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Copples’ Update: Second Christmas in South Africa! (December 2018)
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Love looks like something everywhere!
Dear *[FNAME]**[LNAME]* 
As of December 10th, we’ve been in South Africa thirteen months! We celebrated our one year SA anniversary in Worcester’s Spur restaurant.  We had a lovely view of the reservoir that is beside the Mall.    
Welcome to all on our email list, and if you’re fairly new, you can catch up if you like on the email archive:
Copple's prayer email archive (to catch up)
Tony and some of the girls posed for the above photo after a worship session (which was followed by soaking prayer music and art). They really love being with Uncle Tony and Mom Yalla (their take on "L-A").

Outreach costs – what we spend helping the disadvantaged - have jumped up, but some of this is in preparation for Christmas. Christmas may be low-key here because it’s in the summer, but it’s still a very big deal in the townships.

We bought ten pink Afrikaans NLV Bibles for the girls, as well as handmade denim purses (made by our cell-group friend Heather).  We also bought journals for our Brandvlei inmates and continued to invest in our ministry outreach with My Father’s House Worcester (Avian Park), Master Peace Academy (pencils, science experiments, art supplies, food), the kids clubs, and a very special Zimbabwean cell-group friend named Geoffrey (which we will note in the Worcester Christian Church section).  But this is an expensive season for all of us, so we understand!   We plan to have a six-night holiday in self-catering cottages on/near the Atlantic west coast.  First we will have four nights in lagoon-side Langebaan, followed by two nights in Clanwilliam, in the region where they grow rooibos tea.  And to think that L-A used to hate rooibos before coming to South Africa!
Home Visit!  We are coming to Canada (May 30-June 6 / June 15 – July 9) and US (June 7-14)!
Would you like to come see us?  We’d love to see you!  We will be mostly based in and near Ottawa at various locations that include two basement rental apartments, a friend’s cottage on Mississippi lake, another friend’s house, a visit with L-A’s parents, an airport motel and two timeshares (Williamsburg, Virginia and Calabogie, Ontario).  We cannot stay in our own home, because it is rented out (although we are thankful that the Murtas are still there!)

We have not yet booked a rental car for our 39 days. If anyone in the Ottawa area has a car (automatic gearbox) that we could borrow, we would be most grateful, otherwise we will rent.

Speaking opportunities during Home Visit: We would love opportunities to speak at small groups and churches.  We are waiting on a few dates.   So far, we have three dates that are confirmed:  We will share at
Eternal Hope Anglican Church in Carleton Place on Sunday, June 16 (morning). We will also be at Burning Hearts House of Prayer (in East Gate Alliance, 50 Codd’s Rd), Thursday, June 20 at 7 pm.  And we will share at St Paul’s Anglican Church, 20 Young Rd, Kanata at the 8 & 10 am services, Sunday, June 23. We have times open that we can share – preferably during the week in small groups, connect groups and the like.  It’s far more intimate to share and minister in smaller groups, although we do have a few Sunday evenings available!  We also have time to share and minister when we are in Virginia as well as reconnect with friends and Iris family there.  At this point we have June 2, June 30 and July 7 open.  On June 9th, we are in Williamsburg and plan to be at the Dwelling Place in Richmond June 8th.

MasterPeace Academy has now finished the spring term.  L-A’s art exam was the final event.  After the exam, Mella had a pizza party for the boys, our teaching assistant Amber Marinus, and Afrikaans teacher Lauren.  Both will study at Huguenot College in Wellington, beginning in January. We love Amber and wish her all the best.  She’s been a joy to work with. Also present were teachers and staff of Worcester City Church, who are landlords to the school.  Tony and L-A were given small gifts of appreciation. Patrick also gave us a ‘thanks-sorry’ gift for both of us – although despite his apology on the card, his attention span was relatively good for most of science and art.
We believe we may lose our top students to Worcester Primary School in January. Patrick’s mother took her two sons for testing during our music exam without letting us know, which was a bit controversial.  Some parents (and others outside the school) view it as a place to cram kids who have difficulties.  When they improve, then they are put back into the system of ‘regular school’ again.  This is not Mella’s vision for the school. Her curriculum is far wider than that in the regular schools, but the parents don’t appreciate this.

Mella plans to screen the parents more carefully for next year’s students, which may include two girls. We’ll see what happens for the coming summer term (2019 term 1).  We have informed Mella that we will leave early during term 2 for our home visit.  L-A had hoped for a one-term leave of absence, but it looks like we will teach right up until we leave.  This may include setting exams before we leave as well.   After we return from Canada, we would have about just over a week before beginning the winter term in July.

The Vinkrivier Iris farm kid’s club is changing.  We still need a new leader to replace Kaysha, who leaves permanently for Rwanda and her marriage to Pastor Alexis.  The wedding is at LeRoux and Fourie Vineyard on January 19th (which we are delighted to attend).  Meanwhile, we still need prayer for the right person to be found to replace Kaysha.  We know that it’s not us, since out Afrikaans is far from sufficient and we leave the Riverview Club just before we go to this club.  

Kaysha put the boys and girls together again for the last couple of weeks, and discipline gains were lost. We had been able to have them  separate while we had extra help from the Father’s House Discipleship School (which had two men, three women, and three female helpers).  The next school is in April, so we’ll be short-staffed until then.   Meanwhile, Maggie is running Youth Alpha with the older girls.  We will reconnect over Christmas to see how we can re-start the club in January.

My Father’s House Worcester Mondays kids club (Mailbox Mondays):  
Mailbox Clubs continue to be operational in four homes in Avian Park, with the possibility of a fifth.  They don’t always run to formula, but that’s fine.  One day, the learners in one club arrived an hour early (none of them have watches or calendars), so Danelia, who is hostess at that club, got to know the children a little better while they waited for their leaders.  She asked the children if any of them had heard of or had been hassled to try drugs and drink in the streets or at school.  She was surprised to find out (though she lives in the community) that these kids were exposed to both – not just by older neighbourhood  kids, but by their parents!  This is yet another reason why many of these kids need good role models and surrogate parents to ‘re-parent’ them.
Watch our My Father's House children from Mailbox Mondays sing!
Mailbox Teen leaders Girls (My Father’s House Worcester)
Our teens continue to challenge and bless us at the same time.  We needed Saturday off to get them Afrikaans Bibles, and every other day was taken up with other ministry.  So, we took a Saturday afternoon off to go buy them Afrikaans Bibles as Christmas gifts. The Paarl Christian bookstore had six Bibles, and then we had to drive on to a Cape Town suburb to get four more. Each of us thought the other had bought the six Bibles in Paarl, and we got home before we realized we’d left the Paarl Bibles behind!  This meant that we had to go back for them the next day.  While this took extra time, the store was ready for us, and we discovered a little lodge that is hidden in the mountains between Paarl and Worcester.  We’ve driven past the road to this place many times, but never checked it out.  Since L-A really needed a coffee, we stopped and had excellent coffee, with a beautiful view.  This half hour felt like a mini-holiday.
So now we are stocked with enough Bibles for the girls, and L-A was inspired to ask our local friend Heather to make little purses for the girls.  They don’t have purses!  So that’s Christmas covered.  Then there are the birthdays.  Several girls had birthdays, which we acknowledged and Tony bought them nice t-shirts at the mall.  Unfortunately this caused jealousy in some of the other girls (who we would happily bless on their own birthdays). So Tony shared a talk on envy, saying that if someone gets a blessing, be happy for them!  YOUR turn may be later.  So far two girls have lied about their birthdays in order to get a present, so we’ll have to be creative in handling this. Bear in mind that they rarely get presents from their parents.

We were happy when two of the girls asked if we would bring them to our church.  They really got into it. After church however, they expected (and got) lunch at McDonalds. The following week another girl joined us, and now one of the mothers wants to come!  As the numbers go up, however, we can’t feed them all, even though they have no breakfast before we pick them up.   Some boundaries are necessary, yet allowing special times with them. However, we will have a break since we go off on our West Coast holiday after church on the 16th.  We won’t have any more Mailbox Clubs or Saturdays for the rest of the month so the girls can be free to celebrate with their families.   In the midst of this activity, L-A was inspired to teach the girls on soaking prayer and prophetic art.  We taught about hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, played a soaking music song, and we all drew together – including L-A and Tony.  All of us had some kind of image or word.
We’ve also continued art and soaking prayer, as shown by the above photo montage. Our My Father’s House Worcester teen girls blossomed during that afternoon as we drew impressions after listening to soft worship music.

My Father’s House Worcester - other work: My Father’s House had an AGM, and Tony and L-A have become treasurer and recording secretary.  L-A continues as webmaster and needs photos from the other members, so that myfathershouseworcester.org does not become overly Copple-centred!   If you visit that page, you will find it has the same template as our own website.
My Father's House Worcester site
The Riverview Kids Club has continued as a neat little hour with about 25 kids.  We had a special speaker to explain the process of pregnancy, so that they understand the consequences of getting pregnant.  Mella continues to use examples, so that these kids will not fall into the same trap as others she has worked with (six teen pregnancies so far this year among girls she has mentored).  If there is one characteristic that would characterize the township populations, it is the failure to take into account the consequences of anything they may do.  On that day however, the little courtyard was even more full with extra kids from Avian Park and Roodewal, because of the special speaker. Our last pre-Christmas day was with Uncle Kevin, with Tony leading songs. We’re still in the outside courtyard, and Mella can’t pursue another venue over the holidays, since she will be in the US, working on support for her programmes.

Change Makers:  L-A has finally started on the current year’s books.  She met with ROPE volunteers James and Tina, who tried to help change the bookkeeping format to be easier in future.  Tina learned about the frustrations that start with bank statements that don’t give totals of debited and credited in a calendar month (just line by line).  Unfortunately James suffered having his phone stolen in a Worcester restaurant, and the next day, the mirror was smashed off their rental car(!)  

We’ve now been in our Brandvlei prison ministry for five months! Our friend/co-worker Soraya applied for police clearance so that she could join us at the prison. We were led to pay for this expense, and she should have her certificate in another 5 weeks.  She joined us for one Saturday, with permission from the chaplain, and she ministered to Steven, who has been struggling with addiction to smoking.  The following week, Steven announced that he’s been off cigarettes for one week, and he had so much more energy to ask questions. Our friend Ricardo was released and will be working in a radio station in Muizenberg.  He’s been one of the shining stars in our group.   We’re now in touch on Facebook, and hope to visit him sometime on the holidays. 

We trust that we’ll be in the youth unit in February, which gives us Christmas with the medium security men.  We bought them journals as Christmas gifts.  We hope to finish the second round of the Alpha Course before we switch to the youth wing.

Tony’s ministry visiting in Boland hospice:  Tony goes in most weeks and comforts and prays for all the patients – usually about 15.  This month he has twice taken in with him a Congolese friend from our connect group, Erik.  On the first of these visits, they prayed for Christopher who was laid up in bed and couldn’t move one of his legs.  A week later, Tony was back, and Erik was sitting at a table, excited because in his words our prayers had healed his leg. The following week he was still healed in his leg (!) but his right arm hung down and he couldn’t raise it. Tony and Erik, filled with enthusiasm for what had been achieved so far, laid hands on his arm and prayed hard.  Soon he could raise his arm shoulder high. So we prayed some more, and his arm was now up high enough to worship in church!  This is the first healing Tony has seen at the hospice, though he is always warmly welcomed by the patients all of whom greatly value prayer.  Most of them are Christian, and some Muslim, but we haven’t encountered any atheists yet not wanting prayer.  We rather suspect that there are very few atheists in hospices world-wide. 
 
Ministries at Worcester Christian Church:
a) Soaking Prayer in Action group: We spent ministry time with a member who is going through a difficult time.  Because many are away in December, we’ll re-convene January 27th.

b) Laurie-Ann at Kinderkerk -  L-A had a wonderful time with 55 kids on December 2nd, and 28 kids on December 9th.   Surprisingly,  many of the kids on the second day weren’t there for the first class.  Not only were the children hungry for God, they were eager to learn, both days. L-A taught, with Riana lovingly translating either about art, the prophetic or encouragement to them.  Some of the parents approached us after the first week, and they shared that their children are now joyfully drawing at home! Many of them have very soft hearts, which L-A attributes both to Holy Spirit and to Riana’s guidance. Riana van Wyk is the amazing head of the Sunday School in both our church and their church plant, Overhex Christian Fellowship.  Riana would like L-A to share about prophetic art at Overhex (with farm worker’s kids) and with the Avian Park kids that frequent the WCG ministry.  This is in an area close to where Tony and L-A had Monday kids’ club in Avian Park library, but in a different gang territory (Eightbeaters rather than JCY).  While we are neutral, the kids and families that we have worked with, live in that township, so they are very careful about the gang boundaries.  We trust that the timing will work out for these outreaches.  
c) Bringing our My Father’s House/Mailbox Teens to WCG – (As mentioned above)  We’ve been bringing some of our girls to church with us, after Chantelle and Anthonica just asked to ‘come with.’ Usually they want to extend this time with us after church, but we’re happy they want to hang out with us.

d) Godfrey:  Godfrey is a wise and special Zimbabwean who blesses our church, cell-group, church coffee shop and Worcester’s Café Hugo.  He came to Worcester to bless others, gain training and prepare for starting a jewelry business with his family in Zimbabwe. He’s even polished up Tony’s wedding ring.  He’s been donated jewellery making equipment and needs to transport it in his truck back to Zimbabwe, which is not cheap because of duty. He’s not interested in bribing his way home, the normal method.  We feel led to bless him, partly financially and a lot prayerfully.  Back in September, a South African prophet spoke over Godfrey and his brother Tendai, and Tony was witness to the truth of his words. He knows these two men, who have greatly blessed our lives. Please keep our friend Geoffrey in your prayers for provision, encouragement and favour.  If any of you feel led to help, we can’t give you a tax receipt, but you can do an email transfer to tonycopple@gmail.com and we will make sure it gets to Godfrey.  If not, please just pray for him.

e)  Farm Attack:  We’ve been hearing about farm attacks throughout the country.  The closest until now was in Tulbagh, about 45 minutes away.  Recently, there was an attack on our friend Pam and her husband on their farm just south of Worcester.  Tony has been to their farm when he interviewed her for CWCP radio on May 31.  Pam hid on the roof, and her husband was injured.  They’ve requested privacy but we are praying for them.  Pam runs a large outreach program in Avian Park, and yet local thugs who probably hail from that same background would have killed her, spurred on by politicians’ statements about future land expropriation without compensation, but they can’t wait for the future.

Status on House and car in Hooggelegen Village:   Our rent is increasing in the new year by $65 a month (R650), and we just had the Mercedes serviced including new front brakes.  Fixing the car security system would be expensive, but we have figured out how to use its limited capacity in an optimal way, so have not yet gone to Paarl Mercedes to have the experts try to deal with it.   However, December brought us a new challenge:  LOAD SHEDDING!  These are planned power outages caused by the power utility Eskom.  It’s interfered with radio shows, ministry and regular life, and is a national scandal.  However, we will have to adapt.

Updates on CWCP – Copples Western Cape Radio:
The Worcester Reports, Thursdays at 8 pm SAST (1 pm after the Fall time change).   Thursday, December 6th brought us our 40th broadcast!   Tony’s recent interviews include:   a two part interview with local prophetic gardener/grandpa Willem Theaart, Anthony Hall & Kurt Pretorius of RAEL (addiction recovery), Hermien Kruger from Biokinetika and a re-broadcast of Mella Davis from Valley FM.   We are beginning to gain listeners via podcast, although few people seem to want to listen live despite significant social media advertising. We really believe that it’s part of our ministry to give a voice to people whose stories need to be heard.  We don’t understand for example why only a few have tuned in to hear their friend Mella Davis’ powerful interview on Valley FM.  Maybe listening to radio isn’t cool.  At least they can now hear it on CWCP podcast. 
CWCP Radio podcasts (on Copples Website)
L-A continues with new Ways to Grow in God articles and audio podcasts, but needs inspiration for more.  If you haven’t listened in to any of our programs yet, sample some podcasts, and you might then want to become regular listeners.  And if you like what you hear, please (+ please) drop us a message at the foot of the CWCP Radio page or message us. It’s the only way of knowing if others find that they like the shows.

Iris Father’s House School 10: We enjoyed the graduation of this latest school, and were able to encourage this latest group of missionaries.  School 11 should be in April.  Registration will open next month.   We have the privilege of meeting and ministering with students from the school, and they have been uniformly salt of the earth.
My Father's House Discipleship School
Tony and GIG club:  Tony has had several GIG personal financial planning meetings at our home and having read founder Jasper Cloete’s seminal book ‘Legacy’ is excited about the whole concept.  He sees the bringing of financial literacy to township dwellers as having huge potential.  The fruit and vegetable hampers project is coming to a close, and a new project will be starting in January.  For more on GIG, see their web site https://gig-institute.com  (unless your own personal finances are already set to bring prosperity to your children’s children – Proverbs 13:22)

Pastoral Care opportunity in Hooggelegen Village:  Now that the school term has ended, we plan on connecting with ten shut-ins who speak English. They were pleased that we want to reach out this way.  Throughout our ministry experience here we have never encountered anyone who hasn’t gratefully accepted prayer, from beggars to ministers.

Praise reports:  Tony’s and L-A’s health:  Tony continues to improve in his back through prayer, anti-inflammatories, and exercises.  We received a sizeable payout from our insurance company, although now that Tony’s condition is known, he can no longer claim his expensive meds.   L-A’s struggle with allergies continue.  The ringing ears do not stop, and we tried a stronger antihistamine called Fexo, but L-A reacted with severe all-body itching (a rare side effect).  Thankfully, our friend Janey gave her a box of a different kind of antihistamine, which works well for the other symptoms, along with regular nasal spray.  The only side effect is constant drowsiness, but we can work with that.
 
My Father’s House kids club:  We have four Monday Mailbox Clubs and a fifth on the horizon, and the girls we have trained to lead them are keen.  Please continue to pray for the ~30 children and their teen leaders, for good communication and follow through on commitments. 

Please Pray for
Car concerns:  We are still concerned about the car and hope that the expensive repairs are behind us, We’re still having security issues with the car, where the alarm goes off after about an hour of being locked and armed.  Tony doesn’t activate the alarm system except for short stops.  Thankfully it’s not a problem in the retirement village where there are guards on the gate 24/7.    

L-A on Change Makers books:  L-A is now working on the current fiscal year.  Since Erena and The ‘festive’ school break is a good time to catch up on bookkeeping (as well as art). Please pray that there is adequate time to do the books as well as relaxing during school break.

We need to find interesting people to interview for CWCP’s The Worcester Reports - We’ve interviewed many friends, and are now looking outside our circle for opportunities.  Some people have been contacted, but they haven’t as yet replied. 

For L-A for inspiration, ideas and direction on more Ways to Grow in God articles and audio devotionals.  Right now, L-A is researching and writing on forgiveness, hearing God’s voice and thinking of other topics.  The current topic that’s being aired is on growing in God through weakness (in particular, disability issues).

Pray for increased good health for Laurie-Ann and for Tony, as well as energy to accomplish needed tasks.    Sometimes the hours and activities cause extra aches and pains, and not just in knees and backs.  Allergies are also an issue for L-A. Worcester is nicknamed the allergy capital of South Africa.  We’re glad we can go at a slower pace in December and early January. L-A also started a weight-loss regimen with Annique shakes and has so far lost almost 3 kg. Please pray for this momentum to continue in preparation of travel and our home visit.

Funds/resources:  We had a lean month for donations, but we are thankful for our five regular partners. We were hoping to sell some art, but this hasn’t happened as much as hoped.  We plan to place L-A’s framed art in the Fourie’s wine shop.   Once Tony’s business pension runs out in June,  we will need $3,000 from other sources, or start living off our home equity loan. 

We are thankful for the income that comes in from Tony’s Canadian and British pensions, the rent from the Ottawa condo, and the gifts that come in through our friends and family through Iris Ministries Canada.  If you know anyone who would like to partner with us on a regular basis, please let us know. Please pray that our funds will stretch and grow from surprising places.  All of these come from one source, God, for whom we are very grateful.

Pray for Riverview club:  That we have favour to find an indoor venue by next winter so we can avoid wind and rain.  L-A wants to do art with them, as soon as the opportunity is available, even outside.  
 
Pray for My Father’s House Worcester/Mailbox clubs in Avian Park: For consistency and commitment among the hostesses, leaders and children.  We still have a supply issue of curriculum books and pencils. Tony keeps buying pencils (that don’t last long) and we are dependent on the Mailbox Club local representative to provide hard or soft copies of their materials.  We have a lot of challenges, but they aren’t insurmountable with divine help.
 
Pray for the My Father’s House/Mailbox Club leaders that we see Mondays & Saturdays:   Please pray for the teen leaders, for their leadership development and maturity, despite being Avian Park township teens. Please also pray for their learning integrity issues, and honour, so that the actions of some (like stealing and the like) will not become an engrained habit.  Pray that envy will be snuffed out and that we have direction on setting boundaries, so we can show love or generosity without being abused.

Pray for the Vinkrivier kids –   Please pray that the right person is raised up to replace Kaysha as leader (since she’s getting married and moving to Rwanda). We also need more helpers so that there are enough leaders with the boys and the girls (separately).  Pray also for Kaysha, who is marrying Pastor Alexis January 19th at the LeRoux & Fourie vineyard. This is a huge change for her.

Pray for our work at MasterPeace Academy – for ideas in art, science and music. For our students and the energy to love on them and teach them.   Pray for the new kids who will join us (two girls) and any of the boys that will stay with us.  We will miss those who will move to other schools, but are happy for their future.

Pray for continuing favour at Brandvlei prison, Chaplain Glenda, the warders and helpers.   Pray also for the men we work with in Medium Wing, especially as we may be leaving to minister in the youth wing soon. Pray for Soraya’s security clearance, that she is consistently available, and for the young offenders that we will meet likely after Christmas.

Pray that we increase our partners and one-time sponsors.  We must increase our revenue soon. Tony’s business pension will end in June.  He will no longer receive $3,000 Cdn per month.   We trust that there will be a wonderful story how God will answer this prayer!

Pray for regular sponsors towards our kids clubs outreaches and prison ministry. We need sponsors for our kids club outreach – especially Riverview, Vinkrivier and our My Father’s House Worcester teens.  We need at least $200 a month just for this ministry. The Rand has risen again, although we are still okay for the meantime in this area.
 
Inspiration and time for L-A to draw/teach:  L-A needs to continue to find interesting things to draw with the school kids, church kids and township kids, as well as make up more line drawings for the kids club children to colour.

 
Pray that we learn Afrikaans faster.  We are slowly improving.  We are still working on pronunciation and moving beyond reading to speaking. However, our girls were impressed with L-A introducing herself to the kids in Kinderkerk in Afrikaans, even if it was slowly.

Thank you, dear friends and family.  We are so incredibly thankful for you – for your encouragement, love and support (prayer, financial and otherwise). 

Please do email us how you are doing.  We know that December is a busy time.  We hope that you have a wonderful time with your families, and friends.  When you can, please drop us a line as to how YOU are doing.  We get a little on Facebook, although your emails are so very precious to us.  Sometimes we feel like we are very, very far away from Ottawa, and we’re only partially connected.

Until then, we pray you have a great month.  We’ll connect again in January before the new school term starts. It’s hard to believe that this will be our second Christmas in South Africa! We even have a turkey that we hope to roast for Boxing Day (for a Canadian style Christmas with some of our Iris family)!

Love, Laurie-Ann and Tony Copple 
Link to online giving (Canada Helps Iris Ministries Canada portal)
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