Feb Update

Family Details
The most exciting highlights of the month have been our interaction with the new wildlife here in South Africa. The kids are really enjoying the new experiences, but they sometimes offer a little challenge for the adults. For example, there are really large spiders here that make their way into the house from time to time. They are harmless for the most part; but if you don't like spiders (none of us do) then they don't look very friendly, and sometimes they jump! Cliff always comes to the rescue and "removes" them from the house. We also were at the coast last week and we were able to see seals playing and feeding in the water by the dock. This was a special treat. We had never seen seals in their natural habitat. They are really fun! The kids (all of us) really enjoyed seeing them.
Wesley is fully potty trained (he still sleeps in a diaper at night). Thank you for praying, this makes life much easier! He is in preschool two days a week and loves it. All the kids are doing great in school and the girls are some of the best swimmers in their age group. The kids enjoy playing with the next door neighbors and visiting YWAM too. And finally, we're taking the kids to the Kibbutz after school every Friday so they can have their own ministry opportunities.
Overall we are doing great. Thanks for all your prayers for a smooth transition. They work!

	The Canipe Family Update
February 2003				Vol. 1 No. 2
	Dear Friends, Greetings to you all from beautiful South Africa in the wonderful name of Jesus. We are glad to be able to report that all is well with the Canipes. God has been so faithful in many ways and has caused all the details to work smoothly on our behalf during our first two months here. Our house is feeling more and more like a home everyday. Stephanie has done a wonderful job decorating and making it really feel like home. The kids seem to be adjusting well and really enjoy their school. We were amazed to recently find out that the school the kids are in is the only fully English speaking school in this entire region which is about a 50-60 mile area, and we live less than 5 minutes away. Before we came Natalie was praying that we would live close to their school. God answered her prayer. Isn't the Lord so good to bring us to the right place for our kids! We were very grateful when we heard this. The quality of education seems very solid and we are pleased with the whole experience. This was obviously a big area of concern when we came and God was faithful to supply exactly what the children needed. We have been praying for the last couple weeks that the Lord would begin to open up the doors of ministry opportunities for Cliff. He has been faithful to do this as well. We are continuing to make new contacts with people that we believe are important to the work that God is doing in the body here. Much of what we are doing right now is investing in relationships in a one-on-one setting. We believe God has called us here to equip leaders and this is most effectively done one at a time. There's not a lot of fanfare in this type of ministry, but it is the most effective way to duplicate yourself and see greater results for the kingdom of God. That is our primary goal. We will be working some with local fellowships, but right now we are not doing a lot of that. Cliff will be meeting regularly with the elders of Last Days Family Church to work with them on their vision for ministry here in Worcester. Cliff will also be teaching this week in the Timothy Leadership Project ministry school in Wellington. This school is a ministry of the First Love Family Church. We are really sensing that the Lord is beginning to make our way straight and clear in the area of ministry. Please continue to pray with us about this. We want to hear the Lord and let Him guide us every step along the way. So in many ways we're waiting on the Lord for the most part right now. A lady we know from the Kibbutz, Ria, gave Cliff a word from the Lord on Tuesday. She said, "You're waiting on something. You have an expectancy for something." She said that we were like the prophet Elijah who had prophesied rain in 1 Kings 18. He sent his servant to the mountain to look and the first seven times there was nothing, then he saw a cloud far in the distance the size of a man's hand, then it came dark and strong and there was a strong rain and Elijah was filled with the Spirit. She said right now the rain cloud (what we are waiting on God for) is the size of a man's hand, it's coming and the move of God is going to be very strong. So that was a really encouraging confirmation that we're doing the right thing. Cliff is also spending a good amount of time working on our web site. We feel like this is an important tool for communication and we want to get it finished now before things get too busy. We hope to have the web site fully functioning within the next 30 days. Please visit the site at www.equipppersinternational.org and give us your feed back. We welcome any comments concerning all aspects of the site, i.e., content and design. We are not professional web designers and it is quite a challenge to build a good web site. Many of you want to hear all the daily details of what is going on in the Canipe family and we want you to know. So we are going to try to include some of these details in each update so you can stay up to speed. (See the family details section) We appreciate all of you so much and thank God for you. Many of you have emailed us and it is a great encouragement to receive notes from you. Keep them coming. Please continue to pray for us as often as God lays us on your heart. Your prayers make a huge difference. We have had such an increased appreciation for the body of Christ during these days. It is an amazing thing to know that we are all part of ONE body. We are one by the Spirit. The Lord is at work in the world to bring His people into a greater understanding of our connectedness and need for one another. We stand in awe of what He is doing and are excited to see what the future holds for all of us. Each one of us who know Jesus personally play a vital role as individual members of His body. Our prayer is that each of us will come into a greater awareness of our role and giftedness so that the body can be as strong as possible while building itself up in love. Blessings to you all, Cliff & Stephanie, Camille, Natalie and Wesley
Prayer Requests 1. Wisdom in all our relationships 2. God's provision of a second vehicle for Cliff as he begins to travel more for ministry engagements 3. Discernment to know clearly the directions to take in ministry 4. Continued provision for our personal needs on a monthly basis as well as many other ministries we desire to sow into 5. That we can learn the language and continue to grow more comfortable and adjust to our new life here

Family Details The most exciting highlights of the month have been our interaction with the new wildlife here in South Africa. The kids are really enjoying the new experiences, but they sometimes offer a little challenge for the adults. For example, there are really large spiders here that make their way into the house from time to time. They are harmless for the most part; but if you don't like spiders (none of us do) then they don't look very friendly, and sometimes they jump! Cliff always comes to the rescue and "removes" them from the house. We also were at the coast last week and we were able to see seals playing and feeding in the water by the dock. This was a special treat. We had never seen seals in their natural habitat. They are really fun! The kids (all of us) really enjoyed seeing them. Wesley is fully potty trained (he still sleeps in a diaper at night). Thank you for praying, this makes life much easier! He is in preschool two days a week and loves it. All the kids are doing great in school and the girls are some of the best swimmers in their age group. The kids enjoy playing with the next door neighbors and visiting YWAM too. And finally, we're taking the kids to the Kibbutz after school every Friday so they can have their own ministry opportunities. Overall we are doing great. Thanks for all your prayers for a smooth transition. They work!
			Keep an eye on our website at www.equippersinternational.org. It should be up and running again in a couple of weeks. Thanks for your patience. If you have difficulty viewing this update, please reply and we will send you a text version.



		Jennifer David is a wonderful blessing to our family. We are so grateful that God sent her to serve us. More than that, she is a blessing to the people here in South Africa. She is ministering to the children at the Kibbutz two days a week as well as helping Stephanie with the house and children. She will be with us until the end of May.

"And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ."