Well we are down to two weeks before we leave. Today we tried to bump things up a gear. We have a lot of packing and sorting to go, but we did make some headway. The hard part is trying to decide what you can't take even though you really wish you could take it.
The other issue is trying to think of all the little things to do before leaving home for three years. Accounts to close, bills to get paid off, handing off bills that still have to be paid while we are gone. It gets a little overwhelming at times and I have to sit back take a deep breath, and try to stay focused.
And thanks to the guy from Nigeria who tried to blow up a plane this week, things are changing a lot for security reasons. Some European airports will not let you travel with any liquids or toiletries at all in your carry on bags. Also, for international flights, the last hour of the flight you can not get up out of your seat. Tell a three year old "Honey, you will have to hold it for another hour before you can go to the potty!".
Glad we serve a great and mighty God who is in control of all these little things!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
December Newsletter
Bradsher's To Namibia
Our New Address in Namibia:
P.O. Box 1122, Grootfontein, Namibia
God is Faithful!
December has been an emotional month for us. We are preparing to leave our family for the next three years, anxiously awaiting Kristen’s mammogram results, and the passing of her Grandmother Cibos. All of this happening within a few days of each other and during Christmas.
God has gotten us through it all! Our families are all 100% supportive of God’s call in our lives. Kristen’s mammogram came back clear and cancer free. Kristen’s Grandmother Cibos was a godly woman, solid in her faith and has been praying to be with Jesus for some years now.
So we are praising God for His unfailing faithfulness to us as we continue down our road to Namibia. He has used you all through your prayers, love and encouragement of our family!
We have Tickets!
It is finally official! We have now received our plane tickets for Namibia! We will be leaving from Raleigh/Durham airport on January 11th at 10:30am.
We have a long three day journey before we get to our new home of Namibia. We travel to Washington, D.C., Frankfurt, Germany, Johannesburg, S.A., and finally Windhoek, Namibia. We will then have a six hour drive to our home in Grootfontein, Namibia. So four plane rides, a long van ride, and three days later and we will be home.
I will be loading an air tracker program on our blog just before we leave so that you can follow our travels. The address to our website/blog is listed above under our names. Please check it often after January 11th, as we will be loading videos, pictures and daily accounts of our ministry. The kids also have a blog as well, and you can find the link to it listed on our blog to the right. This will give you an idea of a day in the life of a 5, 4, & 2 year old in Africa! Be sure to share it with your kids!
Newsletters
If you have been receiving our prayer letters by snail mail, do not fear. We have a wonderful person here in NC that will continue to help us in mailing out our newsletters. We will be sending a newsletter out every other month. But if you have a computer please be sure to follow our blog for more detailed communications weekly.
Also notice our mailing address for Namibia above!!!
Come See Us
If you would like to see us before we leave, please come on by. We would love to see anyone that would like to stop by. We live in Durham, NC. Just give us a call or shoot an e-mail so that we will know you are stopping by. Don’t think it will be a burden, as we will be gone for three years!
Prayer Requests
* for safety in travels
* for health of the family
* for open hearts to hear the gospel in Namibia
* for getting settled in to our new life
* for our families we are leaving behind
* for God to be glorified in all we do each day
Many Thanks to all for your financial support of our family!
Remit Donations to:
SIM USA
PO Box 7900, Charlotte, NC 28241
Or at www.sim.org/giveUSA
Our account: #024621
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Plane tickets in the mail!!!
It is finally official. We now have our plane tickets for Namibia purchased, and in the mail.
We leave out of Raleigh/Durham January 11th at 10:30am and we set foot on Namibian soil January 15th at 9:30am eastern standard time or 4:30pm in Namibia.
We are praising our Lord and Savior for how He has used you all in so many ways to finally get us to Namibia. God is so good and we are thankful for the calling that He has placed in our hearts and for the road that He has led us down to get us to today.
Yes, we thank Him for every good day and even for the very tough days. We know that He has used both to draw us closer to Himself, to strengthen our faith and trust in Him, as well as to prepare us for hard days to come in the field of ministry that we are soon to begin.
Many blessings to you all!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Kristen's Mammogram Reports
We are praising the Lord this afternoon! Her reports and scans all came back clear of any cancer or abnormalities!
Please join us in praising the Lord for His greatness!
Thanks to you all for your prayers.
We will be reporting this great news to SIM today and once we get clearance from the medical team, plane tickets ordered and departure dates, we will let you all know.
Many Blessings!
Please join us in praising the Lord for His greatness!
Thanks to you all for your prayers.
We will be reporting this great news to SIM today and once we get clearance from the medical team, plane tickets ordered and departure dates, we will let you all know.
Many Blessings!
Honoring a Wondeful and Godly Woman
Early this morning Kristen's Grandmother, Catherine Cibos, was called to glory by our sovereign God. Today is both a day of great joy, but also a day of sadness.
Joy
Joy, in that Nanna Cibos has been ready for a few years now to meet her savior face to face. Only a woman who has had a close walk with the Lord, could have been as ready as Nanna was. So today, I can only imagine what that moment was for her when she got to see King Jesus for the first time.
The amazing awe to be in His presence, joining with the multitude of heavenly hosts and other believers that have been called home, all in one united worship together. Praising with their voices, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God almighty!". God has given her a new and perfect body. A body that aches no more, that hungers no more, that is weak and failing no more.
Sadness
Our sadness will only be in that she is no longer here with us. Here to encourage us with her faith and trust in God. Here to offer her love and kindness in the many ways that she did. To see how much she cared for those so close to her, and her great joy that she had when her grand children and her great grandchildren walked in the room.
But we can not be sad for long. We will grieve today, but with the comfort that can only come from the Lord and the comfort that comes with trusting and knowing that today she is with God himself.
So we will not be selfish today, we will be joyful today. Heaven is where she was called to be. Heaven is where she wanted to be. And Heaven is where she is rejoicing at today.
God, we thank You for all 95 years of the life you gave to Catherine Cibos on this earth you created. We thank You for all the many ways that You used her in the fulfillment of your purposes for her in her life here with us. And God we thank You that we too can have the same hope that Nanna Cibos had before you called her home today. The hope that we too can one day join with her and You at your feet in worship of the One who loves us so much that you gave your Son, Jesus, to die for us on the Cross. This is where the hope came from that Nanna Cibos had. Thank You for answering her prayers and calling her home today to be with You!
2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
We love you Catherine (Nanna & Nanny) Cibos!
Joy
Joy, in that Nanna Cibos has been ready for a few years now to meet her savior face to face. Only a woman who has had a close walk with the Lord, could have been as ready as Nanna was. So today, I can only imagine what that moment was for her when she got to see King Jesus for the first time.
The amazing awe to be in His presence, joining with the multitude of heavenly hosts and other believers that have been called home, all in one united worship together. Praising with their voices, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God almighty!". God has given her a new and perfect body. A body that aches no more, that hungers no more, that is weak and failing no more.
Sadness
Our sadness will only be in that she is no longer here with us. Here to encourage us with her faith and trust in God. Here to offer her love and kindness in the many ways that she did. To see how much she cared for those so close to her, and her great joy that she had when her grand children and her great grandchildren walked in the room.
But we can not be sad for long. We will grieve today, but with the comfort that can only come from the Lord and the comfort that comes with trusting and knowing that today she is with God himself.
So we will not be selfish today, we will be joyful today. Heaven is where she was called to be. Heaven is where she wanted to be. And Heaven is where she is rejoicing at today.
God, we thank You for all 95 years of the life you gave to Catherine Cibos on this earth you created. We thank You for all the many ways that You used her in the fulfillment of your purposes for her in her life here with us. And God we thank You that we too can have the same hope that Nanna Cibos had before you called her home today. The hope that we too can one day join with her and You at your feet in worship of the One who loves us so much that you gave your Son, Jesus, to die for us on the Cross. This is where the hope came from that Nanna Cibos had. Thank You for answering her prayers and calling her home today to be with You!
2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
We love you Catherine (Nanna & Nanny) Cibos!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Pray for Kristen
Kristen has a mammogram this coming Monday at 2:30. We are praying and asking for you to pray also, that it comes back clear. If everything is clear then we will be cleared to order our plane tickets for Namibia the next day and scheduled to leave by January the 11th.
Our most important concern is Kristen and her health. So we ask that you please pray for her this weekend and this Monday that the Lord will make sure that she is still healthy and cancer free.
Thanks in advance for remembering her this weekend.
Our most important concern is Kristen and her health. So we ask that you please pray for her this weekend and this Monday that the Lord will make sure that she is still healthy and cancer free.
Thanks in advance for remembering her this weekend.
Christmas for the Bradsher's and other Thoughts
This Christmas is mixed with many emotions for us this year. We are sad that this will be our last Christmas with our families for the next three years. Excited in that we are getting ready to leave for Africa in the next coming weeks. And filled with Joy for what Christmas truly means to our family.
We have no clue what Christmas will be like next year in Namibia, but we have been told that it is nothing like here in America. I am really glad that is the case.
We have missionary friends in South America, and in his last letter he talked about what a joy it was to not have another commercialized Christmas. I think about how we as Christians get pulled into the commercialized side of what are tremendous Christian holidays.
Easter
The celebration of the death and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior. The greatest event that ever took place in the history of man. When God allowed His son, Jesus, to be killed for the sins of many, that they might one day be with God himself in Heaven if they believe in Him.
But we can't just have Jesus at Easter, but we bring in Mr. Easter Bunny. Lots of colorful eggs, gifts and candy for the kids.
We get the Easter Bunny from the German fertility goddess Eostre.
Reformation Day
Lots of people do not know much about this day, and they should, but they better recognize it as Halloween. Some also celebrate "All Saints Day" on Oct. 31st as well.
The reformation was a day when Martin Luther was fed up with the poor doctrine of the Catholic church of his time. Allowing people to supposedly buy people out of purgatory and into Heaven. You can read more on this here. But this day is important as it was the founding of the Protestant Reformation to which today we have our Christian denominations, i.e. Presbyterians, Baptist, Methodist, Lutherans, etc.
But in America, people send there kids out dressed up and again candy is given.
And at last Christmas
We know that at Christmas, Christians celebrate the fulfillment of prophecy, through the birth of Jesus. God sent His Son to earth, to live and die for a fallen world full of sinners.
But we have good old Santa Clause, Christmas trees, spending lots of money on gifts, parties and you know everything else that comes with the holiday.
All of these holidays are marketed towards kids! Kids getting eggs, getting candy, and getting gifts from Santa.
I for one am excited about being in Africa, where when Easter comes along, we will only celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, and when Oct. 31st comes along we will celebrate how God, through a simple man, began the Protestant Reformation and the accounting for sound doctrine and giving God the glory for His work on earth for His purpose and not mans.
And at Christmas, I look forward to just celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Not hoaxing up a jolly big man in a red suit, that has miraculous flying reindeer, fits through all size chimneys and gives gifts to good boys and girls. Not sure how we ever felt good about lying to our kids like that. We never have because, well we are teaching our kids not to lie, and we also want them to only focus on what Christmas is truly all about. Even though there was a Saint Nicholas way back when, he didn't fly around the world in a sled by reindeer and that is not what Christmas is about.
I know I may step on some toes with this, but we need to get the "world" out of Christian celebrations. God wants all of the attention on Himself, He always has and He always will. Read the Bible and that is quite apparent.
Just think about it. Pray about it. And just focus on God and give him all the glory on these wonderful days of the year. He doesn't want to be shared with Santa, Eggs and dressing up for candy. He wants all of our attention, our worship and efforts on celebrating Him.
We have no clue what Christmas will be like next year in Namibia, but we have been told that it is nothing like here in America. I am really glad that is the case.
We have missionary friends in South America, and in his last letter he talked about what a joy it was to not have another commercialized Christmas. I think about how we as Christians get pulled into the commercialized side of what are tremendous Christian holidays.
Easter
The celebration of the death and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior. The greatest event that ever took place in the history of man. When God allowed His son, Jesus, to be killed for the sins of many, that they might one day be with God himself in Heaven if they believe in Him.
But we can't just have Jesus at Easter, but we bring in Mr. Easter Bunny. Lots of colorful eggs, gifts and candy for the kids.
We get the Easter Bunny from the German fertility goddess Eostre.
Reformation Day
Lots of people do not know much about this day, and they should, but they better recognize it as Halloween. Some also celebrate "All Saints Day" on Oct. 31st as well.
The reformation was a day when Martin Luther was fed up with the poor doctrine of the Catholic church of his time. Allowing people to supposedly buy people out of purgatory and into Heaven. You can read more on this here. But this day is important as it was the founding of the Protestant Reformation to which today we have our Christian denominations, i.e. Presbyterians, Baptist, Methodist, Lutherans, etc.
But in America, people send there kids out dressed up and again candy is given.
And at last Christmas
We know that at Christmas, Christians celebrate the fulfillment of prophecy, through the birth of Jesus. God sent His Son to earth, to live and die for a fallen world full of sinners.
But we have good old Santa Clause, Christmas trees, spending lots of money on gifts, parties and you know everything else that comes with the holiday.
All of these holidays are marketed towards kids! Kids getting eggs, getting candy, and getting gifts from Santa.
I for one am excited about being in Africa, where when Easter comes along, we will only celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, and when Oct. 31st comes along we will celebrate how God, through a simple man, began the Protestant Reformation and the accounting for sound doctrine and giving God the glory for His work on earth for His purpose and not mans.
And at Christmas, I look forward to just celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Not hoaxing up a jolly big man in a red suit, that has miraculous flying reindeer, fits through all size chimneys and gives gifts to good boys and girls. Not sure how we ever felt good about lying to our kids like that. We never have because, well we are teaching our kids not to lie, and we also want them to only focus on what Christmas is truly all about. Even though there was a Saint Nicholas way back when, he didn't fly around the world in a sled by reindeer and that is not what Christmas is about.
I know I may step on some toes with this, but we need to get the "world" out of Christian celebrations. God wants all of the attention on Himself, He always has and He always will. Read the Bible and that is quite apparent.
Just think about it. Pray about it. And just focus on God and give him all the glory on these wonderful days of the year. He doesn't want to be shared with Santa, Eggs and dressing up for candy. He wants all of our attention, our worship and efforts on celebrating Him.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Great Christmas Gift Idea
Last year for Christmas I asked for the ESV study bible. It was the best gift ever! Well it is on sale again this year at monergism.com for 40% off, which is a great deal.
Here is a link to the site.
ESV Study Bible Sale Link
Here is a link to the site.
ESV Study Bible Sale Link
Visit To Winston-Salem, NC
This past Friday we traveled to Winston-Salem, NC to visit friends before leaving for Africa.
It was a great weekend, and we packed it to the brim. I hate it that we did not get more pictures, but here are a few that we did take.
Thanks to everyone for the time allowed to visit with you, eat with you and share a few more laughs as well.
We love you all and will miss you over the next few years, and could not possibly be making this journey if not for God using you all in so many special ways to support our family!
God bless!
It was a great weekend, and we packed it to the brim. I hate it that we did not get more pictures, but here are a few that we did take.
Thanks to everyone for the time allowed to visit with you, eat with you and share a few more laughs as well.
We love you all and will miss you over the next few years, and could not possibly be making this journey if not for God using you all in so many special ways to support our family!
God bless!
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