Prayer Update

Dear Friends,

Wow! is all I can say for last few weeks here in South Africa.  I have been meaning to send you an update before this, but it has been go, go, go since we got back from Cape Town. Let me tell you about our trip:

• 6 of us (4 with WOL and 2 local Leaders) flew down on Friday, June 8.
• We had a youth rally on Friday night with 200+ students and leaders in attendance.
•  On Saturday we taught a Leaders Conference for the local leaders and churches.  When we planned this trip the told us to plan for about 35 and when we got there we found around 50 people.  We had a great time of sharing about the principles WOL is founded on and sharing how to apply them practically.
• The 6 of us split up and went to different churches on Sunday, many getting the opportunity to preach.
• We have already had 2 churches call and express a desire to start right away and there are going to be more in the coming weeks.  I can’t wait to see how God continues to work this out and see how this will grow.

Next, I want to share with about what is happening in the next two weeks.  We leave Friday for camp.  Our Mid-Year Leadership Conference will be Friday and Saturday and at the same time will be the training for SMASH (Students Ministering And Serving Him), our annual mission’s trip for South African teens.  On Sunday and Monday will be more training for SMASH and ministry here in Gauteng.  On Tuesday we leave for Swaziland with the youth from SMASH to do ministry there.  We will return to Johannesburg on Friday, June 29.

Now if that wasn’t enough when we get back Mary and I have a one day turnaround and head for Pietermaritzburg.  We will be hosting a Holiday Bible Club in a local church there we are currently involved with.  Our theme is "Back to the Beginning" and we will be teaching on creation.  Then and only then will we be coming home and getting back into the swing of things here.  We are all looking forward to seeing how God is going to use all these opportunities!

Prayer Requests:

1. Trip to Swaziland
2. Trip to Pietermaritzburg
3. Mid-Year Leadership Conference
4. Churches in Cape Town
5. Family as we travel over next few weeks
6. Mary & Marissa as they are recovering from sinus infections/tonsillitus and hope to be well before SMASH.
   

Praise Items:

1. Friends who purchased Mary’s hard drive
2. Successful trip to Cape Town
3. Safety for our family

In His Service

Brad Hawkins
Word of Life South Africa

Welcome to the VanBruggens!

The VanBruggens have been accepted as appointee's to Word of Life South Africa!  They will be serving at Word of Life INN in Schroon Lake, NY this summer with the STC program.

The Van Bruggen Family
Mike, Fran, Ethan (16), Bret (14), and Rachel (12)

Prayer Update

Dear Friends,

Just want to share a bit of all that has been happening here in SA.  We are finishing off the preparations for our trip to Cape Town, we leave this Friday.  There will be 6 of us, including the 4 on our staff, John Page, Garth Lombard, Alan Schuster & I, as well as a local Pastor, Wayne Gordon & a local Youth Leader, Mike Cameron. We are going to be hosting a youth rally for about 200+/- Students that night.  We are planning a great night of teaching and sharing from God’s Word as well as some games for them all.  On Saturday we will be meeting with about 35 - 40 Pastors and Youth Leaders to share about the ministry of Word of Life. We are so excited to see this trip growing and how God has sparked the interest of the people in the Cape Town area.  Then, if that isn’t enough, we all will be preaching in different churches on Sunday before flying home to Jo’berg that evening.  Please be praying that we see God’s leading in what we need to do to help these churches in the coming months.

            Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?  You can come and help anytime you want! We currently have a short termer here now and it is great to give her a chance to see all this first hand and to help get everything done for all these trips.  It has been a blessing to have an extra pair of hands and a heart that's willing to work!

Prayer Request:

1. Youth Leaders and Youth
2. Trip to Cape Town – Traveling safety and finances for traveling is needed
3. For the Family while I am away to Cape Town
4. SMASH Camp to Swaziland
5. Marissa’s Birthday this Friday – Daddy will be away

Praise Items:

1. Friends who purchased a new hard drive for Mary's computer
2. God's ongoing provision for the Ministry
3. Safety for our family
4. Mary and I celebrated our 14^th Wedding Anniversary

In His Service,

Brad Hawkins

Prayer Update

Dear Friends,

It has been a great few weeks of ministry and I am having trouble deciding what to tell you and what to miss. We have been sharing with several new churches about Word of Life Local Church Ministries and I am so excited that they want to start. I have just finished training several churches and I will be beginning with the new ones next. I am so amazed how God works and how He works out all the details, I couldn’t have planned it any better. One of the new churches is in Pretoria, which will be our first work there and there is potential for many more contacts in that area.

We have been preparing for a trip to Cape Town to introduce Word of Life to that region. We have been working with a Pastor Blackwell there and he is going to get a group of Pastors together for us to meet with. Here is the big part; it could be up to 20 Pastors. This could be huge for us as we look at spreading the ministry around South Africa. Be praying as we try to work out the details of this trip. It is going to be June 8^th – the 10^th. There will be 6 of us heading down to do the training and we will all be preaching in different chuches on Sunday. It will be a great time to meet some new people and Lord willing we will be able to help them reaching their youth.

Prayer Requests:

1. New Churches starting in Pretoria and Jo’berg
2. Youth Leaders and Youth
3. Trip to Cape Town – Traveling safety and finances for traveling is needed
4. SMASH Camp to Swaziland

Praise Items:

1. New Bible Study Mary and I just got started with a couple
2. God's ongoing provision for the Ministry
3. Safety for our family
   

In His Service,

Brad Hawkins
Word of Life South Africa

Update from Tim & Kim Carter (3)

Here is an update from our friends, Tim & Kim Carter. To see the original prayer request click here.

We got the results of my scans.  The PET-scan was not negative however it was really close and because of that my Dr. is satisfied with what he saw and I am now able to start with my radiation treatments.  This is a huge answer to prayer.  My tumor has gotten smaller as well although it is still there.  The radiation should continue to shrink the tumor as well as help with any reoccurrence of the cancer in that area.  I go on Wed. 5/23 for my radiation set up appointment and then I will know for sure when I will start my radiation treatments.  I expect it to be the following week.  I will be having 4-5 weeks of radiation which will be everyday Monday-Friday.  The side effects should not be as bad as the chemotherapy.

Thanks again for your continued prayers and support.

Tim, Kim & family

Upcoming Travels

We are planning and preparing for some upcoming travel. I thought I would attach a map of Southern Africa so that you could see where we will be heading. If you click on the map, it will show you a full size image and you can read the locations.

S.M.A.S.H. (Students Ministering And Serving Him), will be from June 23-29, and we will be going to Swaziland. We will take a group of teens from South Africa to minister with us. Please pray for all involved, that it will be a fruitful time of growth and ministry.

Brad & I will travel back to Johannesburg with some of the teens, returning them to their homes, before heading out again to Pietermaritzburg for Holiday Bible Club at one of the local churches. We are expecting around 250 kids and will be teaching on the theme Back to the Beginning (creation). There is a lot of planning and preparing for this and please pray for all of us that we are well prepared.

Praise the Lord!!! (Re: Mary's Computer)

I am thrilled to report that John was able to retrieve the data from my hard drive!!!!!!!  Thank you so much for praying with me.  I don't have the data home yet, but it's waiting for me at the office.
Please join me in giving thanks to God.  What a blessing and an answer to prayer!

Mary