Hammett Updates
October 5, 2009
Brethren
Thank you for your continued prayers for Luke. The spider bite was a nasty one from a poisonous yellow sac spider, that attacked the skin tissue in his finger, and could have begun to spread infection into the bloodstream. After several doses of antibiotics, the doctor is confident that the infection has been taken care of, but the skin on his finger will take several more days to heal properly. So, we are thankful to be on the road to recovery. Thanks for your prayers.
Pray for the doctor that my wife had opportunity to get to know through all of this. The doctor had been previously cold and closed to conversation, but my wife has now built a rapport with her that we trust will be an open door in the future for the Gospel.
For Souls
Bro George
October 3, 2009
Brethren,
Many of you replied that you would be praying for Jimmy this week, so I thought I'd send a quick update. I was not able to see Jimmy on Wednesday, as I had hoped, but I did get to visit with him for a few moments yesterday. I gave him the 'What Standard?' DVD, and he assured me that he will watch it this weekend. I also offered to come over sometime and have a Bible study with him, and he was very open to the idea. I will try to see him again this coming week, and see if we can make an appointment for a study. Keep praying.
Also, please pray for my son, Luke. He received a spider bite on Monday this week on his middle finger, that has become extremely infected, and rather difficult to treat, as he likes to put those fingers in his mouth! We took him to the doctor yesterday and they put him on some medicine, but were concerned about the infection spreading into the blood. So they said to bring him back if there was any further swelling. This morning, we took him back b/c the finger looked worse, and they gave him a shot, and some other meds. The doctor will see him again in the morning for one more shot, and then follow up visit with him on Monday. It does not appear that the infection has spread past his finger at this point, and we ask that you pray for the infection to remain localized as the medicine does it's work.
For Souls,
Bro George
September 27, 2009
Brethren,
Please continue to pray for the growth of the work in Semarela village. We met on Friday with some of the fellows from there that are lost, and were able to preach to them for a while. One young man, Costos, in particular was visibly under conviction, and I trust is close to getting saved. The spiritual opposition that we and some of our men have faced, has been intense the last few days, and I believe it is due, at least in part, to the work in this village. The men have set aside money in the bank, and are close to being able to move forward with purchasing the necessary materials for the building. Several are under conviction and need to come to Christ. Please continue to pray for Costos, Kabelo, Pete, Sonny, and Jane. We covet your prayers for these matters!
For Souls,
Bro George
September 13, 2009
Brethren,
This morning at the service in Semarela village, we learned a little bit more about Eric's conversion 2 weeks ago. As Aubrey was praying at the close of the service, he thanked the Lord that he had the opportunity to preach to Eric on Aug. 31, the day that Eric had gotten saved. He then prayed for his new brethren (Waterson & Lazarus) in Sofaya village, and though he has not yet met them, he asked the Lord to give them courage to give their testimony and preach the Gospel to others in Sofaya. Of course all this happened in Sotho, and so I was unaware of much of what he said. After the service, David revealed these things to me, and his excitement was that Aubrey had caught the vision of his responsibility to preach to others. Of course, that was also my own joy to see these believers not only caring enough to witness themselves, but trying to convey that vision to other new believers.
As we ate our dinner this evening, Joel grabbed a whole pile of carrots and put them on his plate, and then he declared "If I eat 100 of these carrots, I'll be able to see all the way into that microwave from over here :-)". Vision is indeed valuable, although, somehow I think you will have to do a little more than eat 100 carrots to get the kind of spiritual vision that God desires us to have! Are you looking for someone to share the Gospel with this week?
For Souls,
Bro George
September 11, 2009
Brethren,
Two weeks ago when we concluded our Bible study with Waterson and Lazarus in Sofaya village, they were both under conviction and admitted for the first time that they were not born again. Due to the fact that Waterson is a farmer, and the planting season is upon us here, we had been unable to meet with him for the past 2 weeks. Finally today we were able to meet with both Waterson and Lazarus, and by the end of the study, both of them were ready to place their faith in Christ, and they called upon the name of the Lord for salvation! We rejoice in this great development, and trust that it will open the door wide for the Gospel in Sofaya and the surrounding villages.
You may remember that Waterson is an elder in a Presbyterian church, and so he will have some major decisions to make in coming days. Please pray especially for his wife who also needs Christ. To this point she has not met with us for any studies.
For Souls,
Bro George
September 9, 2009
Brethren,
For several weeks we have been in the process of getting a project off the ground to target several thousand po boxes around the greater Tzaneen area with flyers, offering a new Correspondence Bible Study that we have been putting together. The 25 lesson study will take students from Creation to Christ in 5 succeeding booklets. We have been given permission to incorporate graphics from the Good and Evil Bible Storybook to illustrate each lesson presented in the study. Bro. Nat Williams has been a huge help in designing the flyer and helping to layout the graphics with each lesson.
A couple weeks ago we received 20,000 flyers back from the printer, and then within a couple of days the post office went on strike :-). They are back to work now, and after giving them a while to catch up on their work from the strike, we took the first batch of 2,000 flyers down to the P.O. yesterday. We are specifically targeting two villages with this mailing where we are currently working in Sofaya and Semarela.
This will be a long term project, as there are approx. 60,000 post boxes in the Greater Tzaneen side of the Northern Province. We will tackle the first 20,000 one bite at a time, and see what kind of response we receive. Please pray for the Lord to open key doors!
For Souls,
Bro George