Family & Ministry Update
www.equipperssa.com April 2007
Dear J. Cliff, We want to greet you again from South Africa and we trust that this update finds you prospering greatly in the Lord.  It is always a joy to share with you about what God is doing in our part of the world.  It is hard to imagine how much God is doing throughout the world when you stop to think about all that He is doing in your own "little world."  We continue to be humbled and blessed to be a part of His plan as He reveals His grace and truth through Jesus.
Teaching and Equipping After taking a two week break for the school holiday, we have continued with our weekly teaching and equipping time in Worcester.  We have planned another nine weeks of teaching.  God is blessing our gatherings and we are seeing much fruit from this time of ministry to the body in our city.  For the first three weeks of this term, Cliff has been sharing on the ultimate starting point of God as our Father and Jesus as the pattern for living.  He is focusing this term on growing up into "a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13).  You can listen to these teachings on our website by visiting the Audio Teachings section of the site.  We hope you will be blessed by the teachings. Baptisms This month we were able to baptize two sisters who have been participating in our teaching and equipping sessions.  The lady on the right, Adiela, whose husband is a Muslim, has been a practicing Muslim for more than ten years.  As a result of attending the teaching times, she has come to a place where she is committing her whole life to Jesus.  This is a huge step for her and she has had much opposition from her husband, his family and friends in the Muslim community.  On the morning of her baptism her husband siphoned the gas out of her car so she could not come.  Her faith is strong, however, and her excitement for Jesus is contagious.  Please pray for these women as they continue to grow in their relationship with Jesus. Family Update Our family is preparing for another big transition as Katie prepares to return back to America after living with us for the last nine months.  Katie has been a tremendous blessing to us and has truly become part of our family.  She will be greatly missed but we know that it is God's time for her to return home.  Natalie broke her arm last month and had to have surgery to set the bones properly.  She has had her cast on for four weeks and still has two more to go before she will go back into surgery to have the pins removed from her arm.  The doctor says the bones have set perfectly.  We are grateful for that and trust the Lord to complete her healing. Wesley is doing great in first grade.  He really enjoys being a part of the class and he is receiving special remedial instruction from some excellent therapist.  We are encouraged with his progress and know that the Lord is strengthening Wesley as he grows and matures. In June we will be taking a ministry trip as a family into Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.  We are really excited about this opportunity to expose the children to greater Africa and Cliff's work there.  We have desired to do this for the past few years and God has made it possible now.  We will be driving from Cape Town all the way to northern Botswana!  We will be on the road for over three weeks.  Needless to say, we will need lots of patience and grace for the travel time, but we are looking forward to this experience for our family.		Worcester Boy's Home The work at the Worcester Boy's Home continues to go well.  We have recently been doing some practical work at the house.  The front yard is now properly landscaped and the grass should be growing soon.  We are also still securing some basic furnishings.  Overall, things are coming together very nicely.  Most importantly though is the boys.  They are all doing well.  We would ask that you pray for some specific needs.  PJ, fourteen, has been having some physical challenges.  There is a possibility that he may have epilepsy.  He is currently having some tests to get some definitive answers.  Also, his oldest brother, Pieter, has expressed a desire to find his real father.  We will be starting this process and want wisdom and direction from the Lord. Special Request We are planning a visit back to America in December of this year.  We have a practical need that we would like to let you know about.  Because of limited time and the number of places we need to visit, we are hoping to fly to a couple different places while in the States.  The cost of this travel is very prohibitive for us as a family.  A friend recently suggested that we ask for people  to donate any frequent flyer miles they are not going to use.  If you have enough miles for a domestic ticket or know someone who may, please let us know so we can organize using the miles to help with our travel.  You can email us if you have any information that can help with this need.  Thank you.
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