The Underwood Family

Missionaries to Argentina

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November 2017 Underwood Family Prayer Letter

November has been a very exciting and fruitful month here in South Africa! We have been running on all eight cylinders all month long and there’s no slowing down in sight!

So far this month, we’ve had a Missions Emphasis Sunday, a Youth led Thursday evening midweek service, and a special Thanksgiving Sunday and meal after! All of these services have been super special and I am blown away at how the folks at Soweto Baptist Church have been serving one another!

During our Missions Sunday, we prayed for the countries of China, India, and Argentina. We prayed for the Tolson’s, and Johnson’s in China, the Roberts and Elrod’s in India, and the Henry’s and King’s in Argentina! It was exciting to see our folks lifting up these folks in a special time of prayer!

During our Youth led service, Likhaya, Athule, and Apiwe each brought a 10 minute message that was very powerful. They spent several hours and days preparing and working to bring solid bible messages. Sibusiso (Skere) led our song service as well and did a fantastic job!

We had 82 people in attendance for our special Thanksgiving service last Sunday! Somehow, we fed almost 100 🙂 I think a few might have slipped in after the service… but we had a blast! One thing that really stuck out to me was how our leaders served everyone else first, including children. They ran out of food before they were able to get a plate, yet they were just thrilled to serve. It really was a show of Philippians 2:3! We made sure they had something to eat afterwards!

Tonight, we will be having a candle light Lord’s Supper service together! I am greatly looking forward to being with the folks as we remember the sacrifice that Christ made on our behalf and display that sacrifice as we worship by taking part in the Lord’s Supper!

Some prayer requests to remember:

  1. Camp is just 3 weeks away! There are still several teens that need to be sponsored, so if you would like to help sponsor a teen, you still have time! Just designate any gift to:
    Vision Baptist Missions
    Attn: Stephen Underwood/Camp
    P.O. Box 442
    Alpharetta, GA 30009

  2. Continue praying for Soweto Baptist Church and the Hall family as they are Stateside for a short furlough! We miss them greatly and are looking forward to their return!

  3. Continue praying for Ashlee and me as we continue learning and practicing Xhosa! We are still a long way from where we desire or even need to be in order to be effective at ministering in this country!

Thank you all for your continued love, prayers, and support for our family! We are eternally grateful!

Your Missionaries to South Africa,

Stephen, Ashlee, Peyton, Eli, and Neyland
The Underwood Family
Acts 20:24
southafricamissions.com

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A Sunday in South Africa

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My family and I started our Lord’s day at Soweto Baptist Church where we attend each week while we are in language school! Jeremy Hall is greatly being used of God and there is a goldmine of young men being trained to carry the gospel around the world!

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After services at Soweto Baptist, I headed over to the second service at Madiba Bay Baptist Church. This is the first church started by Bro Kevin Hall during his first term in South Africa. Madiba Bay just celebrated their 9th anniversary last Sunday! Pastor Lubabalo is one of the first young men that Kevin met when he arrived on the field!

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Then, at 4:00 pm, me and a few from Madiba Bay headed over to the afternoon service of New Life Baptist Church Kwadwesi! Mark Coffey and Pastor Sipho Bonga are doing a tremendous job reaching the Kwadwesi area with the gospel! Just this morning, they baptized two men and had several others express interest in following the Lord in Believer’s Baptism!

Today, like every Sunday, I can lay my head on my pillow and say; “It sure has been good to be in the house of the Lord today!”

Thank you all for your continued love, prayers, and support of our family!

Your Missionaries to South Africa,

Stephen, Ashlee, Peyton, Eli, and Neyland
Acts 20:24
southafricamissions.com

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The Prayer Room

Ludwig Von Zinzendorf, at age nineteen, was attending college at the University of Wittenberg. There he saw a painting of Christ, in agony, hanging on the cross, and an inscription that read; “All this I did for you, what are you going to do for Me?”

From that day on, Ludwig Von Zinzendorf dedicated his life to spreading the gospel message to the world. During his ministry, he started a 24 hour, seven days a week prayer vigil that lasted for 120 years! As a result, the Moravians, over the next 20 years sent out more missionaries throughout the world than the Protestants or Anglicans did the 200 years before. Souls were won to Christ, revivals spread throughout Germany and Europe, missionaries were trained and sent as a result of prayer!

This morning, I had the privilege to meet and pray in a room modeled after the Zinzendorf prayer vigil. For the past 4 years this place has been open to the public for private prayer, devotions, and personal worship. With a melody of music playing in the background, and the lyrics pulled straight from the scriptures; there was certainly a reverence and heart-tugging sensation of the Holy Spirit interceding on my behalf.

I prayed for our college students, I prayed that a great moving of God would ignite from within and spread like a wild fire across the world. I prayed for my pastor, and our church. I prayed for my family, and myself, that we would be vessels used by God. I prayed for Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, India, China, and the U.S. I prayed for missionaries in those places, and that the Lord would send forth more laborers into His harvest.

Most of all, I prayed that my personal walk, and relationship with Jesus would grow and mature each and every day! Remaining in the spirit of prayer, I pray now that revival would come to the hearts of the believers, and that souls would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!

Will you also pray? It’s amazing what the Holy Spirit will do in your life personally, if you will simply intercede for others!

Stephen Underwood
Acts 20:24
www.stephenunderwood.net