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!

My Job

Well most of you know that I have a part time job now to help make ends meet.

Well I work for a farm in Creedmoor, NC. Basically I run a produce stand outside near my home. I sell fruit and vegetable all day long. It is a hard job, long hours, but God is teaching me a lot through this all. I praise Him for the job, for the people I meet at the job, and for the opportunities that the job has given me to share Christ to people.

I start around 7am each morning by loading my truck up with fresh fruits and vegetables that we grow at the farm. I then make it to my stand around 9am and unload my truck and put all my produce in a neat and orderly fashion. Then from 9am to 5:30 I have around 150-200 customers come by and buy produce from me. At 5:30 I load what is left in the truck and mosey back to the farm to once again unload. By the time I leave it is near 7pm and it has been a long tiring day.

Anyway, that is what I do these days. Attached is a picture of me at my local produce stand. If you are ever in the area of Butner/Creedmoor, NC, come by and see me.

Advance 09

June 4th -6th, here in Durham, NC they had a Pastors Conference for the Resurgence of the Church. It was a GREAT conference, with some well known Pastors challenging us in our theological prejudices, our conveying of the gospel, and leading our churches for the glory of God and not for man, and so much more!

Desiring God has posted all of the messages as well as the Q/A panels. I have attached the link here. I am very partial to Pastor John Pipers two messages as he is discussing the need for international missions, so I think you can guess why I am partial to that.

I do hope you get a chance to listen to these over the next week or so, as I think that God will use them to convict you, shake you up, and encourage you in many ways as it did for me and other of my peers that were there also.

Link to Advance09 Messages Here

News About Kristen

Well, things have not changed much since the last blog. The initial mammograms that were taken got lost in the mail, to which we waited two weeks for them to show up. They never did, so the new doctor that Kristen has chosen is going to have new ones taken tomorrow.

They will then do some other biopsy's to see if they can do a lumpectomy, rather than a radical mastectomy. So we hope to hear the news later this week as to what approach will be taken. So please pray that God will allow the surgeon to do the lumpectomy which would be a lot better for Kristen.

Sorry the blogs are few far between, but our next residence does not have cable or Internet hook ups, so we get very little time on the Internet when we go to different peoples houses. Hey, we better get use to that before we get to Africa, right??

We hope to inform more later.

Thanks for all the prayers, cards and encouragement.

Also take a look at the kids blog, as they have added some new stuff on their site as well!

Blessings!

God Will Be Glorified Through This Cancer!

For the last year we have been preparing and praying for our call to the mission field in Namibia, Southern Africa. Well over the last few months we have all been praying for my permit to be approved. We have been struggling to figure out why God has yet to allow the home affairs to give us their approval. Well this weekend we got at least one answer to our question.

We found out yesterday that Kristen has breast cancer. I can not tell you how difficult it is to write this, but I can tell you how strong and mighty and loving our God is. He knew all along that this was the road, that we as a family, were heading down and hence at least one reason why He has not allowed us to go to Africa yet.

God is so good, He truly is and now looking back over the last few months we understand all the things that He has been doing to prepare us for this new battle.

In all things to God be the glory and we are to always boast in His goodness. Here are some of the God things that we now see as His hand preparing us for this.

1. The permit and visas not being approved yet. Had we taken our family to Africa and then found out about this, I can only imagine the stress this would have added to our family and many other things I can not imagine we would have gone through..

2. We ran out of funds, yet God supplied me a job, and us a free house to live in that is less than ten minutes from my family.

3. Health insurance!! Well we had a temporary insurance plan that was inexpensive, but had a $10K deductible, as we never imagined anything like this coming at us. But two days before Kristen went to the surgeon, God opened a door for our group health insurance to start. God is AMAZING and always on time!

4. Finally, God allowed Kristen to find the cancer, or the lump, way in advance of it spreading, so even though the measures needed to rid her body of the cancer are great, the chance of beating it is very high!

So we ask you to lift Kristen and our family to the Lord, our Great Physician, in prayer that He will be glorified in her having cancer and the way that He will heal her body in the time that He has chosen. Second, we ask you to give God all the praise for how He has given us the comfort of knowing that He is in charge of this cancer, that He is the ultimate Healer, that He has allowed this to happen to her and us for a reason, and that in this we will give Him all the praise, glory and honor in and through this ordeal because He is God, and He is good, and He loves my wife and our family, and we know that He knows what is best for us even in the worst of situations. And lastly pray that God will show Kristen and us how to best use this for His ultimate glory.

I am studying through prayer now more than ever, and as I was meditating on the Lord's Prayer this morning, God showed me something. He said to pray "give us this day", not tomorrow or next month, or next year, but "give us this day". God show us that you have blessed us with "this day", and that you will provide our every need today, and He and only He knows tomorrow and it is all in His hands. So we are to rest in Him today, we are to glorify Him today, we are to praise Him today, no matter what the circumstance, and not even think about tomorrow until tomorrow becomes "this day".

I am so glad that we have you all behind us to pray for us to encourage us and to love us during the next few months. Please, if you get a chance, send Kristen a word of encouragement, as it will mean so much to her during this time as we follow God's leading in the hands of the doctors that will be working with her.

Our mailing address is:

2071 Will Suitt Road
Creedmoor, NC 27522

Many blessings to you all!

In the hands of a Mighty God,

Update on our Situations

Well, I just noticed that it has been quite a while since my last post. Well there are many reasons for that, but the main one has been access to the Internet. The new mission home that we moved into a couple weeks ago does not have Internet access, so I have not had the late night opportunities to write.

I have also began three weeks ago working again on a farm to help pay our monthly bills until we leave for Africa. I work from 7am to 7pm and that leaves no room for stopping by the church here and getting on the computer.

We still do not have any word on our work permits, so we continue to trust in God's timing and for His provisions for our family and the ministry He has called us to in Namibia. So please continue to pray with us for this to happen soon, but also for our family to understand why God still has us here in the US.

We thank you all for your continued support of our family and for taking us to the Lord in prayer. God is so good and He does hear the prayers of His people, and soon we will be in Namibia serving this great and mighty God for His glory!

Great Daily Devotional

As we have yet to get my Work Permit approved in Namibia, I have been struggling with my faith and trust in the Lord's timing. Well, God's timing is always perfect, and I know that God is using this time to teach me a lot.

One such thing of His perfect timing was a book that I won on facebook from SIM. The book is "The Andrew Murray Daily Reader". God is teaching me a lot through this book and the daily writings from a missionary to South Africa by the name of Andrew Murray. It is a MUST read for any Christian. See the link below for the book. I STRONGLY recommend it. The link below is to Amazon for used copies at .36 cent!!!!

Book Link Here

Our Perspective

Cameron loves to take pictures and tell stories about his daily happenings. So I have created the kids a blog so that they can share their stories and pictures of our life in Africa. So if you have kids that are young, and you keep up with our ministry, check the blog from time to time to see what the kids think.

To the right of our blog page will be a link to their blog.

Hope you enjoy!

Our Blog Link

Isaiah 53:2-6

I usually prefer the ESV translation of the Bible and the NKJV, but this morning I was reading Isaiah 53:5 in different translations, and the translation called The Message really spoke to me a lot.

Isaiah 53:5 (The Message)

2-6The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
on him, on him.

If only I could have a "mustard seed" of faith, or character of Christ, what a difference there would be in my life, such as the way I treat my relationship with Christ, or the way I treat my wife and my kids, or even my desire to help others in ways that normally I would overlook.

For the last 24 hours I have had one of by bi-monthly headaches, that really ruins my day. When I get them I am quite miserable and tend to be in a grouchy mood and snap at people, OK snap at my wife and kids. But I have to think about how Christ reacted when he was in the ultimate pain during his death on the cross.

Christ was torn to pieces when he was beaten, had to carry his own cross on his shoulders after being beat, had a crown of thorns pressing on his temples, people were spitting on him, people laughing at him and calling him names, and then he was nailed to the cross he carried. And what does he do while he is hanging on the cross? He never says one bad thing, never passes any blame, but He asked God to forgive everyone because they did not know what they were doing.

Makes my headache very insignificant, and my reactions, while having one, quite the opposite of how my Heavenly Father expects me to act.

Happy Easter

Today, as we should all days, we celebrate the death of Jesus Christ. Why would anyone celebrate the death of a person, especially this man? We celebrate because we are made new, and our sins washed clean by the blood of this man Jesus! Jesus, a sinless man, free of all guilt, died on the cross in my place, and the place for all persons that place their trust and faith in Him, so that we might become righteous before the Almighty God. Through this death, through this atonement and washing of sin, through His resurection, and this becoming righteous, we know, through the promise of God, that we will one day be with Him in Heaven. No more pain, no more suffering, but new glorified bodies made perfect to worship and glorify the name of God for eternity. We all cry Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!

Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

Trying to Sell Our Van

One last asset that we have to sell is our minivan. So if you or someone you know is looking for a good used minivan, please let us know.

The attached link will get you to the Craigs list for our van. Of course we are needing to sell this fast so we are very willing to work with the price.

Craigslist Link to Van

If we had the money to pay off the van, we would probably pay it off and keep it at our parents house for when we come back, but we do not have the funds to do so and hence the need to sell it.

Thanks!

Pilgrim's Progress

This week while in Philly, I visited a used book store. I asked for the religion section, and it was quite small, very unorganized, and had very few books in the Christianity genre. But as I looked, I came a across a treasure! I found the "Little Pilgrim's Progress".

Of course as you may know, Pilgrim's Progress was written by John Bunyan, but this is re-written by Helen Taylor for kids. So I started using it as bed time story reading for our kids. The chapters are very short, usually two-three pages, and I am able to make them in to devotions. The kids LOVE it! Cameron came in last night and was ready to find out what was going to happen next with little Christian.

I would recommend this to any parent with young children. Below is an excerpt that I read to them tonight. As I read it, my eyes started to swell up as it made me visualize what Christ did for us on the cross, and about how big His love is for His children.

Hope you enjoy!

To set up the scene, young Christian is at the house of Interpreter and he is lead down the gentleman's hallway to show him a picture that he has.

It was the picture of a Man whose face was more beautiful than anything that little Christian had ever imagined. He was walking over a mountain path. All around Him, among the rocks, grew briars and thorns, which had torn His garments in many places, and His feet were bleeding, for the rough stones had wounded Him. In His arms He Carried a little lamb. It was tired and had laid its head upon His shoulder, and He was looking down at it with gentle, loving eyes. Underneath the picture, in letters of gold, were written the words:

"HE SHALL GATHER THE LAMBS WITH HIS ARM, AND CARRY THEM NEAR HIS HEART."

"Was the lamb lost?" asked little Christian.
"Yes," replied the Interpreter; "lost and ready to die. Do you not see how tired it looks, and how its fleece is torn and soiled? But the Good Shepherd heard its cry, and He never rested until He found it, and then He brought it home in His arms."

"It must have been a hard path," said little Christian. "The stones have cut His feet."

"It was a very hard path, but He did not mind that, because He loved His little lamb. I have shown you this picture first, because the Good Shepherd is our King's own Son, and just as a shepherd loves his flock so He loves the pilgrims. The little pilgrims are like the lambs. You can think of this when you are sad or frightened, and remember who is watching over you."

"I am a little pilgrim," said Christian looking up at the Interpreter.

"A little pilgrim, and a little lamb in the flock of the Good Shepherd."

Our Visas

As many of you know, our visas have been in process since last July. We now are at 97% of our monthly support needs for our first three years, so SIM will allow us to leave. But we still have yet to have our visas approved.

So we are asking for you to all please pray that God will lay it on the hearts of those involved with the approvals so that our family can make our way to Namibia and begin the work that God has planned for us.

We appreciate every ones support and prayers.