Christmas & New Year's 2017 Newsletter

HE SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL COUNSELLOR… MIGHTY GOD…EVERLASTING FATHER…PRINCE OF PEACE ISAIAH 9 V

Names are really significant, names are who we are, its our identity, and this is why names are such a big deal in the Bible. In the prophecy of Isa 9v6 Isaiah says when He shows up this is who He is going to be in your life, when you hear those names hope already begins to dwell in your heart…

WONDERFUL COUNSELLOR…. it means direction its not like a physiological counsellor its wisdom, its guidance, its saying God will give you direction if you seek Him.

MIGHTY GOD ….this speaks to the strength and protection of God, God has got your back and is bigger than you think…He is mighty.

EVERLASTING FATHER …. This is saying that the founder of everything is your Dad, you are part of a family that has a great heritage, you have great significance

PRINCE OF PEACE …. This isn’t just about personal peace, this is about a ruler who brings unity, He was someone who could bring people together and create security and stability in the culture, He helped people get along with each other.

I pray as you meditate on these names that you will let our Lord Jesus be who He wants to be in your life, may you know Him to be a WONDERFUL COUNSELLOR TO GIVE YOU DIRECTION…ask Jesus to be a MIGHTY GOD TO GIVE YOU STRENGTH…ask Jesus to be an EVERLASTING FATHER TO REMIND YOU OF YOUR SIGNIFICANCE AND HERITAGE …and finally say God use me in your Kingdom to help you bring PEACE AND SECURITY and UNIFY PEOPLE ALL AROUND ME….IN 2017 AND BEYOND.

Greetings from a hot and humid Zimbabwe! Its over 30c (90f) and we are enjoying a little rain at this wonderful time of the year, what a year it has been, highs and lows, triumphs and trials, tears and laughter and in the midst of it all has been our Lord Jesus Christ, directing, leading, guiding us and helping us in decisions and situations where we were unsure what to do and where to go, who a WONDERFUL COUNSELLOR He has been to us and everyone at Jabulani.

We thank God for the fantastic year Grace, Blessing, Hope, Daniel and Joseph experienced at Gateway PS, they were fully involved in every aspect of school life. In class, choir, swimming, hockey, netball, rugby and inter school activities our children excelled, all their end of year reports were excellent and we are grateful to God and the staff at Gateway for the wonderful foundation they have received. We are thanking the Lord for everyone of you dear friends who has helped in any way to enable our children to attend school, the school fees and uniforms have been covered by you partners of Jabulani and we are very grateful, God bless you. Due to the fact that we have another 5 children starting school in January, making a total of 10 children, we have been forced to have a rethink about the long term educational goals, so we believe God has opened up a door of opportunity for all 10 of our children to start a new Christian private school in January called Hope Academy. Alan has taught Gods Word monthly in this school for 8 years and we believe this will be a great place for our children to attend and grow in grace and wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man Luke 2v52 may the MIGHTY GOD be seen, known and felt in the days that lie ahead

Please pray for the transition and settling into the new school, making new friends and adapting to new rules and regulations….we believe God will help them to excel.

Our little girls have also had a fun filled year with teacher Rose at Jabulani preschool, they have all grown in every area of their lives, they visited Hope Academy and impressed the teachers with their knowledge, ability and manners ( sure we didn’t expect anything else!) they really are very smart and full of confidence. Esther is the leader of the pack, Sarah is the comedian and has a prolific memory, Abigail can read and sing in public with great confidence, Hannah has come on leaps and bounds and Faith is now much more confident and able to keep up with the rest of the gang! Praise God! We are indebted to Rose for her outstanding care and education she has poured into our girls, we pray Gods blessing on her and the children as they move to Hope Academy in January. We also thank every visitor and volunteer who has spent time with our children this past year, from Ireland, USA, England and Zimbabwe we are in awe of you! God bless you!

As many of you are aware little Ruth was taken from Jabulani by the local authorities and placed with another family here in Harare and this of course has caused us great heartache and grief, we would ask you to continue to pray for Ruth, that she will be happy and settled, that she will know Gods love and blessing in her little life and while we miss her desperately we know God is in control of Ruths life and will be with her wherever she goes. We have not been given the opportunity to say goodbye to Ruth and this has caused some upset with the other children, please pray we might all experience the PRINCE OF PEACE in these days.

We have released 2 staff members due to everyone going to primary school in January and now have 4 care workers, Shelter, Mel, Kuda and Elizabeth, also Violet who cooks and cleans along with our 2 gardeners Tiri and Joshua, these co workers have been tremendous and a real blessing to Dorothy and I, we thank God for their work ethic and love for our children. Please pray for them as they labour for the Lord among our children.

Kuda and Joshua are doing well, they are getting bigger and are very happy and settled, we believe this is due in part to the wonderful atmosphere of peace at Jabulani and some new chairs which have helped their posture and comfort, we thank God for our friends in Northern Ireland who provided the money and shipped the chairs to us! This was no easy task and we are very grateful, our children have benefitted greatly and we thank God for the generosity of many of you friends!

We thank God that our children and grandchildren back in Ireland have also had a great year, Daniel is in Form 2 at Carrickfergus Grammar and Noah in Form 1 at Grosvenor High …Lois has just finished her transfer tests and we pray she also will join Daniel in Carrick while Jonah is in P3…we are looking forward to July next year when all our family will visit us here in Harare for their Summer holidays.

So as we approach Christmas, Alan is preaching on Christmas day at Church, than we will come home to Jabulani where Santa will give out the presents, then we will have a big barbque and swim in the afternoon, there is much excitement in these days! We want to thank every one of you who pray and support this great work, for individuals, couples and families, churches and businesses we thank you in Jesus Name. Thank you for the teams and friends who have visited us this year from across the globe, your input has helped our children in a huge way, it has also blessed Dorothy and I to have you in our home, our EVERLASTING FATHER has been with us all, what a God, what a Savior! We love and appreciate you so much, we trust you got your calendars and cards, we have a few calendars left if you need some, just contact me.

May God fulfill all your dreams, 
In Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord, 
Alan and Dorothy

October 2016 Newsletter

Dear Friends of Jabulani,

Greetings from Zimbabwe, we have entered our wonderful summer season again and the birds are singing, with temps around 30c (90+) the children are running around the garden singing also Praise God! We thank God for His help for our children at school this term, all is going well and they are enjoying swimming at school, the gala is in November and our kids are very eager to win races and come first! Thank you for your love and concern for our dear children it means the world to us and them.

It is with sadness we must inform you that little Ruth has left us and gone to a foster home. We are trusting God she is happy and settled, they took her in early August and we haven’t seen or heard anything since, the children and staff at Jabulani, and ourselves, have not been given the chance to even say goodbye to Ruth, we are all devastated, this certainly wasn’t what we expected when we brought her into Jabulani having been found abandoned in a basket in the rural areas 4 years ago, BUT GOD has has allowed this to happen and we must trust Him. Please continue to pray for Ruth that she will be in a loving home, that she will know peace and that at a young age might find Christ as her Savior and God. Pray also for the couple who have taken her, that they might be a godly influence on Ruth and help her in every area of life and of course love her to bits. This has been very difficult for us and the staff at Jabulani, please continue to pray for everyone in this situation. Thank you in Jesus Name.

Kuda and Joshua are having good days and seem to be very relaxed and happy, they are much loved and our staff look after these two special children with tenderness and compassion which is a joy to behold. May God bless them as we seek to give them a stress free atmosphere and meet their needs which are many.

Grace has enjoyed playing hockey for the school team, she was also the narrator at the school play, she is very articulate and speaks very clearly, we are very proud of Grace, she is very popular in class and looks out for her friends. Grace is very loyal and likes things done perfectly in class. Pray she will do well in her swimming this year, she doesn’t like to lose (I wonder who she takes after).

Blessing and Hope are very happy and doing well at school, their teacher loves them and speaks very highly of their dedication and fun in all aspects of class, Hope is very determined and Blessing is laid back, Hope likes to win and Blessing really doesn’t get too excited about anything! Blessing is the best swimmer of all the kids and if she wants tote can win all the races…..we will let you know what happens!

Daniel and Joseph like all boys have their moments, at school they need to concentrate more though their work is good, they are always seeing how much they can get away with (not much!) and keep testing everyone at Jabulani…but there is only going to be one winner there and its not the boys! They also are very keen swimmers and are practising every day, they both are wonderful and keen readers of books.

Faith has done well this term at play school and is working well with her teacher to catch up to theater small girls, she likes to color pages and knows her shapes, numbers and some letters now. Please pray Faith will manage her work as she sometimes gets confused. Faith is a very loving and gentle child, she enjoys playing at the swing park.

Sarah continues to amaze us with her amazing memory, learning Bible stories and memory verses is easy for Sarah, she loves to sing loudly and is the joker of Jabulani, always playing tricks on staff and children she also likes to mimic peoples accents and voice. Sarah is a fun filled girl who loves affirmation and keeps everyone smiling.

Esther is a very sharp and clever young lady, she wants to learn everything she can, she can’t wait to start school and knows shapes, colors, numbers and letters, she can also read a few 3 letter words. Esther loves running races and is very fast as well as riding her bike whenever she can.

Hannah has had a good term in school, she is speaking much better and we can all understand her now! She does well with her sisters and is not fighting all the time! Hannah loves to eat food and is always finished her meals first, she is not keen on physical exercise but enjoys the swing park and trampoline.

Abigail is growing very tall even though she is our youngest girl, she also is very clever and able to do everything teacher asks of her, Abi likes to bake in class and play in water, she is desperate to learn to swim and unfortunately is not very co ordinated so it may take a while….

We thank God for all you dear friends, please pray for us that God will help us make right and good decisions in every aspect of our lives, we look to God the Captain of our salvation to guide and direct us! We are praying for YOU…thank you for your prayers, financial support and love, you mean everything to us.

In Christ Jesus, 
Alan and Dorothy and everyone at Jabulani