​Happy New Year!

Dear Pastor and Churches,
​
   First I want to say thank you to all of those who gave us extra support for Christmas. This means so much to our family and we had a great Christmas and New Year. Being able to spend it with our family for the first time since 2017 was special and our children had a blessed time. If we are not scheduled to be with your church and you would like an update please contact me. I have already made a couple of update videos for some churches we couldn't be with and seemed to have a good response. Again we are so thankful for our supporters and we wouldn't be able to do what we do without you all!

   Since the first week of December, we have been traveling. And now we are about to head into our busiest time. We were blessed to be in Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Indiana, and Michigan. We had 1 new church partner with our ministry and we raised about $3,000 for our new church plant this month. Because of Covid, we have had about 7 meetings canceled in Dec and Jan but the Lord is a blessing and we know he will supply our needs for our support and church plant. Please continue to pray for the people of Motherwell. Please continue to pray for the people of Motherwell. God has put these people on my heart and they desperately need the Gospel.  We will be returning to South Africa in April and look to plant the church around late summer 2021. 

   We praise the Lord for the 22 souls saved and Camp Rhino Jr. Camp this year. Missionary Mark Coffey is looking to also have a teen camp, but with South Africa going on a lockdown, it has been pushed back. Although we know Covid is real and it can be scary we must not allow it to stop us from giving the Gospel. I know Mark feels this way as well and I ask that you pray for him as he seeks wisdom in dealing with this situation. Please also be in prayer for Missionary Jeremy Hall and Pastor Mxolisi and their new Church plant in Slovo. 
      

Church plant need - $40,000                                 Additional monthly Support needed - $600
Given - $7,000                                                          Given $180
Now need - $33,000                                                Still need - $420

Dear Pastors and praying friends. 

Dear Pastors and praying friends. 

   Thank you for the continued prayers and support. Your sacrifice allows us to serve South Africa.

   Although my wife and I have enjoyed time with our families over the holiday, we miss our South African home and family as well. We have already begun our traveling and we desire your prayers as we continue. After our battle with jet-lag, we are finally getting back to normal. Also, our children are getting comfortable with family and friends and enjoyed Thanksgiving. 

    This past week we heard of the sickness and passing of the father of Pastor Sipho Bonga. It is believed to be due to Covid-19. Please pray for Pastor Sipho, his wife Zukhanye, and their church. Pastor Sipho has been a help to my family in our language studies as well as our future church plant. Also remember the people of South Africa, some of the people do not have the health as other parts of the World and may be more susceptible to this virus. 
 
    Camp Rhino is proceeding with children's and youth camp this year. The summer is starting to heat up in SA and the youth get very excited for camps. Please pray for Missionary Mark Coffey as well as the pastors as they prepare. The camp will be in the first and second week of January this year instead of the week before Christmas as usual. Pray for salvation and for men to be called into service for Christ as well as the men preparing to preach to many unsaved during camp weeks. 

   Please continue to pray for our future church plant. We are asking God to raise $40,000 for this endeavor. We currently have raised nearly $3,000. There have been two churches that have promised to give to the church plant. If you would like to help you can visit three2thrive.org/giving and select "The Sullivans". Every dollar given we receive into this account will go directly into our Church plant fund. We still have some Wednesday nights and a few Sundays available if you are interested in hearing more about what God is doing in South Africa. 

State-side Address:                                                                              South Africa Address:
1009 Glasow Street                                                                             52 Redwing Court
Maryville, Tn 37801                                                                             Westering Hills 6025
865-978-1432                                                                                       Port Elizabeth, South Africa


Church plant need - $40,000                                 Additional monthly Support need - $600
Given - $3,000                                                          Given $50
Now need - $37,000                                                Still need - $550

Dear Pastors and praying friends,

   Last Tuesday, October 27 my wife and I began to hear rumors that South Africa may return to lockdown sometime in November. Whether South Africa returns to a lockdown or not, I am unsure, but if they return while we were still in the country, we would not have been able to leave for our furlough. After some council, we decided to return to the states about three weeks earlier than our original plan. We landed in Atlanta on October 31 and are spending some time with family before we start our meetings later this month. My children had a wonderful time surprising my parents. My family and I are happy to be back in our homeland but we miss our people in SA. 

    Because of the early exit, I was not able to finish my bible study in Motherwell. I was preaching over the foundations of the faith. We are saddened by this but also hopeful when we return to SA we can pick right back up where we left off. Since the first week of August, we have been meeting every Thursday. We have had as little as two and as many as 17 in the study. Also, we rejoice over a 17-year-old girl who accepted Christ at our last Bible study before we left. 

    This brings me to the main reason why we are taking our mini-furlough, to raise additional support and money for our first church plant. Motherwell is a city of over 150,000 people, and the area we work in, Mahlabathini has over 10,000 people. Most of the people are unemployed and have been hit hard by the quarantine. Once we start, we would be the only Baptist church in the area. We have finished our language studies and are ready to plant a church. As I mentioned in my last letter we are looking to raise about $40,000 for the new building project. We would also need funds for chairs, speakers, microphones, songbooks, pulpit, etc. If you are interested in us to come to present our work or give to the church plant you can contact me at my new phone number 865-978-1432 or email at missionarysullivan@gmail.com

   Even though we just arrived in America, we are eager to return to where God placed us to serve him. We loved our first two years in Port Elizabeth. My older children Mallorie 9 and Avett 6 are very happy to be stateside but, my younger children Silas 4, and Mercy 2 don't understand and wish to be back in South Africa. Either way, we are here in America until April 6. Pray for us as we begin to travel and tell about the work God is doing in South Africa. 

Church plant need - $40,000                                 Additional monthly Support need - $600
Given - $2,000                                                          Given $0 
Now need - $38,000                                                Still need - $600

Dear Pastor and praying friends,

      It is a joy to be serving the Lord in South Africa. We have continued our bible studies in Motherwell for 8 weeks. I am teaching a 10 part discipleship material but we have had so many new first-time visitors each week I have had to restart the program twice. But with only 6 weeks left before we return to the States, I am going to finish the entire program so those who have been faithless can receive their certificate of completion. Our numbers have been up and down but we had a high of 17 people and we have a core that returns every week. Either way, the Lord is blessing our efforts as he promised he would. Would you help us pray that we can see a soul saved before we return to the states in November?

    I wrote all of that to tell you about some exciting news. The Lord has given me peace about starting our first church in this location. We are looking forward and are very excited about planting a new church in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth in the Summer of 2021. With that said we will need about 40,000 dollars for the building of this church. Would you help us pray that while we are on our mini-furlough that God would raise this money? 

   The spread of Covid-19 has slowed rapidly in South Africa and we are not at level 1. This means most everything is open now except for international traveling. It looks like we should still be able to leave as scheduled for our furlough but there is always a possibility it will be canceled. Please help us pray for God's will concerning this matter. Also remember Missionary Mark Coffey, who is still trying to return to South Africa and so far has not been able to due to the pandemic. 

   Our Co-laborers Jeremy Hall and Mark Coffey are working to start a local Christian School in Port Elizabeth. Jeremy Hall has spoken to the Department of Education and is hard at work to receive all the necessary registration. I also am very excited about this project and am looking to help in any way I can. Would you help us pray about this process?

       Colossians 1:5 "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;"

      This month I am glad to share with you all that we have started our first Bible study. I started it in a location named Motherwell. This is one of the largest and fastest growing townships in Port Elizabeth with close to 200,000 people. Seven people attended our first meeting and I am looking forward to meeting again every Thursday. I am gauging this area to be the possible location of our first Church plant. We will be meeting every week until our mini-furlough in November. 

      God has given me a young man named Njeza. He was recently saved and baptized, and is the nephew of one of the church goers at New Life Baptist Church. He was living with his Aunt while we have been on lockdown for Covid19. About a month ago, I heard that Njeza was no longer staying with his Aunt; but had moved back to his home in Motherwell. This is when I realized Njeza was paying his own way to church every week from across the City. This is not necessarily cheap and a pretty impressive step for a 15 year old. He and his grandmother have kindly opened their home as the location of our bible study. Not only that, but because schools are still closed here, Njeza spends a lot of time at our home, studying the Bible with me. I praise the Lord. Please pray for him, and for the rest of his family to be saved. 

      Preaching at Lighthouse Baptist Church and New Life Baptist Church every week has really helped my language skills. I still have much to learn but I feel as though my wife and I are progressing. Studying the Bible in a different language is very difficult but also brings out the scripture in a way I haven't previously noticed. It is so exciting to be teaching a new series out of Colossians; and I am just so excited to learn more and more from God's word. As always, thank you for your continued support of our family. 

​Prayer Requests:
Bible Study
Only 3 short months until we leave for our mini furlough. Please pray we can redeem the time.
Souls to be saved
​

      South Africa has been opening up more and more over the past few weeks. It was very slow for about 3 months but things seem to be going back to normal. My family is so glad to have a regular church schedule again. Our oldest children will be able to go back to school this week as well. 

      In some exciting news (for Meagan and I anyways) we have completed language school! Now our language learning is not over and we still have to work hard at understand as much as possible. I am thankful for Missionary Mark Coffey for helping us greatly, we were able to use the curriculum at Camp Rhino. This prevented us from experiencing many of the trials missionaries go through while trying to learn a new language. We will spend the last 4 months before our mini furlough working hard to learn as much as we can. Meagan is teaching the young ladies class at New Life. She has been preparing her lessons in Xhosa and I am very proud of her and am encouraged by her work ethic. I have been preparing messages and preaching in Xhosa for about 10 min every week. I am thankful for Pastor Mvume and Missionary Jeremy Hall for allowing me to preach at their churches. 

      Also this month, I had planned, and was excited, to start my first Bible study in the Missionvale township this week. Unfortunately we have had a spike in Corona Virus in that certain location we will have to postpone just for a couple weeks. I have been visiting and passing out literature in this area and was able to meet with some people for the first week but we are looking forward to meeting in this area each week. Please also remember the Motherwell area. This is one of the largest townships in Port Elizabeth with little gospel witness. I would like to start a bible study in this area as well. Please pray for an opportunity to open up. 

      We are moving into our first house this month. My family has been blessed to have this exciting opportunity during a hard time in this country. We are thankful for our supporters and for Christ allowing us to work for him in South Africa.

      We spent the month of April SLOWLY trying to get back in the swing of things. Our country has moved out of “lockdown,” to the next level of their recovery plan. Unfortunately, “level 4,” doesn’t look much different than lockdown. A lot of businesses are still closed, schools, and most important churches. We currently don’t have any idea when we as a church will be able to meet again (legally) but it looks like it could be awhile. That being said, we are not going to allow this to discourage us. We have chosen to look at the good instead of focusing on the bad like most of the world seems to be doing. We will find ways of sharing the gospel during these days, and the pastors we work with are making plans for us to meet in small groups. We are excited to be here at this time and look forward to seeing God move.

      This past month we continued our language school studies over the Internet. I was given the opportunity to preach in Xhosa a couple of times to a small group of believers staying at missionary Mark Coffey’s, Camp Rhino. I am very grateful for the opportunity to preach the past two weeks and looking forward to more message preparation. It takes about double the time to write a message in Xhosa then in English but I am learning so much just by reading and writing in the language. Please continue to pray for this aspect of our ministry. ​We have also been able to hand out bags of rice with the gospel message taped to them to several families.   

      Last weekend, My wife got back in the township and visited our teenagers from church. It was the first time she was able to see them since March. Please pray for the young people from our churches. They need support from Christian believers; which they not have gotten for almost 2 months. Most of them live in broken sinful homes, with no Christian influence at all.

​      During all of this lockdown, God has given us a great opportunity to buy our first house. The Lord blessed us with a deal we couldn't pass up especially with the Rand to Dollar ratio being so good for us during this economic crisis. We are very thankful for no longer pay rent and throw our money out the window. The Lord is good and we are very excited about this opportunity. With all the lockdown procedures we will not be able to move until the middle of July. 

      We love you all and appreciate your prayers during this time. Please know you and your churches are in our prayers as well. We know it hasn't been easy for you all either. It was a pleasure to see churches coming together again this past Sunday. We're thankful for your faithfulness in giving to our ministry, and God's faithfulness in all things. God Bless you all.

      Praises
        "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:" Eph 1:3. My family and I are extremely blessed to be serving Christ in South Africa. Since we have started deputation in 2016 we have had nothing but blessings from God. He is so good to us and I want to start this months letter by praising him. Christ is willing to save all those in South Africa who will believe. Please pray for souls to be saved. The longer we live here the more we see how great the need is in this country. Pray for laborers. Also, thank you for praying for our vehicle troubles. As it turns out our transmission did not need to replaced and it was a simple fix. Prayer works!

      Wells Estate             
        The Lord is blessing Pastor Mvume as he leads Lighthouse Baptist Church in Wells Township. Over the past month we have had over 15 people per service, new visitors each week and one profession of faith. Pastor Mvume and I are visiting twice a week right now and have plans to start some discipleship as soon as we can. Wells Estate is a smaller township in size and population but it is the neighbor to the largest township in South Africa, Motherwell. Motherwell was originally planned to hold about 120,000 people in the 1980's but since 2011 the population has grown to well over 300,000 according to the best numbers I can find. As of now this is where I believe the Lord is leading to plant our first church. Please pray for the Lord's leading and the people in this largely populated township. 

      Announcement.    
        We will be taking a short furlough from December 2020 to March 2021. This will allow us to report back to our supporting churches as well as raise some more support before we start our first church in 2021. We will continue in language school as we look to finish our classes sometime this year.  I have already booked some meetings for our furlough and if you would like for us to come report to you please contact me. You can email me at missionarysullivan@gmail.com or facebook messenger. You can also call me directly at (603) 780-4210.

      Prayer Requests  
        - Laborers
        - Furlough 2021
        - Health, The children have been sick multiple times this month
        - Camp Rhino and a new possibility of a radio ministry. 

Prayer Requests. 
- The above-mentioned Church Plants                    - Language School
- Mvume Johnson                                                         - Khona Mohambo
- Mark Coffey, Jeremy Hall (Zwide Church plant), Kevin Hall (furlough)
- I know many people struggle with this but we are having major car trouble. My wife's car has had an alternator, A/C Compressor and now a transmission problem all within the last 2 months. It will be in the shop for about three weeks while they work on it. Please pray they can fix it quickly and keep the expense low. With the ministries we are working in it can be a struggle with only one car. 
​
​Thank you and God Bless. ​