update...and explanation of pictures.

Dear friends,


Today we were able to go and visit the woodcarvers. I can't really express to you how I felt when I saw the market to the ground. I was reminded of devastation that I saw from a tornado that hit Xenia, Ohio. There was just nothing left! You can see from my post of pictures that, that is true. But more than that, the people also were about the same. Most just sitting under the few trees in front of the market that were not burned, hoping for some kind of help. As I talked with them I learned more about what had happened. This was one of those strange happenings. The fire started at a house about 200 meters away. And between that house and the markets was a main road, and another house. The other house was totally untouched. The fire started in the middle of the market and spread outward to the rest within 15-20 min. Those on the ends(including those from our bible study) tried to save items by moving them away from the market, but the fire reached them and burned them up. They lost everything! Our aim was to meet with those from our bible study and have a time of prayer and reading some passages from Scripture. But very quickly it turned into a market wide study. A couple of the pictures I posted shows that time. See over the past few years of having this bible study, we got to know many of those there at the market. Even if they never came to the market they knew we came every thursday for the bible study. It was a great honor to be able to read the Word with so many today. We hope to see them again next time we go in. Then we had a chance to sit down with just those from the bible study(Tiago, Sarafina, Innocentia, and Sylvia). I asked them some questions, and I learned more about there specific needs. See, the biggest problem that they are facing right now, it that there is no food at home. All of them have children, and they all do not know how they will feed them. At the market they are cooking Pap for those there, but that only feeds those at the market not those at home. And since they have no source of income now, there is not much they can do. Please pray that God would provide for these needs. They are also hoping to rebuild, but that seems far off for now. To rebuild there stock would take both time and much money. Please pray that the Lord would provide! More than that though, pray that there dependency would be upon the Lord alone. And that they would "wait on the Lord" and be courageous! That there witness to there fellow carvers would be glorifying to the Lord! I will write more soon....Please Pray!!!

Pictures from today at the woodcarvers!!

Urgent Prayer request!!!!!

Dear friends,

I wanted to write to ask that you all be praying for the woodcarvers that we have been working with. Today there was a massive fire that spread through the market. It started from a fire in a house across the road, but because of the wind it blew the fire across the road to the market. It burned the whole market down within about 15-20min. Our dear friends Sylvia, Innocentia, Sarafina, and Tiago all lost there markets including there wood items for sell. As we continue to try to get ahold of each of them, we did speak to Sarafina and all are devastated! They really don't know what they are going to do.

Please pray for these! This for many like Sylvia is the only income they have. And remember that Sylvia has two young children at home, one in high school(grade 12), and one in college. Please pray that God would supply there needs! I am reminded even now of Isaiah 40:28-31,
"Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
[29] He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
[30] Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
[31] but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint."

Pray that they wait on the Lord and continue to trust Him! Please email me(gtbutters@gmail.com) if you have any questions or would like to help these out. Also please pray that the owner of the house will not have t lay off any workers from his business being that Julia's father works for his company. Please pray!!! I will update again soon!

quick update...

I hope you enjoy the pictures....Isn't she cute!!!

This week really has been focusing on two things:
1. Getting everything with the car figured out.
2. A women's conference.

We are so happy with the car the Lord provided. It is a Isuzu 2.8 turbo diesel. It is a 2000 model. We do have to put new tires on it which we hope to put on today. Also we would like to have a canopy eventually, so we will be looking for that. It will help to just have it for traveling and even carrying more people in the back. We want to once again just thank everyone who gave towards this truck! We pray that God would show you the goodness of His grace!

The women's conference is going well. The theme was "what is the role of women in the church?". It is every evening starting at 6:00pm. This is a conference that both men and women could attend. Tonight will be the last night for it.

Also, we have taken in a boy named keano. Some reading this may know him. He is the boy that was with Todd and Erin Hammerstrom. They are currently in the process of adopting him, but not all has come through yet. So as he is now going to school here in windhoek..he needed someone to stay with. Please pray for all the details of the adoption to go through quickly.

I will write more a little later on how the conference ended and such.

pictures of grace and new truck...

Hackers!!!!!!!!

So I just wanted to write just in case anyone saw the last posts that I just deleted. My account was hacked!!!! Not nice at all!!! Sorry, but those posts were definitely not from me. I will post again soon the pictures...

update...

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for your patience being that I have not written for a while. Things have been busy, and good being that they have been busy. Now...as it has been a little while since I have written I am going to try and not make this post so long, but we will see.

First, I just wanted to share with you all how the church has been going. I think that we are finally getting past that "we are new" hump. We are getting to know the people alot better and this obviously opens alot of good doors. Two sundays ago was a special sunday. One I taught on I Cor. 6:12-20, which is focusing on using our bodies for the Lord. The teaching went really well and I got as direct as possible without firing myself.: ) Then we also had Grace's Baby dedication. This was a very special time for both us and the church. I will post some pictures soon. This sunday Pastor Laban was gone to Zimbabwe for the Sola 5 Conference. This is the group of churches here in southern Africa that Monte Christo is a member of. You can check out more if you like at http://www.conradmbewe.com/2010/09/day-four-2010-sola-5-conference.html. This is a blog of each day of the conference. This link is just for day four, but you can view the others if you like as well. So that gave me a chance to preach again on sunday. I preached on Acts 6:8 through all of chapter 7. It was along passage , but such a good one. It is mainly focusing on Stephen and his amazing sermon to the arrogant jewish leaders that were accusing him of blasphemy. It was a good one.

Last week was a week full of counseling as well. We had our first pre-marital counseling session with a couple from the church. This is something Julia and I will take on. That any pre-marital counseling that is needed will be done by us. The first session actually started kind of rough. We listened to how they met and why they wanted to get married. Then I asked them to share there testimonies. This is where it started to get hard. It was evident that after talking with them..the woman was a believer, but the guy was not. So then I shared the gospel with the guy for about an hour. It was hard because he was evidently disagreeing with much of the gospel while the woman agreed. Please pray for our next session for this thursday. I also had my first counseling session with a young man who has been struggling with sexual sin and has now a son with a woman he would like to marry. Our first time went really well. We read scripture and prayed together.

The house to house ministry is going well as usual. We have now shifted to another house. We have moved to Paulina's house. This is our first time being at this house and are looking forward to meeting some of the neighbors around. Last week we had one neighbor come. Please pray that God would use us in this community.

The Membership class continues. We have just 3 weeks left of the class until we are done. Then at the end of the class we will have on one sunday baptisms for some in the class. So this is something I am looking forward to. It really has been great to see how many in this class have grown. These last few weeks I have seen alot of good responses and questions showing there growth. Pictures will follow...

As many of you who have followed us for a while know...although we have moved to Windhoek, we still have a heart for okahandja. Last week we were able to go into okahandja and see some of the people there. We went and visited the woodcarvers and were able to see Tiago(one of the woodcarvers/dear friend). He is doing well. He is spending most of his time on the coast now, being that business is better there. Please continue to pray for that group. We continue to hope to see them more often.

Lastly, I wanted to share a praise with everyone. We have found a truck to buy!!!! It is a 2001 Isuzu kb280. This is a 2.8 turbo diesel. It needs a little work right away, but the important things(engine, transmission, ect) are in great condition. We just have to get things like new tires. I can not tell you how excited/relieved we are that we will soon have this truck. We want to publicly once again just thank all those that gave towards this truck. We never could have gotten it with out your generous giving. We will post some pictures as soon as we have it. It will probably be monday at the latest.

Well...I think that is all for now. Like I said I could probably write forever. But I won't. I will try to post some new pictures of grace as well very soon. She is really growing like a bush weed. Take care!