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

Durban S.M.A.S.H. 2021

As COVID lockdown levels were down, we decided it was time to have our annual S.M.A.S.H. (Students Ministering And Serving Him) missions trip in April. Yes, it would look different this time, but that's a sign of the times. We were excited to reconnect with our youth and challenge them, both in the Word of God and in their service for Him. While we were unable to travel or to stay overnight, we could have "day camp" and would serve right where we are, redecorating the youth room at church and renovating and serving at the Word of Life Durban property.

Every morning we had meetings and were challenged in the Word of God with messages from Dwight Hostetler. small group time for personal application, and of course some songs & games. Then, after lunch, we spent the afternoons serving. 

We painted, cleaned, and reorganized the youth room at Grace Baptist Church and did a few small projects around the property.

We had a generous donation from a supporting church and some help from some friends that run a business doing renovating, and we were able to remodel the interior of the cottage on the WOL Durban property! We are super grateful to Miccol Renovating Services for setting aside other work and travelling from Joburg to help with this project! Thanks, Michael & Eric. Below are some before and after pics.

Before

And After

They repaired and renovated the shower in the main house, built a new set of steps down to the cottage, and they also did some odd jobs around the Word of Life property. 

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!

Community Outreach

What a great outreach with our church family this afternoon! Thank you to all those who donated clothing, toys, chocolate, and time to show love to those in our community.

I Am the Light of the World

 Today is Diwali, a festival of lights mainly celebrated by Hindus. During Diwali, people wear their finest clothes, illuminate the interior and exterior of their homes, perform worship ceremonies of the goddess of prosperity and wealth, light fireworks, and partake in family feasts, where sweets and gifts are shared. As I sit at home surrounded by the sound of fireworks tonight in my community, I pray for those in my community to find the one true God. Please pray for boldness and opportunity to reach out. 

Tomorrow, we have an outreach opportunity in our community through our local church. We will be handing out homemade chocolates, reading books to children, and playing soccer. We are looking forward to the opportunity to care for others, and to make connections that will give an opportunity to share the Word.

"Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, 'I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.'"

How Can I Fear with Jesus?

Our Women of Worth team has been publishing bi-weekly videos to encourage the women we minister to during lockdown. Here is my video that was published this morning:

 

WOLZA Durban Property Update We shared with you in the past about purchasing a Word of Life Property in Durban, and through the generous gifts of people like you, that dream came to fruition. It has been a blessing to have this property, and it is used to minister to those in our community. We love having the youth come and go from the property daily, allowing them to live life alongside us and us to disciple them. While we have been unable to have youth come and go during lockdown, we have 3 extra young adults currently staying here with us full time.  2020 has looked much different than any of us have expected. We were planning to spend a portion of the year in the US on furlough, but lockdown and travel restrictions changed our plans. Since we will be in South Africa for all of 2020, we would like to begin working on some of the projects that need to be done around the Word of Life property here in Durban. The property is about an acre in size. There are many projects that we have planned, but we will start with the most urgent ones. Just this week we decided to tackle some repairs to our kitchen floor, as it could wait no longer. We opened up the floor because of water damage from an old leak but didn't realize the extent of the damage until it was opened up. Some of the joists under the sink were completely rotted through. These repairs are temporary, as there are plans to renovate the kitchen eventually, but we were worried about something or someone falling through the floor! As I type, the tiles are being relaid. We also need to work on some retaining walls. The property is basically split into three levels on a hillside. The urgency is that the bank below the pool is slowly starting to slide away. We would like to have this project well under way before the rainy season comes. There are other projects, as well, and we will work on them in order of priority as funds become available. If you would like to help with the property renovations, you can give by following this link: https://give.wol.org/SouthAfricaPropertyProject, and send us a note to let us know you gave so that the funds are allocated to our projects in Durban.