We have some fun news:  we are getting teammates soon!  Since Magezi Ministries was birthed in 2014, we have not had local Western teammates.  We still had American missionary friends in Johannesburg that we would connect with, but the majority of our need for friendships and community was filled by African friends who became like family.  A couple months ago, we were approached by a Canadian family who are interested in joining us for two years of ministry in Bethlehem.  We “met” them over zoom calls and we’ve enjoyed getting to know them through multiple more zoom calls and through hundreds of texts.  They are a family of 8 and have experience in Children’s Ministry and in Social Work and we believe they will be an excellent match for the open doors with student ministry and orphan care we currently have in Bethlehem.  They are crushing their support raising goals, they are currently applying for their visa, and they expect to join us here in early in 2023. We are thrilled!  We have already found a home for them to rent and it is a beautiful, big farmhouse directly across the street from us.  We are helping to find things to furnish their house and source a vehicle for them to buy in the next couple weeks.  Last week we planted a massive garden at their house because they had a perfect garden bed already sorted on the property.  Please will you add your prayers to ours for favor in their visa process, for the rest of the finances to come through, and for a smooth transition to a new culture for them.  
 
This week Dan is helping with sound and lights for a drama production at the church – it is incredibly well written and produced by several very talented sisters in our congregation.  We pray that many hearts will be touched and turned to the Lord through the Friday and Saturday performances.
 
My favorite holiday has always been Thanksgiving and we have been blessed to have a Thanksgiving meal with friends every year we have lived overseas.  This year is no exception!  We have invited a whole lot of people to join us and we are expecting between 60-100 for dinner.  We will cook a couple of turkeys, but will probably cheat a little with roast chickens (easier!).  Everyone will bring side dishes to share so the cooking will be minimal and we can focus on talking about God’s faithfulness to us this year and the things we are thankful for.  We are really looking forward to this!!  Thanksgiving Day is extremely close to the last day of school for the year so it is a perfect opportunity to reconnect and be thankful together before everyone goes their separate ways for summer vacation and Christmas.
 
Next week Sunday, our connect group will skip church and go to the local Children’s Home (orphanage) to host a Sunday School lesson and to connect with the orphans for a couple hours.  For 6+ years, our church has sponsored the Sotho boys home called Karee.   Rather than only sending money, our church family has been invested in getting to know the kids that live there by sponsoring them for camp, painting their home, doing devotions for the house mamas weekly, helping them learn to read, and now with having a special church service for them (and the Sotho girls home next door) monthly.  We are having fun planning and look forward to what God will do.  There should be approximately 30 kids – a fun challenge!
 
Dan’s weekly freedom course called Align is going strong and we look forward to having all the members to our home for a year-end braai (BBQ) soon.  There have been some incredible breakthroughs for several people and there are many more we are still praying for.  We are so thankful to be here for such a time as this to help and love.
 
We hosted a worship night at our home yesterday and it was a tremendous blessing to have everyone together and the peace in the atmosphere and awe of the Lord was tangible.  This past week has been filled with life giving conversations, significant breakthroughs, identity unlocked, trauma released, spiritual warfare understanding and much much more.  We are so thankful to the Lord to be here for such a time as this.
 
 
Our annual summer Youth Adventure Camp called G300 is coming up soon too!  We are happy to help coordinate it again and Dan is helping to rebuild the obstacle course in the next couple weeks.  It will be from Dec 10-14 so Miesha will celebrate her 15^th birthday at camp this year. 
 
Rainy season is definitely here – we’ve had rainstorms almost every day for weeks now.  Last Wednesday was a lovely dry and sunny day, so we took the day off of homeschooling and went and had lunch together at a lovely old farmhouse called Noah’s Cheese.  We had a stunning view of Mt Ararat while we ate.  (truly, that is the name of the rock!!). Two days later, the local dam and the Jordan River in town flooded and caused some significant damage to the roads and many businesses.  In some places the flowing river water was over three blocks wide and around 2 feet deep.  We are up the hill and weren’t impacted by the river, but we also had a hectic amount of rain and the dam uphill from us was overflowing too.  Our guest room flooded for the third time, and we are a bit soggy, but overall we are fine.  
 
We pray the Lord will bless your Thanksgiving gatherings and give you peace and joy this holiday season.  

Sending lots of love from soggy South Africa, 
Dan, Janell, Miesha and Titus