Dear Praying Friends,
Greetings from Knysna on a 95 degree day! Yes, we are fully into spring and heading toward summer. Today has been an early preview of what’s to come, so we’re strategizing on how to keep cool in the days ahead. We hope all of you are well.
We continue to serve through Knysna Hope, volunteering in the local Christian Mission school and helping at the Sivuyele School for the Deaf. These continue to be great opportunities for us week to week. Please continue to pray that God will provide the financial and material resources needed to help the Deaf School procure a building structure to place next to their existing facility. They currently are working with a space of about 600 sf. An added structure of 200 sf. or more would be a huge blessing to them since they’ve added three additional students since we last wrote.
Our team has also helped several families who lost their homes in the fires that raged through our town back in June. These dear people have basically nothing. They are living with friends and others who will take them in (temporarily!), all while waiting for the municipality to rebuild their houses. They are on a waiting list, but it’s a very long and tedious process, with no definite end to the wait time. Please pray that the municipality will deal wisely with them and help sooner rather than later so that these folks will be able to have a home again.
In addition to working with our Knysna Hope initiatives, we are busy with the background work for our theological education programme here along the Garden Route. George is planning to travel to the Johannesburg/Pretoria area during the week of November 13 to meet with several people involved in theological education there. This, coupled with his recent trip to Cape Town, will give the theological education team several perspectives and potential partnerships to consider in the days and months ahead. Please pray for wisdom as we try to decide the best way forward.
Finally, we are asking God to lead us to people in our town who need the Gospel and who need to be discipled. We have begun working with a few, but we know that God has many more relationships for us to begin and develop. Please pray with us that significant relationships will happen for all of us. Whether it be through community involvement, outreach activities, participation in school, or just meeting people in town, the opportunities here are great. However, they can be difficult to recognize and uncover. And so, God must go before us and prepare people’s hearts for the ministry of His Word.
Knysna is a very religious town. Nearly everyone here will tell you that they attend a church of one kind or another. They will even say that they are interested in knowing more about the Bible. However, what we are beginning to realize is that many manifestations of Christianity in Knysna, just like many around the world, lack a true understanding of biblical truth and how to apply the Scriptures correctly to one’s life and belief system. The number one need, then, is spiritual depth – a depth of not just knowledge but true biblical wisdom that manifests itself in the skillful application of Scripture to real life issues.
As always, we marvel at your faithfulness in praying for us . . . not that we think you won’t be faithful, but because we know that consistent prayer and support is difficult work. It’s a huge commitment to remember us in prayer regularly. Thank you for this faithfulness – it speaks to our hearts in more ways that we could possibly say!
Don’t forget to go to our facebook page, Coon Family to South Africa, to see more pictures of what we are doing in Knysna. If you have prayer requests please send us a note, so we can pray for you as you are praying for us.
For His Glory,
George and Amy