The last several weeks have been some of our fullest of 2022, but we are so thankful to the Lord for all the opportunities we’ve had and for the Zambian team who lived and ministered with us.

Meet the team:
Daniel Lilema, Chapman Zambara, Bornwell Daka, Francis Shumba, and Trinity Muleya. We have known Pastor Daniel for 13+ years and have done evangelism and bush ministry with most of leadership team in the past. It was a delight to host them in Bethlehem and to introduce them to some of our favorite people and places here. We hope that there will be a connection with our new ministry partners in Bethlehem and with our ministry partners in Zambia for future outreaches.

From the very first day, there was a theme of “discipleship” that came forward and it was fun to see how the Lord wove this topic through many ministry outreach events and conversations.

We were blessed to have the opportunity for student ministry next door at New Horizon College and Chapman gave a brilliant message to the 800+ learners through a megaphone because the electricity was off during the assembly time.

There was also prison ministry, orphan discipleship, midweek church ministry to the poor, devotions at an old age home, sharing at the connect groups, and more children’s ministry. We also encouraged and blessed the local staff of YWAM who let us partner with them for various outreaches. It is important to us to know that there will be follow up and discipleship for the people we are leading to the Lord and encouraging at these events.

Three people received salvation at the mid-day church service – thank you Lord! Several people who our team prayed for were instantly healed of pain in their bodies – glory!

While it was amazing to serve Bethlehem in these various venues, I think most of the big shifts for both the Zambian team and our family came through conversations together and with just “doing life”.

We also prioritized time for reflection and rest. These pastors work very hard, most are bi-vocational and farm or have another job in addition to pastoring. They took daily walks, we took them hiking, and did some sightseeing together in the Golden Gate National Park. We really, really enjoyed our time together.

The insane gift we got halfway through our week was a butchered lamb. We love lamb meat and a very special family had a huge bag of meat delivered to us one morning. We braaied it (BBQ) for dinner that night and invited several extra couples to join us. IT WAS DELICIOUS!

Dan drove the team back to Johannesburg (3 hours one way), then came back to Bethlehem to teach his Align class, then returned to Johannesburg for Spring Conference. He loved the teachings and getting to see friends from all the different places we have ministered in the last 15 years. It was one of the biggest church get togethers post COVID and the time together was a big blessing.

Discipleship Camp for the Orphans
Two days before the Zambians arrived, our youth pastor Etienne hosted a camp for the 30 orphan kids who have been going through the weekly discipleship course called Alpha. The weekend camp focused on teaching the students how to live in Victory and how to do life in partnership with the Holy Spirit. There were significant breakthroughs for several kids and extra big smiles on Sunday. Our church sponsors one of the homes on the orphanage property and we invited 29 children to come have a picnic with us after church and they LOVED the slip and slide and bouncy house. It changes the dynamics of a Sunday morning to have 60 extra orphan kids attending services, but it was SO GOOD! One of our Magezi donors gave a generous gift that covered the cost of the whole camp!

The week prior, our family had the lady who runs the orphanage and her husband over for dinner. We had such a nice evening getting to know them better and they are significant influencers for students in this town. It was fun to encourage them and bless them “just because”.

Leiken and Chanelle W moved to Bethlehem the same day the Zambians arrived and we have been busy helping them find a place to live and helping them find work. We are looking forward to mentoring them in ministry moving forward and are so thankful they are here!

Vehicle Fundraising Update
In our last newsletter, we mentioned that we need help with finances to purchase a newer vehicle to replace our aging truck. We are thrilled to say that between what the insurance company paid me for my totaled Honda and some very generous donors, we are already have around 2/3rds of what we need in two weeks. This is amazing – we are so encouraged! If you are able to give a one-time gift towards our vehicle fund, you can do so with the DONATE link below and please put “vehicle fund” in the memo line. We hope to be able to have what we need to buy another vehicle by the end of the month. Thank you!

Lastly, we asked for prayer for some of those pesky challenges we were facing and we have seen some fun answers! The power hasn’t tripped for days, load shedding has ended as of today, and our water has been steady for the past two weeks. The part that Dan made for the truck is still working – yay! Remember how there were lots of slugs because of the hole in our floor? There was one in my bed this week!!!! I am still laughing about it, it surprised me sooooo much.

May God richly bless you and may you be encouraged by all God is doing in our area.

With joy,
Janell and Dan