"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.
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)
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