Allen's African Adventures - June 2009

Allen's African Adventures
June 2009

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that
works within us to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NASB)

The month of May was one busy month for our family, mission team and ministry but God did some great things. As always, we treasure and cherish your prayers and support for our family, ministry, team and the Swazi people.

Praises/Prayer Requests:
- Steven is faithfully teaching at a new outreach area called Lesibovu each Saturday afternoon. The group is averaging around 50 people, including children, youth and adults. In recent Bible studies, 28 people one week and 11 people the next have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Praise the Lord! Continue to pray for this new outreach group and God's direction in reaching the Swazis for Jesus. Plans are being discussed to start a Sunday morning service in July.

- Because of some doctrinal issues that arose among our national leadership at recent national meetings, a leadership retreat was held on May 22-23 that was addressed by the missionaries. Discussion was wonderful and very well attended. Continue to pray for wisdom and discernment as we seek to teach the truth of Jesus Christ. There is false teaching that is easily influencing people all over Swaziland. Plans are being discussed for a follow-up retreat with our national leadership in July.

- Hawane Baptist Church has been "promised" a plot of land but they are having quite the time to get the community council to come and mark the property for them. They will be meeting with the community council this Sunday for a meeting and a hope for a date for them to come mark their property for them. Pray the meeting this Sunday goes well and for a date of the marking for the property to come soon. The church is quite eager to get started on building their own structure. A baptism service is planned for June 14, pending weather conditions.

- Next week, Hunter and Brinkley Johnson (sisters) will be arriving in Jo'burg on June 9 and staying until July 8. They will be serving with our mission team leading in children and youth Bible studies, leading our national youth leader's retreat, and other ministry opportunities. Pray for their safe arrival to Africa next week. We are trusting God to do mighty things during their time in Swaziland. Hunter and Brinkley have both been to Swaziland several times so we feel like we are welcoming "home" some of our own family members! :) They will be serving with our family in the Hhohho and Manzini regions from June 10 - June 22.

- Another exciting visitor coming is Monica's mom or Gogo Polly to our children. Gogo (siSwati for grandmother) Polly Trice arrives in Jo'burg on June 12 and will be with our family until July 17. Pray for her safe travels and health as she is with our family for several weeks. We are all looking forward to fun times with Gogo! :)

- On June 26-27, we will be having our National Youth Leader's Retreat at Manzini Baptist Church. Hunter and Brinkley Johnson will be leading this important event this year. The theme is "The Leader God uses...." and will be an awesome time for all our youth leaders. Pray for God to meet them in a special way and teach them new things they can learn about leading the vast amount of youth in our churches.

- It is sad to report that members of Victory Baptist Church have been threatened and beaten by youth in the community. The police have been contacted and we are praying for a speedy solution to this situation. Many of our women are fearful in attending church or getting out right now. Pray for God's comfort to these being attacked and threatened.

- Thank you for praying for our daughter, Lacie, with her surgery early this month. She is doing well and recovered from her tonsillectomy. Lacie did have a scan done on her left ear and the ENT doctor discovered that Lacie was born with a bone not in the right place. He believes this could be the reason Lacie has been experiencing some hearing loss in her left ear. We praise God for this great report! Plans are being discussed for surgery on her left ear later this year for the ENT doctor to remove the bone that is potentially obstructing her hearing. We will keep you posted. On another note, Lacie lost her first tooth and that was quite a funny story!
Nathan is walking everywhere and into everything. His favorite word is, BALL! He really keeps us on our toes right now! :) Nathan also had a minor birth defect corrected earlier this month and he is doing great, too.

- God has given Steven a fantastic opportunity to do something he has always dreamed about doing in his life. He is going to Israel for an archeology dig!!! He will be joining about 50 other participants through a program with Tel-Gezer project with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for two weeks this month. His trip will be from June 21 - July 8. Pray for safety and a wonderful experience for Steven. He is way excited and we are thrilled for him, too.

- We have a new team prayer blog that Monica has created and maintaining for our mission team. We are thankful for the folks that upkeep our team's website and partnership prayer website. We wanted to build another avenue for folks to pray for our team, family and ministries as well as share stories and photos. If you have ever been on one of our volunteer teams and would love to share stories or photos, please send them so I can add them to the blog. Personal stories add so much!
Check out the new blog and leave a comment!
www.swaziprayerbytes.blogspot.com

***Remember, we live in Africa and there is no guarantee that our e-mails are received or even sent out correctly. If you have written and not heard from us, please write again. We would rather receive e-mails two times than not at all.***

Family Blog - www.allensinafrica.blogspot.com - several stories updated recently - leave us a comment so we know you stopped by to visit!
Skype - allensinafrica
Monica is part of Facebook so if you are on, let her know.

Thank you for your faithful prayer support!!!
Steven, Monica, Lacie and Nathan Allen
IMB missionaries serving in Swaziland

Congratulations Andrew!

CONGRATUALTIONS ANDREW!!!!

We are so proud of you on finishing high school...what an accomplishment!!!! We wish we could be there in person to celebrate with you but know that we are thinking of you this week. Although we do not get to see you too often, Lacie talks about you quite a bit! In fact, she took your senior photo this week to school for her show 'n tell day. She also wore her, I Love Hockey, shirt as well. It was way too precious! You are loved and missed greatly! I am sure both Lacie and Nathan will look forward to spending time with you next year when we are home for our next stateside time.

Know that we are praying for you and your next chapter of life. God has great plans for you and we look forward to watching it all unfold! Jeremiah 29:11

Much love and prayers,

Steve, Monica, Lacie and Nathan

Aww....Lacie and Nathan love their cousin, Andrew!

Lacie "learning" to play a bit of street hockey! :)

Lacie LOVED getting to wear Andrew's own hat one day at lunch...very special!

Lacie lost her FIRST tooth

Lacie came to me yesterday telling me that her tooth was hurting a bit. After inspecting the tooth, I saw that it was almost about to come out. WOW...her first tooth is coming out. It was hanging barely inside but she wanted her Daddy to have the honor of getting the tooth out. So, we headed out to Daddy's office and he finished the job! :) We all gave high fives and Lacie just kept smiling. We found her tooth pillow (given to us by Sarah Warren!) and put her tooth inside to wait for the tooth fairy. We went to church last night (rare treat for our family but friends from another mission organziation is hosting a huge pastor's conference. It was so special for me to sit with Steve in a service (where he was not preaching) and the kids were watched by volunteers in children's church. After I came home with the kids, (Steve stayed with several of our pastors/leaders for another session at the conference.) we got ready for bed and I asked Lacie if she wanted to put her tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy to come get her tooth? She said no way. She wanted to leave her tooth pillow by the phone so we could CALL the tooth fairy for her to come get her tooth. Way too cute!!! :)

When she got up for school this morning, she had E10 in coins (about a little over one dollar)waiting for her and she is looking forward to going to town soon to buy her OWN candy!

Now she tells us that ANOTHER tooth is loose....we told her the goal is to not lose all her teeth at one time! So, I have one child getting his baby teeth and one starting to lose her baby teeth. Steve said it may not be too long before he starts to lose his teeth and

needs his first set of "false teeth"....what a hoot! :)

Lacie's FIRST tooth is gone...what a smile! :)

Lacie's tooth pillow and little tooth (the little white thing to your left of the pillow!)

The tooth pillow is ready and waiting for the PHONE call to the tooth fairy!

BALL!!!

Nathan's new favorite word is....BALL! Every type of ball...the soccer ball, basketball, football (yes, the American one!), volleyball (thanks, Kimber!), dryer ball from the dryer, ALL balls!

He is definitely all boy in many ways...cannot wait to see what sports he likes to play.

Meet the Lesibovu Area

Back in February, the Lord opened the door to begin new work in an area called Lesibovu, which is south of Manzini and about one and half hours from our home in Swaziland. Steve was invited by the indvuna, chief's assistant, to come show the JESUS film and lead in a week of revival services. Through these opportunties, hearts were changed and several made decisions for Jesus Christ. Folks asked when could Steve come back to teach them more about God's word. Steve started going every Saturday afternoon to this new work area and sharing the love of Jesus Christ. Each week, the group is hungry to hear more about Jesus and how much He loves each one of them. This past Saturday, May 23, 28 people out of the approx. 50 people in attendance decided to make the most important decision of their lives and chose to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior....Praise the Lord!!! We thank God for His faitfulness and for all our new brothers and sisters in Christ! Pray for God's peace and comfort for all these new believers as many struggle with leaving behind deep, seeded traditional beliefs. Pray for their thirst to be fulfilled by the true source of living water, Jesus!

Enjoy the faces of Lesibovu...Bible studies, times with the kids, showing the JESUS film, talking to local schools, etc....the Swazis are beautiful creations of God!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Lacie and Mom enjoyed a fun day together on Mother's Day with other friends as Daddy and Nathan were back in Swaziland. Our family spent some time together before we lost our "boys" to Swaziland. On Mother's Day, we ate at Mugg and Bean for lunch after attending church, shopped at the mall a bit and spent time together. Lacie even bought me beautiful flowers...go Lacie and where did you get the money?!?! :)

I LOVE being a mom and sooo blessed with two beautiful and precious children that God has given to Steve and I!!! Steve and I are also thankful for the great moms God has given to us, too, even though we could not be with them in person on Mother's Day. We thank God for them in our lives! We love you!

Hang on tight, Lacie!

Lacie and her friend, Ellie Anderson, both had their first ride on a camel while Lacie and Monica were hanging in Jo'burg follwing Lacie's tonsillectomy surgery a couple weeks ago. Friends came from Swaziland for a holiday and to hang with us for a few days. We had a blast! The camels were at a craft market and the girls were way excited to go on it all by themselves. We just told them to hang on tight! :)

Lacie and Ellie on the camel ride....Lacie finished her ride and asked when she could go again? :)

After it was all done....Lacie did not want to get off! Oh, the adventures of growing up in Africa!