Author Archives: The J Halls

January 2017 Prayer Letter

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This month we saw several people place their faith and trust in Christ for salvation. Mama Plaatjies is one of those people. She is the grandmother of a young man I have been working with for over a year. She has been visiting off and on for several months. On New Year’s Day she finally made the decision to surrender her life to Jesus. Since then she has turned into an evangelism machine. She has brought several visitors, one of which trusted in Christ last week, Mama Nobakhe. Today (Jan 29th), I had the privilege of baptizing both of them after our morning service.

Rebekah is staying really busy with basic discipleship classes. She meets faithfully with the ladies of Soweto on Tuesdays, and then with the younger girls on Saturdays. Of late, her classes have shown much fruit. Along with the ladies mentioned above, today I also baptized three other young ladies with whom she has been working. Also, this morning after the service Rebekah dealt with another young lady who has been attending our church, almost since the beginning. Seventeen year old Yolisa trusted in Christ and will be following the Lord in believer’s baptism next weekend.

Furlough August 23 – Jan 3:

In just 7 months, we will be returning to the states for a very short furlough. We will be there from August 23 – January 3. We are going to use this time to try and raise some new support, as well as spend some time with family and friends. When we arrive, it will have been over 1,400 days since we have stepped foot in America. A lot has changed in my own personal life, in the lives of our children, and in our ministry. To God be the glory for all the things good that have happened!

Booking meetings stateside, along with travel arrangements, setting up housing, making sure we have vehicles to drive when we land, these are a few of the things I have been working on in my spare time. Fortunately, the Lord has blessed and already provided several of these things. I have also managed to squeeze in a few calls late night and I have booked several meetings so far. If you would like for us to come by your church and give an update, or if you know of a church that may like for us to come by and present our ministry, please write me at jhsouthafrica@gmail.com.

At this moment, the most overwhelming thing on my plate is our church. Soweto is still far from being ready for our absence. As you can imagine, we are stepping up the pace and spending lots of extra time with the guys (and girls) in preparation. A few have already begun to step up, and several are being prepared to preach and teach in our absence. Some guys you can specifically pray for are Mxolisi, Athule, Aphiwe, Matthew, Thami, Luxolo, Miyanda, and Sethu. These guys are the backbone of our little church and if this thing is going to continue strong in our absence, then God is going to have to do some mighty works in their lives over the next few months.

As always, thank you so much for your faithfulness to pray and give so we can work here in South Africa. May God bless you for all that you do!

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

December 2016 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friend,

Merry Christmas! We are about to celebrate our 4th Christmas here in South Africa. After all these years, in Peru and now here, you would think we would be used to Christmas in summertime. Chimneys, hot chocolate and bundling up to go visit family during the holidays are things we associate with Christmas. Here, the people have summer holiday and the beach on their mind when they think of Christmas.

Many churches here close their doors in December and do not open again until the end of January. As you can imagine, this ideology is something we are not comfortable with at all. We actually have several different outreach events planned to counter the decline in attendance that normally happens in summer. One in particular, which you can continue to pray with us about, is “Project 7.” We are encouraging our people to take 7 gospel tracts for the week and give out one per day. They are to pray over it and the person who will receive it.

Last week we had our 2nd annual youth camp. We had 93 campers and 20 workers. The campers came from several churches around town. Each camper heard a total of 23 Bible based messages throughout the week. God worked and 4 young people trusted in Christ for salvation. Many other decisions were also made. 

Also last month, we had the opportunity to have one of our supporting pastors, Tony Howeth, come for a visit. Pastor Tony was my youth pastor growing up. He preached our first Missions Conference at Soweto Baptist Church. He also preached our 1 year anniversary service on December 4th. The conference was well attended and our people were blessed.

Other Prayer Requests:

  • Our nephews,Tyler and Chase, left for America today. They will be missed greatly. Tyler will be going to the OG Training Center and begin his formal training to serve as a foreign missionary. Chase will be joining his family on furlough.
  • Pray for the spiritual growth of our leaders at Soweto; Matthew, Mxolisi, Aphiwe, Aphelele, Athule, Thamsanqa and Luxolo
  • Upcoming trip to Johannesburg. Several of the guys from Soweto will be accompanying me as we go to Joburg and try to be a blessing to another church. Hopefully will be able to put a new roof on their church building. We will also take advantage of this long trip to plan out our yearly calendar.

As always, we thank you so much for your faithfulness to pray and to give to our ministry. We pray God blesses you richly for all that you do!

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

November 2016 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friends,

I had the privilege to marry our first couple at Soweto Baptist Church last weekend. Milisa (formerly known as Bulelwa) and Mxolisi were both baptized at our church this year. Milisa was already  saved when she began attending our church and Mxolisi was saved several months back. The ceremony took place at our church. It was a traditional Xhosa wedding (which means they worn their traditional attire), and there was a packed house, all of which heard the gospel. 

Our first semester of Bible Institute is coming to an end. The 13 students who have been faithfully attending just finished their first of three final exams. All seem to be thoroughly enjoying their studies and progressing in their understanding of the scriptures.

There are many things on the calendar:

  • “Project 7” outreach will begin this month at Soweto Baptist Church: 7 invitations, 7 days, 7 people. This will be used to encourage our people to get involved in personal evangelism. A pack of 7 of our new gospel tracts will be handed out weekly, and our people will be reminded and encouraged to pray daily for one opportunity to share a gospel tract and witness to one lost person.
  • December 1-4 will be our first missions conference. Pastor Tony Howeth will be coming from the states to preach this meeting.
  • December 11 we will have another special baptism service. There are several who have made professions of faith who will follow the Lord in believer’s baptism.
  • December 12-16 is our 2nd annual BFWE Youth Camp. If you are interested in helping send a camper to camp the cost is $35 per camper (expecting 100+/- campers).  Most of these campers will come from very underprivileged homes with no means of payment. We are allowing them to work and earn their own way. We are expecting our total costs to be around $3,500.00.
  • Our house will soon be full as Missionary Mark Coffey and his family will be staying with us for a couple of weeks before leaving for furlough on December 3rd. If you are needing a good missionary to speak at your church he will be available (missionarycoffey@gmail.com).
  • Continue to pray for the Jason King family who will be joining our team here South Africa. They have purchased their tickets and will be leaving the states on February 28th. Pray that their remaining funds will come in before departure.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. We hope you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

September 2016 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friends, September 2016

This month at Soweto Baptist Church we baptized four; Bulelwa, Sindisiwe, Thuli, and Nwabisa. We were also able to give out baptismal certificates to many of those who have been saved and baptized since Soweto started. Over the last 10 months (since the church was started) we have seen a total of 26 people follow the Lord in believer’s baptism.      

Another super exciting thing: We will have our very first couple, saved and baptized at Soweto, get married! Mxolisi (pictured above standing on my right side) and Bulelwa (pictured above getting baptized with the purple head covering) will be getting married Sunday, November 6th. Bekah and I will begin pre-marriage counseling lessons with this couple within the next two week.

We started going through Foundations on Friday night with our teens and young people. We are averaging over 20 in attendance. Matthew, Thami and I are teaching them in smaller group settings.

As planned, Bible Institute began on August 16th. This semester Life of Christ, Exodus, and Acts are being taught. We just finished up our fifth week.  There are 12 currently enrolled and several others who are auditing the classes. All seem to be enjoying their studies of the Scriptures.

Other prayer requests:

  • Ladies Conference will be this Saturday, September 17th at Grace Baptist Church
  • Stephen and Ashlee Underwood are settling in and have officially begun language school.
  • Praise God, all our visas have come in approved! Now that our kids have study visas, we can enroll them in a school a couple of blocks from our house.
  • Please continue to pray for our future church plant in Zwide. Everything we are looking at is in the $25,000 range. Pray the Lord will supply the funds necessary to proceed.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support!

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

August 2016 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friends, August 2016

Satan does not like what we are doing here. More and more I realize we are in a spiritual battle. Souls are being saved and lives are being changed and the more that happens, the more the leader of darkness is going to get upset. I want to ask that you pray for wisdom and protection for our church family, for my wife and children, and for myself. Our enemy has shown his teeth a couple of times lately, but we serve a good God who is able to keep us in perfect peace.

Bath Baptist Church, from Michigan, is currently here with us. Pastor Nathan Gregory and his group of 14 have been an incredible blessing. They have jumped right in at our churches and worked like they were their own. They did a great job in Soweto, painting murals on the walls of our children’s church, putting a new roof on the apartment, and helping decorate our new missions wall. Please pray for safety for them as they continue to work for the next week, and then travel back home.

New Church Plant: I have found the location for our next church plant. It is in an area called Zwide. It is just a few miles from our current work in Soweto, but since transportation is so expensive, there is no way people will travel that far by foot to attend our church. The area has tens of thousands of people, and that we know of, no Baptist church. The thing I would like for you to pray with me about, is a piece of property and a building. I have found a nice, large lot with a small dwelling on it. The asking price is R279,000 ($21,461.00). If the Lord wills, we would like to purchase this property and start a church there.

The young men and women at Soweto continue to grow and advance. We have one small, but specific answer to prayer from our last update. A young man named Aphiwe has stepped up and taken the reigns of our music. It has been awesome to see him come out of his shell so quickly. The first couple of times he led, he was very reserved, but now you would never know it. Please continue to pray for our guys, that their love for our Lord would increase more and more.

Next week, August 16th, begins our Bible Institute. There are 16 people currently enrolled from the churches here in P.E. There are several others who are interested in auditing these classes. Pray God would use these classes to equip his men and women for the work of the ministry.

Other prayer requests:

  • We had a new missionary family arrive, the Stephen Underwood family, last week. They are busy setting up their new home and soon will begin the process of learning Xhosa.
  • Remember my wife as she continues to train the ladies of Soweto. There are several that she meets with weekly for Bible study. Pray that those who attend will mature, and more would join.
  • This Friday, Aug 12th we will have a combined youth conference with all of our churches
  • Saturday, Aug 13th we will have a special family day at Soweto. We will have food, games and most importantly be preaching the Gospel to all who come.

Thanks again for your participation in our ministry through prayer and support.

God Bless,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

December 2015 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friends,

I am writing this prayer letter as we return from Cape Town on a survey trip with Jason and Ashley King. It is incredible to see the need for the Gospel all over the country of South Africa. We are passing through dozens of towns, each with their own township, and hundreds of thousands of people with no Baptist Church. The Kings are hopeful to arrive here in August as church planters. If your church is looking to support a church planting missionary in 2016, I would recommend you have them come by and present their burden (mjasonking@gmail.com). 

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We thoroughly enjoyed our first annual BFWE Christian Youth Camp this month. We had 78 campers and each camper heard 23 message by 10 different speakers! And all of them want to come back next year! Many decisions were made to follow Christ and his will for their lives. Please pray for these young people.

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We officially started Soweto Baptist Church on November 29th. The Lord blessed with 28 in attendance for our first service and we were able to baptize 11 young men who I have been working with for the past several months (Aphiwe, Zolani, Soli, Athule, Aphele, Luxolo, Khanyiso, Likhaya, Sethu, Ntsika, and Miyanda). Our second week we saw an increase in attendance, up to 48! God is blessing and we are expecting to see some incredible things in 2016. (watch the video at https://vimeo.com/147233980)

We are almost to capacity in our current building with those who the Lord has already given. We currently have $1,000 toward our building fund. We are still needing $11,900 to build. With the new building we will have a seating capacity of 120 adults. Thank you to those who have already given.

We want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. You all are in our thoughts and prayers this season. Thank you for all that you do!

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall