Category: Marie

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

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!

Slow but Steady

13 09 01 Fuel

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:

  1. God’s calling that is confirmed every day.
  2. 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:

  1. The mortgage application to be successful.
  2. The children as they learn the new system at school. It had a few surprises.
  3. 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

Modern Missions…

Hudson Taylor sailed to China.
William Carey sailed to India.
The Dells flew to Orlando.

As we reflected on how different our lives are to the “Fathers of Modern Missions” we have much to celebrate this first month as missionaries serving away from home:

  1. We have Skype – not a single week has gone by without connecting with our families and we can see & hear them. Contrast that with sending a letter by ship.
  2. We have email/whatsapp/sms – instant communications with our partners
  3. No language barriers (although it would help if we could speak Spanish)
  4. GPS & Google Maps!
  5. Google – to search for information about our drivers test, insurance quotes and the stationary needs for our children at school. Everything available on the internet.

What we have in common with Hudson and William:

  1.  A deep commitment to see people come to know Jesus – seeing how technology is helping people hear about Jesus, thrills us
  2. Missing our friends & family at home
  3. Faithful partners that pray for us and remember our financial needs
  4. Stress as we learn to adjust to our new country and culture

Driving Signals

Driving on the other side of the road requires training.

Pray with us for:

  1. Our drivers licence test on Monday, 19 August
  2. Kenneth & Monica start school on Monday, 19 August
  3. Finalisation of our home purchase
  4. Wisdom for Stefan as he takes on his new role. He is flying to San Diego today (15 Aug) for meetings regarding mobile phone training for pastors.

Do you have a home yet?

The House

Many of you have been asking, “What is happening with your house?” so here is a quick update.

  1. Our Social Security numbers were available on Wednesday morning – only 3 days after we applied. Most American’s say it is an incredible miracle! We KNOW you prayed for it.
  2. Having Social Security Numbers, and being foreigners confused the Mortgage companies and they didn’t quite know how to proceed with our mortgage application. Two finally got it figured out, so pray that we will get a good interest rate etc.
  3. Our offer for purchase was accepted on Friday.
  4. Pending the final mortgage approval we should be able to move into our home by the end of August. Pray for every person involved in the approval process – especially for Roxanne & Michael.
  5. You can see pictures of the house here and some Maps

It is easy to feel overwhelmed with all these details (and many more, like studying for our drivers licences :-)) but in it all we are experiencing the Lord’s presence and peace. We know your prayers are vital to our survival. Thank you!