It has been a while since our last newsletter, and we are sorry for our absence! 2024 and 2025 have been tough due to the passing of Kindle’s younger brother, Janson, and some health problems within the family. That being said, you can start expecting monthly newsletters from us here again, along with regular social media updates. You can drop our Facebook group a follow here.
First of all, a huge praise report: we have secured another round of 3-year visas for the whole family! When we had to go back to the States in September, our visa application that was in process in South Africa was canceled. We have been limping along ever since with extensions and failed attempts to acquire new visas. We ended up needing to fly to California from South Africa a couple of weeks ago to apply for visas in person, and they got processed in one business day. This is nothing short of miraculous, given that this process is usually long and tedious, but we experienced a lot of favor this time around. We are still in the States at present, but will be flying back to South Africa in about a week.
Kindle and I continue to direct the Global Internship program at Impact Africa, and we currently have 17 young American missionaries serving as interns and learning the ropes of ministry in a cross-cultural setting here in Johannesburg. It has been an awesome group and an awesome year so far! “It’s amazing to see them arrive at the beginning of a semester timid, but leave at the end of the semester bold and full of fire and faith to share the Gospel! Kindle is currently running the women’s discipleship side of things for our female interns, and they are being greatly impacted through it. I (Ryan) have been leaning in with Impact Africa’s student ministry, and have also taken on the responsibility of managing the ministry’s financial database.
Here are a few updates from the internship and the ministry we work for as a whole:We sent our interns on a week-long trip to Lesotho, where they were able to experience what more rural ministry looks like in Africa outside of Johannesburg.
The Impact Students department hosted an amazing 3-day camp last month (Ryan helps with the planning and logistics of these camps). We had 40 amazing students attend, and many gave their lives to the Lord, get discipleship, and get baptized. The camp theme was “Transformed,” focusing on the basics of the gospel and following Christ. We as a ministry get to journey with many of these students for years, and it is amazing to see things click, especially these foundational things, during camp week for some.
Impact Africa’s (The organization we are on staff with here) as a whole is growing! They opened up Promise Home number five! The Promise Homes are a safe place where we as a ministry foster babies until they are able to find their forever home in a nurturing and caring environment. You can check out the Baby Rescue department here! Our interns volunteer here regularly. Here are some pictures of our kids out playing with some of the Promise Home babies, and celebrating one of their 3rd birthdays at a park!
The Bridgfords in South Africa 