June Hawkins' Headlines

We landed in the US for furlough on June 5. Our time leading up to our departure was super busy and we have been seeing God do some amazing things!

Our ministry during COVID had taken on a new look for a little while, as it was mostly virtual, but as restrictions eased up, there were more and more opportunities, including some meetings to train churches to work with their youth.

In May, I had the opportunity to join some of our staff from Johannesburg and travel to Empangeni, which is about 2 hours north of Word of Life Durban. It was a quick overnight trip, but they were able to squeeze in several training sessions while they were there. 

Brad with WOL Associate Thobile Leeu, 

Pastor Sipho & his wife, and WOL missionaries, 

Diana & S’bu Nyawo

Also in May, I had the privilege to run a training right in Durban! We have had a long-standing relationship with Pastor Didi, as he is a car guard at our grocery store. We were excited to be able to train and encourage the leadership at his church to work with their children and youth!

And one more of the recent events that we wanted to share with you is that we were able to have our annual SMASH (Students Ministering And Serving Him) missions camp. We were unable to do overnight due to COVID restrictions, so we ran a day camp. We had Bible sessions each morning, and then in the afternoon, we split up for work projects, both at our local church and the WOL property. Due to a generous donation from a church, we were able to renovate the inside of the cottage on the property. Check out this blog post for photos!

Here is a tentative (flexible) schedule of our for the beginning of our time here in the US. We would love to see YOU, so please contact us if we are going to be in your area or passing through as we drive from one area to the next!

6/5-7/9 Montoursville, PA

7/10-8/1    Grand Blanc, MI 

8/2-7          Montoursville, PA

8/7           Lynchburg, VA

8/8-14        Houschton, GA

8/15-18      Denver, NC

8/18-22      Word of Life, FL

8/22        Sebring, FL

8/22-27      Jacksonville, FL

8/27-29      Word of Life, FL

November Hawkins' Headlines

 

Sawubona and greetings from South Africa! We are now 237 days into lockdown due to Covid19, but have transitioned into Level 1, the lowest level of lockdown. We are still required to wear masks and social distance, but the church is allowed to meet at 50% capacity, and international travel has reopened. While we have started our high school youth group meetings at our local church, our Word of Life ministry is still primarily virtual. Despite lockdown, it has been a privilege to have an intern working with us for the last few months. Ailton Pedro is an Angolan living in South Africa and is a youth leader at Bethany Baptist Church. While he has been doing discipleship with Brad for a while, he has recently begun shadowing Brad one day a week to see what it means to be a Word of Life missionary. It is a blessing to have him working with us!

Before After Property Update: We were able to repair the kitchen floor, as well build a much needed retaining wall with the special project funds that came in. THANK YOU! There are several long term projects that need done, as well, but we will continue with the urgent needs, and work on projects as funds become available.  The next big project we would like to tackle is to renovate the guest cottage to be able to use not only for guests visiting WOL from other areas, but also for pastors and their wives to utilize as a retreat.  We will post more pictures here on our blog so you can follow the progress! If you would like to give to this project, you can do so here https://give.wol.org/SouthAfricaPropertyProject and send us a note  to let us know so that the funds are allocated to our projects in Durban. It is exciting to envision the potential of this property to impact those in our community with the gospel. Thank you for your prayers and giving!

March Hawkins' Headlines

Here's a quick update from WOL Durban! We are surviving a hot, humid summer and enjoying being busy in ministry.

Brad has been busy preaching and teaching in local churches. He has had quite a few opportunities to fill the pulpit for local pastors. Also, he has just started training the youth leaders from a church new to Word of Life and there are two other churches almost ready to start training. Between training new churches and keeping up with discipleship of those using Word of Life materials, it keeps him on his toes!

Our Timothy Discipleship Program has been moving along nicely, meeting once a month with 3 young men. We now have a group of young ladies ready to start! It is so thrilling to see young people serious about growing in their faith and becoming more Christ-like.

Excitingly, the property project is moving along nicely, with all of the progress being paperwork. We are ready to see some visible changes to the property, but we know that having plans engineered and submitted properly are an important foundation! The building plans will be submitted at the end of this month, and hopefully, they will be approved quickly so that as soon as funds are available we can start on the first building project. Please contact us if you would like to give toward this project. We will post pictures on our blog, as well as on Facebook.

Mary has just finished teaching a term of Ladies' Bible Study at church on Spiritual Gifts. It is always a pleasure to teach the Word of God. She continues to homeschool Marissa (Grade 11) & Mya (Grade 6), as well as running the children’s youth at church, and serving on the worship team. Recently, Mary has applied to Calvary University to complete her Bachelor's Degree in Biblical Counseling! Please pray for wisdom and time management. We have seen such a need for Biblical Counseling in our ministry here in South Africa, and she is so excited at the opportunity to help meet this need.

Currently Brandon is on spring break from his sophomore year at the Word of Life Bible Institute (WOLBI). He has the privilege of going to Taiwan on a 10 day missions trip with his classmates from April 18-28. You can find more details at http://give.wol.org/bhawkins. He will finish his academic studies at WOLBI in May. During the summer, he will spend 8 weeks in ministry at the Word of Life Camp in Florida.

In South Africa, coming up next on our calendar is BattleZone Camp March 28-30 - a short camp to prepare our teens for the battle of living for Christ in their daily lives. Subsequently, on 11 May, we have Kids’ Fun Day. This is a great evangelistic opportunity that we run for our churches to bring children and their unsaved friends. Please pray that both of these events run smoothly and God is glorified.

November Hawkins' Headlines

Thank you for your prayers for our ministry! We want to update you on what God has been doing here in Durban. There is so much happening - here are just a few highlights!

We had an amazing BattleZone Camp (Aug. 9-11) — the second one this year! The focus of our camp was Evangelism and the persecuted church. The teens learned and practiced several methods that they can use to share Christ with their friends. And most excitingly, one of the students decided to follow Christ! It is amazing to see the youth excited to reach their world with the gospel.

We want to share with you about a new aspect of our ministry, the Timothy Discipleship Project. We are meeting with a few teens and young adults on a regular basis in a more formal setting, doing Bible training and life on life discipleship. We are thrilled to be pouring into their lives, getting to know them better and challenging them to know the Word and live their faith.

Brandon started his second year at the Word of Life Bible Institute in New York in September,  and he is enjoying spending another year learning the Word and developing ministry skills. It's hard to believe it's already been almost a year since we have seen him. We are so proud of him and missing him so. We are ecstatic that we were able to purchase tickets for him to come home for Christmas Dec 9 - Jan 1!

We asked you to pray for our S.M.A.S.H. trip in October. There were 20 of us on the team and we traveled about 3 hours to work alongside First Baptist Church of Kokstad, running Holiday Bible Club (VBS) for 108 kids and ministering in a variety of ways in order to share the Gospel with those we met. It was exciting to see the faith of our youth grow as they relied on God to meet their needs of financial support and come to know Him as their provider! Even more exciting was the fact that we saw 53 people come to know Christ as their personal Saviour. Thank you for your prayers!

In September, 20 years ago, Word of Life South Africa was established and we were raising support to join the team. It’s amazing to look back on all that God has done and the blessings that we have experienced over those 20 years. One of the most recent blessings we have seen God provide is a Word of Life Property in Durban! There is a photo of the main house at the top of this letter. It is a large property (just under an acre) in the suburb we were living in previously, just minutes from our South African home church. We are amazed at how God supplied the funds for the property so quickly, overwhelming us with His faithfulness. The purchase was finalized last month. We have quite a bit of renovating to do to be able to meet the ministry’s needs, but we are confident that God will provide in His perfect timing. The first renovation on the list will be to replace the 30+ year old asbestus roofs on three of the buildings. We will share more photos on another blogpost. If you would like to be involved in giving toward the property project, you can do so online by going to this link or contact us directly and we can give you more information.

 

April Prayer Letter

Please click on the newsletter below to read!

December Prayer Letter

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

September 2015 Prayer Letter

Click on the Newsletter to read!

Brandon's SMASH Trip 2015

Click on the letter to read:

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

August Prayer Letter

Here is a copy of our most recent prayer letter. Note that there are two attachments! There are two pages, one in each file.
You will need Adobe Reader to open the files. Click here to download free.

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

Attachment: Aug 2012.pdf
Attachment: Aug 2012 2.pdf

September Prayer Letter

We've had a few people mention that they were unable to access our prayer letter, so we thought that we would post the text in a separate blog. Here it is! :)

"Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."

Ephesians 6:19-20

Our travels in the US this far have taken us from Michigan to Minnesota, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan back to the Lower Peninsula, then on to Pennsylvania. We are packing once again to embark on another journey!

During our travels we will be sharing what God is doing in our ministry. We will be renewing relationships with some we haven’t seen for years, and developing new relationships with others, but the goal is the same - to encourage others in their walk with Christ by sharing what He is doing in our lives and the lives of others we are in contact with in South Africa. Please pray for us all while we travel that we keep our eyes focused on the goal! Sometimes the travel can be wearing on the children and can effect the whole family.

While our overall purpose is to point individuals toward Christ, we are also working toward the goal of returning to South Africa to reach the youth there with the gospel of Christ!

Join us in reaching S. Africa for Christ!

We are still needing around $1400 per month to reach our full support level.  We would like to challenge you to join our team! If each person that received our prayer letter were to support us $3 monthly we would reach our goal. No amount is too small to count for God! If you were to give up one soda pop a week, that would amount to about $5 a month. A coffee a week would be closer to $10! Will you prayerfully consider helping us reach South Africa for Christ?

On the family side, we head to Pittsburgh on Sep. 14 to USCIS for an interview for Mya’s US Citizenship. By the time you get this letter, she could be an American!

Our Schedule:

Sep 15 - Travel to Dumfries, VA

Sep 17-21 - Global Impact Conference, Parkton, NC

Sep 21&22 - Travel to Davison, MI

Sep 25 - Calvary Bible Church, Lapeer, MI

Oct 2 am - The Rock, Fenton, MI

Oct 2 pm - First Baptist Church, North Branch, MI

Oct 16 - Hunters Creek Community Church, Lapeer, MI

Oct 23 - Bangor, ME

Oct 24-25 - Manchester, CT

Oct 29-30 - Memorial Baptist Church, Williamsport, PA

Hawkins Headlines, September

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: Sep 2010.pdf

Hawkins' Headlines June 2010

Dear Friends & Family,

Thank you so much for your prayers and support of our ministry! We are excited about all that God is doing in South Africa! We are thrilled to share with you that Mya's adoption has been finalized and she is officially a permanent part of the Hawkins’ family!!

Mike, Fran, Bret & Rachel VanBruggen have joined us in South Africa, and with more staff comes more ministry! There is a lot going on in the next few months. We have just returned from a Southern Africa Staff Retreat where we joined the Word of Life Mozambique Staff, and we are feeling rejuvenated and united as we press forward to reach South Africa for Christ.

South Africa is hosting the FIFA World Cup Soccer beginning in just 11 days! The schools are taking 5-6 weeks off school, and we are going to jump on the chance to minister to these children. We are running 3 SMASH (Students Ministering And Serving Him) camps, providing soccer clinics, tournaments, and Holiday Bible Club (VBS) while using all of these as a medium to reach people for Christ. Please join us in prayer as we will be teaming up with local churches, providing opportunities for upwards of 60 teens to minister with us, and especially for souls to be won for Christ!

There have been MANY ministry opportunities for us in the last few months, and there are many more in the near future that we just don’t have room to share! Unfortunately, our support level has been low on average over the past year, and has limited some of what we could do. Our incoming support is approximately $1300 below our support needs and we will not be coming home on furlough until some time in 2011. We know that we have a God that will meet all of our needs, but with more funds we could do more ministry! Will you please pray about whether God would use you in this way to further the ministry of Word of Life in S. Africa?

Thank you!
Brad, Mary, Brandon, Marissa & Mya

 

November Prayer Letter

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: Nov 2009.pdf

August Prayer Letter

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: August 2009.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