This week has been kind of crazy with ministry but it's been
really good... Monday was a day of cleaning at Ithemba so that we can get
everything ready for the kids. Tuesday and Thursday morning we had First Aid
training with the Ithemba team then went to our morning ministries. For house
visits, I met Hester and we sat with her and 2 of her friends for a long time.
She is an amazing, sweet woman that our house visit teams from last semester
got really close to. We are going to continue visiting her and just encouraging
her. I'm really excited to get to know her better; I can already see she has an
amazing heart.  The other morning I spent
in Humansdorp at Virginia's. Oddly enough though, Virginia isn't going to be
back until March. So Monica, her daughter, is taking over the crèche. There
weren't many kids there this week because it's still holiday until Wednesday. That
gave us the chance to help her clean all of the rugs and wipe down the crèche
so that it will be ready when all the kids do get there. Afterwards, we just
held the few kids that were there and loved on them.

The rest of my time this week has been spent at Ithemba, cleaning and planning
for this year. We are changing how we are teaching the kids and also how we are
doing the bible stories with them. I'm still going to be with the older kids,
but we are splitting the class in half so that we aren't teaching the kids who
are at different levels things that are beyond what they've been taught in
school. We're also making it a point to schedule in time to help them with the
homework that they are given so that they are keeping up with their school
work.

We're still planning out some of the curriculum and activities but I already
just have great hopes and expectations for things this semester. God wants to
do something big here, and I fully believe He's going to. It's been really
encouraging to see Mama, Lusanda, and Nomsa regaining their joy and love for
Ithemba. It was easy to see within the first few days of being back there. We
don't know exactly what happened that sparked it but our team is just excited
about the things God is doing. He's obviously already at work there and I know
that it's only the beginning. Keep praying for that renewed energy and passion
for Ithemba and what it stands for in the lives of all that work there. That is
going to make a huge difference in the lives of the kids. They can see the
heart behind what people say and do more than we think or even notice. I'm
praying that they see this change and are encouraged by it also and just feel
God's love in that. Another thing to pray for would be my team. We have already
been hit with sickness, and we got hit pretty hard. It's already hit 6-7 of our
13. Most of us have recovered rather quickly but it's draining and discouraging
so just keep our health in your prayers.  Thank you for continually interceding for my
team and the people of Jeffreys.