Fernandes Wedding

One of the privileges of serving the Lord is the interaction you have in the lives of others. Last year the Lord opened the door for us to begin discipling Richard and Elmari and eventually this moved into marriage counseling as we prepared them for their life together.

Richard comes from a Portugese background and since his father is a boxing trainer/promoter, Richard became a professional boxer. Since he accepted Christ as Savior, he left boxing, which has caused quite a strain on the family. Elmari, however, comes from a very different background as her mother died early and her father spent time in prison. She was raised by other family members in an Afrikaans setting. Since the wedding they together run the A/V part of our church services. Richard now works in the sign business and Elmari works with the local office of "Voice of the Marytrs."

They asked our family to be an integral part of their wedding and so Skyler became the ring bearer--they made sure that the rings were tied on to the pillow good and tight. Leslie worked with the flowers; Kyle did the sound system and video; Susan planned a shower for Elmari, helped to both coordinate and decorate the wedding, and I led the service and gave the challenge to the couple.

One of the wonderful aspects to the wedding was that it was performed during the morning church service. The advantage to this was that it provided a wonderful setting for our church family to surround them with our love and prayers as well as to allow their families to see the love of God in action. Our meeting area was packed to over-flowing as many of their family members joined in the celebration. It was a great privilege for me to share the Gospel with about 100 of their unsaved families. Please pray with us that the Lord will continue to work in the hearts of those who heard the Gospel--many for the first time.

As you can see in the picture Elmari looked stunning that day. It turned out to be a beautiful day and we just praise the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness.

Here is Skyler with a wonderful couple from our church family--Les and Colleen Dickerson. Colleen made a beautiful cake for the reception.

Grandma and the Lions

In December Susan's mom was able to come across "the Pond" and spend three weeks with us. Early on we took her to the Lion Park near us and treated her to what would be a very memorable visit. It all started out well enough as we were able to go into the enclosure and play with some lion cubs. Now they are a full of energy late in the afternoon and will amuse you to no end with their theatrics. Every once in a while you'll be reminded of their strength, even at this age, as well as being confronted with the potential for disaster. In this picture you can see the retractable claws come out, which are incredibly sharp.

If you're wondering about these white lions, we are blessed here in South Africa to have this color mutation of the Kruger subspecies of lions--which means we have the white lions here in South Africa. As you can see they are beautiful!

From the lion cub enclosure we took mom to feed the giraffe. As you can imagine it is quite an undertaking both for the giraffe as well as for me. They have incredibly long purple tongues that slobber all over you. In the background you can see the stairs to the stand where it is not so difficult to feed. Here's mom enjoying the petting while the giraffe enjoys the food.

From there we took mom to the big lion enclosures and we never get tired of seeing these stunning animals. Often you'll see whole families together.

Sometimes you'll see a couple together.

Sometimes you'll get one by himself.

And it brings an adrenline rush to you as you get "up-close and personal" with one of the big males. Its not so bad when his eyes are closed.

But when he opens his mouth that will get you very thankful for a car with the motor running and the windows closed.

But every so often you get to experience something unique. About a year ago we encountered a group of teenage lions who attacked the car and tore the crome off the bumper of the car, but this time we met a playful, full-grown male who wanted to have some fun. We entered the second enclosure and were surprised to see that there were no lions near the entrance as is normal. We continued on and came up to a van where the driver was pointing to the other side of his van. Susan had her window down and the camera ready. As the van moved we were completed surprised to see a big lion coming right for us.

I quickly drove off as Susan closed her window, but it was too late as we felt and heard this big bang as he hit the back of our vehicle. I raced off to a spot to stop and get myself together. My legs were shaking and the adrenline was pumping. We went around a circle and returned to view him but from a distance off. It was amazing to watch as he crouched down under a tree and waited for the next victim and sure enough as the unsuspecting car came around the bend he pounced. We just sat in amazement and watched as he continued to do this. Here's a picture of him coming at a car.

And then before they know it he attacks.

We caught up with the family in this car afterwards to show them the picture as well as the video footage. The lady was still shaking and crying. But not mom--she wanted to go around and get attacked again. Oh, my poor car.

But we thank the Lord for the amazing lion that He has created and we look forward to the Millennial Kingdom when the lion will lie down with the calf in peace and a little child will lead them (Is. 11:6) and the Lion of Judah will reign on the throne forever (Rev. 5:5).

Rama and Isabel

One of my favorite hymns is "God Leads Us Along," and it is a tremendous joy to rest in the perfect plan of God. Peace accompanies the plan of God as we rest in His will alone. It is thrilling to see how God orchestrates and brings people into our lives. One such family for whom we are so grateful to the Lord is the Mulopwe family. They have quite a story of God's protection, provision and sustaining grace as they made their way from the DRC to South Africa.

We met Rama at one of the malls in our area as he works as a parking guard. Of course, Skyler was very instrumental in the process as he befriended Rama and we began to see him on a regular basis always trying to park in his area. One of the days as I was returning to my car, I heard Rama singing and it sounded to me like a hymn. I asked him about it and he confirmed my suspicion. This led to a conversation in the parking lot where I learned that he was a believer and I invited him to our church. Unknown to me, my ministry partner, David Brown, had also met Rama and had invited him to come out as well. Part of the problem for Rama is that in order to make ends meet on his meager salary he has to work almost everyday, so it wasn't until Easter that he called me and asked if he could come to church. When he came we were then able to meet his lovely wife Isabel and their two daughters, Katia and Karen.

Over the next several months we were able to see them a few more times and around August we began to see them at church regularly, and we now have become good friends with them. They never complain but face many challenges. Coming from the DRC, French and Swahili are their first languages and so they are working at learning English. Susan teaches them English each week and they are so thrilled to do so. They are in South Africa on refugee status and so it makes it very difficult for them to find a well-paying job even though Rama has a degree in accounting and Isabel is a teacher. Please pray for us as we try to help them through this process and get more settled where they can become an integral part of our church family.

This entire situation is complicated further by the fact that Rama has just had surgery to remove a tumor which is almost certainly sarcoma--a soft tissue cancer that usually is found in the abdomen. This is his second surgery in 3 months (that's how fast it has grown) since in the first surgery they didn't test him for the cancer. Lord willing, they have removed all of the cancer and the tests will come back with the margins negative for cancer. This surgery means another 6 weeks out of work for Rama and no income. His youngest daughter Karen goes in next week for surgery on her sinuses, so it is one thing after another for this family.

I wanted to introduce you to our friends and ask you to fervently pray for their physical healing, for funds to meet their financial obligations, for better work and for continued spiritual growth. We gave Rama and Isabel a study Bible for Christmas and he has called me several times praising the Lord for what he is learning from his Bible.

I'm back from picking Rama up from the hospital and we wait two weeks to get the lab results back from his surgery, but it appears that they have removed all of the cancer. He is so thankful for the prayers to God on his behalf. As we were driving back he commented on how God brought him great peace knowing that he was not alone--many people were praying for him and he was so grateful. Please pray for their family during these times.