Dear friends
We are writing from Pretoria, South Africa, on our annual
break. Aline is now 6 months pregnant and about to enter into her 3rd
trimester. She is beautifully pregnant and we are excitedly preparing our world
for our little girl to enter into.
We want to thank you for supporting us throughout last year,
be it in prayer, relationship or financial contribution. We want to stay
connected to you.
We have been in South Africa since the 28th of
December, after spending our 1st Christmas in Pemba.
Christmas in Pemba
We had the joy of being part of the Christmas celebrations on the Iris mission’s base. On Christmas day we annually feed around 4000 people (mostly kids) with a chicken and rice feast. Any person in Pemba who wants to, can come and enjoy it. It was a privilege to see people line up, even in the rain to be a part of this feast.
We had the joy of being part of the Christmas celebrations on the Iris mission’s base. On Christmas day we annually feed around 4000 people (mostly kids) with a chicken and rice feast. Any person in Pemba who wants to, can come and enjoy it. It was a privilege to see people line up, even in the rain to be a part of this feast.
After lunch, we were part of handing out Christmas presents
to our Iris Kids in the Children’s centre. I (Francois) gave out presents to
our room of 8 boys. While Aline gave out presents to the 24 girls in our Iris
Family.
Ordained?
Yes, we were ordained in December by Heidi Baker as a minister in the Partners in Harvest International Church Network. Why? Well, one day as we were giving Heidi some feedback about our visits to the churches in Cabo Delgado. We talked to her about the fact that marriages are quite weak in the province (adultery and divorce are quite common). Also very few couples get officially married in the church there. This is due to high costs and the fact the pastor might not be confident in marrying people. She asked if we were marrying people on our visits. We said no. She asked if we wanted to. We said: “Sure”. She asked, “Are you ordained?” We said no. She asked “Do you want to be?” We said: “Sure”. And that was that.
Now we have the authority to marry people and we are planning to start doing that in the bush in the next months. We still need to learn how to properly do that, but we are open to learn J
Baby Girl
We have been enjoying our holiday rest here in Pretoria, South Africa. Part of our plan in coming here is to buy all the stuff our little girl will need for the 1st 9 months of her life in Pemba. Baby stuff there can be impossible to find or too expensive. So we have been price hunting and we have already accumulated more than our airline baggage allowance. We are trusting God for some more things before we fly off, but we are thankful for His wonderful provision for many great baby essentials already! Aline and baby got blessed with a baby shower organized by my (Francois’s) mother. It was a lot of fun and baby girl received nice clothes, toys, diapers and other things.
Going Home
So now we are preparing to fly home to Pemba on the 6th of February. We recently received word that we will have the joy of moving into a bigger house in Pemba. This is a great answer to prayer as our old house was a one bedroom and we really wanted to have a bedroom for our baby. This new house will actually be on the main base, where the Children’s Centre, Iris School, Bible school, offices and church are located. We will also be living very close to other families who have one or more kids/babies, so it will be a great place to connect and live life together with other families. We are excited about that.
Yes, we were ordained in December by Heidi Baker as a minister in the Partners in Harvest International Church Network. Why? Well, one day as we were giving Heidi some feedback about our visits to the churches in Cabo Delgado. We talked to her about the fact that marriages are quite weak in the province (adultery and divorce are quite common). Also very few couples get officially married in the church there. This is due to high costs and the fact the pastor might not be confident in marrying people. She asked if we were marrying people on our visits. We said no. She asked if we wanted to. We said: “Sure”. She asked, “Are you ordained?” We said no. She asked “Do you want to be?” We said: “Sure”. And that was that.
Now we have the authority to marry people and we are planning to start doing that in the bush in the next months. We still need to learn how to properly do that, but we are open to learn J
Baby Girl
We have been enjoying our holiday rest here in Pretoria, South Africa. Part of our plan in coming here is to buy all the stuff our little girl will need for the 1st 9 months of her life in Pemba. Baby stuff there can be impossible to find or too expensive. So we have been price hunting and we have already accumulated more than our airline baggage allowance. We are trusting God for some more things before we fly off, but we are thankful for His wonderful provision for many great baby essentials already! Aline and baby got blessed with a baby shower organized by my (Francois’s) mother. It was a lot of fun and baby girl received nice clothes, toys, diapers and other things.
Going Home
So now we are preparing to fly home to Pemba on the 6th of February. We recently received word that we will have the joy of moving into a bigger house in Pemba. This is a great answer to prayer as our old house was a one bedroom and we really wanted to have a bedroom for our baby. This new house will actually be on the main base, where the Children’s Centre, Iris School, Bible school, offices and church are located. We will also be living very close to other families who have one or more kids/babies, so it will be a great place to connect and live life together with other families. We are excited about that.
Love
Francois & Aline du Toit
Francois & Aline du Toit
