Stoms May South African Update!

Dear Friends and Family,

Friends from Malawi, Uganda and Ghana. 

Greetings from Stellenbosch, South Africa. Hope you are all well. We have had our story group with International students going on the University of Stellenbosch campus now for about three months. We have had students from a dozen African countries attend. We've worked almost all the way through storyline of Mark's gospel and we’ve been having some good discussions. The number of those attending fluctuates with about a dozen regular attenders. This has been a bit humbling since in the past I’ve used to teach classes of 40-80 students at the African Bible College in Malawi.  

Those attending our group are typically graduate students. One Malawian attending is the brother of a former ABC student. Two other Malawians who attend are lecturers from Chancellor College (U of Malawi) who are here getting their doctorates. An interesting development to our group has been the addition of some Korean students. This has led us to consider begin some informal English lessons using Biblical stories and scripture as a text. People here are responsive to our storytelling method, but we realize that it is best suited for an environment like Malawi.

Our Korean friends, Ki Woon and Sun. 

Since arriving here we have had two kindles stolen from our apartment. Also a car we had borrowed was broken into twice. This has made the transition to living here more challenging than anticipated and particularly for our daughters. The reality of crime along with seeing people who are living on the streets is a bit frightening for them. On the bright side Christ Church Stellenbosch has been very gracious to us.  I've been able to lead some worship services and I've preached here on several occasions. Christ Church has an excellent program for children which our girls enjoy. They do appreciate going to one church each week but they really do miss their grandparents and close friends.

VWs are a common target for thieves. 

We plan to visit Malawi as a family in June. God willing we will be arriving there June 14th and staying through June 30th. I’ll be preaching at both Kafita CCAP and Kapita CCAP and I hope to do some teaching of Biblical Theology through stories as well. While we are there we will have to move our things and sell some of our items that we have stored at our old place at ABC. We do have access to a container where we can store some things but we have to move what we have at ABC by July. Please pray for us especially as we make our plans to visit Malawi (see below).

 
Tsalani bwino (stay well),
Jay, Laura, Clara, Katherine, and Lauren Stoms

Prayer Requests:

1)      That God will grow our story group in faith and in numbers of people attending.

2)      That Christ Church Stellenbosch will start an English school were the Bible and Bible stories can be taught.

3)      That we can get a good deal on a dependable used car in SA that will be right for our family.

4)      That our trip to Malawi will be a positive one both in terms of ministry and in moving and selling some of our items.

5)      For housing more suited to showing hospitality but still close to the University.

6)      For God’s provision and good health of our grandparents back in the states.

7)      For good friends for our girls. Also for a sense of being settled and for more long term direction.