Dear Pastor and Friends,
It was exciting to see Madiba Bay Baptist Church celebrate their 7th anniversary this month. This was the first church my brother started amongst the Xhosa people. There were many encouraging things that happened that day. One of them was the people’s testimonies and their expressions of gratitude. Several stood up and honored their pastor (Lubabalo Sitole on the left in the picture below) through monetary gifts and offerings. Getting to see mature(ing) Christians loving on one another was very encouraging. They are definitely not a perfect church, but they are still keeping what’s most important first, and that’s preaching the gospel and making disciples. Pastor Lubabalo also baptized two that day!
The most exciting thing for me personally this month was that I had the opportunity to baptize my first Xhosa man. If you remember from a previous update, Matthew Olwethu was saved several months back. I have been going through some basic discipleship lessons with him (obviously very slowly). We finally made it to baptism and Matthew followed through in obedience. If you would like to see a video of the baptism, visit ProjectSouthAfrica.com. Please pray for him as he continues to grow and discover God’s plan for his life.
Bekah and I continue to chug along in our language studies. Hundreds more hours have been spent in studies since our last update. Next Monday, the 15th, will be 8 months that we have been studying. We are experiencing steady progress, but we still have a ways go. Please continue to pray with us about this as well.
Other Prayer Requests:
- Co-laborer (cousin) Mark Coffey has plans to start his first church this month in the Motherwell township.
- Pastor Sipho Bonga and his new church plant are still in need of $7,500 to be able to build their church. They already have the land and $500 toward the structure.
- State-side, make plans now to attend our annual event in Gatlinburg, TN. “Our Generation Summit.” Jan 1-3, 2015, register now at VisionBaptistMissions.com
As always, thanks for your faithfulness in our partnership to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sincerely,
Jeremy and Rebekah Hall
