Stefan and Marie Dell

Looking Back on 2022

Merry Christmas!

It has been our privilege to partner with you as we serve the Lord in His harvest field. Your prayers and financial support have been invaluable in this adventure.

As the year comes to an end, here are a few highlights and lowlights of 2022:

Highlights:

Seeing the Lord build His church even under challenging circumstances. For example, Stefan has just returned from the Netherlands, where he visited some church planters. A young Ukrainian couple he met started a bible study with 10 people and it is now regularly attended by 150 refugees. God is building His church!
Partnerships among Christians from different organizations and denominations is at an all-time high. Shoulder-to-shoulder, Christians are doing everything they can to see the gospel go to the ends of the earth.
Our family visit to South Africa was our best visit ever!
We celebrated 25 years of marriage.
Each family member celebrated some milestone – from learning to scuba dive and visiting a place on Marie’s bucket list for 30 years.

Lowlights:

It was a rough year to renew passports and apply for visas. There were many obstacles and nail-biting moments to get the right documents in time.
The death of our former president and friend, Steve Douglass, was a shock. He regularly checked in to pray for and encouraged us. We miss him.
Moonshadow, our cat, disappeared in May. A neighbor also lost a cat, so we speculate that a coyote was in the area at that time.
A South Asian country, where Stefan connected a lot in the past, has seen increased hostility towards Christians and even new laws that restrict the work of our missionaries and church planters. It is discouraging and hard for our workers there.

Thank you for standing with us through the highs and the lows of 2022! We look forward to what the Lord has in store for 2023.

Blessings

Stefan & Marie

Thanksgiving This Year!

Thanksgiving is our favourite American holiday to celebrate. It is always on the forth Thursday in November.

The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

A pumpkin patch – typical for this time of the year

Here are a few things we give thanks for:

Our marriage – this month we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary!
Our good health – several of our friends have recently been diagnosed with illnesses, some terminal, so we are very aware of this gift.
Our children are happy and fulfilled in their current phase of life—Kenneth at university and Monica in her matric (final year of high school) year.
The completion of the her.BIBLE audio bible in women’s voices! The 34 readers represent 18 ethnicities from 10 different countries. It was a huge task, but we are so grateful to see people downloading the app or listening to it via the YouVersion Bible app.
Church expansion – churches are planted in places previously without churches. Even though the communities are small, their presence is a testimony of God’s hand over the church through the ages.
The godly missionary leaders we have the privilege to serve. Last week, the former president of Campus Crusade for Christ, Steve Douglass,died due to complications with cancer. He was a mentor to Marie and a prayer partner. We are grateful for the years we could work closely with him and learn from him.
You! Our partners who stand with us, back us up in prayer and enable us to serve the Lord, you continue to be one of our the biggest blessings.

Prayer Requests:

Praise the Lord for our 25 years of marriage.
Pray for our Campus Crusade for Christ family and Steve’s family as we mourn his passing.
Pray for Stefan and our global church planting leaders who will be meeting 14-18 November in Colorado

Yours in Christ,

The Dells

Here is a brief update since hurricane Ian passed through Central Florida. The storm changed course and went further to the south before going out into the Atlantic earlier today. So, Orlando was spared from the highest winds and rainfall amounts. We had over a foot (12 inches) of rain in one day, a new record for Central Florida.

We have friends and colleagues who have had major flooding. Thankfully, we did not have any. We did not lose power, and city water was never interrupted. Besides three uprooted trees, we have no significant damage in our house or around the garden.

Overall, we feel very blessed compared to the flooding still occurring all over Central Florida.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers! Continue to pray for those still in the path of hurricane Ian and all the cleaning-up operations.

Dells, Are You Okay?

We are in the path of Hurricane Ian. In one prediction, shown above, we are smack in the middle of the potential course (see the blue dot). While Ian is a strong storm at the moment, the forecast seems to have it calm down a little by the time it reaches us.

Stefan and I have returned from our meetings in Turkey, and Kenneth is home from university, so we are glad we can be together as a family during this storm.

We have done what we could to prepare our home for this hurricane, and now we are praying for the storm to weaken and for God’s protection.

Please join us in prayer:

Pray for the hurricane to weaken.
Pray for God’s protection of our brothers and sisters who are affected by this storm.
Give thanks for the Lord’s guidance and fruitful meetings in Turkey.

On a lighter note – enjoy these decorations created by the housekeeping team at our hotel in Turkey.

4 Things To Pray For

This week, Stefan meets with church planters from Europe as they gather in Turkey for mutual encouragement and to learn from each other. In some places, the “soil” can be very hard, so they trust the Lord for new ideas and ways to connect with people in societies where they often question the relevance of the church.

In addition, the ongoing Ukrainian war and the refugees are creating opportunities for the church to show the love of the Lord. Believers have done a lot already, but coordinated efforts can enhance this even more. Pray that this gathering will help make those connections stronger.

In Africa, the coordinated efforts of our church planters in 36 countries during May resulted in great fruit.

256 trainings took place, equipping 22,357 people for church planting.
1,672 (676 new churches and 996 groups were planted)
863,145 people heard the Gospel of Jesus
101,566 people prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord.

Each of these numbers represents a person that the Lord touched. There are many stories, but let us share this one from Guinea-Bissau. In one of the villages, a young lady who suddenly went dumb and lame in both legs six months earlier started to talk after one of our church planters ministered to her. She responded to the prayer of faith to the astonishment of everyone. As a result of this miracle, 20 churches were planted in that area.

We praise the Lord for what He is doing and how He continues to draw people to Himself. Thank you for joining us in making Him known.

Prayer Requests:

Praise the Lord for His provision for our passports. Stefan, Marie, and Kenneth received new passports, and each passport has a miracle story as there were many complications in getting it.
For the European church planters to be refreshed and inspired as they meet in Turkey.
Next week, Marie will also travel to Turkey for meetings with the Global Executive Team. She is coordinating their program and will also facilitate two sessions. Pray for wisdom, insight and stamina for our leaders.
Monica is starting to submit her university applications. Pray that the Lord will show her where He wants her to attend and reveal what He wants her to study.

Your Story Can Count

On our last Friday in South Africa, our youth pastor allowed us to share with 45 young people how effective their testimonies are to help others find Jesus.

Many Christians think they need theological or evangelism training before sharing about Jesus. But we all have a story of our lives before we became Christians, how we became Christians, and what our lives look like now (after receiving Christ).

While the young people were practicing their stories in pairs, we prayed for them to have many opportunities to tell their testimonies in the future.

One of the youth leaders reported that his sharing buddy confessed that he had not yet become a Christian but was moving closer to making that decision. We prayed for that young man to take that vital step.

Back In Orlando

We returned to Orlando with our hearts filled with African love and memories. A particular highlight was Marie’s sister from the UK, and her children, were also in South Africa. It was a sweet reunion for the Ferreira family. All the siblings were home for the first time in 6 years. We had precious times of fellowship and lots of “swallowship” – great braais and desserts!

We loved our time in South Africa and reconnecting with friends and family.

Prayer Requests:

Monica started her Matric year. Pray for stamina and guidance from the Lord as she starts applying to universities.
Kenneth continues his engineering studies. Pray for diligence.
Marie has two projects she is working on that are way out of her comfort zone. Pray for the Lord’s wisdom and creativity as she leads these projects.
Stefan has several people on his team with family members with health challenges. Pray for him to be a good ear and support to them.

Hello From Monica

“Thank you all for praying for my mission trip to Jeppes Reef earlier this month! Leaving on the trip and only knowing one person, was terrifying. But it was an amazing experience getting to know fellow young Christians and, on returning, counting them as friends.

The week-long trip provided an excellent chance for me to grow spiritually. We hosted a bible club for children from the community. It is unclear how well the kids received our message due to language barriers, but we saw many smiles of appreciation for the time we spent with them.

Handing out food and soap was a chance to show the faith James talks about in James 2:14-17. Please continue to pray that the seeds we planted will grow and that no one will mislead them with false teaching.

I hope Christ’s love does not get lost in our desire to be moral and ‘good’ people. Jesus died and loves us all, regardless of our sins.”

Prayer Requests:

Pray for the gospel seeds planted in the hearts of the children and young people in Jeppes Reef to germinate and grow.
Pray for me to continue to grow in my love for Jesus.
Pray that our last month in South Africa will go well. My aunt and cousins from England are also coming soon, so it will be a wonderful reunion.

Monica On Mission

Chapman’s Peak (not even the howling wind could stop us from admiring the view).

Greetings from South Africa!

We travelled the Garden Route to show our children the Cape coast’s beautiful sights and connect with some of you. We love catching up with people, hearing what God is doing in your lives, and sharing what we have seen God do in our lives and around the world. We are having a wonderful time. It is good for our souls to be back!

Monica is excited to join a youth mission trip with our Johannesburg church, Rosebank Union, this Sunday, 26 June – 3 July. They will travel to the Thembalethu Nkomazi Centre in Jeppes Reef, Mpumalanga, where they will host a children’s bible club and sports clinic and do maintenance projects around the centre.

Prayer Requests:

Pray for the group’s safe travels and that the Lord will prepare the hearts of those they minister to next week.
Pray that each participant will get to know and love Jesus more.
Pray that Monica will bond quickly with the group and make good friends with her fellow participants.

We recently heard this inspiring story from one of our elderly church planters in North Africa – he had preached at a church in the countryside where many people received Christ. As he headed home, the civil resistance group met him and accused him of being a traitor, working for the military. They were armed and forced him to walk 18 hours over mountains to their village, with no water till his feet were blistered and bleeding. On arriving there, he was thrown into prison. The other inmates asked him to preach, and many accepted Christ!

After his release, he praises God: “I had to walk 18 hours for those prisoners to hear the Gospel!”

May we all have the same attitude as this dear man!

Thank you for your partnership with us.

We’re Coming Home!

There is great excitement in the Dell household! We are coming to South Africa at the end of May. We can’t wait! Since our last visit, it has been a long three years, so we are excited to reconnect with you and our family.

Here is our tentative plan:

26 – 31 May: Johannesburg

1 – 18 June: Colesberg, Garden Route and Cape Town

19 June – 17 July: Gauteng

18 – 31 July: Vaal Triangle

1- 7 August: Johannesburg

You can contact us via email or WhatsApp.

We are looking forward to our South African trip.

Meet Bekele:

Recently, Marie hosted a Zoom webinar for American ministry partners who have significantly funded ministry opportunities around the world. Since one of her guests was Dr. Bekele Shanko, our Vice-president for Global Church Movements and Stefan’s boss, we thought you would love to hear what God is doing in the church planting world. If you don’t have time to watch the 30-minute video, you can find Bekele’s part at the 17:30 minute marker.

Please Pray:

For Kenneth’s passport renewal process to be completed speedily. He is already in South Africa and had to travel on a temporary document due to various delays. He is returning to the USA in mid-June to start his semester early.
For all the logistics of our trip to fall into place.
For safe travels to and in South Africa.
For our team members who are covering our responsibilities while we are traveling.

Good News and a Prayer Need

We wish you a very special Easter. We trust that you were able to reflect yesterday on the death of Jesus and what it means for us as believers. The words of Jesus on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” from Mark 15:34 reminded us that because He was forsaken, we never have to experience that! What an incredible comfort it is that God said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 15:5b)

This weekend, all around the world, Christians have a unique opportunity to tell the story of Jesus. We are already receiving reports of how God is touching people’s hearts through various outreach programs our missionaries have planned.

Would you please join us in praying that many will come to know Jesus this weekend?

We received this heartwarming video from our ministry in India that they produced with a partner ministry to serve as a spiritual conversation starter. We sent the English version to our Indian neighbor, who responded very positively. Maybe you can also send it to someone you know. Watch it in any of the 11 languages.