May, 2006
MINISTRY NEWS
Lon and his assistant Alex have just completed three weeks of daily training at the STMT (Short-Term Missionary Training) school at Hodygos Training Center (a ministry of Youth for Christ Namibia). We taught on Character Development and each day covered a different aspect of character that is important in ministry. Here are some of the topics:
· Integrity doing what you say you will do
· Authenticity showing others who you really are
· Vulnerability opening yourself to attack for the sake of opportunity
· Teachability willing to learn new things
· Accountability answering for what you do and what you don’t do
· Self-Discipline doing what needs to be done when you don’t want to
· Trust committing yourself into the care of another
· Flexibility being responsive to change and opening yourself to others’ influence
· Teamwork working together to accomplish a common goal
There were 14 students ranging in age from 18-28. We have a lot of fun teaching this course each year, but it is tiring at the same time teaching for 5 hours each day without neglecting all of your other work.
Lon has also been doing a lot of preaching on the weekends. He preaches every other weekend in Swakopmund and at times preaches in Okahandja on the weeks in between. It is a growing part of my ministry here and I’m enjoying it more and more as my skills improve. I am looking forward to preaching at the beach this August for our Central Florida friends.
Anita Lee has arrived from Seattle and has already made herself very useful in assisting us in our ministry activities. She is also enjoying being reunited with her son and daughter-in-law who work with Youth for Christ just a few miles south of Okahandja. We still need to locate a flat for her, but in the meantime our household has grown from three to six (with the addition of Hank, Joyce and Anita).
We are busy preparing for the arrival of 3 American teams (over 60 individuals) who will all be in Okahandja at the same time. One project they will work on is to help us build several traditional African villages. We will use it as a tourist attraction, educational center and gathering place for community story telling. We will have collections of huts (model villages) of varying tribal styles, including Bushmen, Damara, Owambo, Herero and Kavango. We are clearing the land, cutting the poles and harvesting the river reeds now. Some of the team members will then assist in the actual construction of the huts, under the supervision of tribal experts. Doesn’t that sound like fun?
Please pray for our strength for these next 4 months. We have an extremely busy schedule that stretches over three continents (Africa, America and Europe) and we are already tired from our normally busy schedule here. With each passing month in Namibia, we receive more and more requests from people and ministries in need of help. It is hard to say no to such great need, but we are tiring ourselves and need to learn to pace ourselves better.
in the namibian NEWS
A mystery virus has recently broken out in Namibia. So far 22 people have contracted the virus and five of them have died. Neither Namibian health officials nor the WHO (World Health Organization) have been able to determine what it is. Victims typically suffer from lower-limb weakness, acute paralysis, breathing difficulties, chest pain, cold and flu symptoms, neck stiffness, headaches and dizziness. They have ruled out polio and Guillain-Barré Syndrome. They have also ruled out the possibility that any of the patients contracted the virus while traveling.
Angelina Jolie has finally had her baby. The closer it came to delivery, the more attention it got in the press. It is big news here as I’m sure it has been in America. One informal survey showed that a majority of Namibians favor making Shiloh’s birthday a national Namibian holiday. One hopes that they were only joking. One of Angelina’s cravings during pregnancy was for Reese’s Pieces. She was sure that they were available somewhere in the country, but of course they are not. So she had some flown in from the Hershey factory in Pennsylvania. That set Lon to craving them as well (no, he is not pregnant) and so an emergency email went out to some friends and they are on the way via special delivery. Angelina has nothing on us. Brad and Angelina have been very gracious guests of Namibia. They have donated U.S.$15,000 to a primary school in a poor section of Swakopmund and they donated over U.S.$300,000 to the maternity wards of two local state (government-run) hospitals.
Ralph Lorenz, a scientist at the University of Arizona, after looking at recent Cassini space probe photos of Saturn’s largest moon said, “It’s bizarre. These images look just like Namibia.” That gives you some idea of the rugged nature of the Namib Desert. I think when we first arrived in 2002, Val thought she had landed on one of Saturn’s moons.
Unfortunately the inflation rate in Zimbabwe keeps going up. It is now above 1000% per annum. That means the cost of meeting basic needs has gone up 10 times in the past year. A loaf of bread now costs $100,000 Zim dollars. The joke in Harare is that people are using $500 bills in place of toilet paper because the money is worth less than the toilet paper.
PERSONAL NOTES
It’s work permit renewal time again. We submitted our applications through an agent this time since we will be out of the country when our permits expire at the end of July. We are the most confident we’ve ever been that they will be renewed this year thanks to all that God has accomplished through our work here. But timing is always the largest issue. The agent told us that paperwork is moving very slowly at the moment. If it goes as smoothly as last year, we will have our renewals before we leave. Otherwise, we will have to apply for emergency visas to get back into the country when we return in September. Please pray that our renewal will be approved in record time.
Thanks for praying that God would bless us with more close friends. He is answering your prayers. We are slowly building a small network of Christian friends here in Okahandja.
Bugsy continues to rule the household but he is a little confused about his name. Every time anyone picks him up they invariably say to him, “You’re so cute.” Now he thinks that his name is “You’re so cute,” which doesn’t really help him build his desired reputation as a “mobster.” He barks and growls and tries to act mean and vicious, but everybody just laughs. He can’t get “no respect.”
Just in case any of you would like to see what our town looks like from a satellite in space, using the downloadable Google Earth software, you can find Okahandja at the following co-ordinates:
16.90835° E (Longitude)
Zoom out to an Eye altitude of 33150 ft. and you can see the town nicely. Email me and I’ll take you on a guided tour of the town and even point out the street we live on. Thank you J.T. Almon for introducing us to this wonderful piece of modern technology.
CHURCH DISTRIBUTED UPDATE
Hank and Joyce Schauer have arrived from Seattle, WA to conduct Holiday Kids Clubs in Okahandja. In July a team will join them (also from Seattle) to lead clubs for thousands of children in our town. We are so thankful for their tireless efforts (this is the third year they’ve done this) in bringing the Good News to children and for working in conjunction with Child Evangelism Fellowship to use this event as a launching platform for ongoing kids clubs.
We are also thankful for the Zebra team coming from Central Florida at the same time as the Seattle team. They will be working with several ministries here in Namibia that will further our distributed church partnering goals. Nan Parker has already arrived and is busy making the necessary preparations here for the arrival of the teams. The Seattle team and the Central Florida team arrive together and at last count consists of 34 team members. Another team from Christ Church Amherst, NH (another Northland partner church) will arrive a few days later to push the total number of American short-term missionaries to over 60.
ON THE HOMEFRONT
We need your help. One of the most difficult tasks in publishing the Chronicles of Namibia is keeping up with all of your email address changes. When that happens, you miss getting the newsletter and it costs us money (we pay by the minute for internet connection time) to receive the newsletter back from each incorrect address. You can help us in two ways. First, add us (lon.garber@northlandchurch.net) to your address book so we will be included in those you notify when you changes your email address. Second, if you have a current email address for any of the following families, please let us know what it is:
Bob & Winnie Buffington
Durbin & Beth Gatch
Suzette & Eddie Thompson
Linda Schatz
Dennis & Cindy Heinz
Judy Hodges (formerly)
Lisa Skelton
Cynthia Allen
Nick & Suzy Pabst
Charlie Gonano
Rich & Camille Halbert
Charlie Fitzgerald
Don’t forget to register for the Garber Beach Weekend. Several of you have let us know you will be coming over for the day, but we wish more of you could come for the whole weekend. For more information, contact Carol Knapp at (407-830-9035). The reservation number is as follows:
Reservation Phone: 1-800-206-2747
Address: Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach
1300 N. Atlantic Avenue
Cocoa Beach, FL 32931
slice of african life
A few weeks ago I received a text message (SMS) on my cell phone which began “Dear Pastor Loan.” The sender who I had met for the first time three days before asked me to loan him N$1000. He is a Christian. This is a frequent occurrence in our ministry here. Hardly a week goes by without someone asking us to give or loan them money. I declined his request, briefly explaining why. His response to my response is what surprised me. He apologized for asking and then begged me not to place a curse on his family. This is a common fear (sadly even among Christians) in Africa. If you displease someone, they may pay a witchdoctor to curse your family.
This month’s animal fable is about the rhino. He is famous for scattering his dung. The Batonka have a story to explain why he does it. Long ago, the elephant teased the rhino for his poor eyesight and bad temper. The elephant really had nothing to brag about since his eyesight isn’t all that good either. But he teased rhino anyway and he did it mercilessly. Finally rhino challenged elephant to a contest he was certain he could win. The contest was to see who could produce the tallest pile of dung in a day. Rhino won and it made elephant very angry. So he beat up rhino with his trunk and gored him with his tusks. Rhino begged for mercy and promised to never produce more dung than elephant ever again. So rhino scatters his dung after each dropping so not to once again incur the wrath of the mighty elephant.
This story is summarized from When Hippo Was Hairy: And Other Tales from Africa.” If you would like to read the full version and lots of other African folk tales, we highly recommend this book. ISBN: 1-86872-456-5
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Here is our financial summary of our funding for 2006:
$ 12,608 2006 YTD Giving through April 30
14,624 2006 YTD Budgeted Need
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$ -2,016 2006 Ministry Account Balance
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Thank you all very much for helping us pursue and sustain God’s calling for us in Africa.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When giving through Northland, make sure you designate “Lon and Val Garber” on your envelope or attached note. Otherwise, your donation may not be credited properly to our account.
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Posted by: sngrhzpv rgjqkfp | May 22, 2008 at 02:43 AM