Greetings to all,
We send our best wishes for the season holidays about to begin. We are amazed to see that yet another year has nearly passed— time literally flies. But “God is outside of time and our faith brings us into His timeless zone. There, what the years have stoles, will be restored, and even as our years increase we will not grow weak and weary because the restorer of life and nourisher of our old age is in us”!(J. Prince)
We have had a busy month and lots of good things have been accomplished.
What As seen in the photo below a large group of people from Sir Lowry’s Pass completed Growth Track a course designed to help people find freedom, connect and belong, discover their purpose and make a difference.
GROWTH TRACK:
Philip and Christian ministering side by side at one of our Growth Track meetings.
Philip leading some “Baby Dedication” meetings aimed at preparing the parents who would like to dedicate their young ones to the Lord.
The picture above and the two ones following depict our Life Groups. We first have a united teaching & then divide into groups to further discuss and share what stood out to us, and what we plan to do about it.
SUPPLIES:
As seen in the first picture we found two sisters and two children sleeping together on the floor as there was no money for beds. One of the sisters is slightly mentally handicapped and not able to work while the other has been unemployed and has a baby and a 12 year old boy as well as the handicapped sister to look after.
We were able to help them with two beds this far. We still need to get the 12 year old off the floor as he sleeps on a mattress on the ground. Also the one bedroom has no electricity and therefore no light. We plan to soon help with that as well.
 14 large boxes of Weet-Bix collected and distributed to EDC centers in Sir Lowry’s Pass and Nomzamo.
And 100 liters of milk were likewise collected/distributed to ECD centers in Sir Lowry’s Pass and Nomzamo.
Philip shopping for our Food Bank and later distributing to four especially needy families in Sir Lowry’s Pass.
We did not hear from Dis-Chem for a long time as it went under new management. But we were very happy to again receive some much needed help this month.
A family from Zimbabwe that has been housed at the Homeless Shelter at the soup kitchen is having to move as there a new plans of using the railway station for touristic purposes, They found a very small one-room house, but their family is large and so they are presently busy building an outside room for the older boys to stay in. Here Philip is bringing various building supplies including a door and some roof sheeting.
 
The family mentioned above making a new shelter was also blessed with a large corner couch which was a big blessing as they basically have no furniture besides the beds that we provided them some time back.
One of the many happy recipients of some Dis-Chem supplies. Every little help is greatly appreciated! Last month we also assisted her with a washing machine.
SKILLS TRAINING:
This month our Skills Training Group was especially blessed as they were “hired” to help make some necklaces and earned R 5 each per necklace produced. They have also been making earrings etc. to sell.
GRACELIFE CHURCH PLANT:
One one of the first Sundays this month we had a Thanksgiving Service. We looked back and counted our many blessings. At the end some especially nice treats were served!
Emily welcomed everyone. Christiaan led the service. And Philip closed with communion! (see below).
During our Thanksgiving service we had about four or five people step forward to testify of how their lives have been transformed after getting to know the true Gospel and learning more about grace and faith,
At a subsequent meeting when Christiaan called those in need of ministry forward just about the entire church moved to the front. We all felt the move of the HS and many lives were touched.
In the photo here JB, Christiaan and Philip are busy ministering to and praying for some of the people!
Here we are praying together with some of the many volunteers in one of our pre-service meetings.
Cari ministering to the 7-12 year olds at Kids’ Church. Some, in order to be able to attend, persuaded
parent to come to church and they have been attending faithfully since.
When delivering supplies we were asked to please minister to these young boys. All three readily received the Lord!
Philip ministering to a group of young children and their teachers in Nomzamo. They likewise were happy to receive Jesus.
TESTIMONIES:
Following are just a few testimonies from the month that passed. We often promise ourselves that we are going to start writing down every testimony as it happens, but then life gets busy and when later on we try to recollect we are sure that we often miss some things. It was said of Jesus, “ (John 21:25) There are many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.” — And “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8) still busy at work!
This month we (Gracelife) held a Memorial and a funeral in Sir Lowry’s Pass. Among the attendee was a man in his fifties. When he saw Philip he came up to him very excited asking if he remembered him, which he didn’t. The man then went on to explain, “Long ago you prayed for me for…..(a private health problem) and I have been completely whole since that day!
While at the market alone, a lday came up and asked me where my husband was. She then went on to say that she had been at the market years ago and that my husband had “somehow” picked up that she had a problem with her back. He had prayed for her and the problem never returned. She ad been perfectly fine since then.
I Rita prayed for L. She phoned me saying that she had a very difficult time breathing and had gone to the hospital where they were going to put her on oxygen, and asked me to please pray for her. Later she called again asking if we could please come to her house and pray for her. She was back home but felt like she had a lump in her throat that was choking her. Philip and I went to her place and as I laid hands on her and prayed she said she felt like a knot was lose and that she swallowed it. She has not had any further problem since, which is now a couple of weeks ago.
H. had a swollen infected finger. She had shown Philip who had just briefly prayed for her and the next day it was completely cleared up.
One day Philip saw T. carrying around her sister’s son. He had somehow injured his foot which made it very painful for him to walk on it and it had swelled up a bit. Philip prayed for the boy and didn’t think anything more of it. The following day he saw the boy running around—no more pain, no more swelling, completely healed.
Mr. A. told Philip that he had been diagnosed with precancer on the top of his head and was to go for an operation shortly. Philip prayed for him and when he saw him again the following week Mr. A. told him that he had been back to the doctor who had told him that there was no longer a need for an operation as he didn’t find anything anymore.
M. arrived in church with a swollen infected sore breast making it not possible for her to move her arm on the side freely. I prayed for her and just gave time for the HS to move and do its work. After a short while without encouragement from me M. started to move her arm more and more and was soon in awe as the pain was gone and she was now able to move her arm any which way.
In John 14:12 Jesus said that “greater things than these shall you do”. It seems that there were no greater healing miracles than what Jesus did. There was no disease that he did not heal, and he raised the dead, caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, etc. So what could Jesus have meant? Could He possibly have been referring to the fact that we should be able to lead people to being born again, and filled with the Holy Spirit?….Jesus could not do so while He was still alive and the Holy Spirit could not yet be given until Jesus went away. In John 16: 7 Jesus said, Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away , the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.’
Since our church plant in Sir Lowry’s Pass we have seen many people receive the Lord and get filled with the Holy Spirit. This leads to an eternal life, something that mere physical healing cannot do. Physical healing is still very important, but our present life her upon earth is described as a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away (James 4:14), but in that small timeframe we have the opportunity to receive the greatest gift of all, Everlasting life, by simply receiving Jesus as pour lord and Savior and if we will make Him Lord He will transform our lives and we will be able enjoy the abundant life He came to give.
MEMORIAL AND FUNERAL IN SIR LOWRY'S PASS
The husband of one of our church members recently passed away. During the week JB from Gracelife facilitated the moemorial and the following Saturday Philip and Emily facilitated the funeral.
Emily gave a word of comfort and consolation at the reception where the casket was and people were able to go by and say their farewells. Later Philip gave a word of love and hope and the deeper meaning and purpose of life. While Emily gave a running translation for the Afrikaans only speakers.
CHRISTMAS:
This month we also distributed 300 party packs for the children’s end-of-the-year celebration. Here the children in one of the kindergartens show their party packs. A little goes a long way to spread much joy for those that are not used to much! (We hope to show more photos of that next month. We thank SA Sweetlands for their generous donation of ready-made packs.
NEW BIBLESTUDY GROUP:
Since starting the church plan in Sir Lowry’s Pass our schedule has changed. Due to that we have been able to start a new Bible study group in our home. These are all (we have 3-4 students) people that had not yet received the Lord and knew very little if any of the true Gospel. It is a real joy to minister to these ones as they are like hungry little lambs readily gobbling up any little crumb available.
In closing we would like to extend an invitation to those of you who would like to become partners with us and/or give and extra help for the Christmas season. If you are interested in knowing more details please contact us:
Email: force4good.fvs@gmail.com
With love and appreciation,
Philip and Rita
For your convenience our details are as follows:
Antonios Michalitsis, FNB, Branch: 250655 Account no. : 62633037082
Rita Olsen, NedBank, Branch Code: 11414500 Account no.: 1043639810
PayPal: force4good.ministries@gmail.com
or: PayPal.Me/fvsa or PayPal.Me/fvs
For those of you that are abroad and would like to contribute please be aware that besides PayPal there is also the SEPA option as we have an account in Europe:
Rita Olsen
Danske Bank
Branch: 1551
Account: 3719943470
IBAN DK28 3000 3719 9434 70
SWIFT: DABADKKK
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