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Mink Update
ROMANS 11:36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen

Its NOT beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Its so hard to believe that the holidays are upon us and that we have almost been here for an entire year! It definitely does not feel like it should be nearing Thanksgiving and Christmas because the summer weather is just beginning here in South Africa. Thanksgiving and Christmas in shortshow strange. I dont believe we will be singing, Im dreaming of a White Christmas this year although we are going to miss the falling leaves and the unpredictable snow that comes with the holidays. Ashley is already missing her Grannys pumpkin pie! Even though we wont have the family dinners for the holidays or the Christmas traditions we so enjoy this time of year, we are so very thankful that we have the Lord and our family and friends. The Lord has made it so clear to us that all of the extras are great and a tremendous blessing, but the love is what makes the holidays so special no matter where we are. In thinking of all the blessings the Lord so sweetly showers us with, we have been praying about a way that we can shower others around us with blessings and most of all love. As Josh and I have discussed many ideas, we are very excited about the project we have been praying about doing this holiday season and hope that the Lord lays it upon your heart to come alongside and support us in this project. Our hearts are very much with the people we have been ministering to in the squatters camp as their needs are many. So many times they go without food, electricity, or even the convenience of running water and toilets. Christmas for them will just be another day of survival and hoping to get enough money for their next meal. The children have no time to think about what they want for Christmas; they are consumed in thinking only of when they will eat. We so often take for granted that our trees are full on Christmas morning and our tables are running over with food, while children who are severely malnourished are excited to even get an orange to eat as a treat. Even with so many struggling with the economic situation the way it is in the States, it is nothing compared to the hunger and poverty seen here. So, some may do with out as many presents and some may only have one pie this Thanksgiving instead of three, but is that really so devastating? Granted, it is not easy to go through any financial hard ships, we know because we too have been there, but when you look at it outside of our countrys economic box, we all are abundantly blessed with more than we really ever want or need. For most of us we have a roof over our heads and full bellies each night. That is why we have decided that we wanted to help to provide for some of the needs at the camp. With the help of our church in Atlantis, we would like Lord willing to providing parcels for the 45 dwellings at the camp. Each dwelling has anywhere from two to ten people living there. We will be putting basic needs in each parcel: a bag of rice, a bag of sugar, canned goods, bread, fruit, tea bags, and misc. items also. Josh has also talked with a local Bible Society here in Cape Town. They are going to donate 45 English Bibles for the parcels. Many of the people speak Afrikaans, so the Society gave us a price of 50 Rand (around 7 American Dollars) per Afrikaans Bible. It is our prayer that each parcel can contain both an English and Afrikaans Bible. The camp has around 25children as we can tell. We have already had a dear friend in the States send over markers and crayons for the children for

How can you help?

There are 3 main ways in which you can be a part of this ministry: -prayer... -involvement.. -financial support.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -We want everyone to know how thankful we are to be parts of such an amazing opportunity. Thank you for all of your prayers, words of encouragement and support as the Lord sends out, not just our family, but everyone who is helping in taking part, so that more people can hear the good news of Jesus Christ! ~~~~~~~~~~~ To find out more check out our website at: www.minkupdate.org Or email us at: joshpmink@gmail.com Our Phone 615-451-7869 Church Phone 615-633-4670

Daniel, Ms. Sarahs son at the camp

Hard at work to complete his first year of college

Our Family

Address:
Amazing Grace Community Church -South Africa Missions3725 Hartsville Road, Lafayette, TN 37083

Having FUN!

their school needs. We would like to make a parcel for each child containing those crayons and markers, a Jesus Christmas coloring book and some candy. Our children as well as other children from our Atlantis Church will be performing some Christmas songs for the people and Nicholas is going to preach a message in Afrikaans to the people in the camp. This will once again be a wonderful outreach opportunity. We want them fed both physically and spiritually this holiday season with a message of love and hope. It is our prayer that the Lord will lay it upon your heart to give to this project this season and financially sponsor one of these parcels or more for a family. 100 percent of your financial donation will go to the contents of these parcels and can be sent to our church. This would be a great project for a Sunday School class or youth group to team up and raise money for this holiday season. We believe the Lord will provide fully for this wonderful ministry opportunity and are so excited to see our Father glorified through this. (Our church address and other info is on the front left of our newsletter, if you want to help, please mark it is for the Christmas parcels.) To make the family parcel including both Bibles, will cost 30 American Dollars. The Childrens parcels will only cost 15 American dollars. As always, thank you so much for your heart, your prayers, and your support over this past year. We are so blessed to have each one of you in our lives. We could say thank you a million times and it would never be enough to say how grateful we are to each and everyone of you.

One Year Almost Down

It is still hard to believe that Joshs first year of Bible College is almost complete. We are so thankful for all the Lord has allowed us to accomplish in this first year. I am so excited as the Library continues to be updated. The new computers have been such a blessing and internet access has had the students beside themselves. We have all of the computers now hooked up to a network printer and have complete internet accessibility to online journals for the students to use for research. With the warmer and less rainy weather, we are anxious to begin work on the roofs. The tuck shop has helped us bring in money along with donations to, Lord willing, get most of the roofs repaired and painted. We will also continue clean up and regular maintenance of the campus as well. We were finally able to begin with the childrens ministry at the camp. To begin, Josh, along with some of the EBC students , sat and sang songs with the children to get them use to sitting with us. As we continue in the weeks to come we will be doing music and a lesson with them. Josh has been able to preach twice this month in Atlantis at church and really enjoyed himself. It excites me to watch him as he grows in his knowledge of the Word. Homeschool continues to go well for the children. I enjoy watching them learn. They are, however, having a hard time understanding why it is almost summer now and they are still in school. I guess we will be taking lots of field trips to the beach this year! Looking back at where we have been and looking forward to where we will be, I am so grateful to the Lord for caring us through and walking ahead. What a blessing it is to be a child of God! Thank you to everyone who has taken this journey with us and helped carry us through. May the Lord bless you!

Ashleys Corner will return next month as we have given her the month off for research projects :)

Please Pray.
Continue to pray for the Childrens home in Atlantis as well as a church building Please pray for the upcoming graduation here at EBC and for guidance of the graduates as to what the Lord has planned for them Please pray for the upcoming Christmas parcels ministry and that the Lord will provide funds to complete the parcels That we will get the maintenance projects complete that we have planned over the summer holidays Please pray as we begin the children ministry in the squatters camp Please pray as I will be again speaking at a womens meeting in Mitchells Plain on the 12th of November