Going To Africa

Brian's Farewell to Youth

2011-04-12T12:23:00.000+01:00

The video of this is really bad, but you can at least hear my farewell address to our youth here in Namibia. Has been a great year and a half here, and has been great to see how God has done amazing things with the youth here.

We want to See Jesus Lifted High

2011-04-12T12:21:00.000+01:00

A group of my youth wanted to sing and add some motions to this song.

Some David Crowder/ Here is our King

2011-04-12T12:19:00.000+01:00

This is my favorite song!

God of This City

2011-04-12T12:17:00.000+01:00

The youth liked this song as well, but for me, it was my last song of worship for our final youth meeting, as I explained to them that God is the God of this city, Grootfontein, Namibia. And that he still has unfinished work to do here, and that they are the hands and feet of Christ to continue what God has started.

Your Grace is Enough

2011-04-12T12:14:00.002+01:00

This is probably the youths second favorite song my Chris Tomlin.

Amazing Grace

2011-04-12T12:13:00.000+01:00

This is by far my youths most favorite song over the last year and a half.

Awesome God

2011-04-12T12:11:00.000+01:00

Here is a video by a couple of my youth doing an interpretive dance they made on their own for our final youth worship rally.

Song From some girls in our youth,

2011-04-11T22:43:00.000+01:00

Praise and Worship Video

2011-04-11T22:41:00.003+01:00

Portion of Video From Final Praise and Worship With Youth

2011-04-11T22:39:00.002+01:00

Going to share a few video's from our final youth meeting here in Namibia. Just some snips of praise and worship and some video's of the youth performing.

Coming Home

2011-03-27T19:30:00.000+02:00

Hello from Namibia, still rainy Namibia. We have received over 10 inches of rain in the past month alone, more than we got all of last year in our town together, and it is still raining! Praise the Lord, as the water table here was very low going into the new year.

Many of you have already read and heard the news I am about to share although this e-mail is a little different, and your e-mail is in our main list management system. So I apologize for you getting yet another e-mail.

Our family was supposed to be here in Namibia for another 6 months or so before coming home on furlough, but our plans have changed a bit. As many of you may know our house has been on the market for nearly three years. When we left the states we had a lease to own contract and felt sure that the sell would come through. Last June, the buyer lost his job, and could no longer pay the rent. He moved out, and we put the house on the market. We then had to use our savings to pay the mortgage while it was empty for nearly six months. In December we had some people move in to rent, but the rent was $300 less than the mortgage. Needless to say we have used up all of our savings, and the house has still yet to sell.

We have prayed and discussed this issue with SIM, and our prayer for the last two months was if God wanted us to stay he would sell the house, but if he wanted us to come home early, then the house would not sell. So we are content that God is leading us to come home earlier than planned.

We will be moving back to our home in Winston in late June, early July. We will be leaving Namibia May 13th, arriving in Charlotte May 14th. We will be in Charlotte for one week doing post field interviews with SIM. We are not cutting ties with SIM nor missions, we are coming home to see what God is wanting us to do next. We still feel called to missions and full time ministry. We will then travel to Brian's hometown of Creedmoor, NC for a week, then to Kristen's hometown in Philadelphia for a week. SIM is then requesting that we go to Michigan for two- three weeks for post field counseling, as we have went through quite a lot this past year in the field, and they highly recommend this counseling time for our family. We will then travel back to Winston-Salem and for the month of July, travel and visit donors and churches that have supported our ministry work. We hope to know by the end of July what that next step is so that we can let you all know, since you are all such an important part of our ministry.

Again, we cannot thank you enough for all of your prayers, encouragement, and financial support of our ministry here in Namibia. God has done many great things in the past year and a half since being here in Namibia, from starting with only 10 in weekly youth Bible studies to now averaging over 100 the last few weeks. They have heard the word of God, God is changing hearts, and people are coming to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, and some of these will go out and work for the Lord here in Namibia for years to come. That is what the Great Commission is all about, and we are thankful that we all, including each of you, have been a vital part of what God is doing here in Namibia.

Many Blessings to you all, and we will give more updates the closer May gets to us.

Educational Outreach

2011-03-26T22:04:00.000+02:00

While we have served here in Namibia and specifically in our rural town, we have certainly preached the gospel to hundreds of people. But we have also tried to be the hands and feet of Jesus in reaching out to our community by buying housing supplies, clothes, eyeglasses, giving out food, medical aid, and many other ways as well.

One of the local government schools in December told me how poorly their children were doing in mathematics and English, and asked if there was any way to help them. The government can not afford to help them with needed supplies, much less supplementary learning materials. So I sent the word out over e-mail and thanks to New Hope Presbyterian, Clemmons, NC, and some other individual donors, $1400 was raised to help the school out.

Last week I received the funds, and while doing business in the Capital was able to buy a trunk load of supplementary mathematics and English learning material. I delivered the materials to the school this week, and the children, teachers and office staff were overwhelmed with how much we were able to purchase for them.

Many thanks to all of our donors for this special needs project.

God bless you all!

Our Youth Group

2011-03-08T10:21:00.000+02:00

Youth group is still going great and I wanted to share a few pictures of what it looks like. I took a few pictures of the kids as they were filing into church this past Saturday afternoon. Again, it was raining like cats and dogs, but the kids still made the 2 mile walk. It was a rough day for me, I have been struggling with Bronchitis for the past two weeks, and barely made it through the hour and a half of praise and worship and Bible teaching time, but God is good and he got me through it.

Thanks for all the prayers for the youth ministry here. The kids are learning so much and have been so dedicated to youth group meetings this year. I can really start to see a big difference in the attitudes of a lot of the older kids and especially the boys. The boys struggle with lots of issues, from anger, to depression. If you could only imagine growing up in a home where at the age of 11 you are responsible for caring for younger siblings, cooking for them, getting them to school, caring for the house and much more. It is a lot of responsibility and a hard task for us parents in our culture back in the US, but this a a cultural norm for children here in Namibia. So once you understand this, you can see why so many young youth struggle with such problems at a young age. There is not much time for fun and being a kid, it is time for being the man or woman of the house.

So please continue to pray for our youth and our ministry to them for the glory of God.

Here are some pictures from this past Saturday's youth meeting.

Family Time

2011-02-27T21:37:00.000+02:00

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

2011-02-06T07:24:00.000+02:00

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

2011-02-03T16:55:00.000+02:00

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!

2011-02-03T16:38:00.000+02:00

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

2011-02-03T13:58:00.000+02:00

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,

Grill, BBQ, or Braai??

2010-12-11T18:45:00.000+02:00

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?

2010-12-10T17:35:00.000+02:00

     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

2010-11-26T15:22:00.000+02:00

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

2010-11-22T21:58:00.000+02:00

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

2010-11-22T09:09:00.000+02:00

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

2010-11-11T12:42:00.003+02:00

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

2010-10-14T15:27:00.000+02:00

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

2010-10-05T16:36:00.000+02:00

Compassion Monday

2010-10-05T16:33:00.000+02:00

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!!

2010-10-01T17:51:00.000+02:00

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

2010-09-17T16:14:00.000+02:00

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

2010-09-03T16:56:00.000+01:00

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!

2010-08-04T20:36:00.000+01:00

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

2010-07-17T18:19:00.000+01:00

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)

2010-07-12T18:21:00.000+01:00

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

2010-07-12T17:50:00.000+01:00

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.

9th Wedding Anniversary

2010-07-08T12:46:00.001+01:00

This past July 7th was mine and Kristen's 9 year wedding anniversary. She is a wonderful, and godly wife to whom I dearly love and cherish. Not many women in the world would be so willing to follow God's call to take and uproot a family of 5 and move 9000 miles from home to a foreign land. But my wife has done that.

She is such an integral part of my life and to my ministry here in Namibia. She is also a wonderful gift of God to me and to our three children. And we all love her very much and thank God for her each day.

We never have had much of a chance for fancy anniversaries as we have always been far from family to keep kids, and then the one year when we had family close by, she was battling cancer. So this year I had a special little getaway planned just for her. She had no clue about the plans, and yesterday morning I told her to pack her bags for the night. She asked where we were going, but it was all a big secret.

I took her to a very nice farm that is a 30 minutes drive, mostly on dirt roads, to a great guest farm nestled in the valley of the Otavi mountain region of Namibia. We went horse back riding, took a long stroll through the African bush, and had a wonderful candle lit dinner at the farm. It was quite cool last night, but the farm house had a nice fire going for us in the lounge area and we enjoyed time together and even played some card games. But it was a wonderful, quite, and peaceful time away from kids, and ministry just to focus on each other.

Below are some pictures of our little getaway.

Brian's Garden

2010-07-06T10:12:00.001+01:00

Many of you know that I (Brian) worked on a produce farm last year while waiting to get our work permits. Well one thing that I brought with me to Namibia was my love for nature and gardening. When all the kids were on break during the month of May during my free time I made a garden.

I planted broccoli, cabbages, okra, spinach, swiss chard and carrots. Well, God has blessed my toil and our harvest is starting to come in. We have lots of delicious spinach and swiss chard coming in, the Okra will take another month, but is growing strong, and the broccoli is finally in.

Here are some pictures of farmer Brian and his prized broccoli crown!

Traditional Namibian Meal

2010-07-04T21:38:00.002+01:00

Tonight we went over to a house where four of my youth live. They wanted Matthew to see how they live, and how they cook, and what they eat most of the time.

Matthew built the fire and was then boiling water.

Matthew and Suama mixing in the maize to make porridge. This is what a majority of the people in our area eat every day.

The water is ready for the maize mixture.

The family had some sugar cane plants in their back yard. So I got my first lesson in how to chew on the cane sticks. Was nice and sweet, but really hard to chew.

Two of my youth, Josh and Peter. Their teeth are a lot stronger than mine are!

The picture is hazy from the smoke, and it was night time. The large pot in the back is being warmed for the nights
bathing water.

Corbin liked the sugar cane also and gave it a go and chewing.

Finally after a couple of hours the porridge was ready to stir. Matt had some trouble with the stirring!

Cameron and Hannah hanging out by the fire before we ate.

Pictures of Cameron's Birthday

2010-07-04T21:04:00.000+01:00

This link takes you to more pictures of Cameron's birthday party festivities.

Pictures

Cameron's 6th B-Day

2010-07-02T18:33:00.000+01:00

OK so I am late getting this on the Blog, but man have we been busy with youth the last few weeks! But this is a good thing. Anyway, we celebrated the 6th anniversary of the birth of our Cameron. His birthday was June 15th and we all enjoyed his special day.

It was quite different from his last 5 birthdays in many ways! For one, this was his first B-day in Namibia. Secondly, we normally have a pool party for him, but here in Namibia, it is winter time. So no pool party! Actually it was only 44 degrees in our house when we woke up on his B-day due to the cold weather and no heat in the house!

We had some of his friends over to enjoy some of his new toys that his grandparents gave to him, had some balloon fights, and lots of chocolate cake and ice cream.

It was a great day, and we are proud of our big boy and love him lots!

Short Term Missionary

2010-06-13T18:46:00.000+01:00

Some of you that read our blog may already know that this summer, or winter for us, Matthew Paisley is here in Namibia working with us in our ministry. Matthew got here on May 31st and is living with us and working along side Brian and the youth.

The youth have really enjoyed his being here and it is making a huge impression on the youth as well. Matthew will soon be preparing and leading some of the Bible studies in the girls hostel, my high school Bible study ministry as well as our teaching in the park on Saturdays. So please pray for him as God has laid this opportunity before him this summer.

Matthew is also praying about entering seminary once he is finished with his undergraduate at NCSU in Raleigh, NC.

One of the girls here had fun giving him a Namibia hair style this past week and we have enjoyed teaching the kids in the location area the fun game of Ultimate Frisbee.

Attached are a few pictures of Matt, his new hair looks and our friends in the soccer park in the location area here in Grootfontein. Also, my bread baking is getting better. I made some more sour dough bread today and boy does it smell and taste good.

"Matthews Namibia style corn row hair. Suama, one of the girls in my youth group, worked on this for a few hours the other day as we watched South Africa and Mexico play in the World Cup opening game."

"As I posted a few weeks ago, I have taken on bread baking. This is my batch of sour dough bread getting ready to hit the oven."

"This is what Matt's hair looked like after taking the corn rows out."

"These are some of the youth that we were playing Ultimate Frisbee with at the location soccer field. Notice that the soccer field is all dirt! Makes for a lot of fun sliding and some good strawberries on the knees when you fall, but we all had a great time. We had many people watching and trying to figure out what we were doing. Many laughing at us in good fun. Cameron made a friend as well, as you can see them in the bottom right of the picture."

"This is what my bread looked like after baking. Boy was it good!"

Back to Work!

2010-06-09T10:25:00.000+01:00

Wow, it has been a few weeks since I have given an update on things here in Namibia, and I feel bad for that. Two weeks ago Kristen's brother and his wife came over to spend a week with us. It was a great time and great to have some familiar faces, and especially family, with us.

We were able to show them around town, and show them where we minister at here in Namibia. We also got to take them to Etosha Game Reserve. This was a lot of fun. For the first time in our three visits we were able to get up close to elephants. They were all over the place. We even got as close as 25 feet from a male eating from a tree next to the path. This is quite rare, but it was great to see. And no charges at us this time as the male was all by himself and seemed more interested in his food than he was of us.

We then took them back to the airport to see them off. It was sad, but we were glad they came for the time they did. We then stayed in the Capital of Windhoek for a week as we waited for one of my youth from back in the states to come over.

Matthew Paisley arrived May 30th, but his bags did not. So we stayed an extra night to get those, which was good. The poor guy had not slept in over 24 hours and needed the rest. We then got up the next day and made the long trip back home. Matt is doing well and adjusting to the weather, time and culture. The youth here are really excited that he is here and so I am. It will be good to have him assisting me with the youth and sharing some of his experiences with them on how life is back in the US as a christian.

That then leads us to the "back to work" part of the update. The kids here have been on a school holiday for the past 5 weeks, which means almost all of my youth were gone north to the villages. I really enjoyed the slower pace for those five weeks and got to spend a lot of time with the Lord, and with my family. Now the kids are back and this past week we got things back into full swing. The kids were excited to see me and I was really excited to see them as well.

So that is the update for the last three weeks. Please keep our family in your prayers as we continue to minister here in Namibia with the youth and seek God's daily guidance on how to best minister to and with them for the glory of God alone!

God Bless!

Youth Retreat Video

2010-05-14T11:49:00.000+01:00

Here is a video I made of the youth retreat from this week.

Youth Leadership Retreat

2010-05-13T16:11:00.000+01:00

This past week I took 10 youth on a leadership retreat. We went south a few miles to a very nice camp site in the bush. It is a wonderful place to have a retreat, and the fact it only costs $8 USD a night to stay there makes it all the better.

The focus of the retreat was on youth leadership. We focused on what the Bible teaches us about being leaders, more specifically I wanted them to learn how to be a Christian leader in our youth group. I am working to get the youth to take more responsibility over their youth group. Youth need to be given more opportunities to serve inside of the youth group that they are a part of. Taking time to encourage other youth in the group, walking along side new Christians and new members coming to youth.

I am training them on how to serve in the church and why they should serve in the church. Some are already serving as teachers for children, leading Bible studies at home and school, and one day some may go into missions themselves or be leaders in churches.

We also had different times during the retreat to have a quite time with God and to meditate on Psalm 119. We focused as a group on the first 40 verses of this long chapter, but God used it to really open the eyes of the kids on how we are to treasure God and His laws for us. It taught them how to talk with God, to ask God for help in teaching us, caring for us, giving us understanding and wisdom. These things are mostly overlooked and under emphasised in churches today, and most definitely youth are not getting taught these principles.

When the retreat was over, the kids were quite excited to get back to our town and start using what God had taught them. They are also excited about getting more youth involved in "THEIR" youth group so that more youth can learn about God, Christ, and salvation that only come from God and through Jesus Christ.

Attached is a link to all the pictures from the trip.

Gardening in Namibia

2010-05-13T15:09:00.000+01:00

Finding fresh vegetables are not always easy in the stores here in our town. Some weeks are good, and some weeks are bad. The one good thing about the weather here is that you can plant most vegetables year round here. You do not have to worry about frost, and the temperature gets into the 70's during the winter time.

So I have been working hard on learning how to grow vegetables here in this arid environment. So far so good. My leafy greens have been doing well, and we have begun to reap from the harvest of swiss chard. They have been quite delicious.

I have now worked on getting broccoli, spinach, okra, onions, carrots and cabbages to grow well also. It is nice to have little helpers as well. It is also a good thing that God gave me a job working on a farm last summer back home to prepare me for this.

Hope that everyone is doing well.
God bless!

The Great Commission

2010-05-09T19:09:00.000+01:00

Matthew 28:19

19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

The great commission given to us by Jesus was to go and make disciples of all nations. In other words to go and spread a passion for Jesus Christ in all areas of the world, to a point to where they too will want to understand God more, and to ultimately be a follower of Jesus Christ.

It is not any easy thing to go into a new world, with a new culture and try to effectively reach everyone with the gospel. There are many road blocks, such as language, culture, many can not read or write, and worst of all trying to work with people that have received a poor presentation as to what the gospel really is.

So then how do you go into a country that has more than six different language groups and effectively reach them with the gospel message? The answer is through making disciples. I am now working with some young men in Grootfontein just this way. They both can speak English well, and have a foundation of the gospel, and Christianity. We are now meeting on Monday's and really going deeper into the Word. I am taking them through Wayne Grudems Systematic Theology, and many of the major doctrines of the Bible.

You would not believe how hungry they are for this teaching material. The excitement of learning about God and Jesus and the scriptures in a deep way is so important to reaching the nation of Namibia with a good sound teaching of God's Word.

God is working in these two guys in a tremendous way. Jeremiah is at my house every day wanting to learn more, and to have a better understanding of God. And not just for himself, but because he wants to take his learning back to his village in the north so that God can use him to share the gospel with his family and village.

This is what missions is all about. Training the people of the nations, so that they can take it to there nation and further the Kingdom of God for His glory!

In the below picture are the two guys that I am working with, but there are a few other men that are now interested in coming as well. So pray for God to use me in such a way that they can take God's message back to their villages and plant seeds for the Kingdom.

Youth Group in Center Town

2010-05-08T17:01:00.000+01:00

Today we had our first youth meeting down in the center of our little town. It was really great. I enjoyed it and the youth did as well. We had a time of praise and worship with my guitar, time of prayer, and then we continued our lesson from the book of 1 John.

We had a few people stop and listen to the music, we had some watch from a distance, and we had some that sat and listend to the message. We are going to continue to have our youth meetings there from here on out. We are going to continue to pray to God and ask that He bring more people each week to here His Word preached. And we will continue to pray that God will open the hearts of the people in Grootfontein, and take away the blindness to the Light of the gospel so that they might be saved!

Please continue to pray with us!

Pizza, Banana's and Gardening

2010-05-06T15:50:00.000+01:00

Here are some random pictures as of late. Brian has become a baker, making home made bread, sour dough bread and pizzas.

There is a picture of our harvest of banana's from our banana tree.

Then some pictures of Brian's prized garden. The roses were already here, he just takes good care of them, but he has started a garden with swiss chard, spinach, spring onions, broccoli, chinese cabbage and okra! Some of his swiss chard is coming in and it has been really good!

Church in Town Center

2010-05-06T15:05:00.000+01:00

We have been here in Namibia 4 months now. Boy how time zooms by! We have been gathering weekly for our youth meetings at the church since we arrived. Our church is on the north side of town and not close to where most of the active people are coming and going during the day.

So beginning this Saturday we are going to start having our youth meetings outside at the town center. There are tons of people that are all about in the town center. Our thinking is that most unbelievers are intimidated by coming to a church, so by God's leading I have decided to take church to the people.

We will be having praise and worship, along with our normal Bible study, just out in the open where anyone can come by and listen to what is going on. We and the youth have started to pray this week for God to richly bless this new way of reaching the people of Grootfontein with the message of the gospel. We are praying that God will lead people to stop and listen to what we talk about, and what God says to us through His Word. Paul tells us that the power of the gospel is in the Word itself, and how will people believe if they have not heard. So this is why we are going to take the gospel to the streets of Grootfontein.

Please pray with me and our youth for God to move mightily through His word, and our bold youth, so that for His glory many might come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior!

A Big Problem In Grootfontein and Namibia.

2010-05-05T15:07:00.001+01:00

Three years ago when we began planning our move to Namibia, we knew first hand about the poverty in our area. We also knew about the HIV/AIDS problem as well. One thing that I never thought I would have to deal with to a large degree would be alcohol abuse.

Over the last month I have found out just how bad this problem is here in Namibia and in our town of Grootfontein. The drinking age here is only 18, and that is part of the problem. The other problem is that the age limit is not regulated as tightly as it probably should be. It is quite easy for kids under 18 to walk into the local bars here in town and purchase beer. Top it off with the fact that there is nothing for young people to do here, so they mostly hang out at the bars and the billiard place and drink beer.

Beer is one thing that Namibia does not have to import, because they have a large German Brewery in the capital and it is heavily marketed. You can actually buy a Windhoek Lager for cheaper than you can buy water and any other cool drinks in the store. Normally a beer cost around .67 cent in USD.

I have many of my youth every week come to me and ask for prayer for a parent or a sibling that has an alcohol problem. Lots of people will spend more than half a months salary on beer and then call our church staff for prayer that God will help them with their finances because they do not have money to eat.

So please pray for the young people here as so many here are struggling with this problem, either themselves or because of a family member that has the problem.

Why is the Gospel Good News?

2010-04-30T10:47:00.001+01:00

God hit me with something today, thanks to a book I am reading and the godly pastor that wrote the book. The book is "God is the Gospel" by John Piper.

God showed me today a huge difference between valuing the gospel message, and valuing the gospel Giver! If that makes no sense, give me just a few more lines and you will understand.

For many people that call themselves Christians, they tend to value the gospel message for what it offers. Let me explain. Many people value the gospel message because we are told if we believe the message then we will not go to hell. We are told if we believe the message it will help us with our guilty feelings and it is helpful to believe we are forgiven of our sins. We are told if we believe the message we will go to heaven. And don't get me wrong, all of these are truths of the Bible and are truths that come from truly believing in the gospel message.

The problem comes when we value the gospel message for its gifts, rather than valuing the gospel message for the Giver to whom is God. One thing that I have learned over the last 7-8 years is that God is more valuable than anything in life. This also means that God is more valuable than the gifts that we receive through believing in the gospel message.

Back in the US and even here in Namibia, many people preach the gospel only to get an immediate reaction to the gifts of the gospel message and to get converts. The message is preached in a way that people value the gospel and call themselves born again so that they will not go to hell, and so that they can go to a wonderful place called heaven. They embrace the gospel so that they will feel free from the bad life they have been living and to feel forgiven from the gospel, because the world will not forgive them or forget their past. They cling to the gospel because it might bring blessings in their life, or new found success, or physical healing.

The problem with this style of preaching is that there is no passionate desire for the Giver of the gospel, no desire for God! God is not even mentioned in most peoples response to why do you love the gospel message. Again, the gifts are wonderful and can only come from God, and the death of Jesus, but the gifts are not God! God MUST be the most valuable gift of the Gospel!

The fact is that if all we cherish from the gospel is forgiveness of sins, free entry into heaven, and safety from going to a place called hell, then we have missed the mark!

And here is what John Piper wrote in the book, to which God used to shake me up a little this morning:

"If we believe all these things happened to us, but do not embrace them for the sake of getting to God, they have not happened to us. Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It's a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don't want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel."

These are strong words, but truthful words, and it has changed drastically the way I will approach teaching and preaching the gospel in the future. I hope that this will also help you as much as it did me today.

So why is the gospel good news? Because God is the gospel!

God Bless!

Come Minister With Us!!

2010-04-25T18:33:00.001+01:00

We are already talking with a few groups about coming to work with us on short term mission trips here in Namibia. There is quite the plethora of jobs to be done and people to serve here in Grootfontein. This summer we have three young people coming to serve with us from three weeks of service to ten weeks of service.

If you have a heart for missions, reaching the lost for the Kingdom, and want to serve in a third world country, then this is the place to come and serve. We have anything from working with children and youth, medical teams, evangelism teams, and construction teams that come to Grootfontein to work.

So if you as an individual, a small team of college students, youth group, married couple, or adult team would like to come and minister along side us for a short term here in the field, please contact me at brian.bradsher@sim.org. We will talk with you about your interests and your special gifts that could be used here in Grootfontein. We are already looking for teams to come starting this winter, next spring and next summer.

This will be an experience that will touch your heart for the rest of your life. Most of all the Kingdom impact is an eternal one. God plows the hearts and makes the soil ready for the seeds of the gospel to be planted by people like you! Come, be a part of the Kingdom work being done in this great land of Africa for the glory of God!

Mayonnaise

2010-04-25T18:07:00.001+01:00

OK, so this is a random post about the simple bottle of mayonaise! You might think why in the world would you write a post about mayonaise? Well if you ever get the chance to come visit us in Namibia, you will understand completely!

I love to eat sandwiches, make tuna melts, chicken salad, and many other recipes with mayonnaise. Well, mayonnaise in Namibia is not remotely close to what we have back home. For one the color of it is yellow. It has a soupy texture to it, and tastes nothing like home. It has more of a sour taste to it. I tried to make my moms favorite potato salad with it and it wasn't good. We ate it, because we try our very best not to waste food now that we see how hungry the people around us are.

But today as I was shopping in one of our little food stores, what to my surprise was on the shelf??? A nice bottle of Kraft "Real" Mayonnaise!!! I was sooo happy that I came home and we made some delicious tuna melts! I can hardly wait to eat a sandwich tomorrow for lunch! :)

Life for more than the average in Grootfontein

2010-04-23T22:57:00.000+01:00

Today I had a chance to make a house visit to some people in what is called the "Location". The location is where over half of the population of Grootfontein (our town) live. The average home is built of scrap pieces of tin that they find in order to build a make shift shelter. The size of these tin houses are about seven foot square. Normally anywhere from 5 to seven people live in a house.

The house I went to today had what looked to be around 7 people living there. We went to see a man who is in his mid 40's who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. Because he does not have access to good medical care he is usually just laying in a make shift bed made of various pieces of cushions he has found. Otherwise he just sits around all day.

Today he was in bed, and his room is field with smoke where the 7 year old child was cooking lunch over a fire. I could hardly breathe from the smoke, but this is normal for him.

This man never complained as we tried to help him with some stretches, and to teach him some things he can do each day to strengthen his muscles. He smiled and was so glad that we were just their to see how he was doing. It didn't matter that there was not much that we could do for him, but just the simple fact that we cared enough to come to his house to see him made his day.

It was a very humbling experience for me, yet this is normal for a lot of people in Grootfontein. In the US this man would probably still be walking because of available health care and medications. But this was a reality check for us. Just to be thankful for our blessings that we, many times, take for granted.

Wheel Chair For Erma

2010-04-22T21:34:00.003+01:00

Today I had the blessing to deliver a wheel chair to Erma who lives in the "Location" area of Grootfontein.

Erma has diabetes really bad. Two years ago she was given the incorrect medications and they had to amputate both of her legs. For two years she has waited for a wheel chair, but the group who was to supply her with one never came through. My home town church, Olive Grove Baptist, was generous enough to send the funds needed to purchase the wheel chair for Erma.

The physical therapist that has worked with Erma said that today was only the second time that she has ever seen Erma smile. The first time was when I went to meet her and tell her that she was getting a chair.

Now Erma has gained back some of her independence, can make it in to town and make it to her doctors appointments. The main part of our ministry is to work with youth and share the gospel with the people here. But the second part of our ministry is to love people like Jesus. To care for people, listen to people, and to help comfort people where we can. We certainly can not help everyone, but we can help a lot, and thanks to you we are doing just that. And God is getting the glory for it all.

Below is a picture of Erma before she got the chair sitting outside her tin house where she has sat for the past two years. The second picture is from this morning after delivering her wheel chair.

German Hostel

2010-04-18T22:48:00.002+01:00

Here in town there is a small population of Germans. So here in Grootfontein there is also a German hostel, or boarding school, for german kids from around the country. This past week the Director asked me and Kristen to come and spend some time with the kids and to give them a childrens lesson.

It was a lot of fun, a little more difficult, but fun. The small kids could not speak or understand English, so we had to have an interpreter help out with the lesson. But we started with some games, one being Chubby Bunny. It is a game where you see who can stuff the most large marshmallows in their mouth at one time without swallowing. This day we had a tie at seven! I have shared some pictures below.

We then sang some songs and had a lesson about Joseph and how God meant it for good.

The kids had a great time and want me and Kristen to come back again. Cameron joined us for the fun as well and had a good time.

Youth Sermon from Saturday April 10th

2010-04-18T22:38:00.006+01:00

Here is the youth message from April 10th on Obedience and evidence of a surrendered heart.

Or Here

Garden of Eden

2010-04-13T18:31:00.002+01:00

OK, so it is not the Biblical garden of Eden, but these are pictures from our visit to a Farm an hour north of where we live. This is also where we ran into the Elephants! A really neat place. It is a farm all year except for May-July. During these two months it becomes a Safari Hunting lodge.

Hunter from all over the world come here to hunt anything that moves, animals that is, except for the elephants. It is not a cheap place to come to. Depending on what you want to hunt, it could cost you as much as $15,000 USD.

It is a beautiful place, with a very nice lodge. The pictures in the slide show below has pictures of the kids swimming in the pool there and we had a cookout after chasing animals. Luckily it was free for us for the day.

Click on the picture below to see the slide show of pictures of the trip and some other pictures from the weekend as well.

Easter Time in Namibia

Supposedly the World's Largest Meteorite

2010-04-13T15:38:00.003+01:00

This past Friday night I built a fire in our back yard and we roasted marsh mallows with the kids, and the big kids had some also! :) As we sat by the fire, Cameron and I were looking at the millions of stars overhead and the milky way crossing the sky. I told him to watch for shooting stars. This led to the questions about how stars fall out of the sky, to the fact that they are really meteorites flying through space.

He said it would be cool to have one fall in the back yard!! I explained why that would not be a good thing to happen. It just so happens that in our bigger back yard, about 5 miles away, is the Hoba Meteorite. It is supposedly the largest known meteorite on earth. So we loaded the van up Saturday morning to show Cameron why it is not good to have these fall in your back yard. There is no telling how many animals were killed when this thing hit.

It is about 7-8 feet in diameter, 4 feet tall and weighs a whopping 50 tons! It is really cool because it looks like a big rock, but it is all metal! 80% iron, which is why it has a brownish red color from the rust. It also has a mixture of other metals as well.

Here are a few pictures from the trip!

Elephant Hunt

2010-04-11T17:46:00.002+01:00

This video was taken the Monday after Easter. We were invited up to a farm north of us to which have elephants and all kids of other animals. They told us that it is never easy to find the elephants, and when you do, most of the time you only see them from a distance.

Well we did find some fresh tracks and started to follow them. We followed the tracks and hunted for the elephants for an hour. We were getting ready to just leave and head for lunch when we stumbled across them. It was a family of around 8 or more with 4 babies. The mother was not very happy that we were around. Before I started taking the video she charged at us hard. She chased us for around 10 minutes before we left them alone and listened to her warning to leave. It was a great experience though to be so close to them in the wild.

Etosha Pictures

2010-04-03T22:25:00.001+02:00

Here are more pictures from our trip.

Etosha 2010

Etosha Park

2010-04-03T21:30:00.003+02:00

This week we went about an hour and a half north to Etosha Pan. It is a huge wild game reserve. They have lots of animals in their natural habitat. On any given day you can find lions, giraffe, elephants, rhinos, zebra, wildebeest, and a huge number of antelope and birds.

The kids had a great time. They really enjoyed being so close to so many different animals that in the past they have only been able to see behind walls and fences at zoo's.

We enjoyed some good rest and stayed at a place that was quite inexpensive considering the service and look of the place. The kids enjoyed getting away for a while also.

Here are a few pictures here, I will put more on another blog post through a slide show.

Jesus Christ is Alive!

2010-04-02T16:14:00.002+02:00

Today is good Friday and a day to celebrate the redemption of the sins of many! That Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of those who believe, put their complete faith and trust in Him as their personal Lord and Savior.

It is quite different here in Namibia as we celebrate this day, and this weekend. Churches do not have Easter egg hunts, no Easter eggs hung from trees,and no word of the Easter bunny. The only thing you hear about, or at least that we have in our area is all about Jesus! It is quite wonderful!

For we know that death could not defeat Him. Just as the prophets prophesied, God brought Him out of the grave, alive and well in His new glorified body. Please join us in the celebration this weekend, and every day of the year.

John 6:35-40

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Youth Message 03/27/2010

2010-03-31T23:11:00.001+02:00

Attached is the audio of my youth message from this past Saturday afternoon.

Blessings!

Few Updates

2010-03-31T22:34:00.005+02:00

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!

Preaching in School?

2010-03-19T07:45:00.002+02:00

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!

Bringing Two Worlds Closer Together

2010-03-18T16:27:00.004+02:00

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!

Youth Message from Saturday Youth Group

2010-03-14T15:26:00.002+02:00

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!

Lunch time at Omalunga Part 3

2010-03-10T11:30:00.003+02:00

Lunch Time at Omalunga Part 2

2010-03-10T11:30:00.001+02:00

Lunch Time at Omalunga Part 1

2010-03-10T11:28:00.001+02:00

Footage from feeding 900 kids at the Omalunga School. There are two more videos as well.

A Friday in Namibia

2010-03-06T09:37:00.003+02:00

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!

Recent Pictures

2010-03-04T21:56:00.001+02:00

Just click on the picture and it will take you to the photo album.

Namibia in March

Gotta go Poopy

2010-03-02T12:15:00.001+02:00

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.

Christmas in February

2010-03-01T20:56:00.002+02:00

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

2010-03-01T20:47:00.003+02:00

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.

Youth Choir Singing Amazing Grace

2010-02-28T20:03:00.001+02:00

This is a video clip of my youth choir singing Chris Tomlin's version of Amazing Grace. We were supposed to sing Blessed Be the Name, but at the last minute they decided they wanted to sing this song, so that is why they have the music in their hands.

Attack of the Flying Mosquitos

2010-02-16T21:36:00.004+02:00

We finally got some measurable rain yesterday. We got close to a 1/8 of an inch! That doesn't sound like much, but it was a lot for here and much needed. It really cooled things off a lot. The kids were actually complaining about being cold yesterday morning, and for the first time I pulled the covers over me in bed.

It did not stay cold for long, but it was only in the 80's for the highs and that felt GREAT!

The big problem with the rain was that it stirred up the mosquito population big time! Last night before bed Kristen and I killed around 20+ in the house, yet we did not get them all. Hannah fared well in the arms of her mosquito net. They don't seem to like my blood, so I ended up with two bites, but Cameron and Corbin must have had "blood donor" written all over them. They woke up this morning looking like they had the measles. I think we counted over 20 some on Corbin.

Therefore, today I went and purchased two more mosquito nets and put them over their beds. Tonight should be a better night for them. We did have a praying mantis trying to help eat them last night, but even he was no match for the army that was in the house.

We also met a couple of new people this week and had them over for dinner last night. One girl is a US Peace Corp nurse working at the State Hospital and the other girl is from the UK and she is a physical therapist also working at the State Hospital. They told us how blessed they were to make new friends and were excited to come over last night. They also are looking forward to learning how to play Settlers of Catan, which is a great board game.

Anyhow, my week gets kicked in to high gear tomorrow with all my ministry work, so I am looking forward to that. Also my new youth choir will be singing their first song in Church this Sunday. I am going to record it and try to post it on the blog for you to listen to as well.

Blessings to all!

Hunting Kudu

2010-02-11T21:33:00.003+02:00

Today my Pastor took me north to bushmen land to hunt Kudu. I have not hunted in a long time, but never like this. Hunting in the woods back home is one thing, but hunting in the bush is difficult at best.

The bush is full of snakes, scorpions, thorn bushes and thorn trees. But it was a great experience. As we were out hunting we came across two giraffe grazing, a male and a female. They were not scared of us at all and let us get really close.

I had a great shot at a bull with large horns, and we tracked it after the shot for an hour and a half, tracking its path of blood and tracks. The shot must not have penetrated well, because we never found it. So just before dark, around 6:15 three more came up to a water hole, and I got my first Kudu. This meat will feed us for at least 6 months, and it is great meat!

We also ran across some wild boar as well. It was a long hard day, 12 hours to be exact, but a great experience.

Here are some pictures of the bush, the giraffe, wart hog and my kill.

Bible Study at the Hostel

2010-02-10T19:58:00.002+02:00

Today was my second youth meeting at the girls hostel. Last week was more of an introductory time. There were around 25 girls there last week. Well this week we began Bible study.

I started off with playing my guitar and we had praise and worship for around 30 minutes. Well when we started at 4pm we had about 20 girls, as the girls in the hostel outside heard the singing and worship they began to flood into our room. By the 4:10 there were over 40 girls in the room. The praise and worship was great, the voices of the girls was such a blessing to hear.

So we had a great Bible study after that for a half hour and there was great discussion as well.

Attached is a picture of the girls from today's Bible study.

New Children's Church/ Youth Room

2010-02-08T19:49:00.002+02:00

This past Saturday the kids, myself and another lady who works in the church fixed up an old garage near the church to use for Sunday School, Children's Church and Youth group meetings.

Cameron and Hannah did a great job taking out trash, moving small boxes and cleaning up some used children's chairs that we found.

The room was painted, the ceiling repaired and painted, we found some rugs to lay down and a pick nick table we cleaned up as well to use. It turned out quite nice. The added plus is that the garage doors open up, so that on the hot days we have some good airflow coming through.

We got it fixed just in time on Saturday for my first real youth meeting. It went really well. We had 18 kids show up, which I am told is good. It is normally only around 4 kids that come on Saturday's. This is because the Boarding School kids are not allowed to come to church on Saturday's, only on Sunday's. This is why we have the Wednesday Bible studies at the Boarding Schools.

Kristen and I started a children's church this Sunday as well with the 6 year old and under. We had over 25 kids in our new room. The first of the month is communion Sunday, so we showed them a video of the Easter Story and explained what communion is and why we (the church) have it every month. The kids seemed to enjoy it, and were amazed to watch a movie in our garage. I was able to purchase a portable projector a year ago and it works well here with taking it places for times like this past Sunday. I will be using it to show the youth the "Passion of Christ" in the next few weeks.

Here are some pictures of the new room!

Blessings to all!

Work Day in Omulunga

2010-02-04T20:21:00.003+02:00

Today Cameron and I went to do some lite construction work in Omulunga which is right out side of Grootfontein. There is a government school there and another SIM missionary feeds around 700+ kids there every day. So we were helping to repair a door, a wall and some holes in the floor of the cooking area.

The cooking is all done in three large kettle pots by boiling water with wood fires. The kids eat a substance that is like grits, made of corn meal and vitamins and minerals are added to it.

We worked a half a day and got most of the work completed. Cameron was a great worker today and the kids in the school loved watching him mix the mortar for the brick laying and for the holes we prepared in the floor. He is now a full fledged missionary. At one point some of the older kids that were watching us work called Cameron over and started asking him questions about where he was from and about his family. He was not shy at all and had a good conversation with them. I was quite proud of him today.

Yesterday I also had my first meeting with the Hostel (Boarding School) girls and it went really well. The girls get three hours of free time on Wednesday afternoons and could go in to town or do whatever, but 25 of the girls decided to spend an hour with me in Bible study learning about Christ! How cool is that! I am really looking forward to working with them each week.

Here are some pictures of our work today.

God bless!

Church and Sunday School

2010-02-01T11:18:00.002+02:00

Sunday was my first day I guess on the job. This Sunday I joined the praise and worship team to assist in leading worship. It was good, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Attendance was down a bit due to it being the end of the month. Most people are paid at the end of the month here in town. So there are a lot of people that come in to town from surrounding areas to visit, and then a lot of the local people leave town to do the same.

So this weekend it was quite crowded in the streets and little stores.

At the end of the service I had a chance to address the church and youth to share about our family, share about how God called us here to serve and then to share the my vision for the youth group going forward.

One of my plans is to start a youth choir. So I had around 30 kids that expressed interest in the youth choir. So I am beginning to work on music for them, and we start practice this coming Friday afternoon.

After church one of the youth found a chameleon outside and grabbed it. You would have thought it was his pet because it was so tame. Corbin even had him on his head, although he did not cry, I am not sure he liked it on his head all that much.

Lastly we ended the day with Sunday School. Sunday school is different here. Rather than it being during church time, it is later in the afternoon at 2:30. Sunday school is only for the younger kids age 7-12. Youth and adults have small group Bible studies that meet in homes through out the week. We had 24 kids this past Sunday for Sunday school. We started taking them through a study on the ten commandments, played some games and had praise and worship. Cameron and Hannah joined us and they had fun as well. The kids were excited that they came as well.

Here are some pictures from the day.

Family Night at Ziggies

2010-01-29T21:32:00.004+02:00

Friday nights are family night for us. The rest of the week is full, and most of the time in the evening. So tonight we went to Ziggy's house for dinner. Ziggy is the town butcher in Grootfontein. The kids loved it. Ziggy has lots of pets at his house, the most famous one in town is his full grown male lion!

The kids really enjoyed seeing him tonight before dinner. They even got to see the helper feed him. The lions name is Mufasa, from the Lion King. The story of Mufasa is that one day when Ziggy was out hunting, he came upon a lion cub that had been left by the tribe. So he took it home and nursed it. For a while Mufasa was the house pet until one day Ziggy came home and Mufasa had killed his horse and was eating it for dinner. So now Mufasa stays behind a fence.

Ziggy also has some cheetahs, prairie dogs, wart hogs, bob cats, emu's, rabbit's and who knows what else. Below are some pictures from the night.

We also got Hannah a mozzie net tonight. This is what they call mosquito nets. Hannah is just so sweet that they can't get enough of her at night time. We told her it was a princess tent for her bed! She liked that idea better.

Tomorrow is my first youth group, so I am excited about that.

Hope everyone is getting ready for the Snow. Enjoy some for us, and we will enjoy the sunny and 95 degree weather for you! :)

To see more pictures we are taking in Africa, you can visit Brian's facebook photo album.

Pictures of the Day

2010-01-28T21:59:00.003+02:00

Today was another long day in that it is around 95 degrees and Kristen and I are still suffering from a major head and chest cold, so it is not a good mix. Today I headed out to buy fans, and screen doors for the sliding doors of our house to get some air flow going. Well no where in town had either. So tomorrow I head about 2 hours south to hopefully find a desk chair, to which I could not find either, and the fans. At least the screens can be ordered.

I finished the day off with praise and worship practice at the church. It was great! Some of the songs are new to me, but that is neat to have a fresh take even on worship music. The Pastors Wife leads worship in the church, and she does a great job of it. So I will begin helping in the worship team this Sunday.

Cell phones are big over here, and cheaper to use, cheaper to buy and texting is the main line of communication for everyone here, even adults. So thanks to youth in the US, I am well trained for this function here. The youth have already started to spread my cell phone number around town and I am getting messages from all directions.

The kids had a fun day of exploring today, and they are starting to feel better. Cameron caught a frog, found a really cool grass hopper and Hannah has a pet lizard that lives on her window sill. We also enjoyed some ice cream tonight. I nice treat for the end of a hot day. Corbin enjoyed it the most!

That is all for today. Tomorrow is my one day a week off. So after I travel to get supplies for the house, we are going to a butchers house who has a restaurant at his house. He also has a pet lion, cheetahs and other wild animals. So the kids are excited about that.

Blessings to you all!

Arrived in Grootfontein!!

2010-01-27T21:46:00.003+02:00

Thanks for all the prayers! We finally made it to Grootfontein last Thursday afternoon. We are slowly getting settled in, and just received internet access tonight.

Everyone is a little sick at the moment with head and chest colds. So please pray for our improved health soon.

Things with the church are going nicely and I am very excited about working with the 140-150 kids that are currently involved with the church.

It is rather late now and I have been going through over a week of e-mails tonight, but did want to let our blog followers know that we are finally home and settling.

Here are a few pictures to share with you now, and many more to come soon! The pictures of the kids with some new friends was really neat. None of them could speak the same language, but they sure had fun every day while we were in Windhoek playing together. The language barrier did not bother them at all.

Blessings to you all!

The Bradshers!

We Have Arrived in Namibia!

2010-01-14T13:09:00.002+02:00

Well three days, four flights, and 48 hours later we arrived in Windhoek, Namibia! The flights went well, our kids did great, and all 17 pieces of luggage made it with us on our last flight!

We are praising God today for his protection, and care for us during all the travel.

We got some crazy looks at RDU Monday morning with all our luggage and boxes, and many looks when we got on the air planes. But at the end of each flight people told us our kids were great! A big sigh of relief there!

The kids are enjoying Namibia so far. Learning to try new foods, we did some exploring this morning for bugs, and found a ton of 8 inch long centipedes! They look like baby snakes, they are so big!

We are now getting ready to go for our first grocery run! Should be a lot of fun!

We will report more once we get our own Internet service up and running!

Thanks to all for supporting us financially and through prayer!

We are excited that God has brought us here to serve Him in this capacity. We are also honored to be the hands and feet of each of our supporters as we each serve the Lord together to make is name famous in the land of Namibia.

God Bless!

Made it to Frankfurt!

2010-01-12T18:50:00.002+02:00

Well we made it to Frankfurt on time at 1:30am EST time this morning. The kids did really great! There were lots of kids on the flight, but people on the plane said that ours were the best behaved. Praise the Lord for that one!

Kristen and I did not get much rest, but we all took about a four hour nap in our hotel room today. We are getting ready to go grab a bite to eat and then head back to the airport for flight number 3 to South Africa. So please continue to pray for our last two legs of the flight.

One funny note, after the eight hour flight this morning, Corbin cried because he said he wanted to do it again! But when we told him he got to ride a bus from the plane to the airport he was happy to get off.

Cool note for Brian and Kristen, when we got into our room it had not been made, so the hotel put us in a fancy suite. We had a nice spacious room, slippers and robes in the bath room, and free food.

Thanks for all the prayers and we will keep you posted on the rest of our travels.

God Bless!

The Journey has begun!

2010-01-11T21:02:00.003+02:00

Well we left the house before 8am this morning. It took forever to get through the baggage check process. We were late for boarding, but the people working with United were great! They helped us get on the plane just in time to take off.

We are now sitting in DC waiting for our next flight. Attached are pictures of us waiting. Wish I could sleep like Corbin. I got two hours sleep last night, and am extremely exhausted, but God has been good and getting us through everything smoothly! We got lots of stares when we got out at RDU with 27 bags!!! :)

Blessings to all!

Where in the World are we!

2010-01-11T07:08:00.002+02:00

Well if you want to know where the Bradsher clan is at in our journey, then you can click on the link below titled "Track Us", and you will see where we are at.

Please keep us in your prayers as we travel the next three days. We should arrive in Namibia by 7:30am Wednesday morning your time, well Eastern Standard that is.

Many Blessings to you all and we will be in contact soon!

First Flight January 11th 10:30-11:30 EST "Track Us"

Second Flight January 11th 5:50pm-1:30am EST "Track Us"

Third Flight January 12th 4:50pm-4:00am EST "Track Us"

Fourth Flight January 13th 7:30am-9:30am EST "Track Us"

Packed and Ready to Go!!!

2010-01-10T16:54:00.003+02:00

Well, the day is finally here. This is our last full day in North Carolina for the next three years. We are all packed, and ready to go. This will be an emotional day of many sorts. Saying good by to family and friends, nervous about all the travel, anxious about the days ahead, but standing firm on the Rock for all our needs!

I will be posting one more post on the blog this evening. It will be the last until we get set up over seas. It will have a flight tracker link posted on it for anyone that may want to see where in the world the Bradsher's are at.

God Bless!

One Week To Go!

2010-01-04T01:05:00.003+02:00

Well we are now down to the final week. Next week at this time we will be enjoying our last good old southern home cooked meal at my moms house and saying our good byes to friends and family.

The packing process continues to progress, but we are not where we had hoped to be by this point in time. But everyone has been a little under the weather this past week, Brian preached at a New Years Ever service Thursday night, we enjoyed spending time with the Callahan family on Friday, spent time with Kristen's family here in NC Friday night, and had our rescheduled Christmas gathering with my Dad's family on Saturday. So we still have quite a bit to do, and not much time left to do it in.

Luckily we have no furniture to bother with, as it is all to be left here in the missions house. So we have to finish boxing up what we have left that we can't take with us. We are still open for people that may want to come stop by and say farewell to us before we leave. Just give us a call and come on by.

Continue to pray for us to all get healthy before leaving, to stay healthy for the journey, for our families that we are leaving behind, and for God to prepare our hearts for the next step ahead.

Many Blessings to you all!

Two Weeks and Counting!

2009-12-29T00:15:00.003+02:00

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!

December Newsletter

2009-12-23T00:17:00.002+02:00

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

Plane tickets in the mail!!!

2009-12-16T20:32:00.004+02:00

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!

Kristen's Mammogram Reports

2009-12-14T23:10:00.000+02:00

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!

Honoring a Wondeful and Godly Woman

2009-12-14T21:44:00.003+02:00

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!

Pray for Kristen

2009-12-12T22:27:00.002+02:00

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.

Christmas for the Bradsher's and other Thoughts

2009-12-12T01:01:00.002+02:00

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.

Great Christmas Gift Idea

2009-12-08T22:01:00.001+02:00

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

Visit To Winston-Salem, NC

2009-12-08T03:00:00.002+02:00

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!