We went in December last year and ministered in a Baptist church in the worst crime area of Jo-burg. (Hillbrow is now far worse than Soweto). We had a fantastic time there as the people were very open to the gospel, and all came from many nations of Africa.

As Des prayed for those that came forward, there were many manifestations of demons by squirting on the floor, screaming etc. God delivered them all out of their bondages, and brought new freedom into many people’s lives.

We are currently working with the Pastor of this local church to set up future evangelistic events, and go and help them in this saturated crime area. I also quickly want to share with you, that this particular church started the Humanitarian “Door of Hope” ministry where young mothers who want to abandon their babies, instead of leaving them in trash cans etc, instead put them into a special box made in this church’s wall, and the church then takes the babies in on the other side of the wall and takes care of them till they can get them adopted.
Please pray for their ministry!!

Johannesburg Men’s Prison ROCKS with the Gospel:

The last time we were allowed to go inside Jo-burg men’s prison was in October 2004, as the wardens don’t like people to go and visit the inmates in and around Christmas. Also some stuff happened here in South Africa in one of the prisons around Christmas, and so this also stopped us from going in to visit the men, as clamps were put on prisons all over the country so that no group was allowed to go through to see the inmates for a certain period of time.

Well, on the 12th February 2005 we were finally allowed to go through again, and ended up having a really great time as we enjoyed our time of meeting with all the men once again after 4 long months of being apart.

This time in the prison it was different, as the wardens allowed us to go into
A/ section ( which they have never allowed us before), so now here we had a whole new bunch of men that had never heard the Gospel from us or had been prayed for by our team! We had well over 500 men seated in the open courtyard under a fully heated African sun for several hours, and of which no one wanted to leave.

We had a problem happen while at the prison with our sound system and had a power surge go through it, so it didn’t work for us any more (the prison’s electricity is very unreliable and unstable and this was the 2nd surge we had go through our team’s equipment)… but the meeting continued!!

Des got the men to all sit down. Every one of them sat on the ground so open, eager and hungry for the word! He then brought the word, after which there was a fantastic alter call. At least 300 of the prisoners came forward to receive Jesus as their Lord and saviour.   

PRAISE GOD!

The wardens also allowed us extra time with the men so we were then able to pray for all those that were sick, and those who were worried with problems at home with their families. From there we were still allowed to go up to the hospital and pray for all the sick men up there.
Our team lost Des at one point as we went through the prison to the hospital, but we all found out later that the wardens grabbed him and wanted him to pray for themselves and their needs, as well as for the inmates.

The church inside these walls is certainly growing very strong and well, and we thank everyone for their prayers concerning the inmates that have given their hearts to Jesus and are now turning away from their old ways. They look very healthy and strong in the Lord.
It is certainly NOT easy for them being in this situation, but with your prayers – they are moving forward and upwards out of the pit, into a new life of freedom in God!
PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR BROTHERS IN PRISON AS YOU PRAY!!

Soshenguve Township:

We had a very blessed service as we shared out in Soshenguve in Miracle Valley Church. The church was very excited and receptive to the message. Des shared about the passing of the mantle from Elijah to Elisha.
There were many new leaders appointed in this church that Sunday, and so ministry was more of anointing, prophecy and praying over these newly appointed people. A time of praying for the sick was then held afterwards.

Testimony:

We had a testimony of one woman who had very bad arthritis in the hips, and was going for a hip replacement as her hip joints were crumbling, and was in very intense pain. After Des prayed for her she kept on jumping up and down saying “I cant feel any pain – it’s gone, it’s gone,  I’m healed”.          PRAISE GOD! 

New Sewing Project:

In May 2005 we had the launch of a new sewing project in Cullinin. L.E.I AIDS trust donated 5 sewing machines to P’s Thomas Maseko at End time Harvest Fellowship so that they could start their new community upliftment project. We also donated 30kg’s of mealee meal and AIDS booklets from the trust.                       

 ZIMBABWE PASTORS CONVENTIONS:

We had many Pastors repenting up the front of the churches as we addressed very personal issues in leadership head on! We spoke about everything from Father-ship, motive for leadership, true calling, sexual immorality, HIV/AIDS, money, 5 fold office gifting, motivational gifting, widows and orphans, humanitarian aid etc.
The older “fathers in the faith” also repented before the “sons”, and the “sons” before the “fathers” for their attitudes in how they saw and treated each other in ministry.

ZIMBABWE EASTER TENT CRUSADE:

We traveled back to Musana and were involved in an Easter Convention. This went over 3 days.  We had leadership training during the day with evangelistic crusades at night. The convention was well attended in the evenings by the whole community, and through the preaching of the word many gave their hearts to Jesus and also were healed.

THOUGHT:

Always choose to believe in the other person’s good intentions,
And to credit him with the best motives - not the worst!

2005 Prayer Needs:

Land for L.E.I. base (10 hectares)                        
Financial support on regular basis
4x4 double cab bakkie
Need a caravan and camping tents for our evangelistic tent crusades
Upcoming Mass Gospel Crusades in South Africa and Zimbabwe 2005.
The right team members to join us.
Need new battery operated speaker to take for prison ministry.

God bless you all

From
Des and Ros