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MISSIONARY SPOTLIGHT

Update from Jerry & Karen Holte, missionaries with Children's Cup in South Africa
Jerry & Karen call Des Moines First Assembly their church home. View a pdf of their newsletter.

Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you: Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. Isaiah 26:8

Some have said: “I want to make Jesus famous where I live.” That is what we want to do also!

FIREwood
In America I had a kitchen with an electric stove and oven and today I am still blessed in Africa with the same luxury. The 19 orphan Care-Points in Swaziland have cooking stations where they cook over open fires, fueled by wood. The BoMakes (cooks) prepare food for 6,000 children each day. We recently received word that firewood was no longer available from the lumber mill who had been supply-ing it due to a change in their operation. Each Care-Point would have to be responsible to supply their own. We attempted to resolve the problem quickly but in Swazi it is hard to get free wood and some Care-Points were unable to get any so no cooking could be done.

One day we drove to the wood mill. Tim and Kristen Dosch from Texas were serving on a short term mission trip and were with us. We decided to combine our faith and prayer. We stood at the gateway to the lumber mill and prayed, asking the Lord for a “reversal.” We walked the premises praying and Jerry was able to make contact with an employee and secured the name of the owner, who he called and later made an ap-pointment with. The conclusion was the owner not only agreed to give us wood again, but he consented to give us 6 loads of better wood each month. The result exceeded our expectations and FIREwood is being supplied and the FIRE of God burns brightly! Jesus is truly famous where we live.

Ocean Container of Food
Our food warehouse was almost empty. An ocean container of food for the thousands of kids we feed was landlocked due to a strike in South Africa. We prayed for days for the strike to be over and at last it was. When the semi truck of food arrived we formed a human chain of about 20 people and for two hours we quickly unloaded 1,278 thirty pound boxes of food. Each box holds 216 meals, so in all we have 276,000 meals for the kids! We then loaded a couple of flatbed trucks with the boxes and sent them on their way to the CarePoints to start the food distribu-tion. At the end of the day there were a few bruises and lots of sore muscles but it was all good and we were delighted. It was truly a glorious day for every-one…and Jesus is famous where we live!
Thank you for serving with us.

 

Children's Cup's purpose is to take humanitarian and spiritual aid into the hard places where war, natural disasters and disease epidemics have devastated societies. Read more.