It is hard to believe that our last journal entry was near the end of 2003.So much has happened during the interim time, which we were privileged to be a part of, that it is hard to get started.

We were blessed to be able to assist, because of your gifts, one of the Baptist Convention churches in the Johannesburg area to put in a baptismal pool.Because of the limited space in the church building, the pool had to be erected outdoors.Many of the members in this church are from other African countries such as Zimbabwe, Uganda, Burundi, the Congo and Mozambique and many of them are refugees.Some of these people fled their country because of war or other civil unrest and came only with the shirts on their backs.They need your support and the love of God that can be expressed through you by your financial and prayer contributions.

We have started a bible study group, which meets on Tuesday nights.The bible study is comprised of domestic house workers, gardeners and the unemployed that live in our neighborhood.It is a bible study but it is also a place where the participants, mostly women, can meet and talk and pray about the problems they encounter in their lives. Our house is known as "the house you go to if you want to be prayed for."Some of the bible study participants have asked for Sunday morning worship service, so when they are not working, we have worship service at our house on Sunday mornings.One of the most prevalent problems is the women must work away from their homes for months at a time.Most of them do not get to visit their children except during Easter, Christmas and maybe a school holiday in between. This makes it very difficult to impart their values to their children because someone else is raising them.The bible study talks help them to maximize their visits with their family and it spiritually and emotionally sustains them while they are working in the Johannesburg area and their families are miles away.

Several of the women have come to Christ through our Tuesday night bible study.One woman, Pauline, came with a friend who came for prayers.Pauline told us she had never heard about Jesus Christ, nor had anyone ever shared with her, the saving knowledge of Christ.She was bound, like many others here, by ancestral worship, animism and spiritism.Her major concern was that she had not done "the works", for her daughter who died 2 years ago."The works" she was referring to was to gather people together, sprinkle snuff and homemade "bantu" beer on the ground, mixed with the blood of a goat or sheep, in order for one's soul to have eternal peace, to keep other bad spirits away, as well as give one good luck in life.We explained to her that she did not have to do this but that "the work" had already been done, more that 2000 years ago, and eternal peace for our soul has been provided by the shed blood and resurrection of Jesus.What was up to her was believing in Jesus, and accepting this free gift of God.After a couple of hours of speaking, sharing Scripture with her (translated into Zulu, her mother tongue), Pauline came to the understanding and acceptance of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Another one of the women came to our home one Tuesday night without a bible.We gave her one and evidently she told her family back in Zimbabwe about the gift.The following week she came for bible study and she had a few Rand (South Africa's currency) in her pocket to purchase a bible for her sister back in Zimbabwe.We had one more Zulu bible left so we gave it to her, at no cost, as a gift.She told us that her sister "really wanted a bible-she did not want shoes or food but she wanted a bible."This is significant seeing that Zimbabwe is suffering from severe food and petrol shortages.Apparently, the word of God was much more important to her than these other material things.

Charles was asked to minister in Zimbabwe and saw first-hand the suffering and poverty there.He experienced the food and fuel shortages and saw that where there is food it is incredibly expensive.The fortunate people from Zimbabwe, who work in South Africa, purchase what foodstuff and other items they can and bring these items back with them by bus, car or train back to Zimbabwe to family members.

Please continue to pray for us that God would continue to protect us as we seek to minister to our brothers and sisters on this side of the world.

Blessings, the West family