March 2018 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friend,

We have baptized 10 new believers since our last update! Eight teens and two young men. Sihle, Sekela, Olwethu, Ukuhle, Mandiluve, Asanda, Sanelisiwe, Mayza, Odwa, and Wandisile. Please pray for faithfulness and spiritual growth.

Normally, we use prayer letters to mention all the highlights and victories. This letter will be a little different. I will be more transparent and mention some of our struggles and failures as well.

Last month we tried a new ministry which did not fare so well, English Classes. These worked great in Peru, but do not seem to be near so desirous here. We passed out more flyers and invitations for these classes than we have anything else, with less participation. One new person showed up to class. My wife was trying to be encouraging the first night and said, “We’ll see next week!” At the next class, our one visitor must have decided she had enough in her first class, haha!

Break-in: Please pray for the men who live in the flat connected to Soweto Baptist Church, Matthew and Thami. They, along with two other young men from the church who were staying the night, were robbed. Last Thursday night at approximately 11:30 pm four men broke through the security gate, kicked in the door to the church, and held the guys at gun point. They stole all their valuable things; cells phones, a tablet, a computer, and tv. Praise the Lord, no one was harmed physically. The funny thing about the whole situation is the fools took all their time and effort to get out a car jack to pry open the gate when there was no lock on the gate. All they had to do was open it.

We are currently going through four different studies at Soweto; Thursday nights is “Getting to Know Major Bible Characters.” On Sunday morning we are looking at “Overcoming Addiction.” I prayerfully decided on this topic because we had one teen from the church overdose on meth last month and spend several weeks in the hospital. Unfortunately, he was not the only one using, several other older teens have fallen away as well. The temptation is literally on every other street corner. Though some are gone for now, our prayer is that God will use whatever is necessary to draw them back to repentance.

On a more positive note, we also started Sunday School last month with two different classes; a children’s church (pictured below) and one adult class. With the adults, I have been teaching on “The Church” in preparation for our formal organization of the church (no set date for that at the present, but sometime within the next few months). My wife, along with several other ladies, are doing a great job teaching through the OT in children’s church. These classes have opened up opportunities for some of our men to begin teaching too. We also continue with an informal Sunday evening Bible Study. The men and the women are separated, and Bekah and I teach on basic foundations of the Christian life.

Other Prayer Requests:

  • Next week we will have a special combined service with New Life Baptist Church of KwaDwesi on Friday and Saturday, celebrating Easter. We will be back in Soweto for our Sunday Easter Service.
  • My cousin, Mark Coffey, has signed a contract on 21 acres of land for Camp Rhino. We are waiting on the perk test to come back to finalize the purchase and continue on with the plans. Click here to see a video of the property.
  • Next month we will host the African Regional Conference here in Port Elizabeth. There will be 8 missionary families attending. Several are visitors from other countries in Africa and the US, including my mentor, Austin Gardner, and good friend Jeffrey Bush.

Thank you for your continued prayer and faithful support.

Sincerely,
Jeremy and Rebekah Hall
Support Address:
Macedonia World Baptist Missions
Att. Jeremy Hall
P.O. Box 519
Braselton, GA 30517

Home Church:
Whitfield Baptist Church
Pastor Wayne Cofield
2134 Dug Gap Rd.
Dalton, GA 30720
Personal Contact Info:
jhsouthafrica@gmail.com
(770)573-9541
Website: www.projectsouthafrica.com 

Coffey Family February 2018 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests

  • Expansion of New Life Baptist Church in Kwadwesi.  We are wanting to start a second church soon.
  • The sell of our house in the US-  Our realtor let me know the house should be ready to list by March 9th. Please pray that it sells quickly.    
  • Property search- We have looked at several possible properties for Camp Rhino.  We are running into drainage/sewer problems for the properties we have liked so far.  Pray we will be patient and choose the property God wants us to have and that will be best for future growth.
  • Our oldest son Tyler in Bible College back in the States.
  • Josh and Meagan Sullivan are in their last months of their deputation.  Pray they raise the remainder of their support quickly and also pray their South Africa Visa applications go though without a problem.  They are applying for their visas next week.

Quick Updates & Reminders:

  • We have settled in our new/temporary home.  We rented a place that suits our family well and also has extra space to house our interns and visitors from the States. 
  • Timmy and Destiny Kelly, interns from The Our Generation Training Center in Alpharetta, GA, are doing terrific.  They have been heavily involved in all the ministries here since their arrival.
  • Our 2nd children’s book of The Little Five Friends Series is in the illustrating stage.  We hope to have this book available to you very soon.

There is so much that needs to be done.  Arriving back to South Africa has been great, and there are so many opportunities we are excited about in the coming months.  I am now working with 5 young guys for ministry preparation.  Seeing them trained to do the work of the ministry is my priority, and I’m praying God would send us many more like then. 

The need here in Africa is great.  We need more laborers.  Pray God works in the hearts of people to be a part of what’s going on.  We are building a strong team that I pray not only impacts our country, but is involved in seeing missionaries and pastors sent all over Africa. 

As Kevin Hall and I sat this week with a young man who wants to be a pastor from Zimbabwe, a country just north of us, I was reminded even more of the potential to see churches started here in South Africa and our neighboring countries. 

Please Pray.

Music

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Because of my lack of talent and ability with music, our church hasn’t really excelled in that area.  Since we are a very young ministry we don’t have a supply of people who can play instruments, lead groups, and/or lead congregations.  This is an area I know we have to improve in.

Recently, a man started attending my cousin Kevin Hall’s church in town who is a guitar and singing instructor.  This opened the door for my son Chase to start taking singing and guitar lessons, and also for four of our guys at New Life as well.

Please pray for these guys as the begin their lessons.  I believe they will be a great asset in the ministries of all our churches here in Port Elizabeth.

New Church at Kwadwesi Extension

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Across the valley of our current church New Life Baptist Church, is an area called Kwadwesi Extension.  This is a much denser populated area then where we are now, and also where several of our people are from.

Pastor Sipho has been holding midweek services there even before we arrived back to South Africa.  The attendance is really starting to pick up.  For our special Valentines service this past Wednesday we had around 125 people in attendance.  We had to keep the kids 12 years of age and below outside because of the space.  This is the area we want to start our next church and believe from there we can start churches in at least two other areas near by.

https://www.facebook.com/mark.coffey/videos/10155274750236728/

 

 

Coffey Family January 2018 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests

  • The sell of our house in the US-  It goes on the market this coming month. Our plan is to use the money toward the purchase of our camp property.    
  • Property search- We have begun looking for the right property to start Camp Rhino.  Pray we pick well.  
  • Our oldest son Tyler- This will be a repeating prayer request:). He’s back in Georgia training to be a missionary.  It’s tough being separated.  (I think more for us than for him:))  

Quick Updates & Reminders:

 

  • We are back in South Africa.
  • Timmy and Destiny Kelly arrive in just a few days for their 6 month internship to complete their training with the Our Generation Training Center. This is the same school my son Tyler is attending in Alpharetta, GA, which is a ministry out of our home church. 
  • We completed our first two children’s books that teach missions principles and features Camp Rhino.  Go to camprhino.org to order Lana’s Spots or The Little Five Friends Coloring and Activity Book.  

Last month, I announced that we met our $100,000 goal for Camp Rhino.  This month I’m happy to announce that not only did we meet our goal, we blew past it with an extra $29,000.  We now have $129,000 to put toward the property we want to purchase for the camp.    

We have looked at a few possible locations for Camp Rhino and the prices we’ve seen have been around $180 to $200,000.  With the proceeds from the sell of our home in the US, I believe we will come very close to this amount.   

We have enjoyed very much being back at New Life Baptist Church.  The church has done well with Pastor Sipho since our time in the states.  All the faithful folks we left behind are still attending, and the churches outreach has expanded.  For their Friday children’s outreach, they had several dozen new children attending, while there were at least 12  new faces in the youth meeting following the children’s service.

Please pray as we look for property to start another church.  New Life is currently holding services in two different locations so we can more access to the thousands of people in our area. 

I want to thank you all again for your involvement in our ministry.  We are truly blessed to partner with all of you.

January 2017 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friend,

After 4 days of traveling (due to changes made to our flight schedule) Bekah, the kids, and I all arrived home on January 6th. We have picked up right where we left off almost 5 months ago. Our short furlough was nice, seeing friends and family and getting to give reports of what the Lord is doing here was fun, but getting back into the work is what we are really passionate about.

I am starting to get back into the hang of preaching in isiXhosa. Bekah too, is back at it. Yesterday afternoon she met with 5 teenage girls, and 2 twelve year old girls who have recently made professions of faith in Christ. They discussed salvation and baptism for a couple of hours and all have chosen to obey the Lord through believer’s baptism. These girls have all been faithfully attending our youth meeting held by Mxolisi Dama, our untitled youth pastor. We rejoice with a joy that is unspeakable to see how the Lord is using his life!

Tuesday night we started a new semester of Bible Institute. We currently have 13 people enrolled, one of which is from Soweto Baptist Church; Matthew Olwethu. He continues strong and is over half way finished with the curriculum. He continues to serve as the children’s church teacher.

On January 31st we will have new interns arriving. We are excited to have the Kelley family, Timmy and his wife Destiny. They are part of the Our Generation Training Center and will be with us for the next 6 months. Please remember them in your prayers as they travel and get settled in here.

Until today, we have been hosting the Coffey family in our basement while they were looking for their own house to rent. They also have just returned from furlough. Pray for Mark and Amy as they get back into their ministry and also as Mark continues searching for property for Camp Rhino.

Extras:

  • Next month we will start having Sunday School, and full out children’s church at Soweto.
  • We may have found land for Camp Rhino. We meet with our lawyer this week to discuss setting up the non-profit organization.
  • Please pray that we continue to learn and adapt to the Xhosa Culture and Language. We have come a long ways, but there is still much room for improvement.
  • On February 14th we will start a new outreach ministry at Soweto, English Classes. This was a very productive outreach in Peru and we are expecting the same results here. It will be a great opportunity for our interns to serve and have an impact in our congregation though they do not speak the language.

Your prayers and donations are vitally important to all the work the Lord is doing in South Africa. We cannot thank you enough for your partnership with our ministry.

Sincerely,
Jeremy and Rebekah Hall
Support Address:
Macedonia World Baptist Missions
Att. Jeremy Hall
P.O. Box 519
Braselton, GA 30517

Home Church:
Whitfield Baptist Church
Pastor Wayne Cofield
2134 Dug Gap Rd.
Dalton, GA 30720
Personal Contact Info:
jhsouthafrica@gmail.com
(770)573-9541
Website: www.projectsouthafrica.com 

Departing with $100,000 and much much more

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As we get ready to leave for the airport today, I wanted to send you our last update before we head back to South Africa.

Two weeks before our goal date, December 31, 2017, we crossed the $100,000 mark that we were trying to reach for Camp Rhino.  As many of you know, this was the initial amount we wanted to raise in order to purchase property to start our camp and training center in South Africa.  Well…….we didn’t stop there.  A week later we received a $20,000 donation and the week after that we received an $8000 donation.  With those gifts an a few others we are now over $129,000 for Camp Rhino.

I want to Praise the Lord.  He did much more than we even hoped for.  I also believe other donations are on their way and there is no telling where we will be by the end of January.

Thank you for your prayers and for your giving.  I am so very grateful for your involvement.

Please be praying as we pack the last minute things, drive to the airport, and go through the difficult time of saying goodbye to our family and friends.  Today will be a bitter sweet time, but we are definitely looking forward to getting back to our ministry in South Africa.

Please especially pray for us and for our oldest son Tyler who will be staying here in the states.  He attending the Our Generation Training Center at our home church to become a missionary as well.  Leaving him behind will be the hardest thing for us as we head back.

Coffey Family December 2017 Prayer Letter

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Quick Updates & Reminders:

  • January 10th is our departure date for South Africa.  We are looking very forward to getting back to the field. 
  • 7 Young people were saved at this year’s camp, our last we hope at a rented facility.
  • We completed our first two children’s books that teach missions principles and features Camp Rhino.  Go to camprhino.org to order Lana’s Spots or The Little Five Friends Coloring and Activity Book. 

It is my joy and pleasure to announce that we have met our initial goal to raise $100,000 to help with the start of Camp Rhino with two weeks to spare.  PRAISE – THE – LORD!!!!! The last $388 came in the night I preached at my home church, Vision Baptist Church, on Dec 14th. When I announced our goal to raise that much money back in January, I was a little nervous to say the least. Despite my nervousness, God worked out what some thought was impossible. 

$100,000 and Growing

I know this is just the first step concerning fundraising, but God has taught my family a lot during the last year.  He has confirmed in our heart we are headed in the right direction, and He has taught us the importance to live by faith and not by sight or worries or second thoughts or doubts. 

We really desire to live a life not based on our abilities and talents, but based on God living through  us to be a blessing to many others.  Please pray for our next steps.  We need to find the right piece of property and see from there what other funds are needed.  With the sale of our house and more donations being committed, we are hoping to return to South Africa with $150,000. 

Also be praying about our next church plant.  We hope to start our second church within the first few weeks of returning to Port Elizabeth.  Although we are excited about Camp Rhino, we know our main goal is to see more churches started throughout all of South Africa.  We really believe that Camp Rhino will help accelerate those efforts. 

Prayer Requests

  • Our oldest son Tyler- He will be staying back in the States for Bible College when we return to the field.  This is our first time leaving someone behind and know it won’t be easy. 
  • The sell of our house-  When we left for the field the first time, we weren’t able to sell our house.  With the improvements in the market, we are hoping to sell and at least clear $30,000.  Our plan is to use the money toward the purchase of our camp property.

December 2017 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friend,

As we are sitting here state-side on a short furlough, it is a bitter sweet feeling to see reports of how God continues to bless in our absence. There really is “no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” On Sunday, at Soweto Baptist Church, they celebrated their 2nd anniversary. Since the church’s beginning, there have been 40 people who have been saved and baptized. God has begun a tremendous work in the lives of dozens of individuals through this work. We are super excited to return next month and witness how he will continue to mature His children. We are also very grateful to the Underwood family for all of their hard work in our absence.

One of our first priorities upon returning to South Africa will be to officially organize this work. This will be a lengthy process, as I still have much to teach on before it takes place. I am busy now preparing lessons on church polity and membership responsibility. This will be something you will hear more of in upcoming prayer letters. But for now please make this process a matter of prayer.

Last month, Bekah and I had the opportunity to visit our old church in Arequipa, Peru; Iglesia Bautista Omega. It has been over five years since we were last there. Words cannot express how proud I felt to see many continuing to serve and grow in grace. This was probably the most encouraging trip I have ever been on. Everyone was so sweet to us. They had a special service to honor us and then I had the opportunity to preach there once again. Also, before leaving Arequipa, Missionary David Gardner invited me back to preach the annual Youth Conference. Lord willing, I will be returning in July to participate.

Next week, December 11-15, our team in South Africa will host our 3rd annual Youth Camp. With us, and several others being gone, the work load is going to be spread amongst many new leaders. This will be a great time for service and growth. Pray the Lord uses this time, not only in the lives of the youth who will attend, but also in the hearts and lives of the workers. Please pray that they see much fruit for their labor. Also, thank you to all who have donated to send campers to camp!

Other Prayer Requests and Praises:

  • Our students in South Africa are in their final week of Bible Institute, pray they end strong and continue to put into practice all that they are learning
  • Camp Rhino: My cousin Mark Coffey has been raising funds to purchase property for our youth camp and training center. He has done an incredible job over the last year raising $95,000 of the $100,000 needed to purchase the property. Please go to our website and see how you can get more involved. ProjectSouthAfrica.com and CampRhino.org
  • God’s been good as we have been traveling. We only need 4 more churches who will partner with our ministry to meet our goal of 10 new churches before returning January 3rd.
  • There’s still time to sign-up for the OurGenerationSummit, Dec 28-30; hope to see you there!

Thank you for your faithfulness to pray and give. You mean more to us than you know. We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall
Support Address:
Macedonia World Baptist Missions
Att. Jeremy Hall
P.O. Box 519
Braselton, GA 30517

Home Church:
Whitfield Baptist Church
Pastor Wayne Cofield
2134 Dug Gap Rd.
Dalton, GA 30720
Personal Contact Info:
jhsouthafrica@gmail.com
(770)573-9541
Website: www.projectsouthafrica.com 

Almost to $95,000

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This past week while in North Carolina, we had two of our supporting churches give a total of $1470 towards Camp Rhino.  With the new addition we now have $94, 691.74 towards our $100,000 goal.  Wow, so close!

I’m, thrilled to know we are nearing our goal.

Will you pray about helping us get the remaining $5000?

Our family leaves for South Africa on January 10th.  We can’t wait to get there and start searching for property.  We have a few options we’ve seen online that we’re excited about.  God has used all of you to be a great blessing in praying and giving.  I don’t have the necessary words to express my appreciation.