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VIDEO UPDATE FROM THANDY
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As of today, April 30, South Africa has 5,647 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 103 deaths. They have one of the strictest lockdowns of any country in the world. Please listen to this video update from Thandy KaMavundla-Nzama, Phakama's Reach4Life program director in South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, and Lesotho. She says: "
We praise the Lord that even in these very difficult times all around the world, the Word of God is still at work! Our wonderful Peer Educators in all the regions have been sending us great feedback from their "Reach4Life family groups." Family members have accepted Christ and many are growing in the word. The coordinators, Peer Educators, volunteers and our "Fox teams" (older kids teaching younger kids) are expressing a great joy of being able to teach the word at home and see God at work in their families." Because our supporters have given to our special coronavirus fund, we have been able to help provide supplies to the program workers, including food, sanitizers, etc. (See example in Port Shepstone testimony below.) If you would like to donate for this purpose, please go to our donate page. Click on the dropdown "projects" box and select "coronavirus." Then please view the video and also see the testimonies below.
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TAX FILING AVAILABLE TO VIEW AND "NEWSLETTERS" PAGE ADDED
We recently submitted our 990, which 501(c)3 nonprofits are required to file to publicly show their record of contributions and how the funds were used. We are big believers in accountability so please go to our
donate page and click on "2019 tax filing" to view it. Explanations can be found at the end on Schedule O.
We also just created a "newsletters" page on our website. We've posted a few but will add older newsletters soon. Please
go to the newsletter page to check it out!
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EVENT UPDATES
Like everyone else, when it comes to planning, we are dependent on what is happening with COVID-19 in the community. Here are the latest event updates:
Auction - The auction has been rescheduled to Saturday, October 10. With the holidays coming up soon after that, it occurred to us that it might be fun to include some holiday items in the auction. If you are a crafty person (and we mean that in the best way possible), please feel free to take some of this "stay at home" time to create a few holiday items for the auction - Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! Please limit the item values to no more than $25-$50. This will allow more people to participate. Thanks for your help!
Garage sale - This was originally scheduled for June 15-20, at Sacajawea Middle School. The school has asked us to check back in June to see what the availability might be. Possibly we will need to move it to later in the summer. But this is a great time to clean out closets and box or bag up some items for when we do eventually have it!
Clothing drive - This usually kicks off after the garage sale, but again, now is a great time to go through your items and box or bag them for later. Anything that is in good condition can be used for the garage sale, so please separate out items in poorer condition for the clothing drive. That will save us time as we prepare for the garage sale. We can take clothes, shoes, purses, belts, linens, fabric (bigger pieces, not tiny scraps), and backpacks. No pillows please, and items should not be bagged when damp or wet.
Mission trip - The plan is for us to go from August 28 to September 13. We are waiting to see how things develop through the summer but are hopeful that we will be able to go as planned.
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LADYSMITH PEER EDUCATOR TESTIMONY
Ladysmith Peer Educator, Mesuli Sithole shares, "Today I am teaching my family from the Reach4Life Bible a lesson called Grace, taken from the book of John 14:1-9. My family has been through a lot. I am an ex-convict and after excepting Christ as my saviour my life changed. I joined the Ladysmith team and started to teach in schools and prisons in my region, it's my 4th year as a Reach4Life ministry worker. I have seen the Lord touching lives and bringing many to himself using the R4L ministry. Now that the world is going through the Covid 19 challenge, the word has not changed, it still talks about a God who loves us and would love us to experience his grace. My parents and siblings can not believe that since I have known Christ I have not turned back. I have no desire to go back to the empty life of crime I used to live. I am free, redeemed and a servant in the kingdom. Reach4Life has been a great platform for me to grow and to give back to my community."
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PORT SHEPSTONE PEER EDUCATOR TESTIMONY
Nomfundo from Port Shepstone says, "I have been teaching the word to my 2 nephews and niece. Each day we do a lesson, I dramatize the lessons and sometimes I ask them to role play some bible characters in order to get the message across. They have laughed and learned so much. Reach4Life is now touching our families and bringing them to Christ. I am thankful for our R4L donor family who have supported us even during the lockdown, with my R4L Corona Ministry fund gift I was able to buy sanitizers and food. Things might never be the same after this but I have seen and learnt that there are many ways to reach people while following all the safety regulations. We believe one day we will once again stand in front of classrooms in our Port Shepstone schools and tell the kids about the love of Jesus and how he kept us safe and strong during this difficult time."
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MOZAMBIQUE PEER EDUCATOR TESTIMONY
Winnie, Mozambique Peer Educator writes, "I live with my dad, sister and Brother.Each day we sit outside our house and we do a Reach4Life lesson. I didn't know that my family can respond so well to the word as they did not believe. I have always been focusing on the outside, schools, church youth groups and my girls R4L clubs here in Maputo. Indeed, in this chaos the Lord is shining bright and making His name great. My family now loves the Lord and are changing each day. We are closer as a family and I am grateful that the same tool I have been using for two years in my community is now a blessing to my own house."
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TUGELA FERRY PEER EDUCATOR TESTIMONY
Tugela Ferry Peer Educator from Esijozini Village, Xoli Funeka (at left with her mom, siblings, and little niece and nephew) says, "I miss doing ministry in my schools and community youth groups. But it's been wonderful to teach the same lessons I teach in the field to my own family. My brother has many questions and I have been able to answer him without any challenge because I have studied my Reach4Life Bible and I know it well. As hard as it has been, this give me an opportunity to minister to my own family."
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LOOK AT THAT EXCHANGE RATE!
One of the few silver linings in the COVID-19 outbreak is the fact that the due to economic conditions, the exchange rate between the USD and the South African Rand is unbelievably good at the moment. This two-year graph shows how dramatically the exchange rate has improved (for us) recently. If you have been considering additional giving, now is a great time to donate, since the value will be about 50% greater than usual. Thanks for your support!
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The current Rand exchange rate is excellent at 18.53 Rand per dollar.
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Please partner
with us through Amazon Smile by choosing us as the charity you want to support. We will receive 0.5% of purchases made at Amazon. Thanks for your help!
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Thanks for Your Support
Prevention Time thanks you for your interest in our organization. We are a 501(c)3
organization and all donations are tax-deductible. Prevention Time has no paid staff,
so our administrative costs are minimal. To help support our work in South Africa,
please click on the donate button below.
Sincerely,
The Prevention Time Board
Lorna Packard
Mindy Sauerlender
Mary Schumacher
Kim Ives
John Packard
Pastor Ed Kelley IV
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