Lon and Val Garber - Distributed in Namibia

July, 2006

MINISTRY NEWS

American mission teams top the news this month. Teams from Seattle, Central Florida and Seattle were all here in Okahandja at the same time. They conducted Kids Clubs (VBS), helped in pre-schools, did teacher training in a local primary school, helped build traditional African huts, assisted in several agricultural projects, helped with soup kitchens, visited the sick and elderly and many other activities that demonstrate the love of Christ in a cross-cultural setting. One of the most encouraging aspects of these short-term missionary endeavors is the way it connects the American church with the African church. Many team members have been coming year-after-year and have built strong friendships and ministry partnerships with Christians in Namibia. Most of our work in the past month has been focused on providing practical support for the teams and building relationship with them.

Last week, several of us were involved in a project to expand and improve Pastor Thomas’ chicken coop. It reminded me of “Extreme Makeover: Chicken Home Edition.” We first tore down the original chicken coop and the chickens thought we were filming “Prison Break.” They scattered to the four winds but once the new structure was completed, they came back to roost in their fancy new home. One hen was just a few days from hatching her chicks so she just sat there as we demolished the coop around here and constructed another one. As she squatted on her eggs, two doves took up residence on her back. We couldn’t figure out whether they were supplying Mommy with moral support and protection or they just thought she was something soft to sit on.

The new sewing project is thriving. We now have 6 sewing machines and 3 instructors. A few weeks ago, a young Christian college student showed up on our doorstep trying to sell us a Kirby vacuum cleaner. In the process, Val told her about our many job-training projects. Her response: “You must meet my mom. She just moved here from Orangemund (southwestern Namibia in the restricted diamond district) and she has a sewing business.” So a few days later, Jean (the mom) showed up at our door. We didn’t buy the vacuum cleaner, but we did get our third instructor. God is good.

We are still awaiting news on our work permit renewal and it now looks like we will not hear a definitive answer before our departure. That presents a bit of a challenge since our current work permits expire a week after we leave Namibia. Without going into all the legal implications, an uncertain work permit status greatly complicates our re-entry into Namibia in September. So 10 days ago, we implemented a back-up strategy. We applied for 90-day work visas and they were approved a few days ago. The bottom line is that we can now leave on our trip with the peace of mind that we will be able to get back into Namibia and the end of the trip without any hassles. It gives us much peace of mind to have this cleared up before leaving the country. Please continue to pray for the successful renewal of our work permits for another year.

I recently wrote a short article for the Northland Staff Newsletter that I thought all of you might enjoy as well. It is a brief description of a day in the life of a Distributed Pastor in Africa:

Monday, 26 June 2006

6:30 – lots of incoming emails in response to our newsletter (Chronicles of Namibia).

7:00 – Pastor Thomas arrived for our daily mentoring/planning session. Mentoring topics include: his family budget, personnel and parenting issues, and church challenges. This morning we discussed how to keep neighbors from stealing his water, how to transport a load of bricks and goats to our new property, and opening a youth center in the squatter’s camp.

9:00 – Pastor Stephen Nell stopped by unexpectedly from South Africa. We toured our new property and discussed our many community development projects.

10:00 – inspected bundles of river reeds collected yesterday. We’ll use them to build traditional African huts for our cultural center. I also walked the dry river bed looking for new reed sources.

11:00 – back home tackling more emails. They arrive faster than I can respond.. There will be even more tomorrow.

13:30 – inspected broken sewing machines of a Damara lady who does upholstery. We will fix her machines and in return she’ll join our job skills training program as an instructor.

14:15 – led meeting between Christ Hope, International (AIDS ministry) and Hope for a Better Future. CHI needs vegetables to feed AIDS patients and we need a submersible pump for irrigation. We agreed to launch a joint vegetable plot project where we supply the land and supervisor and they supply irrigation equipment and workers. It was attended by a Lazarus (an Owambo man), Thomas (a Kavango), Alex (from Zambia), Annamieke (from Holland) and myself (from America) – a distributed partnership at its best.

15:30 – ran personal errands, a vital part of every African day. Bills are paid in person and in cash (not safe to mail money), requiring frequent trips to the bank. You must go to the post office to collect your mail (no residential delivery).

16:30 – six of us headed for Monkey Mountain for a sundowner party. It’s really a huge pile of boulders (not a mountain) and it’s inhabited by baboons (not monkeys) but Baboon Rock Pile just doesn’t sound as nice. The view is breathtaking and the baboons keep a safe distance. It overlooks the reservoir and dam above the town and provides a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains. So we go there often with our wine, cheese and crackers and enjoy the African sunset with friends and celebrate our awesome God. It’s a little chilly this time of year (it’s winter down under) so the Glüwein (German mulled wine) warmed us from the chill.

18:15 – back home in time for a series of phone calls: a couple of friends looking for a pastor to marry them tonight (they are truly spontaneous), a Namibian friend looking for a place to stay in Orlando next month, and a luncheon invitation for this weekend at Swakopmund where I’ll be preaching. It’s quieter there now that Brangelina and family have left.

19:00 – a brief time of relaxation watching “The Practice” and “Boston Legal” (yes, recycled American TV is alive and well in Africa).

21:00 – back to my email Inbox to end the day responding to more emails from friends and ministry partners.

in the namibian NEWS

Polio is still the talk of the country. The second round of polio vaccinations begins tomorrow. Thankfully, the outbreak of new cases seems to be diminishing.

PERSONAL NOTES

Bugsy’s training program continues to be a frustrating experience for everyone except Bugsy. If it positively, absolutely needs to be chewed, shredded and deposited on the front lawn, just leave it within reach of Bugsy. He will take care of it for you, guaranteed. We scold Bugsy for something and it is Bo who hangs his head in a show of guilt for something he didn’t do. Bugsy just looks at you and says smilingly, “Yeah, yeah, whatever; can’t we just play?” And he bounces away without a care in the world. Like all gangsters, he places himself above the law.

We are excited about our visits to America and Germany, but at the same time we are exhausted. It has been a hectic few months of ministry and our time in America is usually very tiring as well. We would appreciate your prayers for refreshment and the renewing of strength somewhere along the way. At the same time, we are very excited about Jamie and Bobby’s wedding and about meeting our son-in-law Jesus for the first time (Jenny’s new husband).

ON THE HOMEFRONT

The biggest news is that we will be there soon and are still hoping that more of you will join us at the beach on August 18-20. Today the motel releases the unreserved block of rooms they were saving for us, so if you have been delaying making your reservations, today is the day to do it. This will be our primary time of reporting on all that God is doing through, with and in us so we hope many more of you will decide to come here about our work in Africa. This will be our primary reporting time while in Central Florida. We would love to meet with all of you individually, but we don’t have the time or strength. Once again, the reservation information 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

Winter in Namibia is quite a different experience than in America. The biggest difference is that it occurs in June, July and August. Another difference is that in some ways it is harsher than American winters (even though the temperatures are similar to Florida winters) since Namibian homes have no central heating. Therefore the interior of your home gets very cold at night and remains cold during the day. And yet, being outside in the daytime is quite pleasant. The other day, a stranger on the street commented on the fact that I was carrying my jacket over my shoulder. “Only in Namibia do you wear your jacket inside the house and take it off when you go outdoors.” It was an insightful observation. To keep warm at night, we wear lots of warm clothes indoors and keep a blanket handy at all times.

Friends told us recently of a poor family they know in the squatter’s area who bought a TV a year ago. They have never turned it on because they don’t have any electricity in their home. But they are still excited because they followed our friends’ advice by waiting until they could buy it with cash rather than buying it on credit. And the lady was so proud to report that she is now saving money for a washing machine in spite of the fact that they also have no running water in their small shack. But just the same, they are moving up in the world. Then they asked our friends to loan them the money to buy an electric generator so they could watch the World Cup on their TV, which went through the entire warranty period without ever being turned on.

This months’ African animal fable is a Zulu story about the BABOON. Leopards love the taste of baboons but it has not always been this way. Long ago they were friends. One day the hungry leopard chased a rabbit into a hole in the ground. He asked his friend baboon to guard the hole while he took a brief trip to the river for a before-dinner drink. When he returned he found baboon snoring as the rabbit was scurrying away to safety. In his anger, he began scolding baboon for his laziness and called him a stupid monkey (baboons hate to be called monkeys) and at one point grabbed him forcefully. As he licked his bloody paws, he suddenly saw his friend in a new light: a tasty meal. Seeing the carnivorous look in leopard’s eyes, baboon quickly suggested that the best way to eat a baboon was to throw him in the air near a tree. The baboon would fall to the earth and break into a bunch of bite-size pieces and thus make a delicious meal easier to eat. So that is what leopard did. Of course baboon grabbed hold of the tree and scrambled to the top. He then proceeded to hurl screeching insults down on his former friend, the leopard. To this day, the leopard loves the taste of baboon and baboon escapes to the trees whenever leopard comes around with that hungry look in his eye. 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. Baboons are everywhere in Namibia and are organized in social groups of 10-200 and travel with the dominant male in the center of the group. They love to sit on fence posts and watch tourists go by. They also congregate near tourist parking places and climb in the car if you leave your car door open. Then they refuse to leave until they get food.

FINANCIAL SUMMARY

Here is our financial summary of our funding for 2006:

$  19,100     2006 YTD Giving (through June)
    21,936     2006 YTD Budgeted Need
----------------
$  -2,836     2006 Ministry Account Balance

========

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. If you are mailing the donation to Northland, the address is 530 Dog Track Rd. / Longwood, FL 32750. Donations for specific projects can be sent to “Hope for a Better Future Trust” c/o Hazel Sun, 659 Dunblane Dr., Winter Park, FL 32792-4620.

June, 2006

MINISTRY NEWS

This is the busiest time of year for us in our respective ministries. Lon is preaching almost every Sunday somewhere in the country. We are beginning to implement the plans we have for the Hope for a Better Future trust. Lon is also teaching at various places during the week and we are preparing for the arrival of three missions teams who arrive at the end of the month. Val has launched a third job skills training project through Work of our Hands. This time it is a sewing project in the Vyf Rand (Five Rand) Camp. Some of the ladies who have been sewing for several years were completely surprised to learn that they are supposed to oil the machines regularly. We are using both electrical and pedal sewing machines.

At the same time, we are preparing for our annual return to the States (and this time to Germany as well). So we must schedule extra time to gather photos, movies and reports to show our ministry partners in the U.S. and Germany. We keep dreaming of taking a day off, but that is difficult to do in Africa. As with Jesus, a lot of our ministry happens “along the way.” People come searching for us 7 days a week from early in the morning until late in the evening. Appointment times are not a highly regarded tradition in Africa. Thus, we have developed a deeper understanding of Jesus’ constant challenge in finding time to be with Himself and His Father.

Even in Africa, much of ministry is being faithful to the mundane, tasks, teachings and counsel that fill every ministry day. But occasionally you fall into an adventure that really makes you feel like a missionary and I am in the midst of one of those now. I am learning how to build a traditional African village. We selected a suitable location under a fine stand of trees. We are busy clearing the land. Yesterday, we began harvesting reeds from the riverbed and in a few days we will go out into the bush and begin cutting poles. Once the teams arrive, we will start assembling the rondavals (round grass huts with thatched roofs) and build several small ”villages” (three huts per village) according to the traditional designs of several Namibian tribes (Owambo, Kavango, Bushman, Herero, etc). It is a real treat to be involved in re-creating centuries-old construction methods. Our goal is to construct a cultural center for schools, residents of Five Rand and tourists.

The other day Val was looking through “House and Leisure” (a South African magazine) and she saw a set of earrings that looked a lot like an earring design she had created for Work of our Hands. At first she thought, “someone has copied our work.” Then she realized that it WAS our work. One of the shops in Capetown that sells our products arranged for the earrings to be included in the magazine. Imagine the excitement of our bead ladies to see the work of their hands included in a glossy magazine among things they will never be able to afford. And yet their craft work was included along with all the other elegant merchandise. They couldn’t believe it had actually happened to them. Please pray for these ladies that God will continue to prosper them. And also pray for Val and Cecilia as they train them. It is a constant struggle to communicate the simplest business concepts to the ladies in ways they can understand and begin to practice.

in the namibian NEWS

Several cities throughout the nation are trying to crack down on illegal shebeens. Police are finally enforcing a liquor law enacted in 1998. Shebeens are tiny taverns people open in their homes to serve alcohol to neighbors. They rarely do it legally since that requires completing complicated forms, installing separate toilet facilities for men and women, including running water and high license fees. These are stiff requirements in rural areas. So they open illegally by dedicating a room in their home to the shop; they stock it with booze and put up a homemade sign in their yard. There are about 400 of these home bars in Walvis Bay alone. Only 14 are legal. The city initiated a crackdown recently and closed the illegal ones. 300 of them immediately reopened. So the city confiscated their inventories and equipment, including cell phones. The shebeen owners are furious. The closures have now started happening nationwide. The fact that they are illegal doesn’t matter to the shebeen operators. They are initiating public protests at town halls and now at the “Tintenpalast” (our Parliament Building) and have even appealed to the President to intervene on their behalf. Their neighbors are very happy about the closures since loud music blares on late into the night when the shebeens are operating. And shebeen shootings are quite common.

In the north, they call shebeens – cuca shops. They claim they have been given permission by tribal leaders to operate and thus don’t need permission from the municipal authorities. Since they are otherwise unemployed, they claim that selling alcohol is the only way for them to earn money. One was quoted as saying, “Many families depend on this money. We are supporting our families and churches with our earnings from our cuca shops and shebeens.” Thankfully President Pohamba came out quite strongly against the illegal shebeen owners. He urged them to follow the law and then added, “Alcohol is keeping our country enslaved to poverty. We did not struggle for decades to win independence only to lose it again to alcohol. I don’t want to preside over a nation of drunkards.” And yet, the founding father and prior president, Sam Nujoma spoke in favor of the shebeen owners and urged them to gain permission from their churches and tribal authorities … Hmmmm. I wonder which churches will give their people permission to operate illegal taverns in residential neighborhoods that are often frequented by young children until the late hours on school nights.

For the past week, illegal shebeen owners have camped out in front of the Parliament building in protest of the law. They are turning the Parliament grounds into a squatter’s area and yesterday they even skinned, butchered and “braaied” (grilled) an entire cow on Parliament grounds. Government officials are reluctant to deal harshly with the protesters for fear that they come off looking like bullies; but, on the other hand, they are now risking the impression that the law and those tasked with enforcing it are weak and ineffective. This issue is turning into a major showdown between the forces of law and order and the people’s right to do whatever they want to support their families.

The World Health Organization recently reported that, in spite of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the Namibian life expectancy is on the rise. It now stands at 54. That is wonderful news since it is dropping dramatically in most southern African nations. Recently a FOX/NEWS reporter, Roger Friedman (evidently on a tight deadline) stated that 25% of the Namibian population died of AIDS in 2003. I am happy to report that he was quite mistaken. Otherwise we would still be busy burying those 450,000 people.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Namibian Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, the unemployment rate in Namibia has reached 36.7%. If you include people who are underemployed (employed but at a level below a living wage), the rate climbs to about 60%. The report challenged the government to do more to create jobs by funding more capital projects. As you can see, employment is a major challenge for Namibia. Training Namibians to earn a living for themselves as entrepreneurs is an effective strategy for solving this problem.

PERSONAL NOTES

I’m sure you’ve seen in your own news that an outbreak of polio in Namibia has become a major health risk to the whole country. The count of reported cases has reached 96 with 14 deaths. Ironically, it happened just before the government was about to receive a certificate from the World Health Organization for eradicating polio. In response to the threat, government health officials have launched a campaign to immunize everyone in the country, citizens and visitors alike. I’m sure many of you are wondering if it is a risk to us. While the risk is low, we will still be immunized again. Val and I were immunized as children, but some of the reported cases are a “wild” strain of polio that is resistant to the vaccine we received. For that reason, we will take the new vaccine today as part of a three-day campaign taking place throughout the country.

Our house population (including guests) has been reduced from 8 to only 6 and next week will be further reduced to 5. We will welcome a little more peace and quiet. Missionary life is sometimes a challenge for us introverts.

CHURCH DISTRIBUTED UPDATE

This morning Pastor Thomas communicated that he wants to incorporate more English songs in the worship service at the Vyf Rand Bible Baptist Church. He sees it as a way to begin to expose adults to learning English. I see it as an opportunity to continue to connect English-speaking churches with tribal churches. Please pray that God will use this opportunity to build connections between churches in Namibia.

THE HOMEFRONT

Here are some more “missing persons” who have changed email addresses. If you know (or can find out) the current email address of any of the following, we would love to update our files:

Christine Shaw
Daryl & Tammy Rusch
Donna Duckhorn
Renee Law
Ralph Foulds
Connie & Keith Ellington
Tom & Paula Geier
Sheryl Odom
Lynne Pink
Paul & Jaon Johnson
Georgeann Herget
Andrew Beattie

We are looking forward to being back in the States in late July. We will be in Colorado from 25 July until 10 August and in Central Florida from August 10-24. We return briefly to Colorado and then fly to Germany on the 27th of August. Central Floridians, don’t forget to book your reservations for joining us at the beach on August 18-20. It will be our primary time for reporting all that God is doing through us in Africa. It is just not possible for us to meet with all of you individually and so we hope you can join us at the beach. 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

One of my students whose first name is “Living” told me an interesting story about himself. He once had a job as a nighttime security guard. One day his boss told him that he was going out of town the next day and leaving Living in charge of the security detail. Living was very excited and honored to have this responsibility. But the next morning Living reported to his boss that he had dreamed the night before that his boss would be killed if went on the trip. Africans take dreams very seriously and he wanted to warn his boss. His boss went on the trip anyway, but he didn’t leave Living in charge. Instead, he fired him. Can your figure out why? Living was a nighttime security guard and unwittingly confessed to sleeping on the job. Oops.

In Ghana, they do funerals in style. They are important social occasions and often the deceased is put to rest in an elaborate, brightly colored “fantasy” coffin. Fantasy coffins in the shape of Coca-Cola bottles, Ghana Airways airplanes, cars, chickens, cameras, birds, Bibles etc. can be seen in coffin shops. These coffins cost between U.S.$300 and U.S.$800. To many it seems an extreme expense when it may represent more than a year’s salary for the deceased. But it is also reminiscent of the story of the lady who poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. To the families it represents a final way to pay their respects. The coffin is often chosen because of its meaning to the person being buried. For example, a farmer may be buried in a coffin that memorializes the crop that he harvested. One family member reported, “This is an illiterate community. The coffin serves as an obituary. Everyone who sees it will be reminded of his life.” For others, it is a way to appease the angry spirit of the deceased who may otherwise wreak havoc from the next world. It is a traditional belief among many Africans that the dead are far more powerful than the living. So … when Lon dies, he wants to be buried in a coffin that looks like the front entrance to a bookstore.

This month’s animal fable is a Sesotho story about the OSTRICH. The ostrich is famous for his long neck, but it hasn’t always been this way. Long ago his neck was a more normal size, but then he made friends with the crocodile. All the other animals warned against this relationship, but the ostrich wouldn’t listen. You can’t fit much of a brain inside an ostrich’s head and that leaves him oftentimes at a disadvantage. One day the crocodile was hungry when along came ostrich. Crocodile said, “My dear friend, can you help me? I have a toothache but I can’t figure out which tooth it is. Will you please stick your head in my mouth and see if you can tell which one hurts.” Foolish ostrich obliged and the deceitful crocodile snapped his mouth shut and proceeded to try and pull ostrich into the water. Ostrich isn’t bright, but he is stubborn. The more crocodile pulled, the more ostrich’s neck stretched. Finally, crocodile let go and poor ostrich ran for his life. So now ostrich stays far away from the river and he still has his long neck. 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:

$ 16,219    2006 YTD Giving (through May)
   18,280    2006 YTD Budgeted Need
-----------
$   -2061   2006 Ministry Account Balance
========

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.

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:

-21.97361° S (Latitude)
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
-----------
$ -2,016  2006 Ministry Account Balance
========

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.

April, 2006

The highlight of Lon’s ministry month was a Pastors’ and Church Leaders’ Training workshop just completed this past weekend. It was attended by 25 pastors and church leaders from 10 different churches in Windhoek, Okahandja and Rundu, from widely divergent theological perspectives. The gathering included Baptist, Pentecostal and Anglican churches. It was very encouraging for several reasons: 1) it furthered our mission of uniting Namibian churches; 2) it was an effective relationship-building time since it was the first time Lon had ministered to 5 of the participating churches; 3) the teaching topic was relevant and well-received; and 4) it launched a ministry idea that Lon has had on his heart since he first came to Namibia.

The training theme was “Satan’s Secret Weapon.” Satan uses this weapon quite effectively to damage the growth of the church and the church isn’t even aware that it has been attacked and injured. That is the secret part. The weapon is the spirit of unforgiveness. We covered 5 reasons Satan loves unforgiveness and what the church can do to combat those strategies. We then explored the process of forgiveness and why it is essential that the church practice it on a regular basis, starting with the hearts of the leaders, then within the hearts of their members and continuing with their attitudes toward other churches. The leaders continued discussing it among themselves long after the workshop officially ended.

During a break in the workshop, several of the churches approached me (Lon) concerning the possibility of starting a Pastor’s Training School here on the Red Plot. A very productive conversation ensued and the result is that we will probably be launching the school in about six months. We are still in the very early stages of planning, but we have selected a name, basic strategies for growth and funding and a philosophy of education that focuses on practical application in the teaching-learning process. I will share more on the philosophy and strategy in future newsletters, but the name of the school will be:

Leadership Institute Of Namibia.

That’s a long name so it will be quickly shortened to its appropriate acronym: the L.I.O.N. school we will use the byline: “Biblical Training for Pastors and Church Leaders” to further describe our mission. Now that the hard part is over, I must get busy designing a curriculum, recruiting an all-volunteer faculty and other minor details like selecting the right students.

Pastor Thomas and I have been having many discussions lately concerning the development of our Hope for a Better Future Trust and more specifically how to most effectively use the resource (The Red Plot) that God has miraculously placed at out disposal. Our discussions have focused on the question: “What should we do with the plot and in what priority?” A few weeks ago Thomas reported a dream he had and how God spoke to him in the midst of his dream. In the dream, Pastor Thomas was wrestling with the BIG question of “What should we do with the plot?” and God responded: “A bigger question is, ‘What will I do with you?’” Isn’t it just like God to be more concerned with developing people than He is in developing property? The work we do for Him is very important, but even more important is the work He does in us along the way. Please pray for Pastor Thomas and myself as God does his work in us. The depth of his dream gives you an insight into the depth of his spirit and His ability to hear and respond to God.

Recently both Lon and Val were interviewed by TBN Namibia for the TV show “Behind the Scenes.” It is a 22-minute show that highlights what God is busy doing in ministries throughout the country. People keep telling us that they saw us on TV, but we have yet to see the show ourselves. We only receive TBN–South Africa with satellite feeds from TBN-America on our home TV. We will bring a copy of both interviews with us when we return to the States in August so our stateside friends and supporters can see it as well.

For months now we have been asking you to pray for some affordable retail space in which to sell Work of Our Hands merchandise and to expose the ladies to retail merchandising. God has provided such a space in Windhoek. It is a stall in the Namibian Craft Center, a craft outlet featuring handcrafts by Namibian artists and craftspeople. It opens on the 1st of May. We are sharing space with another artist to keep our rental costs down as we experiment with retail sales.

in the namibian NEWS

Zimbabwe currently holds two dubious distinctions. 1) According to the International Monetary Fund, it has the highest inflation rate in the world. In February, its consumer price index for basic goods and services was 782% higher than the same time last year. While industry is busy shutting down (40% drop in the past 7 years), the government is busy printing more money to repay IMF loans. In March, it rose to over 900%. 2) According to the World Health Organization, the expected life span of Zimbabweans is the shortest in the world. For women, it is only 34 years and for men, it is 37. Women’s life expectancy has fallen by 2 years in the past 12 months. This sharp decline is reportedly due to the poverty caused by the weak economy and by deaths due to AIDS. We report this as a reminder to pray for our neighboring country to the east.

PERSONAL NOTES

Thank you so much for praying for Val’s recovery from African Tick Bite Fever. She is completely well again. She has all of her strength back and the latest lab work says that her liver is also a happy camper again. It was quite an adjustment for all of us to have someone as active as Val unable to function at her normal level. It was frustrating, tiring and a little scary. But she is fine now.

Lon is celebrating the start of baseball season and the unexpected success of his favorite team, the Cincinnati Reds. It is a southern African wedding tradition for the groom to pay a lebola price to the bride’s parents. It is normally paid in cows. I have notified Bobby (Jamie’s fiancé) that in lieu of cows, I will accept baseball tickets in August since he works for the Colorado Rockies.

Bugsy is assimilating into the family quite nicely. Bo loves him and they bring a lot of joy into the home as they play together so well. Bo can still fit Bugsy’s entire head inside his mouth and Bugsy seems to enjoy shoving his whole front leg down Bo’s throat to tickle his tonsils, I guess. Bugsy is living up to his name. He is fearless and seemingly unaware that Bo is so much bigger than he is. I have nicknamed Bugsy, the “Little Rascal” because he is so mischievous and then he cocks his head and smiles at you. Then all you can do is laugh. He loves to bite Panda’s tail, which does not amuse Panda. Panda then boxes Bugsy’s ears a few times, but doesn’t put his claws out. He overcomes his feline instincts because Bugsy is so cute and because, he is after all, Panda’s adopted baby brother.

CHURCH DISTRIBUTED UPDATE

We continue our campaign to unite the African and American church. Hank and Joyce Schauer are returning to Africa next week. They have returned every year since 2002 for extended ministry projects. This year they will be conducting Holiday Kids Clubs at many concurrent sites all over Okahandja. (NORTHLAND NOTE: There will not be any video connections linking the sites J.) They hope to reach several thousand children with the hope of the Gospel and show the reality of God’s love in ways children seem to appreciate better than adults. They arrive next week and will be staying with us in our newly renovated flat. We hope to make the flat available to many of you who come to help connect God’s church in joint ministry and relationship building.

Two weeks later, Anita Lee will join us from Seattle to provide long-term administrative assistance to our ministry efforts here. She hopes to stay and help for two years. We are still looking for a small, affordable flat for her to stay in that is close to us and nice. We praise God for her answering our request for assistance. As God continues to challenge us with new ministry opportunities, the administrative requirements are usually the largest limiting factor. Please join us in praying for Anita’s accommodation. Housing is extremely hard to find in Okahandja.

This year’s Zebra Team (short-term missions team that has been coming to Namibia from the States every year since 2002) is quite large. There are 37 team members from the Orlando and Seattle areas. They will be lending valuable assistance to a number of Namibian ministry projects in which we are involved, including Hope for a Better Future and the Holiday Kids Clubs that Hank and Joyce are leading. Please join us in praying for their preparations and safety. They arrive at the end of June and will stay for over two weeks.

The Pastor’s Training Conference just completed was a big step forward in our mission to unite churches within Namibia, especially since it bridged many cultural, ethnic and religious boundaries. Please pray for a continuation of these Church “uniting” events as we encourage the Namibian churches to join hands in partnership in Kingdom-building activities. Please also pray for the organizing of a joint worship time for the Okahandja churches.

ON THE HOMEFRONT

We want to give a special thanks to those of you who write to us personally and give us family news from back home. It really means a lot to us to stay connected to your lives. Thanks so much. We’d love to hear from more of you.

UPDATE ON BEACH WEEKEND: We are delighted that so many of you have decided to join us at Cocoa Beach on the weekend of 18-20 Aug. We have friends coming all the way from Alabama and New Jersey to see us. It will be a wonderful time of fun, story-telling and catching up on family news. Don’t forget to make your reservations directly with the hotel (details below) and make them now since we have invited 700 families but only reserved 30 rooms. The rooms can accommodate from 1-4 people and the room rate is $79.99 per night plus tax. The normal Kids Eat Free special does NOT apply to our weekend stay. If you stay over Saturday night there is a two-night minimum stay. When you make your reservation, please also phone (407-830-9035) or drop an email note (dknapp4@earthlink.net) to Carol Knapp and also to me (lon.garber@northlandchurch.net).

Reservation Phone: 1-800-206-2747

Address: Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach
1300 N. Atlantic Avenue
Cocoa Beach, FL 32931

slice of african life

Ever wonder how you can know that you are flying over Africa? Just look out the window of the airplane. It’s the African Welcome Wagon.

Recently, the New Era newspaper reported some rather disturbing news about the condition of the Namibian educational system. A recent survey of over 600 schools in the north uncovered a 24% absenteeism rate. This is alarming, but what makes it even more so is the fact that this is the absentee rate for TEACHERS. How do you get the students to come to school when the teachers don’t? Isabella and several other friends report that one cause of high absenteeism among teachers is chronic alcoholism.

How do you keep elephants out of your fields? ANSWER: chili peppers. Elephants get habituated to traditional methods such as beating drums and setting fires and therefore are no longer deterred by them. Progressive farmers are now making briquettes from crushed, dried peppers, dried elephant dung and a little water. They spread the briquettes around the perimeter of their fields and light them. The resulting smoke burns the elephant’s eyes and the mucous membranes of its trunk. The elephant does not get used to the burning sensation so it is a simple, long-term, environmentally friendly solution to elephant induced crop damage.

ANIMAL TALES – This month’s story is an Ndebele fable (a South African tribe that later migrated to Zimbabwe) about why the hippo stays in the water all day and only comes out of it at night. Long ago, the hippopotamus had a beautiful coat of hair with a matching bushy tail. He was so beautiful, he loved to wile away the hours admiring his own reflection in the water. He made fun of the hares behind their backs and one day Hare heard him doing it. Hare decided it was time Hippo learned a lesson in humility. So he made Hippo a nice bed of soft, dry savannah grass and showed it to him. Hippo was so arrogant that he thought it proper and right that the lowly hare would build him a nice bed. He was therefore not suspicious. After Hippo fell asleep on his new bed, Hare ran to the village and gathered an ember from a fire and carefully returned to the snoring Hippo. He set fire to Hippo’s bed and by the time Hippo realized the danger, he was already on fire. He ran to the river, which only served to fan the flames. When he emerged from the water and looked at his reflection in the pool, he was aghast. His beautiful fur coat was gone. His bushy tail had disappeared. His body was bald and his skin an unattractive pinkish gray. He remains that way until today. He is so embarrassed by his body that he spends all day under water and only comes out at night when no one can see him. No one can even remember when Hippo was hairy. EDITOR’S NOTE: Don’t get between a hippo and his water source. If you do, he won’t stop until he kills you. Hippo’s are the deadliest animals for humans in all of Africa. They kill more people than all other animals combined.

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 as of the end of March:

$ 9,749 2006 YTD Giving
10,968 2006 YTD Budgeted Need
-----------
$ -1219 2006 Ministry Account 2006 Deficit

========

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.

March, 2006

Shortly after distributing the February Chronicles, God answered our prayers and delivered an assistant for Val. She is a close friend of ours who only lives two doors down from us. She and Val are in a small, early morning prayer group and one day while Val was asking AGAIN for prayer for an assistant, Cecilia (Van Zyl) announced that God was calling her to be the answer to our prayers. Cecilia and her family (husband and four children) attend the house church we are part of in Okahandja when I (Lon) am not off preaching somewhere else. A few months ago they became our neighbours. Since then Cecilia has become the answer to two of our prayers (assistant and close friend). Praise God for his love and care for Val’s well-being and sanity. Her responsibilities and schedule had reached the danger point before Cecilia showed up. And, as is God’s habit, she arrived just in time. She was a godsend for ministry continuity when Val got sick and was bedridden for almost two weeks (see Personal Notes below). She is organized, has an accounting background, is artistic, and is a wonderful complement to Val’s skills and strengths. 

And yet God doesn’t just meet needs, He does it abundantly. Anita Lee (mother of Derek Sanders, a member of the Namibia 2002 team), from the Seattle area, is re-locating to Okahandja to further help us with the administrative and ministry needs of Hope for a Better Future and Work of Our Hands. Anita has a heart for helping Namibians and will be a great addition to our ministry. It also helps that Derek and his wife Esther live nearby at Hodygos Training Center. She arrives in mid-May. Please pray with us that we can help her find an affordable, flat nearby.

One asset that came with the Hope for a Better Future Trust property is a large billboard at the entrance that advertised the property’s previous use as a tavern. The old billboard promised a false hope for good times.

Sam’s Tavern
POOL BAR
SHOP
BAR
TV ROOM
BEER GARTEN
TASTE THE GOOD TIMES

We are in the midst of having the sign repainted. Our new billboard promises real hope for all time.

HOPE FOR A BETTER FUTURE
BASIC NEEDS - HOMES, FOOD, JOBS
EDUCATION - CHILDREN, YOUTH, ADULTS
COMMUNITY - FAMILY, VILLAGE, CHURCH
Lukula Helo Luakulutue
Elineekelo Longlalamueno Iwa

This new sign advertises the mission of our ministry in abbreviated form, which will keep us busy with development projects for years to come. The slanted expressions at the bottom of the sign say “Hope for a Better Future” in OshiKwanyama (right) and Luchazi (left).

Our first community event was an evangelistic outreach. We partnered with Campus Crusade for Christ in the showing of the Jesus Film at 3 sites: on our plot, in the camp and in another informal settlement close by (called “Tin Town”). The events drew over 1000 viewers and many people put their faith in Christ. We are so thankful to CCCI for their ongoing commitment to world evangelism.

One of our priority projects for 2006 is the development of a commercial vegetable garden. We will use the produce to feed the sick and elderly and to teach camp residents how to grow their own vegetables. To that end, we are currently having the bore hole (well) and its water evaluated. We will need it for irrigation purposes.

PERSONAL NOTES

Our biggest personal news of this month is that Val contracted African Tick Bite Fever. It is the African “cousin” of Lyme’s Disease (but supposedly without the chronic conditions associated with it) and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. It is nasty stuff. She was bed-ridden for 10 miserable days. The antibiotics finally did their work on the bacterial infection but she is still very weak since the disease affected her liver functions. She is coming back very slowly and we are awaiting the results of the latest blood tests to see if her liver is returning to its “normal operating condition.”

Our other big news is that we have expanded our family with another four-legged member. Meet Bugsy, the cutest ball of fur in Okahandja. He doesn’t much look like the gangster (Bugsy Malone), and he is cuter than a bug’s ear.

He is a mixture of Shih-tzu and Maltese, very bouncy and with a happy disposition. We decided that Bo needed a playmate with more energy and time than we could devote to him and Bugsy has agreed to fill that role. Bugsy and Bo are quickly becoming best buddies. They love to wrestle with each other and Bo is learning how to be gentle with Bugsy. Bugsy is small (I can hold him in the palm of one hand) but fearless. Bo’s size, speed and strength do not intimidate Bugsy at all. Panda is tolerant but not sure why he now has to train another canine family member that cats DON’T play like dogs. Bugsy is learning that a hissing cat is not an invitation to play.

CHURCH DISTRIBUTED UPDATE

In April I will be conducting a joint training workshop for the pastors and leaders of 6-8 churches in the Okahandja area. Six of them are black congregations whose leaders have been networked for quite some time. We will be attempting to integrate the network with the addition of two newly formed churches with primarily white congregants. Our goal is to continue to build a strong, inter-racial alliance of churches and ministries working side-by-side to demonstrate Christ’s love in our community. Further, we are planning to conduct a joint worship service for all the churches in May. Both of these events are strategic steps in our campaign to build a network of Namibian churches that minister together.

ON THE american HOMEFRONT

Nancy Campbell, Sheryl Chernault and Carol Knapp have offered to help us organize our August beach weekend. They have located a site (Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach) and have reserved a block of rooms for August 18-19. We hope that many of you can join us for the weekend so we can tell stories from our ministry here, do a little teaching and preaching and spend informal time together in a relaxing setting.

Please make your reservations directly with the hotel (details below) and make them now since we have invited 700 families but only reserved 30 rooms. The rooms can accommodate from 1-4 people and the room rate is $79.99 per night plus tax. If you stay over Saturday night there is a two-night minimum stay. When you make your reservation, please also phone (407-695-9758) or drop an email note (dknapp4@earthlink.net) to Carol Knapp and also to me (lon.garber@northlandchurch.net).

Reservation Phone:
1-800-206-2747

Address:
Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach
1300 N. Atlantic Avenue
Cocoa Beach, FL 32931

We are very excited about spending this weekend with you. It will be a great time of fun and relaxation for all of us and great energy and time saver for Lon and Val since we can report to all of you at one time and still spend personal time with you without constantly driving around town. Please consider joining us for this weekend retreat. Our god-daughter, Khandi Bethea, from New Jersey will be joining us for that weekend and I will be performing a wedding ceremony on the beach for her and her fiancé Dexter.

slice of african life

Here is something you probably won’t find in an American newspaper, but recently appeared in The Namibian. “The King of Uukwaluudhi, Josia Shikongo Taapopi, has announced that mopane-worm collectors in the Uukwaluudhi district of the Omusati Region must register with his Traditional Authority office at Tsandi, and pay for the privilege.” It’s the Namibian equivalent to a hunting license I guess. Mopane worms are a food delicacy among some of the people of the north. “He said people should not start harvesting the worms until he announced the start of the mopane-collecting season, only after the worms mature sufficiently. In other districts, sellers do not have to pay for collection privileges since their king considers the mopane worm a “gift from God.”

The record amount of rainfall we’ve received this year is another prominent story in the Namibian news. The nation has a series of 13 dams spread throughout the country and they are mostly at or over 100% of their capacity. The only exception is the Hardap Dam near Mariental, which is at 71% of capacity. NamWater opened the sluices and flooded the town when the dam was in danger of collapsing under the weight of the water. We are blessed to have such rain in this normally parched, desert climate. The rains have fattened the cows and bring the promise of bumper grain harvests. We are very grateful to God.

Another story of note is the coming energy crisis in the country. Namibia now purchases most of its electricity from South Africa because it is cheaper to buy electricity than generate it. This is primarily due to the high cost of transporting South African coal to the generating plants in Namibia. In 2007, a nuclear power plant in near Capetown will close for routine maintenance and it will drastically reduce the supply of electricity available to several countries in Southern Africa. NamPower is scrambling for energy generation alternatives, asking consumers to cut back on electric usage and threatening rolling blackouts if necessary. This reminder leaves us grateful that Namibians do not normally experience power outages that are routine in many other parts of Africa. In Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia, they have not had power in over a decade.

There is an East African fable that attempts to explain why the warthog is so ugly. God created the warthog to be a fine-looking pig. He was so good-looking that he became vain and rude to all the other animals. He loved to insult others and then run to his den, often an abandoned aardvark hole, which he had enlarged and renovated. One day while warthog was out grazing, porcupine decided to borrow his hole for a brisk nap. At the same time, warthog could not resist insulting a nearby lion who chased him back to his snug little home. Warthog was so focused on escaping the lion’s massive teeth that he ran headlong into the awakened, defensive porcupine. With a face-full of quills, warthog desperately tried to find someone to help him extract the barbs. But those who hurl insults all day long, don’t find help when they need it. He had to scrape the quills off by himself using a nearby acacia tree. This left his face disfigured with scars and warts. It has been that way ever since. And now warthog backs gently into his hole to protect his face from unwelcome guests who may be squatting within. This story is summarized and adapted 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:

$  7,407    2006 YTD Giving (through February)
    7,312    2006 YTD Budgeted Need
-----------
$      95    2006 Ministry Account Balance

========

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.

February, 2006

EXTENDED EDITION – LOTS TO REPORT

SPECIAL NOTE:

Our ministry is beginning to get complicated. We have several projects underway and they each have long names. Therefore, starting with this newsletter we will refer to them by the following acronyms:

WOOH – Work of Our Hands – Val’s project to provide unemployed women with handcraft and business skills which enables them to become independent entrepreneurs and thus provide for their families.

HFABF – Hope for a Better Future – community development project designed to improve the living conditions within the Vyf Rand informal settlement (squatter’s camp). Its higher purpose is to demonstrate the love of Christ in practical ways and to provide hope to residents that they can build a better future for themselves and their children.

LON – Leadership Outreach Namibia – blanket name for all the work that Lon and Val are doing in Africa. Yes, indeed, the fact that the acronym spells LON is intentional.

MINISTRY NEWS

This is an exciting time for HFABF. We are busy organizing ourselves to be good stewards of the property that God has miraculously supplied. We are establishing an American foundation to work in conjunction with our Namibian trust so Americans who wish to invest in this project can receive an appropriate IRS tax deduction for their donations. If any of you would like to become HFABF partners, do not send donations to Northland (they handle our personal support). Instead, you can send your tax-deductible donations to our newly created foundation:

Hope for a Better Future
c/o Hazel Sun
659 Dunblane Dr
Winter Park, FL 32792-4620

This Sunday we will conduct our first community meeting where we present to the Vyf Rand residents our plans for the “Red Plot” (the name by which the community refers to our property – the buildings are painted red). We officially designate the property at that time as their community centre. Our first community centre event will occur soon thereafter. In a partnership effort with Campus Crusade for Christ, we will be showing the Jesus Film several times as an evangelistic outreach. That will be the first of many evening events we provide for the community to give the residents a healthy, safe social gathering place. At present, the only other possibility is the many small shabeens that dot the camp. Shabeens are taverns run as small family businesses. We are committed to providing an alternative. We are also beginning a gardening project on the property. We need to evaluate the existing bore hole (well), test the water and install a suitable commercial pump for irrigation. Then we will plant our first commercial vegetable plot. In conjunction with Christ Hope International’s Care and Compassion ministry, we will distribute vegetables to AIDS patients to help them slow the progress of the disease through good nutrition. We will also provide vegetables for the elderly and training for those who wish to establish their own family garden plots. A major portion of Lon’s time this year will be invested in mentoring Pastor Thomas into these new leadership roles.

Standard Bank of Namibia recently announced that they will be providing $N50,000 grants to three organizations doing humanitarian work in Namibia. We applied and were selected as one of the finalists. As a result the largest newspaper in the country, “The Namibian” published a nice article last week about our work and future plans. If you would like to read the article, write us (email:lon.garber@northlandchurch.net) and we will email it to you.

We had a wonderful time in Capetown. It was relaxing and also productive. Our prayer request of last month was answered BIG TIME! WOOH received a huge order from a company (Heart Works) that has 2 gift shops in the Capetown area which specialize in selling indigenous crafts. Even more important, the owner is known and respected by the gift shop industry all over southern Africa. After she placed her order, she called a colleague in Namibia (who also owns multiple gift shops) and told her, “You need to meet Val and see what wonderful crafts are being produced right in your own backyard.”) As a result WOOH received another large order as soon as we returned home. So for WOOH it is “Feast” time. Val is now teaching the WOOH ladies how to reproduce her new designs so they can fill the orders. There is a large giftware trade show in Germany in just a few weeks and the new Namibian client wants to take WOOH merchandise there to sell. In addition, an opportunity has opened up for WOOH to establish its own retail marketing outlet in the Namibian Craft Center in Windhoek. God has opened up the floodgates and all of those involved with WOOH are desperately trying to swim in the stream without being drowned. It is a wonderful blessing that comes with much hard work and long hours. Val is grateful and struggling with panic all at the same time. The office assistant that we have all been praying for has now become a requirement, even an emergency. Please continue to pray passionately for God to fill this need with the right person.

During our resting time in Capetown, Val challenged me to begin writing my first book. Her killing blow: “If you are a writer, you must write. It is your responsibility as a creative artist. It is God’s responsibility to see that others have an opportunity to read it. Don’t worry about whether it ever gets published. Van Gogh never sold a single painting except for those his brother secretly purchased out of pity for poor Vincent. What if he had used that as an excuse not to paint?” Ouch. So I have begun writing. I have set aside Monday mornings as writing time and Val will help guard that time from interruptions. The first book that God has laid on my heart to write is a book on walking by faith. It will primarily be told in story form. It will be the story of our move to Africa and what God has taught us about faith along the way. My working title for the book is: Life’s Greatest Gamble: Learning to Walk by Faith. I have completed the first chapter and have outlined the remaining chapters. Please pray that I will continue to be faithful to the task and that God will give me the words He wants me to write. I hope to complete the writing part of the project by December.

Lon continues to preach at Swakop River Community Church every other weekend. He has helped them form and train a gifted group of elders and is now assisting them in developing a pastor selection process. He has been preaching his way through the Bible and just started the New Testament last two weeks ago. At each stop (sermon) along the way, he has been showing them how “without faith it is impossible to please God.”

PERSONAL NOTES

Weddings continue to be a predominant theme for 2006. Jamie is getting married in August to her fiancé Bobby DiCroce while we are in Colorado and now we learn that Jenny is getting remarried as well. Then we travel to Germany in September where Lon has been asked to officiate two more weddings. Söeren Dörr (German), one of Lon’s students during his first leadership training in Namibia in 2001, and his fiancée Lize (South African) have asked Lon to perform their ceremony. Söeren was also Lon’s assistant for a brief time last year. Jojo Knobloch (German), another of Lon’s students from 2001, and Markus Liebold (also German) had already arranged for Lon to perform their wedding. And now Lon’s current assistant, Alex Chongo (Zambian) and his fiancée Bianca Gowases (Namibian) are getting married in October. He will also perform their ceremony. Val and Lon will be providing pre-marital counseling for another couple this weekend (April wedding). And so he has begun offering his pre-marital counseling in written form via email. So far, these sessions are only available in English. The German, Afrikaans, Bemba and Damara versions (languages also spoken by the wedding couples) will have to be added later. J

We thought you might also be interested in something we saw on our way back from Capetown. Just after we crossed the South African/Namibian border, we stopped for petrol. In front of the BP station was a taxi rank with a shade cloth canopy to protect the waiting passengers from the hot sun. These are long distance taxi services that carry passengers to points throughout the country. There were ten potential passengers waiting on this day. But it was the eleventh passenger that interested us the most. It was a dairy cow. We couldn’t be sure if she was waiting for the taxi herself or if she was a companion of one of the other passengers. Maybe she was just smart enough to graze in the shade. We can’t be sure. We were dangerous Auslander (foreign) strangers so she wouldn’t talk to us. I wonder what the taxi fare is for a cow? Surely they must charge her for at least one additional seat.

It is the rainy season and God has opened the floodgates of heaven over Namibia. We received record rains in January followed by record rains in February. It is raining almost every day in Okahandja. The reservoirs are full to overflowing. This weekend, the authorities were afraid the Hardap Dam would burst from the water pressure and so they opened the sluices and subsequently flooded the nearby town of Mariental. Oops. We are so grateful for rain in this desert-filled country, but now we are in danger of serious flooding. With the rains come flies, mosquitoes and moths. Our new friend Green Guy is grateful for the new groceries. He is much more environmentally friendly than bug spray.

CHURCH DISTRIBUTED UPDATE

Now that we have the “Red Plot” in operation, we are looking to host short-term mission teams from partner ministries around the world. We have the capacity to house medium to large teams on the property. There are three residential flats (each with sleeping/toilet/bath facilities for 4-6 individuals) available on the property and additional overflow space if needed for larger teams.

While we were in Capetown, we began discussions with Northland partner church, Vredelust Gemeente concerning the feasibility of them sending teams to help us with our many projects. Hopefully we will host our first South African team later in this year.

We also will continue to host day teams from Northland partner, Khomas Community Church, in the Khomasdal neighbourhood of Windhoek. We will be recruiting teams from other Namibian churches as well, especially our neighbouring churches in Okahandja.

ON THE HOMEFRONT

It is time to begin planning our next visit to the States. Our time in Florida will be in mid-August between our transcontinental weddings. Every year our time in Florida is very hectic, tiring and frustrating in that we can never seem to find enough time for everyone who wants to visit with us personally. We know there is a better way and so we would like to try something new this year. We would like to invite our friends to a weekend at the beach. That will give us plenty of time to give you a detailed report of our ministry here (as a large group time) and still have plenty of informal time to meet with smaller groups where we can just chat and catch up. The advantage for us is the opportunity to tell our larger tales once rather than dozens of times and the advantage to you is a weekend at the beach which will get you away from your busy schedule. It would also give Lon some time to demonstrate some of his teachings, African style. He may even give you a sneak preview of his book.

So that’s our plan, but we need your help. 1) If you are interested in possibly joining us at the beach on Aug 18-20, 2006, please let us know by replying to this email. Your response will help us see if your idea is feasible and how much space we will need. 2) we need someone who will be willing to help us with the logistical details of finding a meeting place. We will keep the administrative details to a minimum by having everyone make their own reservations and meal plans, but we still need some energetic soul willing to scout out potential sites and reserve a block of rooms and a meeting space. If you are willing to help us in this way, please raise your hand now. I see that hand above the crowd … but to whom is it attached?

slice of african life

Alex’s experience in the engagement process has taught us a lot about African wedding customs. Each tribe has its own highly structured protocol, which can be a problem when the bride and groom are from different tribes. Alex is from the Bemba tribe in Zambia and Bianca is a Damara from Namibia. In the Damara tradition, the man brings his family (parents, uncles, etc) with him when he proposes marriage to the bride’s parents. They arrive at the bride’s home and call from the front gate. The bride’s family sees them waiting there but they leave them standing at the gate for quite some time (up to 2 hours) before acknowledging them and granting them entrance into the yard. The groom’s family is expected to bring practical gifts (milk, sugar, bread, salt, candles, cigarettes, etc.) wrapped in 1 meter of white cloth which they present to the bride’s parents. If they accept the gift, the groom’s family is invited in and the discussion/negotiation begins. After introductions and announcement of the stated purpose of the visit, the groom is expected to answer the family’s questions including such things as: “Will you beat our daughter? How will you live? Where will you live? What language will you expect her to speak?” This question and answer time can go on for an extended period of time and even be continued in subsequent meetings. If so, the extended family (aunts, uncles etc.) may also be in attendance. This process can take up to 2 months to complete. It is the Damara tradition to make life quite difficult for the potential groom even if they are quite pleased with their daughter’s choice. This is designed to test the seriousness and determination of the young man. Eventually an engagement date is agreed upon and an announcement party is planned. The groom is expected to bring a number of gifts to that party, including the ring, other jewelry such as a necklace, earrings and watch as well as all the food for the celebration. Extended family and friends are invited to join in the engagement celebration.

Bemba tradition is somewhat different. The groom and his uncle and aunt arrive with a small plate of money as a conversation present to the bride’s family. The money opens the floor to further negotiations. If the bride’s family accepts the gift, the visiting party proceeds to ask directly of the bride’s family: “Do you accept our family?” The bride’s family must answer either “yes” or “no.” If the answer is yes, the groom’s uncle asks for a second meeting for further inquiries. During that second meeting, a bride price (lebola) is agreed upon. And a third meeting is appointed where the bride price is paid and an engagement celebration is planned. After the engagement celebration, a “Kitchen Party” is organized by the ladies from both sides of the family where friends bring all the things the bride will need to set up her kitchen. Alex’s family followed Bemba tradition somewhat to the dismay of Bianca’s family. For example, they failed to wait at the gate and they brought money instead of practical gifts. Bianca’s family insisted that they return another time and wait at the gate as Damara custom prescribes. As you can see, African weddings can be a complicated affair.

AND NOW FOR OUR MONTHLY AFRICAN ANIMAL TALE: One day the elephant came down the path to his favorite water hole. There was a small ground squirrel in the middle of the path who refused to let the elephant pass. The elephant was highly insulted because all the animals know not to get in the way of an elephant on his way to water. Even lions yield ground to the elephant. So the elephant swished his trunk like a golf club and propelled the squirrel far down the bush “fairway.” Luckily for the squirrel, he landed high in an acacia tree. Now the squirrel was insulted and decided it was time to teach the elephant some manners. Just because the elephant was huge did not give him the right to be a bully. So the squirrel scampered down from the tree and spent a strenuous hour catching up to the elephant. He then said to his sizable neighbor: “I may be small, but I can still eat more eat more palm nuts than you. I challenge you to an eating contest.” The elephant almost burst at his sides from laughter. But he agreed. Squirrels from miles around collected two huge piles of palm nuts. Soon after beginning, the squirrel was so full he couldn’t eat anymore, but the elephant had his back turned concentrating on his own pile of nuts. Since all squirrels look alike to elephants, another squirrel secretly took his place. This switching maneuver continued all day until the elephant finally could eat no more. He finally gave up and raised his trunk and trumpeted his musical salute to the small but mighty squirrel. And ever since the elephant has showed respect to the squirrel.

This story is a highly modified version of a Shona tale documented in When Hippo Was Hairy: And Other Tales from Africa.” If you would like to read the original 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 through January 2006:

$ 3770     2006 YTD Giving
$ 3656     2006 YTD Budgeted Need
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$   114      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. Send donations for Hope for a Better Future to the address listed above.

January, 2006

Happy New Year (Frohes Neues Jahr to our deutsch Freunde) to our friends around the globe. We had a very busy November and December before finally settling in with a little relaxation time over the holidays. God has been blessing us “Big Time” and we’d like to now share it all with you.

MINISTRY NEWS
During November, in addition to our normal ministry schedule, we were blessed with several American visitors (Dana Mitchell, Larry Sherman and Janet and Alan Hoffberg). In addition to that, we had to handle two separate Namibian real estate deals. This was extremely stressful for Lon since he was unfamiliar with the Namibian legalities of such transactions. Learning how to transfer large amounts of money internationally without incurring excessive bank fees was also a new challenge. But God is both knowledgeable and capable of such matters and all went well. Once again, Lon’s worries turned into God’s faithfulness and in the end, he was left wondering why he worried so much in the midst of it all.

December was a month of much travel and hosting German friends. We first traveled to Botswana for the wedding of our good friends George and Zil-lee. George was Lon’s faithful assistant for our first few years in Namibia. It was a long trip across the Kalahari Desert, but we arrived safely and had a wonderful time celebrating with them and Lon performed his first Botswana wedding ceremony. What a joy that was. African weddings are much more colourful and lively than American weddings. The wedding party comes dancing in, which sets the stage for a wonderful celebration. We also traveled twice to Swakopmund to preach, teach and counsel. Our close friends Markus Liebold and Jojo Knobloch from Lüneberg, Germany arrived early in December and stayed with us for a month. While they were here, they became engaged while camping at Spitzkoppe and we were able to celebrate with them and plan their September wedding in Germany (Lon is also performing their ceremony).

After the returning from all of our travels, the purchase of the property near the squatter’s camp was successfully concluded and deed is now registered in the name of Hope for a Better Future Trust (HPABFT). Pastor Thomas and his family were able to move onto the property in time to celebrate Christmas there.

This afternoon we began our first Hope for a Better Future Trust planning session. We discussed possible projects for 2006. Our long-range plans for the property are to show the love of Christ in practical ways to our neighbours in the camp who otherwise see mostly despair. Some of the projects we are considering for 2006 are: opening a Christian community center, hosting evangelistic events for the community, starting a brick-making project, growing vegetables, expanding our skills training efforts, opening a craft/coffee shop, building homes, and lots of other possibilities yet to be explored. We will also take great delight in repainting the billboard on the property. It now advertises Sam’s Tavern and Tafel Lager Beer. In the future it will declare the glory of God and hope for the community. One big need for 2006 is a business manager to oversee the administration and accounting for all of these enterprises. We will not get far into any of them without a business manager. We are praying that God provides this person in some miraculous way, similar to how He provided the property.

Over the Christmas holidays, several German volunteers of Youth for Christ Namibia and two Namibian guides were involved in a serious auto accident in the Namib Desert. The vehicle overturned several times yet all 11 passengers miraculously survived. Praise God for that, but several are still in the hospital with serious injuries. There are many insurance issues still outstanding. Please pray for these families.

We just received news that Linkie, a friend and teacher at the Vyf Rand Project School mysteriously died in her sleep the other night. This is quite a shock to all of us who know this young lady. She was a dedicated, loving teacher and a wonderful Christian influence in the school system. She will be greatly missed by her friends and students.

After performing a wedding and preaching in Swakopmund this weekend, we head to Capetown for two weeks. We will be buying much-needed ministry supplies that are not available in Namibia and trying to find new marketing outlets for Work of Our Hands products. We will also be strengthening our ministry connections with our South African ministry partners. Okay, we may also spend a few minutes enjoying the splendor of Capetown and Table Mountain and praising God for his creative artistry.

PERSONAL NOTES
Our big family news is that our youngest daughter, Jamie, has graduated from nursing school, has been hired as a pediatric ICU nurse at a Denver hospital and is engaged to be married. Her fiancé, Bobby DiCroce, works for the Colorado Rockies while completing his university studies. You’ve gotta love a son-in-law who works for a professional baseball team. Jamie and Bobby will marry in early August and, yes, of course, Lon will be performing her ceremony too. Being a Daddy Pastor is a difficult assignment and cannot be accomplished without shedding lots of tears.

The purchase transaction for our home was finally completed and registered the week before Christmas, only a few days before the Deeds Office closed for the holidays. So we celebrated a quiet Christmas with Markus and Jojo in our new home. It is wonderful to finally have our own homestead again after three years of constant transition (5 moves on two continents with a few mandatory exiles thrown in for added excitement). It is a wonderful blessing that God has given us. When you think you are sacrificing for the Lord, he gives it all back and more. Such is the love of God poured out on all who trust Him completely. And as we prayed, the exchange rate peaked just before we transferred the money. Praise God for that. It has been going back down ever since.

We must share with you a short story about our trip across the Kalahari Desert. The Kalahari is not a normal desert (as in sand, sand and more sand). It is filled with lots of scrub bushes and animal life. Normally it is arid and quite desolate, but we traveled it during the rainy season and the bushes were green and beautiful. We renamed it the Kalahari Garden. Once, when we stopped by the side of the road to make coffee, we were deluged by a driving rain and thunderstorm. We never expected to be freezing cold in the middle of the desert during the daytime. But we were and we loved it. Big adventure. But the most dangerous part of the desert is the animals in the highway, especially after a rain. They drink the water puddled there. You constantly have to slow for cattle, donkeys, guinea fowl and an occasional kudu crossing or congregating in the roadway. We successfully avoided all animal obstacles on the trip to the wedding,

BUT on the way back, we encountered a suicidal guinea fowl. It crouched patiently in the bushes by the side of the road and at the critical moment bolted in front of our truck to complete its death wish. We complied and scattered its feathers to the four winds. Jojo was driving and she was mortified … the first time she had ever killed anything. But before she could properly absorb the horror of having caused the demise of this creature, Val screamed: “Turn around, turn around, I want the feathers. I want the feathers!” Val had been jokingly asking Lon to hit a guinea fowl for months since the feathers make wonderful decorations on craft projects. So we returned to the scene of the crime. We had been giving a ride to a Tate (uncle) and I asked him if he would like the meat. I told him that Meme (auntie) Val wanted the feathers. He cocked his head, looked at me quizzically and asked: “Waarom?” (Why?) I’m sure he thought, “White people are such strange creatures. You can’t eat feathers.” But he gladly plucked the bird and everyone was happy. Well, everyone except Jojo. She was still trying to assimilate her new identity as a stone-cold killer. Finally, she decided it was okay since she made three individuals happy: the suicidal guinea fowl, Tate’s family and Val. That must be a good thing, right? And so the story ends happily. The next day the bride and groom hit a kudu on the same road, but miraculously the only damage was to the vehicle. They survived with only a crushed windshield (windscreen), a safety glass shower and we’re sure that the local villagers enjoyed a huge kudu braai (BBQ) that evening.

Pet Update: Panda is back to dining inside, this time in the living room. The other morning there were bird feathers all over the floor and Panda was sleeping with a full tummy and a smile on his face. Bo still thinks it is a hoot to crash full-speed into visitors (he weighs 25kg, 50+ pounds) as in invitation to play. So when you come to visit us, bring body armor. Notice I didn’t say “if”; I said “when.” We are busy trying to train him, but as all social workers know, the dog has to want to be trained.

CHURCH DISTRIBUTED UPDATE
During our trip to Capetown, we will be connecting with several Northland friends and ministry partners in the Capetown area. One such ministry led by Cassie and Jenny Carstens is in the Kayamandi Township near Stellenbosch. This ministry focuses on Leadership Development and Community Transformation and we hope to learn from them as we develop similar projects in the Vyf Rand community. Cassie and Jenny visited Northland last year as chaperones for a South African children’s choir.

It is such a blessing to participate in connecting God’s church world wide.

ON THE HOMEFRONT
Thanks to all of you who sent us cards during the Christmas season. Christmas is a hard time to be away from family and friends. It helped to receive cards, emails and phone calls from you. We really appreciate you for making the effort to stay connected. We’d also like to remind you again about Skype.com. When you download the Skype software, become a Skype user and list us as one of your contacts (our Skype name is “longarber”), you can call us in Africa for FREE and for us it is just the normal cost of a local call. Thanks for those of you who have signed up already. We hope many others will do so as well. We love our work here, but at times it can be very lonely.

slice of african life
KEYS – This month we’d like to talk about keys. Keys are very important in Africa. Everything must be locked or your belongings quickly sprout legs and disappear. You have locks on your doors. You have locks on the iron grill that protects the locks on your doors. You have locks on the gate that protects the lock on the grill that protects the lock on the door. And on it goes. Most of the keys are still the large, bulky skeleton keys. And the keying concept of “one key fits everything” has not arrived in Africa yet. So we thought you might enjoy a photo of our keying system. These are the exterior keys to our house. The interior doors also have other keys which are not shown here. Even the refrigerator and closets have keys. We are over-run with keys. But we love it … a slice of African life.

African life is filled with folk lore. Oral story-telling that is passed down from one generation to another is built into the culture. Many of the tales are about animals. In an effort to keep our newsletters fresh and interesting so you will keep reading them, we would like to share one of these stories with you each month. All cultures have Creation tales and Africa is no exception. The Bushmen believe that Creator made the earth and its plants and then thought up many animals to fill it. He struck a baobab tree and out popped the animals he conceived in his mind. As they emerged, he gave them names and assigned them a place to live. The last animal to pop out was man. But the story we’d like to share this month is the tale that explains why lions roar. Long ago, lions quietly stalked their prey, which made them doubly dangerous. All the other animals agreed that it would be safer if lions were noisy. It was the hare who figured out how to make it happen. He found the lion resting under a tree and told him that his brother was very ill and needed him at once. The lion quickly agreed to follow the hare. The hare led him in circles around the bushveld until lion tired and stopped for a nap. With the help of the honeyguide bird, the Hare found a bee hive and stole some honey, which he strategically placed on the paws and head of the sleeping lion. When the bees discovered the theft, they angrily attacked the lion. The lion was stung so many times that his soft voice swelled to a thunderous roar that could be heard for miles. And his voice changed forever. You see, he became proud of the sound and the power of his roar and the other animals were grateful for the warning. The lion thus shows us all that it is our pride that weakens us.

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 2005:

$ 50,329 2005 Giving
43,872 2005 Budgeted Need
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$ 6,457 Balance in Ministry Account

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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.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: The home we purchased is from the proceeds from the sale of our home in America. We did not use any ministry money for this purchase.

October, 2005

LON’S MINISTRY NEWS

This month I had the privilege of teaching for the first time at Gospel Outreach’s Christian Leadership School at Imkerhof. The students are at the end of an 18-month course in Biblical Studies, Systematic Theology, Ecclesiology, Church Ministries, Christian Lifestyle and Leadership. There are 27 students in this class from all over Namibia and the DRC (Congo). Udo Wahl, the director, asked me to give a short (2-day) teaching about some of the realities of ministry they will face after they graduate (end of next month). I had a wonderful time teaching and learning with them and hope to make it a regular part of my ministry here in Namibia. Imkerhof is located in the bush 150 km (90 miles) northeast of Okahandja via mostly dirt roads. As my assistant Alex and I traveled to the school early Tuesday morning, we passed a kudu, 2 oryx, several steenbokand many ever-present warthogs along the way. 

We have mailed the first correspondence lesson to 55 students. And we have received the first completed lesson this week from Edward Chitima, our Luchazi translator. Please pray that we can continue to expand this ministry.

VAL’S MINISTRY NEWS
Val senses that it is now time to incorporate her ladies into local marketing efforts. Until now, the ladies have mastered the crafts and Val has taken the responsibility for marketing their production. With the goal of making them financially independent entrepreneurs, it is necessary to take the next step of opening a local retail outlet as a means of teaching the ladies about marketing and retail displays.

This is a big step and it will be quite a challenge for most of the ladies who are just now beginning to speak a little English and up to this time have been dependent upon Val to do their marketing for them. Val would really appreciate your prayers for wisdom as she plans this next major step in the growth of her craft projects. This may turn into a bit of a challenge since to many Namibians, handmade does not mean fine craftsmanship, it means cheap merchandise and so people want to pay less and not more for handmade goods.

PERSONAL NOTES
We are busy settling into our new home. We do not own it yet because it seems the current owner never properly transferred the deed into his own name when he bought it from his brother. And now the brothers aren’t speaking to each other. As we wait for them to sort it out with the help of their mother, we are enjoying the house rent-free. We don’t feel too bad about our deed transfer challenges because it seems that President Pohamba is in the same situation. When Namibia won its independence, it failed to officially transfer the deeds of many government buildings, including State House, the presidential residence. Officially the Namibian State House (the Namibian version of The White House), is still owned by the Republic of South Africa. Oops, that paperwork will get you every time.

We are not the only residents of the property. There is a family of mice who reside (or maybe I should say “resided”) in the acacia tree in our front yard. So Panda, our cat, now spends a lot of time sitting in the tree. He loves the idea that the mice have greatly diminished their opportunities for escape. So the family has so far been reduced from 6 to 2. But does Panda eat them in the tree? No way! His preferred dining environment is our bedroom. Since Val loves to read in bed in the evening, she has an unwelcome ringside seat to the “crunch, crunch, crunch” of mouse skull when Panda decides to feast in the corner. Then, it’s “slurp, slurp, slurp” as the tail disappears. Needless to say, Val is not amused. The first time it happened, she screamed and I came running and evicted both cat and mouse carcass. Two minutes later, they both returned through the window. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Sorry ladies for the graphic portrayal. This is why men shouldn’t be allowed to write newsletters.]

But mice are not the only reason Panda likes our new home. When we awoke a few days ago, there were bird feathers all over the bedroom floor. It looked like someone had a pillow fight in the night. Sitting in the middle of it all, Panda was grinning from ear to ear, picking his teeth with the quill of a feather. In true African tradition, no one likes to dine alone.

Val and I attended a dance this evening at the town hall. It was an interesting cultural experience. We were the only white faces there. I guess we must dance “a little differently” because we were immediately asked where we were from. J We may have also been the only one’s drinking Coke. We just wish Bobby and Judi Chapman could have been with us. On our way home, we had to wait for a few cows to vacate the street just a block from our house. They must have been country cows who came to paint the town on a Saturday night.

CHURCH DISTRIBUTED UPDATE
Last weekend, we traveled home from Swakopmund on the InterCape Mainliner (that’s a bus, not a heroin addict). The bus was nearly full and there were only single seats still available. It did not take long to discover that both of our seatmates were American educators on a one-year assignment to help the Namibian educational system. Sharon Finley works at NIED (Namibian Institute for Educational Development) here in Okahandja and Muffin Kent is assigned to the Ongwediva Teacher’s College. It is always interesting to meet other Americans in Namibia, but especially so this time. Sharon lives close by (we have been invited to share Thanksgiving dinner) and Muffin is now trying to help Isabella, who wants to attend the teacher’s college next year. Muffin is from Mariner’s Church in California and took an instant liking to Isabella when we introduced them to each other. God is always connecting His People, even in the middle of the desert (which is where we got to know Sharon and Muffin. Please pray for Isabella as she seeks to further her teaching preparation. She has applied to three schools and we are trusting God to lead her to the right one.

ON THE HOMEFRONT
Later today, we pick up our close friend, Dana Mitchell, at Hosea Kutako Airport. He will be spending a few weeks with us. He will be the first visitor to enjoy the guest flat in our new home. We hope many of you will follow him. It is decorated in an African motif … imagine that. I’m sure you’ll like it. We’ll even supply hot water for your bath and we have kept the light on for you. Bo is really excited because Dana is bringing a replacement “Kong,” the doggy wonder toy. Bo’s first Kong has “gone missing” as we are fond of saying over here. Bo must have buried it for a rainy day, not realizing that we were going to move. Bo loves his Kong and is happy to be receiving a second chance to care for his toys. In the meantime, he has grown rather fond of a doggy-mouth sized football which wheezes when he chews on it.

Larry Sherman will also visit in another week on his 7th trip to his beloved Namibia. While he is here, we hope to visit Rundu together and speak at several churches in the area. Larry has a powerful testimony to share with the people of Namibia and we look forward to ministering with him.

Also in November, Alan and Janet Hoffberg, more friends and supporter of ours from Orlando, will be coming to Namibia to participate in a cheetah research project. Janet works with the Central Florida Zoo. Their project is being conducted near Okahandja and while they are here, we will take them to Etosha National Park to explore Namibia’s other wildlife.

Slice of african life
As in America, shops in Namibia pipe in background music to subtly enhance your shopping experience. What is very different is the choice of music. The other day I was sitting in Nando’s (a chicken restaurant) enjoying lunch listening to a song by the Backstreet Boys. Immediately following it was a stylized version of the old hymn “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus.” That certainly would never happen in America.

Here’s something else I doubt you’ll see in America. The Donkey Welfare of Namibia organization is handing out reflective ear tags to farmers for the same reason we put reflectors on bicycles. Recently someone hit a donkey in downtown Rehoboth. The mayor noted that donkey collisions are common in the area since many people travel to town in donkey carts. Animals in the road at night are a major concern here. For that reason, we try not to drive after dark. Now if someone will figure out how to tag the kudu and elephants.

FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Here is our financial summary through end of September:

$37,934 YTD Giving
36,563 YTD Budgeted Need
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$ 1,371 Balance in Ministry Account

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. Thanks so much.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: The home we are buying is from the proceeds from the sale of our home in America. We are not using any ministry money for this purchase. We just wanted to make sure you knew that your financial support is being used to advance the ministry we are doing for God’s kingdom.

September, 2005

We’re Moving!

Next Saturday, we will move for the fourth time in less than 3 years. During that time, we have had dozens of ther “temporary” residences during our times of “exile.” After living in the same U.S. home for 21 years, the past three years of nomadic existence have been quite a challenge. So we are elated to report that this should be our last move in Namibia since we are buying this home rather than renting. In our spare time, we are busy packing and repairing damage done by our pets to our rental home.

LON’S MINISTRY NEWS
Each morning for the past few weeks, I have been teaching in the Short-Term Missionary Training program at Hodygos Training Center, the national headquarters of Youth for Christ Namibia. I have been leading them through of process of Understanding their Identity and Calling in Christ’s Kingdom. It is so exciting to see this group of young adults come to a better understanding of themselves and how God has equipped them for a unique ministry. I will continue teaching them throughout the Spring (Autumn for those of you on top of the world). We will next study a revised, expanded version of Panoramic Tour of the Bible. Following that, I want to teach a course on How to Study the Bible.

But the most exciting ministry news for me is that Pastor Thomas and I are finally ready to launch our Pastors Bible Correspondence School. The first two courses (24 Old Testament lessons) are completed. We currently have 52 students from 15 different churches enrolled and we have made the copies we need for the first two mailings. We will be mailing them the first lesson in just a few days. We expect our student enrollment to increase dramatically after our first mailing hits the streets. The lessons are available in two languages, but we hope to add a third language in the next few months. Send me an email if you are interested in seeing a sample lesson and make sure you indicate whether you want the English or Luchazi translation J.

We continue to travel to Swakopmund twice a month to preach and train leaders at Swakop River Community Church. It is very fulfilling to watch their Elder Board come together as a team and provide strong leadership for the church. The church is beginning to be a very powerful voice for Christ as church members spread Christ’s love in their community.

I wake up each morning with such excitement for the ministry God has been preparing for me while I slept. Who knows but that I have come to Africa for just such a time as this? Thanks to my Jewish forefather Mordecai for such eloquent phraseology. It expresses perfectly what my soul knows very well. It is such a privilege to serve God in this way at this time in this place.

VAL’S MINISTRY NEWS
Thanks to all of you who responded to our invitation for short-term help. We feel very loved and supported from your numerous offers of assistance.

God is getting ready to move our ministry in the Vyf Rand (pronounced Faif Rond) Camp forward by giant leaps. Thank you for reading and praying with us about our challenges there concerning property issues. Our plans for building a church, pre-school and expanded craft training center in the camp have been held in check by the municipality of Okahandja. We have petitioned the city several times to give us the land or at least dramatically lower the price. As part of God’s sovereign plan, they blessed us by denying all our requests. After much prayer, we decided that God was trying to lead us to a new and better future. So rather than buy land inside the camp, which has NO resale value after you buy it, we found a wonderful property within sight of the camp that was for sale. Previously, it was a tavern, so purchasing the land provides a double benefit.

It is 16 acres of land enclosed in a tall, electrified security fence and has a large building and 6 residential flats on it. The church can use the existing structures as a church building, school, parsonage, training areas and there is also a huge covered terrace that will serve as a community gathering place for classes and fellowship. God has been very good to us. We will use the land to grow vegetables and to train residents how to start their own gardens. A Christian farmer nearby has offered to plow the ground and provide expertise. We would also like to provide low-cost permanent homes for camp residents if we can get the land re-zoned as residential. To keep construction costs at a minimum, we will start a concrete brick/block factory, which will employ local residents and provide construction materials at wholesale prices.

The church is busy forming a Trust to own and administer the property. It will be known as “Building a Better Future Trust.” God has already supplied the funds for the purchase of the land, but we still need donations for capital improvements (digging a well) and equipment (brick making machines). If anyone would like to invest in this community transformation project, send us an email. There is a large billboard on the property proudly announcing “Sam’s Tavern.” We look forward to it’s new look announcing “Building a Better Future in Christ.”

PERSONAL NOTES
Bo is in the doghouse again. Awhile back he took a liking to the plastic ends of the landlord’s sprinkler system. Now that we are moving, it is one of the repairs to which we are attending. The day we got them working again, Bo promptly had another feast. He knows he is in trouble, but I don’t think he knows why and I’m sure he is not biblically repentant. Unfortunately, he has too much time on his hands and not enough sheep to herd. So he just slinks around and looks “sheepish.” Panda, the cat, just rolls his eyes and says, “Dogs are so uncivilized.”

We are very excited that our niece, Kate Losiewicz, is coming from London to stay with us for 6 weeks. She answered our call for a videographer and we get the added bonus of spending time with family. It will be a delight to have her with us for such an extended time. Afterwards, she’s off to college in America.

CHURCH DISTRIBUTED UPDATE
The best example of Distributed Ministry Partnership we can think of now is the excellent assistance we are receiving from Youth for Christ Namibia for our move. As with our prior moves, our good friends and partners at YfC will be lending us a large lorry (truck) with driver and lots of youthful, energetic helpers. They literally take the pain out of moving for us. We are so grateful for their assistance.

ON THE HOMEFRONT
Thanks again to all you Skype callers. It makes America seem a lot closer to receive so many calls from home. With Skype and a pair of headphones connected to your computer, you can call us for free. Check it out at http://www.skype.com.

Thank you, J.T. Almon, for being willing to lend us your business acumen by serving on the Board of Trustees for the Hope for a Better Future Trust.

Thank you, Carey Brown, for being faithful and obedient to God and such a blessing to Africa. May God richly reward you for your loving concern. You will be in our prayers of thanksgiving for all of eternity.

Thank you, Mike and Sandra Duda for your generosity and commitment to Africa shown before we started this segment of our newsletter. God has a way of connecting us together over time, doesn’t He?

Thank you, Dana Mitchell, for blessing your good friend Lon with the gift of your presence. I am so looking forward to spending personal time with you.

Slice of african life
The other day Pastor Thomas and I went to Windhoek to meet an accountant about setting up the Trust. We drove separately since Val and I were staying in Windhoek for the evening. At least that was the original plan. Thomas’ car was not running right and we were in danger of being late for the appointment, so he switched to our car and Joseph, a friend who was riding with him, continued driving his vehicle to Windhoek to do some of his own shopping. After our appointment, we called Joseph and arranged to meet him on the edge of town at an agreed spot. When we arrived, neither Joseph nor his vehicle was there. Through the magic of cell phonery, we discovered that his friend drove back to Okahandja (70km, 42 miles away) without him, leaving Thomas and his wife stranded in Windhoek.

Pastor Thomas owns a taxi and arranged for his driver to pick him up and take him home. His driver did come, but with an already full taxi. So Pastor Thomas had to pay another taxi to drive him and his wife home. So after paying for the petrol in his vehicle, he also had to wait for hours and pay for a taxi.

Here’s the point of the story: if that happened to an American, chances are we would be quite angry at our friend who left us stranded. But this is Africa and Africans have much more tolerance for things going wrong and friends who take advantage of you. Pastor Thomas just laughed it off and said, “It’s not that big of a deal.” I admire that. It seems like a less stressful way to live.

FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Through end of July, our support account is right at the break even point. God is good.

$ 35,186 YTD Giving (through August 2005)

32,500 YTD Budgeted Need
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$ 2,686 Balance in Ministry Account

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. Thanks so much.

PRAYER POINTS
PRAISE for our new home. We are so excited to own our little patch of Namibian dirt. It is such a blessing to us at the end of a long journey of faith. Well, actually the journey of faith never ends, but we are happy for this little oasis along our way.
PRAISE for God’s miraculous blessing concerning the land He has provided for the ministries of Vyf Rand Bible Baptist Church. We feel it is indeed Promised Land and it will give so much hope to this beleaguered community.
PRAISE for the “Grand Opening” of the Pastor’s Bible Correspondence School and for our first students. I have been preparing and dreaming of this day for several years and it has become a dream come true.
PRAISE that Val may have found her assistant. She is trying someone out now.
PRAISE for the ways God is finding markets and distribution channels for the craft products our ladies are producing.
PRAISE for Engelhart’s recovery from his serious burns. He is out of the hospital and healing nicely. His mother, Hildegard, thanks you for your prayers.
PRAY the children of Namibia. So many of them are orphaned by death or abandonment. We heard so many heartbreaking stories about these vulnerable children. We will spare you the details. Just pray for God’s protection. We have two partner ministries that are working the front lines of this need: Hope’s Promise Orphan Ministry and Christ’s Hope, International.
PRAY that we can maintain our sense of balance amidst growing ministry opportunities and such huge needs that we see every day.
PRAY that God would give us wisdom in developing this property for the glory of the Lord. He has been so gracious to us and we want to be good stewards of this opportunity. Yet this is a major undertaking and we have no experience in land development. So pray that the God who gave us the land will give us the knowledge and wisdom to maximize its use for the expansion of the Kingdom and to magnify His glorious name.

August, 2005

Work Permits Approved!

Yes, you read correctly. Our work permits must be renewed yearly and our previous permits expired on August 15. So we were elated to see the coveted stamps in our passports that give us the right to minister here for at least another year. Namibia has a new president and he has cast a new vision for the country that has worked its way into the bureaucracy. The effect for us was a speedy approval without any of the delays and obstacles we previously encountered. We are so thankful that God has decided to bless us in this manner. Rejoice with us as we now make plans for expanding our ministry for the coming year.

LON’S MINISTRY NEWS
This past weekend, I experienced the culmination of two ministry goals that God has been leading me towards for some time now. On Friday afternoon, I traveled north with Pastor Thomas and his family to Tsumeb to speak at a church leadership conference. It was attended by approximately 200 church leaders from 14 Baptist churches in the northern regions of the country. Namibia’s population is concentrated in the north, but the center of business and government life is in the more prosperous central region. Thus, most leadership training is offered in Windhoek or Swakopmund, many hours away from the leaders in the north. Travel and accommodation are expensive and beyond the reach of many small congregations in the north. Providing training for these leaders closer to their homes has been a growing desire of mine for many months.

I spoke to them about how God’s Purposes for the church can be seen in His purposes for individuals, which are revealed at Creation: 1) REFLECT the image of God to the world around us, 2) RULE humbly over the earth as good stewards of God’s resources, and 3) RESPOND to His love by loving Him with our whole heart and by loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. From those 3 purposes, I challenged them to distribute their ministries into their communities, showing humility, love, works of service and unity according to Paul’s instructions in Ephesians. But most importantly, I established relationships with many pastors, from which will flow many more training opportunities.

On Friday evening after the teaching time, the youth choirs from the various churches gave a concert until midnight. Here is an excerpt from Lon’s journal: The singing, dancing, whooping and praising continues as I write this. God has given Africans a rhythm and harmonizing ability that is unparalleled elsewhere. The drums are pounding and the people are fully engaged. They all begin their performance outside the church and then enter singing and dancing. Something wonderful happens inside me during these traditional tribal experiences. I come alive and my soul is stirred in a way that says, “You were made for just such moments. This is you!” It is a truly wonderful feeling and one that I’ve only experienced in Africa.

A second goal of mine has been to offer a Pastor’s Bible Correspondence School to train pastors through distance learning. This weekend provided an excellent opportunity to launch this new ministry. The school has signed up its first 13 students and they will receive their first study in the mail shortly. The curriculum consists of 48 separate teachings (12 lessons per course). There are 2 Old Testament courses, a New Testament course and a basic Bible doctrines course. When they complete each lesson, they mail to us for review and we mail them the next lesson.

VAL’S MINISTRY NEWS
It’s never too early to think about summer missions, and if you have a skill, we can most likely make use of it. Also, you don’t have to wait for the group to come. We will have room for a small team ( 2 to 6) any time. Here are just a few of the ways people can help Val:

· Business skills: Val needs help systematizing the Work Of our Hands Craft Cooperative. ( Like the book The E-Myth) She also needs accounting help … setting things up so someone unskilled can do the data entry.

· Craft skills: I have lots of people who want to learn a skill or craft, but I’m out of time. What’s your skill? Crochet, quilting, decorative painting, sand blasting, screen printing welding, etc. The only limiting factor is the availability of supplies.

· Teaching skills Read to kids, tutor kids, assist in a class room. Teach ESL one on one, or with a small group.

· Graphic design create hang tags for merchandise with each artisan’s picture.

· video production I tried it, and I’m not good at it J. I need someone who can shoot footage and edit it, so we can better show our work when we return next time

· Web design Debbie Upp has it well in hand from her two weeks here, but we will need updates periodically.

· Building construction: not sure today of the exact project, but there is always something, so if interested let us know the time frame and we will talk about a possible project with you.

Anyone who enjoys teaching adults would be a welcome help for Lon.

PERSONAL NOTES
Now that our work permits have been renewed, we feel it is finally time to establish more permanent ties to our adopted country. Therefore we have decided to purchase a home here in Okahandja using the money we acquired selling our home in America 3 years ago. God led us to a home three blocks from the house we are currently renting and we immediately fell in love with it. We made an offer, which the owner has accepted. We hope to move in early October. We are very excited about this new chapter in our lives. After 25 years of owning a home, the last three years of renting have been faith- building but also unsettling. We are anxious to start sinking some new roots into Namibian soil.

CHURCH DISTRIBUTED UPDATE
As we continue our mission to build a strong church network here in Namibia and beyond, we are trying to introduce Crown Ministries financial study to Namibia. They are an established ministry in South Africa, but fairly unknown here. Khomas Community Church is ready to introduce the study in their home groups, but we are finding it a challenge to obtain materials. Please pray with us that we can quickly overcome this obstacle and acquire materials at a cost that is affordable to Namibian households.

ON THE HOMEFRONT
We are so thankful for those of you who have signed up with Skype and have begun calling us on the phone. It is difficult to convey how encouraging it is to us to hear your voices and be able to catch up on news from America. Skype is an internet based phone service that provides free international calls for existing Skype customers. At our end, we still have to pay by the minute for the internet connection when you call, but for American callers, it is absolutely free. Check it out at http://www.skype.com

We give a special thanks to Debbie Upp, Hank and Joyce Schauer and Tom and Nina Snyder for calling us this past month. It is a true blessing that you have given us.

Slice of African Life
We have added this section to our newsletter to give you a little taste of how life is different in Namibia. So we will occasionally chronicle some of our cross-cultural interactions and experiences in an attempt to heighten your sense of awe at the diversity of God’s Creation. It is so interesting to experience the traditions, habits and mindset of another culture. For some it is frustrating, but for us it is usually a fun adventure. This month, we would like to share the difference in the way Americans and Namibians give directions. For Americans, such tools as street names, right, left, north, south, east, and west are essential tools for giving directions. A simple map is even better. Namibians do not need any of those tools. Instead they use landmarks like “that shop on the corner just there.” Just there may be 50 feet or 50 miles away, you never know. Instead of left and right, they use “this side, that side” and both can mean either right or left and refer to this side of the street or the other side of the country or continent.

The other day, Isabella was trying to retrieve a letter from a friend in Angola, which had been privately transported by Angolan friends to Windhoek. We were given the intersection of two street names (a welcome treat) but the house was not at that intersection. It was a block away and around the corner. We were given a house number (but not the street to which it applied) and the house number was wrong. We called and received a second house number which was also wrong. Our third attempt yielded the correct house number, but the number was not posted anywhere on the house or on the street. We were given the correct house color, which helped immensely. The directions were given by a person who lived at the house but was not sure of his own house number. This is a very typical direction exchange in Namibia. Precision is not a high value for Namibians, and perseverance and patience are not valued by Americans. We can both learn from each other. Please come see us. I’ll give you directions. Smile!

FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Through end of July, our support account is right at the break even point. God is good.

$ 28,870 YTD Giving
$ 28,438 YTD Budgeted Need
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$ 432 Balance in Ministry Account

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. Thanks so much.

PRAYER POINTS
PRAISE for our work permits. It is such a relief to know our future in Namibia is secure for another year. Praise God.

PRAISE for God opening up new marketing opportunities for the crafts. It seems to be happening. Praise God for blessing the ladies in this way.

PRAY about shipping. It is always a challenge and now we have more marketing possibilities than our ability to get it all back to the States. Please pray now for affordable shipping.

PRAY that the exchange rate would climb favorably for us between now and the time we transfer the money for the house purchase. A slight shift in the rate either way means thousands of dollars on the purchase price of our home.

PRAY for peace that passes understanding as we try to rest in God’s arms as the purchase price moves daily with the exchange rate.

PRAY for Engelhart, nine years old, who walked through a smoldering fire and then ran when his pants caught on fire. His legs are seriously burned. He is the son of Hildegard, one of the bead ladies Val is training and mentoring.