Although the Spring (our seasons are opposite to the Northern Hemisphere) term of Oostenberg Bybel Instituut ended the first Tuesday in November, Tony is still teaching on Tuesday nights. A group of 7 men, who did not have some of the earlier courses on hermeneutics, gather here at our home to meet with Tony each Tuesday night for a special block session that will continue through mid-February 2009. When they will take off a few weeks for the Christmas holiday, they will have several projects to keep them busy. Don't you "love" teachers who give homework for the holidays?!! :-)
One morning in mid-November Judy Blanton, a missionary who lives in Mitchell's Plain, and I visited Tina, who trusted Christ a couple of months ago when Tony and I witnessed to her during a visit to Mitchell's Plain. Tina had a stroke last year is also suffering with cancer. Her daughter, Oriel, will be married to Bradley in December. Pray for Tina to grow in Christ. I continue to disciple Oriel on Friday afternoons and Tony is discipling Bradley on Monday evenings.
On 22 November, the Lord allowed Lydia and me to at last be able to have a "mom and daughter" morning to celebrate her birthday from 26 October. She and Kevin are faithfully serving the Lord at Immanuel Baptiste Kerk, where we laboured from 1992-2006.
On Thanksgiving, we feasted on a turkey all the way from Michigan, USA! We and the Eric Graham family and Judy enjoyed all the turkey, the trimmings and pumpkin pie! (We missed Judy's husband, Jeff, who was away building the church in Calvinia.) We ended the celebration with a time of singing. We thank God for those He has called to serve here. 
Mentoring requires spending time together one-on-one. The day after Thanksgiving, Tony took a hike with Jason. Pray for this young "Timothy" to be protected from the dangers of his culture. Jason is concerned for churched youth who love the world and seem to have no heart for the Lord. Pray that they will not be deceived by a false profession of faith.
The first week in December we helped the Grahams get ready to leave for their furlough. They posed for a last photo by our front door before their departure to the airport on 4 December after spending their last night with us. Tony will be preaching on Sunday mornings in Eric's absence at Calvary Bible Baptist Church in Northpine.
The Bible club in Eindhoven continued to meet at the Louws home at 3 pm on Sunday afternoons through November. We thank the Lord for several first time visitors to the Bible study that meets after the Bible club at 5 pm. Pray for Priscilla, Jonathan, Tania, Reaghan, Rowan, Sandy and Damien who visited for the first time during November.
The 11 faithful children who attend the Bible club were invited to an end-of-year party at our home on 5 December. Jeremy, June and Jason helped with games and activites. 
Everyone had lots of fun and food and the evening closed with an "Aunt Carolyn" gospel story. We are praying that the Lord will put a hedge around each of these children to protect them from the dangers of school holidays. Boredom and a lack of supervision lead many young people to experment with sex and/or drugs.
On Thanksgiving, we feasted on a turkey all the way from Michigan, USA! We and the Eric Graham family and Judy enjoyed all the turkey, the trimmings and pumpkin pie! (We missed Judy's husband, Jeff, who was away building the church in Calvinia.) We ended the celebration with a time of singing. We thank God for those He has called to serve here. Mentoring requires spending time together one-on-one. The day after Thanksgiving, Tony took a hike with Jason. Pray for this young "Timothy" to be protected from the dangers of his culture. Jason is concerned for churched youth who love the world and seem to have no heart for the Lord. Pray that they will not be deceived by a false profession of faith.The first week in December we helped the Grahams get ready to leave for their furlough. They posed for a last photo by our front door before their departure to the airport on 4 December after spending their last night with us. Tony will be preaching on Sunday mornings in Eric's absence at Calvary Bible Baptist Church in Northpine.The Bible club in Eindhoven continued to meet at the Louws home at 3 pm on Sunday afternoons through November. We thank the Lord for several first time visitors to the Bible study that meets after the Bible club at 5 pm. Pray for Priscilla, Jonathan, Tania, Reaghan, Rowan, Sandy and Damien who visited for the first time during November.The 11 faithful children who attend the Bible club were invited to an end-of-year party at our home on 5 December. Jeremy, June and Jason helped with games and activites. Everyone had lots of fun and food and the evening closed with an "Aunt Carolyn" gospel story. We are praying that the Lord will put a hedge around each of these children to protect them from the dangers of school holidays. Boredom and a lack of supervision lead many young people to experment with sex and/or drugs.
We held the last of our Life Skills classes for 2008 at Eindhoven Primere Skool on the 13th of November. The pupils paid good attention as we presented the gospel and the message of sexual purity to them over the course of 6 weeks. 
We used various teaching methods, including games, like this one above, to communicate the importance of deciding to decide right. Due to end of year examinations, we could not keep teaching our classes through until school closes in December. Each pupil took home a very good gospel tract and an invitation to our Bible study. One young lady, Shannon, came to ask me how to get to the home where we meet. We are hopeful that God is at work not only in Shannon's heart, but also in some of the other 140 students. 
Jason is an integral part of the school ministry. He is developing his skills in communicating and teaching young people, as well as, adults as he speaks each Wednesday evening for the work pastored by Delphin Mintoor. 
We began a series on the miracles of the Son of God with a lesson on Christ's temptation. June and I are praying that God will bring these 10-12 children to know Christ and experience victory over all the temptation around them. The mother of two of the girls is running a "shabeen" (house tavern). Pray that God will use the witness that we have given to this mother on 3 occasions.
The Eric Graham family, who serve under BWM, will be leaving for furlough on 4 December. While they are away, Tony will be overseeing their ministry in Northpine. We will need the Lord's grace as we add the responsibility for Calvary Bible Baptist Church to our current load of church planting ministries: soul winning outreaches, Bible studies, discipleships, Life Skills classes, Bible club and Bible institute!
Recently June gave me this letter that Mickayla had written for us. Pray that the Lord will allow us to be a “spiritual mommy” to each of the +/-10 children who are sitting under the teaching of God’s Word. This past week, Jeremy and Tony had a wonderful opportunity to give the gospel to these girls’ mommy, Catherine. Their daddy was murdered two years ago. Catherine invited them to come back this week. Pray for the Lord to save her and her 4 daughters.
Jeremy Louw opens the 5 pm Bible study that meets in his home in Eindhoven each Sunday afternoon after the Bible club. About half a dozen children have begun remaining for the Bible study. With the adults there are usually a total of 17-25 in attendance. This month Tony finished a series on marriage, which he had started in July. This past week he began a series on theology, what the Bible teaches us about God.
Pray for about 140 Grade 6 learners at the Eindhoven Primere Skool who are being taught the life skills including decision-making, the meaning of true biblical love, planning for a biblical marriage, abstinence and the gospel. We have 3 more sessions this school year. 
We’ve seen the Lord growing our young national helper, Jason Morta, as he helps prepare and teach these lessons. He also has a burden to reach the youth of the community who are not getting this teaching.
One of the 5 discipleship classes that we are currently teaching to new believers is in the home of Randall and Norleen. Norleen and their daughter, Megan, are faithfully studying with Tony and Jason each Thursday evening. Above, they are pictured with Megan’s 4-year old, Rosco. Unfortunately, Randall’s work at an ice cream distributor is operating at crunch time as the summer approaches, so he has had to miss some classes.
When I took the photo of Megan with her mom and her son, she eagerly asked me to please take a photo of Rosco. I gladly obliged, but was deeply saddened when she explained why she wanted the photo. The police have asked parents to make sure they have a yearly photo of their children in the event that they go missing. Crimes against children--kidnapping and rape and murder—are almost a daily occurrence in Delft. The lessons of the brevity of life and the certainty of death motivate us to keep sharing the gospel "line upon line and precept upon precept."
We thank the Lord for the open door to sow the Word in the government primary school in Eindhoven, Delft. We began teaching three grade 6 classes with a total of almost 150 eleven- and twelve-year-olds on 10 October. 
You can see from their faces that the young people were very attentive. We held 35-45 minute sessions, teaching them the importance of the decisions they are making today. Our team of teachers includes:
Emerice Coetzee (reviewing the principle taught in a game, shown above), 
June Louw (leading a teaching game, above), Jason Morta, Tony and me.
I encouraged them to decide to decide right, to decide for themselves and to decide now! 
Jason told them that their lives are like a balloon with the air going out if they don’t make wise decisions. Poor decisions made today will not allow one to end up where he'd like to be. 
Tony shared with them the story of Joseph, encouraging them to make the most important decision -- to choose to follow Christ on the narrow path that leads to life eternal. He told them that no one can make that decision for them--each person must decide where they will spend eternity.
We will teach these 3 classes each Friday until their final examinations begin in late November. Pray for the Lord to use His Word to change lives. We are presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ and promoting abstinence and sexual purity. This week’s theme is defining true love. Each lesson requires many hours of preparation, including translation into Afrikaans, and practice. Pray for God’s Word to be sown on good soil and bring forth much fruit.
There is the promise of a full season for this beautiful flowerbed and many cut flowers, because the more you cut the more blooms the ranunculus will produce.
Rachel, shown above with me, trusted Christ as her Saviour on Septermber 11 when Tony and Jason presented the gospel in the home where she and her mother and her little son are living in Eindhoven. Rachel is evidencing a real desire to learn. She attends the Sunday afternoon Bible study at Jeremy and June’s home and prepares her lessons for the discipleship class that I teach her on Thursday mornings.
Bradley and his fiancee, Oriel, came to our home for some counseling on September 15. He learned of us from his brother, Chris, who trusted Christ a few months ago. They were open to the gospel and after a 2-hour session in Tony’s study, they both prayed to receive Christ. Tony hopes to get with Bradley each Saturday for discipleship and I plan to meet with Oriel nearby at her work during lunch
Jeremy is leading the opening of the study and Tony is teaching on the Biblical pattern for the home. We pray that the Lord will bring out more of those whom we have been contacting door-to-door, especially the four adults in Delft who have asked Christ to save them since the end of August. (We are eager to introduce them in the next post at our blogspot.) Praise the Lord for the seed of the Word that doesn’t return void!
She and I continue to hold a Bible club each Sunday afternoon at 3pm. The children arrive early and have to be chased away at 5 pm in order to have room to receive the adults who are arriving to attend the Bible study. These youngsters are learning verses and songs and the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray for them to give their hearts to the Lord while they are yet young, tender and unscarred by the sins of immorality and substance abuse.
The last Friday of August the youth of 3 of the national churches met together at Immanuel Baptiste Kerk for an evening of games and a power point presentation on purity and abstinence that Tony prepared. (This presentation is part of the teaching that Tony will be taking into the public schools beginning in October, Lord willing.) The youth shared that music, videos, their culture, their peers and even the government is promoting “safe sex” before and outside of marriage. 
Tony encouraged them to follow God’s plan and save sex for marriage. He used 3 object lessons which communicated vividly. He challenged them to become members of the A-Team, the abstinence team. Pray for these young people as they stand against their culture and their peers.
On Sunday afternoon, June hosted the neighbourhood children in Eindhoven for the third time at our Bible club. Six to eight children have been attending even though we haven’t yet advertised or canvassed for the club. These children have been befriended by June and we believe the Lord will give her the joy of seeing some of them come to know Christ as she builds these relationships.
Don and Tony first met over 30 years ago in Africa prayer band at Bob Jones University. The Kilmers gave us the opportunity not only to see the work they are doing for the Lord among the Zulus, but also to share in the ministry God has raised up in Embo. The Kilmers' ministry is in Zulu, so we learned what a challenge it is to speak through an interpreter! Tony preached at the Bible study at the sugar cane farm on Thursday afternoon. 
In the photo above, Tony is seated next to Bheki, who interpreted for him at this study and also at another Bible study later that evening in Embo. 
On Friday afternoon, Don interpreted for me when I taught at the afternoon children's meeting. That evening, Don and Tony both preached the gospel in the township at a wake service for a shopkeeper. On Saturday Tony and Don hung some doors at a workday at the church building. 
Bheki interpreted for Tony when he preached from Numbers 20 on Sunday morning 
and for me when I taught the Sunday School on the crucifixion. Pray for the gospel to change lives in Embo. 
On Sunday evening, Tony preached in English for Pastor Bill Daniels, who gave him the opportunity to preach to his flock at New Germany Baptist Church. 
On Monday, Don and Karen gave us our first experience at a game park. We saw lions, hippotami, elephants, a rhinoceros, nyalas, impalas, gemsboks, wildebeests and giraffes. We returned to Cape Town from this very pleasant ministry holiday yesterday, 19 August 2008, making it a very memorable 29th wedding anniversary! God is so good!
