First day in SA, like we never left!

 If you have never had the opportunity to take a trip for 20-hours on a various airplanes, it will be difficult to truly know some of the idiosyncrasies of international travel. It's exciting and fun and eye-opening, and at the same time it's tiring, and uncomfortable (in more ways that one) and personal space isn't the same in all cultures.

Nonetheless, the seven of us arrived on the same flight into Johannesburg International Airport, and were greeted by Pastor Julius - we were all so happy to see him!  We rented our 9 passenger van driven by the international-driving-left-side-of-the-road-expert, Keith Matney and his trusty navigator stay-to-the-left-watch-for-humans-in-the-road, Steve Waller.  We safely made our way to the beautiful Oppihoek Guesthouse in Pretoria. 

After our traditional first day lunch at Nando's (a local chicken fast food restaurant) and a quick stop at a men's conference being taught by some pastor friends of Julius (in the mall!), we came back for a shower and some rest.  

We have just returned from a fun and delicious dinner with our team, Julius & Cintia, Julius' sister Esther and her son (dad's out of town) and a cousin.  One of the great gifts from God is how relationships in His Kingdom often feel like coming home even when the surroundings and people are very different.  It has been so wonderful to connect with each other again.

Prayer Requests: 
- please pray for one of our suitcases to arrive in the next day. It has glasses in it and should be on a late flight from Heathrow.
- our first Sunday service tomorrow
- for everyone to get good rest and to acclimate to the time zone quickly

Hannah also captured some fun video of the day: 

2023 trip: Leaving on a jet plane!

 We are very excited to finally be leaving for South Africa today!  The team has been preparing for several months now... in spite of that, there always seem to be so many last minute things to do before you get on a 20 hour flight - including mentally preparing yourself for a 20-hour flight!

We will be working with Pastor Julius Mbu and his wife Cintia at Hope Baptist Church in Pretoria (Sunnyside), South Africa.  How we have anticipated this moment to see how God has continued to move in the four years that has passed since we last saw them.  

We are going to hand out non-prescription eyeglasses in an ongoing ministry that the church has in the community.  This is something that our teams have done in the past as well.  FSBC Scottsdale and FBC Fountain Hills (now Cornerstone) have donated about 1000 pairs of glasses that we will hand out. 
We will also lead some workshops in counseling for pastors, marriage enrichment, and worship leadership.  The team will also get to help in an after school program and help some kids with homework!

No trip to South Africa would be complete without an opportunity to see some animals out in the wild - so, this week we will also head to Pilanesberg, a game reserve, where we will take a break during the week, and bring Julius and Cintia along to have fun and relax!

Pray specifically: 
- For safety, logistics, and health of our team

- For the opportunity to share the Gospel with those we meet

- For a time of encouragement and ministry with Julius and Cintia

In the meantime, we are off on a great adventure... but first 20-hours on a plane!

Blessings, 

The 2023 team: Keith & Kathy Matney, Linda Briseno, John Herr, Steve & Joy Waller & Hannah

Some closing thoughts...

Joy Waller
FSBC Scottsdale
→1st time serving with Hope Baptist Church in South Africa; forever connected through love and family


Some closing thoughts about our time in SA...

I was happy to be back in the familiar culture of warmth and openness this past week in SA.  What a great

Steve and Joy Waller with children from the eyeglass

clinic in Soshanguve.

week we had! Your prayers covered us in physical safety, encouraged us through fatigue, and provided words when we needed to share God's hope.  The beauty of stepping out of your comfort zone is being able to gain new perspective and learn some new things about yourself as well.  I am privileged to have the opportunity to travel many places. I always enjoy seeing the wonderful diversity of the body of Christ, and it reminds me to actively remember to reach out to those who aren't like me. 

I will share some closing prayer requests for you:

• Pray for the many seeds planted through the eye glass clinics, and for the SA team as they follow up with each of them.

• Pray that God strengthens the leaders at Hope Baptist Church: giving them endurance for the work, building character and leadership skills. Pray that they take the many learnings from the conference and are able to put them into practice.

• Pray for Julius and Cintia: that their marriage continues to thrive, they have wisdom in their work, and energy for busier church life than we can even imagine.

l-r: Joy and Steve Waller,

     Julius and Cintia Mbu

• Pray for Julius: wisdom as he shepherds many people, plants new churches, builds education and leadership programs, and casts an ambitious vision for Hope.

• It is said that because of the many people who immigrate to Pretoria that all of Africa can be reached.  Pray that the church in Sunnyside continues to draw an international congregation that can in turn reach many countries.

• Pray for the members of the 2018 team as God revealed Himself in new ways through this trip. May they also all be emboldened and re-energized in their walk with God.

And to our many readers: If you ever have an opportunity to go to the continent of Africa - go.  It will forever change you.

l-r: Edith Lyle, Mitch McDonald, Mona McDonald, Kathy Matney, Keith

     Matney, Wanda Bagwell, Bill Bagwell, Tracy Newcomb, Joy Waller, Steve

     Waller, Beth Shook, Steve Shook

Saying Goodbye

Tracy Newcomb

Foothills Southern Baptist Church, Yuma

→ 2nd time serving in South Africa

It’s hard to believe that our time in South Africa is coming to an end. It’s been a great week and we have been able to witness God do some awesome things!

We started today packing up and getting ready to leave our home away from home. The staff at The Wardrobe Guest House has taken good care of us this week. Then we headed back to Hope Baptist Church for one final ministry event.

Edith Lyle sharing the gospel with a

young man attending the eyeglass

clinic

We were blessed to work with the Pastor Julius and the team at Hope for an eyeglass clinic in Sunnyside. 

We saw about 60-75 people during the clinic this morning. At least five people accepted Christ during the clinic and many more will be contacted by the church for follow up.

We said goodbye to those at the church and headed to get some lunch before heading to the government buildings. As we looked out over Pretoria we were able to spend some final moments in prayer together as a team. We prayed for the Pastor Julius & Cintia, Hope Baptist Church, Sunnyside, Pretoria, and for God’s work in South Africa as a whole. 

Mona McDonald celebrates with a 

young man who accepted Christ at 

the eyeglass clinic

Now we are once again beginning our lengthy journey via planes, trains, and automobiles as we head back home to Arizona.

Although this blog post is titled “Saying Goodbye,” in reality we know that we are actually just saying “see you later” to so many of these great people. We have confidence we will see our brothers and sisters again, either in another trip to South Africa or ultimately one day in heaven. We are so thankful for these relationships that God has given us in His body!

Tracy

Good morning Washington DC!

Safari Day

Kathy Matney

FSBC Scottsdale

→ 1^st time serving in South Africa with Hope Baptist Church

Today was Safari day at Pilanesberg National Park. God favored us with the most amazing display of His creativity. We saw at least 13 different species of animals- a herd of elephants, a family of hippos, a crash of rhinos, a pride of lions, a zeal of zebras, a tower of giraffes, a herd of wildebeests, a troop of baboons and several more. What made this even more amazing was our ability to see them up close and traveling in large numbers. It was a breathtaking site!  

After the safari, we had lunch at a market, took a little time to shop for souvenirs, and traveled back to our B&B to get ready for our evening session. Joy did a fabulous job of leading the Hope Baptist leadership team and us in identifying our personality types for the purpose of effective communication in ministry.

We are excited for tomorrow, the last eyeglass distribution. Please pray for us as we share the love of Jesus with the people of Pretoria.  

A Special Day

Steve Shook

Foothills Baptist Church, Ahwatukee

→ 3rd time serving in South Africa

A moment of prayer before Steve Waller gives the message at Hope Baptist

Church, Soshanguve.

Today was a special day of worship and prayer not only at Hope Baptist Church, Sunnyside, but also her two church plants in Soshanguve, South Africa: Hope Baptist Church of Soshanguve and Faith Baptist Church.  The team served in the three locations somewhat simultaneously in order to assist and lead out in the morning activities. While Keith Matney preached at Hope Church, Sunnyside, Steve Waller and Mitch McDonald preached at the churches in Soshanguve. God’s message of hope and love was shared through these three men of God, resulting in several new additions to the body of Christ.  Praise God!

l-r: Keith Matney preaching at Hope Baptist Church, Sunnyside. Steve Waller 

sharing at Hope Baptist Church, Soshenguve. Mitch McDonald gives the 

message at Faith Baptist Church, Soshenguve.

One of the more anticipated outreach events connected with this South Africa partnership is the eye glass clinic. The clinic provides much needed glasses to members of the community around the church, at no cost.  Today we held the clinic in the community around Faith Baptist Church in Soshanguve. This event gives us the chance to touch the lives of those who participate by providing prayer support and the opportunity to present the gospel while they register and wait to receive their glasses.  The setting for this clinic was quite unique - inside the tent that was used for the worship service earlier that morning. The closest I’ve ever been to a tent revival!

After a quick lunch, we returned to a significant crowd lined up to receive their glasses. In addition to those making professions of faith in the worship services, there were many that professed a new life in Christ today as a result of the clinic. God is Amazing!

I think I’ll leave you with a few more pictures to tell the story I really want to share. What a great day of worship!!

Steve Shook

God Changes Lives

Bill Bagwell

FSBC Scottsdale

→ 2nd time serving with Hope Baptist Church

Conference youth volunteers with

the kitchen crew and Go Girl.

Today was Day 2 of The Christian Community Development Conference at Hope Baptist Church in Sunnyside. After having a good night’s sleep, we met for breakfast and were led in devotion by Joy Waller. Joy challenged us to consider that we grow in the Lord when working outside our comfort zone. We then discussed some of the reasons we might feel challenged, such as better listening to clearly understand the various dialects of those we share. All 12 of us left for the church with great anticipation that God would do great work today and He did not let us down. Hallelujah!

Bill Bagwell teaching on Finances.

Steve Shook teaching on Healthy Churches

The conference began around 9:30 today with about 45 minutes of wonderful praise and worship. There were three morning plenary sessions around the topic of God Healing our Communities. Bill Bagwell shared a session on God Healing our Finances. The highlight was that God owns everything and we are simply stewards. Bill discussed financial planning topics and ended with the importance of tithing and the church’s responsibility to utilize tithes and offering well. This was followed by a talk by Thokozile Zulu Elizabeth regarding God Healing Women. She focused on abuse that is occurring in South Africa among married women, where men are very dominating. She shared about some of the African Ancestral Worship that remains prevalent is parts of South Africa and the family estrangement that can occur when family members accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Steve Shook followed Thoko’s session by sharing God Healing Churches. Steve listed good characteristics of healthy churches and alternatively common habits leading to unhealthy churches. Steve then listed excellent suggestions for churches to return to a healthy status. The three plenary sessions were well received by approximately 80 people, including pastors and lay people from South Africa, Nigeria, Congo, Zimbabwe, Malawi and others. After a delightful African lunch buffet, we repeated our afternoon Workshops. A final Worship Service topped off the conference and then Pastor Julius passed out certificates of completion to all the participants. We heard many outstanding testimonies during the day regarding how God was changing the lives of people in Africa. And we are greatly impacted through seeing God act in the lives of these small churches with less financial resources than we have in America.

We just finished a late dinner and returned to our hotel at 9:00 pm. Tomorrow starts early again, but we are again excited as we prepare for a Sunday of worship. Pray for Keith Matney, Mitch McDonald and Steve Waller as each will be preaching at different venues tomorrow. Then in the afternoon we will have our first Eyeglass and Sunglass clinic in Soshanguve community. Pray for our continued good health, safety while driving on the left side of road and divine appointments with those needing Christ.

Bill Bagwell