As we wrapped up our LaunchPad classes last week, it felt bittersweet–we know it will be a couple of months before we see our students again. But, it’s a huge blessing to see all that God has done in their lives throughout this year!

“God takes my broken down, messed up life and rebuilt it. He sits faithfully at the gate of my heart, He encourages me to do the right things and gives me strength. He redeems me from sin, sickness, shame and makes me. He leads me wherever He wants me to go and provides all my food, water, shelter and protects me.”  –Mokoena Mmakhoya Esther

“Through this course God has provided me a light upon me that even through I may find life difficult sometimes and sometimes forget about Him during happiness. He is always beside me and knows that I’m not perfect and has patience with me. Thus I shall open my heart and let the Holy Ghost guide and bless my life for past times, at present, in the future and forever.“ –Mokoena Handsome

We’re currently accepting applications for our next adult Thrive Trip! The two-week mission trip, for people age 20 and over, runs from February 25-March 9, 2010.

During Thrive Trip, team members from all over North America join us in South Africa to participate in relationship evangelism, run an after-school kids’ club and learn more about South African culture. It’s a great opportunity to experience missions first-hand!

Click here to see pictures from the last Thrive Trip.

Interested? You can apply here now. Or, if you have questions, send us an email, we’re happy to help!

This fall, the other interns and I have been going to the Limakatso Disabled Center. We’re there to help assess the students. The experience has been great! To an outsider, it might look like we are just playing games and doing crafts, but we are also seeing their ability to write, use scissors, jump, and balance.

Each time we play with the kids on the playground, my mind goes back a few months, when we were blessed with so many Next Step interns.

One of them, Alison Gamble, told us this of one of her time at Limakatso:

“This week went by way too quickly.  I loved being at Limakatso on Monday and Tuesday with the entire Next Step team.  The transformation made in just two days was incredible.”

Even though they have been home for over two months now, their work has not been forgotten. We get to see the students reap the benefits of their hard work each week as we play with them. I know it will continue to bless the kids at Limakatso.

-Jen Tuck, Twenty4Seven Intern

I consider you part of Thrive’s extended family, so I want to share from my heart what’s going on in my life and at Thrive. It saddens me greatly to tell you that earlier this year my husband, Niel, chose to terminate our marriage. His decision came after revealing to me that he’d violated our marriage covenant. Although my desire was to move toward reconciliation, Niel felt differently. Following his decision for divorce, our Board of Directors accepted his resignation and Niel is no longer involved in the ministry.

I’ve been clinging to God’s promise to be close to the brokenhearted, and He is faithfully carrying me through the most difficult season I’ve ever endured. I know I have a long way to go on this journey of personal restoration, but I’m confident that the Lord is faithful to complete what He started.

Amy Riep, my dear friend and Board member, has been leading Thrive since I came to the States at the end of last year. God’s hand is so evident in His provision of a solid leader to keep Thrive moving forward. I plan to return to leadership at Thrive next year; for now, I’m staying in the U.S. to pursue the counseling and heart-healing that I need.

I still love Africa. My vision hasn’t wavered. More importantly, Thrive Africa’s vision has not wavered. We remain focused on training Godly leaders to impact their communities for Christ. Even during this challenging year, there has been incredible growth and fruit within the ministry. We know God is in this thing and is calling us to continue reaching the people He loves in Africa.

Your support is so important right now. Thrive’s financial position is very delicate at the moment. Please pray about how you can financially support the ministry now and in the days ahead. I’d also appreciate your increased prayers, both for me personally and for the ongoing work of the ministry.

Thank you for standing with us to see Africa thrive. We can’t do it alone.

With love,

Alece Ronzino

P.S. – As a matter of logistics, going forward, I’ll be using my maiden name. You can reach me directly at alece@thriveafrica.org.

Our interns are a huge asset to our ministry. In fact, over the years we’ve had 137  interns come through our doors.

So, where do they go when they leave South Africa? Well, some come back and serve as staff, some return to school. Others, like Matt Peirce, are called to other parts of the world. Here’s what he told us recently about how the Twenty4Seven internship had impacted his life.

“Before the year ended I had confirmed my spot with the organization TeachOverseas.org which sends Christian teachers to a number of countries around the world to teach English. I recently completed my first month of teaching here in Sokolov, Czech Republic.

My year at Twenty4Seven was great. I became great friends with my fellow interns, took interesting, thought-provoking classes, and participated in some incredible ministry. I could say a lot about my year but I’ll focus on one small part. Twenty4Seven really showed me what it takes to live overseas. It is not a simple walk-in-the-park but it is also not an impossible task either.

As I continue to adjust and settle in the Czech Republic I am convinced that without my year in South Africa I would not be able to survive being here for a year. I would have less maturity, less wisdom, less experience and less knowledge than if I did not have my year with Thrive. I am so thankful for my time in South Africa, it was something that came together beautifully and providentially. I have many fond memories of all I did there and the people I met and I hope to return for a visit come next summer.”

We’re currently accepting applications for the 2010 internship year. You can find out more information and apply here.

Our LaunchPad program follows the academic calendar here in South Africa, so it has been “closed” while the schools are on winter holiday.  The interns have missed teaching these discipleship classes- but they are using this time to pray for their students and to gear up for the next term.   To direct their prayers- the interns keep reminding themselves of the student testimonies about how God has used LaunchPad to change their lives. This is one of those testimonies from Mmakwane:

“Before coming to LaunchPad, I was a Christian but I didn’t know how to be contagious about my faith. I learned how to build relationships and share with them about God. Now I am a contagious Christian wherever I go; in a taxi, at the store, everywhere. I learned to be real. Amiel and Chelsea were sent by God to Mmakwane to teach us!” –Victoria Skosana

Since the early years of the ministry,  Thrive has supported the Limakatso Disabled Center in Intabazwe in many different capacities.  Currently, our Next Step interns are finishing a renovation project for the Center- including  a new ceiling, a new vinyl floor, and a fresh coat of paint for the entire Center. The interns will also be fixing the toilets and repairing and painting desks.  When the students return to the center in two weeks, they will find a completely renovated place for them to learn!  Once the renovation is completed- the Next Step interns will be volunteering as teachers at the Center and they will be paired up one-on-one with students in order to personally pour into their lives. It is bound to be a huge blessing to both the kids and the interns.

They just finished their first week of renovation and this is what of the interns, Katrina, had to say:

“It is such a blessing for me to know that this is going to be such a blessing for those students! Oh man, we tore down the ceiling and no joke, there was waterfalls of dirt falling on us. It was so much fun though, I really enjoy it.”

Our AIDS Prevention Program, Leadership Summit, hosts a quarterly one-day leadership seminar called IMPACT. On May 2oth we had nearly 200 students from 17 public schools in Qwa Qwa spend the day being challenged to impact their respective communities and schools.

At this IMPACT- we wrapped up and reviewed our past teachings on leadership- and then we called the kids to action. We broke up into small-groups by school, facilitated by a Thrive staff member or intern, and each group was given the task of addressing a problem in their school. These were the instructions: identify problems in your school, narrow it down to one you think is most important and then decide what you will do about it.

We know these kids are amazing. But, we were blown away by these 7^th, 8^th & 9^th graders.

By the next IMPACT on September 14^th, the kids are going to do things like: launch a campaign to increase school safety, get electricity in their school (sadly, some schools still don’t have reliable electricity), and start a peer counseling service for other students.

By the end of IMPACT, the students were charged up! They left excited about their projects and feeling equipped to change their schools. Little do they know that as a Thrive Africa family, we left the day so encouraged by what God is doing through them-that we can’t wait to hear what they report back in September.

Check out pictures from IMPACT here.

Our coaches do an amazing job of pouring into nearly 4000 students every month in Leadership Summit. And we take every chance we can get to pour back into and disciple these Basotho young adults! During the recent two-week school break, we took full advantage of extra time with the coaches. We spent two days focusing entirely on their spiritual development.

As a group they were able to delve into what it means to glorify God by giving Him our best. Some of our interns and staff members challenged the coaches with topics like: what it looks like to glorify God with our time, giving Him our best energy, how to use our talents to further His kingdom, what it looks like to give Him our first-fruits and steward our money well, and how we can give God our best love.

The coaches left the two-day retreat encouraged, challenged and refreshed. We can’t wait to see what God has in store for the rest of the term!

After a three-week break from LaunchPad, the interns were anxious to jump back into teaching classes. This week was devoted to reviewing what the students had learned so far this term. With a few minutes at the end of her class, Samantha opened up the floor for questions. She told the students to ask anything.

And they did. Topics ranged from friends to what God thinks about homosexuality. It was a safe environment for the students to ask challenging questions about topics they’re dealing with in their daily lives, but aren’t being talked about at home. Even though there were some tough questions, Samantha did a great job of fielding questions and instilling truth into the kids in her class.

It’s exciting to see how, as they pour into others, our interns are being stretched and are growing through teaching.