"To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven..." Ecclesiastes 3:1

Today we are making our last update to the "Sextons in Africa" blog as we are closing up a very special, important, blessed, amazing chapter of our lives. Some of you are already aware that our family has returned to Southern California on Christmas Eve. After much prayer, counsel and waiting on the Lord we are confident of the leading of the Holy Spirit to leave South Africa at this time. While we won't physically be a part of the ministry and good work that has begun in Paarl, we know that God will be faithful to complete it. We will diligently be lifting up Calvary Chapel Paarl Valley and the Portland family in prayer as our hearts will forever be connected to the people and the land of South Africa.

We are so blessed to have been a part of such an amazing work of the Lord that is taking place in Paarl, South Africa. We were able to assist in helping plant a church, given many opportunities to connect with the community's youth, and leave having made many dear friends.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support over these past 17 months that we spent in South Africa. Please continue to pray that the Lord will guide our every step. We are so excited to see what God has for us in this next leg of the race.

As much as we are going to miss all of the friends that God placed in our lives in South Africa, we look forward to re-connecting with all of our friends and family here in the States that we have missed so much during our time on the other side of the world.

May the Lord bless you as we welcome the New Year!

Blessings,

Anson, Joy, Emme, and baby on the way

Happy Thanksgiving!

our "turkey"

Hello everyone! What a great time of year it is as we approach this holiday season of thankfulness and reflecting on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. It is a sunny Summer day here in the Paarl Valley and we are looking forward to this evenings mid week Bible study. It has been great to study the Bible from the beginning every Wednesday and then to be in the book of Mark on Sunday mornings. 

A lot has been going on both in ministry and personally. Anson's basketball team from the local prison capped off its season by participating in an end-of-the-year tournament. Their team took home the 1st place trophy. It was a long, hot, fun day and one of the prisoners thanked Anson and Kyle on behalf of the other inmates for coming out to the prison every week and showing God's love. It was such a blessing to see a heart that has obviously been transformed. A couple of future basketball stars, Sammy & Hendrico, from Vrymans Fontein came out with us to cheer on the players and be waterboys.

We are gearing up for the Christmas break with the kids from both of the farms we minister at. Please keep the children's Christmas choir and the high school retreat in prayer. We are excited to see how the Lord is going to bless both of these things.   

We are still continuing to serve at the Bowy House & the Aids hospice as well. A few things are already beginning to slow down as we are coming to the end of 2008 and we are excited to start things back up at the public schools and wherever else the Lord leads in 2009.

The latest news for our family, besides our ever growing Emme, is my ever growing belly... we are expecting another little one in June 09. Emerson is already gearing up to be a big sister and we feel so blessed and excited. We really love sharing all that God is doing in our lives with you and we would love to hear from you as well. We pray the best for all of our friends and family. Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

Anson, Joy, Emme Lu & baby #2

It's Been Too Long...

It has definitely been far too long since our last update...

In these past 8 weeks, we have seen so much growth in the ministry... as well as in our own lives.

We are still recovering from last week's Calvary Chapel Africa Conference. It was so awesome! A lot of things are still soaking in & it seems that everyone came home with a cold...

The speakers were amazing last week! We journeyed through the first 13 chapters of Acts, studying how the Holy Spirit empowered the early church to accomplish the work of God & is still doing so, as long as we're willing to yield our lives to the Lord.

We met up with some friends of ours, David & Vicky Emmerson, from Scotland at the conference. They are staying with us this week as they check out Paarl & everything that's going on within the ministry.

In Paarl, its starting to heat up... the weather, as well as the different ministries. We are up and running with the Christian Club @ Klien Nederburg Secondary (High School). We have a great group of students meeting with us Friday afternoons as we make our way through 1 John & cover many basic topics involving the Christian walk. We even have a couple teachers attending the club too.
Once a month, we have the opportunity to go into the Drakenstein Hospice and minister to AIDS patients via praise & worship music. I play for about an hour, while the AIDS patients jam along with me on various percussion instruments. Its such a blast! Seeing the love of Christ impact the beautiful people at the hospice is such a blessing. We participated in the Hospice 3km Kiddie Walk last weekend. We finished dead last, but were just thrilled to be there.

Joy is also volunteering at the Bowy House, a home for young children (mostly infants & toddlers) directly affected by AIDS. Joy goes every Monday from 4pm-6pm & helps with dinner & bathing as the kids are settling in for the evening. She loves it & I am always blessed with the fun stories she brings home each week. Those kids need and deserve endless amounts of love and care. Please keep them in your prayers.
We're so excited with what God is doing at the church. Many new faces, as well as some old ones, are beginning to make Calvary Chapel Paarl Valley their church family. We had our 2nd church picnic last Sunday. We were blessed to have one of the speakers from the conference (Rob Dingman - CC Twickenham, London) come out and share with us that morning & afterwards we all headed next door to our house for the picnic/potluck. It was a wonderful time of fellowship.

On the home front, Emme is growing up so quick! She is so curious and inquisitive about so many things these days. She was so happy to see all of her friends at the conference. She is a blessing from the Lord!

Please pray that the Lord continues to lead & direct our lives here in Paarl, and that His work will be accomplished in & through our lives. We thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. God bless <><

In Christ,

The Sextons

adding to His family...

Greetings from hot and sunny South Africa! OK, its definitely not hot, but it is sunny this afternoon. (PTL!) We actually just had a bad storm come through the Cape this past weekend. A lot of people have told us that it's the 'last big storm of the season'... let's pray that it is.

August was such a fun-filled, action-packed month. We had 3 school assemblies & a community outreach in Paarl East. A team from CC Santa Barbara came through and joined us in one of the high school assemblies & the community outreach. They had an awesome dance team that communicated the gospel message. Emerson was doing her best to copy all their moves and even made up a few new steps of her own.

I was invited to speak at a local high school's Christian club. After the club meeting ended, a teacher asked if I would talk to her grade 11 class to "motivate" them. That was my free pass to share the gospel. Many of the students already professed to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior (awesome!), but one of the other students received Christ for the 1st time that day. What a privilege & honor to serve the Lord in that capacity.

We celebrated our 1 year anniversary of living here in South Africa, and also celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. Taking time to reflect on both milestones has made us realize that God truly holds us in the palm of His hands and wraps us in His arms of love. God is amazing!

We welcomed Jodine West into the world this past week. Davedine gave birth to her little girl on August 29th, 3 weeks before her due date. Jodine is so precious & beautiful. Joy has been quite an encouragement to Davedine these past couple months, and looks to continue to disciple her in the Word of God, while also offering motherly counsel as Davedine ventures into a whole new chapter of her life. Please keep Davedine & Jodine in your prayers. Though society tells her that the cards are stacked against her, we trust and believe that God has a wonderful plan for each of their lives.

We also welcomed another baby girl into our church family, Alice Joy. She is the new daughter of Belinda and Charl who've been with us studying God's Word from the beginning of Calvary Chapel Paarl Valley, almost a year ago.

As many of you know, I've had the chance to go out to the local prison with an American friend of mine for the past few months teaching the game of basketball to a group of prisoners. This month was the beginning of the Delta Trust Basketball League. I am the coach, as well as a player, for one of the two prison teams in the 8-team league. We play one game each week against local high schools. God has been using this opportunity to create & develop relationships with myself among my teammates, as well as the opposing teams. Please pray that God continues to use this as a device for ministry & that life-changing, soul-saving things would happen.

I also had the blessed opportunity to visit a local Aids & Cancer Hospice in town. A girl from the print shop, where we get our bulletins made, heard that I played guitar & asked if I would be interested in playing some songs for the patients at the hospice. I jumped at the chance. When I got there, all of the patients were given various percussion instruments to join along in the jam-session. They accompanied me in a number of different praise & worship songs. It was a glorious experience! The love of God put a smile on many of the patients' faces. I am looking to visit the hospice once a month & see what God does next. Pray that the message of the gospel would be communicated and received.

This month we will be starting a Christian Student Union at one of the high schools in which we conducted an assembly at last month. We will be meeting after school every Friday for a time of worship, Word, and fun. Please keep in prayer the students of Klien Nederberg Secondary, that the Spirit of God would move through that school & lives would be transformed.

We miss everyone & wish that you were here to get a taste of what the Lord is doing here in Paarl. It is so amazing to see the fruit that God has graciously given us the chance to harvest. Please pray that the ground would continue to be fertile & God's favor would remain upon us.

We love you & hope to hear from all of you via email. Take care & God bless.

In Christ <><

The Sextons

The Son is Shining...

"... you become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world..."   -- Philippians 2:15

This past week we had the opportunity to see hundreds of kids (young and old) make a public profession for Christ. Last Friday (Aug 1), we visited Charleston Hill High School in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Paarl East. The community is stricken with a high volume of gang violence, drug abuse, unemployment, and poverty. Though the grounds of the school are somewhat safe, outside those walls lies a life with unbelievable obstacles for a child to succeed and "escape the ghetto". One of the women from our church attended Charleston when she was growing up "on that side of the world". The Lord put it in Vahl's heart to speak with the principal of the school and see if Mike could come to the school and share his testimony with the students. 

In response to the the Gospel message that Mike delivered, many students made a decision for Christ. In our experience with talking to a lot of kids within the community, most kids attend church their entire lives without ever being presented the Gospel and given an opportunity to understand why we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior. So it's so amazing to see it begin to click in the minds of the young people when such a message is given.

This morning we attended a Primary school (grades K-7) in the same neighborhood. This school has 14 faculty members and over 800 students. (That's more than 57 kids per 1 adult!) Once again, our great friend, and sister in Christ, Vahl had attended this school growing up. So we were invited by the principal to come and talk with grades 4-7 (350 kids) about making the right choice. And the right choice is, of course, Jesus Christ. Dozens of kids responded to the message and made a choice to ask Jesus to save them from their sins, and reside in their hearts. It was a joy to be a part of such a wonderful thing that God is doing here in Paarl. 

Please continue to pray that God will open up more doors just like these. We are so excited about these upcoming months, and the possibilities that lie ahead. We are determined to stay focused on the Lord's plan for this ministry. Please pray that God gives us wisdom and discernment. 

This week, Joy and I will celebrate our 1 year anniversary living in South Africa, as well as our 4th wedding anniversary. This past year has been quite a journey, and an awesome growing experience. Emerson tells us all the time, "I stay in Paarl, South Africa!". Wow... what an amazing life the Lord has allowed us to live. 

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. They are so dearly appreciated. We love and miss all of our friends and family so much, but we are assured everyday of God's purpose for our time here in Paarl. The picture at the top of this post is one of many amusing things we see here in Paarl... just another fine day.

All our love,

The Sextons

Davedine update

   Last Sunday we wrote to all of you about a girl named Davedine. We have had the opportunity to spend some time with her this past week and really show Gods love for her. To a young, colored girl from South Africa who grew up on farms all her life, in conditions that most of us couldn't imagine; the only explanation for the outpouring of love on her from across the world is God. We want to thank all of you who responded to the Lord speaking to your heart to help support Davedine and her baby. I shared with her that some of our friends from the States wanted to help her with the needs she has for her baby and at first I wasn't sure what she thought. I actually asked her after a moment of silence if that was alright. She said, "really?" And then said, "yes, yes", with a huge smile across her face. I'm sure her initial reaction was that of, "why do these people want to help me" and then I had the chance to explain that Jesus loves her and just as He has a plan for her life He has a plan to use these people to bless her. It all comes back to God and He gets all the glory!

"Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart" Ephesians 6:6

"Doing the will of God from our hearts involves doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, and for the right reason. That reason, of course, is the glory of God." 

-10 Power Principles for Christian Service by Warren & David Wiersbe

   Davedine is having a baby girl and is due September 19th, she is planning to name her Jodene. She is planning to finish grade 12 when the new school year begins in January, which is an answer to prayer. We have been able to buy her things like onesies, jammies, socks, blankets, binkies and cloth diapers with the support from you, our friends and family. We also have a couple care packages coming her way. Thank you so much for everything from us as well as Davedine. She has the comfort of feeling prepared for her baby and hope because people all over the world are praying for her.  You all are a big part in the ministry here in Paarl, South Africa.

God Bless,

Anson, Joy & Emme

On our knees...

... if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'move from here to there', and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

"However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."    

Matthew 17:20-21

We want to encourage you to join us, as many of you have, in prayers of worship, petition and intercession. We are in the battle, here in South Africa and there in the USA. "Prayer is the most important activity a born-again Christian can perform", says pastor Chuck Smith. We have both praise reports and prayer requests to report to you and ask of you.

We are seeing many new opportunities and growth at Calvary Chapel Paarl Valley. We are excited to have the opportunity to do another school assembly, but this time it is a high school in Paarl East. Paarl East is a very poverty stricken, colored community that we are eager to reach. We are continuing on the farms with our dear friend, Val, interpreting the study in Afrikaans. It has been great to see people in our small body serve the Lord and use their gifts. We will also be doing a community outreach in Paarl East with the Dream Team and a team visiting from Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara in August. This past week was a blessing as Mike and Anson had a chance to do worship and devotions for the Dream Team every morning, please pray for more opportunities like this.

Some of you know that I have been battling for the past year with allergies. We have been called by the Lord to the very beautiful Paarl Valley, which is also known for being the 4th worst place for allergies, in the world. The Summer months were brutal with the heat and humidity combo which resulted in eczema with heat rash on top, plus hay fever. Now the dryness of winter has caused some more skin complications and asthma. But, praise God! After trying several doctors and trying the homeopathic route; the Lord brought me to a wonderful skin clinic just down the road and we have seen much progress in the last 3 days. So, this qualifies as a praise report and a personal request for ongoing prayer. I have been encouraged by so many of our great teachers, such as Jon Courson, to press on... often times it was a struggle to go about the day and my service to the Lord and to my family.

We would like to ask a special request for prayer and support for one of the girls from Vrymans Fontein. Her name is Davedine and she is 16 years old. Davedine was one of our regulars at the Tuesday evening Bible studies on the farm, but we haven't seen her in a while. Today she came to church with an obviously, very pregnant tummy and tears in her eyes. I could see the shame and the fear on her face and was given a chance to talk and pray with her.  She was even trying to get around telling me, even though it was hard not tell that she is going to have a baby. She is such a sweet girl with a contagious smile, although, her life has been very hard with an alcoholic father. I haven't stopped thinking about her all day, trying to think of ways to help her tangibly and most importantly, spiritually. So, my plead is for your prayers for this very young teenager who has dropped out of school and has a baby arriving in September. The odds seemed to be against her already, but as we know and as Matthew tells us, NOTHING is impossible. I pray that Davedine's life will be used by the Lord despite her circumstances and that this little baby will grow up knowing the love of our Heavenly Father. Prayer is going to make such a difference in these lives. I would also like to ask anyone who feels a tugging on their heart to help with maybe a small care package of baby things or even a small donation that we can use to buy her nappies (diapers) and other necessities. This is just what the Lord has placed on our hearts and we wanted to extend this act of love to you. If you would like to help in that way,  you can just email us or post a comment and we can give you more details on how to help, but prayer is also just as important, actually more. The privilege and blessing to be a mommy really gives me a burden for girls like Davedine. 

We hope that you all are enjoying your Summer and we really do love hearing from you, so, please write or just add a comment. You all are in our prayers as our family in Christ. 

Lots of love and blessings, 

The Sextons 

Pray for Davedine...

Emme on a rainy day...

Worship with the Dream Team...

Our little charismatic daughter singing and dancing to "One Way, Jesus!"

Sunday School Worship...

Calvary Chapel Paarl Valley Sunday school class...

Abigail, Sammie, and Marlin coloring...

Penny also coloring...

Hannah and Emerson learning moves to a new song...

Dependent upon Him...

Happy fourth of July! What a wonderful day it is to think that though the States celebrate their independence; we, as Christians, also celebrate our dependence upon Jesus Christ. We need Him so desperately, and that is what we're learning more and more everyday.

Life here in Paarl is going great. We are now in the middle of winter, and boy it can get quite chilly. Thank the Lord that we have space heaters! Aside from the weather, things are heating up. We've been in much prayer for what direction the Lord is leading this ministry. As doors close, new doors are opening. The schools are all on holiday (2 week winter vacation) right now, and we've had the chance to hang out with some of the kids on the farms that we minister to. God is definitely giving us the opportunity to build more of a relationship with these kids. 

I have recently been meeting with some of the local youth pastors twice a month, and we are really connecting. Our goal is to build relationships with one another and see what God does. We meet and discuss different possibilities that we might do to reach the lost youth in our community & how we can equip the youth within the church.

Emme is growing more and more as the days pass. We've survived the potty training stage. She turned 2 last month (feel free to check out pictures from an older post). She talks up a storm and loves to make you laugh. It's amazing how much of a blessing children truly are. We thank God everyday for our precious daughter.

Just a few things you can be praying for:

We are planning some future outreaches in the community. Please pray that God would give Mike wisdom and discernment in how we can best reach the lost here in Paarl.

We currently are in need of some additional transport resources for Sunday morning church service. There are more people that want to come to church than what we can transport. (That's a good problem though... right.)

We are seeing a number of youth give their hearts to Christ. (Praise the Lord!) Please pray that they would draw near to God, and a firm foundation would be formed in their relationship with Christ.

Thank you so much for joining us in prayer. The Lord has most assuredly answered your prayers, and we are seeing fruit within the ministry. Feel free to email us anytime. We would love to catch up with you and hear how all of you are doing. 

Take care and God bless!

The Sextons

Emme having a great time with Kiki & Elizabeth...

Here she is with Natasha & Carmen...

Campus Outreach Video

We blogged last month that we had an opportunity to take part in a college outreach in Cape Town. Calvary Chapel Cape Town was gracious enough to put together this video. Enjoy...

Please Note: If the window say, "Sorry, this video is no longer available"... Just refresh your screen and try again. Sometimes YouTube has difficulties playing the video.

God bless <>< 

Happy Birthdays!

Last week was a wonderful week for our family as we celebrated 2 very important birthdays. It is my week to celebrate the two most special people in my life with Anson's birthday on the 9th and Emme's on the 13th. It is such a blessed time to reflect on the life of my Godly, sweet, very manly :) husband and my beautiful, smart, hilarious daughter. Happy Birthday to them and what a beautiful picture God has given me of LOVE, through Anson and Emerson.