Victory!

Yesterday, after months of trying to get all the paperwork together and 3 hours in the South African Home Affairs office, I received my spouse permit!! For so long I’ve been putting it off because there is a minimum income level, but yesterday we decided to just go for it and see what happens. Amazingly, we saw more than a couple miracles happen.

First, I had to stop off at my doctor to get a form filled out that I am not mentally ill. She had given me one at the beginning of the year, but I had since misplaced it. Anyway, I was really disappointed in myself, and also disappointed knowing they were going to charge me the full price for an appointment that would take less than 5 minutes. I was in and out and when I had to pay, it was about half the price I normally pay. I didn’t ask questions, I just took the blessing! Miracle One.

Secondly, I assumed that I had to first apply for an extension on my current permit (visitor’s visa) before I could apply for my spouse permit because you have to apply 30 days before your current visa expires, and mine was expiring in 8 days. The lady told me not to worry about the extension; she would just push my spouse visa paperwork through. Miracle Two.

Third, the lady who was processing my paperwork said there is no way that my visa would be denied!! Wow! Miracle Three.

Fourthly, there was NO FEE on my visa. It didn’t cost me anything, except that three hours in the building and walking up 7 flights of stairs a number of times. Miracle Four.

After we left the building, we celebrated! The process was so much easier than we had imagined!



Piet and Leah



Praise God that there is now one less stress to worry about!

         "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
          You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God,
          you will receive what he has promised."  Hebrews 10: 35-36

So, I guess the tunnel isn't as far as we thought. :)

Our new car! 2003 Ford Focus

Thanks for the prayers!

The Bakers

Pain in the Night, but Joy in the Morning

I realized lately that I haven’t properly explained the set up of Africa Ablaze. There are about 12 of us that live on the Africa Ablaze campus. The campus has 4 dorms, and 3 private houses, a multi-purpose hall, horse arena, and more. Piet and I live here full-time, and whenever it is time for camps, the students arrive at our door step and we entertain them for the duration of their stay. I have to admit I’m happy to be married because my days of staying in dorms are OVER!

The children who come on holiday camps have been booked in by their parents. We don’t advertise it as “church camp”, but it is an invitation to understand who God is and how he works in our lives. The June/July camp definitely topped the April camp. There was a real spirit of God’s presence touching the lives of the young people.  Many received Jesus into their hearts.

I have to admit that when we first joined the ministry I wasn’t super excited about camps and working with kids. Piet and my specialty is youth. However, I find myself playing the part of the mother on camp, and I hear the phrase, “You are going to be such a good mom one day” said much more than expected.  Piet also finds his role an easy one to play: camp facilitator and worship leader. He is learning well how to blend authority, discipline, and friendliness. Everyone loves him.

Every day there were sessions where we would sing songs and teach a moral or Biblical lesson with the kids. We had a lot more opportunities to teach this camp, which is not only fun, but has really helped us grow.

As I mentioned a while ago, life just seems particularly difficult lately. Piet and I feel that we are going through a lot of trials. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s still a distance away. Many of you have probably heard about our car by now. We had bought a really great car for a good price, but unfortunately we had been scammed and the mileage had been set back, AND the car needed a new transmission. Luckily we caught it in time and were able to get our money back. And here we are, a month later, we have bought an excellent car! We got an even better price on a car with very low miles. We are very confident that our new Ford Focus will last us years. We want to thank EVERYONE who helped contribute toward our car! Thank you so much!! We would have never done it without the loving support of each of you.

At the moment, Piet and I have been given an amazing gift of a condo about 50 minutes away. We requested a week off to really just take time to pray about our future. In all honesty, we aren’t sure if we are at the right place at Africa Ablaze. We felt called, but now we doubt. We are taking quality time to think about our goals, visions, and plan for the future and to seek God’s heart for us. Things were just getting too much, and I personally felt like I had nothing left to give until I slipped away and completely recharged.

We are also (yes…the trials continue!) in the middle of trying to sort out my visa. It’s literally been months trying to get it right. I have about 9 days left on my current permit, but I am getting an extension this week, and will apply for a spouse permit. We actually don’t qualify for the spouse permit because we don’t make enough money, but we are praying for a miracle!

We know this is a lot. I don’t usually like writing so much because I never know if anyone will read till the end. But thank you for taking an interest in our lives. We have some real desperate needs at the moment if you can please stand with us:

-Pray for God to speak clearly about our future this week
-Pray for the visa extension to go through and grace for a spouse visa
-For the enemy to remove his hands from our lives
-For the financial stress to be taken away

We really do love each one of you. We feel a connection even though we are far.
“Jesus, your love has no bounds” –Phil Wickham

The Bakers

Psalm 35

A few weeks ago, I was reading my friend Ashlee’s latest blog post. I don’t normally advertise for other people, but this one was especially good: http://ashsouthafrica.blogspot.com/2011/06/gone-overseas-and-its-brought-me-to-my.html . It really describes something I’ve felt lately.

A little while back I was reading Psalm 35, and it really stirred up my heart’s cry and brought up a lot of questions that I was discussing with Piet.

The author, David, is pleading with God to take away his enemies and to deal with them justly. He also mentions that God’s heart is for the poor and how he rescues them and sees them.

10 You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them.

13 When my prayers returned to me unanswered,
14 I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother.

22 O Lord, you have seen this; be not silent. Do not be far from me, O Lord.
23 Awake, and rise to my defense! Contend for me, my God and Lord.

It made me think, however. But just hear my thoughts… Does God really rescue the poor? Does he really save them from those who are too strong for them? If I’m totally honest, living in this country makes me question if he does. I see young children with torn clothes, shoes with holes, and starving bellies on a regular basis. These children are unwashed and lonely. Some of their parents have died and have no one to look after them. It just seems so unfair, and I began to ask the Lord if he really does see them, or are his eyes blind toward them. How many genuine prayers are being unanswered? Why does he leave them to suffer? I began discussing my concerns with Piet.

There is an unfortunate reality in South Africa. There is a spirit of laziness and abuse. So often the little money that a family might earn is used on alcohol to drown the sorrows that they feel.  Not long ago Piet and I were speaking to someone who lives in a shack who wants to buy a Mercedes! Their perceptions are so distorted. They think the status of a nice car trumps feeding their family because it shows that they are doing “ok”. Have you ever seen a Mercedes parked next to a tin shack? It’s very strange and certainly counterproductive.

Piet made the comment that God gives us the ability to reason and to understand the things that are right. People in the informal settlements are crying for food, yet not making the effort to get a job. There is one guy who attends our church who calls Piet on occasion looking for a job, yet he makes no effort to find one himself. He thinks that just because Piet is married to a white lady he has lots of money or can “pull strings” for him.

I get very encouraged by all the small businesses that are run by the side of the road or otherwise because these people have seen the vision and are running with it and can then provide for their families. Some of the hardest workers in South Africa, however, aren’t even South Africans-it is those who see and appreciate the opportunities- the Zimbabweans, Nigerians, and Malawians that have nothing for them in their home country and come to South Africa for work.

The truth is that there are the many innocent children living below the poverty line who are sadly living in the sins and disregard of their parents. And the truth is there in David’s words: O Lord, you have seen this. And as Piet was relating to his personal experiences, some are very content where they are at. It doesn’t mean that they must go from a shack to a mansion. If they were able to eat that day, then God took care of them. God saw their need and he rescued them. Piet even as a young boy knew that God looked after him because he never went without.

So maybe it’s not up to me to judge God and to say that he doesn’t answer their prayers. He does. In ways that are tangible for each one.

Piet’s comments: That being said, we acknowledge that everything happens for a reason and our task is to seek God’s will in the situation. I (Piet) have come to an understanding that we might not fix the situation but if we continue witnessing the truth, people will be set free, not forgetting that we should cultivate goodness within our lives so that the fruit of goodness is produced. It is impossible to produce true kindness (doing well to others) without practicing goodness.  Our words are not enough, but the Godly character in us makes our speech true. Character is a witness of what is inside us.

Thank you Lord, as David says later in Psalm 68:5, YOU are the “father to the fatherless, a defender of widows…”

Stirred by compassion,

The Bakers

Jesus Christ - what a Superstar!

Last week was Piet's birthday. One of our favourite things to do is go to the theatre and see live shows. I took Piet out for the night on Tuesday last week to see Jesus Christ Superstar live at the casino about 15 from where we stay. It was a really great rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and very accurate to Scriptures. Of course it is a modern twist of the story of Jesus, but very nicely put together.

After the show, we decided to get something hot to drink and walk around a cute book store. It reminded me so much of Borders or Barnes and Noble, just a much smaller scale. I found Piet engaged in conversation with two gentlemen. They were involved in ministry in one of the local townships and were asking about our ministry as well. We shared stories and encouraged one another. We talked for a while and they wanted to pray for us. After they prayed for us, they handed Piet a handful of money! We couldn’t believe it we were in shock.

The whole way home we were just laughing and thanking God. We just kept thinking that this is exactly what happens when you pray and ask the Lord to provide for you. Praise God, the new car is coming!

Love provides

The Bakers

God is Moving!

After recruiting 45 students from multiple different high schools in the area, we at Africa Ablaze hosted our first Church Planting Camp. The most dedicated Christian students were chosen to be a part of the weekend. We equipped and trained them about how to start their own small group and how to grow other like-minded students into mature followers of Christ. Our sponsor had a vision to reach 1,000,000 souls, and we have already started counting!



Roasting Marshmallows!



When we ventured back into the schools this week, we had many young people coming up to us with their “Reach for Life” Bibles in hand to tell us that they had already formed groups and were meeting regularly.  These youth have seen the vision and how to attain it and they are making something happen.

Oh yeah, I (Leah) have started preaching in the schools. I’m still learning and growing, and it’s pushed me way out of my comfort zone. Piet preaches regularly and he’s such a natural.

In other news, life is hard. We are facing lots of challenges personally and even in ministry. We know that life has its ups and down, but right now seems to be especially difficult. I’m so thankful that we have each other to cling to during this time, and of course God is carrying us through it all. We’d be nowhere without Him.

Our car died yesterday. We are officially fixing it for the last time, parking it, and selling it. At this point, I’ve actually been considering throwing it off a cliff so I never have to think about it again. BUT God is good and we have someone who really wants to buy it; who knew. Luckily we aren’t far from buying our new and improved car. About a week ago we only needed about R10,000 for our new vehicle, but now it’s looking like we will need an extra R5,000 in order to repair our old car. Plus, we won’t be able to get the amount we were hoping to get from it. So, in translation that is $2142. I’m so thankful to God that we have raised and saved as much money as we have in the few months that we started trusting God for a new vehicle. It’s incredible really.

Thank you for your prayers, we really need it.

Pray for:
-The last finances to come in for our truck/SUV
-Ministry
-Wisdom and understanding
-Peace

We love you!

The Bakers

P.S. Some have been asking how to give. The best way is to send a check written to “Discovery Church” with “South Africa” in the memo, sent to Discovery Church, 5860 Las Positas Road, Livermore, CA 94551, USA.

Impartation and Expectation

Lately our friends have been telling us that we are the busiest people ever, and lately I’ve been feeling that it’s true!

Career Students in front of the Campfire



This past weekend we hosted a career camp for 100 students in grade 11. These camps take a lot of preparation and work to pull off, but we can say that it was successful. Career camps are one of our favourite things that we do here at Africa Ablaze because we are giving students from the rural areas a very unique opportunity. This weekend, a company called Iliad sponsored the entire weekend and paid for 100 students to come and even volunteered their Saturday to come in and share career guidance with these high schoolers. The students work so hard to come on these camps because they know that only the top students in discipline, grades, and attitudes get chosen to come.



The CEO of Iliad speaking to the students




Piet was the front runner of the camp and worked very hard to make sure everything went smoothly. We had a few glitches with transporting the students to and from schools, but everything turned out ok. Because we had the students for the whole weekend, we got to play lots of games and activities with them and share the Gospel. They are all very receptive to the Lord because we see them regularly through school ministries as well.

One thing that you may not know about South Africa is that the education in the rural government schools isn’t always the best. These career camps are such great opportunities for these students to make something of themselves and realize that they can rise above their backgrounds and be successful. Something that I picked up over the weekend from the series of speaker is to never give up. Continue persevering through circumstances until you achieve your dreams and your goals. And this is exactly what these students must do.

Crazy 11th Graders

About two months ago, one of the school principals came up to us to say that each one of the students that have previously been on our career camps have finished school without failing and have received distinctions! How incredible to know that we are impacting the lives of young people in such a tangible way!

We also have an update about our SUV that is on the way. We have received some of the money, but we are still waiting for the rest to come in. We already have $5482 in cash and assets (we just need to sell our car, but we’ve already had two offers). At this moment we only need $2857 to purchase our car. Remember only a few weeks ago we had saved about $450 and now look where the Lord has brought us! We have found such a nice SUV that we are highly considering to buy because it is exactly the price that we are trusting the Lord for and it’s a very practical car, and very good on the dirt road. Our goal was a new car by October, but it seems that we might get it a lot sooner, which is great. We don’t want to finance the car, but we are trying to negotiate that we can make three payments on the car since we don’t have all of the money in yet. So please stand in agreement with us.

Thank you for your prayers, here are a few prayer requests that we have at the moment:

-The finances for our SUV that is on its way.
-We are hosting a church planting camp this weekend. Please pray protection over all of us at the campus and our families, as well as for the souls of the young people we will be equipping to start small groups that will hopefully turn into churches.
-Our marriage
-Wisdom in ministry

We love you all, thanks for your support. We definitely cannot do this without you! We are an extension of all of you.

Love is Real.

The Bakers

Lesotho!

Since we’ve been married, we have had some crazy adventures together. A few weeks ago we were given a weekend away at a friend’s holiday home. Murphy’s Law struck and due to twists and turns in our journey, it took 7 hours to travel 2 hours away. But, our Lesotho trip trumps them all. When we’ve told our story from this weekend, everyone’s been saying it sounds like a bad movie.

Over this past weekend, we decided to take a trip down to Lesotho because I needed to extend my visa, and attend our friend’s wedding. Friends of ours very graciously loaned us their car since ours would never make the trip. If you don’t know where Lesotho is it is a land-locked country inside South Africa, about a 4-hour drive from Johannesburg, and what an interesting place it is!

We left Friday afternoon as soon as work ended. We figured we’d get there about 9:30 or 10. We were wrong. We missed our exit off the freeway, but decided to just go another way which would only add a bit more time to our trip. We finally found our way and arrived at the Lesotho border…it closed at 10 and it was now 11:30. 

 We saw a sign for a guest house so decided to check it out. The thing about Africa is that everything closes very early. Hotel lobbies don’t

The bride and her father with a lovely backdrop

 stay open after about 8 and people know they must arrive before then. The place was dark, but we tried looking around for a phone number or something. Suddenly a huge dog started barking and chasing us. I (Leah) screamed like I’ve never screamed before and we flew into the car like superman.  We found another man trying to enter who advised us that we had to use another border if we wanted to enter, so we drove to the other side and entered there. The unfortunate thing is, we went through all the procedures and they checked our passports, but we drove right past the station where they give us the entry stamp. The final officer checked our passports and we were through. Now there was a long drive through the country to the other side to get to our Bed and Breakfast. We eventually got to our room at 3am after having to pay someone on the street to use their cell phone.



Piet dancing with the mamas

When we tried to leave on Sunday morning, we ran into problems we did not foresee. We tried using the first border (the one that had been closed), but they wouldn’t let us through because we did not have entry stamps and claimed we had been there illegally. Piet continuously apologized and tried to convince them to let us go. They said they would let us through if we pay R4000 ($570), which we definitely didn’t have. They sent us to the other border which we entered through and see if they can help us. We prayed the entire way. In Lesotho, we couldn’t call, but we could receive calls, and luckily, one of our pastors here at Africa Ablaze called to check on us. We told him what was happening and within a few minutes, there was an emergency prayer chain going for us. When we arrived at the other border, there was nothing left we could do except explain the situation and pray for grace. I am so thankful for a husband that can speak Sotho. He spoke with the ladies working at the window and they agreed to let us out with only a R100 fine ($14) for negligence on our part. We got through the border and rejoiced for the grace we were shown.



Sotho people in the village



It was a very crazy weekend, but we still enjoyed ourselves and got to see many old friends. Lesotho itself as I mentioned is a very interesting place. It is high in the mountains, so it is very cold all the time. The people walk around everyone they go with blankets around their shoulders. And there are no shacks made from tin anywhere in the country. The people are very resourceful and build themselves stone houses no matter how poor they are. It reminded me a bit of Kwazulu-Natal (in South Africa), but still it was nothing like anywhere I had ever been before. And even though the country is only 4 hours away from Johannesburg, it is significantly safer. What a cool experience to see another part of the continent we love.

We praise God for our safety and for bringing us back to our home.



Love is an adventure!

The Bakers