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Monday, November 30, 2015
Brandon on SMASH
This SMASH trip was the most influential mission trip I have ever been on. During the trip, I volunteered to teach some of the younger kids during multiple days of our ministry, which is something that has never been required of me. I now look forward to more opportunities to do so in the future. This trip noticeably changed me, along with my teammates, in ways only God could have made possible.
On Sunday morning, after church, we made our journey to Johannesburg. The trip was long but enjoyable as we got to know some of the people on the trip with us and mentally prepared for the coming week. Monday morning we set out early for our first day of ministry. We ran a program for a daycare in the area. On Tuesday, we did door to door evangelism in a low income township called Zandspruit, after which we played games and had a meeting for some kids in the same area. This is an area that WOL works in on a regular basis. My task was to run the games. Wednesday, we set out to a church where we helped to teach evangelism to a small group of members. This was especially interesting for me as, after the group was given a quick tutorial by my father, each person in our team paired off with someone from their group. I was able to show the pastor my method of evangelism so that he might learn to do it himself. After the training we did street evangelism in the area. Thursday, we ran a youth group which would have normally been run by members of WOL that were away on another SMASH trip to Cape Town. My task was to teach the youngest children, while Pastor Louis took care of the older kids. We finished off our official ministry the next morning when we had a fun day for kids from the neighborhood on the WOL property. Most of our group broke off and worked on the property, as this was a smaller group and we didn't need quite as many people present. As previously, I gave the lesson to the younger kids and Pastor Louis took the older kids. We worked almost entirely with children during the mornings throughout the trip, but during the afternoons we did work projects on the Word of Life property.
I have been on many SMASH trips, but this one has been by far the most memorable. I was pushed out of my comfort zone and into the unknown and I could not have asked for anything else.
Thank you!
Brandon Hawkins
On Sunday morning, after church, we made our journey to Johannesburg. The trip was long but enjoyable as we got to know some of the people on the trip with us and mentally prepared for the coming week. Monday morning we set out early for our first day of ministry. We ran a program for a daycare in the area. On Tuesday, we did door to door evangelism in a low income township called Zandspruit, after which we played games and had a meeting for some kids in the same area. This is an area that WOL works in on a regular basis. My task was to run the games. Wednesday, we set out to a church where we helped to teach evangelism to a small group of members. This was especially interesting for me as, after the group was given a quick tutorial by my father, each person in our team paired off with someone from their group. I was able to show the pastor my method of evangelism so that he might learn to do it himself. After the training we did street evangelism in the area. Thursday, we ran a youth group which would have normally been run by members of WOL that were away on another SMASH trip to Cape Town. My task was to teach the youngest children, while Pastor Louis took care of the older kids. We finished off our official ministry the next morning when we had a fun day for kids from the neighborhood on the WOL property. Most of our group broke off and worked on the property, as this was a smaller group and we didn't need quite as many people present. As previously, I gave the lesson to the younger kids and Pastor Louis took the older kids. We worked almost entirely with children during the mornings throughout the trip, but during the afternoons we did work projects on the Word of Life property.
I have been on many SMASH trips, but this one has been by far the most memorable. I was pushed out of my comfort zone and into the unknown and I could not have asked for anything else.
Thank you!
Brandon Hawkins
Saturday, November 21, 2015
We have an appointment on Monday to submit our application. Thanks for your prayers!
*Update*
23 Nov - Application submitted. Now we wait for home affairs. Could take up to 8 weeks. Thanks for praying!!!
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Durban Bible College
Brad finished up his last term of 2015 at Durban Bible College teaching Youth Ministry. Here are a few of photos from the last term!
Brad & His Students
Nhlaka, our intern, teaching Brad's Class
Staff & Students at the end of year Senior Class Social
Friday, October 16, 2015
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
Thank you for praying for our SMASH trip! We were able to take 9 youth from Durban, representing 4 local churches, and meet up with 6 other youth in Joburg from 3 more churches. This was our first SMASH missions trip from Durban. We were thrilled with the teens and their willingness to learn and to serve in any way asked! We had a very busy week and saw over 40 people choose to have faith in Christ! This couldn't happen without your support and prayers.
We arrived home on Saturday evening, and on Sunday morning Brad had the opportunity to preach at Reservoir Hills Bible Baptist Church. Two of the youth that went on SMASH with us, Mckaylin & Zain, are from this church, and it was exciting to be a part of the congregation and hear them report back on the trip.
Coming up next Saturday we will be having a leaders' fun day. We are excited to have the leaders from the different local churches using Word of Life materials here at our house for a time of fun, food and fellowship.
We arrived home on Saturday evening, and on Sunday morning Brad had the opportunity to preach at Reservoir Hills Bible Baptist Church. Two of the youth that went on SMASH with us, Mckaylin & Zain, are from this church, and it was exciting to be a part of the congregation and hear them report back on the trip.
Coming up next Saturday we will be having a leaders' fun day. We are excited to have the leaders from the different local churches using Word of Life materials here at our house for a time of fun, food and fellowship.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
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