Dear Ones,
We would like to first of all wish you a very Happy New Year 2024. We thank you for your continued love and support. It is an honor for us to have you partner with our ministry.
This month has been a month of vacationing and bonding with our loved ones, an opportunity that we greatly treasure and value.
Following is a review of the year that passed. We have tried to mainly highlight the special events that took place each month.
Some things were weekly, such as: Collecting and delivering food from S.A. Harvester, Woolworth, and the Lions' Club. We also ran three weekly Bible study groups and assisted as elder in Gracelife, which included overseeing the Kids' Church!
One a monthly basis we collected and distributed 100 liters of milk, shopped for two soup kitchens (Nomzamo and Sir Lowry's Pass),and picked up coffee for 4 missionary bases, etc
We would also from time to time get and distribute Weet-Bix, cooking oil, toilet paper, etc.
For the review we are only highlighting the extra activities throughout the year. However, things like outreach, which was a regular "as-you-go" event may be highlighted for when we teamed up with others.
Thank you for all that you helped us accomplish and for your love and support in the new year as we enter into a new phase of our ministry. We are excited to see what the future holds and are believing the Lord for great fruitfulness!
We also both attended a one-year Ministry School course with Gracelife, our church!
YEAR-END REVIEW 2023!
JANUARY 2023:
We started the year out reaching out to the people in Sir Lowry's Pass. Every time we went out many souls were won and everyone returned with amazing testimonies.
We helped supply basis stationery for 100 children in Sir Lowry's Pass as part of their preparation for the new school year.
As mentioned above our other regular activities of teaching, training, collecting and distributing food all took place as well.
FEBRUARY 2023:
Philip and I both taught at the church on a regular basis throughout the year.
I would also take turns with the other teachers teaching the children.
We also attended a get-together of all the local Gracelife campuses.
And we attended a conference with guest speaker David Youngren on: the Transitional Gospel!
MARCH 2023:
Teaching at one of our three weekly Life-Groups
One of our weekly food collections from Woolworth. This, however, was an especially large contribution.
Again a weekly contribution of bread and pizza-bases. Shown here is an especially big contribution and at least 10 different charities benefited. And in our case, the portion allotted us, was distributed in two townships, Sir Lowry's Pass and Nomzamo.
APRIL 2023:
For Easter 3 large boxes of Easter eggs donated by the Lions, were distributed by 2 soup kitchens and Gracelife church. We had extra and went outside to bless the kids passing by.
Thanks to our generous donors many Bibles were distributed throughout the year.
Here we are collecting the monthly milk contribution which was shared between several daycare centeres in Sir Lowry's Pass and Nomzamo.
MAY 2023:
Nomzamo outreach: We did outreach together with the staff encouraging them to step out and take the lead. We are overjoye3d with the results as they a few months after were sharing testimonies of the people they had led to the Lord. We helped serve in order to free some of them up to minister.
This photo was taken in Sir Lowry's Pass. Whenever our Gracelife team went out a lot of souls were won.
One of our regular Campus gatherings with Gracelife.
JUNE 2023:
Outreach in Nomzamo. Zoleka did a tremendous job of gathering all the chilren, (theyu had school holidays) and ministering to them in Xhosa.
Here Philip is during one of our monthly shopping trips for the two main kitchens we supported.
Once a week we would collect food from Woolworth for Joyce's kitchen. Here we are sharing extra supplies, which we would do as much as possible. We also assisted the kitchen in doing their admin with one of their main donors.
JULY 2023:
 
Mandela day: We provided for and helped cook and serve a big meal for the people coming to the soup kitchen in honor of Mandela Day. And we did outreach with the staff.
We also had a bog youth outreach in the community hall in Sir Lowry's Pass. We shared the message, had fun and games and ended with a nice meal and chocolate treats.
Gracelife turned 13 yeards old and we again celebrated with a wonderful faith building message and a nice warm meal and treats.
AUGUST 2023:
For Women's Day we were blessed to have Marna, the wife of our lead pastor, Shayne Holegrove, come and minister. We also had games and prizes and a beautiful photo booth was set up for everyone to use.
We did more outreach in Nomzamo and all the regular food distribution and teaching was covered as well.
SEPTEMBER 2023:
Sir Lowry’s Pass was badly affected by sever flooding. We were able to assist financially towards some of the much needed repairs of the homes.
For Heritage Day the Lord again supplies for a nice meal and treats.
And we were blessed to have yet another Campus gathering where we had the opportunity to meet with people we otherwise would rarely see, and enjoy a good message.
OCTOBER 2023:
We donated two 2 curricula for Nomzamo: a Character Building set as well as a Foundation of Faith set.And we were able to bless them with large A5 sheets of white paper for the school.
We continued teaching the kids and the adults in Sir Lowry's Pass.
And we attended a 'Multiply' conference with guest speaker Isaac Lamack from Zambia.
Again while carrying on our feeding schemes and teaching.
NOVEMBER 2023:
We were very honored to receive the Louis Volks Humanitarian Award from the Lions in recognition of our labors in the townships over the years.
And we were likewise very honored to receive a warm farewell from our Gracelife family. The venue was a nearby vineyard and people traveled from near and far to wish us good-bye. We also received a book where everyone wrote a few words of love and appreciation..This book was a great treasure that we are carrying with us.
I had been heading up the Kids' Church which Anthea, the wife of the local campus pastor, will carry on. Here we are praying for her wisdom, strenght and insight.
DECEMBER 2023:
This month we have been blessed to take a vacation and spend it with our loved ones. In the photo above we were attending a Christmas Eve service in the church they attend. From the front we have our son-in=/-law, Mike, our eldest daughter Elizabeth, me, Philip and then our youngest daughter Joy.
Our precious family all together celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Between Christmas ans New Year's we had a beautiful excursion to the 'River Walk' in San Antonio a couple of hours drive from here. We also saw the Alamo (from the outside) and had a delicious Mexican meal by the River Walk.
We ran into a group of young people there ready to share the gospel with everyone and anyone. Philip paused to encourage them in their mission.
During this year that passed we both attended Gracelife Ministry School as well. One of the subjects was apologetic with the aim to equip us for greater fruitfulness in reaching the lost. On the 2nd of January we will be leaving for Europe, which is a very needy mission field. This month has been a wonderful time of rest and reconnecting with our loved ones.
In the Cape Town airport we led a young man to the Lord, but other than that this has been a time to relax and spend with our family. A precious time that we treasure very much.
We look forward to the next chapter of our ministry and will keep you updated on our mission in Europe. Although we finished GLMS (Gracelife Ministry School) while here we have continued to study in preparation to reach the Muslim community there. We studied some videos via YouTube and listened to amazing testimonies of Muslims coming to Christ.
Much love,
Philip and Rita
CONTACT DETAILS!
Antonios Michalitsis, FNB, Branch: 200912 Account no. : 62633037082
PayPal: force4good.ministries@gmail.com
If you are new to our work and want to partner with us monthly, we invite you to contact us for further details. We look forward to hearing from you.
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