Hammond Family News - April 2017

Dearest Friends!                                                   April 2017 Greetings to you from the Southern Hemisphere. We are thrilled to be ushering in our Autumn Season, which will bring with it much needed rain. We have had ‘level 3B’ water restrictions all summer long, which has had severe effects upon our poor Garden, which has been somewhat sustained with buckets of bath and shower water as well as from our 5000 liter rain water tank. The Cape enjoys ‘Winter Rain’ and we are praying for a wet season so that our Dams will be full to the brim again. I have the privilege of singing with the Symphony Choir of Cape Town. It was my joy to be a part of Stainer’s Crucifixion, which we performed at the St. Georges Cathedral in Cape Town on the evening of Palm Sunday. It was a very moving experience and the acoustics in the Cathedral were beautiful. Our next piece of work is Hayden’s Creation, followed by Mendelssohn’s Elijah. What an experience it is to work on musical scores with such Scriptural depth and Spiritual richness. The time has arrived for backpacks and suitcases to be packed as Daniela and Christopher prepare to travel to Austria to attend the Spring Bible School at the Tauernhof. I served on the staff there in the mid-80’s and we are thrilled to be sending two of our children there. God has been faithful in supplying our needs and we look forward with eager expectation the experiences they will have. Lord willing, I will be joining them towards the end of their stay for a family re-union. It has been 9 years since I have been back to visit Salzburg, the Town I grew up in. My oldest sister Debbie and her husband Hans are now retired and will be our hosts. I will also have the opportunity to paddle with an Italian Breast Cancer Survivor Team for the Vogalonga. This is an annual event held on Pentecost Sunday and involves paddling for 30km (18 miles) in the Grand Canals of Venice. More than 400 vessels of all kinds take place in this event. My European family has made this adventure possible for me and I am so pleased I finally get to take part in this event. During this visit I will also have the opportunity to meet the Breast Cancer Dragon boating Team in Vienna. Lord willing, I will be joining them as an honorary Austrian to paddle in the 2018 International Breast Cancer event held this time in Italy. There will be over 4000 ‘pink ladies’ celebrating life and health. Lots of preparations need to take place before this event can happen, so this is a preliminary planning event. Again, I am blessed to have this opportunity. Having my sister Debbie and her family who lives in Austria makes this type of opportunity possible for me is ‘one of God’s all things’ in my life. I am grateful indeed. Two Frontline Fellowship Mission Teams have just returned from lengthy and very productive Missions to Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Zambia and Tanzania. The need continues to be vast and increasingly so within our own borders of South Africa. Peter leaves on Easter Monday for a very full three weeks in the US to conduct Reformation 500 and Biblical Worldview Conferences in Pennsylvania, Idaho and Tennessee. This will be his 4th Mission in 4 months. Already he has completed two new books that are back from the printer and he has several other book writing project in the pipeline. Invitations to conduct Reformation Conferences have come from as far afield as Namibia, Nigeria, the Netherlands and Belgium and Germany. So Peter is having a very busy year. Apart from the daily work at our Mission and Peter’s traveling, he now has 3 regular Radio programs every week. Frequently there are even more. These Radio programs take place anywhere from 7:30 am to after midnight. I have to put reminders on my kitchen cabinets to remember that the phone needs to be available! We are grateful to you for your friendship and support. Thank you for praying for our Mission, our family and our safety here in South Africa. We praise the Lord for His constant Love and provision.   Wishing you and yours a happy Easter and praying the He would bless you and keep you.   With Love and gratefulness, Lenora and family