September Hawkins Headlines

Sanbonani - Hello! Here’s a quick email to let you know what we are up to here in South Africa. God has been doing some amazing things, we will just highlight a few of them for you.

It has been a great year for our Local Church Ministries, supporting and training the churches that are using our material with their ministries. We have 4 more churches ready to start training to use Word of Life, with the potential of others by the new year!

Mary had the chance to speak at a WOL Women of Worth Ladies’ Conference at Port Shepstone Baptist Church, about 1 1/2 hours south of Durban. The theme was Legacy of the Redeemed, focusing on the women in the line of Christ. We had a great turnout with over 60 women. It was a beautiful day!

Many of you will remember that we had an intern last year, William Mohapi. He left to study for a year at the Word of Life Bible Institute in Uganda. He graduated and is back in Durban living with us and shadowing Brad. He is in the picture above with the family. We so appreciate one more set of hands to work! We have plenty of work for more. If you would be interested in joining us, contact us for more information!

Marissa had the opportunity to join the Word of Life Student Fusion team in Johannesburg earlier this year on a missions trip. The short term missions team came in from the the US. She flew on her own to meet them and did ministry with the team for 2 weeks, reaching out to many schools and churches doing a variety of ministries.

We are preparing for our annual S.M.A.S.H. (Students Ministering And Serving Him) missions trip. This years team will be 21 people, comprised of young adults and students from South Africa, including Marissa. This trip will run from 21-29 September. We will be serving in Johannesburg doing a variety of ministries, including running Holiday Bible Club (VBS), doing children’s ministries with some other local churches, and doing work projects at the Word of Life property. We require the youth to raise their support for this trip, as any missionary would. It is exciting to see their faith grow as God provides. Marissa is looking for prayer and financial partners for this trip - contact us if you would like to know more about how to get involved. Please pray for all the aspects of this trip, including planning, safety in travel, and all the logistics involved.  Brandon has finished and graduated from his second year at the Word of Life Bible Institute. He has applied to study distance learning through Calvary University, where Mary has already started classes. He is planning to come to South Africa to join Brad’s home church on a missions trip to help us with a work project on the property in Durban. Since he is in a transition period, he will stay in South Africa a bit longer than the rest of the team to help us out with the ministry. Thank you so much for your continued prayers for our ministry! Serving Him, Brad, Mary, Brandon, Marissa & Mya Hawkins Word of Life South Africa

July Prayer Letter

Please click on the newsletter below to read!

September Hawkins Headlines

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

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

Prayer Update

After a busy 2 weeks with the Student Fusion team, they left to return to the US last Friday night. What an amazing 2 weeks of ministry! Here are a couple of links to pics if you are interested! Week 1 Week 2

Saturday night we were able to attend a dinner at Paseo Baptist Church. We have really appreciated their youth leadership, Derrick & Hadessah Martin Jones, and the friendship that we've developed with them. The youth from our church will be joining their youth this upcoming Friday night and we're looking forward to fun and fellowship!

Sunday morning Brad was able to visit Toekumsrus Baptist Church. Two of our Discipleship Training Center students are from this church, and the church also has an Olympians (Children's) program. It's always encouraging to worship with them!

Please pray for my friend, Memory, and her husband as their house burned down this week. They lived in a squatter camp and the fire took 2 lives and over 20 shacks. They have been told that they are not allowed to rebuild and they don't have anywhere else to go. It is winter in South Africa and there is supposed to be a cold front on it's way, and all they have left of their belongings is a mattress. Pray that God uses this situation to draw them closer to Him and that I can find an opportunity to share the gospel through this situation.

It's hard to believe that it is already August 1! That means 3 months and counting until the planned move date to Durban. There is so much to do!!! Please pray for us as we pare down some of our belongings and pack for the move.

Serving Him,
Mary, for the fam
Brad, Mary, Brandon, Marissa & Mya Hawkins

Prayer Update

Thank you to those that have been praying for Brad's health! He was down this past week for 4 days with gastro, and finally feels like he got his strength back today, almost a week later! He's back in the office today playing catch up and preparing for Student Fusion to arrive on Saturday!
In his absence, John Cottier (an intern with Word of Life South Africa for 2 years) and I were able to teach a second Olympians Training to a church new to Word of Life, South Hills Church. We enjoyed our time of fellowship together with them, as well as seeing their excitement about implementing new changes that will facilitate discipleship with the children in their church!
Please pray for the Student Fusion team, as they are in training this week at Word of Life in Schroon Lake, NY and will arrive in South Africa on Saturday. They are a team of students from all over the US that are coming to help with the ministry in South Africa and Mozambique. Click here to keep up with the team!

Serving Him,
Mary, for the fam
Brad, Mary, Brandon, Marissa & Mya