December, 2004

Chronicles of namibia
Lon and Val Garber on Assignment
December 2004

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (English)
frohe Weihnachten und ein gesegnetes neues Jahr (German)
geseënde Kersfees en 'n gelukkige nuwe jaar (Afrikaans)
okilisimesa nayimuyambekelwe no ndula yipe yinelawo (Oshiwambo)
joyeux Noël et bonne année (French)
buon Natale e felice anno nuovo (Italian)
חג מולד שמח ושנה טובה (Hebrew)
feliz Navidad y próspero año Nuevo (Spanish)
Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo; Feliz Natal (Brazilian Portuguese)
Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand (Armenian)
Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom; Hristos Razdajetsja (Russian)
Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan (Mandarin Chinese)
Nollaig Shona Dhuit; Nodlig mhaith chugnat (Irish)
En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr! (Pennsylvania German – Lon’s roots)
Sinifesela Ukhisimusi Omuhle Nonyaka Omusha Onempumelelo (Zulu)
Siniqwenelela Ikrisimesi EmnandI Nonyaka Omtsha Ozele Iintsikelelo Namathamsanqa (Khosa)

...to all of our friends and family all around the globe. I think we’ve covered all of the languages that you speak. Did I leave any out? May God richly bless you in the coming year as He has blessed us this year.

LON’S MINISTRY NEWS
During the Christmas season, Namibians traditionally take a long holiday and therefore all ministry activities in the country slow down considerably. It is therefore a time for Lon and Val to recharge our batteries, gather strength for the new year and take time to read some of the books we intended to read earlier but never seemed to have the time.

So instead of giving you ministry news this month, I would like to tell you some sad stories about a few of my friends. The first is about Johannes Kayimbe. He and his wife Pelgrina were two of my students during my first trip to Namibia in October, 2001. Pelgrina had just given birth to their first child and so they brought their new son to the training as well. Johannes was a quiet student, but his eyes told you that he was soaking up the teaching and learning a lot. Johannes is also a story of hope for the future. He is the son of a Kavango chief, but he decided to devote his future to serving the Lord of Lords instead of ruling over his tribal territory. Raising support for ministry in Namibia is difficult for Namibians because it is a foreign concept in this culture. And yet Johannes had successfully done it and served as a positive example to others that it is possible. Early this year, Johannes talked to me about taking a ministry sabbatical after 7 years of faithful service to Youth for Christ in Rundu. He told me that he was tired and needed to seek new direction from God for his ministry. But before he could take his sabbatical, he died of AIDS in September. He contracted the virus shortly before becoming a Christian and carried it silently for many years. Sadly, his wife and young boy have also tested positive for HIV. This is the tragedy of AIDS. It is not only killing godless people who are openly practicing sexual promiscuity. It is killing faithful Christian servants who made a few bad choices before giving their life to Christ.

I’d also like you to meet Isaac. Isaac is a big man. He dwarfs me when he interprets my teachings into Luchazi at Omgumlambasha Baptist Church. But he is also a gentle man in his mid-twenties. He has a smile that is a mile wide and he shows it often. But his smile also covers much sadness. When he failed to come to my weekly Bible study one evening in early November, the others informed me that he had just received news of his brother’s death. So after the study concluded, we all went to Isaac’s house to sit with him and comfort and pray for his family. Most of the time is spent in silence and you realize the power of presence: just being there is far more important than consoling words. Yet since I am the “pastor from America” I am always asked to say a few words and pray aloud for the family. I am honoured and humbled to do so. But this night, the local pastor leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Pasta Lon, please now speak sermon.” I am unaccustomed to preaching impromptu funeral sermons, but the Holy Spirit is not. So that night I preached a funeral message for Isaac’s brother, whom I have never met. Somehow, it is easier to realize how compassionate God is for our deep sorrows when you are grieving with people on a dirt plot outside a homemade shack in the dark of night since no one in the neighbourhood has electricity. As we grieved together, Isaac told us that just after he received word of his brother’s death in Luderitz, he then received a call that another brother had just died in Rundu. Two brothers died the same day within hours of each other. Earlier this year, two of his sisters died and his brother-in-law. He has lost 4 siblings and a brother-in-law this year alone. All were young and all probably died of AIDS. AIDS is no longer a distant news story or statistic to us. It is killing our friends and their families.

VAL’S MINISTRY NEWS
Once again we are in need of a moved mountain! A huge part our work here, is located in the Five Rand Squatter’s camp here in Okahandja . Val works with ladies teaching craft skills, and Lon teaches a Bible study. Pastor Thomas and his wife have worked there for 10 years now. There have been dreams of building a preschool, church, and craft building on the site for years and years, but there has been delay after delay. First there was the wait for the municipality to survey the land and establish plots (otherwise we might build, only to find it was someone else’s property J). Then plans had to be drawn up. Of course the matter of $$ has always been an issue, but recently, thru private donations, we have raised enough (we thought) to at least begin the preschool building. (The existing preschool building becomes the Val’s craft school after the new school gets built).

Next we found that the city would not allow the building to start until the land was purchased, but they told us don’t worry it will be cheap! (ha ha) Finally after many delays and meetings, the city set the price. $55,000 N or about $10,000 US dollars. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! This is about what we have raised to build with. If we buy the land (which is actually worthless, since who else wants to buy land in a squatter’s camp?) then we once again have no $$ to build with. It seems the city has dreams of turning Five Rand into a “real” town, and so, they are pricing the land as if it already had the value of developed property. The problem is, no one there has money to actually build or buy the land (except the bar/club owners). Drinking is a real problem in Five Rand as people try to drown the despair of poverty . Also, the bar owners give credit, and on pay day, people often owe their whole pay check to the bar. It is reminiscent of a modern-day Grapes of Wrath.

We were told that our only recourse was to write a letter to the town council asking for an exception to be made. The council does not meet until late January (after we had hoped to begin building). Please, please pray for a breakthrough! See prayer points below.

PERSONAL NOTES
We had an absolutely wonderful time with our daughters, Jenny and Jamie, who were here during the last two weeks in November. For Thanksgiving dinner, we feasted on kudu, gemsbok, crocodile, zebra and ostrich. There was not a turkey anywhere in sight. When we weren’t eating African game, we were visiting them in the wild. We spent a few days in the Etosha Game Reserve and were able to see lions, elephant, rhino, giraffe, zebra, kudu, oryx, impala, warthog, jackal, mongoose, dassie, springbok, steenbok wildebeest, kori bustards, and secretary birds. But our favorite animal encounter was with the female lion we met while she was about to cross the track we were traveling. Instead she decided to run with us about 10 feet to the side of our truck, all the time wondering if she could manage to drag all four of us home to Leo for his breakfast. Here is a photo of her after she slowed down and we had recovered enough to find our camera.

Last month I incorrectly listed our new home phone number. I gave the old area code instead of the new one. So here it is again:

011-264-62-504971 (from U.S.)
062-504971 (from Namibia)

CHURCH DISTRIBUTED UPDATE
The pre-school building project in Vyf Rand (Five Rand) camp is building bridges between four different churches and cultures. Northland, a church in Pisgah, Alabama, Khomas Community Church in Windhoek and Bible Baptist Church in Okahandja are joining hands to build a pre-school building for disadvantaged children in this poverty-ridden area near our home in Okahandja. This school gives two essential gifts to these precious children in this squatter’s area: English and a knowledge of Jesus Christ. This is a wonderful example of the distributed church in action.

ON THE HOMEFRONT
We are so excited that Roy and Ginny Nelson and Bud Abt are coming to visit us in late January. This will be the third ministry construction project we’ve worked on together: Northland renovation, construction of Camp ToKnowHim in northern Alabama and now Vyf Rand Pre-school here in Okahandja.

And today Nan Parker and Larry Sherman arrive to spend Christmas in Namibia and to help us plan for Northland’s involvement in Namibian expressions of the distributed church in 2005. We are looking forward to seeing them again and sharing this Christmas season with some of our American friends. It is very encouraging to receive visitors that remind us of all of you back home.

FINANCIAL SUMMARY
We want to keep you abreast concerning how God is supplying our financial needs for our work here in Namibia. Northland has sent us out as their representatives and graciously supplies 25% of our support base and wonderful friends like you supply the remaining 75% that enables us to remain as Namibia’s link in the church distributed. So here is a recap in U.S. dollars so far for 2004:

YTD Love Offerings: $ 25,464
YTD Budgeted Need: 37,812
Balance of Ministry Account: $ - 12,348

We are still hoping that God will place it on some of your hearts to help reduce this deficit.

PRAYER AND PRAISE POINTS
- Praise God for our wonderful time with our daughters.
- Praise God that he is continuing to provide more marketing outlets for Work of our Hands products
- Pray that the devil not be the only one with land in Five Rand.
- Pray that the town council will actually get our request on the agenda for their first meeting in January.
- Pray for mercy and favour with the town council,
- Pray for wisdom that we know if this is a sign we should look for land near, but not in Five Rand Camp. If we must actually buy worthless land (valuable to us, but absolutely no resale value once ‘s purchased) then
- Pray God provides the money so that we can also build!