Dear Friends and Family,
Greetings from Okahandja! Things are going well. This past month has been one that God has strengthened and taught us many things. We are both so thankful to God for his grace in our lives, and that He would grace us to be doing what He has called us to do.
The school bible study has been slow this month...they are having exams right now and a lot of studies going on. They are having an afternoon study and an evening study and all have to be back to school for this, so we are currently only having the bible study on Fridays because they don’t have studies on Fridays. We are still going through the booklets on different topics, and we finished this week one on prayer. It has been very cool going through prayer with them. The students are responding very well to this material. We will be taking a break from the study over the holiday, but hope to have a youth night with these students.
We have taken a break with the JG school bible study for exams. We will start it back up after the holiday which is the rest of this month. We will also hope to have some students from JG come to the youth night if we are able to make it happen.
The Wednesday night bible is going ok. We are looking at do this study a little different to were we going in the community having the bible study at Jenny’s house, Christiaan and Nelda’s house and so on but to were we doing it in the community. This may give more out reach opportunities. Jenny got a new job so she has not been able to make it to the bible study but she has asked us to have a bible study with her on Mondays. She has got Mondays off so right now we will be meeting with her every Monday to study the Word together. Nelda also has not been able to make it to the bible study for a few weeks now…she has been taking care of Shufeni. Shufeni is Christiaan’s nephew and lives with them. He is about 7 or 8 years old and is HIV positive. He is really struggling with his health and it has been tough.
The woodcavers bible study is going very well, and we have a new lady that started to come. We are still going through Romans. We will be starting chapter 16 this week and will be finishing Romans this month. I am really looking forward to what the Lord has next for us.
The coffee bar has been going well. We are thinking about adding some games. It has been slow lately, and we are trying to think of new things to help draw young people in. We have basically two thoughts with one common part. 1) We change the coffee bar into a sort of youth night for the church. This would involve specific games and a devotional time. 2) We add more games and have special events on different nights. We would also have a time of reading scripture/devotional. At this point we are seeking the Lord on what direction He wants us to go. To be honest I am leaning more towards the youth night(option 1). But we will see.
The church is going well. We (Christiaan and I) attended a pastors fraternal with 13 pastors from all over Namibia this past month. We were able to use the MPMC to hold the fraternal. This was a group of pastors from primarily reformed Baptist churches in Namibia. We will continue to hold these meetings every 6 months. It was such a refreshing time. We look forward to the support and encouragement that will come from this fraternal. In the church I am continuing to preach through a series on the church. I am now 6 weeks into it. It has been a wonderful, and exhausting topic. I love to preach the Word. Sometimes I feel like Paul when he said, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel”(I Cor. 9:16b). I am currently preaching through “the 5 principals of Godly ministry”, taught from Rom. 15:14-22. It is a Joy!
Things have been going ok for us. Last week we went to Windhoek (city) and someone broke the car windows and stole my bag and Julia’s bag. We lost our camera, both my and Julia’s bible, Julia’s ID, her bank card, her health insurance card, etc. A day later a guy called from Windhoek saying they found some of our stuff in the bush, so we got a car from CHI and drove to Windhoek. The guy found Julia’s ID, bank cards and (paper) documents for our computer. We are praising the Lord for what we got back. See this is an amazing thing. The man took us to the area where he found the stuff and we found more papers that were in our bags and bibles. We praise the Lord for this man that took the time to do what is right where others would not have. We are trying to get the car fixed but its so hard to find parts for the car here since its an import, its even worse with the windows but we know that God is in control of everything and that he will provide the windows for the car. We serve a Sovereign God! We know that He is in control and that there is truly a purpose behind this. He gave the things we had, and He took them away, and He can give them back again or not. Either way we will praise Him!
Below you will find some prayer and praises that we have. Thank you for your continued prayer for us and the work that God has called us to.
Prayer requests:
1. Please pray for little Shuveni and for Christiaan and Nelda as they are taking care of him. Shuveni has been not doing well lately. He is vomiting a lot. Please pray!
2. Please pray for the church. Pray that God would open the hearts of the people here and free them from the guilt that so many “pastors” put on them. Pray that the church would be on mission for this town.
3. Please pray for Julia and I as we continue to look for a place to live that would be more permanent and would be closer to those we are ministering to. We found that if we went and financed a house, we would only be approved for N$140,000. This would barely buy a used car. So we are really seeking the Lord for provision in this way. All the houses we have looked at have been between N$280,000 and N$400,000. We would love to find a place to rent but nobody wants to rent there houses out. And the places we have asked about are around N$3000 per month. Please pray!
4. Please pray for direction and wisdom for us as we seek the Lord on the Coffee bar.
Praises:
1. We praise the Lord for His provision for needed dental work for Buddy. This was going to be a prayer request, but then we were contacted that already two of our supporters had taken care of all the costs. We are so thankful to the Lord for His provisions through our dear friends.
2. We praise the Lord for giving us the grace that we got back some of the documents and cards that were stolen.
Julia and I want to thank all our monthly supporters! Whether you support us with funding or you support us in pray we are so thankful for you. For those that support us with funding, please know that without your giving we could not be doing what we are doing. God has shown His grace on you so that you can join us in the ministry and calling the Lord has given us. For those that support us in prayer, we know when people are praying for us. Prayer is so needed for ministry here. We are so thankful for all the prayers!
Please forgive us for this month with pictures. All the pictures we had taken for the month were on the camera when it got stolen. Lord willing we will have pictures for next month. Thank you for your grace!
May God bless with His perfect grace, love, mercy, and peace!
Loving our Sovereign God,
Buddy and Julia
