Two Weeks Till Home Time!

We are literally counting the days until we board that plane bound for San Francisco. 12 days from today and then we travel for approximately 25 hours. Things haven't been easy in the last few months, but we are pushing forward and trusting God for the best.

You may have heard or seen on facebook that Piet has gotten in two car accidents in two months. The first one wasn't so bad and our car isn't too badly damaged, however, Piet cannot continue to run the business because the chassis on our car is bent and we cannot risk towing the trailer while it is not fixed. The second accident, however, was in our friend's vehicle. The damage to the vehicle itself wasn't terrible, but the angle of the impact could have caused serious damage to Piet. He could have either lost his legs or snapped his neck. We are so thankful that God was watching over him because he walked away with only a small scratch on his foot.

We only have the rest of this week and next week of YOYL. The year has really been winding down nicely. We haven't been as involved in the schools as of late because of exams. We have been focusing on community outreach and recruiting for next year. Our YOYL graduation ceremony is on the 1st of December and Piet and I fly out on the evening of the 2nd. We will be in California for 5 weeks. We will be sharing about our ministry on 9 December in Livermore, CA and we will be in Redding the week after Christmas.

We pray that you have a lovely Christmas season celebrating the birth of Christ, wherever it is you will be spending it!

With Love

The Bakers

Lesotho Mission Trip

October 15 - 21

 

We arrived on Monday afternoon in the town of Butha Buthe minutes outside of the South African border. Godfrey and Elizabeth introduced us to the culture of Lesotho and the organization here, LXP Lesotho.

 

While serving with LXP, we were involved in a few different projects. Each morning, we drove to the new site of LXP Lesotho to help them clear and fix the land. We dug a trench to channel the rain around the property as to not flood to property. After we finished with the digging of the trench, we poured the first layer of cement. We also did smaller projects such as painting the poles of the fence, pulling weeds, and  prepared the dirt for a retaining wall.  The house (which will be the first addition to the base) should be finished in June 2013.
 

On Thursday morning, we visited  a school for disabled children. The children are of all ages and have variation of disabilities. The school is called  “Thuso e tla tsoa kae” which means “Where does our help come from?”  We performed two dances and our “Set Me Free” drama. We felt this was the best audience that we had ever had! After this, we split up into teams to help in the garden or help with the washing. Visiting the school was a very humbling experience, however we wished that we had a bit more time to interact with the children.

 

In ministry groups of three, we went out into the community of Butha-Buthe to build relationships with the locals. We each had a translator in our team since many of the elderly people do not speak English. We were impressed that the team picked up quite a bit of Sesotho! They really made an effort to be able to greet the locals in their language. When we went into the people’s homes, we asked about their culture, connected with them relationally and spoke to them about the message of Christ. We found that many of them knew who Jesus was and is, but didn’t really KNOW him on a personal level at all. We took these opportunities to bring a deeper understanding of Christ. Before we arrived in Lesotho, the message of healing and bringing healing was spoken over our team. We prayed for many people and saw many healed!

 

Every Saturday, Godfrey, Elizabeth and their team of leaders run a youth program for the children and youth of their village. The children range from age 2—20. The week that we were in Lesotho, the discussion topic was being set free from oppression or anything that can hold a person back. The team did our two dances and the “set me free” drama. The youth responded well to this serious drama and found that they could relate. We also discussed in groups Isaiah 61 and that role that Jesus played on earth and the role we now play as followers of Christ.

We were very impressed with the youth and their understanding of the youth Word and their ability to apply it in daily life.

 Prayer Requests

 

-Pray that the people of Butha-Buthe will come to have a personal relationship with Jesus
-Pray for Godfrey and Elizabeth as they minister daily into the lives of the people
-Pray that the resources come through to develop the LXP base

A big thanks goes to Godfrey, Elizabeth and LXP Lesotho!

Thank you for hosting us and introducing us to new things! We are
grateful to you and your team! May the Lord bless and keep you!

Lots of Love,

The Bakers

 

 

As the year comes to a close

Seeing as 2012 is coming to a close, we can look forward to a couple of things:

1.       Our student graduation is coming up

2.       Fall and Christmas flavours at Starbucks (in some parts of the world…)

3.       Our trip to America is nearly here

4.       We need to find students for next year’s YOYL program (and quick!)

After a meeting with our pastors and the finance team, they have indicated that we need 8 students in order for YOYL to carry on. No eight students? No YOYL.

BUT the good news is that we feel God is doing something good and new with Year of Your Life next year.

A few weeks ago, some of our mentors asked to meet with us because they know of a young person who wants to do YOYL. Out of this meeting, we identified three young men who would be perfect for YOYL. These three guys are from the rural community, but are very involved in their local churches and have a heart for reaching out. Piet and I mentored two of these guys while we were still at Refilwe and we identified them as “junior leaders” in our youth. It is amazing to see how they have picked up where we left off and are now coaching soccer, mentoring other young people, and teaching Sunday School.

About a month ago, we were speaking to a friend of ours and they were commenting that it is too bad that the people who need the training of YOYL the most are the ones that cannot afford it. But after this meeting, we feel that God is drawing people not necessarily always from the “better off” areas and those who can afford the program, but from the communities where they need training and equipping the most.

Two of these young guys will hopefully join us this next year, and the other will join us the following year. The biggest thing we are worried about now is their accommodation. We have to trust God that someone (possibly in our church) will open up their home for them to stay. Ideally we would like to find someone with a cottage in their yard where these guys could stay together. We also need to trust God for finances for their food.

In addition to these guys, we have additional 4 or so students from our church that are thinking about YOYL. So, in total we have about 7 interested. This is good news!

We are trying to make the most of these last 2 months of YOYL...can't believe it's gone so fast! We have been running a new outreach lately that seems to be working. Right across the road from the church is a community center (the one we re-painted a few months ago). So, we decided to do a "play day" every Friday. We invite the kids (and moms!) of the community to join us for games, jumping castle, and lots of sweets!

Please pray with us that God will provide the students that we need for next year! YOYL 2013 here we come!

Year of OUR Lives

Executing a “Unique Taste”!

We are happy to announce that Piet’s new business is almost up and running. By this time next week we will be in full swing! For a few months now, Piet has had the idea to sell food by the side of the road to taxi drivers and people waiting for a taxi. He scouted out a prime spot very close to our house.

Piet's catering trailer

After we returned home from Zambia, we (in faith) bought a catering trailer which was completely by God’s blessing.

Piet belongs to a small business association that helps low income entrepreneurs get on their feet. Recently, the business association (called Seeds of Africa) found a sponsor for Piet’s business: Unique Taste Foods. With the money given, he was able to buy all the necessary items.

Piet’s brother Ernest will run the business Monday-Friday. He will sell freshly braaied (BBQ’d) chicken or steak, pap (a starch), side salad, and fries. “Unique Taste” will give Ernest a job as well as give a bit of a supplement to our income. We are really excited to see how the business grows and flourishes as the months go on.

Year of Your Life

We cannot believe that it was this time last year that we starting planning and dreaming about YOYL. The time has escaped us and the year is coming to an end in 3 short months.

Since our return from Zambia, we have been carrying on with weekly ministry as usual. Piet and myself and a few of our team members have been helping with the church youth group, which the other half of the team is involved in children’s ministry.

We have also completed a renovation project in our local community. Across the road from the church is a community center complete with a playground. The playground was broken in various spots, it had chipped paint, and wasn’t the safest for children to play on. We have added a sand pit, fixed all the broken planks and made a world of difference with colourful paint! A few moms in the community have asked if we can do a once-a-week play group with their children. What a great opportunity this will be to bring good news of a Saviour to these young lives!

Painting at Thembalami Care Center

In addition to all of this, we have had a few other outreach projects as well: painting at an old age home for the disabled, cleaning homes in a retirement village, and leading the CIA group (Christians in Action) at the local high school. Finally, we will again be crossing borders in October as we will be having an outreach to Lesotho!

CIA Club at Rand Park High School

Needs and Prayer Needs:

-A deep fryer for the business
-A small generator

-Protection and blessing over the business
-Protection for our business against corruption from governing officials of this country
-Pray for our team as they start thinking about their plans for next year

And, in other news, in three months from today, we will be arriving in the USA!!!

Thank you for standing beside our family as we get the business going and finish out the year!

Blessings and Love

The Bakers

Zambia Mission Trip

Hi family and friends!

Two weeks ago we returned home from Zambia. We have come home with refreshed spirits and joy in our hearts! Though it is a bit long, here is a detailed report of what we did.

After two days of driving, the YOYL team with Bryce and Maxine arrived in Livingstone, Zambia. The expectations were high, but we never expected to leave so changed!

The first ministry we stayed at was Love’s Door situated about 20 km outside of any town. We were literally in the bush ministering the Word of God to villagers who lived on less than R10 per day. We were able to pray with many people in the village and even saw miraculous healings be-cause we believed God would show his power. We also connected with some of the youth from the local villages. Most of them were forced to leave school because they could not afford school fees. However, Love’s Door stepped in to offer help. If these teens were will-ing to join the Bible study and work in the vegetable garden once a week, their school fees (R20 a month) would be taken care of. We had the opportunity to help in the garden a few days while we were there.

One evening while we were there, we had the opportunity to help serve food at the monthly celebration to all of the local disciples from the villages that Love’s Door has been working closely with. In addition, Love’s Door also has two children’s homes on their base. They have taken in a number of children from the villages who have been neglected, but are now being looked after by local Zambians who stay in these chil-dren’s homes.

Despite an interesting encounter with hippos, Love’s Door was an incredible ministry run by lovely people who have devoted their lives to serving God’s people of Zambia.


The ministry in Sambaland definitely stuck out for our team. Though we LOVED every single experience in Zambia, Sambaland touched us in a very unique way.
Justine Samba and his team have been feeding the children of the Ngwenya Village for many, many years. The children (ages 2-21) have learned to love and respect him. The team runs a feeding scheme every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. After the children have eaten, they proceed to meet around a tree and recite memory verses learned from the Bible. We were shocked that children as young as four years old knew at least one memory verse. They said them with pride! Their love for the Lord and hunger to learn was evident in their worship. We were also able to go into the community that surrounded Sambaland to visit with the people. We visited old widows whose families had neglected them. We saw even more miracles through these women! One lady in particular stands out in minds as she was very sick with malaria and hadn’t eaten in days. After the team prayed for her, she was completely restored and was able to eat full meals again! One lady of the community opened up her home and started a pre-school for locals. The school didn’t have many resources at all, and the teacher taught 75 kids from a small classroom (4m x 3m). Without many resources the students relied on memorization and oral learning.

One last part of Sambaland where we really felt like we were making an impact was at one of the widow’s homes. She was quite an old lady living by herself with no one to help her with day to day things. Her mud house was cracking on the outside, so we were able to assist her in applying an extra layer. In addition to feeling helpful, we also enjoyed it!

 The final ministry our team visited was in the heart of town. We felt a bit more "normal" when we arrived at the Kwathu Children’s Home as our previous living conditions were different than we were used to.

When Kwathu first started, there were only a few children that had been brought in from the streets. Now, a few years later, they foster 12 children ages 7-13. The Kwathu Children’s Home is run by a married couple with a heart for the lost and the poor.

Agrippa and his wife Jeanette have recently purchased land outside of town where they will be building a newer and much bigger children’s home. The new home should be finished mid-2013 and will house up to 60 children. We had the opportunity of visiting the new site and spent two days helping to clear the land. We connected with the children to some extent after they returned home from school each day, and one evening praised the Lord with them before they went to sleep.

Overall, the team will definitely say that Zambia was an incredible experience. We met awesome people, experienced the true culture of Zambia, and saw the mighty hand of the Lord at work! We came back changed!!

Thanks for your prayers as we were away. We were soaked in the presence of God and experienced more of Him!

Love,

The Bakers

Home sick, but not downcast!

Hello once again family and friends!


Unfortunately, I am home sick for the day. My tri-annual cold and flu has come to visit. It is incredibly boring and lonely being home the whole day, but at least I have some time to catch up on blogging!

So, it is with great excitement that I get to tell you that my South African Spouse Permit has finally arrived! I am officially legal in this country. I am so glad that this process is finally over (for the time being) and I can relax for the next two years before doing it again.

With my visa in hand, we are nearly ready to go to Zambia for our team mission trip. We leave 25 June and will return 9 July. We will be working with Love's Door, All Nations in Livingstone, as well as two other partnering ministries: Sambaland and Kwathu Children's Home. We are all very excited! As a team, we have raised just over half of the money and are getting ready to have our vaccinations done this week. It has been an exciting few weeks as we have been practicing dances, dramas, and songs. We will be sleeping in tents in the bush experiencing REAL bush life. In addition to children's ministry and rural community ministry, we have the very special privilege of visiting Victoria Falls for the very first time! We will send more updates as the time gets closer to our leaving.

Let me leave you with a few prayer points:
-My health and the health of our team. Out of 10, 5 people have already gotten sick
-Safety in our travels
-Financial provision
-Making a Kingdom impact
-Growth and closeness of our team both now in our preparations and as we go.


Thanks and God Bless!


The Bakers

SA Visa Update

Hi family and friends,


After nearly TEN MONTHS of waiting for my (Leah) South African Spouse Visa, I have finally made some headway. The application was originally intended to take 30 days. After about 3 months I became suspicious and have been investigating since then. I do not have the visa in my hands yet, but it was promised to me within a week if all goes well.


Piet and I have sat on the phone trying to contact anyone and everyone we could possibly imagine might be able to help us. Every phone call resulted in the same answer: "there is a massive backlog in Home Affairs and everyone else is also waiting for their visa. Be patient while we try to expedite your application." No amount of trying to reach a supervisor or superior was helping in the slightest bit. 


About a week ago, Piet found an email address of one of the directors of Home Affairs. Surprisingly, this man wrote back to say that he could help us. He told us to personally fax him my application and the attached documentation and he would see that it was completed. What he seemed to explain, is that I needed to fax him SOME of my documents so that he could locate my original application. What I misunderstood, however, is that I needed to fax him EVERYTHING that I originally submitted. In my original application, I submitted medical reports, x-rays, etc, that had cost quite a bit of money. Home Affairs had the originals (and had now apparently lost them), so I could not re-submit them to this man.


After lots of fighting, frustration, and tears, I had to go through all of my medical examinations and x-rays and other things to completely re-apply. This cost us nearly R1000, which we weren't expecting to pay. 


I am happy to say that on Friday afternoon I submitted all 35 pages of supporting documents and am awaiting the result. 


Please stand in prayer with us that I will finally have my visa after so many months of waiting. 


Blessings and love,


The Bakers

The YOYL family is growing!

Hello to our family and friends!

I want to apologize for the silence. We have been so busy in the past month, but busy with really great things!

First of all, since our last update, we have two new students on the Year of Your Life team. We are now a “family” of 10! We have had a couple of inquiries this week as well, so we have decided that this is the last week for people to join our team if they are really serious about it. We have one new girl, Amy, and one new guy, Kyle who have both just finished with grade 12.

We have been continuing sports and extra homework help at the primary school a bit, but most of the extra murals finished at the end of February. We have continued to go one or two days a week to help some of the teachers with admin. Piet is very excited to start coaching soccer this month at the primary school! Following up from my last blog about the two kids who passed away from the school, we have seen a closeness form within teachers and students. We have seen teachers seeking answers and some even ending up at our church. I think the initial fear has finally worn off and the school is back into the normal routine again. And also because of the events that have happened, we have really noticed a strong sense of trust within the school and our team.

In March, our team was involved in two big events. The first was a worship festival that had different bands coming to play during the course of the weekend. The second event was an abstinence evening called “The Silver Ring Thing” for youth. A few different churches and high schools were invited to attend. We put on several dramas and had three different speakers. At the end of the night, those who were serious had the opportunity to purchase a purity ring and made the commitment to stay pure until marriage. The evening was a huge success! Roughly 15 people committed their lives to the Lord, and almost the ENTIRE room stood up to make the commitment to purity!

In our skills training for the month, we’ve been learning about servant leadership. We were able to visit a software and stationary company called Ingenuit. The owner is a part of our church and he shared with us his journey to making the company a success and how he runs his company with godly and Biblical principles. We will also be visiting Refilwe in a few weeks (where Piet and I used to do ministry), again to find out how the organization is run on godly principles.

After our big events in March, we were blessed with a trip to the Vaal River for a day of rest. Our pastor took us out on his boat and we all went tubing and had a braai and a nice day of fellowship as a team!

Last week, the students took their first exam in theology. The theology is through the South African Theological Seminary, but administered by the pastors and by us; the course is called Crossroads. At the end of the year, the students will have completed their first year of theology giving them a total of 40 credits. With these credits they are able to continue on to get a degree if they so choose.

As if we are not busy enough, we are in the middle of holiday club this week. It is a sports related theme, but we are bridging the gap to make spiritual connections as well. The kids have been learning about endurance and finishing strong. Myself and Charne (one of our students) have been teaching cheerleading and surprisingly the boys actually like it! Piet and Gareth (also YOYL student) are the soccer coaches. Besides these sports there is also basketball and relay races. Piet also doubles as the nutty Willy-Wonka-look-alike MC.  The kids are having an absolute blast and I can see that the leaders are clearly enjoying themselves as well!

We will be applying for Piet’s USA visa within a month or two. We have total confidence that it will be granted. Unfortunately, the USA is very strict about who is let into the country so any hesitation could lead to a denial of the application. 

PRAYER REQUESTS:
-Please pray for Piet’s visa
-My South African spouse visa (I have been waiting for more than 8 months, when it was supposed to have taken 2 months). I need this visa to be able to cross the border when we go on our mission trip in June.
-For our awesome students! That they would take in every moment.
-For our marriage, that God would continuously strengthen us and make us one

We love you all and our so thankful for your thoughts and prayers!!

With peace love and joy,

The Bakers

In the midst of tragedy...

I am sitting here and writing this with a heavy heart and tired eyes after a very long and draining day. But first let me back up a bit.

Our team has been helping in a local primary school for the past three weeks now. We have helped with a few swimming galas (competitions) and we have been helping with extra classes after school as well as sports coaching (swimming and cricket). The team agrees that one of the most special parts of ministering at the school is connecting with the teachers on a personal basis. We have enjoyed so much being able to assist in their classrooms and getting to share our stories as well about why we have joined the Year of Your Life program. They have also asked many questions about our church and trying to wrap their heads around our whole belief system.

Jump forward to one week ago, last week Thursday. We arrived in the teacher’s lounge ready to cover math books, which has been our assignment for many weeks now. The teachers came in one by one with tears in their eyes. We then learned that a boy in grade 5 (age 10) named Tyler had passed away that morning from crones disease.  We knew that at that time we needed to be extra supportive and gentle. We also learned that the memorial service would be held at our church.

Tuesday and yesterday two girls from our team and I helped Tyler’s teacher prepare a poster board of pictures and notes to Tyler from his classmates.

Today was the memorial service. As we were preparing for the day and for the service, we sadly learned that yet ANOTHER child, also in grade 5, had passed away this morning. She stopped breathing after swimming class; exactly a week after Tyler. Understandably the teachers were a wreck. Everyone is scared and paranoid. We will be helping with the preparations of the second memorial service as well.

At that moment we decided that we need to claim that ground for Jesus Christ. One day next week we want to stop our program and join in unity to cover the campus in prayer.

Won’t you join us in praying for these two families that have experienced loss as well as plead the blood of JESUS over the students and teachers that remain?

We believe with all our hearts that it is God’s perfect timing for us to be in this particular school. We see evidence of God at work in the midst of tragedy.

Sold Out to Serve

Good day friends,

At the moment our house is silent. The only sound that can be heard is my own sniffling and sneezing, and that of my husband in the next room.

We hope and pray that all is well in whatever part of the world you find yourself in today. The first month of the year is nearly over, yet I’m sure it’s been a significant one.

Our “Year of Your Life” program has gotten off to a great start. In the second week of January, we went away with our 4 students for an orientation week filled with team building games and preparing our hearts for a year full of service to the Lord. We were blessed to be given a camp ground free of charge, with some of our food sponsored as well!

Shortly after our opening week, we gained a 5^th student. The five students (4 girls and 1 guy)

are between the ages of 18 and 22 and have a heart for giving back to the Lord. They have incredible attitudes and have given 101%. They have great ideas and we know that God brought them under our care for a specific purpose. For God to work IN them and THROUGH them.

The year is heavily focused on children’s ministry in our church as they are the future of our country and our world. Statistics show that if a child does not receive Christ in their lives by the age of 14, the chances of salvation later in life are marginal. The team serves in children’s church, weekly kids club, and the youth group.

The second of three “branches” of our ministry is to the local schools. Beginning next week, we will be involved in sports coaching and after school tutoring with primary school kids. Because these extra mural activities haven’t begun yet, we have been availing ourselves to help the teachers in whatever way possible for the time being. We spent the whole of last week covering text books for math students.

The third branch we are giving a great effort into is reaching out to our surrounding community. Community life in South Africa is so different from that of America, or even of SA several years ago. Every house has securely gated and barred itself in, away from the outside world. The realities of crime have made this absolutely necessary, but in the same way, have kept potential friends out as well. The students themselves have come up with creative ideas to connect with our neighbors and see the need for consistent prayer walks. We have plans to revamp a public park just across the road from our church in a few months as well as other outreach initiatives to bring people together.

Here are a few highlighted events of the months to come that we will either be planning or helping to execute: Wonder Women’s Tea (for all ladies 13 and up), Dad’s and Lad’s event, Silver Ring Thing (abstinence program for teens), and Engulfed Music Festival.

Blessings to you as YOU TOO make a difference in the lives of those around you.   

All our love,

The Bakers

Hello 2012!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Welcome to 2012!!

Our dear friends and family, we are so excited and blessed to be entering this brand new year full of God’s blessings!

We pray that each one of you had a blessed holiday season spent with family and loved ones and that you have reflected on things past, things to come, as well as the love of Christ which holds us together.

We have just returned from 10 days in Port Elizabeth, my previous home. We and 2 of our friends from church traveled the 12+ hours and spent many days on the beach and catching up with old friends. It was very relaxing and a nice time to completely recharge. While away, we celebrated one year of marriage! It has definitely flown by and we are thankful for each other and this year.

We have made of point this holiday to reflect on the year gone by and have seen just how challenging it has been, but with it, we have seen the immense work of God in our lives. The month of July was particularly hard for us as we had a lot of frustrating things happen. Piet’s visa to the USA was denied, my South African visitor’s visa was due to expire and I was within days of being deported, we were scammed in the purchase of our first car, we were facing the normal challenges of the first year of marriage, and we weren’t fulfilled in the ministry we were in. I personally felt I would crumble to pieces if things didn’t turn around quickly. It was not long after, that we saw the undeniable hand of God in our lives when we were able to buy a new reliable car, we found ourselves in a new ministry, and we bought our first home together. I can also very confidently say that we have never been happier in our marriage as we are right now. The first year is a bit rough! (They don’t tell you those things when you are getting into it!!) But we have pulled through and we feel confident that we have grown leaps and bounds in knowing one another and growing in the Lord together.

YOYL 2012 Team! (with 2 missing)

Tomorrow it is back to ministry for us, and in a few short days we will begin our orientation with our four YOYL (Year of Your Life) students!! We have been blessed with four days of free accommodation for team building and getting to know our new team for the year. We are more than excited. Again, we have seen God’s favour over our ministry as we have been preparing over the last three months. The doors of the community and our local schools have opened up to us, and the finances have been pouring in. When our office closed for Christmas a few weeks ago, we had already raised 2/3 of the money needed for the year.

We have constantly seen the “fingerprints” of God over the past year. We urge you, our friends, to continue searching for those undeniable occasions (not coincidences!) of God moving in the lives of you and yours. 2012, Bring it on!

Blessings to you,

The Bakers