MINISTRY NEWS
Travel with me down to the coast. I make this trip every other weekend, but this time I’d like to take all of you with me. Our journey starts with a brisk 7-minute walk to the Shell (petrol) station on Friday morning. The bus in supposed to arrive at 7:00 a.m. but it rarely does. Today, it arrives at 8:15. Thanks to the bus driver, we can relax and read for the 3½ hour trip (300 km; 190 miles) down to Swakopmund. Along the way, we will descend 4400 feet (1350 meters) in altitude and we will cross the oldest desert in the world, the Namib. We start in the rocky bushveld with acacia trees and scrub bushes dotting the landscape. The vegetation keeps getter more sparse as we travel west until it disappears completely in the desert. We pass rocky mountains on both sides of the road and two mines (gold and uranium). We stop at Usakos for 15 minutes to stretch our legs and buy a cool drink and we wave at our friends Brenda Johnston and Nan Parker as we pass near Arandis (they live in the middle of the desert and I think they ride camels around town). About 30 km before Swakopmund the hot desert blast furnace is replaced by the cool breezes coming off the Atlantic Ocean. Just before arriving at our destination we see majestic red sand dunes (some over 500 feet tall) to the south and then roll into town between a colonnade of palm trees. It is about this time that being a missionary becomes fun as you can see from the photos to the left and below.
Someone from the church meets us and takes us to the small car the church provides while we are in town. I have dinner with friends on Friday evening and on Saturday morning drive back to Arandis for a Hope’s Promise Orphan Ministry board meeting. In the afternoon, I meet with the church elders and in the evening relax in the flat the church provides and make last minute improvements to my sermon. This past Sunday, I preached from James 4-5 on Three Signs of Spiritual Retardation. After church, we get back on the bus and begin our journey home to Okahandja. We arrive home at 17:00 (5:00 p.m.) feeling tired but useful. I’ve been following this routine every other weekend since early 2003. In the meantime, I have helped the church form an effective elder board and we are now searching for a full-time pastor. I look forward to the day when I can travel down to the coast and enjoy (or be convicted by) someone else’s sermon.
Earlier in April, we traveled with Nan Parker to Livingstone, Zambia to participate in the annual Missionary Ventures African Regional Conference. We spent the weekend with missionaries from Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Gabon. And Uganda. We were joined by Steve Bean, Dr. Larry Capps and Judi Hinson from MVI headquarters in Orlando. We benefited from good teaching, useful information for missionaries, majestic views of Victoria Falls, good food and wonderful fellowship with other missionaries. For Val and me, getting to know other missionaries in our region was the highlight of the weekend. Building a network of peers who understand our work, our joys and our frustrations is such an encouragement for us. The last evening there, we had a braai (BBQ). It seems some of the meat was a little past its prime and several people got a little food poisoning as a result. Thankfully Val and I avoided that little adventure. The trip was long (3750 km, 2250 miles roundtrip) but well worth it. We returned home fortified with the encouragement of meeting new friends and ministry partners who are co-laboring with us in Africa.
Last year, a group of concerned citizens from Orlando, put together a container of computers, construction equipment, etc. and shipped it to Namibia. At our request, they purchased rather than rented the shipping container because Val had plans for turning the container into a gift shop. The container has been “resting” at the Red Plot for 9 months and now is the time to put it to good use. Our close friend, Avileno Jose (Portuguese Namibian) is retrofitting it for its new use and we have made a petition to the municipality to grant us permission to install it at a strategic location in town next to the wood carvers’ market, right beside the main north-south highway through Namibia. We are waiting to hear an official response from the town council. Avileno is graciously donating all of his skill and labor to the project. God is good and so is Avileno. We are so grateful for his contribution. The work is coming along nicely and we hope to have it completed soon. We will include a photo of the fully renovated container in next month’s Chronicles.
We are still waiting on a positive response for work permits for Markus and Jojo Liebold who wish to join our ministry team as soon as the permits are granted. Markus and Jojo are busy packing in Germany and are anxious to arrive in Namibia. We heard recently that there is a huge stack of pending applications since the approval board only began meeting a few weeks ago since recessing in December. That was discouraging news for us since our busy ministry season is crouching at the door and we desperately need more assistance with all the work that goes with it. Once again, God is using the work permit process to build our character and our faith. But victory comes to those who persevere, whether patiently or impatiently. We stand ready to claim the victory, hopefully in the not too distant future.
IN THE NAMIBIAN NEWS
Ever imagine what a mini-taxi looks like after it accidentally hits an elephant? It looks terrible and people get killed. Last Friday night a long-distance taxi driver failed to see the elephant in the road and paid for it with his life and 5 others. Those in the front seat were killed instantly and the terrified elephant trampled three others to death who were trapped inside the vehicle. Then the injured and now extremely dangerous elephant walked away into the night. I’ve often chronicled how dangerous night driving is in Africa and this is just one more vivid illustration. We traveled this same road both ways on our Zambian trip, but we did it during the daytime for obvious reasons. All along that stretch of road are signs which scream “Elephants !” including the exclamation point.
Our bank in Okahandja was robbed the other day by three armed bad guys. They distracted the outdoor security guard (our friend Andres) by asking for assistance at the ATM and then entered the bank and stole N$279,000. They have since caught the men but N$200,000 is still missing. Neither the security cameras nor the security entrance were working that day. I wonder how the bank robbers knew that. Thankfully, no one was hurt. I’m glad Andres was distracted since he is an unarmed security guard. The only thing he could have possibly stopped was a bullet. Praise God that didn’t happen.
The BBC recently filmed a TV series in Namibia called “Fat Men Can’t Hunt” where 8 obese Brits were sent to live in the San community, far far away from the nearest grocery. The four men and four women collectively lost 76kg (167 pounds) because they were forced to hunt for their food just like the San do. Hunting, trapping and digging for roots can help you work up a healthy appetite that doesn’t get satisfied. The Bushmen are very small people for a good reason. The show was so successful, BBC is planning on repeating the show with obese British teens in the Australian outback.
PERSONAL NOTES
Autumn has arrived to our part of the world. The rainy season is over and the temperatures have fallen to a wonderfully pleasant level (mid 70’s Fahrenheit, low 20’s Centigrade) during the days and low teens (55°F) for our brisk morning 8K walk. It is a glorious time to be outside enjoying God’s creation. The evenings are cool and provide wonderful sleeping conditions. We probably won’t see anymore rain until December.
In his spare time, Lon has recently become a cricket fan; the sport, not the little guy named Jiminy. It’s not the same as baseball (Lon’s first sporting love), but it is more enjoyable once you learn the rules. So with great interest, he watched Australia win the World Cup of Cricket this past weekend, now that he understands runs and wickets, bowling and overs and all sorts of other crazy cricket terminology
Since December, Lon has been teaching ballroom dancing once a week to a group of friends here in Okahandja. We are tired of not having anyone to dance with so we decided to train our own. We started with the Waltz and have moved on to the Swing. The class includes a young-married couple, a family where both parent and children are learning to dance, two other couples and some singles. Soon they will have progressed to the point where we can all go dancing together. In Africa you sometimes have to create your own entertainment opportunities.
DISTRIBUTED CHURCH
This past Easter weekend, Khomas Community Church along with 4 other Khomasdal churches went on a weekend short-term mission to the San people in the Kalahari Desert near Tsumkwe (see if you can say that 3 times quickly). Place the tip of your tongue against the back of your upper teeth and try to say an “S” sound. Fifty-five city folk distributed 2500 Operation Christmas Child boxes to Bushman children in remote areas accessible only with 4-wheel drive vehicles. Patrick Britz, a KCC pastor, recounted the story of one young girl (age 10-14) who opened her box to the wonder of a portable CD player. She was so excited, even though she had no CD’s or batteries . . . or so she thought. She had never owned anything electronic before. More digging uncovered 2 children’s music CD’s and a large supply of batteries. The look of wonder on her face when she first heard the music was worth all the effort of organizing the trip.
Mary Beth Fackler, a Northland staff member, and 3 others arrive this Sunday to spend the week distributing more boxes in remote farming communities in the Hardap Region south of Windhoek. It is so rewarding to see these international church partnerships strengthened month after month and year after year. Thanks so much to those of you who participate in these events.
ON THE HOMEFRONT
It’s AVS time again (American Visitor Season). May, June, July and August are our busiest months for hosting guests from the States. Mary Beth Fackler and three others (sorry, we don’t know their names yet) will be opening our season this Sunday. It is so encouraging to us to see old friends from back home and watch them fall in love with our Namibia. Later in May, Joy Baker arrives. She and her husband Jim were missionaries with Christ’s Hope International until a few months ago and close friends of our here in Okahandja. Joy will be staying with us while she attends a wedding and visits with other close friends. Then Madeline Snively arrives in June followed by Richard Hanna a week later. Madeline will be helping Val for a few weeks with art-craft projects while her father Steve and brother Taylor tour the country together. Last year, Steve did the same bush trip with Madeline and had to fix a broken fan belt with the shoes laces of his sneakers; African ingenuity at its best. Richard will be entertaining his good friend Lon as they renew their “best friend” relationship face to face. We also look forward to feasting on some of Richard’s culinary artwork. Let the AVS begin . . .
We have several people back home to thank this month. First we would like to thank Geoff Longstaff, although we’ve never met him, for purchasing the container for our gift shop. We are making good use of it. And then there are all the people who are helping us with our dance classes. Unfortunately, we have done almost no dancing for the last 4 years and our memories are slipping. We have already taught our class all of dance steps we remember.. So here come Bobby and Judi Chapman to our rescue. They are sending us a “Dance Instructor’s Survival Kit.” It will arrive on Sunday with Mary Beth Fackler. Thanks Mary Beth for being one of our beloved intercontinental “pack mules.” And thank you so much, Bobby and Judi, for taking the time to help us so willingly. You now have an international dance ministry with a Namibian local chapter.
SLICE OF AFRICAN LIFE
Before our trip to Zambia, I thought that the most dangerous animal in Africa (for humans) was the hippopotamus. The hippo kills more people than all other game animals combined. They are fiercely aggressive towards anyone who accidentally gets between them and their water source or comes close to their young ones. But I now stand corrected. The hippo doesn’t even come close to ferocity and deadly threat of the . . . mosquito. Yesirree, the tiny anopheles mosquito with his deadly malarial spit kills millions of people each year. The hippo can’t even claim thousands. We were hoping not to become two more of its victims, having ventured into malaria country while having forgotten to take the preventative pills. Val got several bites the first night and then had to wait 10 days to find out if those mosquitoes were friend or foe. Fortunately they turned out to be the friendly variety.
This month’s Namibian geography lesson ventures into the realm of SOIL and WATER. It can be summed up really quickly. SOIL: good for growing rocks, bad for growing vegetables. WATER: we don’t have any. Okay, maybe that’s a slight oversimplification. Most Namibian soil is not suitable for growing crops. It is either too sandy or too rocky or too salty or sometimes all three. And what arable soil there is falls victim to the “no water” clause. Therefore most food products have to be imported from South Africa. The good soil is basically restricted to the northern border area and what is considered good soil in Namibia is considered bad soil in most other places. Subsistence farming is possible in the north but commercial farming is, for the most part, not a viable proposition. Thankfully the soil around the Okahandja area is some of the best in the country for growing crops. Our good friends Johnny and Dina Pedreira have a lovely vegetable plot right next to Vyf Rand camp. WATER: The interior of the country has no surface water whatsoever. The rivers are dry. There are only 2 lake systems in the country and one of them has been dry since 1985. The only rivers with year-round water are on the northern and southern borders. Interestingly, many of the dry river beds have underground streams flowing underneath. There is an adequate aquifer but it is very deep in most places, under lots of layers of rock. Boreholes (wells) have to be dug over 100 meters deep in many locations. For our drinking water, we capture the little rainwater we receive in a series of 13 dams and reservoirs scattered around the country. We are fortunate to have 2 of those reservoirs close to Okahandja.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Here is our financial summary of Lon and Val’s Personal Support for 2007:
$ 7,148 2007 YTD Giving through March,
10,968 2007 YTD Need
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$ 3,820 2007 Ministry Account Balance
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