Hello Friends! I hope that you have all been keeping well! I realize that you have been hearing from me a lot recently, and quite honestly, it is late in the evening over here and the National Arts Festival starts tomorrow morning, so this e-mail is going to be devoid of the usual chattiness! Let’s go right to the good stuff with praises and requests…

Praises

• The wonderful things God has done in Alexandria: A total of about 60 kids made decisions in our final week of teaching; the principal of the school has agreed for us to lead a TLW rally at the school in August; the new church recently planted there is growing and Mandla is doing a GREAT job as pastor!
  
  
• GAP, the middle school group at Grahamstown Baptist, grew a lot this term. Best of all though is that we are really getting to build solid relationships with the kids that come most consistently and have had several chances to talk about the gospel with them in small groups and to chat about where they are with the Lord.
  
  
• Lizzie, the youth I have been telling you about is doing WONDERFULLY! She is getting stronger every time I see her and continues to be a positive witness for God in this community.
  
  
• God, who is so much more faithful than we can imagine, has been so clearly answering the prayers that we have lifted up to him. Personally, He has been teaching me so much, increasing my faith in a really supernatural way, and helping me fall more in love with him for sure! What a truly awesome God we serve!

• Continue to pray for Alexandria. The TLW rally is scheduled for August 27th, so put it on your calendar, and start praying already! Also pray for Mandla, the new pastor. Pray that God will continue to strengthen him and give him guidance for the task He has set before him!
  
  
• This coming week all the missionaries in this area will be heading to our annual meeting. It should be a good time of encouragement. Pray that God will really speak to us, and that we will come with hearts ready to listen. Also be praying for our team during this time. We will be having some meetings to work out some issues, so pray that we will all have hearts set on the Lord during this time.
  
  
• The Morrises are leaving :-(  I can’t believe it is finally here, but our supervisors have been planning for quite some time, to go to the States for six months, and they will be leaving next Saturday after our meeting. Pray that the adjustment to the States will be good and that they will have a refreshing time there. Pray for the kids (Robert and Sarah) who will be in the U.S. school system for a few months. Finally, pray for Megan and I as they leave. They have really and truly been our family here in G-town and at the moment I can’t imagine South Africa without them. We will also be moving into their house and taking care of their pets, so pray that everyone (human and animal alike) survives! :-)
  
  
• I feel sort of silly, but I am going to insert this request in here anyway—I am getting my wisdom teeth out on July 14th, and since I have a low tolerance for pain, I am a little concerned. I will trust though, that like all my other experiences here, this one will bring me closer to God. Please pray though :-)
  
  
• A trip to Zimbabwe is in the works and it looks like things are going to work out. We are hoping to go up to Zim at the beginning of August and do some training for TLW. There is a lot of planning that needs to go into this and not a whole lot of time, so pray that God provides!

Ok, thanks so much for your prayers! I was reading this verse the other day and I thought of you all:

“I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.”  Romans 15:30

Thanks for “joining me in my struggle”!

For God’s glory,
heather :-)
 

See Photos from Heather Here