Family Time

One of the things that I am working on this year is making sure that our family has more family time.  Last year, we hit the road running so to speak, and it paid its toll on me later in the year and on the family.  I was trying to minister to everyone with a need, and trying to reach so many youth each week, that my family time suffered.  I learned that there will always be many needs for ministry here, but God will take care of it in His time, not mine. 

This year I am focusing on the heart of our ministry and that is Youth, and God is already blessing it.  We have gone from averaging 30 kids last year for Saturday meetings, to now averaging 80 kids.  Needless to say, trying to manage worship, fellowship time and Bible study with 80 kids is a daunting task, hence the need for focus.

Another change this year is making sure to have good family time during the week and whenever we get free time.  One weekend a month, the youth we minister to, are sent home from the hostels.  So we are now using this weekend to get out of town on the farm to relax and just have good family time together.

This past weekend was our first out-weekend. We have a wonderful German family who has a farm about an hour north of us and she has given us a warm open invitation to use her farm whenever we need to.  This weekend was great. 

Namibia has had a record amount of rain this year, and on this farm a river runs right through the back of their house.  Now, it is normally completely dry when we go and full of horses and goats, but this time it was full of 3 foot of water.  So we had fun swimming, canoeing and kayaking in the river.  Cameron is only 6 and has never tried to kayak before, but he took to it really quick and we had fun kayaking up and down the river together.  We tipped over a few times, but he knows how to swim and it was all part of the fun.

We also enjoyed cooking and eating outside, rides on the farm, watching the sunset, catching frogs, and just having fun together as a family.  There was no t.v., Internet, cell phone, or anything to distract us, and it was good to laugh and play together.

The ministry is of the utmost importance to our entire family here in Namibia, but being able to keep our family together and tight makes the ministry much more enjoyable as we do it together for the glory of our King!

They Came Through Wind and Rain

God blew me away yesterday.  Just before 2:00pm yesterday a huge storm blew in with high winds and lots of rain and this was right before our youth group meeting started.  Just to give you a picture, the kids have to walk alomost two miles to the church for youth group.

So I figured that I would not have many show up for youth group, but 65 kids, yes 65 kids, walked through the wind and rain yesterday to learn  more about God!  Praise the Lord!

Once again we had a great time in fellowship, praise and worship and time studying God's Word!

School and Rain

Since arriving home, the rain has come in full force and with that comes the most beautiful rainbows I have ever seen in my life, plus everything is nice a green again.  We enjoy it while it lasts, knowing that come May it will stop and not come back until October.

Hannah and Corbin also started pre-school here in our little town and the first two weeks were rough, with crying and not wanting to go, but now in the third week they are both enjoying it. They are also learning Afrikaans. It is funny to hear Hannah these days. In German and Afrikaans, rather than say yes they say 'Ya', so Hannah now says Ya all the time, and it is purely on instinct now not just for the fun of it.


Here are some pictures of the rainbow and the first day of school pictures and Hannah in a box (Random picture, but Cute!).

Wow I can See!

Last week we used some of our tithe money to purchase a pair of glasses for one of our youth that could not afford an eye exam much less glasses.  We noticed a while back when he was at our house that he would get really close to the T.V. and still squint when watching it.  So I asked him if he could see well in school.  He said he always sat in the front of the class, but still could not see everything the teachers put on the black boards.

Today his glasses came in and I took him to get them and have them fitted.  He put them on, and the smile on his face said it all.  He looked at me and said "Now I can see Pastor Brian, I can even see things far away!"  As I took him home it was neat to watch him as he looked around with his corrected vision.  It was like he was seeing a whole new world.

Christianity is much the same.  Before the Holy Spirit changes our hearts, we are walking around in spiritual darkness and we stumble over every road block that Satan puts in our way.  But after the Spirit changes our heart and God saves us, we are no longer in darkness but finally walking in the light.  It was like my youth today, we can see a whole new world.  We can see the goodness of God, see the sinfulness in our lives, and finally see Jesus as our Lord and Savior!  It makes me think of the following words from John Newton's song " Amazing Grace":

"I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now, I see."

Back to Ministry

After the kids here were on holiday break for the past month and a half, this past Saturday we had our first yout group meeting.  It was great and we all had a really great time.  The best part is that we had over 80 kids turn out for youth.

We had some fun with a few games, a couple of guys had some girls make them look a little different than the average guy, enjoyed worshiping the Lord in music and started our new series studying the book of 1 Corinthians.

Last year our primary focus was learning about God, who God is, how he created everything we see, including us, why he created us and all about the person of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.  I used Wayne Grudems "Systematic Theology" book as a guide as we gave proof from the scriptures to the existence of a divine creator in God.  We gave validity to the scriptures and used other sources to give credibility to the historicity of the Bible, God and Jesus Christ.  This is just the tip of the iceberg as to what we study last year, but it was a great foundation for these kids as they grow in their knowledge and understanding of God.

This year we are going to focus a lot of attention on the book of 1 Corinthians, and see how applicable Paul's letter to the people of Corinth is to young Christians, and mature Christians alike today. We are not going to rush through the book, but take our time and digest what Paul is trying to get Christians to understand about overcoming diversity, prejudices and petty arguments. To get rid of the demigods in our lives of following preachers and teachers and people that are great speakers and full of knowledge, (which is not a problem and are good for us) but so that we do not miss the person of Jesus Christ, and put him above all persons even great men of God. We will learn what the Bible says about sexual immorality, baptism, spiritual gifts and the great importance of the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.


So please join us once again in prayer that God will use Kristen and I in great ways to help these young minds grow closer to the Lord and learn how to live lives that speak outwardly their love for Him above all things.

God Bless,