December Hawkins' Headlines

 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! 2023 has been a whirlwind of a year from South Africa to the US and back - a year full of blessings from God! In October we returned to South Africa after a 3-month home assignment in the United States. We drove over 7,000 miles (11,000 km) and visited many friends and family. We also had the opportunity to have all our children under one roof for a week! Our time in the US was a blessing. Brandon & Brianna continue to serve with Word of Life in Taiwan, and they are expecting a baby in June. Please pray for them as Brianna has been experiencing morning sickness and fatigue, and navigating the maternity system in another culture can be a challenge. We are thrilled to be Grammy and Pappy soon - another blessing! Marissa came back to South Africa with us, and she is planning to continue her studies remotely. Please pray for wisdom as she makes decisions in this regard. Mya is continuing homeschool and will be starting Grade 11 in the new year. We are blessed to have time with them as we know it won’t last forever. We have two young men living and working with us currently, Joshua Mashele and Ngcebo Buthelezi. They are continuing in their studies of the Word of God, alongside with working on support raising so they can continue in the ministry. They are a blessing to Mary and I as both ministry and property maintenance would be too much for us to handle on our own. It was spectacular planning the 2024 ministry calendar together. It is a blessing to be able to pour into them and to work side by side! Joshua Ngcebo The end of the calendar year in South Africa means the end of the school year as well, as schools run from January-December. This means, amongst other things, planning and executing year-end functions and Christmas parties for children’s ministry and teen ministry, as well as our Christmas Carol service at church, and the gospel message was clearly presented at each one! It has kept us on our toes and is just now beginning to wind down. We are looking forward to celebrating the birth of Christ and taking some time to remember that this blessing is the foundation of our lives and ministry. Please pray with us as we look at the year ahead and strive toward every student everywhere hearing the gospel from a friend.

April Prayer Letter

Please click on the newsletter below to read!

Micro F1

So exciting! About a week and a half ago, we ran a Micro F1. Micro F1 is a race uses Hot Wheels cars on a six lane wood track. This event is an evangelistic outreach geared toward children, but can be exciting for the whole family! We have run numerous Micro F1 events over the years, and it is exciting to see God use this as a tool to bring others to know Him.

This particular event was exciting for different reasons. We were able to run this whole event basically as a family! In the past, we have run it alongside other coworkers and young adults, but this time it was us and our children, along with 1 young adult from Durban Bible College that tagged along to see what Word of Life is all about. It is so exciting to work together as a family to advance the gospel! Brandon and Marissa took over the "up-front" responsibilities on the mic and running the track, and Brad and I were support on the computer and organizing the cars. As the main thrust of this event is to share the gospel, we stop at peak racing time and draw the children in to hear from the Word of God. Brandon was able to share the gospel for the first time to a group of children, and did a great job! I feel like Paul must have felt when he said, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."

Thank you so much for your prayers for this ministry event. It means so much to know that you are on our team!

July Hawkins Headlines

Prayer Update

It's hard to believe that it's been 2 weeks since our last update!  Time flies when you're busy!

We had a group of 14 students and 3 teachers visit from The Kings Christian School in NJ for a short term mission trip.  They arrived on March 20 and departed March 30, and every day in between held a new adventure.

It was amazing to see God's faithfulness as we/they were able to minister in so many different areas and cultures!  We visited places from settlements to a deaf church to affluent areas - we all worship the same God!  South Africa is definitely a world in one country.  If you'd like to learn about their adventures, follow this link to the TKCS blog.

While they were here, we held our annual Battlezone Camp. In addition to the team from the US, we had 28 South African teenagers join us!  The goal of this camp is to prepare the youth to be ready to share the gospel.  This year we had a special speaker, Mike Neilson, and part of his family join us at camp.  We were excited to see Mike's passion for ministry and for the lost come across clearly as he taught the Sowers training course in soul winning and Open Air Evangelism.  Thank you, Mike, for helping us all become better equipped to sow the seed of the gospel!  I was also very encouraged by the time I spent with Mike's wife Mandy.  It was great to glean wisdom and have fellowship with a fellow homeschool mom in the ministry!

We are excited about the continued progress toward Mya's adoption.  Please continue to pray that all the paperwork is approved and finalized before we need to leave for the States in August. She is growing and changing, with new developments every day.  She is barely crawling, but will be running tomorrow if she has her way!  She is so ready to keep up with big brother and sister.  She is a ray of sunshine to our whole family.

Brandon and Marissa are doing well!  They are growing and changing, too quickly for my taste! Brandon loves learning about fractions, as is ecstatic when he knows all his spelling words and doesn't have to study them. It is hard to believe that he will be 9 years old in 11 more days. (The countdown is on! ) Marissa has finished her first Math book and her first handwriting book this week, and is on cloud 9.  She loves to write and color and would "do school" all day. If she only learns to read more fluently, she would be over the moon!  She just can't wait. I think maybe we'll start working on some Dick & Jane books tomorrow.

Please keep the Page family in your prayer.  Christy and the kids have been in the US visiting her family, as her father was diagnosed with lymphoma.  John remained her in SA to continue in the ministry.  Christy's dad is just finishing up his second round of chemo, as far as I understand, and Christy and the kids will be returning to SA on Saturday.  Please keep the whole family in your prayers.

We are looking forward to our time in the US from mid-August to mid-November and we'd love to see you!  Please pray that our schedule fills quickly to share about the ministry of South Africa so that we can return to SA with our needed funds and continue the ministry!  Also, please let us know if your church would be interested in having us come and share the ministry of Word of Life South Africa with them.

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

Prayer Update

The new year has started with a bang!  We have been delivering materials and doing orientations....  It is exciting!!!
Micro F1 is an evangelistic tool that uses Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars to reach many children for Christ. Three youth groups have already scheduled this event at their churches! We know God is going to reach many for Him using this fun outreach! Please pray for us as we run this event 3 Friday nights in a row, Feb 15, 22 and 29.
The kids are continuing to grow and change!  Brandon is enjoying cricket, math & spelling. Marissa has started gymnastics and loves to walk on the beam, jump on the trampoline and is dying to learn to read. Mya is rolling over, has 2 more new teeth, is giving kisses, and said Mama for the first time! (After dada, baba, gaga, and nana, Mama was starting to feel a little left out!)
Please pray for us, that we take advantage of every ministry opportunity God places in our paths, whether it be within Word of Life, our local church, our community or in our own family.

Love,
Mary, for the fam
Brad, Mary, Brandon, Marissa & Mya