day 706: 15 days of prayer

DAY 3 Tuesday, March 18th: Religious Practices 

A great majority of Africans follow traditional religious practices such as the belief in an ongoing influence of their ancestors. Often, this involves praying & offering sacrifices to those ancestors, who they view as intermediaries between themselves & God. Visiting a witch doctor for healing & protection from curses is also common as there is an underlying inordinate, binding fear of evil spirits. As believers come to know Christ, these deeply rooted cultural norms are often difficult to forsake. “Jesus answered, ‘Watch out that no one deceives you.’” Matthew 24:4 “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” I John 4:4 Pray that as new believers grow in their faith, they learn to fully trust God’s Word alone. Pray for deliverance from fear & total dependence on God alone.

day 705: 15 days of PRAYer

DAY 2 Monday, March 17th: Culture

3 of the young men who attended camp last year & are attending again  

Although 36% of the Sub-Saharan population lives in an urban setting, traditional culture is still incredibly important throughout much of Africa. “After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9a Ask that believers be students of the Bible, so they will know which parts of their own culture to leave behind as they wholeheartedly follow Christ as Lord, not divided in heart & mind. Pray they will confront wrong thoughts & actions through Scripture & that cultural hindrances will be broken.

Day 704: 15 Days of Prayer to/thru Camp Begins!

The Lord has graciously opened the door this year for our 2nd annual Xhosa Student Christian Leadership Camp. 6 FUGE staffers from the US will be joining IMB missionaries in Cape Town, South Africa to work with approximately 60 Xhosa students from 3 different high schools across the city. Our theme for the week of March 24-28 is, “ROOTED & Built Up IN CHRIST” from Col. 3:6-7.

Would YOU join us on this 2-week journey of PRAYER leading up to & carrying throughout the week of camp? We expect & know God is going to do a mighty work!

DAY 1 Sunday, March 16th: The Privilege of Prayer

Jeremiah 32:26-27 says, “This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?’”

Imagine, we can petition the Lord of the universe, for whom nothing is too difficult. Will you call on Him today, on behalf of the Xhosa? May praying through these requests direct your heart toward His heart for the peoples of South Africa!

day 665: LONG OVERDUE VIDEO!!!

while those of you in the US are "enjoying" some wintry weather, on this side of the world we're soaking up the summer sun with temps in the 80s! the last 3 months have been hectic, but God has been so good! check it out & see how you can continue in PRAYer with us, too!

(if you're receiving this message via email, click HERE to watch the video)

day 557: purity & paint

we now have 2 weeks down & 4 to go in this, the last term of the school year. hard to believe! since this whole term is focused on HIV/AIDs, this past week we discussed God's good design, plan & purposes for sex - within the confines of marriage. this idea is a bit foreign to them. but, using a funny skit, we were able to communicate that when something is created for a good purpose & we misuse it - it can cause a lot of damage. this is true for anything in life...but especially where intimacy is concerned.

always an interesting split here with these grade 6 kiddos when s-e-x comes up: half have the expected, almost uncontrollable giggles. the other half sit with stone cold faces - evidence that they have potentially, in some way, directly or indirectly been affected/exposed to something they shouldn't have. it's a bit heart-breaking & it happens in every class, every week.

borrowing the idea from the True Love Waits curriculum, we took a poll in each class. out of 100 youth, how many will wait for marriage to have sex? at what age will girls/boys first have sex? by the time girls/boys are married, how many different people will they have had sex with? using their answers we then 'painted a picture' of how damaging a life lived in this way can be using a paper heart & a few learners' participation. we ended the lesson by storying around david's prayer in psalm 51. "create in me a PURE heart, oh God, & put a new & right spirit in me." writing this just after being confronted of his adultery with bathsheba & the murder of her husband, it's an open door & perfect opportunity to talk about someone who loved God, who sought hard after Him, BUT who made mistakes & sought His forgiveness & embraced a new heart. oh, how these kids connect to stories! would you join us in PRAYing God's Word takes root in these little ones' lives?

this weekend we had some fun running along the coast in a 5K Color Run here in cape town - said to be the "happiest 5K on the planet!" i may or may not still have yellow paint on my forehead that won't go away!! thanking Him for days like this - convinced more & more that laughter is truly good for the soul!

day 550: 56-day RECAP

yes - it's been 56 days since i've updated here...life has been CRAZY! it's overwhelming to sit down & attempt to articulate all that the Lord is doing. so here's a "brief," chronological fly-by (LOADED with pics to keep it interesting) of the last 2 months!! [if you're receiving this via email, the file size may be too large so check out the actual webpage link HERE!]

- our team leaders celebrated 25 years of marriage & were able to get away for a few weeks. we got to spend some time watching their girls, playing mom & dad, while continuing with ministry as well. great time of fellowship with these MKs (missionary kids) who've very much become our sisters.

little "M" & her dog skyping with Mom & Dad while they were away

- during that time, we ran a 5K called "blisters for bread." registration was less than the equivalent of $5 a person & the money from each person who ran covered the cost of feeding 21 children

- we finished term 3 well with the grade 6 kids celebrating all the Scripture they'd memorized. we sat outside & had quite the audience of people listening to these students study & recite God's Word. 7 of the 20 memorized all 6 verses this term!

"U" who i found outside studying His verses before club...
it's been incredible to watch him grow over the last year & a half.
God is definitely working in this young man's life...
but he's yet to profess faith in Christ.
would you join us in PRAYing?

- my granddaddy, who many of you have been PRAYing for, celebrated his 81st birthday & about a month later FINALLY went home!! still on a feeding tube, but no longer in a hospital - where he'd been since june 10th.

birthday cake made from t-shirts, suckers & chewing gum

- whale watching & rainbows galore...evidence of our Creator & Promise Keeper!!

- Student Christian Organization (SCO) Leadership Training #2 (Great turnout...one student walked a long, dangerous road to get there, too! Praise the Lord for safety & protection...as well as a sweet time of worship & fellowship, studying assurance of salvation & unity of the Body.)

check out the rest of the pics from that day by clicking HERE!!

- a fun "family" time visiting the lion park in drakenstein. slept in a tent camp while the lions roared all night! beautiful, majestic animals...one of the many pictures of our God - the Lion & the Lamb!

- met up with 2 teachers outside of school during the school holiday time. both were great times of fellowship that opened doors to get to know them more intimately, meet their children, hear their stories & ask spiritual questions.

- SCO training #3 (another great turnout! incredible time of worship & prayer led by the students. emphasis this time was on being filled with the Spirit & looking at the different spiritual gifts. encouraging to see the learners from different communities forming strong friendships - truly a picture of HIS BODY!)

check out the rest of the pics from this day by clicking HERE!!

- great start to term 4 last week. would you PRAY with us over the remaining 5 weeks as we teach about HIV/AIDs with the grade 6 learners? we also had a great start to after-school club. the 7 who memorized all the verses are beginning a study on abraham & isaac that challenges them to be in God's Word everyday for a few minutes.

- after an awesome morning of worship, we took advantage of the beautiful day & hiked lion's head as a team. an encouraging start to week 2 of the last school term of the year! :)

if you're on facebook, i keep all my pics updated there! what's here is just a glimpse! check out the albums by clicking HERE!

day 494: NEED YOUR HELP

each month we take some time to reflect on the last 30 days or so & then submit a report to our supervisor. the questions cover things like this:

- what's happening in life & work this month?
- how many people received a gospel witness?
- how many new believers? baptisms? in on-going bible studies? being mentored?
- what are some really cool ministry stories from the month?
- what are some praises & prayer requests over the next month?

after a sweet morning of worship & a much-needed sunday afternoon nap, i dove into completing this month's report...& i quickly found myself overwhelmed.

the LORD is flinging open doors here. we are humbled to get to walk with Him & join HIM at work here among the xhosa. yes, i know there have been large gaps of time without posts (& i will do my best to catch up), BUT for now i am sending out a REQUEST:

we really NEED faithful PRAYER WARRIORS to join with us INTENTIONALLY PRAYING. are YOU willing to commit to PRAY @ least once a week for a very specific request (i.e., a school, an individual, a time slot, an event, a need)?? reply to this update (if you receive it via email) or send me an email to britnie.reid@yahoo.com if you'd like more details.

let's BE THE BODY! thanks in advance for partnering with us in this way!