I’M WALKING ON SUNSHINE.
Praise the Lord that He provided for all our ZEMA missionary families to be able to have solar systems fitted to our houses. What a privilege and blessing this is for us. There have been a number of power outages in our area over this past month and we have been blissfully unaware until our neighbor messages us to check if the power is still off. We are so grateful to Jesus for generous donors who give to ZEMA, we have not stopped thanking the Lord for you.
SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE.
The ladies that run the soup kitchen in Kamva have been working hard at finding donations for ingredients to add to their vegetables to feed their community. They approached social welfare in the area, and this made the way for social workers to get involved with the soup kitchen.
It has added a new agenda to all that takes place on a Wednesday morning and has increased the admin load substantially. With this new agenda come added goals and incentives that we are not sure we should be part of. Please pray for wisdom for us as we look to the future.
They currently feed around 200 people each Wednesday. This little group of people have a huge impact on the community. Often folk are already sitting at the door at 9 am in the morning we only start serving at 11am. Most days we run out of food, even though we will have cooked 70 liters of stew and 90 liters of mealie meal.
JIREH.
Since Louise’s visit to the States, we have five new supporters. This has been such a huge blessing and we are so thankful to the Lord for His provision. However, with our increase in medical bills and after a steady loss of South African supporters we find ourselves in a crisis.
We met with a Field Counsel member via ZOOM at the beginning of October and made a $1000 (R17000) cut to our budget as a start to be able to get us out of the trouble we are in. We are not good at keeping track of our financial support as we spend most of our time in survival mode at home and concentrating on our work here in GQ. Our prayer is often that the Lord would come through for us and He is faithful in doing so and generous as well. However this time He wants to do something different.
In asking God for a plan, Louise was at the ZEMA Ladies Retreat that happened from the 17th – 20 Oct, and she was not able to sleep on the Saturday night. When Louise is not able to sleep, she often spends time with Jesus. This night she felt the Lord leading her back to 2 Chronicles 20 vs 1-30. It is a beautiful account of King Jehoshaphat, and Judah and how God fights the battle for them. This passage has become one of those passages that Louise feels the Lord is speaking clearly through as we walk this journey with our children, the AmaZioni and all of you.
So, as she was listening and reading the passage, she was reminded of the fact that God has created a support structure around us of precious people who pray and give financially towards our ministry. He challenged her to ask all of you to pray and fast with us, just as Judah and King Jehoshaphat did, and together we will see the Lord fight this battle on our behalf.
Please could you set aside Friday 22 Nov and join us in fasting and praying for breakthroughs in our support levels as well as in our ministry and family. We believe that the Lord is not only going to answer those prayers abundantly but that He is also going to answer those quiet concerns and prayers of your heart.
ON THE HOME FRONT.
When we saw the pain specialist with Peta-Jade, as he did a physical exam, doctor suggested that we apply from medical aid (insurance) to have a procedure done on her lower back to help ease the pain that is causing her legs to go lame. This would help temporarily to ease her pain to break the spiraling effect that the constant chronic pain is having on her system.
Doctor wrote an amazing motivating letter to the medical aid, and we prayed for a miracle. Our request was denied after numerous attempts. We then asked for quotes to see if we would be able to raise the money ourselves. God was faithful again and we were able to raise the amount needed for the quotes we received. Peta-Jade has been researching this procedure for years and we have not been able to afford it.
Louise phoned the Hospital to get their banking details to pay the hospital account and they sent a different quote to the first one which was R18000 (just over $1000) more than the original quote. Well, you can imagine the shock and disappointment as we started to prepare ourselves to tell Peta-Jade that her hope for relief was no longer happening. Before we told her, we decided to ask folk to pray with us for a miracle and that is exactly what happened. Peta-Jade can have the procedure on her lower back on Friday the 15th of Nov at 2pm GMT.
SERIOUSLY?
Last week Barry started to have a stomachache that started below his belly button and moved to his right side. He was a little uncomfortable and so we thought it may be his colon or something like that. He decided that if the pain had not gone by Friday, he would see the doctor. Our week went on as normal, and Barry continued with life and the pain got a little worse but more uncomfortable than sore. So, Friday afternoon he went to see the doctor. She checked him out and thought it could be appendicitis or gall bladder. She sent him for a scan, and they confirmed appendix. So off to the hospital we went.
Barry saw the surgeon late on Friday night and she was saying he was too well for appendix as he was chatty and smiling, and the location of his pain was a little too high for the normal placement of the appendix. She then ordered a CT scan for Saturday morning just to be sure. Nathan and Louise went to the hospital on Saturday morning and got there just as Barry had gone for his CT scan. Soon after he got back to the ward, Dr Walsh came in and confirmed that it was his appendix and they rushed him into theatre. It was keyhole surgery and ended up being the most complicated appendectomy she has ever performed in her 25 years as a surgeon. His appendix grew upward round his intestine and up to between his ribs and diaphragm. It was septic and so they have had him on intravenous antibiotics the whole time he has been in hospital and if his infection markers are down, he should be able to come home on Monday.
CURRENTLY AND UPCOMING EVENTS.
Louise is meeting with one of our ZEBS graduates who has just recently lost her mom. She is a sweetie pie and just needs someone to walk with her through the grieving process. Please pray for her as she trusts Jesus and misses her mom.
Louise has the privilege of doing the flowers for a young couple from our church in GQ (abbreviation for Gqeberha) please pray that the wedding is amazing and that their marriage is even better.
Graduation is on the 30 November, we would appreciate your prayers for us as we prepare for that, especially with Barry recovering from surgery. Pray for those that visit at graduation, that they too would have the desire to come to ZEBS. Francois Joubert is the speaker for the day. Pray that God would use him to encourage and at the same time challenge the folk at graduation. Pray too for safety, there are more and more incidents of violence in the townships around GQ.
Peta-Jade’s procedure on the 15th of November, that the Lord would touch her body and that she would know His peace and see His goodness during this time.
For Nathan as he finishes with schooling and ends his time at the tutoring facility to start home schooling next year and visiting the “Yellow House” once a week for two hours. It is going to be a huge change for the whole family.
Remember to join us for prayer and fasting on the 22 November as we trust God for wonderful things.
Barry, Louise, Peta-Jade, and Nathan.
Giving in South Africa:
Bank details.
Standard Bank Current Account; Acc name: ZEMA; Acc no: 081047401;
King Williams Town; Branch no: 050419; Ref: “Your name/ Adkins
