Gillham Gazette

Christmas

2009-01-10T06:56:00.000-08:00

We had a very relaxed Christmas this year!

We managed to find a turkey and even cranberry sauce, so Christmas dinner was a real feast.

After skyping friends and family from the early hours of the morning, we went to church to celebrate the birth of Jesus with a small group of good friends there.

We then came home and spent the rest of the day with our pastor, Spencer, and his wife Tinderay, and also the Matsveru family (David, Florence, Loretta and Kundi). The Matsveru family are from Zimbabwe and Spencer and Tinderay are Hereros from Namibia, so we were a great mix of cultures and traditions... especially around Christmas time. None of us had family in Windhoek, and it was great to be together.

For all of our differences we shared the most important things in common; a love for the Lord Jesus, a desire to celebrate his birth, and a love of good food.

We ate, talked, played games and generally had a great time!

Married Accomodation for NETS

2009-01-10T05:43:00.000-08:00

Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS) has been providing accomodation for up to 40 single students, but only two families. This has meant that married men have left their families behind in towns and villages while they came to the city to study for up to four years.

Many of us at NETS have been concerned about this, and over the summer break we have begun to do something about it. With financial support from Maitland Evangelical Church, we have converted four rooms which were designed for single students into married accomodation.

We enjoyed working together as a family on this project ourselves. It warms my heart to see Noah develop a passion for power tools! There is still work to be done... I would like to build an extension to the kitchen area and to create some recreational spaces around the campus.

By western standards the rooms will be cramped and very basic, but 4 extra families will be living together and joining the NETS community this year... and that is exciting.

We are hoping that having these extra families on campus will mean that we can begin to offer support and training to the wives of pastors as well.

The new kid at school

2008-11-09T05:42:00.000-08:00

Do you remember what it's like to be the new kid at school? I felt a bit like that on my first day at NETS (Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary). I was glad to have been able to get to know about half of the students before that first day, and that helped... and of course I was there as a teacher, so that was quite different too.
This week will be my last week teaching in my first semester. Back in August I was full of doubts and uncertainties about how I'd go as a teacher... now I can look back and see my mistakes, and rejoice in some success. I have thoroughly enjoyed it! I haven't enjoyed everything about being a teacher... but I have enjoyed it overall.

I have learnt to set lower expectations about how much I will be able to teach, and concentrated more on teaching the really important things well. I have learnt to allow more time for discussion in class, because it always takes longer than I would expect, and is more fruitful than I anticipate. I am convinced again and again that using the 'right' word is a waste of time, unless it is a word that everyone in the room understands. Given that I am the only one in the room that has English as a first language, this has meant re-thinking my communication over and over again. I know that missionaries who have to learn a new language to communicate the gospel often find this frustrating at first and then enriching as time goes on... I feel that I am having a small taste of that experience, in English.

The other area of great learning for me has been in the field of education and theological education in particular. From January I will be the Academic Dean at NETS, which means that I take responsibility for running the academic program for all of the full time students. 2009 is slated as a year for updating the strategic planning at NETS and my main activity in all of this will be a revision of the of the curriculum. I am wanting to lead others in thinking clearly about what we teach and how we teach it. There are many factors involved in this, and while I can now get a little excited by it all, I recognise that for most people it's like chewing on a sleeping tablet. I'll keep you posted with the really exciting developments as the year rolls on.

Margie the English teacher

2008-10-31T02:46:00.000-07:00

Just thought you might like to see some of my English class! We have up to 20 students, the lady in orange is Aune - the director.

How's the weather?

2008-10-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

Since it has been so long since we have blogged, we thought we would start with something REALLY interesting.....like the weather!

It's raining in Windhoek!!! We have never lived in a place with a designated "wet season" so we have never felt the excitement when the rains finally come! It hasn't even looked like rain since March. The smell is amazing, like God has given the baked earth a refreshing shower!

We planted a Lillipilli in our garden today. It is nice to have a little bit of Aus just outside the kitchen window.

Cricket Camp

2008-10-04T02:14:00.000-07:00

Let us just take you back in time a little - since we have been a tad slack in the blogging world!!!

In the last school holidays, Margie, Maddie and Noah headed over to the coast (4 hours drive) so Noah could play in a cricket tournament. It is amazing how many beautifully green cricket grounds they have in the desert. Noah's team was a 'development team'! So we were all very excited as they scored more runs every game they played and they even one a match! Noah was awarded the 'Team Player of the tournament' and even recieved a medal.

Maddie and I were shown around Swakopmund - the tourist town - by a local, so we now know where to buy gelato in Namibia!!! Yummmmmmm

Mission trip to Botswana

2008-07-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

by Simon

On Friday night I came home after spending a week in Botswana with a team of students from NETS. Here's some of what we got up to.

Saturday June 21

I packed into the NETS mini-bus with 12 students for the 8 hour drive from Windhoek, Namibia to Ghanzi, Botswana. for the entire length of the trip, the scenery changed very little. On the Namibian side of the border there were some hills and mountains even in the distance, I don't remember seeing so much as a hill anywhere in Botswana!

We were partnering with the Ghanzi Reformed Church for the week, and they had a grfeat variety of activities planned for us. The first of these was a welcome brai (BBQ) at a farm just outside of town.

Sunday June 22

For Sunday morning our team split up into pairs and went to attend and preach at 7 different churches. I preached at the host church, Ghanzi Reformed, on what it means to live for Christ from Philippians 1. I was translated into Tswana which is, along with English, an official langauge in Botswana. I've managed to add another greeting to my growing list ("dumela")... but didn't make a whole lot more progress with the language.

Monday June 21

We spent the Monday travelling another three hours into the centre of Botswana, to do 'walk up' evangelism around the shopping area in Maun. Maun is a busy town and we had no shortage of people to talk to. I spent most of my time with a young bloke and his two sisters who were operating a kind of stall in a carpark. He was a keen Christian and owned a Bible, but had been encouraged not to read it apart from church on Sundays, in case he misunderstood it. By the time we had to leave, he was very keen to start reading Mark's gospel for himself... and he was on the lookout for some other people at his church who might read it with him. Unlike most of my experiences of contacting strangers like this in Australia, we found no hostility at all and most people we spoke to were very happy to hear more about Jesus. We were able to put some of those who indicated an interest in knowing more, in touch with local Christians before we left.

Tuesday June 22

Groups of students met with business leaders and in the local prison from 7am on Tuesday. There is an amazing openess to beginning the day with a Bible reading and prayer time, and we had been invited to lead many of these regular times for this week.

The rest of the day we spent in a settlement called West Hanahai. It was a 45 minute drive on dirt roads to get to the settlement. These settlements (there are several like it) were created by the government to relocate bushman from their traditional hunting grounds which were being turned into game parks for the tourists. West Hanahai reminded me of Aboriginal mission Stations in the Northern Territory of Australia. The same kind of social problems. The same sense of hopelessness, lack of motivation and dependence on welfare. These people had been moved against their will from a land which enabled them to live contentedly for hundreds and hundreds of years... and been dumped too far away from any commercial centre to have a chance at making a new kind of life. There is an ongoing case against the government in the High Court. We spent our day doing manual work to restore and maintain the church building and yards. It was great to see the willingness of the students to get their hands dirty and simply serve others in doing jobs that needed doing.

That evening I was invited to be the guest teacher in an informal Bible school. 8 church leaders from around Ghanzi were getting together to learn more about the Bible and ministry. I taught an over-view of the Bible as part of their Old Testament program. Although what I did was well received, as I saw their regular teacher interacting with the students, I was convinced again of the great benefit of long-term ministries where learning and teaching happens in the context of real relationships.

Wednesday June 23

On Wednesday we again began by sending various smaller teams of people to lead 'devotional' times in busnisses and government departments.

From there our team split into four groups and went in four different directions to observe a variety of ministries. One group attended a training session which had been organised for local church leaders, tackling marriage preparation and counselling. A second group spent time with a program called 'True love Waits', which has been designed to encourage abstainance before marriage in response to the AIDS pandemic in the country. Programs encouraging condom use have made very little impact on the spread of HIV, and, among others, the Botswanan government has recognised that programs which are 'faith-based' and encourage sexual morality are much more effective at saving young lives. A third group of students travelled to another remote community to watch a leadership training session, where a group of uneducated church elders are being taught to preach. I was part of the fourth group that spent time with a ministry called Bridges of Hope.

Bridges of Hope was established in partnership with the Ghanzi Reformed Church, to bring relief and health services to the most culnerable people in the area. Most of the 'clients' are HIV positive and live in utter poverty. Many also have TB and routinely die from other 'preventable' diseases. In my time we visited a lady who was so ill that she had been left lying in the sand in her hut to die. She is in the final stages of life as an AIDS sufferer. She has all but wasted away, and most of her bones are clearly visible. She had almost no energy to even lift her head. As I helped wheel her into the hospital on a gurney one of the nurses said, "You are going the wrong way. The morgue is that way." There is a free anti-retroviral drug program in Botswana (as in Namibia), but many AIDS sufferers don't understand enough about their plight or the services available to access the program. The staff of Bridges of Hope (a mixture of Botswanan nationals and TEAR fund volunteers) have an amazing ministry of love to the unloved! They seek to empower the dispossessed and bring hope to the hopeless. What a wonderful example they are to those of us who live such comfortable 'Christian' lives.

Thursday June 24

Unfortunately during the course of the week, there were a number of little niggling incidents between some of the NETS students that betrayed a lack of love and trust of one another. Rather than just let these things pass, I decided to put aside time on our last day in Botswana to deal with these things and pray together. I was very nervous of how this might go, as I still didn't know many of the students well.

As we met together and reviewed things that had happened over the week, we found many things to rejoice in and learn from... and we found a shared grief over the 'culture' that had emerged amongst NETS students. We read the Bible together and talked about how love should be seen and experienced amongst us. We allowed time for different students to approach one another, aplogising for and repenting of past behaviour. There were tears and smiles amongst brothers. We then spent an hour in prayer individually and came together to pray again.

Although it might seem very cliched to say so, it was a deeply moving time for me... and most of the students. As we sang together about unity in gospel... I felt that we truly meant itand that God had done something wonderful amongst us. PLEASE PRAY THAT THE EFFECTS OF THIS TIME ON US WILL LAST... AND WILL SPREAD TO STUDENTS AND STAFF UNABLE TO BE THERE WITH US.

We spent that afternoon beating the locals in a volleyball game and being humbled by them in a soccer game. There were many significant friendships formed during our time together.

Friday June 25

We bade a very fond farewell to our hosts at Ghanzi Reformed Church, deeply indebted to them for the warm welcome and wonderful experience they had given us. We hit the road for the 8 hour return trip. The singing quietened down shortly after we left the town and most of the trip was spent in exhausted, contented silence... apart from the defeaning noise of the rattly bus.

Radio Show

2008-06-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

by Simon
Each Thursday night between 8 and 10 there is a program on one of the local Christian radio stations designed exclusively for Ovambo men. The Ovambos are the biggest tribal grouping in Namibia and make up more than half of the population, as well as a significant part of the Angolan population. Tuhafeni, one of the students at NETS, has been co-hosting the program for a period and he invited me along to be the guest speaker.
It was my first time in a radio studio and quite a different experience. The three of us (Tuhafeni, the host and me) locked in a sound-proof booth and going live to air for 2 hours. There were three songs played but apart from that, we had to fill the space.

Introductions are very important in most African cultures, so I took a deal of time sharing my story and the way that God has worked in my life, not just to save me, but also to shape and mould me as a man. I had prepared and spoke on being a husband and father to the glory of God. I made a focus of modelling our fatherhood on God's fatherhood of us, and modelling our attitudes as husbands on the Lord Jesus. Everything that I said had to be translated into Oshiwambo (the dominant tribal langauge) which of course doubles the time it takes to say anything. Even with all of that, I had used all of the material which I had prepared after an hour and twenty minutes... which left 40 minutes to fill!

I now have some appreciation of the unique kind of pressure that comes with live radio! For the next 40 minutes the host plied me with questions about the implications of what I had said for men who had been involved in adulterous affairs, and men who drank too much, and men who beat their children, and men who beat their wives... He was a good listener and had a great gift for being able to see the concrete applications of what I had been talking far too politely about. He also had a great way drawing me out to explain things that I had said in too complicated a way. It was a great blessing to be guided by him.

As our time drew to a close he asked me, on air, if I had a phone... and then what the number was. I wasn't quite redy for this, and didn't know what else to do other than give the number. Apparently they give out their mobile phone numbers every week. Almost immediately my phone began ringing and it continued as I walked out of the studio and the five minutes or so to home... and then it kept continuing to ring for until I turned it off some time after midnight. Mostly it was just a stream of encouraging text messages, but there were also requests for me to pray for people... and one lady called asking me to find her a husband who was like I was describing! The calls came mostly from northern Namibia... and I was really quite surprised by the number of them!

Talking to Tuhafeni afterwards he told me that they're not quite sure how many people the program reaches, but they often have untrained pastors contacting them to let them know that they rely on these kind of programs for their own spiritual input.

The radio station has a great ministry to people all over the country. They broadcast in English, Afrikaans and Oshiwambo, and have a variety of weekly programs aimed at discipling particular people groups. Praise God for this ministry to men and for the many men who seem to tune in. Pray for Tuhafeni and the others who regularly give input into their lives. As I have been invited back sometime, pray that I will be a better communicator of the truth of the gospel and all its implications for men in this context.

Doing the tourist thing with friends from Oz

2008-06-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

This month we had a visit from Margie's dad and our dear friends the Bayleys! They came bearing bags and bags of books and gifts from our very generous friends and family around Maitland. How we miss them all!!

They stayed for two and a half weeks and we managed to pack a lot into a short time. Margie travelled with them into the Etosha Game Reserve and had three days shooting wild-life (with a camera of course).

We also travelled to the coast together. It was the first time that we had been to the coast since arriving in Namibia. The smell of the 'salt air' was just beautiful after nearly six months without seeing the beach! We had a great time... but we'll let the pictures tell the story!

We were able to introduce some of our old friends to some of our new friends too, which was very special. It makes us feel less as if we are leading separate lives now. Any tangible connection between our lives here and now and the friends we have left behind in Australia is very precious.

As the photos testify, our God is good and His work of creation is amazing. We are so privileged to be able to enjoy His goodness where-ever we are.

Preaching around the traps

2008-05-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

by Simon

Over the last four weeks I have preached in three different churches in three different langauges. all of this without leaving the city limits of Windhoek.

The first church was a Luchazi speaking church set in the midst of one of the poorest parts of the city. There is no electricity and a tap and toilet to every 10 or 20 houses. Not like the poorest slums of the world... but a very neagre existence for most people there, with very little hope of escape. At this church I was asked to speak on Pentecost from Acts 2. It was great to be reminded again of the out-pouring of God's Holy Spirit on the believers in Jerusalem... the ushering in of a new age. And in the love that people at church showed our family and one another there was clear evidence of the Spirit being at work there too. There is a 70 strong choir and nearly 250 people jam into the corrugated iron shed. The singing was simply extra-ordinary. You couldn't just hear it... it reverberated through your body.

The next church that I spoke in was also an Evangelical Bible Church, but they speak Otjiherero and are in a nicer part of Katatura. There were even other 'white' people at this church (3 of them). Again the singing and mood of the church was great, but the thing that struck me here was the concern that the people had for hearing God's Word. I was asked to preach on Jacob and Esau. There has been tension in this church in the past over issues of understanding how God can be completely in control and yet people also be held responsible for their actions. The Jacob and Esau story put that issue front and centre and it was wonderful to see people genuinely wrestling with how God reveals himself... instead of retreating to well known trenches.

The third church that I spoke at was a Baptist church on the far west of the city. The pastor there is a part-time NETS lecturer (great young Namibian bloke - NETS graduate), and we are working together with a few others on a public Bible teaching workshop to be held in August. He asked me to preach from James 1. This passage gave me a chance to again reflect on how I respond to tough circumstances in life. Can I consider it 'pure joy' whenever I face trials of many kinds (James 1:2)? Well, if I can remember that God is using these things to shape and fit me for heaven, I can. The man who perseveres under trial is blessed and will receive the crown of life!! (James 1:12) Please pray with me that I won't just preach that, but live it out always.

As I've been preaching I have been very aware of how much further I have to go in understanding the cultures and people of Namibia. While I want to work hard at these things for the whole time we are here, I am very glad that I have the opportunity to train up Namibians who will be able to preach into their own cultures. They will do a much better job than I could ever do I am sure.

An hour off the road and 100 years back in time

2008-05-05T07:08:00.000-07:00

24 hours in a Himba Village
by Margie

We met our guide, Elia, mid morning in Opuwo which is a small town in the north west of Namibia. We collected some supplies and packed our donkey cart. He asked, ‘Did you bring a tent?’ We hadn’t… but he assured us this would be no problem. We had organised to spend a day and a night with a Himba family who still lived in a traditional way. As we mounted the donkey cart there was nervous excitement for all of 4 of us (some more on the nervous side – some more just excited)

Our cart was made from the back of an old Chevy ute and was pulled by 4 donkeys. We had a guide who spoke English and a driver who didn’t. We were out of town and off the tar in about 10 minutes, but it took more than an hour to get to the village. The next 20 minutes along dirt road, then off between the trees on a sand road that turned soon into a track, and then we were in a valley which appeared untouched by the 20th century.

We passed some traditional homesteads and maize fields and goats and a few cattle, then we saw the maize fields of the family we would be staying with… then their huts as we pull up the cart under a tree. “RRRRRRRRRRRR, RRRRRRRRRR” from the driver and the donkeys stop… and here we are.

The first thing we did was to greet the elders. There were 2 elderly ladies sitting under a shelter made of wood. They had absolutely no English (and we had no Otjhiherero) so Elia translated the greetings. The eldest lady’s husband had died so she is now the elder of the village. And the other lady was her sister-in-law.

As we sat and ‘chatted’, people started to arrive and join under the shelter. Some coming back from the fields, others from inside their huts and the children from every where. The children are usually not allowed to be around near the elders, but they were given special permission for today if they behaved themselves. I start to notice the different place children are given in this community.

This first bit of conversation is quite slow and awkward. It is hot and we are doing our best to look comfortable sitting on a skinny log. So when our guide says “OK we can go and have lunch now,” I was feeling quite relieved. As we got up one of the girls, about Maddie’s age, beckoned for us to follow her and we got our first real bit of warmth and enthusiasm. She wanted to show us in her hut. She was one of the twins who turn out to be the most outgoing people in the village. She happily put on a ladies’ skirt to show us a little dancing and bits of jewellery, and the red ochre they use on their skin. After a few minutes we all need some air. Inside the hut the perfume and just the distinct smell of the Himba is a bit over powering. So we head back to the cart for our lunch.

This was another awkward time. No one else on the village eats in the middle of the day and our guide had made us a tuna salad, but it was made a little easier by the Himba tradition of never watching other people eat, so they all stay at a distance.

We had a bit of a chat to the guide about the sort of questions we should ask to help the conversation and when we go back to join them in the shade. I am feeling much more relaxed and there are more people there now. I was given a small baby for a cuddle (no nappies in sight, not to sure how that works!! They don’t have a lot of water so maybe it isn’t so much of an issue???) Then we ask if we can have a photo of the baby and the whole photo thing lightens the mood as they get to see themselves in the little screen. After that everyone wanted their photo taken! Then we pulled out the video camera and they again are very keen to be on so they can watch themselves. Many of the children have never left the village, so they have never seen white people or TV… let alone themselves on a screen.

So we filled the afternoon watching the ladies making their jewellery and having stilted conversations about culture. The conversation highlight was when one of the ladies asked how it was possible for us to only have two children.
I said, “There are medicines that you can take.”
She said, “Can we have this medicine?”
Then Simon said that he had actually had an operation so that we wouldn’t have more children. It took Elia the next 20 minutes to convince the elder that even though she had a sharp knife she really shouldn’t attempt to do the operation herself!!! (She thought it sounded quite straight forward and was keen to get started!)

One of the women took me to see her sister with a brand new baby (maybe 2 weeks old). She asked (through signing) if I could give them a blanket for the baby. Noah taught the kids how to play ‘Fly’ and they all had fun running through the dirt. The ‘teenage’ girls showed us some of their traditional dancing so that they could all be on the video.

As the sun started to drop, the women all scattered to get their fires going. The men began to trickle back into the village from the fields and the young boys came back on their donkeys with barrels of water. This was the first time we saw people drink all day (apparently they live on 1-2 cups of liquid a day) and the women start up a fire in front of each hut.

Culturally they only eat together on special occasions, so each mother made her own pot of corn porridge. The children played around, until dinner was cooked (no baths to be had!). I took the opportunity to go and sit with the mum of the new baby. I tried to ask her name which proved very difficult, even my best signing was not working, so she sent her son to find a young lady who had just arrived back to the village from school. She is doing year 12 living with her grandmother in town, the only child in the village to have ever gone to school. She interpreted for us. The young mum wanted to know how I could sit and talk to her, why didn’t I have to cook? They both thought it was very funny that I have a man, Elia, cooking for me. Cooking is a woman’s job! We got to talking about what we are doing in Namibia, so I asked Tracey (Kutjeuavi) if she had heard of Jesus. “Yes, I want to be Christian but I am not.”
Wow! And so we have a very stilted conversation about grace.
She said “Do you have a Bible?”
“Yes I have an English one.”
“I would like to have a Bible.”
“If you will read it you may have mine.”
“Oh yes, I will read”
As we were packing for the village Simon had his Bible with all his markings in and I just felt we should take my travel one that is more easily replaceable, just in case!, God really is with us every step!! We don’t really have any way to be in contact with Tracey again, but Elia is a Christian and he knows Tracey and her family. Please pray that, as the one person in the village who is able to read, Tracey will be used mightily by God to share his grace with the others.

By this time it was dark and we left the young mum to feed her family. Her husband was off with the cattle and won’t be back tonight. At our camp fire Elia was cooking up a feast. It looked and smelt great but we were feeling very awkward about eating lamb chops and pumpkin when all around are eating plain corn porridge. We ask about sharing but he said there wasn’t enough. He had gone to a lot of trouble to prepare this for us, his guests! Thankfully it was dark and most of the people were in their huts by the time it was ready. So we ate our ‘feast’ and then the 4 of us climbed into our 2 man tent. (Elia had brought 2 small tents and was going to put us in one and the kids in the other and then sleep under the stars with our driver. We couldn’t cope with that so gave them a tent (in reality we found that all the young men slept outside!).

So we snuggled down, all 4 in a row in the tent and … well lay there listening to the sounds of a village (donkeys, goats, hyena etc.) until the sun came up. (oh Maddie slept like a baby!). Our tent had just netting on the top so we could lie and watch the stars moving across the sky and keep watch for shooting stars.

The next morning we were up before the sun and saw people slowly emerge from their huts. We had a cup of rooibos tea and a chocolate biscuit!! Unusual but fun! Then the twins took us to their hut again, this time we had our guide so we learnt about all the different things hanging around the walls. They sleep on cow hides, and make their skirts from cow hide that has been cut and stretched to look very elaborate. Then Maddie and I had our arms ochred!! One of the ladies had promised to be in ‘full dress’ for photos in the morning. We bought some traditional jewellery from them to take home and show people in Australia. The prices are crazy, we know we are being ‘ripped off’ but how can it be a bad thing to be generous to these people who have so little.

Now all we had to do on the 4 Donkey Drive on the way home was to reflect. A week later we are still trying to process what we have experienced. They have so little compared to us in the western world, but for the most part they are happy and content. We who have so much, are often not satisfied with our plenty.

Please pray that we would learn contentment, and that many in that village would have the same desire, to know more of God, that Tracey has.

The Ruacana Falls

2008-05-05T03:21:00.000-07:00

By Noah

Last Sunday we and the Greeffs went to Ruacana Falls, they were magnificent!

The falls were huge! It was so loud that we could hear it from the top of the hill! We got to a little area where we could wade and swim, There was a slope of rock that we slid down just like a water slide! The adults were talking over the loud roaring of the water flowing over edge of the cliff! We could see the over edge of the cliff because the little spot was on the edge, but there were rocks (boulders) everywhere.

When we had finished swimming we went to a big dam wall at the end of the Kunene River (start of the Ruacana Falls). There was the border between Namibia and Angola right next to the path, so I kept on putting my hand into Angola so my hand was in a different country to the rest of my body! (the border was a 6foot fence made of wires! We actually went to Angola!
We had a GREAT time at the Ruacana Falls

Mopane Worms

2008-05-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

by Madelon

Until recently only Dad had tried Mopane Worms, now we all have!

Dad tried Mopane Worms when he was in the North for the first time. At the markets that are close to the bus station, while he was waiting to go. His didn’t have much flavouring; he said that they tasted like prawns with their shell on, and he wasn’t expecting the crunch!!
Uugghh!

Noah, Mum and I had them at the Greeffs (the other CMS missionary’s who live in the North). We bought them from the local markets. The Greeffs have a girl living with them, called Aune (pronounced Aawnee), who also had a couple. Ours had strong chilly flavouring, which we weren’t ready for. I don’t think we’ll be having them again any time soon!

10 days in the north of Namibia

2008-05-05T02:48:00.000-07:00

This map shows where we have travelled over the last two weeks

6 langauges, 5 days, 4WD, 3 soccer teams, 2 men, 1 gospel

2008-05-05T01:43:00.000-07:00

A week in the Kavango District by Simon

Some of you will be aware that earlier in the year I spent a week travelling with David Greeff, an Australian CMS missionary who works in the north of Namibia co-ordinating the Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS) distance education program. I have just got home from spending another week with David, this time in the north east corner of Namibia. In the course of the five days;
· we drove more than 1500km
· we picked up more than a dozen hitch-hikers
· we saw no hippos, elephants, crocodiles or lions (although they all exist in the wild there)
· we were translated into 6 different languages
· we taught the Bible and answered people’s questions
· we tried to encourage God’s people and were encouraged by them

Monday
Rundu Prison - Language: Afrikans, Oshiwambo
The first stop was a prison just outside of Rundu. About 15 prisoners had gathered, most of them already enrolled in the NETS distance program, some there to sign up for the first time. After a short Bible study, we had a time of open questions. The course material raises lots of questions for students, and David’s visits provide the best opportunity for those questions to be answered.
Question time at this prison took an unexpected turn for me. Someof the questions were;
Is it possible for a Christian to be tempted?
Can a Christian be righteous? How can we be righteous and still sin?
Isn’t it impossible for a Spirit filled Christian to sin?

It never occurred to me that prisoners in gaol might be duped by the idea that Christians can be sinless and perfect this side of heaven. It was great to be able to talk about how God declares us to be righteous (all right in his sight), and about how he gives us the righteousness of Jesus as a gift. A great comfort to men who have been beating themselves up and living in fear that they will never be good enough for heaven. We were also able to talk about how in our lives we can make choices to live more like Jesus. The Bible urges us to live in a way that fits with who we have been saved to be. As our time drew to a close one prisoner spoke about how he was convicted that if he really repented of sin, he would have to confess to crimes he had not been caught for and to make an attempt to replace everything he had stolen. (ala Nicodemus)
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement. (John 16:8-11) From what I saw and heard, I can confidently say that the Spirit of God is alive and active in the prison at Rundu!

Our discussion began at 2.30 in the afternoon. Dinner was at 5pm, but all of the prisoners chose to collect their meals and leave them in their rooms so that they could come back and keep talking. It was nearly 7pm by the time we actually left. The hunger and receptiveness to the Word of God that I found in the prison was a great encouragement and spur to me.

Tuesday
NETS Rundu Campus - Language: Luchazi
This year NETS has agreed to begin to take over the operation of a small Bible school in Rundu which has been operated by the Evangelical Bible Church. David is taking responsibility for much of the administration of the Bible school in this transitional phase. Next year, God willing, there will be more staff and the school will offer the full lower level NETS certificate/diploma program.

I spent 5 hours teaching Romans in outline to about 15 students, as part of their New Testament Introduction course. I really love the letter to the Romans and spending a whole day focussing on it was great.

Wednesday
Group of youths near Divundu - Language: Thimbukushu
We drove Wednesday morning to meet with a young pastor in a remote community near Divundu. He has gathered a group of young people who have finished school but have no work. Some sponsorship has been arranged so that they can study the NETS distance material. After some time with him alone, the rest of the group joined us. As a part of a unit they are doing on prayer, I taught about the role of the Holy Spirit in prayer, and using the Bible in our prayer lives. We then had a time of open questions. The questions ranged from, “Who wrote the letter to the Hebrews?” to “Why are Matthew, Mark and Luke so similar, but different?” There were lots of other questions as well but the maturity of these young people and their familiarity with the Bible was a great encouragement. They are quite obviously being well taught.

Although they attend all sorts of different churches, their teaching primarily comes from this pastor who meets with them each week and now leads them through the NETS material. He is a bright shining light of Christian leadership. He is being encouraged by others to take better paying jobs and to study outside of Namibia, but up ‘til now he has remained in his home village. When we asked him about this and talked about how he deserved to be paid properly for his ministry, he replied, “If I go who will take care of these people? It doesn’t matter if I get paid or not, God will provide. This is more important.”

He is an exceptional Christian leader and pastor, and the love he has for God’s people in that small community is a great inspiration.

Thursday
Divundu Prison - Language: Afrikans, Oshiwambo
Before we even got to meet with the students, we spent some time with the Senior Officer at the prison. He told us how glad he was that we were there and how much he appreciated the ministry that David has in the prisons. I nearly fell off my chair when he said something like, “We can feed and cloth and look after the men, and teach them skills, but unless they know Jesus they will have no hope in life. They need to know the Word of God to be changed men… we can’t change them, only God can.”
I asked him if he was a preacher in his church and he said, “No, that’s your job. Now I’ve held you up enough already, you’d better go and do it.”

And so for the next 3 hours or so we did! Again some great questions came out and the prisoners were especially interested in how to talk with people from different religions and how to relate to traditional healers (witch doctors).

Caprivi San (Bushman) church elders - Language: Afrikans, Khoisan
In the afternoon we drove about 200km along the Caprivi Strip to meet with a group of church elders from the surrounding area. Although the meeting was planned well in advance and seven people had indicated that they would be there, only two showed up. This was really disheartening, especially for David who puts so much effort into making these things happen. In the course of our time together these two church leaders also took the chance to ask questions that were on their minds. One asked, “The traditional healers tell us that there is a male and female god. Is that right?” The other asked, “I’ve heard about Martin Luther. Was Martin Luther God?”

Doesn’t your heart just break to know that there are prisoners and teenagers just a couple of hundred kilometres up the road with a firm grasp of the gospel… but in this area the leaders of church… the ones who preach every week… don’t have much more than the first clue. Please pray for them and the people they minister to, that God would protect them and reveal himself.

Friday
Tourist Lodge, Rundu - Language: RuKwangali
We arrived back at the lodge we were staying at in Rundu very late on Thursday night. The Lodge owners are great Christian people and are involved in all sorts of community projects for orphans and vulnerable people in the area. Recently he decided to start studying the NETS course and to help a few of his young staff also study. They became excited about the course and one thing led to another. They came up with an incredibly bold plan. He sponsors 3 local soccer teams and people on his staff are captains of each of the teams. They each invited their players to come and hear about an opportunity to learn more about God on Friday morning (3 days notice given).
David and I arrive a little bleary eyed for breakfast to find a crowd of young blokes waiting for us. From the 3 teams, 40 young men turned up to hear more about Jesus! David spoke to them about the power of God’s Word teach, rebuke, correct and train for righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). We asked who was interested in this training and almost all of them showed some interest. They are all unemployed with no money at all and so no capacity to pay for the course material, so what was to be done? The owner of the lodge has agreed to give each of them 2 days work and in return to pay for their study himself!!

This was a wonderful way for us to bring our trip to a close (apart from the 9 hour drive back to David’s home). Again it was such an unforgettable week for me and a wonderful privilege to tag along with the great ministry that David has. Because of my complete incompetence with any language other than English, I really have no idea what I said all week long! At one stage something I said was translated into Oshiwambo but David, who was translating me into Afrikaans at the time, said in Afrikaans, “I don’t know how to say what he said.” Hearing some jumble of Afrikaans words, I assumed the job was done and so kept right on talking. I couldn’t remember making a joke, but it was nice to see so many people smiling at me.

(I can now say ‘hello’ in 7 different languages… but the conversation dries up pretty quickly after that.)

Praise God for his faithfulness in drawing people from every tribe and tongue to himself. Pray for David, Alisan, Ettiene & Caris who continue to ‘take the ball up’ in often difficult circumstances. Rejoice with us that through the NETS courses men and women and coming to know the Lord Jesus and are growing to maturity.

Coptic that

2008-04-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

... by Simon
Last Thursday I led a seminar for all of the students to review a visit that we had from a Coptic Orthodox Priest. It's not as if Namibia is being over-run with Coptic Othodox, but in an effort to help students interact with and evaluate other 'Christian traditions', a Coptic Orthodox Priest was invited to talk about his church.
In our review it was really encouraging to hear the students talk about the need to demonstrate humility and to welcome visitors... and yet also to be clear about what a very different faith the Coptic Orthodox Church proclaims. The heart of the difference, as we saw it, was the decision to hold the church tradition as the ultimate source of authority.
Although many students will struggle to find a Coptic Orthodox person in their villages at home, Namibia is full of people who call themselves Christian and hold their particular church tradition as the ultimate source of authority. (even if that church tradition only goes back as far as what the pastor said last week!)
One of the abiding principles of NETS is that the Bible is the ultimate source of authority in all matters of faith. This means that we need to live ourselves, and encourage our students to live and serve God's church, in constant submission to God's will as we know it through His Word.
For me, last Thursday was the first time I had formally 'taught' the whole student body, and I had a blast. I am learning so much about how to relate and communicate more appropriately In Namibia, and it was great to put the training wheels on and have a go.
The next day I played Bob the Builder around the campus and fixed some toilets, unblocked drains and that sort of thing... and I really enjoyed that too.
I am very much looking forward to July when I start teaching full-time. At this stage it looks like the first thing I might do is go along on the week-long College mission trip to Botswana.

Volcanoes - Our School Concert:

2008-04-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

By Madelon

Recently my new school put on a school concert on Volcanoes. I was only there six days before I performed! Everyone had lots of fun. We performed the concert twice; it was a success both times with two full halls. Noah was in the class song, it explained how Volcanoes work. He was dressed like a cowboy. I was in my class song; it was all about Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius. I also acted as a school girl on an excursion. We took friends to see it and they all said it was great. At the end there was a volcano experiment, which only worked once. Still, when it worked it was spectacular!

Noah's Cheetah Conservation Fund trip

2008-04-12T04:59:00.000-07:00

... by Noah
Last Tuesday I went on a school excursion to the Cheetah Conservation Fund about 3 hours drive north of Windhoek. We stayed in a campsite for two nights. The tents that we stayed in were only just big enough to hold six kids!

When we got there on the first day everyone thought we would die from the heat inside the bus. We met 'Gibs', who was our tour guide.

This photo is one that I took of Chewbaaka who is the ambassador of the Cheetah Conservation Fund. The Cheetah is the fastest land mammal and can reach speeds of over 100km/hour. Their stride is 8metres long and that is how they can accelerate faster than a Ferrari. The way that you can Cheetah from a Leopard is that they have tear marks that run down their nose and to the outer areas of their mouth. They are pitch black tear marks, just like their spots, so you can see the difference from a long way off. These marks somehow helps them to see better in bright light. Cheetah's have semi-retractable claws, meaning that they cannot bring their claws completely into their paws. The Cheetah has a small light-weight body construction and long legs and a long heavy tail which helps them to balance.

The best bit about the whole thing was getting to pat a Cheetah. The Cheetah was sitting on a chair and we went around and patted it! We also got to see Harry, Hermione and Ron (who are other Cheetahs) chase a bit of cloth on a string around at VERY high speed.

At night we got to sit around a campfire and drink hot chocolate, roast marsh-mallows and make up poems and sing songs. The first night was very hot and we hardly got any sleep. On the second night it rained and we hardly got any sleep again. In the mornings we did a morning jog.

One morning a zebra snake/spitting cobra got into the goats and chickens pen. The anatolian shepherds (the dogs in the picture) went and protected the goats by attacking the snake. They killed the snake but when the came back, one of them had both eyes very swollen and the other just had one very swollen eye from the snake's poison. Now they can barely see.

We also got to go to the musuem that had lots of intersesting facts about Cheetahs and other big cats.

I am making good friends at school and mostly it's good fun.

Where old computers go... just before they die

2008-04-08T06:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I travelled to a mystical place; the place where old computers go just before they die. It is the NETS computer room.

Even to call it a 'computer room' is being generous to the point of deception. The 30 odd students at NETS are required to type their assignments. To provide for this, the computer room has been established. There are 3 computers for the students to share. The newest of the 3 is a 486 machine and has a USB port. The other two use 3.5 inch floppy disks, and one has a 5 and 1/4 inch drive as well. All of these computers are older than my children!

So how do the 30 odd students who are sharing these dinosaurs feel about this! Well, sometimes they are frustrated at the long waits and the regular crashing... but in the main they are grateful. Grateful!

Their gratitude for the old computers... and for so many other things that I take for granted... and for my feeble efforts to encourage them... Well, their gratitude serves as a great rebuke to me. Gratitude is one of the defining marks of the Christian.

Colossians 3:16-17 (NIV)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The gratitude of the Christian person is one of the things that ought to make us shine like stars in a darkened universe. I pray it might be much more true of me than it has been.

A Great Day

2008-03-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

Monday was a very special day for us. None of this may sound very impressive, but...

We spent Monday morning out walking with our neighbours!

We have been trying to get to know our neighbours over the last couple of months, but it has been pretty slow going. Over the Easter weekend we invited some kids from the surrounding houses around for a game of cricket in the front yard.

On Sunday night one of the mums, Colleen, came around and asked if we would like to go for a walk at the dam with her and her son the next morning. We all piled into our car (including Pat the dog) and drove out to the dam. We had a fantastic morning together.

We have been enjoying lots of good times with other Christian people since we've arrived in Namibia, but this is the first time that we've been able to begin a relationship with one of our non-Christian neighbours. It would be very easy for us to spend all of our time with Christians and never share the love of Jesus with anyone who didn't already know him. Please pray with us, that we will love our neighbours and have lots of opportunities to build relationships and lead them to Jesus.

Simon's unforgetable week in Ovamboland

2008-03-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 11 to Monday 17 March.
Tuesday
I left Windhoek at 7.30am. Bustled into the next minibus to leave to city heading north for an 8 hour trip. The speedo on the bus was disconnected, I suspect for the comfort of the passengers who would otherwise be very nervous. We made very good time and stopped only twice for the 15 passengers to stretch their legs, and powder their noses etc.

I was met in Oshikati by the Greeffs, CMS missionary family who have been living and working in northern Namibia for 2 years. David co-ordinates the distance ed. program of NETS for the top half of the country. The main purpose of my visit was to learn something of the Ovambo culture and to see the work of NETS (through David) in this part of the country.

I stayed with the Greeffs in Ongwediva. They were very generous and gracious hosts... and I slept well!

Wednesday
David and I began the day with a trip to the prison at Ondangwa. There had been plans to visit other places beginning with 'O' (almost every town in Ovamboland begins with 'O'), but the flood waters made it impossible. In the prison on this day I met three men who gave me much more encouragement than I could ever give them I am sure. They shared something of their stories with David and I.

Risto told us that before he came to prison, his best friend had been his gun. When he began in prison he was a violent, aggressive prisoner. He was invited to go to the prison church... and he laughed. Two months later he wanted to go to the church but felt too ashamed. He was befriended by one of the prisoners who told him about Jesus, read the Bible with him and brought him to church. Risto gave his life to Jesus 2 years ago now. When I met him he was preparing to preach that Sunday in the prison church! He is enrolled int he NETS distance program. During the last week a prison warden who hadn't seen him for two years asked, "How did a man like you become a good man?" Risto is now talking to this warden about what a difference Jesus would make to his life.

Stephanos told me, "I had to come to gaol to become a free man." He too was befriended by the same prisoner as Risto, and had since given his life to the Lord Jesus. Stephanos told us that he found it difficult to find time to read his Bible. He was locked in a cell with 14 other men at night. The cell was only designed to fit 9 men. I was very sympathetic to his struggle with finding time to read the Bible.

The third prisoner urged Stephanos to follow his example in Bible reading. His name was Kambahu and he was the man who had led both Risto and Stephanos to the Lord Jesus. When he spoke, he had such credibility and power. Kambahu is a bright, articulate and passionate man... but above all he is a man who has so clearly given his life over the kingship of Jesus. What was his tip about Bible reading?
"Go to sleep straight after dinner before the others come into the cell and start making noise. Then wake up at 10 or 11pm, after lights out when everyone else is asleep. Then you can lie on the floor near the toilet door or sit on the toilet and read by the toilet light."
Using this habit, Kambahu not only keeps up his personal Bible reading pattern, but also studies the NETS distance program. He is progressing through the Certificate in Theology more quickly than any other student has ever done!

Thursday
David dropped me back to prison by myself to meet with the three men I had already met, and also another three men and three women who are all studying through the NETS distance program. I led a workshop about baptism. We met for 3 hours, and the time just flew by. Kambahu translated for me and although I have no idea what he said in Oshiwambo... it somehow sounded much better when he said it than when I said it. My time in the prison with these brothers and sisters in Christ was fantastic. I can easily see why David enjoys it so much himself.

That evening David and I went to Oshikati for a Bible study group that David meets with each week. Many of the members of the group are pastors themselves. The flood waters were high in Oshikati that night. One of the pastors who came left 40 people from his church camped out in his home, with the waters lapping at the back door. We drove through water almost a metre deep to get there, and had to pull another car out on the way through. But such is the hunger for God's word, and the ministry of David, that people came!

Friday
We spent the morning in Oshikati. We were going to help the pastor with the 40 guests to move them all to higher ground, but mercifully the waters had gone down. After lunch we drove to Onangwe Anglican church. An hour or so off the beaten track, through more flooded rivers, pulling out another car on the way. The church building seats more than two hundred people and gets more than 150 most weeks... but all you can see from there is bush. This is is the heart of subsistence farming land. The Ovambo homestead houses an extended family and each family has its own mahangu crop and perhaps a dozen animals (Cows, goats, donkeys) People walk to church, some for more than an hour.

We met there that afternoon with the leaders of the Parish. The clergyman and the lay preachers are all enrolled as NETS students. We talked about Jesus building his church (from Matthew 16), and how the confession of Jesus as Lord had to be at the heart of everything that the church did. They shared with us the frustration of a church where people would sing God's praises on a Sunday... but give Jesus no place in their lives the rest of the week.

That night we stayed in a guest house at Eenhana. (The only place I visited all week that didn't start with 'O') I ordered 'mahangu porridge and meat' for tea. It was delicious and very filling.

Saturday
We set out for Odibo in the morning. This is the heartland of the Anglican church in Namibia. The original mission station is still the dominant influence in the area. A large school, hospital and church building... in an area with very few other buildings. We visited a lovely, elderly Christian man in the hospital. He asked us to visit his family in their homestead. We did this and were invited in to look around their home and have a drink of omagongo. This is a drink made from fermented marula fruit. Definitely an acquired taste... but it did leave me with a tingling warm glow! Apparently traditionally at this time of year men were not allowed to carry knives for two months. The reason being that under the influence of omagongo - men do stupid things!

From there we travelled around the floodwaters once again, to Oshikango this time, a town right on the Angolan border. We arrived to meet with the leaders of a small Pentecostal church. Their church building (a tent) was about waste deep in water, so we met in the shade of a big tree on the edge of an 'informal settlement' (ie. shanty town). The Pastor of this church had never been to school, but had taught himself to read because he wanted to read the Bible. He and three other church members are now enrolled in the NETS distance program. As David taught an overview of the Bible, sticking visual aids on the side of his backie (ie. ute), you could see the excitement of the group growing. As David talked about Abraham being blessed and given promises before he did anything... and Israel only being given the law after they had been saved... the group grasped the gospel of grace. They were just as excited as I was when I first understood that God loved me despite all of the things I had done, thought and said. I imagine that the message preached on Easter Sunday this year at that church would be full in a fresh way, of the hope and joy that Jesus rose to bring.

That night David and I arrived back to his home absolutely exhausted (again).

Sunday

Many years ago in the north of Namibia the Anglicans, Lutherans and Roman Catholics came to an agreement that meant that each denomination did evangelism and church planting in different places. In most remote villages then, there is only one church. We spent Friday and Saturday in 'Anglican territory', and on Sunday morning we drove west across more flooded rivers into the 'Lutheran territory'.

After the service David conducted a workshop for about a dozen people in the congregation, many of whom signed up on the spot to begin the NETS distance course. In these remote villages there are no Bible study groups or other outlets for people who want to know more about the Lord Jesus. The NETS course fills a great need for leaders and lay people alike.

Monday
Feeling absolutely spent I got up early and David dropped me at the markets in Oshikati to catch a mini-bus / taxi home. I secured a seat in a good looking bus at 7.15am and just had to wait for the bus to fill up with passengers so that it could leave for Windhoek. At 3.45pm we finally pulled out on to the road south.

In my 8 and half hour wait, I managed to;

Finish off a sermon that I was to preach the next morning in NETS chapel
Read and pray through a number of Psalms (I am reading through Psalms by myself each day at the moment)
Walk through the local markets
Have my photo taken with a stall holder - for an advertisement for his wall (a picture of the two of us smiling under the caption 'just one of my happy customers')
Locate, buy and eat my first fresh mopane worm (much to the amusement of the crowd that had gathered to watch the white bloke put this thing in his mouth)

We had a slow trip home and I finally kicked my shoes off at 12.45am.

I was thoroughly washed out... but this is one week I don't I'll ever forget!

Introducing Us

2008-03-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

We are the Gillham family

Simon, Margie, Maddie & Noah.

We live in Windhoek, Namibia. We moved here from Australia in late January 2008 and hope to stay for six or seven years at least. Simon will be training pastors at the Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS). Margie will be looking for opportunites to serve God through contacts with NETS, church and school. Maddie and Noah will be going to school at St Paul's College.

The latest addition to our family is "Pat" the dog.