On February 14th, we were blessed to be able to start the youth program at our church in Winklespruit. We have an average of 16 children each week. Many of the children are unsaved and come from homes with parents who are very newly saved or unsaved. We have already started to see this produce opportunity to minister to their parents. We are studying the Bible with a focus of apologetics and teaching the children a biblical hermeneutic, so they are equipped to dig in and study the Bible on their own.
I have started discipleship with 3 men from the church. One of the men has struggled with alcohol and, two months ago, went into the hospital with seizures and an infection. Since coming home, he has communicated the desire to quit drinking. We are studying the book of Mark. He seems eager to learn about God and hopeful for a changed life. One of the other men had a work accident five weeks ago resulting in the amputation of two toes. This has delayed our time together, but I am seeing God use this circumstance to grow his faith and knowledge of God. A month ago, the third man fell and had a seizure. They do not fully know what caused it. Now he is home and doing well. His wife is not saved and it causes a lot of discouragement. He is questioning God’s hand in his life. This has opened up the door for me to come alongside and walk Him through God’s hand in all these things.
Trials rarely “feel” good, but few things come close to the results that trials produce in our lives. God reminds us of this throughout Scripture but teaching this at the beginning or even in the middle of a trial can be seen as harsh. Please pray with me for wisdom as I walk with these men and others through the hardships of life.
Since November, we have been scouting places to purchase Gospel tracts. The local bookstores offered a limited amount at a high cost. We got quotes for printing tracts which amounted to 49 cents per tract. A couple weeks ago, we spoke with a missionary an hour away because we knew he was working on getting a printing ministry up and running. He informed us that he has hundreds of thousands of tracts in many different local languages, including English. We went to his warehouse last week and he gave us 40,000 tracts for free plus we were able to purchase some of the Reformers Unanimous books from him. This has been such a huge blessing to us!
Kelli and our children are doing well. In February, we were able to move into a different rental a bit out of the city. This property has a good outdoor space for our children to run and play. In the past year, we have learned of some neurological challenges that our children are facing. While in the states, Ethan was able to have some amazing OT help. We are attempting to continue what we learned. Having good outdoor and indoor space helps us in this. Please continue to pray with us as we walk our children through these challenges and feel free to message us if you want to know how you can specifically pray for each of them.
