Attached is the audio of my youth message from this past Saturday afternoon.
Blessings!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Few Updates
I know I have not posted anything recently, but the last week was quite busy. We celebrated Easter this past Sunday at our church and I had a lot to do to prepare for it. We celebrated it a week early because 95% of our congregation are youth and they live in the boarding schools. So they will all be going home this weekend and will not be in town or at church.
We have had a lot of neat things going on though. First of all we are all pretty much over the stomach bugs. Kristen and I got hit worse than the kids. The kids really did not have much of any stomach issues at all, just a low grade fever for a day or so. So thanks to everyone for praying for us.
We are heading north tomorrow for a couple of days to Etosha Pan. This is a nature reserve where you can drive through and see lots of different animals in their natural habitat. We could possibly see any of the following, Giraffe, Zebra, Wildebeest, Ostrich, Emu, lions, elephants, and a vast array of antelope. The kids are excited, so hopefully we will see a lot of animals.
Here are a few cool pictures of some random things that have been happening.
God Bless!!!
I need to explain this picture a little. This little guy flew into our kitchen sliding door and knocked himself out. So I put my gloves on and picked him up until he came to. Well while I was sitting outside with him, not even 2 minutes, two birds collided in mid air right over top of us. They were both knocked out. So while I had one bird out in my one hand, then I had two other birds at my feet. One of the two that collided came to quickly, the other did not. So here I was sitting in our back yard with two unconscious birds in my hands. What are the chances of that. They both eventually came too and flew away.
An Interesting Bug
Easter Family Pictures
Cows Coming up to our yard!
We have had a lot of neat things going on though. First of all we are all pretty much over the stomach bugs. Kristen and I got hit worse than the kids. The kids really did not have much of any stomach issues at all, just a low grade fever for a day or so. So thanks to everyone for praying for us.
We are heading north tomorrow for a couple of days to Etosha Pan. This is a nature reserve where you can drive through and see lots of different animals in their natural habitat. We could possibly see any of the following, Giraffe, Zebra, Wildebeest, Ostrich, Emu, lions, elephants, and a vast array of antelope. The kids are excited, so hopefully we will see a lot of animals.
Here are a few cool pictures of some random things that have been happening.
God Bless!!!
I need to explain this picture a little. This little guy flew into our kitchen sliding door and knocked himself out. So I put my gloves on and picked him up until he came to. Well while I was sitting outside with him, not even 2 minutes, two birds collided in mid air right over top of us. They were both knocked out. So while I had one bird out in my one hand, then I had two other birds at my feet. One of the two that collided came to quickly, the other did not. So here I was sitting in our back yard with two unconscious birds in my hands. What are the chances of that. They both eventually came too and flew away.
An Interesting Bug
Easter Family Pictures
Cows Coming up to our yard!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Preaching in School?
Having a Bible study during school may not be acceptable in the US, but here in Namibia it is. This past Tuesday I was invited to go to a Bible Study that meets at one of the high schools here in town. When I accepted I had not yet come down with this terrible stomach bug, but by Tuesday I was hurting pretty bad.
I was not able to contact the person to let them know I could not come, so I prayed, asked God for help, and went to the school. My contact only told me that he wanted me to come join and listen, but when I got there I found out that I was the main speaker. A good pastor friend of mine told me, "If you can sing, have a song in your back pocket. If you can preach, always have a sermon in your back pocket, especially on the mission field.". So I have taken his advise to heart and was glad on Tuesday that I did.
The great thing is that the entire time I spoke God completely took away all of my stomach cramps, nausea, and body aches. I actually felt fine the entire 45 minutes that I spoke. I was astonished at how many kids kept filing in to the class room to which I was speaking. The Bible study is held during their morning break, so the kids have the option to do what they want during this time. By the last 15 minutes of my message the class room was full, kids were standing outside listening and looking in from the windows, the door was clogged with kids and even more standing outside the door trying to listen as well.
It is so encouraging to see how God has prepared the harvest of kids hear to have open minds and hearts. How He has given them a desire to want to hear the Gospel, and to take it to heart. The kids here want to learn, want to know about Jesus, and want to be changed by His grace.
They had asked me to come back this past Thursday, but unfortunately I was in the hospital Wednesday night, and out of commission on Thursday, but hope to go back again next week.
Please continue to pray for the kids as I share the great news of the Gospel with them, that God will plow open their hearts, and as the seeds of the Gospel are sowed, that God will let these seeds take root and make them grow and bring them to repentance of their sin. And by God's grace they will be saved and enter into a personal relationship with God.
Thanks to all of our supporters for allowing us the opportunity to be here to share the Gospel with so many young people in Namibia!
God Bless!
I was not able to contact the person to let them know I could not come, so I prayed, asked God for help, and went to the school. My contact only told me that he wanted me to come join and listen, but when I got there I found out that I was the main speaker. A good pastor friend of mine told me, "If you can sing, have a song in your back pocket. If you can preach, always have a sermon in your back pocket, especially on the mission field.". So I have taken his advise to heart and was glad on Tuesday that I did.
The great thing is that the entire time I spoke God completely took away all of my stomach cramps, nausea, and body aches. I actually felt fine the entire 45 minutes that I spoke. I was astonished at how many kids kept filing in to the class room to which I was speaking. The Bible study is held during their morning break, so the kids have the option to do what they want during this time. By the last 15 minutes of my message the class room was full, kids were standing outside listening and looking in from the windows, the door was clogged with kids and even more standing outside the door trying to listen as well.
It is so encouraging to see how God has prepared the harvest of kids hear to have open minds and hearts. How He has given them a desire to want to hear the Gospel, and to take it to heart. The kids here want to learn, want to know about Jesus, and want to be changed by His grace.
They had asked me to come back this past Thursday, but unfortunately I was in the hospital Wednesday night, and out of commission on Thursday, but hope to go back again next week.
Please continue to pray for the kids as I share the great news of the Gospel with them, that God will plow open their hearts, and as the seeds of the Gospel are sowed, that God will let these seeds take root and make them grow and bring them to repentance of their sin. And by God's grace they will be saved and enter into a personal relationship with God.
Thanks to all of our supporters for allowing us the opportunity to be here to share the Gospel with so many young people in Namibia!
God Bless!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Bringing Two Worlds Closer Together
Before I left the US I had talked with a school in Winston-Salem about partnering with a school here in Grootfontein. Mainly to help the two worlds learn more about each other, about each others cultures, and even find some common ground that they both may share.
The school in Winston-Salem, was Jefferson Middle and the one here in Namibia is the Omulunga Primary. Both groups that talked with one another were from the 6th grades.
Skype actually works fantastically well here, considering how far out in the bush we are. So last week we got the two schools together for the first time to have a video call. It went really great. The kids here in Namibia did not think it would actually happen. "Mr. Brian, how can we see and talk to people in the United States?", is what two of the kids kept asking me. But to there great surprise it did work.
So at 8:15 EST and 4:15 our time, we went live on Skype and talked for an hour. The kids asked questions back and forth, learned a little about each others cultures, and enjoyed making new friends, even if they are thousands of miles away.
I think the kids in the US were blown away at the answer they got to one of their questions. The question to the class here in Namibia was, "What do you do in your free time after school?". The answers were, we clean the house, wash dishes, go out and find wood for cooking, walk a ways to go get water, and cook food for dinner.
We hope to have more skype video calls with the two schools in the future. Here are a few pictures of what it looked like on our end during the call.
If you are a teacher, work in a school, or have a desire to have a skype session with some of our kids here, please let me know and we will certainly arrange it. It is truly a great learning experience for everyone.
God bless!
The school in Winston-Salem, was Jefferson Middle and the one here in Namibia is the Omulunga Primary. Both groups that talked with one another were from the 6th grades.
Skype actually works fantastically well here, considering how far out in the bush we are. So last week we got the two schools together for the first time to have a video call. It went really great. The kids here in Namibia did not think it would actually happen. "Mr. Brian, how can we see and talk to people in the United States?", is what two of the kids kept asking me. But to there great surprise it did work.
So at 8:15 EST and 4:15 our time, we went live on Skype and talked for an hour. The kids asked questions back and forth, learned a little about each others cultures, and enjoyed making new friends, even if they are thousands of miles away.
I think the kids in the US were blown away at the answer they got to one of their questions. The question to the class here in Namibia was, "What do you do in your free time after school?". The answers were, we clean the house, wash dishes, go out and find wood for cooking, walk a ways to go get water, and cook food for dinner.
We hope to have more skype video calls with the two schools in the future. Here are a few pictures of what it looked like on our end during the call.
If you are a teacher, work in a school, or have a desire to have a skype session with some of our kids here, please let me know and we will certainly arrange it. It is truly a great learning experience for everyone.
God bless!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Youth Message from Saturday Youth Group
I have now began posting my youth messages on our blog for anyone interested in listing. You can find them each week on the right side of our blog listed under Sermon Player, and it will list the date.
Here is the link for this past Saturday's message.
Blessings!
Here is the link for this past Saturday's message.
Blessings!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Lunch Time at Omalunga Part 1
Footage from feeding 900 kids at the Omalunga School. There are two more videos as well.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
A Friday in Namibia
Today was a bit of a long day. Friday is my day off and I seem to plan to do everything on Friday!! So I took an hour drive south to a place called Otavi. They have a place there called "Mossie Nets" that make mosquito nets. I had to get another one for Cameron as the one he had was too small and they had no more here in town. So he decided to go with military green, but he likes it and sine he has to sleep in it every night, we let him make the call on the color.
Hannah and Corbin went along for the ride with me. Cameron had school back home with Kristen. On our way to Otavi we got to see lots of animals. Today we saw baboons sitting on the fences, a giraffe, and a zebra.
It was quite a rainy day in our area today as well. It would pour down rain for 5 minutes, then the sun would come out for a half an hour, then rain again and sun. When it rains, I work really hard at collecting water. We do live in a desert, so we savor every bit of water that we get for using around the house, and in the gardens. So I have a ten gallon bucket under our gutter system. I collected close to 100 gallons yesterday and last night, which means going in and out of the rain as the buckets fill up.
During one of the sunny moments we got to see one of the most beautiful rainbows I have ever seen in my life. It was so big, and bright, and the colors were so beautiful. Plus, when you can see miles and miles away with no trees in site, it just adds to the beauty of it all, being able to see the entire bow!
Cameron also got a belated Christmas present today. He got to get a bicycle from money given from his grandparents. He was very proud of the bike and his helmet. I guess it is good for Brian as well, because now all he wants to do is for his Dad to walk him around the block a few times while he rides his bike.
Hope all are doing well, and here are some of the pictures of the day.
God Bless!
Hannah and Corbin went along for the ride with me. Cameron had school back home with Kristen. On our way to Otavi we got to see lots of animals. Today we saw baboons sitting on the fences, a giraffe, and a zebra.
It was quite a rainy day in our area today as well. It would pour down rain for 5 minutes, then the sun would come out for a half an hour, then rain again and sun. When it rains, I work really hard at collecting water. We do live in a desert, so we savor every bit of water that we get for using around the house, and in the gardens. So I have a ten gallon bucket under our gutter system. I collected close to 100 gallons yesterday and last night, which means going in and out of the rain as the buckets fill up.
During one of the sunny moments we got to see one of the most beautiful rainbows I have ever seen in my life. It was so big, and bright, and the colors were so beautiful. Plus, when you can see miles and miles away with no trees in site, it just adds to the beauty of it all, being able to see the entire bow!
Cameron also got a belated Christmas present today. He got to get a bicycle from money given from his grandparents. He was very proud of the bike and his helmet. I guess it is good for Brian as well, because now all he wants to do is for his Dad to walk him around the block a few times while he rides his bike.
Hope all are doing well, and here are some of the pictures of the day.
God Bless!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Gotta go Poopy
OK, we have all laughed at this 4 second video about 50 times already. But I have to tell you why we think it is so funny. Kristen was getting ready to tape my youth choir in church. As she turned the camera on the low battery light came on and she says in the background "Oh Brian!".
The tape was an accident, but the reason it is so funny is because right before she says this you here Corbin say he has to go poopy. The other part that is so funny is Cameron's face. He is smiling at first, then watch is face change as he hears Corbin's poopy comment and Kristen's "Oh Brian".
We watched a couple times before we started to die laughing. So Kristen said we should share it.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Christmas in February
Since we have been in Namibia, we have received some care packages. And we can't thank you enough for sending them. When they get here, it is like Christmas for the kids. They love opening the boxes to see what all is inside. Here is a picture of one of the boxes we received a few weeks ago.
Sunset in Namibia
We wanted to share this awesome picture we caught on our drive back to Grootfontein last week. It was sunset, the sun was setting in the west, and the cool picture was of these blue rays in the sky coming from the east horizon.
The sunsets here are amazing because you can see for miles and miles away. And in the evening you can see three or four different thunderstorms in all directions. The lightning show is amazing. Wish I could show you the night sky with all the stars and on a night when the moon does not shine you can even see the milky way! Hope you enjoy the picture as much as we did watching it from the van the other night.
The sunsets here are amazing because you can see for miles and miles away. And in the evening you can see three or four different thunderstorms in all directions. The lightning show is amazing. Wish I could show you the night sky with all the stars and on a night when the moon does not shine you can even see the milky way! Hope you enjoy the picture as much as we did watching it from the van the other night.
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