Stefan

Collaboration

“Collaboration – the act of working with others on a joint project and shared goals”

Getting together with the technology leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ from around the world is always exciting. We get to see the great things that God is doing in other parts of the world and how similar our challenges are. Solving common problems together through collaboration has been a joy of our bi-annual “Global Technology Leaders” (GTL) meeting. I now have friends from all corners of the world because we have been able to solve problems together. These solutions have been helpful far beyond the specific area that first raised the need.

I am busy preparing to go to Manila, Philippines 20 February-4 March, for our next GTL meeting. The focus of this specific meeting will be “Leading as a Technologist.” Please be in prayer for our speaker Steve Bissell, and the leaders and participants:

Oumar, JR, Gabe, Jerry, Joseph, Timothy, Doug, Mark, Elaine, Sebastian, Jess, Ricky, Kelly, Azat, Salam, Touhami, Marla, Henry, James, Nick, Walter, Matt, Erik, Moses, Bob, Suneerat, Tachit, Peter, Daniel, Harvey, Jon, Michael, Johnny, Ric, Caleb, Dennis, Josh, Dave, Daniel, Karin, Mark, Russ, Mike, Todd, Mike, Richard (Yes I know this is a long list of names, but they would appreciate your prayers.)

We are grateful for your prayers!

Stefan

We have posted some new Photos here

Mariés Role

We started 2014 with a lot more clarity than we did in 2013. Knowing where you live, work, go to school and church really helps. We are looking forward to a more settled year.

Marie is very excited. She took a few months to settle the family and discern what role God wanted her to fulfill in the Great Commission.

We at Campus Crusade for Christ are trusting God for 10 million multiplying disciples by 2020. We believe by reaching that goal, not only will the fulfillment of the Great Commission be possible – it will be inevitable!

As we work towards that goal, Marie will be part of the team that serves our President, Dr. Steve Douglass. Her focus is on communications. She is learning a lot about the best use of social media as we connect with our staff members and the many volunteers around the world.

Please pray for:

Wisdom as we use various technologies, platforms and channels to connect with the potential 10 million multiplying disciples
Stefan’s team, as they continue to bring innovative technologies to our leaders
Thank God for Kenneth – he turned 11 this month! (The photo shows his breakfast party)

Click here for a few recent photos of our lives.

Your Missionaries

Christmas in Orlando

13 12 Flag for Mandela — Flag Half Mast for Nelson Mandela at our Office

We are missing South Africa! It has been very real this past week with the passing of Tata Nelson Mandela and as we watch our friends on Facebook start their well deserved December holidays.

This Christmas season will be different for us. The school holiday is 20 December – 6 January but currently we are in the midst of tests, assignments and Christmas parties. We are looking forward to hosting dear friends from South Africa for five days over Christmas.

This year brought many changes for the Dell family. Some were hard and some were wonderful. We want to thank you for your support, prayers and encouragement as we followed God’s call. We are blessed to be in His service with you as our partners.

May you have a merry Christ-filled Christmas and may 2014 be a year of growth, grace and good health!

Your “missing you” friends,

Stefan, Marié, Kenneth & Monica

P.S. Click here to see how Christmas is celebrated in our neighbourhood!

Showing JESUS at School

Eighteen third grade faces watched me intently as I walked the tightrope of Chrisitianity in a public school. Once a year, parents have the opportunity to tell their child’s class about their job or hobby.

Monica’s teacher invited me to speak about South Africa, but I had another idea. I could speak about my work, and being a foreigner, I had an excuse to “not know all the rules.” I prayed for wisdom to use this unique opportunity.

Over the past 20 years we have been involved with the Jesus Film, and the most fascinating part is the translation of the film into other languages. The Jesus Film is available in 1,191 languages, and holds a world record for being the most translated film in history.

I titled my presentation “How film translations are made” and had a fun drama with a part for every child. I showed them a short clip from the “Jesus film for children” and then offered everyone a copy.

There were a few stressful moments because I sensed the teachers didn’t quite know how to handle the situation. But both Kenneth and Monica’s class loved it. Each child took a DVD afterwards and I specifically chose one that had 20 different languages on so that all the students with other home languages could enjoy it with their families.

Praise and Prayer

Praise the Lord for the opportunity to speak at the school and for Monica’s teacher who privately indicated to me that she is a Christian.
Pray that the 36 DVDs that were taken will be watched by many people.
Pray for Kenneth and Monica to be shining lights for Jesus. They were encouraged that some class mates also identified themselves as Christians after my presentation.
Christmas time can naturally lead to spiritual conversations. Pray for boldness to use these opportunities.

Missionary

Marié

#Indigitous

Indigitous (Indigenous + Digital) is a movement of Christians passionate about connecting people to Jesus using digital strategies and tools. I was privileged to be a part of the first conference in Waterloo, Canada last week where I met many people that are natives of the digital world. They are Indigitous! Here is a little video to introduce you to the idea.

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If you can not see the Video please view it HERE

Pray especially for the next Indigitous conference for Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama next week. Pray also for my co-worker, Miheret from Ethiopia as he prepares to host the Indigitous meeting for Africans in Addis Ababa from 7-11 May next year.

Home Sweet Home

A Poem from Marie

We say “Home Sweet Home” with gusto,
but recently I asked myself “Is that so?”
Signing our contract was a miracle form God,
being foreigners, living off the Rand, was such a slog.
But the Mighty, Faithful One came through,
He is always to be trusted through and through.

Unpacking was so bitter sweet,
Finding our things after 10 months was a treat.
But unpacking was also a reminder that we are staying,
We are not returning from vacation or playing.
Connected the cable, electricity and water,
we are now Floridians with our very own “gator”.

Every new furniture piece has a story,
a gift from God for His glory.
Our children are on cloud nine,
They now have rooms they can call “mine.”
We happily say “thank you for our Home Sweet Home,”
Knowing you prayed and gave and we were not alone.

Please go and see some of our latest Photos

House signed

At 9:15 pm we walked out of the Title Company Office, exhausted, overjoyed and homeowners! It has been a roller-coaster day. At 2 pm our mortgage was approved and we could get all the contracts signed this evening.

God worked so clearly that the estate agent asked about all the people praying. Thank you for being present through your prayers!

Tomorrow is another big day for us with our presentation at our Headquarters. We covet your prayers, especially since we are so tired. Pray that our testimony will bring others closer to Jesus.

Your Grateful Missionaries

House Problems – Continue to pray

We could not finalize the sale of our house Friday but hope to do it Monday afternoon (30 Sept.) at 4 pm. One reason is that we are awaiting a document from our bank in South Africa.

Please continue to pray for the underwriter as they conclude our mortgage application and for all the logistics surrounding the process. The time delay is putting strain on our contractual agreement.

We have experienced supernatural patience and peace throughout, and can only attribute it to your prayers for us. Thank you!

Rat Attack?

“From the interactions this week I have made more progress on my project than I’ve made in months!”

Someone commented after our time together in Budapest as technology leaders of Campus Crusade. It is so true that collaboration and inspiration from others spurs everyone on to greater heights for the Lord’s glory. Thank you for praying for meeting in Hungary.

Please pray for:

Continued progress in the many projects our team is working on for God’s glory.
Our Mortgage approval so that we can receive the keys on Friday (27 Sept.)
Wisdom and stamina for Stefan in a number of big meetings the next 10 days.
A presentation we, the Dells, are doing on Tuesday (1 Oct.) to all the Headquarters staff members about our journey of faith. We feel privileged to tell the story of God’s grace in our lives.

On a lighter note, we received Disney World tickets as a gift and it was everything and more than what we expected!

Mickey Mouse greetings!

Slow but Steady

Slow, but steady best describes our settling-in process thus far. And the word “queues” paints a picture of how I spent most of my time this past month. Every task to make us Floridians has required standing in a queue. The good news is that we now have driver’s licenses, insurance, license plates and registered vehicles. We have uploaded some new photos here.

Give thanks for:

God’s calling that is confirmed every day.
Our ongoing progress with our paperwork.

A big disappointment was that we could not move into our new home due to problems with the mortgage application. A new date for our move is now 26 September. Our colleagues, Keith and Kay, have been amazingly patient by allowing us to continue to stay with them.

Pray for:

The mortgage application to be successful.
The children as they learn the new system at school. It had a few surprises.
Stefan and his team will be in Budapest from 6-13 September for their twice-a-year Technology Leader’s meeting. This time of collaboration is strategic to help our missionaries spread the gospel.

Standing in the queues gave me extra time to pray for you and I thanked God for your part in enabling us to be here.

Your queuing missionary,

Marié