June 2018 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friends,

The weather is changing and it’s feeling more like winter. Our kids love this change as it means it’s time for rugby. Some of you might laugh at our calamity as we pull out the heaters in 50 degree weather. As I write that, it sounds kind of silly. However, it is taking a toll on many people in our churches and amongst the missionaries. Fortunately, our house has been blessed with only minor sicknesses: ear infections and bronchitis.


Last month we celebrated Mother’s Day. God blessed us with a great attendance, over 20 first time visitors. We had 35 moms in total come celebrate the day with us. Click here to see a short video .

Recently I read in my devotions in Psalm 41:1, the Lord says, “Blessed is he that considereth the poor.” One of the ways we have chosen to help the poor in our area is through hosting a soup kitchen at Soweto Baptist Church. This new ministry is made possible by Missionary Brent Bergey. Every Tuesday the ladies of Soweto prepare food for around 150 people. While they get ready to serve, a young man preparing for the ministry will get up and present the Gospel. This is a great opportunity for our guys to get experience preaching, while the church shows the love of Christ through filling their bellies. Pray the Lord uses this ministry to grow His church.


​We are about to get really busy with visitors from the states. Our first group arrives tomorrow; Newton Baptist Church from Covington, GA. We will have three more groups visiting after them, consecutively. The next two months are completely book with all kinds of exciting activities; tract drops, school assemblies, construction projects, special meetings, etc. Please remember these groups, their travels, and their time here in your prayers. Our desire is to see the Lord call some laborers from these groups.

Camp Rhino: My cousin, Mark Coffey, has signed a contract on property for Camp Rhino. This deal is contingent upon the sale of his house in the States. Please pray for the Lord’s will in this transaction. Soon, we expect to begin preparing and using the land for the furtherance of the Gospel.

Upcoming events for prayer:

  • Our Bible institute finishes the semester and takes their final exams tonight.
  • June 15 we will have a special youth service to celebrate Youth Day in South Africa.
  • June 17 we will have a special service to honor the fathers of Soweto.
  • July 3-6 we will have Vacation Bible School.

As always, thank you for your partnership with our ministry through financial contributions and prayer.

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

 

 

 
Support Address:
Macedonia World Baptist Missions
Att. Jeremy Hall
P.O. Box 519
Braselton, GA 30517

Home Church:
Whitfield Baptist Church
Pastor Wayne Cofield
2134 Dug Gap Rd.
Dalton, GA 30720
Personal Contact Info:
jhsouthafrica@gmail.com
(770)573-9541
Website: www.projectsouthafrica.com 

False Alarm

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Well…..we just thought we had a buyer for our house in the States:)  A house that our potential buyer already made an offer on and was rejected, ended up lowering their price to make it possible for them to get financing.  In other words, they decided to go with their first choice.

So we need you to continue praying for another buyer so we can sell our house ASAP.  We are still very excited about our property here in South Africa and believe we will get a buyer for our house in the States soon…..or later:)

Thank you all for your prayers.  They are greatly appreciated.

Please also pray for Pastor Tony Howeth and his group of 15 from Newton Baptist Church that arrive today from Covington, GA.  Pastor Tony was my Youth Director growing up, and has really been more like a 2nd dad most of my life.  This group is the first of 5 groups during June & July.

An Offer Has Been Made

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Obtaining our property that will be used for Camp Rhino seems very close.  As I mentioned before, we did make an offer that was accepted on a property here in South Africa that will be used for Camp Rhino; but that purchase is contingent on the sell of our house in the States.

We’re happy to announce that yesterday an offer was made that we are very pleased with.  It’s not set in stone, but it does look like everything is going in the right direction.  If the inspections go well, I’m pretty sure we have a sold house:)

Please continue to pray.  If this offer goes all the way through, we could have the money to completely purchase the Camp Rhino property in 21 days or less.

Coffey Family May 2018 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests

  • Our New Bible College- We hope to start full time classes in August. 
  • Kuyga & Missionvale- 2 areas that some of our teammates will be starting churches in. 
  • The sell of our home in the US. 
  • Our oldest son Tyler, who is in Bible College back in the States.  We are hopeful he will also be able to visit us in December.
  • More souls to be saved during our door to door & evangelistic outreaches.
  • We have 5 mission teams visiting here in June and July.  Pray the Lord does something great in the heart of everyone who is able to experience ministry on the foreign field.  Many are leaving the US for their first time.

Quick Updates & Reminders:

  • 13 People made professions of faith during our 5-day evangelistic tent meeting this past month. 
  • Our oldest girl Emilee, turns 16 on June 6th.  We are very proud of the young lady she is.  Please pray for her as she will be going on a mission trip to Chile, South America in July to visit the Jason and Lori Holt Family.   
  • If you are interested in working in short-term missions and camp ministry, please contact me ASAP.   We would love to have you be a part of Camp Rhino.  There are opportunities all year long. 
  • If your church is interested in traveling to South Africa for a missions trip in 2019 or 2020, please let me know, and I will email you an information packet right away. 

This month we have seen several people make professions of faith and the majority of those people were during our evangelistic tent meeting.  Please continue to pray that we can raise funds to purchase our own tent and equipment that would allow us to do these types of meetings more often.  We hope to help our team of churches do at least one a month. 

We have made an offer that was accepted on a new property for Camp Rhino.  It’s 19.5 acres of flat land with a house and a few buildings. We are $66,000 short of the purchase price, and hope to make up the difference with the sell of our house in the States.  The purchase price of the property is approx. $196,000.  Please pray we can sell our house in the States soon. 

With our visiting groups coming in June, we have the opportunity to present the Gospel to hundreds of children and teenagers in the Public School System here in Port Elizabeth.  Pray that many will come to Christ during this time.

Coffey Family April 2018 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests

  • The sell of our home in the US.
  • Our oldest son Tyler, who is in Bible College back in the States.  We are hopeful he will also be able to visit us in December.
  • More souls to be saved during our  door to door & evangelistic outreaches.
  • Pray as we are trying to build a music ministry foundation that will aid all our churches.  If you would be interested in sponsoring a student at $40 a month for 6 months to take guitar and/or music lessons, please let me know.  We have several waiting in line to start classes.
  • A mission team from Newton Baptist Church in Covington, GA will be here on June 6th.  Pray God moves in a great way during their stay.

We are in need of a tent for several ministry opportunities and needs we have now and that are to come.  The primary use for the tent is for services we are planning in areas where we want to start new churches.     

The secondary use of the tent will be for our chapel services during our weeks of camp at Camp Rhino.  We ultimately want to build a permanent structure, but will probably use a tent for the first year or so. 

Having a tent also allows us to hold evangelistic services in the surrounding areas of our churches.  It will help us make more noise and have a stronger presence in areas where we want to do more outreach. 

A brand new tent cost about $2600.  We want to find a used one, but this amount is the most we will need for a tent similar to the picture above.  We would appreciate any help with this expense.  

Thank you for everything.  Might we all do more to reach this world in our generation.

Quick Updates & Reminders:

  • We had a fantastic VBM Regional Conference with my Pastor Austin Gardner and Mission’s Director Jeff Bush.  I’m constantly reminded while around these men that we never need to stop learning and there is much more that needs to be done to reach the world.
  • We are now looking for American interns who desire to work in camp ministry.  If you or someone you know is interested in coming to South Africa to help with Camp Rhino, please let me know.
  • We backed out of the contract for the property that we chose for Camp Rhino after failed perc test and much prayer and counsel.  There are two good areas that we are looking at for the Camp right now.  We are hoping to nail something down very soon but we know it’s in God’s timing.  We don’t  want t0 force anything.

Coffey Family March 2018 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests

  • The sell of our home in the US- After a few delays, my realtor let me know he plans to list our house on April 11th. Please pray that it sells quickly and for a good price.  Proceeds from the sell will go towards Camp Rhino.     
  • New Life Baptist Church’s special Easter     3-day Revival.  We are praying for a great attendance and for many to be saved.
  • Our oldest son Tyler, who is in Bible College back in the States. 
  • More souls to be saved during our  door to door & evangelistic outreaches.
  • The right property for Camp Rhino.  Our search continues as some roadblocks have popped up. 

I’ve been waiting weeks to let you know that we finally have the property secured for Camp Rhino.  Unfortunately, this won’t be the week we make that announcement either. I received word yesterday that all three perc tests failed for the property we have a contract on.  We are researching to see if there are different options for septic systems that will allow us to still use the land, and we have also begun looking at other properties in case that door closes.

As we continue searching for property, I’m encouraged to know the Lord will help keep us from making a bad land decision.  Pray that we are patient and sensitive to His leading.    

Remember, we still need your help.  Pray that God would call more laborers to be involved in what’s going on in South Africa.  A foundation is being laid which I believe is the start of many coming to Christ and many being called to take the Gospel to the world.  Maybe you are the one who God is leading to come and help.

Quick Updates & Reminders:

  • We had two young men, 21 & 22 year old, trust Christ this past month at New Life along with several children during our children services.
  • We are hosting the Vision Baptist Missions Regional Conference taught by our Director Jeff Bush and Pastor Austin Gardner April 5-12.  We look forward to this valuable time of training for our whole team.  Pray for those traveling in for the conference.
  • Our 2nd children’s book “Brayden’s Day Off” is in the illustrating stage.  We hope to have this book available to you very soon. 
  • Almost our entire summer is booked with mission teams for 2018, but we would love for you to make plans for 2019.  Please let me know if you or your church is interested in bring a group.

March 2018 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friend,

We have baptized 10 new believers since our last update! Eight teens and two young men. Sihle, Sekela, Olwethu, Ukuhle, Mandiluve, Asanda, Sanelisiwe, Mayza, Odwa, and Wandisile. Please pray for faithfulness and spiritual growth.

Normally, we use prayer letters to mention all the highlights and victories. This letter will be a little different. I will be more transparent and mention some of our struggles and failures as well.

Last month we tried a new ministry which did not fare so well, English Classes. These worked great in Peru, but do not seem to be near so desirous here. We passed out more flyers and invitations for these classes than we have anything else, with less participation. One new person showed up to class. My wife was trying to be encouraging the first night and said, “We’ll see next week!” At the next class, our one visitor must have decided she had enough in her first class, haha!

Break-in: Please pray for the men who live in the flat connected to Soweto Baptist Church, Matthew and Thami. They, along with two other young men from the church who were staying the night, were robbed. Last Thursday night at approximately 11:30 pm four men broke through the security gate, kicked in the door to the church, and held the guys at gun point. They stole all their valuable things; cells phones, a tablet, a computer, and tv. Praise the Lord, no one was harmed physically. The funny thing about the whole situation is the fools took all their time and effort to get out a car jack to pry open the gate when there was no lock on the gate. All they had to do was open it.

We are currently going through four different studies at Soweto; Thursday nights is “Getting to Know Major Bible Characters.” On Sunday morning we are looking at “Overcoming Addiction.” I prayerfully decided on this topic because we had one teen from the church overdose on meth last month and spend several weeks in the hospital. Unfortunately, he was not the only one using, several other older teens have fallen away as well. The temptation is literally on every other street corner. Though some are gone for now, our prayer is that God will use whatever is necessary to draw them back to repentance.

On a more positive note, we also started Sunday School last month with two different classes; a children’s church (pictured below) and one adult class. With the adults, I have been teaching on “The Church” in preparation for our formal organization of the church (no set date for that at the present, but sometime within the next few months). My wife, along with several other ladies, are doing a great job teaching through the OT in children’s church. These classes have opened up opportunities for some of our men to begin teaching too. We also continue with an informal Sunday evening Bible Study. The men and the women are separated, and Bekah and I teach on basic foundations of the Christian life.

Other Prayer Requests:

  • Next week we will have a special combined service with New Life Baptist Church of KwaDwesi on Friday and Saturday, celebrating Easter. We will be back in Soweto for our Sunday Easter Service.
  • My cousin, Mark Coffey, has signed a contract on 21 acres of land for Camp Rhino. We are waiting on the perk test to come back to finalize the purchase and continue on with the plans. Click here to see a video of the property.
  • Next month we will host the African Regional Conference here in Port Elizabeth. There will be 8 missionary families attending. Several are visitors from other countries in Africa and the US, including my mentor, Austin Gardner, and good friend Jeffrey Bush.

Thank you for your continued prayer and faithful support.

Sincerely,
Jeremy and Rebekah Hall
Support Address:
Macedonia World Baptist Missions
Att. Jeremy Hall
P.O. Box 519
Braselton, GA 30517

Home Church:
Whitfield Baptist Church
Pastor Wayne Cofield
2134 Dug Gap Rd.
Dalton, GA 30720
Personal Contact Info:
jhsouthafrica@gmail.com
(770)573-9541
Website: www.projectsouthafrica.com 

Coffey Family February 2018 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests

  • Expansion of New Life Baptist Church in Kwadwesi.  We are wanting to start a second church soon.
  • The sell of our house in the US-  Our realtor let me know the house should be ready to list by March 9th. Please pray that it sells quickly.    
  • Property search- We have looked at several possible properties for Camp Rhino.  We are running into drainage/sewer problems for the properties we have liked so far.  Pray we will be patient and choose the property God wants us to have and that will be best for future growth.
  • Our oldest son Tyler in Bible College back in the States.
  • Josh and Meagan Sullivan are in their last months of their deputation.  Pray they raise the remainder of their support quickly and also pray their South Africa Visa applications go though without a problem.  They are applying for their visas next week.

Quick Updates & Reminders:

  • We have settled in our new/temporary home.  We rented a place that suits our family well and also has extra space to house our interns and visitors from the States. 
  • Timmy and Destiny Kelly, interns from The Our Generation Training Center in Alpharetta, GA, are doing terrific.  They have been heavily involved in all the ministries here since their arrival.
  • Our 2nd children’s book of The Little Five Friends Series is in the illustrating stage.  We hope to have this book available to you very soon.

There is so much that needs to be done.  Arriving back to South Africa has been great, and there are so many opportunities we are excited about in the coming months.  I am now working with 5 young guys for ministry preparation.  Seeing them trained to do the work of the ministry is my priority, and I’m praying God would send us many more like then. 

The need here in Africa is great.  We need more laborers.  Pray God works in the hearts of people to be a part of what’s going on.  We are building a strong team that I pray not only impacts our country, but is involved in seeing missionaries and pastors sent all over Africa. 

As Kevin Hall and I sat this week with a young man who wants to be a pastor from Zimbabwe, a country just north of us, I was reminded even more of the potential to see churches started here in South Africa and our neighboring countries. 

Please Pray.

Music

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Because of my lack of talent and ability with music, our church hasn’t really excelled in that area.  Since we are a very young ministry we don’t have a supply of people who can play instruments, lead groups, and/or lead congregations.  This is an area I know we have to improve in.

Recently, a man started attending my cousin Kevin Hall’s church in town who is a guitar and singing instructor.  This opened the door for my son Chase to start taking singing and guitar lessons, and also for four of our guys at New Life as well.

Please pray for these guys as the begin their lessons.  I believe they will be a great asset in the ministries of all our churches here in Port Elizabeth.

New Church at Kwadwesi Extension

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Across the valley of our current church New Life Baptist Church, is an area called Kwadwesi Extension.  This is a much denser populated area then where we are now, and also where several of our people are from.

Pastor Sipho has been holding midweek services there even before we arrived back to South Africa.  The attendance is really starting to pick up.  For our special Valentines service this past Wednesday we had around 125 people in attendance.  We had to keep the kids 12 years of age and below outside because of the space.  This is the area we want to start our next church and believe from there we can start churches in at least two other areas near by.

https://www.facebook.com/mark.coffey/videos/10155274750236728/