Our New Truck is 6 Months Away

Hi friends,

We have posted two blogs this week as our internet access is finally at our finger tips. These blogs have been sitting on our computer for weeks just waiting to be posted!

Things are going great here in the southern hemisphere. It’s beginning to get colder as we move into winter. We have had to break out our jackets and warm hoodies the past few weeks.

We wanted to give you an update on something we have been praying long and hard for. About a month ago on a previous blog I mentioned that we are trusting God for a 4x4 vehicle; hopefully a truck or a nice SUV. We have been doing a bit of looking and quite a lot of financial planning for this. The roads here are just terrible and our little car is having a tough time handling them. We have already had to do major servicing on our car. So, we believe it’s time for an upgrade.

This new car will really help us in ministry to transport people, food, and equipment. With a bigger and more durable car, we will be able to help out more than we are able now. Part of our ministry involves going into the townships (rural areas) and rural schools.

I have pushed our numbers and figured out a way where we can have a new vehicle in exactly six months. The cost of a decent used 4x4 is R60,000 (approx $8500); so this is our goal. Piet and I get a small salary from the ministry that basically covers our food and household expenses each month. Also, we get a petrol (gas) refund whenever we use our car for ministry purposes. So, we have decided to save both earnings for the next 6-months, plus sell our car at the end of the period. This will give us R30,000, exactly half of the cost.

So, we are able to give half toward the car, but this is where we are asking for your help. The other half would be about $4200. I have calculated that if we can find 7 willing people/families to contribute $100 per month for 6 months, we will have it! It’s that simple.

If you believe in our ministry, what we are doing, and in us, then please consider helping us out in this area. We would greatly appreciate your gifts.

God bless and thank you for your support,

Piet and Leah Bakers

Touching hearts and nations

Dear friends,

Our 17-day April camp was a great success! We had a few days off and it was back to normal ministry for the last two weeks.



Roasting Marshmallows!



The first three days were leadership training with all of the leaders of the camp. The first full week was children’s camp, and the second week was youth camp. We had about 60 or 70 kids on children’s camp, and about 50 youth on youth camp. But! The really amazing thing is that there were less than 10 youth camp registrations two weeks before! The camp is an outreach mostly to urban young people who are introduced to the Gospel on camp. The time with the kids and youth was really incredible and we saw a lot of passion and growth in these young people.



Piet and I invited three of our strongest youth from Refilwe YMS to join as leaders. Ishmael, Itumeleng, and Siyanda served whole-heartedly and really enjoyed themselves. Itumeleng, age 21, plays the drums for the worship team at our church and on camp he taught three or four kids to play drums! As always, there are problem children at camp. There was one little boy in particular that no one could get through to. On one occasion he threatened to run into the electric fence if we didn’t open the snack shop. But whenever Itumeleng spoke to him, he was suddenly fine. He was such an awesome leader, and out of 20 leaders, he received the best leader award! Congrats Itumeleng, we are so proud of you!!

Itumeleng receiving his award!



Although we loved the children’s camp, it was very draining so we were glad to move into the youth camp where they could look after themselves a bit more. Piet and I basically coordinated the entire two weeks ourselves. We are thankful that we had strong leaders to back us and support us.



The youth camp was a lot more active. We played night games, a blindfolded hike, bon fire, sunrise hike, fear factor, paintball, go karting, and more! Because of the maturity level of these youth, we were able to do teaching games and we even burned all of our fears and anxieties that we had written out.

Piet had the opportunity to sit down with one young man who had really been through a lot in his life. He has been coming to camp for years and even all the leaders said this year something had happened in his life. Even after two weeks, I saw him leave as changed person and one who was ready to forgive those who had wronged him.

Small Group Time

We praise God for all that has happened in and through this camp. Thank you for all of your prayers and support in making this work possible.

Piet and I are so happy where we are at. We feel that we are really making a difference in the lives of young people.

Love perseveres,

The Bakers

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

I guess change is good

Sadly our time at Refilwe is coming to an end. We have had so many great memories here and the people have literally become family.

A few weeks ago, Piet and I met with the leaders of a ministry called Africa Ablaze. Piet grew up under this ministry when he was a lot younger. He attended the youth group and became a believer under the care of Africa Ablaze. This ministry runs weekend and weeklong camps for youth during the school holidays. They also go into schools and minister during morning assembly, plant churches in the rural farm areas, as well as host a career and life skills camp for youth who are a bit older.

I was taken a bit off guard when the Pastors offered us a position right on the spot. Our area of expertise would be working with youth who have just finished high school and need leadership skills, spiritual and job training. Africa Ablaze has partnerships with a few big companies that will pay for this gap year program and allow the students to do job shadowing. At the end of the year, the students will be able to come on staff at these businesses.

Piet and I went away from the meeting feeling different. We couldn’t imagine walking away from a program that we’ve worked so hard at building up. We’ve built strong relationships with these youth and how can we just leave with no one to follow behind? But, also, inside we felt a sense of peace. This program had such similarities, it was almost exactly what we were trying to achieve: to make the youth of this generation sustainable both spiritually and physically.

After praying about it long and hard, we decided that it was where God was definitely leading us for this point in our walk with him. After we made the decision, we learned that we would also be acquiring something from the ministry: free housing and electricity, food support from a local grocery store, a small cell phone and fuel stipend, as well as a small cash stipend. God is really taking care of us as we move forward in His perfect will.

This past weekend we moved into our new cottage (which is personally my 4^th house in a year!!) and made it our own. We are excited about this new chapter in life. Please pray for us in our journey and email us direct if you want to hear more!

Jesus, lead on, we will follow.

The Bakers

Leah and Piet Bakers

As requested, here is a picture of the Mr and Mrs!

Red Hair and a Dirty Face

She was about 5 years old, dirty, missing one of her front teeth, and so frightened. She began to cry when she realized she was alone and maybe lost. Every time I tried to approach her she ran away with a look of pure terror on her face. Piet urged me from inside the car to keep trying.

About 5 minutes earlier, we received a call from Isaac, a good friend and YMS leader, that we had left something at the youth house. We had just arrived home from a whole afternoon of Saturday Live and I was really tired, and the reality was that we could pick it up in the morning when we were there for church. But I decided that we could go and get it quickly. But there she was: this tiny little thing with pale skin and the brightest of red hair walking at the end of the dirt road from our house. We wondered if she had run away from home. We were also scared that she would dart out into the busy road at the end of our country road, as she stood just feet from on-coming traffic contemplating her next move. I tried asking her where her mommy was, but she would only point and then run quickly away from me. I don’t blame her for running away. She had never seen me before and how would she know that I didn’t want to hurt her? After many times of trying to talk to her, Piet got out of the car and moments later we noticed a police bakkie driving on the main road. We flagged it down and they were ready for action. We showed them this fragile thing walking away from us a few meters down the road. She resisted a bit when the police came toward her, but I was surprised that she eventually took his hand and walked back to the bakkie. He asked me to speak to her, but she only spoke Afrikaans, so Piet spoke to her and she said she wanted her mommy. They took her with them into their vehicle to take her home.

After they drove away we continued on to the youth house. As I was driving I got really emotional and misty-eyed just thinking about how Jesus had put everything together perfectly that we were all there at exactly the right time. What if we hadn’t been there to find her? What if we had decided to wait until morning to go? What is she wandered into the street? I got really overwhelmed that God really does care about each sparrow and every lost sheep.

Today, he left the 99 to rescue the one snotty-nosed, dirty, but very precious child with no shoes lost in search for her mommy.

Love finds the lost,

The Bakers