Blessing and joy to you all this October!

Our family has settled back into Bethlehem again after a whirlwind couple weeks in the States in September.  Our hearts are full because of the family time, the reconnections with friends and donors at churches, the absolutely fantastic weather, and all the delicious salmon and root beer we had.  Dan had another work project and this time it went smoothly without any major issues – we are thankful!  We loved being in Seattle when the Mariners made it to October Baseball!  We all loved having some time with family.  We had perfect weather for BBQs, a cousin campout, breakfast with my sisters, a corn maze in the dark, family dinners with homemade ice cream, and getting to attend church together.  

It was such a short visit – please extend grace to us if we didn’t get a chance to see you this time.  We love you all and are so thankful for your friendship, love, prayers, and support for so many years.

Our flight landed in SA, we drove 3 hours back to Bethlehem, and even before we drove to our house, we dropped Miesha at the church for the dress rehearsal for her dance group.  Even with hectic jet lag, Miesha did a brilliant job.  I cried 3x during the production as she joined about 200 other students to put on a moving show called Remain in Me based on John 15.  We are so proud of her.  She is considering a career working with animals and was able to shadow the local veterinary doctor for two mornings this week.  She had a fabulous time!  Dr. Marina is the same one who helped save Miesha’s dog Cassie’s life when she had tick bite fever a few years ago.  

Our first October team has already arrived in Bethlehem.  We are so happy to host 7 Zambians – 3 Pastoral couples and Pastor Fostina from the village where we did ministry earlier this year who are going to spend a week doing ministry and resting with us.  There were a few hiccups with planning – can you believe it (actually you probably can!!!) …it was a visa issue.  Three of the original team were only given permission to stay a week when they entered the country.  The others traveling with them received much longer.  We have a great skeleton schedule and then we have some space to be flexible as needed.  We are looking forward with great anticipation for what God will do during their time with us.  Already we have seen some beautiful breakthrough for one of the couples during our prayer time together.  It is a blessing for them to be able to have long talks together as they process through the challenges of their various ministries and congregations.  They are in South Africa for two conferences, and we have the joy of hosting them in the space between the conferences.  Dan drove to Johannesburg to pick them up and caught the final two meetings of the first conference with them.  It was hosted by our Joburg church and he said it was wonderful to connect with dozens of friends from churches all over South Africa.  He said he had the joy of leading a dear friend in prayer to forgive a leader who hurt him and a few hours later, the friend texted to say – “I did what you showed me to do on the way home with a couple other people that I needed to forgive and now I FEEL SO MUCH LIGHTER AND FREE.  Thank you!”

The members of our Align group are moving forward steadily, but several members have been facing enormous challenges in their personal lives.  Please will you pray for God’s supernatural peace to guard their hearts and minds during this incredibly difficult season?  Thank you!

The ministry at New Horizon College has been continuing even while we were in the states and Dan was able to do a Bible study with the students in the dorms this past Thursday.  They were leaving for Spring Break and asked if they could move the date of the Bible study so they could still meet one more time before going home.  They are so spiritually hungry – it’s a blessing to be a part of what God is doing on campus there!

I am scheduled to have a surgery on the 20^th of October.  I haven’t been feeling well for a while, and at the Dr visit when he explained what was going on, he said I probably should’ve had this operation several years ago. I am very hopeful that the hysterectomy will correct a lot of the things I’ve been physically struggling with.  I will have an approximately 6 week recovery period and would love all your prayers for the surgeon’s skill and for a quick healing journey.

Our second team in October arrives on the 26^th of October. I am busy with the scheduling now and then Dan will be the one helping the Impact Africa leadership with this one while I am in recovery.  This team will be doing a lot of student ministry.  Recently at church, one of the principals and I were talking, and he said the school is desperate for more of God’s truth and light on their campus.  Many of the students on his campus mix ancestral worship with Catholicism and it is muddy and confusing.  Impact Africa’s team will be on 4 different school campuses so there will be many opportunities to share God’s love with young people in Bethlehem and Phuthaditjhaba. We can’t wait!

Thank you for your prayers for us and the teams.  We have already experienced a lot of spiritual warfare as this first team has joined us.  Please pray for spiritual protection for our family and the team, for open and soft hearts as we minister and for break throughs for the people we minister to. We look forward to sharing more testimonies and stories of what God does with the teams in the next note to you all.
Please let us know if we can pray for you also.

Blessings, 
Janell and Dan