Author Archives: The Coffeys

Almost to $95,000

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This past week while in North Carolina, we had two of our supporting churches give a total of $1470 towards Camp Rhino.  With the new addition we now have $94, 691.74 towards our $100,000 goal.  Wow, so close!

I’m, thrilled to know we are nearing our goal.

Will you pray about helping us get the remaining $5000?

Our family leaves for South Africa on January 10th.  We can’t wait to get there and start searching for property.  We have a few options we’ve seen online that we’re excited about.  God has used all of you to be a great blessing in praying and giving.  I don’t have the necessary words to express my appreciation.

Christmas Camp Coming Soon

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Our 3rd Annual Teen Camp is not very far off.  Each year during the first part of December our team host a teen camp in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, which is about 45 minutes outside of Port Elizabeth where we live.  We hope this will be our last camp at a rented facility before we’re able to purchase our own property for Camp Rhino.  We will continue our Christmas Camp but hope to be well established in our new property by December of next year.

Here are a few things you could be praying about with us if you would:

  • Souls to be saved at this year’s teen camp.
  • Teenagers to commit their life to full time ministry.
  • That we are patient to wait on the property the Lord wants us to buy.
  • Our oldest son Tyler who will be staying back when we return to South Africa.
  • Direction as we hope to start our second church.
  • Funds to come in to finish off our $100,000 goal and beyond

We currently have a little over $93,000, but still have a little way to go.

Big Check for Camp Rhino

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Back in January, a supporting pastor and good personal friend reached out to me about helping with Camp Rhino.  Pastor Aaron Smith and the folks at Crossroads Baptist Church in Mobile, AL committed to giving $2500 to purchase property to help start Camp Rhino.  Their plan was to take up a change offering from then until their missions conference in October with the purpose of giving that offering to Camp Rhino.  The folks at Crossroads were actually the very first church to commit to helping with Camp Rhino raise $100,000.

This past Wednesday was the first day of their conference where they presented us with a not a $2500 check, but huge $2600 check.  With their gift, we not only have over $87,000 with gifts and  commitments, but now have over $87,000 in hand.

Please continue to pray as we get closer to our $100,000 mark.

 

 

October 2017 Coffey Family Prayer Letter

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Prayer Request

  • The sell of our house-  When we left for the field the first time, we weren’t able to sell our house.  With the improvements in the market, we are hoping to sell it and at least clear $30,000.  Our plan is to use the money we clear toward the purchase of our camp property.    
  • Safety as we travel- This coming month we’ll be in Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, and Florida.   
  • Our oldest son Tyler- He will be staying back in the States for Bible College when we return to the field. 
  • Christmas offerings being designated for Camp Rhino- We are praying to meet and surpass our $100,000 by the end of December. 

Quick Updates & Events:

  • Volunteer visas for our children were approved.  They are good through July 2019.  Afterwards we hope to get a 5 year work visa which would allow us to one day obtain permanent residence.
  • With the children’s visas in hand, we purchased our airline tickets for South Africa.  We are booked to fly out January 10th.    
  • Our first children’s books that will promote missions principles and Camp Rhino will be shipped out on October 31st. Check them out and pre-order at CampRhino.org.
  • Plan to attend the Our Generation Summit either at Lake Lanier Island Resort in Buford, Ga on December  28th-30th or in Boston, MA on January 4th-6th.  For more information go to OGSummit.com

Through these past months on furlough, God has really taught us and grown our faith in an incredible way.  When we started announcing our goal back in January to raise $100,000 to start Camp Rhino, to be honest, we were a little nervous.  This is the first time we’ve personally tried to raise money like that.  Month after month God, met or even surpassed our goals.   From the first $5000 given to the last $1000 that came in last week, it’s been amazing to see. 

Looking back and knowing the churches and individuals that have been involved is a bit overwhelming.  God has placed us in the path of some incredible people that have been a great encouragement and help.   

We now have over $87,000 towards the purchase of property to start our new camp.  With around $13,000 to go, we’re not near as nervous as we were in January:). Thank you all again for your prayers and support.

Camp Rhino and our Christmas Camp

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Another $3000 came in within the last week and a half for Camp Rhino.  The total is now over $85,000.  I believe we will meet and beat our goal of $100,000.  Thank you all for praying and giving.  I want to say a special thanks to Oakland Heights Baptist Church in Cartersville, GA and Fellowship Baptist Church in East Ridge, TN with helping us pass the $85,000 mark.

Our team at Camp Rhino will be renting a facility to use in December to host our annual Christmas Camp.  Please pray as churches are preparing now to bring their young people and recruit lost teens from their community.  This should be our biggest camp week so far.

If you or your church would be interested in making a trip to South Africa sometime next year to help with Camp Rhino please let me know.  We are hoping to have our first teen week July 2018, but need help before and after getting the Camp ready.  We already have six groups schedule to visit us next year, but are looking for many more.

Visas are in Hand

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As we’ve mentioned in previous updates, we were a little concerned about obtaining visas for our children.  Amy and I have our visas that are good until July 2019, but our children’s visas were already expired.  Last week, thankfully, our kids visas were approved and sitting in our mailbox when we arrived back from our trip to Texas.

Missionaries working and/or going to South Africa are facing visa problems that we have never faced before.  It’s always been fairly easy to get a visa to do ministry in South Africa.  This year has been a bit different.   Changes in the visa process have created a lot of stress and uneasiness when it comes to getting permission to work in South Africa.

We aren’t sure how the visa process will be after July 2019, but we are praying some things get worked out so it won’t be a problem for missionaries to stay long term.  We are hoping even through Camp Rhino, we can create a way for missionaries to obtain 5 year work visas.  From a 5 year work visa, missionaries would then be qualified for permanent residency.

With all our visas in hand, we are officially buying our plane tickets for January 10th, and are looking very forward to getting back.

New Total for Camp Rhino – Over $80,000 Now

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This past week my family was privileged to be a part of Worth Baptist Church’s missions conference in Fort Worth, TX.  Pastor Tyler Gillit, his staff, and church people put on a spectacular conference.  The Saturday night Foreign Food Festival was unbelievable.  I’ve never seen so much involvement in a dinner like that, and I’ve definitely never tasted so many wonderful tasting foreign dishes in one evening.   Throughout the entire conference we were blown away by the encouragement and kindness of everyone.

On Sunday evening of the conference, Worth Baptist really was a blessing to our family, and one of the things that really stuck out was the offering they gave to help with Camp Rhino.  The generously gave $2460 to help buy property and take us past a pretty big hurdle.

We’ve broken the $80,000 mark and the new total of funds given or committed is $81,188.  Another $18,812 will take us to our $100,000 goal.  Praise the Lord.

Just shy of $79,000 for Camp Rhino

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First Baptist Church of Judson, TX and Pastor Tim Smith recently decided to partner with our family.  It’s always an honor when a church chooses our family to be their representatives in South Africa.

First Baptist also surprised us this month by sending an extra $1500 for Camp Rhino. With this great offering our total is now at $78,728.00.  With exactly 4 months left with our furlough, we’re excited about where we are.

Please be praying for our children’s visas.  We are hoping to get them back in the next week or so, but nothing is guaranteed.  If we do get them back, we’ll go ahead and pay for our return tickets that are being held which have us leaving January 10th.

One more $1000 from Dundalk, MD

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On Sunday, August 27th, I dropped into Calvary Baptist Church in Dundalk, MD to visit Pastor Stacey Shiflett and his family.  It had been many years since I saw the Shiflett’s.  It was through him that I made my first visit to South Africa back in 2003.  I don’t believe I would be a missionary to South Africa now if it wasn’t for this family.

It was encouraging to see the great ministry going on at Calvary and how the Lord is using this family from the “South” to reach folks in Maryland.  It was an exciting atmosphere in Dundalk where there is definitely a need for the Gospel.

Pastor Shiflett gave me an opportunity to present our ministry, and immediately afterwards, the church voted to give $1000 for Camp Rhino.  What a blessing!  With that donation, we are now over $77,000.

 

To Washington D.C. and Back Again

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This past weekend, Luke and I flew up to Washington, D.C. to be at two meetings in the Baltimore, MD area.  On Sunday morning, it was great seeing Pastor Stacey Shiflett, his family, and people at Calvary Baptist Church.  During the Sunday PM service I was privileged to report back to Pastor Scott Tewell and the folks at Rosedale Baptist Church. We returned back to Georgia on Monday afternoon, and Monday evening we received some unexpected mail.  Our children’s passports that we applied for less than two weeks before, surprisingly arrived.  We were expecting it to take 4-6 weeks.  We needed the renewed passports so we could renew our kids’ South Africa Visas.

After flying up to D.C. for the weekend and finding out we now have all the passports, we jumped in the car Tuesday, and drove straight back to D.C. and arrived at midnight. Wednesday morning at the South African Embassy was a little challenging, but by Thursday, everything was worked out.  The applications for our kids visas were accepted. Please pray they will be approved and returned to us ASAP.  Several South Africa missionaries have faced problems getting their visas renewed in the last few months.  Since Amy and I already have our visas we don’t anticipate any problems, but we definitely still need your prayers.

We did have an added bonus, on Wednesday evening we were able to visit Crossroads Baptist Church and hear Pastor Kenny Baldwin preach.  Pastor Baldwin is someone our team of young preachers in South Africa respect very much.  They were a bit jealous finding out I was in his church for their Wednesday evening service:)