The Lord is putting things in their place.

"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs His steps." Proverb 16:9.

Recently Dave has been going to a local spot which we know a few skaters go to, a carpark thats pretty much empty past 6pm. For about 3 weeks he went and we did the usual thing of praying before hand and asking the Lord to bring skaters out. A few of the guys we have met, once maybe twice but only from passing on the street when they're skating by. Unfortunately on all of Dave's visits to the carpark there were none, not one skater to be seen. As you can imagine we ask some questions but decided no we must just leave it in the Lord's hands, it was His idea and He will go forward with it in His time.

Then one Saturday a couple of weeks back we're sat in the lounge (which faces the main road) and we hear arguing, raised voices (mainly from our mature-in-age landlord), we pop our heads up to see if everything is ok (generally being nosy lets be honest) and it seems Gerheart (the landlord) has taken it upon himself to remove some young lads from the steps of the church next door. As we watch for a few moments we begin to hear the sound of wheels cracking against concrete and rolling along pavement. In a flurry of activity Dave jumps from the coach, grabs the keys, opens the gate, runs down to the street............to see the blessed sight of TEN SKATERS (some of whom we've met and some not) "making a nuesense of themselves" (Gerheart's words not mine) outside our very house.

To say we were EXTATIC does not cut it! Dave had some of the guys help get the grind rail and skate ramp into the car and drive to a better loacation. From that the Lord has 1. given us an 'in-road', 2. enabled us to get a regular meet up going on (every second Saturday to start with and hopefully more) and 3. Made it so that HE AND HE ALONE is given all the glory in this. We sat back and watched Him work in the way He wanted.
"The Lord directs his steps" - Amen.

Please pray as they meet tomorrow to skate. Pray for relationships to be built and opportunities to share Jesus. Many of these young people come from difficult home situations and are very ostracised in Paarl, this is a very conservative town and anything out of the ordinary (skaters?) are looked down upon. We have been honest with these kids from the start, our desire is to skate, get to know them and most importantly for them to get to know Jesus.

Short Video: Calvary Paarl - Missions Team Visit January 2012

Emmerson Update February 2012

Greetings folks, yep it's time for another update. February has rolled around already and with it comes the promise of somewhat more settled, routine days, blessed relief! We are finally getting into the swing of 2012 and looking forward to the year ahead and all the ministry opportunities here in Paarl. Just a few things to mention this time round

Jo'Burg

Our trip to Johannesburg was such a restful time, we literally just hung out and did not a lot (exactly what the doctor ordered after the busy festive period). We were visiting with our sister church Calvary Chapel Johannesburg, it as so great to see what God is doing in other areas of South Africa and to be able to get to know the ministry team there a little better. Please pray for them because alongside organising a busy church they also run a full time clean living home for former addicts, a thriving and exciting, yet deeply challenging ministry.

Bergendal

Our outreach to Bergendal School continues to thrive. Whilst visiting recently Dave was told that after about 10 years of petitioning the land-owner is finally going to build a play ground for the children with interactive climbing frames etc. There is a real sense of excitement among the staff about what God can do this year at the school. We are also finding that since the holiday Bible Club which the team helped us run, there are more opportunities for us to serve in practical ways like clearing away rubbish etc. Dave is also going to begin to meet with the life skills teacher for prayer soon. Please pray for the kids, that the gospel would get across the language and culture barrier and make a deep and lasting impact on their lives.

Skate Outreach

We appreciate your ongoing prayer as this new ministry gets off the ground – we have build a grind rail so far, with the help of good friend JJ van Rooyen, who loves to skate! We are busy working on a launch ramp and a funbox. We are still blown away by God's provision for these items. We have begun to build relationships with a number of local skater kids but it is still early days. Please pray that these relationships would flourish and that God would give us divine appointments to share the good news of Christ with these guys in a way that is relevant to them but uncompromising of the truth. There are obviously costs involved with a ministry like this, we'd like to be able to bless the kids with boards and safety equipment like helmets if they don't have them, so if you are interested in getting behind this exciting venture please drop us a line, thanks.

Website

Calvary Paarl is finally going to have a website for all you tech savvy folks to enjoy! Pastor Mike and Dave are busy getting all the details squared away, hopefully by the time we put our update out in March the site will have gone live. Yay!

Holiday Bible Club Video

Also by next month there will be a nice shiny video for you to enjoy, with footage and snaps from the wonderful two weeks we spent with the team from California. Tons of footage from the Holiday Bible Club and some other cool stuff too. Watch this space.

Prayer Points

• Praise God for such a restful time in Jo'Burg and stronger friendships forged
• Praise God for the new play ground for Bergendal and the wide open doors to serve there
• Praise God for progress with the Skate ministry. Please pray for His ongoing guidance, provision and a boldness to share the gospel.
• Praise God for a church website. Please pray that we'd be able to get all the details worked out swiftly and launch asap.
• Praise God for His awesome provision for us in every way – we feel blessed beyond words by His grace, mercy & love to name just a few of our blessings!
• Please pray for our Visas – we are still waiting for our cases to be assigned to a case officer. It has become comical but we know that this is something we need to keep praying about because it's very important that they grant them.
• 
  Please pray for Murdo – he has been a little sick, nothing serious, just a cold
• Please pray for Elijah – he is going through a somewhat rebellious phase of not listening and screaming at the top of his lungs when he doesn't get his way. We trust God will give us strength and wisdom, and that it is just a season, but it's no fun!
• Please pray for God to continue to strengthen our marriage, nothing to worry about, but all the busyness can make it difficult for us to get quality time together. We just want to continue to grow in our love for Him and for one another and have a marriage that is always a strong witness to the community and our children. Thanks
  
  

Many blessings in Christ - Dave, Vicky, Elijah & Murdo xxxx

Emmerson Update January 2012

Hey Folks!

A very happy new year to you all. So sorry that it has taken us so long to get any ind of update out this month, we have a very busy start to the year (read more below) and so we are only now getting settled in to the reality of a new month and a new year! To further complicate things we are going away next week and so we are really pushed for time...hence the lack of a nice shiny pdf this month!

Festive Season

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year with Vicky's folks, the boys really enjoyed having family around and for the first time Elijah really seemed to understand what Christmas was about which was a blessing to us. We saw the new year in with friends, it was nice to see how God has blessed us and planted us here in Paarl, we feel very much at home here now.

Missions Team

The missions team from California have been and gone, what a wild two weeks that was! We were very busy during that time, but in a very good and productive way. Our holiday Bible club at Bergendal school was really blessed, we had about 80 kids on average per day who really had a great time. We also had chance to reach out to some of the teenagers and adults from the local farm communities, something that we'd never been able to do before. It was obvious that everyone was really touched by the club - the teachers held a special lunch to thank the team for all of their hardwork. We were able to do some repairs around the school and clear away a whole heap of rubbish that had accumulated there over time. God really used this time to open up a door for a greater work at Bergendal, I've always been a bit on the fringe there but now I know all of the teachers and can continue to minister to them over the coming months. God is good!!

Skate Outreach

Thanks to everyone who has been praying in regards to skate outreach - one of the other blessings of the team being here is that someone sponsored all the timber/steel needed to build a small skate ramp known as a funbox. Dave will be getting to work putting it all together asap, we'll put a pic in the next update. Please keep on praying for us...we now have issues of how to transport the ramp and where to place it, but we know God will bring all of this together since this is His plan anyway, not ours! Also please pray for opportunities for us to get to know the skaters and build relationship with them.

Visas

So the saga continues - Dave spent 30mins on the phone to the Home Affairs Office in Pretoria the other day - still no news on our applications, so we have opened new cases for each of us in order that the whole matter can be investigated again! It is almost comical at this stage, five months after we applied to renew! But we are legally allowed to stay until they reach a decision, no matter how long that takes. Continued prayer would be appreciated.

Jo'Burg

So we are off to Johannesburg next week to visit with some friend there for 5 days or so, to have a little time away from home and a bit of a break. Praise God for His provision so that we can take this trip. Please pray that the boys would have a great time and be settled. Thanks.

General

The kids are growing up so fast! Elijah is getting very confident and talks in full sentences, non-stop! He is loving nursery school. Murdo is crawling at breakneck speed and took his first steps independent of us yesterday evening. We are all suffering with the insane heat here in Paarl but are just taking it one day at a time. We have a genuine sense of excitement about 2012 and what God is going to o in our lives and in the church here in Paarl. God is stirring our hearts to prayer more fervently and increasing our faith in Him - The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much - James 5:16. Anything is possible this year!

Prayer Points

• Praise God for 2012 and all that He has planned for this year
• Praise God for such a lovely time with the Royles over Christmas and New Year
• Praise God for the team and all the blessings that came with their visit
• Praise God for our impending break away and His provision
• Praise God for our lovely boys and their ongoing development
• Please pray for our visa to be granted quickly!
• Please pray for God to bless the outreach work at Bergendal School
• Please pray for God to lead us in regard to Skate ministry.

Thanks for your ongoing friendship, love, support and prayers, we can't do this without you. In Christ - Dave, Vicky, Elijah & Murdo xxxx

Emmerson Update July 2011

Emmerson Update June 2011

Emmerson Update June 2011

Greetings from a rather wet and wintery Paarl! Winter is definitely here and we've been having storms and rain in abundance. The temperature has even dipped below 10 degrees Celsius at times in the past week, which may not sound cold, but when you've grown accustomed to 40 degrees plus it really does feel cold. Anyway enough of my very british discussion of the weather, there are far more important things going on in our lives.

UK Trip

As of this week our tickets are all booked and paid for and we all have valid British Passports (Murdo's came in the post recently). There is now nothing standing in the way of our trip and so we WILL be touching down in the UK on 19^th August for a visit of just over six weeks. We have already made plans with many of you and sincerely look forward to seeing each of you. If for some reason we have not been in touch to make plans with you, please e-mail us to jog our memories, its been a hectic time of planning. We do care, we would like to see you, please do drop us a line!.

Birthdays

June is birthday month in the Emmerson household. Vicky is turning 21 all over again (don't ask her real age or you'll face the wrath!) on the 7^th and Elijah will reach the grand old age of 2, can you believe it, on the 26^th. We are planning a trip see the 'lye-ins' at Drakenstein Lion Park for Elijah's birthday and a weekend away to visit friends on the coast for Vicky's. Hoorah for birthdays!

Sponsor A Bible: Finally here!

Another big thanks goes out to all those who sponsored Bibles in this years appeal. We were able to buy 16 English and 16 Afrikaans Bibles. After a number of delays with our order and various other issues we finally have all 32 Bibles in our possession and are eager to get them in the hands of those who need them. Most of these will probably be gifted to the men we minister to at Allandale Prison, so thanks again on their behalf, we know that God's word does not return void (Isaiah 55:11).

Foundations Of Faith correspondence course

This month we launched a new course at Allandale Prison, as an addition to the material we are teaching them each week when we visit (currently we're in the book of Philippians). This course covers all the basics of the Christian faith and we are excited to see these men grow in their knowledge of the Bible, their thirst for truth and their love for God. The course is by correspondence only which means they can do it in their free time (which they have plenty of) and at their own pace. Please pray with us that this would be a very fruitful course and that many would be exposed to the gospel.

Cedric & Yvonne

Please continue to pray with us for Cedric & Yvonne, the homeless couple that we have been ministering too. Sadly they did not turn up to go to the rehab, even after Dave had secured them places. They came later that week with excuses about why they couldn't/wouldn't go. Sadly this is the same cycle we see with many in the homeless community and it is tragic. We are praying that Jesus would break the cycle and help them make meaningful changes in their lives.

Rahab Ministries

Calvary Chapel Paarl Valley has recently begun to partner with an organisation in Paarl that ministers to prostitutes in the area. Please pray with us for the work they are doing to this often overlooked and destitute group. We are aiming to support Rahab as they seek to make a real difference to the lives of these ladies by sharing the love of God with them.

Visa Applications

It is crunch time with our Visas, within the next week Dave is going to begin the arduous process of applying for/ renewing Visa's for the whole family. Please pray with us that this would go as smoothly as possible and that God's will be done in all of it. We are hoping that we'll be done with all the paperwork before we fly out for our UK trip in 18^th August. On a more positive note God has faithfully provided the money we need for every cost involved in this process. Thank you Jesus!

Prayer Points

• Praise God with us that Vicky has recovered fully from her throat infection. Please pray for both Elijah and Murdo who are suffering with nasty colds and lots of phlegm at the moment....lovely!
• Praise God for the arrival of Murdo's passport and that our trip home is now secure.
• Praise God for Birthdays and that we can celebrate them together with so much fun.
• Praise God for the 32 people who will be blessed with Bibles in the coming weeks. Please pray that these would bear much fruit.
• Praise God for the Foundations Of Faith correspondence course and please join us in praying that this will be a great way for the unsaved in Allandale to receive the gospel and for the Christians there to be building strong foundations in God's word.
• Praise God for His amazing, unending provision for us, we are truly awed by Him. Praise Him for providing for our Visa costs and please please pray with us that this would go as smoothly as possible. Thanks
• Please pray that God's love would break through in Cedric & Yvonne's hectic lives and that things could really change for the better for them.
• Please pray for Jacques, Lilian, Mically & Keenen, a family in our church who live in a wooden shack behind the house of a relative. Both Mically & Keenen suffer from asthma and life in a shack in this winter weather is not kind on them. Please pray that God would provide warm clothing, blankets etc for them and that He would protect their health.
• Please continue to pray with us for Vicky's uncle Tony, who has terminal cancer, and for his family
• Please pray for Rahab ministries, that their work would be fruitful and these ladies would be freed from this way of life. Please pray that our church would be a great support and encouragement to this organisation that is doing such valuable work in Paarl.

As ever we'd like to take the time to thank you for your faithfulness to read our updates, pray with/ for us, and all the support you provide for this family. Soli Deo Gloria

Dave, Vicky, Elijah & Murdo

xxxx

Recent Video 2: Brotherly Love (The Movie)