Hunting Kudu

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!!!

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!

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!

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

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!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

Hymn Melody in Afrikaans

One of the things that I am doing now is studying Afrikaans on-line. In my lesson tonight for pronunciation I had to listen to some songs. Well one of the songs that I listened to sounded very familiar, well the tune did.

Take a listen to this great melody of hymns in the language we will need to learn while in Namibia. It is really great! I had to listen to a few times myself.

Hymn Link

Slashed My Finger!

Today I slashed my finger and ended up getting 6 stitches in my hand. While laying in the hospital applying pressure to my hand to keep it from bleeding, I wondered what the scene would have been like in in Namibia.

Well, I know that God is good and that He will take care of us. Even today I sat in the hospital triage area for an hour trying to stop the bleeding while I waited on a doctor to finally look at my open wound.

I am doing better, but will take a week or so to get complete use back with my finger.

I must say that I have never seen all five members of my family get into the car and out the driveway as fast as we did this morning. So no more excuses on Sunday mornings!

October Newsletter

God Is Faithful!

Our God is faithful, and this month He has answered our prayers! Our permits in Namibia have been approved! Please join us in praising God for this answered prayer. We can not thank you all enough for praying along side of us for so many months for this to finally happen. We are hoping to arrive in Namibia sometime this coming January.


“What I am doing now you do not understand;”

Over two years ago, God began to call our family into full time missionary service internationally. When you answer the call to go into full time ministry, you might think that since God is calling you that He will make the path easy. One thing that we have learned in the past two years is how strongly Satan is against anyone trying to advance the gospel. Here is a small list of how Satan has tried to divert our going into the mission field:


• Our house being on the market for two years and still not closed.
• Being laid off from work.
• When re-hired the new job paid much less and longer hours and less time with family.
• Having to move away from close friends to live in missions house.
• Running out of money due to permit not being approved.
• Kristen finding out she had breast cancer.
• Having to work long hard hours on a farm to barely make ends meet.
• Kristen getting an infection after first surgery only to have another surgery.

This is only a small list of some of the things that Satan has used to try and distract us, frustrate us and even try to draw us away from what God is calling us to do. Our God is much bigger and victorious over the powers of Satan, and anything that Satan tries to use to prevent us from spreading the gospel.

We know that God could have prevented all of these bumps in the road, but we also know that God allowed all these bumps to strengthen our faith and trust in Him. These trials, we know, were meant for our good in order to prepare us for the trials that we will face in Namibia. But we also know that our lives are not our own, that we were bought for a price and that was the death of Jesus Christ.

Therefore we are humbled and are thankful for God allowing us this growth. Take a moment and read John 13:1-11 where Jesus is washing the feet of the disciples and His conversation with Peter. The feet back in Peter’s time were considered dishonorable members of the body. So dishonorable that the Law considered them unclean, and outside of the immediate family, the only ones to clean the feet were slaves and/or non-Jews. But here Jesus is cleaning each and every foot of the disciples. Peter argues with Jesus at first and does not wish for Jesus to touch his feet. Jesus says to Peter, “What I am doing now you do not understand, but afterward you will understand.”

This has been true for us. Over the course of the last two years we have not understood the road God had us travel. The lesson in this scripture for us is that the Christian life will mostly be spent trusting Jesus now and understanding Him later. God does not generally find it necessary to explain in the beginning why He is doing something the way He is doing it. Like Peter, when it looks wrong or confusing to us, we are inclined to object to the Lord’s will.

God understands our confusion and our wrestling with grief and is patient with us in this. Yet He still wants us to trust Him, and to not grumble. God’s ways are not our ways. His will for bringing, or not bringing, things to pass usually extends way beyond us, and maybe even generations beyond us.

So, like we have had to do over the past two years, I encourage my friends to remember the words Jesus spoke to Peter, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Some things we now understand about the wait and God’s timing, other things we still question, but in our questioning, we also trust. Our trust is in the great God of the universe, the Great I Am, and if we can not trust Him, then I dare ask in whom could we ever trust.


Prayer Requests For….

•our families as we say good bye for three years.
•continued health for Kristen and our family.
•all the busy work we have to do before we leave.
•the stability of our monthly support for our first term.
•the hearts of the people we will minister to in Namibia.
•the closing of our house in Winston-Salem, NC.
•God to be made much of in the land to which He sends us to.


Family Updates

Kristen

Kristen had to have another surgery in September due to an infection that she got in the surgery site. Since then she has been doing much better, the infection has healed and she says that she is now feeling like her normal self again. We praise God for her healing and strength through this entire ordeal.

She is going to have a minor surgery November 5th to have some of the skin repaired from previous surgeries. We thank you for all of your financial support, and prayers for us during this time of dealing with Kristen’s cancer.

Kristen is also homeschooling the kids, taking good care of the house, and good care of herself.


Brian

Brian has continued to work many odd jobs to keep our cash flow at a point where we can pay for food, gas, and utilities. God has been so faithful to us in supplying him with jobs. The strawberry farmer has continued to allow him to work weekend markets in Durham through November. He has been working on a pumpkin farm on weekdays during October parking cars, picking pumpkins and taking kids on hay rides. He has also had some painting jobs at a local church as well.

He also got a chance to go with a pastor friend to Haiti for a week. This was a humbling experience for him. The place where they stayed had no running water, very limited electricity and the weather was hot and humid. He came home overwhelmed with many emotions for the people living in Haiti and the church they served while there.

Cameron

Cameron is doing well. He turned five in June. He is doing well in his kindergarten studies with his great teacher (mom). He is learning to read, write, and with his studies he has morning devotionals each day. That is the cool part of homeschooling. Kristen is using Sonlight, a Christian home school curriculum.

He got the opportunity to play on a recreational soccer team this fall. He has enjoyed it a lot, is learning the basics of the game and even scored a goal in one game, which he was very excited about. He continues to love catching bugs, and caring for his pet box turtle who he named “Grassy”. He is excited about getting to Africa soon, riding the airplane and he wants to learn how to play cricket when he gets there.


Hannah

Hannah is quite the princess of the family. She is beginning to do some pre-school lessons with Kristen. She loves to play house and dress up. She also loves Awana and has earned her jacket and three patches so far. She looks forward to going each Sunday.


Corbin (AKA “The Fury”)

Corbin turned two in September and lives up to his nick name. He has no fear of anything, loves to pester his brother and sister, and thinks he can do anything that they can do. He certainly tires out Kristen most days, but he is full of love and we are certainly full of love for him. He is learning a lot listening to Kristen teach the other two kids and can even count to twenty. He will be the one chasing lions and handling black mamba's in Namibia!

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.simusa.org/giveUSA
Our account: #024621

Permits APPROVED!!!

Most of you may have heard the great news by now, but we have finally gotten approval for my work permit for Namibia! We are now working on the details of our departure date. As of now it looks like it will be the second week of January.

As for Kristen, she has been doing a lot better and healing from the surgeries that she has undergone to have her cancer removed. We would not be moving forward if she was not feeling ready for the trip as her health comes first. But she assures us that she is ready and excited to get to Namibia.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support of our family over the last couple of years as we have been waiting for this time to come and praise the Lord, He has answered our prayers!

Keep an eye on the the blog as we will be adding much more field material by the end of January.

Many Blessings!

Kristen Having Surgery

Please be in prayer for Kristen. She got a really bad infection in the previous surgery site and is at this time in surgery. The doctor said that the surgery should not be as bad as the last, and that the recovery should be less than a week. But surgery is surgery!

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

SIM Mobilize - www.simusa.org

This short video gives a brief history of SIM (our mission agency) and the overall global mission of the agency.

Brian's Job

Well, I can hardly believe that the summer is almost over. Even with that, it is hard to believe that I have been working my farm job for almost 4 months now. God has truly been good to us though. The job was a blessing that was just in time, paid our monthly bills and much more.
We never know why God puts us in the places that He does, but it is always for a great reason that only He understands and has purposed at the right time. I had the great opportunity to work with many college students and high school students on the farm. I love working with young people, and that is why I will be a youth pastor in Namibia once we get there.
One of my gifts from God is understanding and connecting with youth. I can not say that I always understand, but over the past five years God has helped me to be a good listener, to be slow in my frustrations, to always share the gospel in simple ways, and to forgive, forgive again and forgive some more!
When I first started working with youth five years ago I had to learn patience. I got so frustrated with the kids at the beginning, because of their lack of attention during lessons, lack of zeal for the word and disrespect that one night I flew off the handle. But God used one young lady in the youth to share with me that I came across wrong and that not everyone was being the problem. Since that time I had learned and continue to learn how to connect with youth in a way that draws them closer in relationship, rather than push them away.
And that has been the ministering part of working on the farm. All the kids there are from different walks of life. All are having their on struggles, and many are not really sure what God is all about, and what God has to do with them. But they have at least heard about God, the gospel and why we are willing to give up everything here in the US to go to Africa for three years.
The neat thing was that this past Sunday night I had a worship service at Olive Grove Baptist with the help of good friends of mine, and five of the kids from the farm came! There were lots of other things that these kids could have been doing, but they came! Did they walk down an isle? Did they profess then name of Jesus before leaving the church? No, but they heard the word of God in song, from the Word, and from my testimony that night. To me that was the best part of working outside all summer long on the farm. The toil, the sweat, the hot and long 15 hour days was worth seeing these kids come to church. Knowing that all summer long they heard about God, Jesus, His love and what He can and wants to do for them also. Seeds were planted and now we pray that God will allow those seeds to take root and through His mighty power, save them from the bondage of sin and reconcile them to Himself!
Never question why God has you where you are! Just go with it and ask God how to best use you where He has put you.

Update on Kristen

Sorry it has been a few weeks since posting. It has been pretty busy for me since Kristen had surgery three weeks ago. Working three days a week, but 14 hour days. Helping with the kids, trying to get a lot of chores done in three days, and now preparing for a worship service that I am leading this coming Sunday night.

As for Kristen: She is doing a lot better, getting her energy back and the recovery seems to be coming a long a lot better in the past few days.

We did find out that she did have some invasive cancer cells. The good news is that they got it all out and they had not attacked the lymph nodes yet. The bad news is that she may have to take a couple of medications for a couple of years along with the thoughts of Chemo in the very near future.

We will not find out about the chemo for about two weeks when some blood work comes back. So please pray for her, the blood work to come back to where she will not need chemo. Chemo is not good on the body and she really does not want to go through that.

Thanks for the prayers and cards and food! It is all greatly appreciated.

Many Blessings to all!