Accidents happen

1 AccidentPack. Unpack. Pack. Unpack.

This characterized Stefan’s past four weeks. He traveled to Turkey, the Middle East, Thailand and Singapore.

While visiting, helping and learning from our different teams of co-workers, he also had the privilege of hearing stories about what God is doing. For example:  One campus team in East Asia discovered there were 67 universities in their city. Their hearts broke for all the unengaged students outside their current reach. So by faith, they broadened their scope.

The team went out and bought several motorbikes, and divided up the city: each team member took responsibility for around 10 campuses. They began zooming around town, exploring campuses, sharing the gospel, and praying the Lord would raise up key volunteers on every campus.

By the end of the first year, they’d personally visited 55 campuses. They surfaced 24 key volunteers who began to share their faith and follow up others until nearly 180 students across the city were involved….and none of those 180 had ever met the original team!

Family News:

Marie was in a car accident, and though the vehicle was written off, we are grateful that she escaped with only bruises and burns from the airbags. Our church family and co-workers stepped in to help while Stefan was away and we felt loved and cared for.

Prayer Requests:

  1. Thank the Lord for Stefan’s traveling mercies and for protecting Marie during the car accident.
  2. Pray for wisdom and creativity as we work on different projects that will help our co-workers in their service to the Lord.
  3. Pray for Stefan as he hosts a Global Technology Leaders’ Conference in South Africa from 5-11 March. Pray for the safety of the 50 participants that will join him there.
  4. Pray for a good second-hand vehicle at a reasonable price to replace our destroyed one.

Thank you for enabling us to be involved in serving our missionaries around the globe!

Some Recent photo’s

Dell Highlights and Lowlights of 2014

IMG-20141122-WA0001We are grateful to the Lord and you our faithful partners for another year of service in His harvest field. Thank you!

Highlights of 2014

  1. Kenneth and Monica are doing very well at school.
  2.  40 young people from a multitude of countries, who work at Disney, attended our American “Thanksgiving” outreach. 28 indicated that they would like to have further spiritual conversations after hearing the Gospel.
  3. One of our neighbours accepted Jesus and we are building relationships with several others. Many are from other countries and despite some language barriers, it has been an exciting adventure.
  4. The impact of our work on the lives of our missionaries as they use tools and resources our teams develop.
  5. Your faithful prayer and financial support that enable us to see lives changed around the world.
  6. Marie’s mom spend the month of November with us – what a treat!

Lowlights of 2014

  1. We miss “our” people and country, despite many great visits.
  2. The death of our neighbour across the street. We found him unconscious and did CPR until the paramedics arrived. The whole “911” experience was hard but bonded us with the widow.
  3. Four of our South African missionary friends died as martyrs this year (they were serving with other organizations).
  4. Feeling the urgency of a ripe harvest, and insufficient harvesters and resources to collect it.

May you be touched by the significance of the birth of Jesus this Christmas.

We are praying that during 2015 you will experience the Lord in new ways and will be very aware of His guidance, presence and peace.

Merry Christmas!
The Dells

Jesus Appears in a Dream

Local Disney

Eleven weeks of school holiday flew past in a jiffy and our children started school again. Not being the new kid on the block made a big difference to Monica but Kenneth had to repeat the experience as he started Middle school (for Grade 6 – 8). You can pray for him as he settles and stands strong against the temptations that comes with this age group.

One of Marie’s joys is to collect stories from around the world of what God is doing through Campus Crusade.  Here is just one of the stories – this one from our colleagues in North Africa:

“Anna is a teenager living in North Africa and had been repeatedly sexually abused as she was growing up—even by supposedly devout men of her religion. She sought advice and comfort from a religious leader of her faith but received no satisfying answers.

About that time she passed by a house with a small sign which said, “Jesus is love.” Shortly after that, Anna failed a critical test at school and had thoughts of suicide. With nowhere else to turn she cried out, “Reveal yourself to me, ‘Jesus of love.’

Well, Jesus did appear to her in a dream and said to Anna: “Accept Me as your Lord and Savior.”

She immediately went back to the home with the sign about Jesus. They gave her a DVD called “Magdalena”—a version of Campus Crusade’s the JESUS film on the life of Christ. “Magdalena” presents the story of Jesus as seen through the lenses of women. Anna watched it three times, responded to Christ, and couldn’t stop crying for two days.

Transformed, she led her mother and sister to the Lord. She played the DVD for her fellow students, and in just one week 25 students came to Christ.

She is now a first-year student in university and leads a group of 30 women on her campus. These women are boldly telling others that Jesus is love.”

In the midst of all the reports of evil in our world, it is great to hear how God is working. Praise Him for His life-changing power. Continue to pray for mighty breakthroughs as our staff and disciples minister all across the world and thank Him for your part in it.

P.S. See our latest photos here.

Hooray – One Year Today

Coke BearOne year ago today, at the O.R. Tambo International Airport we waved goodbye to our family and started the adventure of serving as missionaries outside our home country. We bravely stepped onto the airplane, certain that we were answering God’s call.

A year later, we are even more convinced of His calling and look back at the year with gratefulness to Him and to our partners.

Reflecting on the year, here are the highs and the lows of our experiences:

The Highs:

  1. Experiencing the Lord’s provision at a new level, despite the weakening Rand.
  2. Being used by God at the Global Headquarters as we join with others in seeing the Great Commission being fulfilled.
  3. Being the first people on our street and welcoming all our neighbours as their homes are completed.
  4. Our new friends and church.
  5. Seeing our children grow in leadership and wisdom despite the challenge of “being different”.
  6. Experiencing so many new and exciting places, foods, cultures and people.

The Lows:

  1. Missing our family and friends.
  2. The cost of living is much higher here.
  3. Language barriers – we wish we could speak Spanish.
  4. Witnessing the universal sinfulness of humankind – you cannot escape crime, poverty and abuse.

To God belongs all the glory for the privilege to serve Him!

Meet Moonshadow

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We are well but would appreciate your prayers for the following:
  1. Stefan will be in Korea and Hong Kong from 4-13 April. Please pray for safe travels and fruitful interactions as he learns how to serve our staff members in that region.
  2. Marie will be attending an “Old Testament Survey” course next week (7-11 April). Pray that she will learn a lot while juggling all her responsibilities.
  3. Kenneth and Monica are writing important State-wide Math, Reading and Science exams on 14 & 15 April. The grading influence many things so they are under pressure to perform well. Pray that they have clear minds and peace during the exams.
  4. Stefan’s mother, Lynne, is currently in hospital with various health struggles. Please pray for her and the health workers.
Meet Moonshadow – our adopted tom cat! Here in America the rules for keeping a pet are different, but we are learning fast. Since his arrival on Sunday, he had brought us lots of joy.
IMG_20140401_081758
We appreciate you prayers!

Mariés Role

Kenneth Bday

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:

  1. Wisdom as we use various technologies, platforms and channels to connect with the potential 10 million multiplying disciples
  2. Stefan’s team, as they continue to bring innovative technologies to our leaders
  3. 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

Monica Class

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

Home Sweet Home

1 House

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

House SigningAt 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