3 girls and a liz

What has Beth been up to during her 6 months with us?

She has (in no particular order)…
- taught Étienne and Caris 4 mornings a week (English, maths, German, music, geography, cricket, science and history).
- run a young women’s weekly Bible study
- helped with the library I run for local children
- assisted a LOT with the nativity play
- given local children reading and maths help
- visited local friends she has made
- preached once at a local prison
- helped David run a Bible study for Grade 12s
- made friends with young VSOs; swimming, volley ball, pizza night etc
- enjoyed a weekly African dancing group with Alisan
- volunteered to help teach local police etc how to swim as part of a community scheme (no pools or rivers here meant no one had learnt to swim but now we have a public pool)
- visited Vic Falls and the Caprivi Strip
- made our children happy
- spent 2 weeks in Swakopmund
- slept over in both a Himba (see foto) and an Oshiwambo village
- learnt some Oshiwambo and even a little bit of Afrikaans
- been to different local churches
- made friends with people from different people groups
- had time to read some of our books and learn more about her faith
- learnt a lot (she says) from the lessons she gave the children
- enjoyed relaxing the new local pool
- met 2 teams of young people who came from South Africa
- eaten and drunk local produce … including mopane worms!
- realised how privileged she is, having been educated in a country like Australia
- developed a better understanding of – and deeper interest in - missions
- had opportunities to overcome shyness of public speaking
- seen hippos in the Kavango River and elephants wandering along the side of the road
- walked with lions, white-water rafted on the Zambezi, dune boarded and quad biked in the Namib desert
- helped us in many, many ways
- finally beaten David in Carcassonne!

We have benefited greatly from Beth teaching our children, but are also richer from getting to know Beth personally. She will be going to Uni next year but we will never forget these 6 months of her life that she has shared with us.

Smiles

Church and Workshops

A Sinking feeling!

The glory ... and the shame

The Glory.... and the shame.
Often, people send us messages about what a wonderful job we are doing.
We are inspired and motivated by them.
However, sometimes the truth is harder to publicize.
Sometimes, the job we are doing seems less than wonderful.

Ever had that sinking feeling? (see the photo above, of the toilets!)

Just over a week ago, I drove out west to meet up with some students in the Uutapi/Ruacana/Opuwo regions.
Here follows a brief summary of proceedings and what was achieved:

Day 1:
Goal: Meet with students, preachers and lay leaders in the Okathitu parish, to encourage them to sign up for NETS, due to the sponsorship now available from CMS.
Reality: Parish Priest, Rev Lazarus Ekanjo... we drove back to where I had just come from (!) to pick up someone who is a student already, and persuaded another woman to join us. We signed up the new student, had a discussion about where white and black people come from, by which time everyone was tired, so no workshop was conducted.
Achieved: Agreed to visit on the 9th of December, preach, and then meet with the lay leaders. Now THAT’S a good thing!

Hung around Uutapi for 3 hours, waiting for a meeting with a pastor. Whilst waiting, I caught up with another Anglican pastor, told him about the CMS fund, and made vague arrangements to be in touch in the new year. When the other pastor finally arrived, we had a good talk – turns out he is REALLY keen to register for the diploma.
But then, LOTS of people are really keen..... and it doesn’t always lead to much.

Day 2:
Goal: Arrangement to meet with Pastor Salamo Shimbundu at Ruacana, and do a workshop with some interested people.
Reality: I drove around for an hour looking for church – found the church – but found no-one there!!!! Finally managed to reach Pastor Salamo on the phone – eventually discovered that when I had initially called him, he had he would call to confirm, and never did call to confirm, therefore, in his mind, the arrangement was off. This is not the first time phone conversation in Oshiwambo has let me down: when something which has been crystal clear to me, is not understood as such on the other side.
Achieved: A resolution in my mind to be even clearer when I talk to someone on the phone making an arrangement. Anyway, I then had lots of time to sit on the phone trying an make it clear to someone who had come a long way to visit me in my ‘office’ in Ongwediva … that I was in Ruacana!
Headed off to Opuwo.

Day 2-3:
Goal: Meet with students on Saturday morning and spend the morning with them.
Reality: Arrived in Opuwo and tried to contact someone who had signed up for the Diploma. Had no success. Ambled over to the Dhimba (another language) Bible translators (Lutheran), who support a few of their translators doing the course. The project manager, a missionary from Finland, looked at me in dismay – 2 of the students who were supposed to be at the workshop the following day departed for a funeral. Anyway, one of the students was there, and another person signed up for the course. I organized new books for them, as well as for another who was not present. Both are Lutheran ‘missionaries’ to ‘out-centres’ (‘missionary’ in this context means lay preachers responsible for the centre).
Achieved: Had a wonderful meeting with the 2 ladies the next morning. They described lots of pastoral difficulties they were having, and I gave lots of suggestions (from my limited experience!), as to how they might deal with them. They seemed to be very encouraged – as was I. I prayed with them... and then left.
Kilometres travelled: 798

Communication in a foreign language is hard – especially on the phone. And people seem unreliable – but it is often a result of circumstances; a rural lifestyle, little money, no access to transport, and/or no money to pay for transport.
Also, funerals are a big part of community life, due to sickness and HIV/AIDS. It is not unusual for me to turn up for a workshop and find no one there because a funeral has called them away and the area perhaps has no mobile phone coverage so they had been unable to let me know.

Pray that I would be ultra-efficient in making arrangements, be clear in communication – and remain motivated and encouraged, even when things seem to go wrong! (Habakkuk 3:17-19 - in the Bible!)

Aftermath

The REAL meaning of Christmas!

The play has finished and the curtain has come down!
Before I tell you how the play WENT, let me tell you what the play WAS!
The play opens with 2 narrators saying they are there to explain the REAL meaning of Christmas.
A boy in the audience stands up and says he already knows the real meaning – presents and parties. They invite him up onto the stage to learn what Christmas means. Then …
Song in Oshiwambo
Scene 1 - Garden of Eden; creation, temptation and fall (Étienne is the snake).
Scene 2 – God’s call of and promises to Abraham.
Scene 3 – God promises to David via the prophet Nathan.
Song
Scene 4 – Mary and the Angel, with Joseph to Bethlehem.
Song
Scene 5 – Shepherds, Wise women (not enough boys around!).
Scene 6 – summary of the gospel (as can be seen by the 4 girls holding cards).
Song – Jesus saves (tune: Jingle Bells) preceded by a recorder solo by Étienne.
Bows and applause!

I advertised it all over Ongwediva and even on the local radio station, based in Oshakati.
How did it go?
I had to replace a narrator 3 times and then the 3rd one also dropped out in the last week so Beth had to stand in (and did very well).
I also had numerous other parts to replace and eventually dropped the scene with Isaiah as I could not get anyone to stay in the role!
On the Thursday before the play (2 days to go) I was told through the grapevine that the girl playing Mary (and the prophet Nathan) was no longer able to come. The Grd 7 farewell (end of primary school) had been moved from last w/e to the afternoon of the play and she wanted to do her hair. I went round to her house and assured her that if there were no Mary there would be no play, so choosing a hair appointment at the same time as the play was to start was not an option.
So Mary came.
The evening before, we had a full dress rehearsal, with David videoing it. However, basically no one brought their costumes so that aspect was a bit of a disaster: I needed good photos as I had promised the ‘Namibian’ (national paper) an article on the play! Ah, well.
Then Caris fell down and cut her knee quite badly just before the end of the rehearsal (see photo of camera man, taken the next day) but she is healing well.
Then the choir director called to say he would be an hour late to the rehearsal – David to the rescue there for me!
On the choir photo you can see children doing the guitar. Andreas got one to strum and one to do one chord and another to play another chord and so they did the music themselves!
THE MORNING OF THE PLAY …
When 9 am came (starting time) we were still minus one narrator, God and Adam. Also the wise women were still at home, having to wash the family’s clothes as Saturday is chore day.
I asked Abraham where his outfit was and he said he had not been able to organise one (thanks for the warning! But I had taken about 3 spare head dresses and all were used!)
By 9.30 we were all assembled … but sadly only had an audience of 1. Two others arrived later. The children had asked family and friends to come (and many said their mothers were coming) but people chose to stay at home and do chores or visit friends rather than come and see their children perform. I was very disappointed for them - but the show must go on.
We did the whole thing as if the hall was packed and the children really enjoyed it. David videoed it again and we shall make the video available for the children to borrow. That, I think, is all we can do in that respect.
However, I do not feel it to be a waste of time as the children discovered something they could do and do well. They had a great time and I doubt they will ever forget the experience.
Being Namibia, everyone’s very young siblings were all over the place as children have to responsibility of looking after them during the day. So I borrowed one to be baby Jesus!
There are very few props as I had to organise everything myself - how spoilt we are in our culture where parents help with costumes and props, bring children to rehearsals, and are supportive of their children in this way. The one mother who came said she had not expected it to be so good and was quite overwhelmed by it. She asked for a copy of the video. I think that is another problem. No one does plays of any kind here so no one really knew what to expect and so there was no real interest.
David says I will know for next year but I am not sure there will BE a next year … it is exhausting work!
(The obligatory photo on the wall, which is in a few shots, is the president of Namibia. The other wall hangings come with hall and, I think, are nailed to the wall.)
Thanks for your prayers for this ‘pioneer’ work. One other big plus is that the drama classes have brought me into contact with a number of teenagers and I am considering a weekly youth/Bible meeting for them next year as the Wednesday Bible club is too young for them. This will only be feasible if we can get someone to help us in this exciting ministry and with home schooling. So, keep praying!
A friend at Durbanville Community Church (SA) has generously sent up some gospel booklets called ‘The most important story ever told’ and we will hand these out to the children when they come to play next week. I want to first stick in individual photos of them performing.
Enjoy the photos, too!

Play Pix 3

Play Pix 2

Play Pix 1