Dear Friends

Greetings in the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter weekend as we remember Jesus’ crucifixion and celebrate His resurrection. Joy to the world, He has risen!! Hallelujah!!

I can’t believe that the first quarter of the year has already passed and so time for our first quarterly newsletter.

Family news is that Linda’s pregnancy is going well, and Thomas (who turns 3 next month) is very excited about getting a little brother…or sister. Last week he explained to me how the soldiers crucified Jesus on the cross, hitting nails through His hands with a hammer and that blood came out which washed all the sins out of his heart and that Jesus is now living in his heart. It is amazing to think that Linda and I will be further blessed to love another child as much as we do Thomas. From my side, I had another brain scan on the 10th of March. The results came back showing that there is no cancer! Amen! We are so blessed. We truly serve an amazing and extravagantly loving God.

Further, we have taken a step of faith and put our home on the market, with the intention of moving to a farm and running the ministry from there.

The ministry at Fort White (click here to see a short Fort White movie clip) is running well, despite the desperate need for rain and facing a politically motivated challenge from an organisation to appropriate the ministry and property for themselves. It really is amazing what the evil one will do to try and bring the furthering to the Kingdom to a standstill. Our maize crop failed as a result of the drought, but the chickens are producing and other vegetable crops such as spinach and beets have done well. The computer literacy class is full and running smoothly. Please pray for the Fudge family as they return to the States for a month to visit family, churches and raise support for their ministry at Fort White.

Last weekend we were blessed to minister with a team from the Bethel School of Supernatural Healing from Redding California, where we prayed for the sick in hospitals, at a rehab centre and at the Hemingway’s Mall. I also had an opportunity to share our testimony at the Highway Community Church service at the ‘Mugg n Bean’ coffee shop at Hemingway’s Mall.  We were blessed to see many people healed in the name of Jesus Christ at the various meetings.

Next weekend, as part of our community development vision, we are taking five underprivileged youths from the inner-city into the bush for a mentoring weekend on a game farm. This will be an experience that the youths would never be able to experience in their current circumstances. We will spend time teaching them bush crafts, such as making a fire without matches and building there own shelters. We will spend time in the Word, focusing on various life skills that were taught to us by our Saviour, Jesus. Each youth can be sponsored for this mentoring weekend at a cost of R350/$50 (click here to go to the Gateway Services donations page).

Further, Gateway Services is coordinating an Inner-City Soccer Training week that will cater for 250 under-privileged youths every day. This will be a joint project between Gateway Services, Champions Development, First City Baptist Church, Stirling Baptist Church and the Coco-Cola Company.

Please pray for us as we strive to obey and follow our Father’s voice. His promptings are often in contradiction to the ‘most logical’ path to take, making them difficult to follow.  But, as we do, we are even more aware of how much He loves us and provides for us as we search to live in the centre of His will.

Living in His peace

The O’Connor’s