 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
John & Carla Shaw |
|
Dear Friends and Family:
It is officially spring in South Africa! Which means that we have now experienced all 4 seasons here. We arrived the middle of summer, gone through fall & winter, and now we are enjoying spring. It still amazes me how fast the time flies over here! The days go by so quick & the next things we know, a month is past. Ministry has kept us very busy, but it is so rewarding. John is still working in Mbonosweni with Pastor Sthembiso. They have formed a great friendship as they prepare his church for a woman's conference & mentoring the youth (young adults). He has spent almost every day for the past 3 weeks working alongside Pastor. During this process, they are not only learning about each other & forming a friendship, but speaking encouragement into each other as well as learning from one another. Pastor is also expecting his first child any day now, so we are anxiously awaiting the birth of their child, whose name will be Blessing.
The community of Mbonosweni has been through some hard & scary things this past month. It started when a young boy was killed at a circumcision camp. His body was found a week later. Then more recently, a young girl was raped & killed. This has resulted in the "community leaders" forming vigilante mobs, who have been burning homes & more recently deciding to close the dump in their town by setting it on fire, rioting & protesting.
As horrid as the crimes were against the children, Pastor Sthembiso was speaking out against the retaliation. He was advised to not speak in public or at his church, lest his home be next. Thankfully, his family is safe & we are continuing to pray for him & the community. This past Wednesday, our team did a prayer walk there with Pastor & some people from his church. A leader from the community came to see what was going on. He said he felt something burning in his chest & that he needed to speak to the committee. The following day, he shared that they needed to stop the fires & protest & let the authorities handle it. He was heard & the crowd went away saying he was anointed & they would stop. Praise God!
In other news, this past month, we visited a community about 2 hours from here called Tonga. This town is about 30 kms from the Mozambique border & about 40 kms from the Swaziland border. It is made up of mainly refugees from those two countries as well as refugees from Zimbabwe. Because they are here illegally, they get no government assistance & have no working papers. So as a result, the orphans there have even less than the meager supplements available to South African nationals. We partnered with a wonderful church there & were able to see how this small church is giving out of their own to feed & care for the orphans in their community. The morning we arrived, one of the elders of the church had awoke to find an 8 month old baby on his doorstep. He & his wife will raise the child for now & have named the baby Surprise. Our weekend stay was amazing & we are praying as a ministry how we can partner with them on an on-going basis.
As a family, we received some wonderful news this past week. Rae had applied to a private school here & we finally went in for our interview with the headmaster. She has been accepted at Penryn College (High school here) and will start in January for grade 10. We are very impressed with the school and think that it will be a great fit for her as well as meeting her needs academically & socially.
We are praying about returning to the states for a month or so at the end of October. We really feel like it would be a great time to see our families as well as connect with our partners in ministry. Currently, we are needing to raise about $4500 for the 3 of us to fly home. We are hoping to by tickets in no later than Oct. 8th. If you feel lead to contribute towards this, please see the information below for donations.
We realize that the economy is still in not so great shape in the states. We can't begin to tell you how much every bit of support means to us. The exchange rate here has fallen drastically since we arrived, so your support is even more vital than before. We could not do what we are doing without your financial and spiritual support, along with your encouragement. We pray that you are blessed no matter which way you support us!
We look forward to seeing most of you soon and would love to hear from you as well. Please feel free to drop us an email or look us up on facebook. Blessings,
John, Carla & Rae Shaw
To partner with us finacially or make a contribution, please send checks to:
New Hope
P.O. Box 118
Wylie, Tx 75098
For tax purposes, please do not put our name on the check, but include a separate note designating the funds towards the Shaw's mission account.
|
|
Click on either one of the links below to find out more information about Jeremy and Jennifer Price serving in South Africa. |
|
|
|
