| | EASTER IN AFRICA 
Easter is a high celebration time for the African church. This year was no different. A few of the highlights of this Easter's celebrations include: - Nine pastors (5 men, 4 women) received ministerial licenses in a service at Mount Frere, South Africa. (The photo at the right shows District Superintendent Bill Niemack and missionary Mike Helvie praying for one of the ministers during the service.) They also baptised 33 new believers in a chilly early morning baptism.
- The Swaziland District raised over R 80,000 (+/- US$ 12,000) for missions in its annual Malihambe offering during Easter celebrations, setting an all time record for the offering.
- The Wesleyan Standard Church of Ghana celebrated its anniversary of 20 years of ministry in its country in services over the Easter weekend. One highlight was the granting of ministerial licenses to 23 ministerial candidates.
- Recent graduate from Pilgrim Wesleyan Bible College (Zambia), Pastor Evariste Mazeaza from Congo reported that "on the Saturday before Easter we baptized 19 people and received them as church members on Sunday."
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 We shared in a joint Easter service of Wesleyan Churches from around the Johannesburg area who had gathered in Soweto for a weekend of celebration. (In the picture on the right Bob is visiting with Gauteng District Superintendent, Rev. Victor Nyalungu following the Easter service.)
VISIT TO SWAZILAND
We just returned from two weeks spent at Emmanuel Wesleyan Bible College, the place where we began our missionary service over 29 years ago. High points during our visit included the following: - Bob taught an intensive church administration course to second and third year students.
- Brenda spoke in the college chapel once and Bob spoke twice.
- Brenda visited the nearby children's home and had an opportunity to visit at length with the Director, Mrs. Thabsile Thwala, a couple of times.
- We enjoyed good fellowship with a number of our missionaries over the two weeks: Dorcas Croft and Fred & Carol Cromer, stationed in Swaziland; Orai & Linda Lehman, stationed in Mozambique but at EWBC to teach a course to
 1st year students; and Zach & Lyndy Szmara, stationed in Mozambique but in Swaziland for a couple of days working on Mozambique residence permits.
- Bob introduced each of the missionary units to a new bookkeeping software program for keeping mission financial records.
- Brenda worked in the EWBC library assisting Carol Cromer.
- Bob had good opportunities to consult with African leaders of the college as well as of the church in Swaziland about their work.
PRAISE POINTS - Praise God for reports of victories won and positive signs of church growth and development in Easter celebrations across the African church.
- Praise God for His help and a very profitable visit to Swaziland.
- Thank God for the help He has been giving Zach & Lyndy Szmara through the initial adjustment period on the field and their initial introduction to language study.
PRAYER REQUESTS - Pray for Bob and Dr. H. C. Wilson as they visit Sierra Leone May 17-26 to confer with church leaders and missionaries. Included in the visit will be rededication services for both the national church headquarters in Makeni and the historic missionary graveyard in Kunsho, both restored after the destruction and deterioration suffered during the civil war.
- Please pray for God's help for us as we work on securing residence permits for South Africa and the Szmaras as they work on their permits for Mozambique.
- Pray for God's blessing on a meeting of the International Partnership Team for Ghana meeting in Brockville, ON in early June to strategize for the work in Ghana. The plan is for Bob to attend the meeting via Skype.
- Please pray that steady progress will be made on the construction of a new outpatient department at Zimba mission Hospital, Zambia so it can be completed before Drs. Dan & Joan Jones leave for home ministries in mid July.
SUPPORT REPORT We praise the Lord that this month our monthly commitments hit the 75% mark of the amount we need to meet our budget. Thank you so much to all of you who continue faithfully to stand behind us financially.
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