Winter Rain, Wanderlust, and Western Cape Woes

And Just Like That, Summer Has Come to an End
March rains have wasted no time in making their mark on Cape Town. Our city has welcomed the sprinklings and downpours these past few weeks. After months of summer and continued water restrictions, thirsty gardens have been thoroughly quenched after consecutive hours of rain. The overcast sky and chilly south-easterly breeze make it easy to believe that winter is on its way. The warm embrace of summer is drawing to a close, just as the Northern Hemisphere is preparing for its warmest months. After so many years living in Phoenix, it’s strange to change our mindset on the reversed seasons here in the Southern part of the world.
 
It’s still surreal to us that we’ve been living in this beautiful city for a year now! We celebrated the first anniversary of our arrival (14 February, 2018) by going to the beach as a family and enjoying the last remnants of summer together. We keep forgetting just how close we live by the ocean and plan to make more frequent family trips there from now on.

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Across the Land and Across the Sea
We have some ambitious travel objectives in mind for 2019. By the end of the year, we aspire to travel across the continent, across the country, and finally across the globe! First, there is a possibility that Hunter will be able to help lead a Biblical Worldview Seminar in Uganda later this year. It would be a two-week mission and an amazing opportunity to teach the local believers in the area. We’ll keep you updated as details for the BWS take shape.
 
Second, Hunter has been invited to teach at Back to the Bible Mission (BBM) again in the first week of September! We had such an enriching experience last August when we first had the privilege of staying there, and we are thrilled to have another chance to pour into the lives of the African pastors and leaders currently learning and studying at BBM. Our goal is to drive cross-country as a family (like we did last year), but if this isn’t financially feasible, Hunter will fly up and minister on his own.
 
Finally, we hope to return to the States in October-November to visit our family and friends and connect with our supporters face-to-face. As it will have been over a year and a half since we’d last been Stateside, we believe it’ll be a key opportunity to share what we’ve been up to in Cape Town in person. We miss our loved ones terribly and are excited at the prospect of seeing them (you) this year!
 
We’re trusting God’s provision for these three fairly large goals. Please pray with us that the Lord will grant us wisdom on timing and logistics as well as supply our needs to make them possible.
 

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Our Boys
Jeremy has been taking swim lessons for a year now and continues to enjoy them thoroughly. He’s made great strides towards being able to swim independently, but he isn’t there quite yet. Jeremy goes underwater bravely, holds his breath well, and can move along the edge of the pool quickly and confidently. He is also learning to kick his legs with more enthusiasm.
 
Jeremy’s love of cars and Duplo has continued to grow, and he spends much of his time creating exciting new scenes and adventures with them. His imagination impresses us and we absolutely love seeing how his mind works. He’s a very social boy and enjoys every opportunity he gets to spend time with other people – especially in Sunday school. Although naturally cautious, he’s gained so much confidence in his ability to explore and try new things. He’s no longer afraid of swinging high in the swing set and enjoys jumping on the trampoline independently. Slides, however, continue to be his favourite thing, along with his balance bike.
 
Joshua has grown so much these past few months, and we can hardly believe he’s already four months old! He is simply the happiest baby we have ever had the privilege of knowing. He’ll smile and chat with you all day long, catching little naps in between. He laughs at the most arbitrary things, but what currently triggers his laughter the most is being changed out of his clothing and watching his big brother play! Josh LOVES to be held, but the bouncer is his second favourite choice (he’ll thump his right leg constantly to bounce himself)! He’s still working on those bottom teeth, which means our boy is drooling like crazy and gnawing on everything he can get his little hands on. We’ve discovered he’s a very social baby and is most content when with people.

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Dinner by Candlelight… Most Nights…
South Africans are resilient people and we’ll adapt pretty quickly to our circumstances. Stringent water restrictions have become extremely standard for all who live in the Western Cape. When the power goes out, we always have candles on hand for auxiliary lighting. We typically don’t mind and make the most of the ambience the candlelight provides!
 
We’ve experienced “load shedding” (scheduled black outs/power failures) intermittently over the past year. Now that it’s getting colder, however, it’s become a daily occurrence – perfect timing. They keep bumping us back to “stage four” which means we get three black outs per day for two and a half hours at a time… (That’s seven and a half hours of the day, for those keeping track.) Although it seems we’re moving back to stage two, for now… which means only one or two slots of black outs per day.
 
Instead of being a fairly small inconvenience, it’s become somewhat vexing – especially that 4pm-6:30pm slot when one usually makes dinner. If we knew there were an end game and a plan to ultimately correct the issues going on with our power plants, it would be far easier to deal with them. Honestly, we don’t know if the problem will be fixed, and thus the future feels a little less bright (ha)!

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Please keep South Africa in prayer as our country is at a serious cross roads, politically. The national elections are looming, and on the 8th of May the future of our country will either take a turn for the better or worse. We are thankful to serve a God who is in complete control and holds the outcome of the elections in His sovereign hands. Please pray for wisdom, strength, and peace as we prepare for whatever comes next. ​

We are so grateful for your constant love, support, and prayers! We couldn’t do what we do without you. May Christ continue to be your joy and strength. We love you all!
 
With love in Christ,
Hunter, Andrea, Jeremy, and Joshua
P.S. You can partner with us in ministry by giving online:
frontlinefellowship.net/support_our_american_missionaries
Or you can set up recurring donations by calling and leaving a message at:
719-685-2899
Dawn will return your call on Fridays.
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