Dear Pastors and Praying Friends …
Dear Pastors & Praying Friends:
We greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have been swamped over the last few months in Ethiopia and Botswana and there is much to report.
Ethiopia:
We had a great team this year with two churches assisting us. We held our 3rd Vacation Bible School at VICKtory, and God showed up and moved in a mighty way, with over two-thirds of the student body accepting Christ as their Savior!
The new early intervention building is about 87% complete. Due to the cost of materials we had to cut some things from the contract, but it will be operational in a few months. I will report more about the needs for this building in our following letter when I receive an accurate account of what is left to accomplish.
Inflation has hit Ethiopia extremely hard. The government has devalued the Ethiopian currency, but this has yet to impact goods and services. Many in Ethiopia have had their income cut almost in half overnight, including the teachers and staff at VICKtory School. The school needs more support as it must adjust to this inflation situation to retain current teachers and recruit new teachers who are desperately needed.
This impact will also affect our work there. In my last letter, I mentioned the need to raise additional support to adjust for inflation in Ethiopia and Botswana, equivalent to 72% for most people in Ethiopia and about 36% in Botswana.
Botswana:
I spent much of my time in Botswana this year. We laid the groundwork for a new church plant in Francis Town, where Pastor Tshenolo will be taking the lead. Pray for him as he reaches a place we have been praying about for almost twenty years. I have wanted to see a Deaf church in Francis Town since my first visit to Botswana in 2002, and now God has opened that door with a great group of young Deaf believers whose zeal and desire to make disciples is unmatched.
We took the team to Francis Town and showed the "Jesus Film" that the good people of Bethel Baptist Church sent over with my brother Troy. This was a unique showing as Corella signed the entire movie as the kids at Francis Town School for the Deaf and some of the church's adults watched.
The next day we had Sunday School with the kids, and Mpho (Corella's wife) signed her very first Bible story! After, we shared the Gospel and saw many of these kids accept Christ as their Savior!
All in all, since April, we have seen over seven hundred saved, and many have grown in their faith as we have seen unique ways to disciple both the new and the mature Christians. God is moving in Botswana.
Personal:
As I mentioned in my last letter, this is a furlough year for us, but we needed to go to the field due to the newness and nature of some of these ministries. I will include a short note along with this letter explaining our plans for the rest of the year. I can visit as my calendar allows, I still have openings through January.
I will be returning in January to Botswana, where I will be setting up base camp for most of the next few years. We have big plans for church planting and our new project, the JOY Life Center. I have uploaded the project details of the Life Center to our Website, JOYmissions.com, and I would love for you to visit and look at the information there, or you can reach out to me directly at (478) 298-3497 to set up a meeting or to answer any questions you may have.