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...