Sometimes in ministry you wonder how it’s going. How are your efforts being received? Are people being impacted the way you envisioned? These are difficult questions to answer on your own because of course you always want to believe the best. And so, it’s very encouraging when people provide unsolicited feedback, and it’s even more encouraging when that feedback shows that lives are truly being changed.
For this update we wanted to share a couple very positive comments. The first is concerning the ministry of BLI and the second is concerning the ministry of LAUNCH Workplace Readiness computer training classes. We are sharing these anecdotes not to exalt ourselves or even to bring attention to results we may see from time to time. We share this so God will be glorified for it is He who has chosen to use us in ministry, solely by His grace and in ways we never could have imagined.
BLI Student Testimony
The course has been one of the most profoundly life changing, important and worthwhile things we have ever undertaken. It is reshaping our lives.
I find that reading the textbooks and the New Testament has already given me an amazing framework to categorize much of the excellent teaching that we have been blessed to encounter through yourself and others.
We can both attest to the fact that we experience a working of the Spirit in our lives after each lesson you present. The clarity of each lesson has been so simple, yet the content has been deep and extensive. But most wonderful of all is the fact that it leads us to experience God.
Things are changing for us at home. My husband has become a biblical thinker, and it seems second nature for him to make decisions based on the Word. I see a strength and resolve in him. I believe this is due to the fact that the course is bringing about a ‘neuron shift’ that has given him the ability to act consistently with his faith. We now have confidence that our faith is a reasonable and very practical one.
I have a hunger for the Word and a desire to listen to God’s voice and seek Him in His Word. I have confidence in the Word and an empathy towards my employees in the home. I am troubled by issues in my life that I previously glossed over. I have a serious approach to the Word. I could go on and on.
I just wanted you to know how much we value what God is doing through this course at BLI. We feel like we are coming to the waters and drinking and being satisfied.
Thank you so much for what you are doing.
LAUNCH Student Testimony
I took a computer course at Knysna Hope last year. Before class each week Pastor George started with prayer and a verse from the Bible. My favourite was when he was teaching us about wisdom. I used to drink and go to taverns but that couple of minutes every Thursday changed my life completely. I tried to apply wisdom in all areas of my life – my marriage, my children, my house, and even at my workplace. It worked! I had the courage to stop drinking and to stop going to taverns. I’ve learned to pray and go to church again and things started to fall into place. I got promoted at work as a supervisor, and my husband was promoted as a manager at his work. In a way, Knysna Hope gave me my life back. The kind of peace in my house I can’t even explain. Laughter is just amazing. It is all because of Knysna Hope. I went there for a computer course but got so much more than that.
Words cannot describe how humbled we are to see God accomplishing the purpose for which he brought us here. We pray that many more testimonies like this could be written and will be written in the days, months, and years ahead. Praise God with us and pray for those lives who will be changed in the future.
Just like you, we always have things we are praying about. The item most on all our minds is Ashley’s quickly approaching departure to attend Lancaster Bible College. When we moved to Knysna, two years seemed so far away. Yet here we are, and in just one month Ashley will be transitioning back to the US for three years to finish her college education. We would appreciate prayers for Amy and Ashley as they travel on July 31 and August 1 and then for the month of August as they visit family and friends and get Ashley set up for school. Please pray most of all for the finances to come together for Ashley’s time at LBC. Having children in college/university is always a financial challenge, as many of you know from experience. Recently, we were hit with an unexpected disappointment. We were hoping for a small grant from the state of Pennsylvania, but they have rejected Ashley’s application. They are claiming that Ashley is not a resident of PA, and even though they do make exceptions for missionary children, they argued that once Ashley turned 18 (March of last year), she could have (and should have) made the decision to move back to PA from South Africa. Obviously, there was no way we were going to send Ashley back to PA to live on her own at that time, so without realizing it, we ended up ruining her chances for state aid. Please pray as we scramble to pull the needed funds together. The Lord is already providing for part of this need by giving Ashley a job in the LBC library. She is looking forward to the busy schedule of classes and working fifteen hours a week in hopes of the time seeming to go by faster.
Many of you have prayed for George David recently as he was taking term exams, and we are happy to report he passed all his exams! Obviously, he is relieved and is thoroughly enjoying his break until term three begins later in July.
Thank you, as always, for being an integral part of what God is accomplishing here. May you rest in the joy of knowing your prayers and support are not in vain.
George, Amy, George David, Ashley, and Alyssa