Grill, BBQ, or Braai??

Back in good old North Carolina, on a Friday or Saturday afternoon, and holidays like 4th of July and Memorial Day, we would fire up the gas grill and cook cheeseburgers, ribs, and steaks.  If you live in the North East and I guess out west (correct me if I'm wrong westerners) you would say you were having a barbecue.  Well in Namibia it is neither, we call it a Braai.

Braai is an Afrikaans word that means to grill or roast over open coals.  Open coals brings me to the next point, we do not have gas grills here, we have wood, and we have char coal, but the coal here is not like back home, it is partially burned wood.  We don't have lighter fluid either, we have these white sticks that you light with a match and it burns super hot for about 15 minutes, long enough to get your wood or coal going.  Then about an hour later you begin to cook.  Yes, and hour later. 

There is not a lot of places to go and things to do in most parts of Namibia, and that includes where we live.  We do not have shopping malls anywhere near our town, no movie theatres or parks to take the kids.  So people get together to Braai, build the fire, sit around and talk while we wait for the coals to get good and hot, then share a good meal together.  It is actually really nice.  Our kids love fires, and love Namibian meat, as it is always fresh and straight from the farm to our door.

I have attached a picture of our Braai from tonight.  Great pork skewers with a German glaze base, some onions, and a little sheep fat to give it some flavor while cooking!  And after eating a great meal, we say the food was "Baie Lekker", which means Really great!

Just a little Afrikaans for you tonight.

Lekker Slaap! (Sleep Well)

Believe or Know?

     It is quite amazing to talk to little kids about God, Jesus and the Bible and their thoughts about different things, and by asking some probing questions you can get some outrageous answers. But what is even more amazing is listening to a six year old and a five year old talk amongst themselves about these same subjects.


     This is exactly what happened today. I was outside doing some yard work and I overheard Cameron and Hannah talking about God and Jesus, and then they came across the topic of Hell. I missed the segue to Hell, but none the less that part caught my attention. Hannah asked the question "Does anyone go to Hell or does everyone go to Heaven?" I asked her "How does anyone deserve to go to Heaven?" She answered "People that know about God go to Heaven." I asked are you sure about that, and then Cameron chimed in and said "Only the people that BELIEVE in Jesus and BELIEVE that He died for their sins go to Heaven." Atta boy Cam! The three of us discussed it a little more and it brings me to the title of this blog.

     Cameron, being only six, gets it. Praise the Lord! This concept is one of the most important things I have been trying to get the young people, and adults to understand about God and salvation here in our ministry. Anyone can KNOW the facts about the Gospel, God, Jesus, the Bible, and salvation, but not all BELIEVE the facts of the gospel with their heart, mind and soul. Is it enough to know the facts as Hannah said? I am not picking on my five year old, but it was a great opportunity to nail it home that it is about believing.

Luke 4:33-34

33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 “Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

Romans 1:32

32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Titus 1:16

16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

1 John 2:4

4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
    
     Even the demons knew who Jesus was, and had a knowledge of God and even the scriptures to a degree. But again, knowledge is not the key. We also see where Paul says those that say they know God's decrees, they continue to practice the very things they know God detests. And John likewise affirms the same in 1 John 2:4. And Titus 1:16 sums it all up, those that claim to know God, do not always live by what they say they know.

     That brings us back to Cameron's comment on believing.

Luke 8:12

2 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

John 17:20-21

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

     Jesus ministry centered around believing that He was the true Son of God. In the parable of the seeds, we see that the devil comes to take away the word from the HEART, so that they will not BELIEVE and be saved. I capitalized heart and believe as it is the point of this post. Knowing isn't everything, but believing with the heart is where it's at. Jesus' prayer to God was for those who did, do and will believe in Jesus. Do you know about Jesus Christ today, or do you believe in Jesus Christ today with your heart?

     Amazing how us adults can be enlightened by a conversation between a five and six year old!

From God's Word for Black Friday

As I was doing my daily quite time and reading I could not help but think that this scripture was very fitting for a Black Friday.  The scripture is 1 John 2:15-17 and the version I chose is from the Message translation as the verbiage is a little more informal, but drives the point.

1 John 2:15-17

"Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity."

Hannah's Birthday

Last week we celebrated Hannah's 5th birthday, and it was a special day in that her PopPop Fred's (Brian's Dad) birthday is the same day.  So we were able to celebrate both of their birthday's together.  We went to dinner at a farm close by that has the lion and cheetahs and got to see them, and enjoyed a nice German cooked meal together.

The next day was Saturday and we had a birthday party for Hannah to celebrate with some of her friends here.  It was very neat as Hannah had Happy Birthday sung to her in English, Afrikaans and German.  Hard to believe our little princess is 5 years old now!

Here are a few pictures.  If you would like to see more, you can see them on Brian's facebook account.

Thanksgiving in Namibia

Well we are about to celebrate our second major holiday this week since arriving in Namibia.  Thanksgiving will be quite different here. 

Kristen and my mom are working on their shopping list as we are making a big Thanksgiving dinner for many of the people around us here.  We will be the only family in our town celebrating Thanksgiving.  We are blessed to have my parents here to celebrate with.  Needless to say Kristen and mom have quite a challenge on their hands today.  No turkey this year, or ham as you can not find either one within 5 hours drive of our town.  No pumpkin pie, as they do not have pumpkins this time of year, and no canned pumpkin like back home.  No sweet potato casserole as we have white sweet potatoes and not the orange ones like home, and they are nothing the same. And it is hot outside, not cold!

The substitute for the turkey are chickens, but our whole chickens are a little larger that the size of Cornish hens back home.  Namibia is very strict on animal raising for human consumption, no antibiotics or growth hormones are allowed in animals.  This is actually a good thing, so we got four chickens to cook.  We did see some turkey's at a farm recently, but he would not let us purchase one for the big day! :)

Black Friday will be a day of rest, since there is no such thing here, and well there are no Wal-Marts, Target's, Mall's, or Best Buy's to stay up all night in the cold for the reduced price on computers, camera's, play stations and mp3 players.

No big NFL football game to fall asleep to on the couch after eating way too much food, well I guess that only applies to most of us guys.

But this is what we do have for Thanksgiving, we have Jesus.  This year we are not going to have our minds cluttered by all the stuff above.  We will have nothing to distract us from just being thankful for God's gift of salvation through the death of His Son on the cross.  This year we are thankful for our precious salvation, we are thankful for the calling God has laid on our hearts and for sending us here to Namibia, as we have learned quite a lot in this past year of service.  We are thankful that God has given our family the chance to experience living in a world that is not nearly as blessed as back home, so that we can focus more on God and not ourselves and our worldly desires.  We are thankful for the blessing of our supporters back home that God has used to help send us to this mission field as we share together in presenting the Gospel to a lost world.  And we are thankful that we have my parents here to share this day with.

We pray for all of you that you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year as well.  We are thankful for all of you, for your thoughts and prayers and financial support that makes this ministry all the more worth it as we work together to share Christ to the ends of the earth.

God bless!

Costs of Living in Namibia

Many people think that living in a third world country means the cost of living is a lot cheaper.  Well, that is not the case, at least in Namibia and this I know first hand.  I thought I would share a few things with you to give you an idea of how expensive it is to live here.

Take Gas for instance, or Petrol as they call it here:

Cost:  $1.15/ liter or $4.60/ gallon.

Electricity:  For our house the cost is $204/ month and we have no central air condition, no heat, and a refrigerator that is about half the size of an average one in the US.

Water:  For our house the water bill is $220/ month and we conserve water tightly because we are in a desert community and we save every bit of rain water we can if and when it does rain.

Monthly Internet Cost (Slow Internet, Not High Speed): $51/month


Our 2000 model van with 125K miles cost $13000, and yes VERY USED!



Here are some items that we will never purchase here!

Average Lap-Top Computer:  $1500

Average Cell Phone with Camera & Internet: $439

Touch Phone by Apple: $1172

Apple Touch Pad: $1756

Wii Game System: $585

MP3 Player: $365

Six Foot Artificial Christmas Tree comparible to one we had in US: $200

Wireless Router Box: $235

Here are a few pictures of food in the store and the costs in USD.  Think they compare to Wal-Mart prices?

Container of Fresh Strawberries, with only 7 strawberries:  $3.35

Half Gallon of Ice Cream:  $6.60

1 Liter Box of Juice:  $2.35

2 Liter Bottle of Coke:  $2.80

Box of Cake Mix:  $5.25

                                                             Bottle of Heinz BBQ Sauce:  $3.15

Small Box of Cookies:  $2.40

4oz bottle of spray suntan lotion: $17.00  YES $17!!

Box of Oatmeal w/12 Packs:  $4.89

Nesquick Chocolate Mix:  $4.60

Bottle of Olive Oil: $12.00

Bag of Apples:  $3.10

Small Jar of Olives: $4.90

Small Bag of Banana's:  $2.79

Box of Special K Cereal: $6.30

1 Liter of Milk: $2.35 making a gallon $9.40

Box of Honey Nut Cheerios:  $6.58

Tub of Butter:  $5.71

Jar of  Peanut Butter:  $4.83

Small Jar of Ketchup or as they call it Tomato Sauce: $2.79

Home Visitation

One of the things that I do just about every week is home visitation of those people in need of prayer and those that visit our church on Sunday's.  Simson is a gentleman that I have been working with who is from the north and he goes with me when we visit.  He helps me out with the language barrier and has a great passion for people coming to know Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

This past Monday we went to visit a couple of people, both families were Otjiherero.  We have a good size population of this people group here in our town.  The Otjiherero women, some today, still wear the traditional clothing from many years back during slavery.  I have attached a picture below of one such lady.  It was good to sit and talk with these people, but to also see the way that they live is interesting as well.  You will have many people living under one roof, this home had close to ten.  There were two small babies crawling around naked in the home, one happy and one not so happy.  The home was very hot, due to the 100+ degree weather we have now, and there was no air circulation at all.

We spoke with the first family about the gospel and whether they understood what it meant.  They did have lots of questions, but were very open to hearing what Christ had done for them on the cross.  So I shared for a while and then we prayed for them.  One of the ladies in the house was probably in her mid 30's and is struggling with some family issues.  Her father died two years ago and her husband was killed in a car accident a year ago.  She was struggling to understand why God would allow things to happen like that.  There is never an easy answer for non-Christians when it comes to tragedies.  Yes we can tell them that God had a reason for these things and that God is in control, but to tell them from Romans 8:28 "that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" is not easily taken.  This is what gives me hope and we can only pray that God will make this same hope real in their lives also.

We then visited another Otjiherero family. It was a girl around 19 years of age, and her two brothers. They live in a small little building on the property of their Aunt. The mother and father are nowhere to be found, so the older sister takes care of the two brothers. The girl was very accepting to the Bible and we gave her and her brothers a Bible to read. I met this girl working on a local farm and she finally showed up in our church a couple weeks ago. We talked for a while about praying through the holy fire. Many tribes in Namibia believe in the worship of ancestors, and they are taught that they pray through the fire, the smoke takes the prayers up to their ancestors and then their ancestors take the prayers to God. Now we know from scripture that is not truth, but many kids that I work with struggle with this being false. By the end of our conversation we were able to joke about the fire and I asked Somoa if the fire ever talked back, he laughed, but seriously they are taught that the ancestors talk back to them and the thoughts that come to their minds are the answers. All three are supposed to be at my Saturday Bible study this week and church on Sunday, and Lord willing, they will be.


These home visitations are things I wish you could experience for yourself first hand to see how people live, their thoughts about God, and their traditional religions. This is one of the things that is out of my comfort zone each week, but once we get talking, it is one of my favorite parts of the ministry.

Please continue to pray for God's work in the lives of these people as we minister to them each week.


God Bless,

Compassion Monday

Compassion Monday

If you recall recently from our newsletter, we have a ministry that we began a few months ago that we call 'Compassion Monday'.  A few months after arriving here I had to take some trash to our local trash dump and my eyes were astonished to what I saw.  When I got there, there was smoke all over the place because the city burns all the trash, but what I did not expect were people living out there.

These people have make shift tents that they have made out of tarps, and misc. materials that they find and that is home for them.  When I was there I saw little children under the age of 2 that were walking around amongst all the trash crying and following their mothers who were trying to find anything of value and most of all food.  You could here the small ones crying in the back ground, the smoke is all over and the smell from the rotting trash was horrible.

So we started going out there once a month and giving them bags of food and toiletry items.  It is not much, but they get fresh bread, instant soups and some other things we are able to get into the bags.  Our kids help put together the bags and go with me out there to deliver them to the people.  It is a humbling experience and the people are very appreciative of the fact that we just come out there just for them.

Attached is a video of one of our visits in August when Allison and Sarah Callahan from the US were ministering here with us.

God Bless!

Corbin Turns the Big 3!!

We celebrated our families third birthday since being in Namibia.  Corbin turned the big 3 on September the 18th.  He had a blast and was able to have a pool party.  Normally back home Cameron was the only one that was able to have a pool party at someones house.  Well here in Namibia it is HOT, so Corbin got to have one.

We had lots of cake, muffins, cookies, chips and fun.  I was blessed to be able to make it back from Johannesburg in time to celebrate it with him, and he was happy that I was here.  My welcome home gift was blowing up 100 balloons for the party. His favorite gift was his big Namibian version of a Tonka dump truck.  He plays with it every day.

Attached are some pictures from the big day.


Blessings to you all.

1 Corinthians, Grace, Mercy and Love

In order to help me grow more spiritually and to better prepare me as I work and disciple with the people we work with here in Namibia, I started taking a few seminary classes on-line.  This semester I am taking three classes, they are; Study of 1 Corinthians, Biblical World Views, and The Historical Books. 

These classes are really challenging my understanding of God's word, society and how the two should work together.  My Corinthians class has really been a good study as well and is helping me to understand the concepts behind Paul's letter to the church in Corinth.

The one thing that has really stood out to me this week as I have read and studied is the first letter to the Corinthians, and a book I had to read for my Biblical World Views class.  I was astonished to read that only 9% of professing Christians in today's church have what is considered a Biblical World View.  A World View is defined as how a person sees the world and responds to situations in it.  Therefore a Biblical World View is defined as seeing the world through a Biblical lens.  In other words Christians should view the world and react in it through the Biblical principles that God has laid out before us.  Through seeing the world as Jesus saw it when he was in the world.  Also through acting in the world by following the commands and morals given to us from God.

So then you go back to the Barna research done on professing Christians, and that means only 9% of Christians today are seeing the world and acting in it from a Biblical stand point.  This is the scary part.  This means that many churches today are making decisions inside the church and treating the church and people in it based on worldly principles and not principles of the Bible and from God.  So then I was also studying and working my way through 1 Corinthians and then that letter to Corinth made a lot of since to me.  The Christians in the church of Corinth were guilty of the same thing.  They were seeing the church, and acting out in the church based on worldly views and not Biblical views.

This is why we see in 1 Corinthians that Paul is writing to the church based on letters and news that has been sent to him about what was happening in the church. 

1 Corinthians 1:10-13

"10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?"

Then Paul states in chapter 7:1A

"Now for the matters you wrote about:"

Then in chapter 7 and through out the rest of the letter Paul dives into the problems reported.

As you read through Chapters 1-6 you will see that Paul talks about some of the problems in the church. There are problems of people being arrogant, some seem to think themselves wiser than others in the church.  The church seems to be completely divided about a lot of what is going on. And Chapter 3:1 is where you will see my point:

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

"Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?"

Why are churches today still acting like 1 Corinthian churches?  The answer is in verse 3 above and based on the 91%from the Barna research, the church body is worldly.  Churches fight and argue over staff, budgets, appearances of the church, disagreements over materials to be used, procedures and so on and so forth.  The body needs to be united as Paul pleads in this letter.  Disagreements will always come, but how the disagreements are handled is the more important issue. Are the disagreements handled with grace, mercy and love, or with hatred and slander?  And this is what I think led Paul in writing chapter 13.  Are we loving our brothers and sisters with the love of God, or are we cutting one anothers throats, stabbing them in the back, stirring up gossip and deceit and lies to get others on your side and ultimately causing division. Do we talk problems out peacefully and with love, or do we treat people with disrespect and condescending? It is not only in America, but I have noticed it here as well, and it is not pretty to be seen in the House of God.  I even heard the other week, some people in a church saying that they did not like a pastor that was on staff, why, because he was to strict and was overly evangelistic.  Pastors here in our area and in America are sometimes like revolving doors.  As soon as they say or do one thing that a person does not like gossip starts, sides are made and pastors are right back out the door without even trying to understand the issues or work together.

Brothers and sisters, read 1 Corinthians this week, and digest it.  Be convicted of Paul's message to the congregation in the church of Corinth.  Repent and make right relationships that have gone wrong because you were looking at the world from a Worldly View rather than a Biblical View.  I am certain we all have a lot to learn from this.

God Bless,

SIM Conference 2010

Well the kids are on another short two week holiday break from school, so our missions agency schedules its yearly Spiritual Life Conference during that break each year. So we had the opportunity to finally see the coast of Namibia for the first time, as our conference was held at Swakupmund which is a popular coastal venue here.

The conference was really great and much needed. Our special speaker gave great material and new perperspectives on the book of Judges. It was really great to just listen, absorb and be spiritually nourished. Being in the mission field, you are almost always giving spiritual nourishment and have few opportunities to be fed outside of a personal quite time.

We did have some free time here and there to take in some new scenery and bask in God's amazing works of art in His creation. There are pictures below to show you.

After we got back we were invited up to a farm an hour north to relax a bit before the kids come back next week. That was also good as well. There is not much to do where we live, especially when all the kids are gone. So most people go to the farms and relax. So we did just that. We had a nice cabin in the middle of the farm to relax in, with lots of cows, goats, sheep, dogs and just about any other farm animal you can think of. It was nice to just sit around and do nothing for two days.

The kids get back next week and so the ministry work will then kick back in to high gear until December. The kids get out of school for a month and a half in December. So in December I will be in charge of shepherding the church here in our town for that time. I am looking forward to having more opportunities to preach God's word on Sunday mornings during this time.

Enough for now, we just wanted to update you all on how things are going.

Thanks to everyone for your prayer and financial support!

God Bless!

Flat Tire and Prayer!

This past Tuesday, Cameron and I were headed back on the long drive from the capital of Namibia.  We were coming back from taking Matthew to the airport to go home.  The trip had been pretty much uneventful until we were one and a half hours away from home.  This is when the day changed a bit for us.  We got a flat tire.  Getting a flat tire back home is bad enough, but being in the middle of nowhere in Namibia is something different.

Luckily it is still not hot here yet, and we blew out right in front of a nice shade tree.  I thought I had all the tools to change the tire, but unfortunately we were missing the wrench needed to remove the spare from under the van.  So we tried to flag people down, yes, in the middle of nowhere in Namibia. 

This is where the prayer part comes in.  Cameron and I are standing out waiting for what few cars come by and it is getting dark soon.  Driving in Namibia is not safe at night, and being outside in the dark stranded is even worse.  So I made the comment to Cameron, "Buddy I don't know what we are going to do if no one stops to help."  Cameron without hesitation said "Dad I know what to do.  We need to pray for God to get someone to stop."  I immediately agreed and we prayed for God to let someone stop that could help. 

So we then went back to trying to flag people down, and still no one. Then Cameron said, "Dad I remember the story in the Bible where they prayed for a boy three times and he came back to life, so maybe we should do that."  I said that sounded good, so I prayed once more and Cameron prayed.  Within the next five minutes a guy stopped to help.  We got the tire changed, but the spare was flat! What a day.  He then said, that last week he bought a brand new pump.  He said when he bought it he really did not know why he was buying it, but it was on sale and he figured it would come in handy.  Well, God knew why he was buying the pump, because he knew the man would be helping us out yesterday.

I was very proud of my son and his genuine faith in our God.  Cameron has always had such a huge faith in God, and yesterday he was doing what was natural, he trusted in God when a problem arose.  We can learn a lot from a six year old in the middle of the desert and on the side of the road with a flat tire.

Successful Hunt

Last Tuesday I took Matthew, our short term missionary, on a hunting trip for Kudu.  It was not a successful day then, so I took him back out again early this morning and he got a very nice Kudu Bull.  He enjoyed the experience of wild game hunting in Africa, and for the next two months we will enjoy the free meat from the Kudu.

Below are pictures of the big kill.

Taking it to The Streets (Update)

In May I had written about how God was leading me to change our youth meetings from meeting in the church to meeting outside in the down town area of Grootfontein.  Well I wanted to give a quick update to how this is going.

When we started in May we had around 15 youth that were consistently coming each week.  Well this past week we had the most youth there since beginning this change.  We had 33 youth to show up this past Saturday afternoon.  Praise the Lord!  Many of these new people are thanks to our faithful youth who are passionate about Christ, and passionate about their friends knowing the amazing man named Jesus! 

Thanks to God ,another church in our area, and one of our supporters in New York we were able to get 100 Bibles to hand out to the youth that we are working with.  This past Saturday we were able to give out Bibles to all of the kids at the youth meeting, and to see there faces when they got to have their very own Bible was amazing. 

If you do not know about our "Taking it to the Streets Ministry", we basically have our weekly youth meeting outside in the town area.  We meet under a big tree that is in front of the Town Hall building.  Lots of people walk through this area on Saturday's and it is amazing to see the people that stops and listen to what we are talking about, but even more amazing to see our youth spot a friend walking by and go grab them and get them to sit and listen to our Bible study!  And that is what this ministry is all about.  Taking Jesus where the people are, and to the people that need his forgiveness from their sins!  I play my guitar and we have a time of praise and worship and follow it up by Bible study.

I am now taking the kids through the basics of systematic theology.  Helping them to learn how we got the Bible, who is this God the Bible talks about, and so much more.  Last week after talking for nearly an hour, when I finished one girl came up and asked me why we didn't the Bible study last longer, that one hour was not enough and she wanted more!  Praise the Lord for the desire He has placed on the hearts of these kids here!

Here are some pictures from this past weeks Bible study.

World Cup and Jesus

About two months ago, while staying over in Windhoek, I met the Namibia Campus Crusade For Christ missionary leader. He and his family are from the UK and great people. He told me that he had a group of 17 Namibian College students coming to the north to do ministry work. So we opened all of the floor space we had in our home and hosted them for an overnight stay.

It was great getting to know these students, how God had changed their lives and saved them from a life of sin. Last night I had them come to our church to give testimonies, lead in worship and share about their ministry to the north. 180 of the youth that I work with each week showed up for the event and it was great. The worship was wonderful and God exalting. They even had three guys who have written a lot of Christian rap.

They then showed an excellent video that highlighted seven football (soccer) players that were in the FIFA World Cup here in Africa and how the Lord changed their lives and how they use their talents in playing football for God's glory.

We then finished the night by watching the World Cup Championship in our church via my video projector, through an old color t.v., and on a bed sheet we tacked up in the front of the church. The youth thought that was the best thing in the world. For one, most do not have t.v.'s to watch the game, but to see it so big made it all the better.



Here are a few pictures from the event.