Dear Brethren, prayer warriors and all partners in the Lord’s work here in Africa!

Greetings, in the precious name of Jesus.

Please accept my apologies for this late report on the ministry activities and developments.

The Court case and preschool issues have put severely limits on my time to update you. But finally I can get round to doing so now.

 It is August here in the Southern Hemisphere. Spring is trying to arrive! [To my great joy as I don’t like the cold of winter]  Everything has “new life” and new beginnings! Fantastic!

Sipho EB and baby Avuya - “new life” – new beginnings

CHALLENGES FOR PRAYER
So much has happened in this Ministry, and we are under severe attack by Satan. This is a challenge and traumatic, but, also very comforting, as we know we are in for God’s blessing. Blessings and battering ALWAYS come together. God is totally in charge of His world and in this ministry in particular, so we totally trust in Him in all that happens. It is His work, but we are required to fight the battle against evil with His strength.

We pray these “new beginnings” will soon apply to the preschool and future thereof. We won the first battle on the 24th July, to have the tenants evicted. The second battle now is to get them out of the venue! Pray for Christian tenants to take over running the preschool. The war is far from over and the situation has been very volatile. The Sheriff of the Court, completed the eviction, but the tenants refused to accept this and sent their Lawyer back to court on 6th August. Our lawyer opposed their appeal, now the Magistrate has asked for more time to review the case [same Magistrate, so same postponements!] However, this time the postponements are on our side. If, somehow they delay the eviction, it will take several more months for them to appeal the Courts decision, and try to change the verdict to have no eviction!
I urgently ask you to pray this evil out of the Lord’s preschool. I would also like to sincerely thank so many of you who have constantly upheld us, and this Ministry in prayer, many of you for over a year. Please continue to pray for protection, for the buildings, vehicles, people their families. This will be a long battle over evil.
 
MAY
The baby girl we expected to arrive in this month, took her time, and was born on 12th JUNE – on Antoinette’s birthday.[A Board member] This gave us time to prepare for her birth. Ladies from of our churches, Durbanville and, St. James,  gave  her so much for her little girl. We had a surprise baby shower for the mum-to-be. She was overwhelmed and quite emotional. Gifts were given, clothes, toiletries, nappies [diapers] blankets, a pram, cot, chest of drawers, bath, clotheshorse, no name a few. Trish very thoughtfully remembered the older brother Siya, who was totally confused by all the fuss this object was having, and the duck she gave for him [that keeps on quacking] really helped.  He hung on to it all day after his sister [that keeps crying] was brought home..
 

Another good time we shared was the lovely hot meal the congregation enjoyed on Mothers day. It was organized and prepared for the congregation, and they were served in their seats. Our team of ladies excelled themselves. This was greatly enjoyed as the cold and wet weather gave everyone a hearty appetite. The new leaders are doing well, and it is encouraging to see folk working together for the benefit of all. Truly, this is how God’s family should be.
Gary and Riaan visited us in Sunday school the end of May. As always, they are such a blessing to us. The kids just love them and their visit a real treat for the kids. The lesson Gary gave was confirming what we were teaching them. Putting your trust in God alone. This he demonstrated with trust walks. The kids were blindfolded, and others lead them through a maze of chairs by shouting directions to them. The kids jumped from a table into his arms, trusting he would catch them. However, there was lots of laughter when Gary stepped on to the table and asked one of the kids to catch him!

The weather changed for the worst this month, with extremely bad storms, fortunately, not as devastating as last winter, but this time a lot more rain and flooding. I have never seen my garden flooded or the street outside my house, it was scary and not a pleasant experience, so you can imagine how dreadful it was for the poor folk in Khayelitsha. The children in particular, we noticed had very little warm clothing. Here is a group from the Sunday school holding soup and wearing new beanies, which they loved, and they were thrilled with their new clothes.
I must commend the church folk. I was constantly collecting blankets and clothing from them. Tokai , Fish Hoek, St James, Eversdal, and Durbanville churches to name a few . Grove Primary collected soup and jerseys from their pupils.

 Every single item of clothing was gratefully snapped up and so appreciated. We were given boxes of soup for the soup kitchen. Our ladies at our church did, and still do, a great job of feeding the scores of kids and elderly every week. Thanks to oversees donors St, Matts and St, Swiz Churches in Australia, for their wonderful support here. Our faithful supporters from a Church in Germany gave funds that bought for food, blankets, clothes, shoes and a big heater, for Nozukile’s preschool in Site B squatter camp. The principal was very tearful with relief, as this will see them able to feed the children all through winter

Several ladies from the DCC bible study group gave funds towards school shoes for Orphans and AIDS orphans we support at Kuyasa Primary School. We added their donations to funds we received from our Churches in Australia and England, and were able to buy 84 pairs.
Funds were also given to us to buy the kids who had NO winter clothing, warm tops with hoods. I am so grateful to Ackerman’s store who gave us a big discount, enabling us to buy a few more tops. These were handed out at Sunday school. Since our donor who supplied us with monthly groceries went to be with his Lord, we have been short on funds for Sunday school needs. However our God is Jehova Jirah, and our Minister’s car just “happened” to break down and he pushed it into a parking space outside Shoprite in Khaye! The manager came storming out to chase him out of his parking space! It ended up by him giving us  groceries and a bin full of biscuits for kid’s club and Sunday school!

JUNE
Lots of activity at church this month.  It was Youth Month, so youth do everything in church, ushering reading scripture, preaching [under guidance] and also on the 16th, Youth Day in S.A they celebrated the whole of Saturday with, music, drama, dancing, and choirs, and lots of food and fellowship together with dynamic speakers. They spoke on very relevant topics, like the results of drugs and alcohol abuse, AIDS awareness, living with AIDS, counseling and prevention [abstinence].

 We surprised our father’s on Father’s day by laying on a special tea party for them with plenty of cake and biscuits! Any special event is so gratefully appreciated as it only happens once a year.
As you see the ladies [who did the work] were not far away – also enjoying the tea!

At last our beloved Pastor was able to take a couple of weeks and “get away” for a brief holiday with his son. They visited is brother and family in Gauteng. It was brief but the change did renew his strength.
We had our bi-monthly Board Meeting in Durbanville and welcomed our new Board Member – Sipho Xazana. I have known him since he was a small child. He works as a Councillor for the community in Khayelitsha [It is his photo with wife and baby at the beginning of this letter]

JULY
Our new group of teens, Youth Choir, accompanied me to the Durbanville church, to do a missions slot. They were a great hit, even though it was freezing cold and poured with rain, we all survived.
They were treated to KFC and coke – which made them forget about the weather entirely!
This Choir also sang at Colin’s church in Fish Hoek. Colin runs the English classes on Saturdays and preaches at our church occasionally. This was the first time visiting a church from a different Denomination. It was also a first for Colin’s church to have a different culture visit and sing at his church. The visit was a great blessing to both of them and the church folk.

The last week of the school holidays we had a Kids club – The first day it poured with heavy rain, and we were amazed how many children still came! Because it was so cold they were served Soup and bread. This became a strong favourite. [Nozizwe is a great cook]  Some of the children asked if she could come and make soup at their school! We taught the story of Daniel and both teachers [who did an excellent job] and kids, loved the crowns and masks they made for handwork. 80 to 100 kids attended every day!

PERSONAL

Apart from the stress and high blood pressure, I am very well. No swine flu or any other type, thanks be to God. Only scary thing for me was 2 visits to the dentist! I have not been for years as I do not have medical aid, and did not know what to expect. However I did have so many broken teeth and 3 fillings that had fallen out, making it difficult to chew! I was feeling very ashamed of my mouth. A dear friend offered to pay – so I went – and WHAT a difference, not only to the teeth – but in the technical methods now used in dentistry. He was able to build up all the broken teeth, gone are the days of pulling teeth out or doing “root canal”, he told me this is how dentists make their money! He used   anesthetic, I did not need an injection. I was totally impressed. He had returned from living in Australia for 2 years and learned a lot of things from the Japanese?

The staff and myself also celebrated another birthday! Mine – 67 – nearly touching the 70 mark! And we had a lovely tea and lunch – so I felt very special and loved.

I was also treated to a wonderful lunch with friends at Kirstenbosch Gardens, to celebrate winning the first battle of the Court case! It has been years since I had visited these beautiful gardens. The weather was perfect and food and the company excellent.

COMPASSION
We have sad news to pass on for your prayers. On 4th of August, we received news that Lulu, who works on staff at Church, and is a Sunday school teacher, and a leaders in the kid’s club, that her mother, sister, her 2 children and uncle had been killed in a car accident while driving back from the funeral of her sister’s husband. A total of six family members died tragically She is terribly traumatized, as she had to ID their battered bodies. There is no trauma counseling available in Khaye. I felt so inadequate as I am unable to get into Khaye for the death threats. A Doctor friend prescribed medication, which has helped her. Pray for God’s comforting arms and presence to be with her. Another Sunday school teacher involved in an accident a few weeks ago, is making a good recovery from his fractured skull and damaged eye.  Praise and thanks to God. The third Sunday school teacher - Zukie, had her very sick little girl with convulsions refused entrance to the hospital at 4am by the security, as she had not filled in a folder. The pastor called me and asked where to take her. All I could say was to try to find a nurse. The Pastor drove 20 miles to his sister, who helped stop the convulsions. She is O.K. now, thank God, but – she could of died. Life in the Township is very difficult.

Let me end this on a positive note. We have the privilege of a meeting with Cape Town’s Premier Helen Ziller on Tues 11th August at 8am in Cape Town Civic Offices. She wants to be informed of our plans for the Life skills and Resource centre. We are very excited. If this is successful and we have funding to go ahead and build – thousands of community will constantly hear the gospel from then on! No wonder Satan is being so vicious in his attacks. Please keep these developments also in your prayers. I will fill you in next letter!

Take care, and all the best for each and every one in your service to our King, may your work and ministries prosper for His Kingdom. Blessings and love to you all. Your Missionary in Africa.

Laura.