Beaded Evening Bag
Lined ,bead crocheted evening bag
4.5 " w X 5"h with shoulder length strap
us $45
other colors available
« August 2006 | Main | October 2006 »
Felt Evening Bag
Wool and Rayon felt bag with bead and copper wire crocheted flap. us $28
ask about other available colors
Wire Bangles
us $12
pull on style can be gently squeezed to size . ask about available colors
Crocheted copper wire and beads sized just for tea lights us$5 Ethnic choker
Crocheted glass beads & copper wire with ostrich bead accents
us $28
Bone necklace and bracelet
Bone, resin and hand carved wood beads on a cream color cord. ( bracelet on elastic)
necklace us $45
bracelet us $25
Felted Flowers
Fasten these brooches to jackets sweaters or hand bags, or order with a hair clip back instead of pin . us $14
Crochet pendant necklace
us $ 16
Crocheted lariat necklace
Wear looped once or twice, or even as a belt. Lots and lots of beads are crocheted with strong thread and then glass beads and coral fringe complete the lariat. 150mm us $ 42
Flower Garden Bracelets
Net stitched bracelets with peyote stitched flowers us $12
Snow Queen necklace and bracelets
These are crocheted with tiny stitches of copper wire and lots and lots of seed beads.
Necklace us $ 40
Bracelet us $23
Ear Rings us $7
Stitched Collar
Wire and bead stitched collar necklace us$39
Bauble Necklace
The Bauble necklace bracelets and ear rings are net stitched with tiny seed beads over a wooden base bead. Only two ladies in our group are able to do this detailed and time comsuming work.
necklace us.$ 45.00
bracelet us $18.50
ear rings $us. 9.00
Available in other colors also
Multi Strand Necklaces
Crocheted multi strand necklaces are crocheted with fine copper wire and glass beads. They are available in many color combinations. US $24.00
Brochure
Click either ima
ge for a larger view.
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!
November, 2004
Chronicles of Namibia
Lon and Val Garber on Assignment
We are trying to simplify our newsletter format to minimize the size requirements and formatting problems encountered by various email providers. Toward that end, we will post photographs on our internet site instead of including them in the newsletter itself.
LON’S MINISTRY NEWS
In conjunction with developing written lessons for our Pastors Bible Correspondence Course, on Monday evenings, I am test teaching those lessons to the next generation leaders of two churches in the Okahandja area: Bible Baptist Church in the Vyf Rand (Five Rand) informal settlement and the Full Gospel Church in the Nau Aib neighborhood (the old location during former apartheid times). We have completed the first six lessons of a 48 lesson course of study. It contains 24 O.T. lessons, 12 N.T. lessons and 12 lessons on basic Christian theology. It is a two hour study including a question and answer time at the end of each session. The Q & A time ends when I can no longer see the expressions on their faces as we interact. It is an evening class and there is no electricity at the church tent. This week, we studied the life of Jacob and what we learn about his character from his two names, Jacob (“He who follows after”) and Israel (“He who struggles with God”).
On Wednesday evenings I am teaching a Bible study on Christian financial principles at the Omgulambasha Baptist Church in the Omgulambasha informal settlement, just north of Windhoek. CROWN Ministries has graciously given me permission to use the CROWN study as a basis for this teaching. The Scriptures are the same, but I adapt the teaching heavily to make it relevant to an African context and more specifically to a poor Kavango audience. It is such a joy to watch them get excited about what God’s word says about money and its proper use. Last night’s study was on giving and the benefits that accrue to the person who gives to others from an attitude of love.
Two weekends each month, we travel to Swakopmund where I preach and conduct leadership training for their elders. I also make myself available for pastoral counsel since they do not have a pastor. The church offered to hire me as their pastor, but we declined since God has a much larger mission for us to accomplish in our African ministry. I have, however, offered to mentor pastoral interns that they designate in order to train a Namibian person to fill the role of pastor in this young congregation. Through the end of 2005, I am preaching on the topic of faith and how it is practically applied in our lives. We are marching through the Bible looking at positive and negative examples of faith (or lack of it) in action.
I am also cultivating a relationship with another church in town, the Swakopmund Christian Centre. I will also soon begin a training program for their leaders and on occasion I will preach in their Sunday evening service.
In my recent trip to the Congo, God provided the opportunity to train 85 pastors from the Kinshasa area. In between teaching times, I toured the city and learned some things about life in a city of 8 million people. Due in part to the recent war, the population of Kinshasa has doubled in the last 8 years. One of the things I learned was how many Congolese can fit into a 1960’s vintage VW bus. The answer: 28 plus those who hang onto the outside. This is standard public transportation in an overcrowded city. I look forward to my next trip in January when I will stay for a week and train 500 pastors.
One of my goals in Namibia is to connect with each other, all of the churches and ministries that have independent relationships with Northland. Part of the vision for the church distributed is an interdependent network of churches and ministries working, serving and worshiping together. Toward that end, Nan Parker brought all of the ministries together in July for a joint meeting. I recently facilitated the second such meeting, which will now be a quarterly event. It was exciting to see these ministries reporting and dreaming and praying together. Even more exciting was the experience of seeing them begin to plan ways that they can assist each other in ministry.
God is moving mightily at Khomas Community Church, a church in a Windhoek neighborhood that Northland helped plant several years ago. Patrick Britz, the new senior pastor, reports the following:
We as a church just had a wonderful spiritual revival in our church and community. We revived our small group ministry and we had 16 couples who served as hosts (small group leaders), 70% of them are continuing until early December. Close to 35 people gave their hearts to the Lord and we are busy with follow-up. Four of our hosts are helping with the follow-up of young believers. Lon gave us excellent materials for follow-up and discovering your spiritual life.
God is busy accomplishing many other things in and through our ministry, but I’d like to close this report with a story I call “The Cattle Baron.” Little did I think that one of my ministry roles in Namibia would be to help enterprising young adults develop business plans for entrepreneurial efforts they want to launch in order to provide funds for ministry. But this past Sunday afternoon, I sat down with Linus Albertus and helped him write his first business plan for a cattle business he hopes to launch in northern Namibia. Together we outlined his business strategy, established a mark-up percentage, identified needed equipment costs, the monthly fixed cost of running the business, weekly variable costs and most importantly how much money he needs in order to launch this endeavor. He now knows an exact figure for his start-up costs and the monthly sales target he must reach to make his plans succeed. The bottom line: he must sell 6 cows a month to achieve his immediate financial goals. His motivation? He wants to marry Donisa Shilongo and provide a home for them to live in. I keep you posted on his progress.
VAL’S MINISTRY NEWS
Well, ain’t it just like life, after cooling our heels for what seemed like forever waiting for our work permits, since our return to Namibia, we have been meeting ourselves coming and going. Besides the time and hassles of moving, ministry opportunities are blossoming everywhere.
One of my first priorities upon our return was to redesign the papier-mâché bowls to a more rustic “African” look as requested by the Namibian Craft Center in Windhoek. After doing so, they placed a large order with promises of more to come. The website will contain a photo of the new designs. We are also selling the new designs wholesale to a very nice gift shop in Swakopmund. The bead project is also going well and we were able to sell about 20 items to a different gift shop in Swakopmund.
The literacy effort in Five Rand however, needs your prayers. After an enthusiastic beginning, with great initial results, Isabella’s students are falling away. (After all, would you have gone to school as a child or teenager if you weren’t made to go?) Many students lack the discipline of working toward long term goals, especially when there is hard work and no $ involved. Pray for Isabella to be encouraged by the Lord. She goes faithfully to teach, walking 3 kilometers there and 3 kilometers back in the heat of summer, to find from 6 to 0 students showing up for class.
Our new home/ministry center hosted it’s first ladies retreat the first week of October. Because of long distances in Namibia, weekly classes are not always possible. We therefore condensed the eight weeks of HEALING PAST EMOTIONAL HURTS into a week-long seminar. Seven ladies attended with five staying the week in our guest flat and guest room. For the first time, I taught this class with no drop outs (they couldn’t get away J ) It was a great success, and I have requests to do another class soon. See the website for a group photo.
If you want an idea of Namibian lifestyles, check out the options one has for ironing in Namibia. I took this photo recently of an in-store display. (See web site after Nov 21st)
PERSONAL NOTES
We have completed our move to Okahandja and have mostly settled into our new home and ministry center. . For those we may have missed our earlier notice, our new address/phone numbers are as follows:
P.O. Box 1514
Okahandja, Namibia
011-264-61-504971 (from U.S.)
061-504971 (from Namibia)
We have a new Namibian family member. His name is Mambo. He is an S.P.C.A special so we are not sure the breed. We think he has some shepherd in him. More than a pet and family member, he is also a watchdog since we do not have a security system protecting our new home.
Lon was involved in an auto accident in late September and we just got our bakkie (pickup truck) back from the panel beaters (body shop) this past week. So we were without the use of our only vehicle for 6 weeks. But God is good and enabled us to continue our ministry activities with the loving help of friends who loaned us vehicles, use of the Intercape bus and occasional walking. We were so excited to be re-united with our Isuzu yesterday. No, Lon was not seriously hurt, but as the emergency room doctor was patching up the gash in his head, he said to Lon: “This cut is not too bad, I just can’t stop the bleeding.” Just one more thing you don’t want to hear a doctor say while you are laying on operating table.
We also want to thank you all for your ongoing offerings of love, support and prayer. We feel your presence and love in our lives all the time. We hope that you also feel more connected to the African or American church (depending on your vantage point) because of our presence here.
CHURCH DISTRIBUTED UPDATE
We would like to share from time to time small examples of the distributed church in action. Lon’s recent trip to the Congo demonstrates the global church connected. He began interacting with his host pastor via email over a year ago, due to a relationship he had established with Jim Laird, Northland’s new director of Distributed Ministries. Jim’s connection with Pastor Mushadi came through our longstanding relationship with Youth for Christ Namibia and more recently Christ’s Hope International. Pastor Mushadi is a board member for CHI. And now Pastor Mushadi has provided an opportunity for Northland to be involved in training a network of over 500 pastors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is the distributed church, “linking global communities for ministry and worship everywhere, every day.”
ON THE HOMEFRONT
We would like to thank our faithful friend Hazel Sun, who provides wonderful support for our ministry from the States. Not only was she a godsend to us when we sold our home in America, but she continues to help us with stateside financial assistance and she regularly sends us news and magazine articles she knows will be of interest to us
We would also like to thank J.T. and LeDonna Almon for the many ways they assist us every day. They graciously supply us with a guest flat when we return to the Orlando area. They manage our stateside mail and help us in many other ways, including tutoring us in the care and maintenance of our new ministry center pool. That’s right God supplied us with a pool. The only suitable home available in Okahandja when we had to find a home and move within 13 days, came equipped with a small pool. It is a wonderful respite from the hot summer heat and we are making it available for local ministries, such as CHI to use as well.
Please take a moment and join us in a prayer of thanksgiving for Hazel and J.T. and LeDonna and a prayer of blessing on all of their endeavors. We are eternally grateful for their friendship, support and faithful assistance.
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 for 2004:
YTD Love Offerings: $ 19,509
YTD Budgeted Need: 34,375
-----------
Balance of Ministry Account: $ 14,563 -
PRAYER AND PRAISE POINTS
- Praise God for our support partners who faithfully pray for us and those who provide financial support.
- Pray that God would raise up more monthly support to address our 2004 deficit and improve the value of the U.S. dollar so the money we have can stretch further.
- Isabella’s literacy class as explained above
- Pray that we will have the discipline to say NO to worthy requests when our schedules get too full.
- Pray for discernment in knowing which ministry possibilities to say YES to.
- Pray for wisdom and sensitivity for Lon as he continues to train young African leaders
- Pray for growth and maturity for Val’s ladies as she trains them in business and life skills
- Thanksgiving and blessings for our friends Hazel, J.T. and LeDonna
- Thanksgiving for the fixing of our bakkie (an essential ministry tool) at a reasonable fee.
- We are so thankful that God continues to provide the opportunity for us to live and minister in this country we have grown to love.
October, 2004
Church Distributed in Action:
Update on Lon and Val in Namibia
By Distributed Pastor Lon Garber
Everything is going wonderfully. We are settling into our new home, and we are getting back involved in our ministry connections in Namibia. I have resumed my weekly Bible study in the Babilon squatters’ camp. I have been teaching a weekly Bible study at Omgulambasha Baptist Church #2 since last October. This church is closely associated with the Bible Baptist Church in Vyf Rand squatters’ camp near Okahandja. Both congregations are from the Kavango tribe, whose tribal homeland is in the northeast part of the country along the Kavango River. They are the woodcarvers of the country.
Last week I started a series on finances. I will be teaching them from the Scripture verses used in the Crown Financial material. Each week I will teach a biblical financial principle and help them learn a verse in English. Last week I taught the principle that God owns everything. During the study, I asked the question: “Does God love rich people more than poor people because He gives them more money?” A student named Mateas responded with the following answer:
No, God rather watches what we do with the money He has given us. If we spend it selfishly, He is disappointed with us. If we are generous and share it with others, He is pleased. His pleasure is not determined by how much He gives us; it is determined by how we spend whatever He gives us.
The distributed church continues to spread its wings. In October I will be traveling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to lead a retreat for 50 pastors in Kinshasa and to plan a follow-up retreat for January that will be attended by 500 pastors. God is good.
One Sunday in July 2003, after worshiping at Pastor Thomas Mbundu’s Bible Baptist Church (Vyf Rand, Okahandja) with Rebekah Richey’s mission team, visiting Pastor Mathias Nsamba introduced himself to me and said: “Pastor Thomas has much help from Americans in this church. There is no one helping our church in Babilon. Will you come help us too?” So we began forming a relationship with them. We visited him and his wife, Sirrka, in their humble home made of corrugated metal combined in the fashion of a patchwork quilt. Sirrka runs a small preschool that is attached to their home. I was taken by the simple plaque on their wall, which reads: “We may be poor, but we are rich in the Lord.” As is my custom (I think I learned it from Joel before leaving for Namibia), I asked them: “How can I best help your church?” Mathias replied: “Come teach us the Bible. We love the Lord, but we don’t know much about the Bible.” So that is what I have been doing.
My two star students are the pastors themselves. They have no training as pastors, just a willingness to lead and serve. I began by teaching them my Panoramic Tour of the Bible course. I felt it would be an excellent backdrop for everything else I would teach them from the Bible. It would give them context and an ability to see how it all fits together. Each week my assistant, George Steinbach, would go with me. It was the third time he had been through the same material. George has a true servant’s heart. He is very shy and therefore likes to serve quietly, behind the scenes. And yet, a small voice within me whispered that he yearned to be a teacher. So one day I asked him if he would ever like to teach a portion of one of my lessons. To my surprise, he eagerly agreed to teach the next lesson himself. So the next week, he taught the whole lesson and did a wonderful job. So I became his teaching mentor, and he taught several more lessons under my direction. As a result, when we had to leave Namibia in February, George continued and finished teaching the course on his own. Isn’t God good? And now George has moved on to serve the Lord in Botswana with Youth for Christ there. A major part of his new job: teaching. God is very good! That is why I love to mentor.
The Democratic Republic of Congo
The invitation came from Pastor Mushadi Ntambue. He is a friend of Jos Holzhausen, and Jos has traveled many times to the Congo to minister with him in Kinshasa. Jim Laird met him through Jos. Jim Laird then asked me to make contact with Mushadi from Namibia, so we began an e-mail relationship. My first opportunity to meet Mushadi came in April, when we were both in Orlando. We met at Northland and planned these two trips. Each year in January, 500 pastors from around the country gather from a week-long retreat to gather vision and encouragement for the year from each other. Pastor Mushadi invited me to come and be their speaker for 2005. To plan and prepare for that retreat, a group of 50 pastors will meet in October. I am going there this month to lead a weekend mini-retreat for the planning pastors and to help them decide on a theme and teaching topics for the January retreat.
February, 2004
We are overwhelmed by your prayers and words of support and encouragement. We have received several hundred personal emails from you this past weekend, from all over the world. Many of you have forwarded our request for prayer to your own prayer networks. We have heard from friends in Australia, Italy, Germany, England, Ireland, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and the United States. Email is such a wonderful prayer tool. We had friends who published our letter on their prayer networks who in turn had members publish it on other networks. You prayed for us in worship services at Northland and in other churches in Florida and Ohio (that we know of).
So when we woke up this morning we were at total peace with our situation, and expectantly looking forward to what God would do. I knew that you all were still praying fervently for us. Last night Manus drove 200 miles across the desert to be with us today. Sylvia drove 60 miles from Rehoboth. George stayed home from work to be with us. So supported by your prayers and my close, close friends I called the man in Immigration who held our passports and our immediate future in his hands. His name is Kosmos. I made an appointment to talk to him about our situation. We left Val at home, so in case they arrested or detained me, she would still be free to call the embassy, the Marines and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And of course, all of you.
The first thing Kosmos did when I arrived in his office was hand me a gospel tract and say, "this is a gift for you." Government officials can do that in Namibia. I was only tempted for a second to ask him if he would help me become a Christian. I mean, could he possibly arrest or deport someone he had just led to Christ? But I resisted the temptation. Before I had a chance to thank God for placing me in the hands of a Christian immigration agent, Kosmos turned me over to another agent and left. Mr. Kapolo, however, turned out to be equally as nice and very helpful.
Having tried many times to describe our complicated story of approval and denial, I realized how hard it was for an official to understand all of those details verbally. So I had prepared a short summary of what had transpired since we arrived in Namibia a little over a year ago. I was also a little afraid that if I told the story orally, I would again fall back on my powers of persuasion rather than rest in God's arms. So rather than try and convince him orally, I just handed him the short historical description of the facts from our perspective and asked him to read it. He read it thoroughly, asked a few questions and excused himself. 15 minutes later he returned and gave me our passports back, said there were no problems, but that we would have to submit new applications for work permits. To do so, we would need to leave the country while they were being processed. He gave us as much time as we need to prepare to leave. That in itself was a miracle. Three days is the maximum length of time they normally give someone with a passport problem.
He did not stamp an order to leave the country in our passports. We will call him once we are ready and he will notify the border control agents to let us leave the country without detaining us. This is a true blessing since a close friend of ours was arrested at the border this past weekend because of a passport problem. The fact that he did not stamp our passports with an order to leave the country is an added blessing. That stamp would have caused us a problem and lengthy explanations whenever we would cross the border in the future.
Upon departure, we will submit our new applications. We will stay in South Africa while we await a decision concerning our new applications. For reasons too numerous to mention in this brief praise report, we are confident that our new applications will be approved in due time. If the time extends from weeks to months, we will return to the States and await the decision in both Florida and Colorado.
After cordially answering all my questions, he returned our passports and wished us a pleasant day. Manus, Sylvia and I left the building quickly without our feet ever touching the ground. George was anxiously awaiting us at the entrance and we celebrated on the sidewalk with a prayer of thanksgiving. God is so good.
What have we learned in the past few weeks about God and faith? We exhausted all known ways to try and impact a positive resolution to our problem. We had used every contact we could find (literally dozens of people tried to help us) and at the end, we were powerless to effect an approval or even to discover our true status. We finally turned the whole situation over to God in our helplessness and He acted powerfully on our behalf. We are, of course are now wondering why we delayed so long. As one close German friend told me recently, you have placed yourselves totally in the hands of God and now you are completely out of the hands of the officials. That wisdom proved very true today.
One more interesting observation about how God has worked in our lives. It is virtually impossible to actually have a face-to-face conversation with someone inside the Home Affairs bureaucracy. They don't answer their phones, they don't return calls and you can't get past the front door unless they leave word at the guard station that they are expecting you. Even then it is difficult because they don't answer their phones for the guard to announce you either and so the guard tells you that, even though you are expected, they are not available. The only way to contact them is to know someone who knows their private cell phone number. However, once they confiscated our passports, they suddenly wanted to talk to us. So what I had been trying to accomplish for months became a reality in a matter of minutes this morning. At times the road to God's safety must first pass through the gauntlet of danger. It's a trust thing; God seems committed to it
