Little Pieces that form the Big Puzzle!

It amazes me that God in his overall plan works through us as if we were little pieces of a puzzle that he uses to fit together to finish the giant picture puzzle of His kingdom work. Occasionally, he allows us to see multiple pieces fit together that form this huge puzzle. This past week on a trip to East London (a city of 1 million located 3-4 hours north of Port Elizabeth), Don and one of his team leaders, Bob Morris, were thrilled to see a portion of the puzzle fitting together. In October, Roxie Shore and Deb Russell will come to serve among the Xhosa youth and young adults in East London. They will be the only 2 missionaries in this city. Don and Bob met with 2 local pastors in East London, who are being led by God to start or expand ministry works through their churches. Both of them feel that Roxie and Deb can be a vital part in this work. Pastor Vuyo’s church in the Cambridge Township (pictured above) has a preschool and an AIDS care ministry. They desire to reach youth with the Gospel as well as helping in practical ways. The church received money and bought some computers and will begin teaching computer skills in the township to help people in getting a job. They also desire to reach high school youth and young adults. Pastor John heads a more affluent Baptist church in the middle of the city, but they desire to reach the Xhosa people that now predominately make up the community around the church with the Gospel. They have an AIDS clinic, a daycare, and are opening an AIDS hospice. They will be starting a Xhosa-speaking service soon after the ladies arrive. It is not mere coincidence that the pieces seem to be coming together, just as the girls arrive. Join us as we praise the Lord for His work!

Pastor John, Bob Morris, Pastor Vuyo

Drew's visit home draws to a close! :-(

Drew has been home with us for almost seven weeks and we have had a wonderful time with him here. He will be leaving on Wednesday to head back to America. Please be in prayer for all of us as we separate again. During his time here we have done quite a few things. We’ve gone to many rugby matches (Matthew’s rugby season is about half over), traveled to Cape Town and Queenstown, played games of Jenga and Scrabble, seen a few movies, visited a few of Drew’s favorite restaurants (enjoyed some of his favorite home meals also), played backyard rugby and had a few golfing adventures. He was able to see many of his friends here and had some good times with them. All in all, it has been wonderful for us and him. He will be leaving us in the middle of winter (gathered around our heaters) and heading back to the heat of the North Carolina summer. Fortunately, he will be leaving the North Carolina winter in December and joining us again in the middle of our summer. (Boy, is he confused on what to wear!?!) Pray for us as we are apart and we look forward to our time together with him again as well as time together with our other family members and friends in the near future!

Boys chat about Dad's golf game!

Barcelona Township, Thursday, 06-12-08

This Thursday morning was our weekly outreach in Barcelona township in Port Elizabeth. Today, Don, myself, Betty Goeda-one of our national friends who regularly goes with us, and Cathy Burleson-another missionary in PE who joined us for the first time, participated in the outreach. Barcelona is one of the poorest and most crime-ridden townships here. We shared the Gospel with many adults and some children were also present. At the last house we visited, we met Maggie and Charles Olifant (olifant is the Afrikaans spelling for "elephant"). They are in their 50's and have heard of Jesus, but are not attending a church and have no relationship with our Savior. After a time of sharing, they both prayed to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Not only
that, they were so excited that they insisted that we start a Bible study in their home for their friends and neighbors. Wow! We have been searching for such a place and the Lord has provided. Maggie says that she will "gather the people." Continue to pray as we work out the time. Pray for Maggie and Charles as they begin this journey. Maggie shared that their household (we are not exactly sure how many live there yet), has been a household with not only unbelievers but full of alcohol, drugs, fighting and many other things. She asked that we pray for those in her home. Pray for Maggie and Charles!



Barcelona
Township

Moving Forward!?!?

Can you hardly believe it? The Lynches have a blog site. After much thought and many reservations, we decided to go ahead and try it! Hopefully it will work out well. We will try to have a short blog as regularly as our schedule allows, so that you-our prayer partners, friends and family can keep up to date with

"The Lynches in South Africa!" Yeah!!!

Let us start with the most recent events and then maybe later we can inform you of things from the "not so far ago" past. Hmm.... One of the most exciting things that has happened recently is that Drew came back for his summer break from university. He arrived on May 9th and will be with us until July 2nd. Although Matthew is still in school during this time, in fact he is going through exams right now, we are enjoying time with Drew. The boys have enjoyed some time together.

Drew and Matthew at a rugby game!

This past week, while Matthew was slaving away in his exams (he has 14 in all!), Drew went under the knife to have all 4 of his wisdom teeth surgically removed. He came through the surgery and recovery well (and mom & dad were glad that he was here so they could take care of him). Matthew still has 5 more exams to go!