Ministry Update

It is always great to report to you from South Africa. And as always, we are quick to report that God is great and we are continually amazed at His great grace and love for us as a family. I am reminded of the words of David who said, "I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Psalms 34:1). I believe that David was able to continually praise the Lord because he was aware that God was continually great and worthy of his praise.

We see God working around us in many ways. Cliff was invited to teach at the YWAM base in Muzinburg which is near Cape Town, about an hour and a half from our house. He was asked to teach in the Church Planting School and to deal with the topic of the Holy Spirit in Ministry. The students in the school were very open and hungry to learn. Cliff dealt a lot with the work of the Spirit in our lives to prepare us to be used by the Lord in ministry. The Lord really worked deeply in the lives of the students during this week. Cliff will be teaching later this month at the YWAM base here in Worcester in the School of Biblical Studies. He will be teaching on the book of Romans for a week. Pray for him during this week of October 23-27.

We want to make you aware of an important development in the ministry here in Worcester so you can be praying with us. As many of you know we have been involved with a local ministry here that has an outreach to street boys. Due to our relationship with the leaders of this ministry and their desire to transition the ministry at this time, we are praying about aligning this ministry with Equippers International here in South Africa. The leader of the ministry, Ivan Williams, and his wife Sophia, have a strong desire to relate to us and share many of the same ideals that we have in regards to ministry and how they want to conduct their outreach to the boys. Everyone involved feels this would be a good change for the ministry. We are seeking the Lord's direction in these changes and would appreciate your prayers as well. A signifcant part of this transition would mean a physical move for Ivan and Sophia and the boys to whom they minister. We are praying and trusting the Lord for a house in the community in which they could live. We have found a house suitable for their needs which could house Ivan and his family as well as 15 boys (see the pictures below). This house would cost about $53,000 and we are praying that God would provide this money so the house could be purchased soon. We are currently asking people around the world who have been supporting this important ministry to street boys to pray about their involvement in this project. Please pray with us!

Family Update

Family life has been really busy lately. The big news is our new family member! Katie joined us in August and it has been a wonderful blessing to have her as part of our family. Katie is living with us full-time and working daily with Wesley one-on-one at school. We are seeing lots of fruit from her time with Wesley. In addition,Katie is like a big sister to the kids and has added a fresh dimension in our home! We are so grateful to the Lord for knowing exactly what we needed in this season and sending Katie to us.

The children have been very busy with school and have all recently participated in their year end school play. They had lots of fun and really enjoy all the school activities. Cliff recently coordinated the annual school golf day fundraiser that was a huge success as well. Stephanie has been working with the choirs at school. They recently performed at an arts and cultural evening at our local mall and many people from the community came out to listen. The choirs are singing beautifully and Stephanie really enjoys working with them.

We enjoyed a weekend recently with some our friends from the school who own a home at the coast which is only over an hour from our house. This area on the coast of South Africa is where the Southern Right whales spend half the year mating and also giving birth to their young. During these six months these huge animals do not eat. Their presence here provides the best whale watching anywhere in the world. It is truly amazing as you can see from the pictures below. We are so blessed to able to have such a wonderful experience of seeing God's creation in this way. It is hard to put into words what you feel as you watch these amazing animals in their natural environment.

Until next month, we hope you all enjoy the goodness of the Lord and continually praise Him for all He has done for you!

Thank you all for your love and support.

Cliff, Stephanie, Camille, Natalie, Wesley and Katie

Camille in the school play

Katie & Stephanie

The school choir

Cliff & Natalie enjoy some fishing at the coast.

Close-ups of the Southern Right whales!