A Holy Spirit Filled Weekend

An Archived Update from February 25th-27th, 2022 Greetings to all, We want to share a beautiful testimony of a weekend back in February with our church, Prison Ministry, and our family:

We spent Friday night at “Summer Fest” at a skate park with the Young Adults Ministry for people ages 18-25. It was a powerful night of worship, and Marco was invited as a panel speaker to share his experience from his early 20’s to where he is now in his adult life. The focus of the panel was “Body, Mind, and Spirit.” He was able to share about his deliverance from an 8 year drug addiction, and the restoration God has done within him and with his two beautiful boys (Darren and Raeez).

On Saturday, we attended the Frontline Conference at our church for the adults aged 26-35. The theme was “The Pursuit”- how God pursues us. We unpacked topics in the Bible on relationships, singleness, marriage, parenting, and sexuality. The team of speakers shared key Bible verses from Genesis to Corinthians about who God is, how we were formed in his image, and what healthy marriages and parenting looks like. We left that day excited for what’s to come, as this day was meant as a catalyst for further conversations on these topics. [As we edit this update now in August, we are very excited to share that we have participated in an introductory session with a local organization called Sexuality Matters who shared at this Frontline conference, and we are now reading their devotional. We're looking forward to learning more on both a personal level, and also to equip ourselves and the rest of our prison ministry team as we are constantly working with victims of gender-based violence, sexual offenders, and those struggling with their sexual identity. We know these are sensitive but very important topics, so we are wanting to be intentional and learn more].

On the Sunday, we served at Pollsmoor Prison, and had two outdoor courtyard open-air services. The young men we served with were from two neighboring sections. Unfortunately, a lot of these men find their identity in gangsterism. But a majority of them tuned in and participated in the service. One of them even jumped in to help lead one of the worship songs! Although a lot of them have scars that run deep from fatherlessness, abuse as children, and / or years of addiction, we believe that when we partner with the Holy Spirit, he is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we can imagine in restoration for the men and their victims of their crimes.

In the evening, we picked up Marco’s two sons, and took them to church. We went to Hillsong South Africa’s main location in Century City, and rallied in support for our prison ministry teammate's son who was being baptized that evening. He is also good friends with Darren and Raeez. Our pastors shared about the local vision of our church and where we are focusing this year in strengthening our local communities. We hope to see a “Year of the Lord’s Favor” like in the scriptures about the Year of Jubilee, with restoration, a year of good health, and a focus on families, equipping ourselves, and of course having fun along the way.

As a church we prayed for those who were about to be baptized. Then the host asked if anyone else would like to be baptized to come to the front as well. This was a beautiful moment. Marco’s youngest son, Raeez stretched out his hand and walked to the front! All of our jaws dropped. And all of us had misty eyes. We were so in shock and excited for him all at the same time! Raeez's decision to get baptized was all the more powerful because we got to witness the victory of his life being won over by Jesus!!

Raeez has decided!

Congratulations!

baptized!

Rest on us Holy Spirit!

Pizza with family friends

Raeez loves Jesus, going to kids church, and he loves to sing worship songs. Also for the last two years he has celebrated Christmas and Easter with us, and it's been really special to watch him grow as a young prayer warrior. Another amazing thing is that Marco got to help baptize Raeez! It was a beautiful moment, and for the two dads to witness the baptisms of their sons on the same night! To celebrate, we got some pizzas! Although it was a long weekend, it was Holy Spirit filled! Thank you for taking the time to read and celebrate with us!

We continue to say thank you and want to share our appreciation to all who are keeping our family covered in prayer. If you are able, we would also be honored if you could support us financially. Marco's birthday is this coming Sunday, and we're inviting everyone to send $35 (or any amount) for his birthday! This would help us buy necessities for both our family and for our prison ministry- such as purchasing administrative resources + office supplies (like printer ink and paper), as well as hosting volunteer team gatherings, and help us get started in reaching one of our major prayer requests: to purchase a 7-seater vehicle to help us transport our equipment more easily on Sundays and during the week, as well as help carpool more volunteers. In our next update, we'll cover January - August 2022, which we'll send hopefully at the end of this month!

With Love,

The Lodewyk Family

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