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
