End Of the Year Plans..

Faye and I had hoped that we would be able to make the trip to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (Home) for Christmas, wanting of course to spend time with family and friends as well as share the blesing of our son, Joshua Eric..

Faye and I serve as missionaries with Christ's Hope International and are in Namibia on the acceptance by the Namibian Government that we are playing a role in the fight against HIV/Aids. We have been blessed with 2years in Namibia and thankful to God for this wonderful country that we are growing to love very much. We have submitted applications to renew our permits but as yet have not received notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs as to the status of our application. As a result of this we have decided that we will not be travelling out of Namibia until the work permit situation is finalised.

Whilst this development has caused us a measure of sadness, we are also quite excited at the prospect of spending our first Christmas in Namibia. In addition to this we have also determined that we will endeavour to bring blessing to our volunteers and other staff who will be away from their families this Christmas..

In the time we have been in Namibia we have established friendships with quite a few families who have shown us love and acceptance without which our adjustment to Namibia. One of the families we have drawn close to and with whom have had wonderful times of fellowship has now asked me to conduct the wedding ceremony of their son. The wedding is scheduled for 22 December and I have confirmed may availability. What a privilege to be asked to have a role in the life of this young couple whom we have only known for a few short months..

You can expect some more updates in the next few weeks as we head towards this joyous time of Christmas..

Update

This past Tuesday evening we were all excited about attending the Krabbeland end of year graduation night. Krabbeland is the day centre that Sydney attends from Monday to Friday. Earlier on in the year we were asked to help our child make an instrument which would be used at this graduation event so we were quite excited to see our precious Sydney and her friends make music and celebrate the end of their school year.

Events such as these prove quite a challenge for Faye and I because all the speaking is done in Afrikaans..

Sydney and her classmates took to the stage and to the sounds of the song " I Am a Music Man" they entertained us all. Sydney played her drum which Faye made for her.. Sydney of course is not in a graduating class so will be back at pre-school next year. It is so easy to notice Sydney amongst her friends simply because she is the smallest of them all. At this point we are unsure of which school she will attend as there is a very strong possibility that Krabbeland will close its doors at the end of this year.

On Saturday I had one of those times of wanting to kick myself. After servicing and cleaning my car I later had to go and fetch Larnelle from a friends house. As I reversed in the Centre courtyard I did not notice some galvanised iron sheets piled up on the floor close to the garage door.. As I reversed I heard the sound of rapidly moving air - Yes you guessed it.. A tyre was cut by the sheeting. At first I was tempted to be angry with the staff who placed the sheets on the floor.. after all couldn't they have found somewhere else to put them, where they would not cause damage... BUT then it dawned on me that I had seen the sheets there in the morning and had walked past them several times in the course of the morning.. So why didn't I do something ?? At the end of it all I came to grips with the reality that I had not paid sufficient attention and now had a tyre with quite a large cut in the sidewall. Thankfully the tyre repair people were able to repair it but told me to simply keep it as a spare as they could not give any kind of guarantee on this kind of repair.. In a moment of reflection I smiled at the realisation of how quickly I sought to apportion blame to somebody else rather than take responsibility for my oversight..

As I write these words I am happy to tell you that it has started to rain heavily and the sound of rain drops on the roof are music to my ears. Hopefully the temperatures will come down to a more comfortable level..

Tonight I will be attending a Pastors Bible class in Five Rand (a squatter settlement about 7kms from town) where I have been asked to teach on and lead Worship with the Pastors. These are pastors who have signed up to be equipped and given instruction to improve their leadership as they lead their churches. There will be about eight pastors and they all speak Luchazi - yes I will be working with and interpreter. Many years ago (as a teen) I was involved in ministry in Bulawayo's (Zimbabwe) high density suburbs and frequently work with translators.. At the time I simply thought it a necessary inconvenience BUT now I see it as being preparation for times such as this.

Faye, Larnelle, Sydney, Joshua and I are doing well and praying that God would make a way for us to visit our families and friends in Zimbabwe before the end of the year.

Prayer and Fasting in Rehoboth

I had the privilege of leading Bible Study for our Christ's Hope staff on the Monday of our monthly weekend of prayer and fasting. I chose to look at Paul's word to the Ephesian church of the armour of God..

We devoted much time to praying for the various Christ's Hope Ministry and Mobilisation Nations, focusing on their particular needs, projects and ministry programmes. All of us were greatly encouraged as we read of the answers to prayer in some of the nations.

One prayer request that is close to our hearts is that of the work permit renewal applications. These have been submitted and we are all praying they will be renewed so that we can continue with the ministry God has called us to.

We also devoted time to praying that God would energise and motivate our International Board Members and Country Directors as they seek to implement decisions made at the recently held International Board meeting held in the UK.

As we approach the Christmas period please continue to partner us in prayer for the many children God has entrusted into our care as well as the HIV infected people who require much love and care.. By God's grace and through His power we and our staff are making a difference in people's lives - By your prayer and financial investment you too are making a huge and significant difference. God bless you..

How Quickly Time Passes

This past Saturday (3 Nov) we invited some friends to join us in celebrating the fourth (4th) anniversary of Sydney's birth. Larnelle even had some of her school mates come for the afternoon to help with games, keeping an eye on the children, serving the children with their food and refreshments..

Just hours before the party we noticed that Sydney was not her normal very active self and checking her noted her temperature was quite high. Despite being a bit unwell, Sydney participated in her party and had an enjoyable time. Of course the high point came when she was able to open her birthday presents.. Any thoughts we had of keeping the wrapping paper for later use were dispelled as Sydney and her helpers literally ripped open the presents.

How quickly the time has passed.. I was in Wezep-Netherlands on the day Sydney was born in 2003. On Saturday I sat with her and played with her here in Okahandja and marvelled at how good God has been to us. I guess our only sadness was in not having any close family with us to enjoy this very special day.

The Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesian Christians and tells them to make the most of every opportunity- as I watched my children at the party I was struck by the realisation that I too must make the most of every opportunity with my children, for soon they will not be children but young adults. Already we are seeing Larnelle spreading her social wings as well as developing pretty strong views on some issues - and she's only 11 years old !

These two short video clip (no sound- my digital camera does not record sound) will give you some idea of the fun we had..