January 2017 Prayer Letter

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This month we saw several people place their faith and trust in Christ for salvation. Mama Plaatjies is one of those people. She is the grandmother of a young man I have been working with for over a year. She has been visiting off and on for several months. On New Year’s Day she finally made the decision to surrender her life to Jesus. Since then she has turned into an evangelism machine. She has brought several visitors, one of which trusted in Christ last week, Mama Nobakhe. Today (Jan 29th), I had the privilege of baptizing both of them after our morning service.

Rebekah is staying really busy with basic discipleship classes. She meets faithfully with the ladies of Soweto on Tuesdays, and then with the younger girls on Saturdays. Of late, her classes have shown much fruit. Along with the ladies mentioned above, today I also baptized three other young ladies with whom she has been working. Also, this morning after the service Rebekah dealt with another young lady who has been attending our church, almost since the beginning. Seventeen year old Yolisa trusted in Christ and will be following the Lord in believer’s baptism next weekend.

Furlough August 23 – Jan 3:

In just 7 months, we will be returning to the states for a very short furlough. We will be there from August 23 – January 3. We are going to use this time to try and raise some new support, as well as spend some time with family and friends. When we arrive, it will have been over 1,400 days since we have stepped foot in America. A lot has changed in my own personal life, in the lives of our children, and in our ministry. To God be the glory for all the things good that have happened!

Booking meetings stateside, along with travel arrangements, setting up housing, making sure we have vehicles to drive when we land, these are a few of the things I have been working on in my spare time. Fortunately, the Lord has blessed and already provided several of these things. I have also managed to squeeze in a few calls late night and I have booked several meetings so far. If you would like for us to come by your church and give an update, or if you know of a church that may like for us to come by and present our ministry, please write me at jhsouthafrica@gmail.com.

At this moment, the most overwhelming thing on my plate is our church. Soweto is still far from being ready for our absence. As you can imagine, we are stepping up the pace and spending lots of extra time with the guys (and girls) in preparation. A few have already begun to step up, and several are being prepared to preach and teach in our absence. Some guys you can specifically pray for are Mxolisi, Athule, Aphiwe, Matthew, Thami, Luxolo, Miyanda, and Sethu. These guys are the backbone of our little church and if this thing is going to continue strong in our absence, then God is going to have to do some mighty works in their lives over the next few months.

As always, thank you so much for your faithfulness to pray and give so we can work here in South Africa. May God bless you for all that you do!

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

Camp Rhino January Goals Exceeded

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In order to raise $100,000 to buy property to start Camp Rhino Christian Camp & Training Center we will need to raise $8,333 a month for the next 12 months.

Already in January we were informed that $5200 is in the mail, another church set a goal to raise $2500 by October, and $1750 has been given to us in hand during the past week of church services.

Part of the $1750 came from a Preacher’s Conference I was able to attend this past week in Rossville, GA at Anchor of Hope Baptist Church with Pastor Brian Haney.   Pastors, missionaries, laymen, and other preachers gave sacrificially toward the camp.  I was blown away by their generosity.

As we travel to churches, we are giving a free Camp Rhino T-shirts to everyone who gives a donation to the camp.  Soon we will make these shirts available online.  If you’re interested in donating and having your own Camp Rhino T-shirt, just let me know.

 

December 2016 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friend,

Merry Christmas! We are about to celebrate our 4th Christmas here in South Africa. After all these years, in Peru and now here, you would think we would be used to Christmas in summertime. Chimneys, hot chocolate and bundling up to go visit family during the holidays are things we associate with Christmas. Here, the people have summer holiday and the beach on their mind when they think of Christmas.

Many churches here close their doors in December and do not open again until the end of January. As you can imagine, this ideology is something we are not comfortable with at all. We actually have several different outreach events planned to counter the decline in attendance that normally happens in summer. One in particular, which you can continue to pray with us about, is “Project 7.” We are encouraging our people to take 7 gospel tracts for the week and give out one per day. They are to pray over it and the person who will receive it.

Last week we had our 2nd annual youth camp. We had 93 campers and 20 workers. The campers came from several churches around town. Each camper heard a total of 23 Bible based messages throughout the week. God worked and 4 young people trusted in Christ for salvation. Many other decisions were also made. 

Also last month, we had the opportunity to have one of our supporting pastors, Tony Howeth, come for a visit. Pastor Tony was my youth pastor growing up. He preached our first Missions Conference at Soweto Baptist Church. He also preached our 1 year anniversary service on December 4th. The conference was well attended and our people were blessed.

Other Prayer Requests:

  • Our nephews,Tyler and Chase, left for America today. They will be missed greatly. Tyler will be going to the OG Training Center and begin his formal training to serve as a foreign missionary. Chase will be joining his family on furlough.
  • Pray for the spiritual growth of our leaders at Soweto; Matthew, Mxolisi, Aphiwe, Aphelele, Athule, Thamsanqa and Luxolo
  • Upcoming trip to Johannesburg. Several of the guys from Soweto will be accompanying me as we go to Joburg and try to be a blessing to another church. Hopefully will be able to put a new roof on their church building. We will also take advantage of this long trip to plan out our yearly calendar.

As always, we thank you so much for your faithfulness to pray and to give to our ministry. We pray God blesses you richly for all that you do!

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

November 2016 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friends,

I had the privilege to marry our first couple at Soweto Baptist Church last weekend. Milisa (formerly known as Bulelwa) and Mxolisi were both baptized at our church this year. Milisa was already  saved when she began attending our church and Mxolisi was saved several months back. The ceremony took place at our church. It was a traditional Xhosa wedding (which means they worn their traditional attire), and there was a packed house, all of which heard the gospel. 

Our first semester of Bible Institute is coming to an end. The 13 students who have been faithfully attending just finished their first of three final exams. All seem to be thoroughly enjoying their studies and progressing in their understanding of the scriptures.

There are many things on the calendar:

  • “Project 7” outreach will begin this month at Soweto Baptist Church: 7 invitations, 7 days, 7 people. This will be used to encourage our people to get involved in personal evangelism. A pack of 7 of our new gospel tracts will be handed out weekly, and our people will be reminded and encouraged to pray daily for one opportunity to share a gospel tract and witness to one lost person.
  • December 1-4 will be our first missions conference. Pastor Tony Howeth will be coming from the states to preach this meeting.
  • December 11 we will have another special baptism service. There are several who have made professions of faith who will follow the Lord in believer’s baptism.
  • December 12-16 is our 2nd annual BFWE Youth Camp. If you are interested in helping send a camper to camp the cost is $35 per camper (expecting 100+/- campers).  Most of these campers will come from very underprivileged homes with no means of payment. We are allowing them to work and earn their own way. We are expecting our total costs to be around $3,500.00.
  • Our house will soon be full as Missionary Mark Coffey and his family will be staying with us for a couple of weeks before leaving for furlough on December 3rd. If you are needing a good missionary to speak at your church he will be available (missionarycoffey@gmail.com).
  • Continue to pray for the Jason King family who will be joining our team here South Africa. They have purchased their tickets and will be leaving the states on February 28th. Pray that their remaining funds will come in before departure.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. We hope you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

Camp Rhino Update

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“A Week at Camp – A Chance at Life.”

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In the first week of announcing our goal to raise $100,000 to buy property to start Camp Rhino, we received great feed back.  A supporting pastor wrote to let me know his church has a goal to raise $2500 between now and their missions conference in October for the camp.  Another supporting pastor let me know a check for $200 was on it’s way from their children’s offerings to go toward the camp, and to top it off, we got news of a $5000 donation being sent in.  Praise the Lord that makes $7700 for the very first week, which is a little over 7% of our needed goal.

I have faith that God is going to provide all the funds, and it is really fun to see the money come in from the very first week.

If you’re interested in investing in the beginning stages of this ministry, we would love to hear from you. Camp Rhino Christian Camp and Training Center will give young people all over South Africa a chance at a different kind of life.  Don’t miss out on this opportunity.

Coffey Family December 2016 Prayer Letter Part 2

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Would you like to invest in the future of Camp Rhino?

We start our big push to raise the funds for Camp Rhino in January.   We are looking to raise $100,000 in the next year.  This money will be used to purchase approx. 20 acres of land in the Port Elizabeth area that we will begin developing into the Christian Camp and Training Center.

Please pray we will be able to reach our first months goal of $8333.00. That’s the amount it will take to raise each month in order to purchase property when we land back in South Africa.

Possible Breakdown of Church Sponsors for a one-time donation in 2017:

  • $8333- 12 Sponsors
  • $4,166- 24 Sponsors
  • $2083- 48 Sponsors
  • $1041- 96 Sponsors

Maybe the Lord would have you commit to raising one of these amount during 2017.

Maybe this would be a project that would fit well for a Sunday school department or VBS week.

Let me know if you want to sign up to be one of our camp sponsors.

 

Coffey Family December 2016 Prayer Letter Part 1

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I hope all had a great Christmas and pray that you have an even better New Year.

We have now been back in the states a few weeks and are getting ready to end the New Year at the Our Generation Summit at Lake Lanier Island in Buford, GA.  What a privilege to end the new year challenging people from several churches to reach the world with the Gospel.

It is strange being away from South Africa, but we are fired up about the opportunities to promote missions in Africa and present our burden for Camp Rhino.

Our two oldest boys Tyler and Chase stayed back in South Africa to help with our 2nd annual Teen Camp two extra weeks, but are now back in the states with us.

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There was quite an increase in campers this year and four young people made professions of faith. Because of space and time we aren’t able to bring in a lot of outside kids.  We are hopeful in the years to come, with the new camp property, we not only will be able to minister to our church kids during camp, but we will be able to bring in an unlimited number of lost kids from all our communities.

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We start our big push to raise the funds for Camp Rhino in January.   We are looking to raise $100,000 in the next year.  This money will be used to purchase approx. 20 acres of land in the Port Elizabeth area that we will begin developing into the Christian Camp and Training Center.

Please pray we will be able to reach our first months goal of $8333.00. That’s the amount it will take to raise each month in order to purchase property when we land back in South Africa.

Announcing Camp Rhino- Christian Camp and Training Center

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November 2016 Coffey Family Prayer Letter

We are now in our last days before we head back to the States.  Our first term was fantastic.  I want to thank all of you  who have supported us these past few years. 

Although we are sad about leaving, we are excited about a new ministry we are now ready to announce and begin presenting during our time on furlough that will benefit our church planting efforts.  When we return to South Africa we will be starting Camp Rhino – Christian Camp and Training Center. 

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Have you had your life touched by attending Christian summer camp?  Have you sent teenagers to camp and had them come back with their lives changed?  Have you had kids get saved at camp?

In America, Christian camps are doing a lot of good.  Kids can get away from the world, from the internet, and the pressures of day to day life, have an incredibly fun week, and listen to powerful preaching.  It’s a recipe God has been using for well over a hundred years.

Children and Teens in South Africa need a Bible preaching Christian camp!  Not only do they live in abject poverty, most of them experience a level of immorality, drunkenness, and demonic activity that few American kids ever experience.  Imagine the impact a week of Christian camp could have on their life.  If Christian camp helps American churches, imagine how much it could do to help missionaries and  South African churches.

I will be giving more details about our plan for the camp and training center in the coming days, but I want to let you know that our camp will also facilitate much training for all of our people and will be used year round for our church planting purposes.   

This will also provide an amazing short-term missions trip opportunity for American students. Bible College Students and other ministry minded young people will have the opportunity to travel to Africa for a season, work in South African churches with veteran missionaries, and help in the camp as counselors and camp staff. 

We are looking to raise $100,000 in the next year.  This money will be used to purchase 20 acres of land in the Port Elizabeth area that we will begin developing into a Christian camp.

We want to ask you to begin praying now that we would be able to raise  $8,333 a month during our year back in the states in order to reach our $100,00 goal.  I know that’s a big goal, but we believe in this ministry, and know if it’s God’s will,  money won’t be an issue.     

Imagine being able to invest in Apple Computer, Coco-cola, or IBM when they were just starting out.  With eternity in view, we believe investing in Camp Rhino will be an even better investment.

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Christmas Camp Coming Soon

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Please be in prayer for our Summer youth camp coming up December 12-16.  Most of you don’t put Summer and Christmas and Youth Camp together, but on this side of the world, that’s how we do it:)

We are planning on having more than 100 people this year for camp.  Please pray that hearts will be changed and souls will be saved.  Also pray we will be able to raise the needed funds to offset the price for the young people.  We try to get camp as inexpensive for them as we can.  Right now we charge them around $15 per camper, but in order to do that we need to raise about $1000 from our family, as the other missionaries working with us are trying to do the same.

For those that are interested in helping with camp AND with getting a Christmas ornament decorated by one of our young campers, click here to see our ChristmasCamp.org website.

September Prayer Letter

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Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.”

When we arrived for our internship in June of last year, we realized our original 90 day visas would not suffice; considering we weren’t planning on leaving until November. So, after 90 days we paid the fee and ordered new visas. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, and our visas still had not come in! Finally, just a couple of weeks before we were set to leave, everyone’s visas came in except for mine. The day came for us to head back to America, and still no visa. Upon arriving at the airport, I was feeling very nervous and apprehensive about what Border Control would say. I knew they could potentially ban me from the country. Unfortunately, that is exactly what they did. I was declared “undesirable” for 5 years! Obviously, this was a huge bump in the road.
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After arriving back in the states I quickly hired a lawyer back in South Africa to appeal this decision. After waiting 9 months, lots of money spent, and plenty of prayers, I finally heard back from my lawyer last week! She informed me my status has been changed! I was issued a waiver and I can now enter SA whenever we have finished our deputation. God is so faithful! And we are so thankful!

Please pray for –
Pastor Tom Hatley health.
Upcoming meetings
New Supporters.

Aug Review
Aug was our eighth month of deputation.
We were in a total of 8 churches.
We had 1 new family partner with us!
We are currently at 28% of our needed support.
We travelled 1,240 miles in VA and TN