October has already been packed full of travel and ministry for our family.  We went to two conferences back to back in the Gauteng province and then had the joy of hosting our dear friends from Zambia Daniel and Nelly Lilema for almost a week as they rested with us.  (see picture at the top of the page) We are making some big plans for outreach into Zambia next year – stay tuned!!

This past week, we had the joy of hosting the 21 interns from Impact Africa and their leaders.  The team did amazing as they shared the love of God in many areas near Bethlehem.  As the team’s testimonies continue to come in, I’ll share them in future newsletters.  There are loads and loads of photos.  The students included me in their Photo Circle app and there are approximately 1,600 pictures of our week together.  (It makes me feel old!)  

We were out in the communities or traveling approximately 10-12 hours a day (my fault, I made the schedule!) and they did a brilliant job connecting to people of all ages from very diverse backgrounds and cultures. 

We went to private schools and government schools, to youth groups, to an addiction recovery group, to the children’s home, to pray for the sick at the hospital, to pray on a mountain where a lot of witchcraft is done, to the prison, to several impoverished communities and to middle class areas, to church, worship nights, and to a ladies Bible study.  We also managed to squeeze in a hike to see Bushman paintings on a nearby farm, to picnic in the gorgeous nature reserve of Golden Gate National Park, to visit the touristy town of Clarens, and to hike up to a cave and vista on our landlord’s farm.  They also sampled some traditional food from several cultures. It was a wonderful, busy week together!  

Some of the places and ministries were new to Dan and I.  We deeply appreciate the leaders from Bambalela and YWAM Bethlehem and several friends from church who helped coordinate the ministry for the team and for letting us join in their ministries to serve alongside them.  We look forward to doing some follow up in the weeks and months to come.  

Having a team in town allows us to go further and deeper into a community than if it was us alone ministering.  One of the leaders said that the team allowed him a little extra time to rest this week.  Wonderful!!  We try to be careful to have people in place for each of these areas for follow up.  

We were asking God for salvations and He answered!  We were investing into New Horizon College for the two years we lived on the property and did a lot of counseling andmentoring of students and a few staff members.  Just a couple months before we returned to the states for a year, we began a youth ministry on Saturdays for the older students who live in the dormitories there.  We started with grades 8-12 and had an instant youth group of 120 students!  We realized we were going to need a team helping us and were so thankful for Ernest and Rebecca Fynn, who are also missionaries in Bethlehem, who led the ministry for this past year with the help of some YWAM interns and a few others from church.  

We were given an hour with the 300 students in grades 4-7 and had a great time together.  The team brought some upbeat songs and dances and then shared a gospel message andsome testimonies.  When the invitation for salvation was given, approximately 60 students raised their hands.  We are thrilled!!  We plan on getting back on campus soon to do more follow up.  There is an awesome video on our Facebook page of the kids dancing in their yellow and blue uniforms.  So much joy and energy!!

Actually, feel free to jump on to our Instagram or Facebook pages – I’ve been posting dozens and dozens of pictures.  (Not all 1,600!!)  It will help you to understand our ministry here and the circumstances people here are facing by watching a few of the videos.  You can get to them through the links above.  

Thank you for your prayers for us!  I had been sick for three weeks with a throat/laryngitis thing and I’m so thankful my voice came back in time for the ministry week.  Several team members also caught a tummy bug at the end of the week.  (SOOOO much vomit)  The weather is changing so it could partially be that, but we also think spiritual warfare is alive and well and we have an enemy who didn’t like all the kingdom advances that were made last week.  Thank you for your prayers for our health and protection.

If you would like to come to minister with us on a team in the future, please let us know.  We are planning on more local outreaches like we did this past week and also outreaches into the countries of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Lesotho in 2025.   

With joy,
Dan and Janell