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