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PO Box 1522, Kimberley 8300 ** www.einfeldtfamily.org** 02 July 2008

Dear friends and supporters,

This is just a short note to let you know that our website has been updated.  Especially the Photos page, and e-letters.  If you’ve never visited our website, we invite you to do so.  If you have, you may especially want to check out the updated Photo page.  The website address is above between our postal address and the date.  Just click on it or copy and paste it into your browser. 

The schools in South Africa are recessed for the winter holiday now, so we are using the time to catch up on visiting people we have not seen, doing office work, and in general getting ready for Term #3 of the school year.  Today is one of our special teen’s birthdays.  Joyce wanted to come over anyway, to have “Uncle René” help her with a biology project, so she spent part of the day with us.  Sonia made Joyce her favourite “American brownies”.  She said this was the first time she had ever blown out candles on her birthday.  (She had seen other people with candles, but never had them, so she said it was special.) We recently were able to help out some area churches who had invited a speaker for a theological refresher course for pastors who haven’t had much training, but the three pastors who invited him all needed to be out of town for the weekend before the seminar, so we agreed to host this guest for three nights.  We enjoyed having him here!  [Our guest room is open for use – who’s next?  You are welcome.] There is a new baby overdue (one of the former teens from the Florianville youth group) and there is much sickness, so we are anticipating additional visitation in homes and the hospital soon, as well.  Just before the holidays, Brigitte, a friend of ours who had worked with us in Life Skills for the children’s homes, went with Sonia to look for a venue to re-start that Life Skills/Bible study with the children’s homes.  It looks like we will have use of a large classroom at a school that is very centrally located for the children’s homes.  Pray that this programme can be re-started soon after school re-opens! 

 We recently organised a meeting between a young, newlywed pastoral couple, and some “veteran” missionaries to Senegal.  The young couple plan to go to Senegal as missionaries in a few years, but the wife, who is pregnant with their first baby, had some valid concerns and fears about bringing up children in such an “uncivilised” environment.  Both couples met at our house (over tea and cake, of course), to allow this couple’s questions to be answered.  We were able to get them a DVD of mission work in Senegal, and we ourselves answered some questions about living and ministering in West Africa.  The two couples have now exchanged e-addresses so they can continue to be in touch, in case there are further questions.  Pray for this young couple, Pastor Warren and Mamou Theys, who are so eager and willing to serve the Lord. 

 Our thanks goes out to those who have already expressed some interest in providing more DVDs for Ambassadors Resource Centre.  Those resources will certainly be a great start in helping provide what we need to help others! 

 UPDATE on our KIDZ!  Ryan and Rachel made it safely back to the US, and have located a flat in Chicago where they are setting up house.  They embarked yesterday on a trip to Atlanta to pick up our car which we left with René’s cousin.  They will stop briefly to see relatives in SC, and then on to Cheraw, SC where Kurt, as well as Calvary Baptist Church (Ryan and Kurt’s home church), will receive them.  We are imagining Kurt and Ryan and Rachel all being together soon, and would love to be there to enjoy them all.  Most of Ryan and Rachel’s wedding gifts were stored at the church building last year, so they will fill the car with as many as they can possibly take back to Chicago with them. 

 Happy July!  Enjoy the month.  Imagine!  Half of 2008 is already history!  Two of our children (Kurt and Rachel) have birthdays and we will celebrate our 32^nd wedding anniversary this month.  God is SO good to us!! 

 Blessings,

René and Sonia

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EINFELDTS in South Africa

Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc.

PO Box 1522, Kimberley 8300 ** www.einfeldtfamily.org ** 13 June 2008

 Dear prayer supporters,

WINTER is upon us here in South Africa.  We have had some bitterly cold mornings – cold, that is, for a country in which houses are not heated like those in the U.S.  And definitely cold for those of us who lived in the tropics for 14+ years!  So many people think: “You can’t possibly be cold; you live in AFRICA!”  Yes, we do, but the next land mass south of us is Antarctica!  We’ve had mornings down to 0 degrees (32 degrees Fahrenheit) with hard frost on the ground and windscreens of the cars.  Try that kind of WEATHER in the U.S. with your furnace OFF.  It DOES get nippy in the house.  We thank God for the abundance with which He has blessed us.  We know that while we sleep in a WARM WATERBED with blankets, and have some little space heaters in our house, many in this country, and probably even some of our students, are not nearly as WARM each night.   

We’ve had some INTERESTING discussions and conversations in our classes lately, as well as written comments and questions.  PRAY for our students!  There is much in this world that is calling to them to do drugs to have “fun”, to be “fulfilled” by giving themselves sexually before marriage, and other temptations for IMMORALITY.  We also have a class of married couples in which there are some serious needs – please PRAY for them, and for us as we teach them.

Here are a few questions from some of our teen students: “My father is drinking alcohol and smoking.  What can I say so that he could stop this?  Help me please.”  “My friend is smoking and now he is in hospital because of smoking.  I am smoking too; please help me Mr. and Mrs. E to stop smoking.  I started smoking when I was 14 years old.  People say I already look old in my face.”    
…and some notes from students of what they have learnt in our classes:

“Mr. and Mrs. E helped me because now I know what is abortion and what to do to not have sex when you are not married, and not drink alcohol and smoke drugs, etc.  And when you are married love your wife and do not play games.”  “I can help a person with this knowledge.  I am going to help my mother quit smoking.”  “Thank you, you make me clever because these things [that you taught] are important to us.  If you did not teach us about these things we will know nothing about them.  Mr. and Mrs. E. are great teachers; we all love Mr. and Mrs. E.”  “I learned about saving sex until marriage so that I can have a safer life and I learnt about things that are not good for my health and could damage my brain cells.  Drugs can destroy my goals in life and can destroy my future life.”  “Mr. & Mrs. E made me realize that drugs are so dangerous that even if you’re over 18 or matured enough you must not use them because they can take everything a person has.  And stay away from sex till I have my own house and wife.  Thank you very much Mr. & Mrs. E.”  “Mr. & Mrs. E helped me – I must not take drugs.  I must not have sex now.  You helped me I must not do stupid things!”  “From Mr. & Mrs. E I learned that I can abstain until I get married.  They told us you win or lose by the way you choose; decide to decide right.  I have a freedom of speech and to say no if someone bribes me to have drugs.  I have a right to take care of my body.”  (We could go on and on with these comments, but PRAY for our students, and the commitments some have made! – Thank you!)

The NEW Ambassadors Resource Centre is NOW open, as from June 3!  We are excited that it is ready to be used.  We have not yet had as many come to use it as we had hoped but with time and word of mouth we are sure that many will come.  PRAY with us that God will use this resource in the lives of many, especially believers, to strengthen their walk with Christ and their witness to others here in Kimberley. 

God allowed us to leave a film to watch and some worksheets for our students while we took a TRIP to Botswana recently for a week of the School of Discipleship for Face the Nation, a Christian, abstinence-based programme that is going into all the senior secondary schools of Botswana.  It was so exciting to see these young people excited and eager to get God’s TRUTH out to these schools, and eagerly drinking in the TEACHING from the 5-week School of Discipleship.  Our friend with whom we used to minister in Kimberley is now living there and is involved in heading up the School of Discipleship for this wonderful programme.  She invited us for the week to hear Pam Stenzel, a renowned American speaker on the subject of purity and abstinence.  We LOVED getting to know her and hear her, LOVED seeing our friend and being encouraged by being able to “talk shop” with her – we understand each other well because we share the same goals for ministry outreach.  And we were able to pick up several new ministry resources, as well!  We praise the Lord for being able to make that TRIP!  PRAY for these 135 university-age young people who are now teaching TRUTH all over Botswana in the schools. 

The END of May marked the EXIT from our property of Mona Lisa, who insisted on going her own way.  Please PRAY that God will turn her around before she is in deep trouble.  We found some papers after she left indicating that she had been continuously lying to us.  L  This month marked the END of the school year in Cameroon for Ryan and Rachel, and they have just returned to the U.S.  Please pray as they get settled and find jobs for this next year, and seek God’s face as to what He wants them to do in their future.  Kurt anticipates taking on responsibility for the website of a Christian organisation building hospitals in Africa.  We thank God for His working in our children’s lives. 

RISING costs have brought hardships to the people of South Africa – whereas the petrol price was until RECENTLY just over a dollar per litre ($4 a gallon) the price has RISEN to about $1.30 per litre now, and forecasts say it will be over $2.00 a litre ($8 per gallon) by the end of this year.  This, of course, affects food costs which have RISEN drastically.  Poor people are greatly affected.  Many in South Africa are taking their frustrations out on illegal foreigners who have come and, in their estimation, “stolen their jobs”.  Some legal foreigners have also been caught in the cross fire.  Pray for this violence to be contained and for the prices also to be contained! 

 Even though WINTER is hard on our bodies (and spirits!) this time of year, we are always thankful for the promise and hope that the SUN brings when it shines.  We are also thankful for the promise and hope that the SON brings in the lives of those to whom we minister.  Whether the darkness is rising prices, hopeless home situations, peer pressure, or lack of knowledge, Psalm 119:130 says, “The entrance of Your words gives light.”  This is our theme verse for Ambassadors Resource Centre (ARC) and the theme of our ministry here in Kimberley.  Thank you for your prayers and support.  We LOVE ministering here.

 Warmed by the Son,

 René and Sonia Einfeldt

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mission:  Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc., PO Box 627, Longmont, CO 80502

sending church:  First Baptist Church, 39 E. Main Street, Randolph, NY 14772

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EINFELDTS in South Africa

Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc.

PO Box 1522, Kimberley 8300 ** www.einfeldtfamily.org ** 08 MAY 2008

Dear friends in Christ,

1 HOUSE, 2 BABIES

 Just a SHORT NOTE to let you know how the foreclosure sale went this afternoon.  During the sale we were able to be in phone contact with the lawyer and our friend who has Power of Attorney for us.  This was possible and affordable thanks to Skype, a programme that lets us call long distance (computer to phone) to the US for 2 cents a minute.  (Thanks, Lord, for technology!) 

 The sale, as these things usually go, did not last long.  The lawyer gave our opening bid, but from those who were there, there were no other bids.  As a couple we had discussed what we would ask for as an opening bid, and had also discussed it with two lawyers, the foreclosure lawyer and one here in South Africa.  This means the house now reverts back to being our house.  It is not the answer we were hoping for, but we must trust our Sovereign Lord that this is His plan.  There is not really a feasible way for us to go to the US now to clean and fix up this house to get it ready for sale.  Nor is it feasible that we wait to do it (and meanwhile pay NY taxes!) till we next go back to the US in 2010!  We have been told that possibly some folks from our supporting churches will perhaps be willing to help us in this matter.  We pray that this will be so.  Please pray that it CAN be fixed up some, and that we will be able to find a buyer for the house as soon as possible. 

Here's another bit of BETTER news: Shortly after the dedication of the new building for the church we helped to start in Mali, the pastor’s wife (the one who for 11 years could not have children, then after the birth of her first child was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer but is now totally free of cancer) gave birth to a healthy, big baby boy, named William Eliakim Drissa Thera.  William is for the man who worked so hard to help Mariam get to the US for cancer treatments, Eliakim is a good strong Bible name, and Drissa is the uncle who helped to bring up Mariam from age 3 till her marriage.  They will dedicate themselves to the Lord to bring him up in God’s ways, this Sunday, on Mother’s Day. 

AND --- just today we received word of another baby boy being born – Liam Thomas Niehoff put in his appearance this morning at 7:50 a.m., in the hospital in Welkom where our colleagues, Brian and Lois, are ministering.  He is their first child.  We praise the Lord for Liam’s safe delivery! 

 THANKS for your prayers!  You – and they – are a blessing to us.

 Because of His grace,

René and Sonia Einfeldt

mission:  Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc., PO Box 627, Longmont, CO 80502

sending church:  First Baptist Church, 39 E. Main Street, Randolph, NY 14772

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EINFELDTS in South Africa

Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc.

PO Box 1522, Kimberley 8300 ** www.einfeldtfamily.org ** 05 MAY 2008

Dear Prayer Partners,

MAYDAY!! MAYDAY!!

 Where did this distress call come from?  It apparently comes from the French, a language we used in C.A.R. and Mali.  In French, “m’aidez”, which means “HELP ME!”,  sounds somewhat like “MAYDAY”.

 We DO feel sometimes like we’re in over our heads and need to shout this call to ask God for HELP!  We have done so many times in the past few weeks.  You may remember that we have a teenage girl living here at our house (a back room with her own bath).  We’ll try to make this loooong story a bit short, but basically we took her in because she was in an abusive relationship with a boyfriend, and since he was paying for her rent and food each month she felt trapped and could not leave him.  So we offered a way OUT.  Recently we learned she had been deceiving us and had rekindled a relationship with him.  We, and a friend who has been supporting her, said, “There is to be NO CONTACT with him.”  Mona Lisa has increasingly been acting out the past few weeks, going out for all night several nights without our having any clue where she is.  We finally served her with a notice that she needed to be out in a month – that this was not what WE wanted but that things had to change drastically or she was definitely going to have to move.  She chafed and was torn because she said she knows that we are trying to HELP her, but she’s never had someone who cared where she is all night, and she finds it quite confining!  We can understand that but we told her that while she was here, she didn’t have to AGREE with the rules, she just had to follow them.  And the first rule was that there had to be some accountability as to where she was and with whom and when she would be home at night.  Or, the other choice: she could find other lodging.  Twice she apologised and agreed to live under our rules, even signing a contract to that effect (on the advice of a local pastor of her culture), but then within a day or two, broke the contract and was back to being out all night without letting us know anything.  Recently when she sneaked out, she was beaten.  We suspect it was the abusive boyfriend.  Even that does not seem to have brought her to good sense!  Since she is demanding her “freedom” (by her attitude and behaviour) we are going to have to give it to her, praying that God will use that drastic step to eventually bring her back to Himself and to some good sense.  It’s been quite a “roller coaster ride” and we have often shot up a “MAYDAY!” to the Lord!  We will appreciate your prayers – please pray James 1:5 for us.  And please PRAY for Mona Lisa – a girl as beautiful as her name implies, and smart – but not being smart in her choices of lifestyle lately.  We have made it clear that any “MAYDAYs” she has in the future, we will always be here to love, counsel, and guide her.  We rest in the knowledge that we did all we could have possibly done for her, and now must leave her in God’s capable hands. 

 May Day came in sunny but cool.  Mornings are COLD and we’re wearing jackets now.  Our “new” car, we discovered, has heated front seats.  Oh, those feel SOOO nice on our way to class in the cold at 7 a.m.!!  Thank you, Lord, for this HELP as we face winter

 The director of one of the Children’s homes that we used to have Life Skills classes with has contacted the friend who worked with us in Life Skills last year saying her own version of “MAYDAY” – that she sees a difference in the lives of the children between when they HAVE a Life Skills class and when they do not.  She says that she really hopes we will restart the Life Skills programme for the children soon.  We are exploring this opportunity, to see if we can find a venue (place to meet) and have perhaps a Life Skills/Bible Study combination.  God HELPED us with the first class we taught at the couples’ group of Evangelical Bible Church.  We are scheduled to give the second class on Friday May 16^th. 

 We have made progress this past month toward getting the Ambassadors Resource Centre opened in an extra bedroom of our home.  PRAY that we will soon be able to finish the final details.  We have already been informally checking books and videos out to certain people who needed the resources.  We find we have lots of good books and some videos and dvds, but we are lacking good evangelistic and other Christian DVDs.  So we’ll send this out as a “MAYDAY” or “SOS”, that if any of our prayer supporters have or know where they can get any evangelistic or other good Christian DVDs to send us, we’d be grateful to place them in our Resource Centre – they would be a wonderful resource for us to make available to area churches.  If you need a list of possibilities, we can provide it, or you may know of some of which we are not aware. 

 It’s always gratifying to hear our students state something clearly that we’ve been trying to get across.  After talking all year about taking responsibility for our own actions, not blaming others, having accountability, deciding to decide right, etc., we were recently discussing family relationships in one of our schools.  One young man stated that he felt that “families would be a lot better off if all family members would start exercising self-discipline”!  He’s right – and he got the message.  We regularly get questions from our students that are challenging and they make us again ask God to HELP us!  We are also often asked by students for HELP, assistance in HELPing them encourage their friends to do right in a certain situation, asking for us to HELP them figure out what to do in a problem area of their own lives.  As we HELP them, we are conscious that we need to constantly ask God, “MAYDAY – m’aidez!”  “HELP me, Father” – so that we can HELP point them in the right direction. 

 Finally, one last time we would ask you to please send a MAYDAY prayer to God for our house situation in New York.  The lawyer has been incredibly slow in giving us ANY timely news.  By our calling New York we have found out that the foreclosure sale is to happen this week on Thursday, 8 May, at 10 a.m. EDT.  The lawyer says that there will NOT be much hope of any HELP in getting any money out of the family who trashed the house – in any case we’d have to “get in line” to get our share of what they owe several.  Just please pray that God will provide a buyer to give a good and fair price for the house and that we will be able to close the book on the chapter of owning that house.  Thanks! 

 We appreciate so much all of you who DO HELP us by strengthening our hands through your prayers, asking God to HELP the Einfeldts in their ministry!  Thank you for those who “MAYDAY” us with finances so we can be here ministering.  God is using you in this ministry and we appreciate your HELP! 

 Thankful that God is a present HELP in any trouble,

 René and Sonia Einfeldt

mission:  Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc., PO Box 627, Longmont, CO 80502

sending church:  First Baptist Church, 39 E. Main Street, Randolph, NY 14772

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EINFELDTS in South Africa

Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc.

PO Box 1522, Kimberley 8300 ** www.einfeldtfamily.org ** 31 March 2008

Dear Prayer Partners,

 Yes, we KNOW that we just sent you an e-letter but we need to let you in on a bit more news concerning our mission. 

 This weekend marked the Homegoing of a great missionary statesman, the founder and director of our mission, David Seefried.  Twice before, much earlier in his life, he was “supposed to” die, humanly speaking.  He had liver and kidney failure, resulting in transplants.  During one of those occasions he and his family returned to the US from their mission field in Germany, but he didn’t sit waiting for better health – he planted a church in Rochester, NY!  It was about that time that we first met Seefrieds.  We were a young couple expecting our first son and working in what is now our sending church.  René’s father, who was pastor of the church at that time, asked David to come for a week of special meetings, toward the end of 1979, and, with much fear and trembling, we (quite inexperienced in offering hospitality!) offered to house Pastor Seefried for the week.  The last day of the meetings his wife Sally joined him along with their two youngest daughters.  So gracious and kind they were to us as a young couple just starting out in ministry! About a year later he invited us to speak at a missionary conference in his church in Rochester, NY.  That’s how our friendship started. 

 We didn’t really meet again till God had given Seefrieds a burden for the situation with the orphans in South Africa due to the AIDS pandemic.  They invited us to join them in that ministry, and after a trip to South Africa,  when David began Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc., we were led to that work as the first full-time missionaries with Ambassadors.  Renewing our friendship with Seefrieds and partnering with them in the Lord’s work has been a highlight of our missions career. 

 David Seefried was a visionary who expected great things from his God and attempted great things for his God.  Now his vision is being realised as God has blessed the mission with over a dozen missionaries; in fact, Louis and Amber O’Tool have joined the team  at The Pines in Welkom as of a few weeks ago!

 We knew when Ambassadors began that some day this day would come – when David would no longer be at the head of the mission.  The board members have committed themselves to continuing the work of Ambassadors, with David’s wife Sally and their son Michael heading up the day by day operations.  In fact, Michael was just in South Africa this past week – the last week of his father’s life – continuing the work that his father had started.  We appreciated his coming to Kimberley and meeting with us, as well as meeting some of the precious friends with whom we have worked in Kimberley.  He was able to meet “Via” and see her little baby, was able to go with us to comfort a lady and her sister-in-law, friends of ours who had just lost a husband and brother.  Michael’s gift is administration and he is doing a tremendous job of helping our mission in that area. 

 Please PRAY for the Seefried family as they lay David’s body to rest and continue on with David’s dream of ministry.  Pray for all of us as missionaries as we continue the work God has entrusted to us, in spite of David’s being gone.  We are so thankful for his leadership and legacy. 

 We are on school holiday now and have come to Pretoria to look for a vehicle to replace our old 1988 Audi, as the car market in Johannesburg and Pretoria is MUCH larger than in Kimberley.  Our old car has run well for us but it’s time to replace it.  Pray that the new (to us!) car will serve us well for many years to come. 

 Thank you for your prayers, letters, support, and friendship! 

 René and Sonia Einfeldt

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mission:  Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc., PO Box 627, Longmont, CO 80502

sending church:  First Baptist Church, 39 E. Main Street, Randolph, NY 14772

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EINFELDTS in South Africa

Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc.

PO Box 1522, Kimberley 8300 ** www.einfeldtfamily.org ** 16 March 2008

RISES and FALLS in South Africa, or, “What goes up, must come down.”

There is a definite chill in the air that we did not feel two weeks ago.  Whether we are ready for it or not, our FALL of the year has started, whereas it won’t be long till those of you in the Northern Hemisphere are basking in RISING temperatures, while our thermometer will FALL to freezing and below, and we’ll be shivering in homes with no central heat.  Yes, it DOES get cold in Africa, this far south.  Remember that the next body of land south of South Africa is Antarctica!  No, we don’t see the snow FALL or experience the really awful weather of a New York winter, but we DO shiver in the cold from sometime in late April till about September.  SunRISE is definitely later these days.

                                                                                    We are completing the first term of school this week, before the FALL break.  Also at this time of year, besides noting the FALL of the year, we are also celebrating a RISE – the RISING from the dead of our wonderful Saviour!  May we all be reminded that the FALL of man was counteracted by God’s love allowing His Son to be RAISED up on a cross so that we could be RAISED up from the pit of sin. 

We’ve seen some other things RISE and FALL lately!

We’ve seen a notable RISE in petrol (gasoline) prices lately.  Apparently South Africa is not the only African country affected by this RISE, as Ryan and Rachel reported the same thing in Cameroon.  For awhile their taxi drivers were RISING up in protest, but they report things are much calmer now, for which we praise God.  Of course a RISE in petrol has already begun to mean a RISE in other prices as well.  Pray for us as we make wise use of the funds God gives us.  We ARE happy that lately there has been some RISE of the US Dollar against the South African Rand, which helps our support money stretch a bit farther, as well as God RAISING up a couple of other individual supporters since our last letter.  We THANK Him for them!

                                                With the RISING petrol costs, and the definite FALL of reliability and of how many kilometres we can get per litre of petrol with our 20-year-old car, the need to replace it has been RAISED in our minds.  PRAY that God will RAISE up the funds for this replacement (the cost of used vehicles has RISEN sharply) and that He will soon direct our eyes to FALL on just the right vehicle for us. 

 Update on our poor, abused house in East Randolph, NY: Several times over the past few months, the lawyer handling this case has said he would keep us updated or send us information, but has FALLEN down on his job.  We’ve called several times and RAISED the question: “What is going on with the foreclosure?”  He finally has a date for the foreclosure sale: May 6.  Would you please RAISE this request before the Lord, that He would RAISE up a good buyer for our house and that we can let this matter FALL once and for all?  Your prayers are appreciated! 

                                                                        The big news in Kimberley is that our famous landmark, the Big Hole, the old open mine in the middle of town, seems to be FALLING in at a measurable rate each year.  Experts recently recommended that the municipality close the portion of a national route through town that runs just 18 metres from the Big Hole, so it would not FALL in with the heavy traffic someday.  This did cause a lot of businesses along that stretch of the road, as well as taxi drivers and others who use that road daily, to RISE up and complain, but after much deliberation, the road was closed anyway.  Now some of the other parts of the city centre are complaining about the marked RISE in traffic congestion each day. 

 Hopes of our getting into the school at Boshof, where the older students were asking for someone to help them become Life Skills teachers for the younger Grade 7 students, seemed to FALL away recently as the new director of Scripture Union in the Northern Cape said that he would like to handle that school.  That is fine, as long as SOMEONE works with this school.  Last year the students asked for help and one man ROSE up to volunteer for this ministry.  But he FELL by the wayside and no one helped the students last year during our time in the US. 

                                                Recently, a small group of believers approached us about the need to RAISE up a fellowship on Sunday evenings for services and Wednesday evenings for prayer and Bible study, since a number of churches don’t have such meetings anymore and those in this group felt the need for more than just Sunday morning services.  God had RAISED up a lay preacher who was willing to do the main teaching, but they wanted us to join with them for guidance and to help in leadership.  After seeking the blessing of our home church pastor, we agreed to join with this group, as long as the initiative would come from them.  Not long after, we met with two young adults of that group to see about RAISING up a young adult fellowship.  Many of the young people or young adults that they had in mind for such a group had been eager participants in the youth group at another church when the leadership of that church decided to close the group down.  At that point, it seems that interest in the church FELL for those young people, and so they are not eager to see another group start.  Their interest in spiritual things has FALLEN.  Pray for these young adults who need consistent, solid Bible teaching.

                                                            This week we gave our students in one school a test; some did very well, but it was obvious that others had FALLEN asleep or FALLEN off the planet during some of our classes!  Their test marks FELL as a result.  But we are glad for the RISE in understanding of God’s plan for relationships that many of them have been exposed to this term. They have RAISED some very interesting questions!  Ask God to give them understanding hearts to counteract the awful teaching that the media and the culture give them every day.  Ask God to RAISE up godly young people to bring about a change in the FALLEN morals of this country.  We are still constantly grateful to God for how He RAISES up godly teachers here and there in many schools, and how He RAISED up all the helpers we needed in the schools for this school year. 

                                                            It’s been interesting having a teenage young lady living on our property!  Her – and our – emotions seem at times to go through a lot of RISES and FALLS.  This is a young lady that God is RAISING up from a very bad home background, and we do see her, even and especially after some of her FALLS, coming back, being repentant, and being RAISED to a closer relationship with her Lord.  Please pray for her as she continues to grow in Him.  Ask God for us to have the wisdom we need to help her in these times of RISING and FALLING, knowing that we, too, went through times like this when we were teens, and we came from Christian family backgrounds! 

 “Via”’s baby’s weight is RISING and she is doing well, home from the hospital at last.  Via’s CD4 count has RISEN, since she is now on medication, so we’re thankful. 

At a recent auction, our bid ROSE to be the highest for several matching RISERS, or bookshelves, for the resource centre we will be opening soon in one room of our home.  These have been a great help for us!  We have decided to call this new ministry God is RAISING up the Ambassadors Resource Centre, or ARC.  God has RAISED the number of books, videos, and DVDs we have for this resource centre, and we’ve been working hard on getting everything put into place so that we can officially open.  There are already some who have been borrowing books out of the library, even before we RAISE the sign above the door!  Please pray that these resources will be used in the RAISING of spiritual understanding for many South Africans, especially young people.

 We’re so thankful for the many prayer and financial supporters that God has RAISED up to help us as partners in the work here.  THANK YOU – May God’s richest blessings FALL on you!  As a special treat for Resurrection Week, we are enclosing a poem, heard in this morning's sermon.  

Because He ROSE for us,

René and Sonia Einfeldt

  mission:  Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc., PO Box 627, Longmont, CO 80502

sending church:  First Baptist Church, 39 E. Main Street, Randolph, NY 14772

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 THE FOLLOWING IS A RECENT UPDATE - THE ONES ABOVE ARE MORE RECENT

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EINFELDTS in South Africa

Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc.

PO Box 1522, Kimberley 8300 ** www.einfeldtfamily.org ** 20 January 2008

 Dear Prayer Colleagues,

 A new SCHOOL year has just started in South Africa!  Our SCHOOLS do not follow the northern hemisphere SCHOOL calendar, because the seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres are the opposite.  Our STUDENTS have just finished their summer holidays and are back for a new SCHOOL year now, in mid-January.  We begin teaching this week [21^st – 25^th] so we will appreciate your prayers.  It has become increasingly hard to find volunteers who will help as small-group leaders for our classes.  Just this week, two that we THOUGHT we had lined up have “fallen through”.  One will only be able to join us later, hopefully, because her husband is currently having health problems.  We are finding an apathy in churches here, just as in many parts of the US, toward anything that requires getting out of one’s comfort zone to minister to needy young people.  PRAY for enough committed small-group leaders!  PRAY for our STUDENTS, that they will have listening ears and hearts throughout this SCHOOL year.  PRAY for our preparation and teaching time, that we will be diligent in getting the message across. 

 Our former COLLEAGUE, Libbey Youngberg, was diagnosed with a gall bladder problem, and on 15 January had surgery to remove hers.  Please pray for a swift recovery for her. 

CHRISTMAS was fairly quiet here, but we were able to invite 4 people who had no home to go to (2 young people from children’s homes, a new, German volunteer from one of the homes, and a fireman whose wife and sons were out of town to visit family but he had to stay for work).  We had a great time.  Also at CHRISTMAS, we received an e-mail from our Malian pastor, Pastor Thera, with a picture of the new building for the Evangelical Baptist CHURCH of Bamako.  The CHURCH had begun to collect monies for this building while we were still in Bamako, so it was a thrill to see that the building is finally up.  The CHURCH began using it on CHRISTMAS Eve, with all the available seating full.  Praise the Lord with us for His ongoing work in Bamako. 

            Our ministry recently has been marked by more opportunities to COUNSEL young people.  Monalisa has come to live on our property, and we are finding that there is MUCH teaching in spiritual things needed in her young life.  PRAY for us that we rely on God and have HIS wisdom as we help Monalisa and other young people by pointing them to the right way.  We’re very aware that we are not “trained” COUNSELLORS, but are armed with God’s Word and life experience, so PRAY that we will also know when to ask advice of others and when to refer young people to someone with more expertise.

 One such case is a HIGH SCHOOL guy whom we’ll call “Lee”.  “Lee” was faithful in youth and in our Bible studies at the children’s home before we left for the US last year, but came to Christ for salvation while we were away.  However, sometimes things in the past can come back to haunt us.  He came to one of the youth leaders and was referred to us because he was experiencing some symptoms that pointed to the possibility of a Sexually Transmitted Disease.  He told us he had only had sex one time, before his salvation, with a girl who was obviously experienced and was pushing him to do it.  That one time gave him an STD.  René took him to a clinic for treatment which he is still taking.  We were able to have a long counselling / teaching session with him, talking about sin and forgiveness, becoming a renewed “soul virgin”, and living for God.  PRAY that God will HEAL him.  We ARE very thankful that he did NOT contract HIV through that experience.

            Some have also asked about our old and very abused HOUSE in East Randolph, NY.  After having made several phone calls to the US to try to get the lawyer moving, we have been informed that the foreclosure papers have finally been served on the former tenants.  Only NOW we find out that this is not the only loan on which they have defaulted.  This seems to be their lifestyle.  PRAY with us as the lawyer advertises the foreclosure auction for our house, that there will be people interested in buying it or even flipping it (fixing it up for resale) so that we can get that chapter of our lives closed.  Thank you! 

 After Christmas and New Year’s, since it was still holiday time, we took an OVERLAND TRIP to Pretoria and then Gaborone in Botswana to refresh ourselves by visiting with special friends.  While at our friends' home in Pretoria we had the added blessing of meeting a Malian couple who are in South Africa for studies, but who have been rather lonely (especially the wife since she doesn’t really speak English at all).  We were able to encourage them by speaking with them in French and in limited Bambara.  We were able to “introduce” them to our pastor and wife in Bamako, who share a surname with them [Thera], so when they return to Mali they will probably try to find Pastor Andre and Mariam Thera and the church.  In Gaborone, it was thrilling to see the huge ministry that God has opened up for our friend.  The government, seeing that what they have tried is not working to curb the AIDS pandemic there, has asked the church for help!  The Face The Nation ministry that God has begun was thrilling to learn about!  Gail is the main discipleship trainer for that.  She also has the OPPORTUNITY to be in the US for two weeks, presenting this ministry to some US supporters.  She’ll be away till the end of January.  While in Gaborone, we were put in touch with a couple who have started a Resource Centre.  We were able to gain a lot of knowledge from them about how to go about setting up such a centre, and we have begun to catalogue books in anticipation of opening our own centre here.  Also on our trip, we became again very aware that our car is getting OLD.  This year it celebrates its 20^th birthday.  It runs fine around town but on longer trips it shows its age, causing us to wait 30 minutes at various intervals while it “rests”.  PRAY with us about what we should do to replace it. 

Some of our prayer supporters have been wondering about the OUTCOME of “Via’s” pregnancy.  The doctor discovered that the fluid had receded from around the baby and she was no longer growing, so he took her by Caesarean.  The baby was born OH-SO-TINY, at ONLY 1,2 kilos (a little over 2 lbs. 10 oz.), and is in an incubator.  “Via” is still in a bit of pain – but her CD4 count has gone up, which means that the medicines are working in her body to fight the disease.  Praise the Lord with us for that, and please PRAY for this newlywed couple who have a long road ahead of them, due to her illness and because the baby is so tiny.  Pray that the baby can grow healthy and strong.  The baby was given medicine before birth to prevent her from contracting her mom’s disease. 

 With a little extra time since New Year's Day, and with the help of our mission’s new bookkeeper, we have been able to go back over all our finances for 2007 and get a clearer picture of where we are financially.  We have LEARNT a lot by doing this.  We find that two individual supporters have not been able to continue our support, and two other individuals and one church who had not previously been supporting, now seem to be doing so regularly.  We praise the Lord for that!  We also find that we were living in a “dream world” in regard to rent during our first 3 years in Kimberley.  We are now renting the largest house for the smallest amount of money of any of the houses we looked at – a gift from God – but still our rent has more than tripled.  With the weaker US Dollar against the South African Rand, with rising petrol [gasoline] and food prices, and with our desire to help meet the valid needs of some of those to whom we minister, our support had to be re-calculated.  We find that we are at 73% of needed support, which translates to LACKING $1,150 per month.  Will you pray with us that God will increase our support LEVEL?  Thanks! 

 THANK YOU for standing with us in PRAYER SUPPORT!  THANK YOU to those of you whom God has burdened to stand with us in FINANCIAL SUPPORT!  And THANK YOU to those who encourage us with COMMUNICATION SUPPORT (letters and e-mails).  May God continue to bless you all and challenge you out of your comfort zone to minister to those around you.  God has taken us WAY out of our comfort zone the last few years, and we are finding that He has met us each step of the way, and has provided the ability to do the ministry to which He has called us.  But we could not do it without you, and we appreciate you.

 For His glory,

 René and Sonia Einfeldt

mission:  Ambassadors International Ministries, Inc., PO Box 627, Longmont, CO 80502

sending church:  First Baptist Church, 39 E. Main Street, Randolph, NY 14772

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