Abiding in Him

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in Him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

We have been seeing some fruit beginning to fill the vines in the vineyards around here lately. Summer is approaching and soon all the vineyards will be overflowing with big, sweet, brightly colorful green and red grapes. Now, summer is a bit warm around here but it is also the most beautiful of times.

Though we may not be farmers in vineyards of grapes, we most definitely feel like farmers in the vineyards of Christ and His church. We feel as though we have been sowing lot's of seed and doing lot's of watering and now we are beginning to see some, oh so precious fruit. There is a real sense of expectancy and a heightened need for prayerfulness at CC Paarl Valley lately which is great. We've been seeing many new faces at church as people have begun to bring people to be a part of what God is doing. As excited as I am about being able to reach more people for Jesus and seeing the church grow both spiritually and numerically I personally am most excited because I, nor did any other man make things happen. It's all Jesus.

In this update I will let some pictures connect you to what's happening lately here in Paarl, instead of me just going on and on.

Last month I had the privilege of speaking at a youth conference in Paarl East. It is great seeing how different cultures worship and do their services. This church is in the "colored" community which is the mixed race people group here in SA. I taught on the life of Joseph. It was a lot of fun and about 20 people took a stand for Jesus, Glory to Him.

Very bright colors all around in that church.

A few weeks ago some dear friends of ours (who happen to be the first family to come to our home bible study when we were in our home) visited us from the Karoo. Charl, Belinda, Joshua and Alice Du Toit. We love that family! Also, here with Misty and Belinda is Lillian (center)...We love her too :) It was great to see them at CCPV again.

Some of the teens from a local farm we get to love on each week.

Yeah! Three new members of the CCPV family. We are so blessed that they are here. Dave and Vicky Emmerson and their 3 month old son Elijah. They arrived here safely on the 2nd of Sept. from Scotland. They are staying in the house right next door to the church which is awesome. Please keep these precious servants in your prayers. They are still trying to raise support for their time serving here. Things have already been happening to test their call and commitment (which is expected, but never easy). Misty and I are grateful they answered God's call and came here to work with us. If you feel like God wants you to help them with a much needed and appreciated financial gift you can do so through PayPal to...hopeunseen@googlemail.com (it will not work if shortened to gmail.com)

Adele Niekerk works with some of the teens after church to discuss what they learned from the teaching on Sunday.

We are blessed by our three Zimbabwean families.... Sarah, Rosie, Ben, Mike, Thomas, Frank, and Jonathan. I wish you could meet them, they are some of the most wonderful people. Thomas just gave his life to Jesus last Sunday and now he wants to be baptized.

Just a cool shot of some folks chatting after church. (the building looks crooked because it's 3 pictures fused together as 1). Mountains behind us and mountains in from of us. The Paarl valley is so beautiful.

Also we started going into a local prison here on Thursday mornings. Unfortunately I can't take my camera inside but if that changes I will post some pic's. We have already seen some really encouraging stuff happening with these inmates. Please pray for God's Spirit to work powerfully through His word to save souls and change lives at Drakenstien Maximun security prison.

We have been super busy and super blessed by what God is doing here in Paarl. We are hoping to see a team from Calvary Chapel Tustin coming out in January to help with VBS which would be awesome.

Misty and I just want you to know that you are loved dearly. Please pray for new Christians to be added to His church. Please pray for our health and for financial provision. We know it's a hard time financially for many of you, but anything you can give is appreciated and needed. We want to thank the few of you who have been faithful to support us monthly! Most grateful to those of you who pray for us. For it is Him who brings the increase ultimately. Please pray for our marriage and family and anything else that comes to your mind as you pray. We love you and hope to hear from you soon.

To be continued (by God's grace)........

Love, Mike, Misty and Michael Portland (and Biscuit)

Ministry in Paarl

Hello dear friends and family!

Well, to say that we are in a whirlwind right now would be a bit of an understatement. First of all, our time in the U.S. was a great blessing for our family. It was so good to see so many of you while we were in California. By about the 3rd week of being away I was really starting to miss the church here in Paarl, obviously meaning the people. However it was difficult leaving all of our friends and family again, But it was great to get back to all of our friends here too. Misty and I want to thank you who support us financially and contributed for us toward coming home for a visit. We really appreciate your prayers and financial support as that is what keeps us going here. You can continue to support this ministry, first by praying for us (which is most practical) and also financially too as you are able.

So, what are we up to right now? To be honest we feel like we are just holding on a bit until the Emmerson family get here. Misty is busy being a mom and wife and also doing some administrative things as she is able. So it's pretty much just me (in Him, and through Him) doing church and keeping things running. It's no secret that starting a church is not the job of one guy, especially with a wife and young child to care for. The Lord has been confirming in me lately the absolute necessity of gathering a core group to help get the church off and running. Churches are started in lots of different ways practically, But one thing is always true and that is the fact that churches grow as people are inviting their friends and family to come and check it out. So the next season for us involves developing a core group out of the 20 or so people that have been coming to our services faithfully and sharing the vision more specifically with them and sending them out as missionaries so to speak, in their own circles of influence to share the gospel and invite people to be apart of what God is doing here in Paarl. The people who have been with us faithfully for the past year or so have been growing tremendously in their understanding of scripture and thus in their own personal holiness. I truly believe that God has within our group future church leaders and evangelists and that as they grow in His word and fall more in love with Jesus I know that they will begin to desire more passionately to serve Him. Please pray for these folks if you think about it.

We are encouraged with the growth we've seen in the few we have around us, But we also know that God wants to do much more in and through CC Paarl here in this valley. Please keep us in your prayers. Please pray for me, That the Lord will give me a greater burden for lost souls and that He would give our church a burden for them as well and boldness to share Christ unashamedly. Please pray for Misty as we are having some trouble with her Visa at the moment, We know that the Lord is on the throne. We just want God's will to be accomplished through us. Please pray for David and Vicky Emmerson and their new baby boy Elijah who will be moving here next month to work with us in Paarl. Thank you guys so much!

More to come...I promise some pic's too.

Blessings,
The Portlands

Thank You!

Hello again friends and family!

I think Neil Diamond said it best when he said "We're coming to America"! I know a bit cheesy ...But it's true. We are coming to America.

Thank you all so much for responding to the need by praying for us and for financially contributing for our visit back to the U.S. God has provided in very natural ways through many of you and for that we thanks to God and you. God has also provided for this trip in very supernatural ways as well, ways in which truly have humbled us and in ways that are causing us to give Him much glory.

We will be arriving in LAX at 6:45pm on the 25th of this month. I will be returning to S.A. in four weeks, Misty and Michael will stay an additional two weeks.

If any of you are in the southern California area on Wednesday the 27th of May. We would love for you to join us at Calvary Chapel Tustin at 7:00pm as we will be giving an update of what the Lord has done and is doing through the ministry in South Africa.

The Church Address is: 330 w. sixth st.
Tustin, Ca

We do hope to see those of you who have been so faithful to pray for us and support us financially. We appreciate your friendship and most of all your commitment to pray for us.

If you think of it please remember to pray that our flights and traveling will go well and that none of us will get sick. Also, for Michael as the flight is 24+ hours long. Hope to see you soon.

Many Blessings to you,
Mike, Misty, and Michael Portland