I’m penning this from Kiev, Ukraine. I’m here for a week to conduct Ubabalo TOT with 60 key leaders from 15 Russian-speaking countries. Many of these leaders are involved in influential local church and city-wide sport ministries. I count it a huge privilege to be given this opportunity to invest into their lives and I’m grateful for your support.

Wan Yi is now 11 weeks pregnant. We saw the doctor this week and the baby’s heartbeat is strong. Fortunately, we only heard one heartbeat. I don’t think we can cope with quintuplets at this moment. <grin> Her general well-being is improving though the nausea rears its head once every so often.

I’m home for a week after Ukraine, before heading to Johannesburg for another week of The Ultimate Goal (TUG) Conference.

Please pray for the following:
1. My trip to Ukraine.
2. WY and Emma as they forge ahead without me.
3. Pray for strength and focus as I have many trips to make for 2nd half of 2009. These are commitments made prior to us finding out about the 2nd pregnancy. These are sacrifices that we’ve decided to make as a family in order to be obedient to God’s calling for us in Africa.

We will be adding to our family … seriously, this is not a prank. We saw the doctor today and Wan Yi is 6 weeks pregnant! We trying to imagine the look on your face right now …

Was it planned? Well, we were planning to have a second child … but this was certainly sooner than we had imagined! This will be an interesting journey for us and Emma. Continue to keep Wan Yi in your prayers as she feels this pregnancy is different to the first one, e.g. more nausea, some back pain and stomach cramps.

Prayer:
1. The SA elections was a very democratic and peaceful process. Continue to intercede for the elected leaders to lead with vision, integrity, transparency and purpose.
2. Emma continues to be a great joy. We’ve added more photos & videos on the blog.
3. Praise God for the safe return from Namibia. We had a fruitful training with a small but good group of 7 leaders representing different ministries and churches.
4. Sue Jern arrived safely from Malaysia. She’ll be living with us for 6 months and has begun her serving in Kuyasa – a holistic community development centre.

The days have flown by since our last update in January. We are doing well as a young and small family. Emma turned 9 months old and is a bundle of energy.

We will soon be adding to our family. Now before you get too excited … what we mean is that a friend from Malaysia is coming to live with us as she commits to serve Ubabalo and various other community development projects for 6 months.

For the very first time in the past 2 years, we will travel as a family for a training trip. John is conducting an Ubabalo Training of Trainers (TOT) in Windhoek, Namibia. The goal of each TOT is to gather a group of spiritually mature men/women from a diverse spectrum of churches and ministers across the country, who will spend 4 days together to be transformed spiritually & attitudinally, strengthened relationally, and equipped with relevant knowledge & skills to impact coaches and players through life coaching.

Peace is such a fragile thing. Both Liberia and Kenya which John visited in January showed us that one cannot life without regard for another. The widening gap between the haves and have-nots is a space which allows dissension, envy and violence to birth and fester. John had to defer trips to Madagascar and Zimbabwe these past few weeks due to the worsening instability.

Thank you for your continued support. Though numerous responsibilities occupy our energies and time, we still frequently think of you.

Prayer:
1. The national elections for SA is on 22 April. Pray for pre and post-election peace. Pray that the rule of law will prevail. Pray that men and women of righteousness will rise up and stand for truth and justice. Pray that the people of SA will take hold of their destiny and become the bread basket of Africa.
2. Strength for Wan Yi as Emma develops rapidly. If she continues at the same rate of growth, she will be walking by the 10th month.
3. Pray for safe travels as we drive to Namibia. It is 1,4000km from where we live, one-way. Pray that Ivan Smit, the main training organizer, will be successful in recruiting the right strategic participants.
4. Pray for Sue Jern as she raises her support in preparation for her service trip to South Africa.
5. Pray for continued good health. Work & time pressure is increasing as we approach the Confederations Cup and World Cup. Many mobilizational efforts are under way to rally churches and leaders to render their service to the 2010 Local Organizing Committee and local communitites. We’ll further elaborate in our subsequent update.
6. Thanksgiving: We have found a tenant to rent our apartment in KL/PJ.

We had a very productive (and hectic) time back in Malaysia meeting family members, friends and our ministry partners. The yummy Malaysian cuisine was very satisfying!

I returned (alone) to South Africa on 7 January, but Wan Yi and Emma stay on in Malaysia till 15 February. I just realised that we will not be together during our Wedding Anniversary (7 Feb) and Valentine’s Day. Sigh!

Do keep me in your prayers as I will be traveling to Monrovia (Liberia) and Nairobi (Kenya) from 16 Jan – 5 Feb to conduct Ubabalo Training of Trainers. Monrovia will be especially interesting as the participants include leaders from the Liberian Sports Coalition, the Ministry of Youth & Sports, the Liberia Football Association and Churches.

Prayer items:
1. Overally safety and that I won’t contract malaria during my travels
2. John’s father doing a medical check-up on Monday – that all will go well
3. Humanitarian crisis in Gaza