The Church Building Open and Ready for Use

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On January 22nd, the construction began for New Life Baptist Church Kwadwesi.  Other than lacking a few doors, electricity, and water, the building is ready for use.  Well, we’re going to use it anyway:)  We will be having our first service in the main auditorium this morning, April 19th at 10am.  I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support during this building project.  The money for building came in just in time, even when I underestimated the cost or had surprise expenses.  I praise the Lord, there is a lighthouse in the Kwadwesi area of Port Elizabeth, South Africa to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Continue to pray as we seek to reach the lost and train young men for the ministry.

New Life Kwadwesi Building Update

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Our building is progressing nicely.  We are still hoping to have our first service on April 5th, Easter Sunday morning, but we’re cutting it very close.  The I-Beam we need for the main floor won’t be available until Wednesday, at the earliest.  Without the I-Beam we can’t finish the main floor.

This past we we did experience our first break-in.  Someone tried to break in through one of our new windows.  With no success, they bust in through the new door.  We paid one of the workers to spend the night there, but he decided to skip that night.  Unfortunately, all of our builders tools were stolen, and the window and door need to be replaced.

I’m glad to know the roof is almost finished and hopefully water and electricity will be connected this week.  Overall this has been a great building experience with very little interruption.

Thank you all for you prayers and support.

More Building

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Here lately, I’ve felt that most of my life has been about building projects, which for me isn’t a bad thing. I love building, or better said, I love organizing the building and watching others build.  It’s been neat seeing the walls go up on New Life Baptist Church.  We are hoping to have the building ready for services by April 5th/ Easter Day.

This past week we started another building project at Madiba Bay Baptist Church.  This project is to supply housing for Pastor Lubabalo and his family.

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For almost a year, this family of 4 has been living in 2 small rooms in the church.  The new addition attached to the church will provide Lubabalo’s family with 2 bedrooms, bath, kitchen, and a good size living area.  Along with providing this family with a nice living space, two more badly needed Sunday school rooms will be available for the church to use when they move out.  If you would like to have a part in this project here is a breakdown of the expenses.

Plumbing- $1,345

Electrical- $1,318

Labor for walls & roof- $2,197

Materials- $2,164 rand  (Blocks, brink, cement, sand, etc)

Roof- $870

Total- $7,894

Below are the two rooms they are currently living in.

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Building without Delay

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Over the past two weeks, $15, 600 came in to help with the building of New Life Baptist Church.  This has enabled us to continue building without any major delays.  We are grateful to those who gave, and want to thank the Lord for bringing the funds in so quickly.  We are hoping and feel pretty certain, with these funds, we will be able to complete the first phase of the building.  This first phase will give us space for our first auditorium, 4 Sunday school classes, two bathrooms, and also supply housing for my assistant.  I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed by the sacrificial giving of God’s people with this project.

February 2015 Update

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Dear Pastor and Friends,        

The most exciting thing that took place since our last updated happened just a few days ago. My wife was able to witness, in Xhosa, to the lady who watches our kids during the day, Mama Khunjuzwa. After two week of going over salvation, Mama K was born again! She is a 51 year old lady who has attended church all of her life, and from her own testimony, never heard a clear presentation of the gospel until now. Please pray for Rebekah and her as they continue with some foundational lessons. Pray that she will come to our church and begin to get grounded in the word and connected with other believers.

Our Pastor, Wayne Cofield and his wife were with us for two weeks last month. During his stay he preached and taught 18 different times. One of those times was at a street soccer evangelistic out-reach we started in our church parking lot. There was an incredible turn out for our first weekend. Around 150-175 youth, and young men showed up. Pastor Cofield preached the first message and 6 young men made professions of faith. We are looking forward to using this to draw the attention of many more and share the gospel.

934771_10152680820751728_7108399752972099979_nThis is the foundation, slab and beginning of the walls for New Life Baptist Church. I can’t tell you how excited we are to see this progressing. Individuals and churches have given generously to make this happen. We were recently given $3,600 from our home church to begin building the walls. Since then, another individual has given close to $10,000! Hopefully our teammates, Mark Coffey and Sipho Bonga, will be meeting in this building within two months. God is faithful and has provided for His work! 

Future Events and Prayer Requests:

  • We are planning now for our first ever pastors retreat. We have a location and dates, May 17-19. Please begin to pray with us that this would be a profitable time for our team.
  • Also, planning has begun for our first youth camp. We’ve separated a camp for Dec 6-12. We are hoping to have 136 campers (and no more b/c there is no more space). If you would be interested in helping a camper make it to camp, the cost will be R700.00 or $65 per person for the week. 
  • Please continue to pray for us with language learning.

Thanks again for all you do and may God bless you richly!

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

January 2015 Coffey Family Prayer Letter

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The quote for building materials for all the walls on the first floor of New Life Baptist Church comes out to 48,790 rand which is about $4,435.  This will be the cost once we have the foundation completed, which will include a single garage-size basement. 

For months, I have been mentioning this church, and our desire to start building as soon as possible.  The day to start building has come and gone.  The footers and most of the foundation wall is complete.  The wait is over. 

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This will be the first church for me to pastor here in South Africa.  Pray for me and Pastor Sipho Bonga as we work to start this church in the coming weeks.  Originally, Pastor Sipho was going to start this church on his own, but for now he wants to come on as my helper to give his family a little time to adjust.  As time goes on, and I’m able to be be involved in more church plants, we plan for Sipho’s role to change quite a bit. 

The foundation, unfortunately, is costing more than we originally planned because of the layout of the land.  We don’t have the final number for the first floor, but it looks like it will be closer to $15,000 to have everything roughed in.  This is close to $7000 more than we had initially planned.  More details to come. 

Prayer Request

  • Amy and I as we continue learning the Xhosa language. 
  • The building of New Life Baptist- We are hoping to have all the building quotes by next week for the first floor.   
  • Possible church plant in 2015- East London, South Africa- popultation over 700,000.  One of the pastors on our team moved there this past month. 

Needs 

  • $4,435 – Materials for the first floor walls 
  • Approx. $2500-Finishing the foundation
  • Electricity hook-up will be around $600.

More Highlights

  • It was great having Amy’s parents here for 2 weeks.  My father-in-law, Pastor Wayne Cofield, preached or taught 18 times during his stay.  I don’t think you could call this his vacation.
  • 6 Saved at the first Soccer outreach day. 
  • 6 Saved at the last men’s meeting at Wells Estates. 
  • We had our first pastor’s fellowship where Pastor Cofield focused on the faith of Moses.  It was a great start to our monthly meetings. 

Financial Tips for Interns and Missionaries

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Financial Tips for Interns and Missionaries

Banks: You will need to check out which bank you want to use prior to arriving on the field. ATM fees, extra charges and lower exchange rate are things that will dip into your monthly support. ALL banks charge something. Several claim they don’t, but they do. Some are better at hiding it than others. Some shave points off the exchange rate (without mentioning it), some charge 1% others charge 3% or higher. Some have extra ATM fees, while others reimburse ATM fees. I recently had to change banks from our small town bank because they could no longer afford what they had initially promised. I mention that because, if banks promise something that seems to good to be true, expect it to change. Enjoy it while you can, but policies change and they are in the business to make money.

Personally, I believe it’s best to find a bank that is set up to service missionaries and their needs from the get go. Find one that has been in the business for years. Expect to pay something.

My personal recommendation (at this moment) is ECCU (Evangelical Christian Credit Union).

Exchange rates: If you’ve spent anytime overseas you know the exchange rate on your money fluctuates. For smaller things this is not normally an issue, but if you are making larger purchases it can really make a difference. I have found that it is normally better to exchange/ withdraw money on Tuesday-Thursday, or, at least that has been the norm in Peru and now South Africa. The exchange rate seems to go down over the weekend and then pick back up in the middle of the week.

In some countries (Peru for example) you would receive a better exchange rate on the street than in a Bank. In other countries you wont have an option. The only currency you’ll have the option of pulling out of the ATM is their currency. When that’s the case you will learn by looking at your statements which bank gives the best exchange rate to withdraw money. If possible never exchange money at the airport.

Credit Cards: I do not promote debt! Dave Ramsey would have a conniption, and normally I would agree with him. Though, I have found that the right credit cards give you the best exchange rate. Also, they allow you to make payments to them electronically which allows you to not have to withdraw money or do any transaction on the field (besides the purchase) which allows for others to get a cut.

If you chose this option, you must find a truly international card. Unlike the banks, there are several of these out there. One that is international, that I used for years, and would not recommend is AMEX. The reason I would not recommend them is that there are several countries that do not accept this card. Stick to a Visa or Mastercard, Visa having the priority over those two.

Personal recommendation (at this moment) is Capital One Venture Visa.

Cash: Many of your purchases will have to be made with cash. There are a couple of risks associated with cash: One, though not very common, is counterfeit notes. Foreigners make a good target to unload bad bills. The other problem with cash is the risk that comes with carrying it. It’s not advisable to have large sums of cash. In some cases there is no option. In those instances, if possible, take a friend along with you for withdraws and payments.