Rights and Miracles

Today is a public holiday: Human Rights Day. Although I’m not sure what exactly we are celebrating (our rights I suppose) I am thankful for the day of rest!

This morning we drove to Pretoria to a scrap yard for some much needed parts for our car. Unfortunately, most everything was closed seeing as it’s a holiday. But, we did look around at a handful of used car lots to find a new car, and we did find some prospects. We just need to sell our current car, and raise another R45,000 ($6500) and we can drive away in a new dirt-road-ready 4x4. Just to give you an idea of what how bad the roads are in our little area of the world here is a picture of a road we drive down almost every day.

Please stand in agreement with us as we are really trusting God for a miracle; we aren’t sure how much longer our little VW Golf will last on these roads. Someone has already offered to buy our car at a very good price and we are very tempted to hand over the keys. We are still looking and praying and it will probably be months before we can actually buy something unless God provides.

This Friday is the commencement of a leadership training for all who want to be involved in running camps. Piet, Michelle (the other volunteer our age), and I will be running the majority of the weekend. Beginning Sunday afternoon, we will be running two 6-day camps back-to-back. It’s going to be really intense and exhausting, but we are looking forward to ministering to all ages during this time.

Africa Ablaze was founded with the intention of starting a Missions Bible College. After 30 years of fundraising, they are finally able to achieve this dream. Piet and I will be taking various courses through the college to gain further Biblical knowledge and missions experience.

Piet and I feel very strongly that we are at Africa Ablaze for a reason. We really feel like we are making a difference and impacting people’s lives regularly. In our school ministry, Africa Ablaze is able to reach out to 10,000 students a week! Piet and I fit in very well with the ministry and staff and we can see that we have definitely fulfilled a need and a void. All in all, we are doing well. We are enjoying life and trying to utilize our downtimes to invest in our newfound marriage.

There is power in Love,

The Bakers

The Hole in My Hand, Not My Heart

Yes, I have a hole in my hand…sort of. In our new house, we don’t have hot water in our kitchen tap, so we boil water to wash the dishes. About a week ago, while washing dishes, I poured boiling water directly on my hand. Needless to say I screamed and cried it was so painful. Here it is more than a week later and most of the skin on the back of my hand has peeled off to reveal what Piet says is “albino skin”. I feel a bit like an alien.

This is the first internet access I’ve had in weeks! Four to be exact. It’s been impossible to keep everyone updated and I feel a bit guilty. Piet and I have been using our phones to access emails and things, but it’s difficult to write anything meaningful on a tiny keypad.

The Bakers Family with our new dog Tess!

Gosh, so much has happened in the last four weeks. We have gotten settled in to Africa Ablaze ministries and are hard at work. We are actively involved in running school assemblies three days a week, Piet helps with maintenance and things on site, I help with the financial books, and we run camps. This past weekend we held a career camp for 44 high school students from the rural areas. A company called WesBank sponsored the entire camp and came in on the Saturday to run career oriented seminars with these 11^th grade students. Piet, myself, and one other volunteer that stays on the property ran all the games, facilitations of the weekend and just invested into these high schoolers. On Saturday night, Pastor Willem had a spiritual conversation with them and led almost all of them to the Lord! They came into the camp with a hunger for their future, and left with an indwelling of the Holy Spirit and a calling to fulfill. The great thing is, we see most of these kids in school assemblies during the week so we are able to encourage them in their walk with

God. Also, many of them will be returning as leaders for the
youth and children’s camps.

We have two more camps coming up between 27 March and 9 April. We are busy preparing all the teaching topics, games, and fun activities for the kids and youth.

There is always a lot to be done around here so we need prayer for rest and refreshment constantly. Also, our car is in the shop, but that’s a whole other story in itself…I’ll save that for next time. Please pray for either the finances to fix it, or for a miracle of a new car.

Oh! Piet and I have gotten permission to take time off in October to come to the U.S.! I am so excited that Piet is able to visit. I am also beginning to get a bit homesick for America, which is strange because this never happens.

We love you.

Love is stronger than death,

The Bakers