pray for lives to be changed, challenged to walk worthy of the calling of Christ on an every day basis. We will update you soon after returning home on Wednesday!

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