Ministry & Family Update

Dear Friends,

Hello again from the Canipes. It is always good to be able to update you on what is going on with us here in South Africa. October was a faith-building month for us as a family and we thought you would be encouraged to hear a bit of our testimony from this past month. We only share with the hopes of bringing encouragement to you and to be able to testify to the incredible faithfulness of our God. We began the month of October with several unusual financial obligations that we do not normally have on a monthly basis. After Cliff had finished paying all the bills in the first couple of days of the month we realized we had about R250 (about $40) to make it though the entire month! That had to cover all of our groceries as well as any other incidental expenses that we might incur throughout the month. So Cliff gathered the family and explained to the children how God was our provider and that we needed to ask Him for our daily bread every day and that we would see Him provide for all our needs this month. So we began to pray. After the first week we had spent the money we had and we were just praying for God to come through in His own way. Some friends of ours called and wanted us to come to join a group of brothers and sisters in the Lord to share a meal and worship together at their home on that Saturday night. They also asked if Cliff would do some teaching as well. After our time with them that evening one of the ladies came to Cliff and handed him an envelop and said that her son who was not there that night had told her to give Cliff R550 (about $90). He had no idea where we were financially but he said the Lord had told him that week to give us his tithe and he was obedient! We rejoiced in the Lord and gave Him the glory for seeing our need and providing through His body. We had another weeks of groceries for which we were most thankful. In the third week of the month Cliff taught at the YWAM base here in Worcester. The work there is strictly volunteer and sometimes they give honorariums. After teaching for four days they gave Cliff R1,000 (about $150) and we thanked God and went to buy another week's of groceries. We continued to explain to the children that it was God who was faithful to provide for us and we gave Him thanks. It is often easy to look at our circumstances and say that it was just something in the natural that brought the provision and that it wasn't really supernatural. But we chose to see all of this as God's faithful provision for us. Then came the real faith-builder. We were approaching the end of the month and figured we would be able to make it until we could have enough money in our ministry account in the US so we could have a transfer made for November living expenses. Cliff checked our bank account on-line on Thursday. When he logged into the account he expected to see a very small balance of about R20. Much to his surprise the account balance read over R5,000 (about $900)!!! Cliff thought there had to be some mistake. After looking in more detail there had been an electronic deposit into our account by someone here locally and the memo line just read "gift." We had no idea who would have had our bank details to do such a thing and all we could do was praise God. To this day we still have no idea who gave the money and we probably never will. But one thing we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, God is able to do above and beyond all that we can ask or think! This was such a wonderful month for us a family and we could really see the children growing in their understanding of what it means to truly trust God for everything.

As many of you may know our dear friend, Shirley, who pioneered the work here to the street boys, was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago. After on operation she was declared in remission. She returned to Australia for some routine check-ups in June and there she was told that the cancer had gone to her liver and that she had a very limited time to live. When we received the news, Stephanie and two other very close friends of Shirley began to pray and ask God to provide for them to go to Australia to visit Shirley. They realized that while she had left South Africa with every intention of returning, she now may never be able to do so. Stephanie felt strongly that it was the Lord's will for her to spend time with this dear friend in these last days. But, the money for a trip to Australia was impossible for us, so again we prayed and left it in God's hands. We only mentioned Stephanie's desire to a couple of people here. The two other friends also just prayed and told a couple of friends of their desire to see Shirley. Well, after only three weeks there had been over R32,000 (about $5,000) given by people here in South Africa and England who wanted to send Stephanie, Erena and Ivan to Australia to see Shirley. So, on November 4th Stephanie and her friends departed for Adelaide, Australia for two weeks. Again we just had to stand in awe of God and His unlimited resources.

We just felt that the best think to do in this month's update was to share these testimonies with you. We hope and pray that you are encouraged in your faith as we have been in ours. God is so amazingly faithful if we will only cast ourselves completely upon Him as our source and provision.

Cliff was also involved this month in his first wedding since we have come to South Africa. Of course, he could not legally marry the couple, but was asked to share while another South African minister tied the knot. As you can see below it was a gorgeous setting for a wedding. We first met Eli (from New Zealand) and Vim (from Zimbabwe) at the YWAM base here in Worcester. It is so special to have friends in the Lord from all over the world.

May you be blessed this month with the intimate and personal knowledge of His love and car for you!

Cliff, Stephanie, Camille, Natalie and Wesley