Marie

Highlights and Lowlights of 2016

Our hope for a white Christmas did not become a reality, but we had the privilege to escape the bustle and flatness of Florida for the beautiful mountains of Tennessee. The quality family time around a fireplace in the cold was good for our souls.

It also gave us time to reflect on 2016 and God’s hand over us.

Highlights of 2016:

Two grannies, a grandpa, an aunt and 2 cousins came to visit us this year.
Marie celebrated her Mom’s 70th birthday with all her siblings in South Africa.
We received our Green cards, it makes working here as foreigners much easier.
The children settled well into their new school and the Cambridge program.
Continued open doors to share the gospel in many places around the world and for the new ways the gospel is penetrating closed countries. For example, our ministry’s digital tools had 32.2 million unique users in 2016.
Our faithful ministry partners that sacrificially enable us to remain in full-time ministry.

Lowlights of 2016:

Hurricane Matthew – thankfully we were spared the brunt of it, but it was a scary experience.
Kenneth’s broken leg in July. Grateful that it healed well.
Two neighbours that we built the strongest relationships with, moved this year. A frustrating reality of today’s society.
Journeying with several ministry partners and co-workers that have walked hard roads during 2016.

We are entering 2017 with great anticipation! There are some exciting changes awaiting us. Stay tuned!

Our prayer for you for 2017 is from Psalm 20:4

“May He grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we celebrate Thanksgiving here in America. And we have much to be thankful for!

Firstly, we are thankful for our wonderful partners that enable us to serve the Lord full time. Thank you for your prayers, sacrificial giving and encouragement.

We are also grateful for an invitation by the family of Kenneth’s new friend, Lloyd, to spend the day with them. Thanksgiving is the most popular time of the year for families to be together, so it is a real treat to be invited as non-family. Since Lloyd and his family moved to Florida recently from Pennsylvania, their family is far and they adopted us as their family for today.

As part of the Thanksgiving tradition, we ate turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, pumpkin and sweet potato dishes, and we drank Apple cider. We also watched parts of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade on TV. This parade started 90 years ago in New York. You can watch parts of today’s parade here. We also watched some American football.

As proof, the photo above was taken just after the turkey came out the oven.

Thank the Lord with us for this special opportunity we had today and pray that we will continue to form deep friendships with Eric, Kathy, Lloyd and Isabel.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Strange Season

Fall (as autumn is called here) is strange. This is our fourth Fall here and we are still amazed, amused and even shocked at the strangeness of this time.

We understand from non-Floridians that Fall is anti-climatic in Florida since we hardly see any leaves change colour (imagine a Palm tree with red and orange leaves…). But that certainly does not stop anyone from celebrating the slightly cooler season with gusto!

We attended our fourth Fall Festival and it was again a wonderful time of connecting with friends. Fall festivals are usually sponsored by churches or in our case, our head office hosts one. It usually includes a Hay Ride (tractor ride on hay bales), a pumpkin patch with hundreds of pumpkins to choose from, drinking apple cider, eating toffee apples and a corn maze (even if it’s fake, made by a jumping castle type set-up). All-in-all a great experience!

Then it is Halloween.

Again, it’s a big community gathering. Neighbors we haven’t seen since last Halloween will be in the streets, chatting and visiting as if we do this every day.

For weeks homes have been decorated – some with pumpkins, scarecrows and autumn colours. Others with evil ghosts, skeletons and witches. Some homes with both.

One thing is clear to us: this time of year is a special time to connect with our community. Please pray for significant interactions with people, for connections we will be able to maintain through the year, not just in the Fall.

You can see some more photos of our Fall experience here.

We Survived Our 1st Hurricane!

Thank you for your prayers!

We are grateful to the Lord for His protection over us and our property. We are still under a curfew till Saturday morning at 7 am but at least the tumble dryer has stopped. The incredibly strong winds have slowed down and even our cat bravely poked his nose out for a toilet stop.

Several co-workers lots electricity for a few hours, but we had power throughout the storms. We felt at peace and the Lord’s protection throughout the storm.

Here are the Kenneth and Monica with some of our plants, rescued from outside before the hurricane came.

Continue to pray for others that are still in the path of the hurricane.

Hurrican Matthew

√ All bathtubs and containers filled with water

√ Kitchen stocked

√ Flashlights and extra batteries ready

√ School and offices close till Monday

We are preparing for our first hurricane, and it is a big one, projected to be a Category 4.

We would appreciate your prayers for Florida. We know that God has us, our neighbors and friends in His hands.

Also pray for the countries that have already taken the brunt of Hurricane Matthew – Haiti, Cuba, Caribbean Islands and Bahamas.

We hope to give an update on Saturday if conditions allow.

5 Million Churches

In the last two week:

Kenneth’s leg was declared healed
We survived the effects of a grade 1 hurricane
The children successfully completed their first month at their new school

All things we are very grateful for.

We also attended a meeting of church planting organizations.

Did you know?

There are 7 billion people in the world.
There are only 2 billion people who identify as Christians.
There are 5 billion left to reach.
There are currently 5 million churches in the world.

The Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (or GACX), is trusting the Lord to help start at least 5 million new multiplying biblical churches and faith communities, covering every neighborhood, village, high-rise and digital community in the entire world. We believe God is calling the body of Christ to do this by 2020.

As we receive reports from all over the world of the impact of these partnerships in planting more churches, won’t you praise the Lord with us and continue to pray for continued wisdom, unity and impact.

You can learn more about GACX here.

Dr. Bekele Shanko, VP for Global Church Movements shares about Campus Crusade's role in GACX — Dr. Bekele Shanko, VP for Global Church Movements shares about Campus Crusade’s role in GACX

These are exciting days as we see the Lord work in special ways to unite Christians to work together for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Thank you for joining us in this great task.

A New Academic Year Starts

Today, 15 August, our 10-week school holiday ends. The children are reluctantly looking forward to the new school year as they start a new school and a new curriculum.

Here are a few snapshots from our summer:

Thank you for your prayers for our Global Leaders Conference (26 June- 1 July). Our meetings went well and our leaders left Orlando encouraged and better equipped to lead our missionaries in their quest to see the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Marie had a wonderful visit in South Africa with her Mom and siblings. The last time they were all together was February 2013. What a treat to celebrate their Mom’s 70th birthday together.

While Marie was away, we joined co-workers at their cabin in North Carolina. It was a wonderful break from the Orlando heat and humidity. The lowlight was that Kenneth broke his leg by colliding into an unsuspecting tree from a rope swing. After getting a screw in his leg he is recovering well. Please pray for his complete healing.

We appreciate your prayers as we start the new academic year. After the slower pace of summer, we are back in full swing. We look forward to a fruitful year as we try to bring the Good News to a lost and hurting world.

Requests and Reunions

10 million multiplying disciples by the year 2020!

We are starting with very strategic meetings with 250 global leaders today (24 June) here in Orlando. The main agenda of our meetings will be to discuss the shifts required to enhance our efforts toward this goal.

We would covet your prayers for:

The safe arrival of all our leaders.
The Lord’s guidance and wisdom as we discuss the shifts needed.
The city of Orlando that is still reeling under the tragic events from the shooting on June 12th.

Following the meetings, Marie has a quick visit to South Africa to celebrate her Mom’s 70th birthday. All 5 the siblings will be in South Africa for the event, so this is a big treat.

Please pray for:

Safe travels for Marie (she has an interesting itinerary because we used airline miles)
Stefan and the children as they fend for themselves.
A big reunion and celebration for the Ferreira family.

For fun here is a link to a few photo’s of interesting postbox’s here in America

#PrayForOrlando

On Sunday morning we awoke to the horror of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Right here in our back yard!

Orlando, the tourist capital of the U.S is such a warm, welcoming community. It makes this tragedy even harder to comprehend. Today we have felt and witnessed a profound sorrow for the lives taken by this unjust act of violence.

Our prayer since Sunday morning has been, “Lord, what would you have us do?” Continue to pray with us for guidance from the Lord. Here is what we already know:

Walk closely with the Lord
As we seek to love in word and deed, we are to be sensitive and yielded to the Holy Spirit.

Pray
“Bring your presence to bear, Lord Jesus, by your Spirit and through your people. May your servants weep with those who weep and wail with those who wail. Extend your tear wiping hand—reach into this great tragedy with an even greater grace.” – by Scotty Smith

Serve
In the days ahead we will look for opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus. City officials have established an online form for volunteers. We’ll hear more soon. In the meantime there are some basic acts of service we and our co-workers will pursue, including to:

Give blood.
Provide meals for caregivers and counselors.
Offer water and sunscreen to mourners, city workers and others standing in the sun.
Provide financial assistance to families of the victims where appropriately needed.
Join churches in making care packages for families that are staying with their injured members in hospital.
Offer grace and encouragement as we pray with all who are willing.

So often, tragedy make you pause and evaluate your priorities in life. Please pray with us for many opportunities to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to our grieving community.

We appreciate your love, concern and prayers for us and for Orlando.

The flags outside our local High School today

10 Things You Might Not Know

Here are 10 things you might not know:

Our ministry is now on over 5,000 campuses worldwide.
At our head office, there’s a wall dedicated to staff members who lost their lives sharing the gospel.
Every year we renew our missionary vows which read in part: “I affirm that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God and willingly submit to the authority of God’s Word; By the power of the Holy Spirit, I commit to living a life of repentance and faith; I commit my time, talent, gifts, and resources to help fulfill the Great Commission for the glory of God.”
Our President, Steve Douglass, is a graduate of Harvard Business School. He directs any honorariums and royalties from his many books to the ministry. And like us, he raises his own support.
We serve alongside 17,500 staff in 190 countries.
Every year our staff worldwide dedicate the last Tuesday in April and the first Tuesday in October to prayer.
This is our 22nd year with the ministry.
In September the ministry will be 65 year old.
Our ministry partners with more than 1,500 denominations and missionary organizations around the world to spread the gospel.
The Jesus film has been translated into over 1,400 languages. It holds the world record for the most viewed and most translated film in history.

This month Marie traveled to Minneapolis to attend a workshop to help her with creating content for some of our global websites. You can see a few photos taken in the beautiful “Twin City” here.

Thank you for partnering with us as we work towards the fulfillment of the Great Commission.