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