A Helping Hand

This past week saw us receiving helping hands from all around the world. All the way from the United States, three students from Mrs. Burlend's classes in Manteno, IL sent us school supplies for the children's group at our church. The group is small but growing, and the kids here are so excited that they can have things like crayons, glue, markers, colored pencils, etc. This will really help with their crafts from now on! They had so much fun using them this morning!

These pictures are from church this morning, when the kids got to use their new supplies during children's church. Thanks, kids!


From here in South Africa, the helping hands that we received were those of our family doctor, Dr. Jardim. Yes, unfortunately, Jake had a little accident on his bike and ended up with 5 stitches in his forehead this past Monday. It was a pretty scary time for us (especially Tricia, who was home when it happened), but everything worked out okay. We thank God that we have such ready access to good medical care here in South Africa, it's a blessing we often take for granted that many of our counterparts throughout the rest of Africa do not enjoy.

So, it's been an interesting week, but all is well in the Johnson house. We have a team from Southern Nazarene University that is in southern Africa doing AIDS relief work, and we are housing a couple of members of the team. They just got here yesterday, but Jake is loving the attention already. More on that next week...

Praises and Prayer Requests

Well, we are especially thankful that Jake is okay, other than a few stitches. Things could have been a lot worse, and we praise God that they were not. Part of the perils of having a little boy in the house!

We are also thankful for the support of everyone back home, in so many different ways. From those who send school supplies, to those who send money, to those who send e-mails and letters of encouragement, to those who pray for us daily, we are so thankful for each of you and everything that you do!

Please remember us in prayer this week...

-- For Jake's follow-up doctor appointment on Tuesday, to hopefully get his stitches out. He winced when I touched his "boo-boo" today, so pulling the stitches out will probably be a bit of a bad time for him.
-- That we would be good hosts to our SNU students so that they can rest well and make a big impact on those afflicted by AIDS in this area.
-- For wisdom and perseverance to do whatever God wants us to accomplish this week

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake