Settling down

Well, we have been in our new home for 2 weeks now. Most of the unpacking is done, and the rest has been put in File 13, to hopefully attend to ‘sometime’!

We are very happy in our new house, and thank God for his gracious provision. The 3 rooms inside are our bedrooms and the 2 outside ones are David’s office and the school room.

Katie is proving an excellent and innovative teacher, and the children are enjoying her immensely. Katie is strong in areas in which I am particularly weak. Among other things, she assists Étienne with piano and Caris with harp; she enjoys teaching them science and maths and comes up with lots of fresh craft ideas. Étienne is learning RealBasic, a computer programming tool, and Caris is continuing to learn to tell the time. We bought a lovely, illustrated book on the history of Scotland whilst there, and Katie and the children read a bit each day. To complement it, she is teaching them highland dancing (see the photo of Étienne)!

Katie and I are learning sign language (from the school children) so we can share the gospel at a local school for deaf and blind children. I was there yesterday to see the principal and one of the children was waiting for me outside and signed to me: ‘Please come and teach me about Jesus this afternoon!’. Some go to church but, without someone to sign for them, they have no idea what is going on. We have incorporated signing into the curriculum and it will be our language for this year. (You can see a photo of me and some of our language teachers. We are all signing our nickname. Instead of always spelling out one’s whole name, everyone has a signed ‘nickname’.)

With Katie assisting in the school room, I can start preparing for Sunday School workshops and getting out more into the community. We see so many ministry opportunities and need wisdom to decide on what to focus. A local school has asked me to go in and teach Scripture next term so I am looking into that.

David preached last weekend in the CEN Ondangwa church. People are so happy to have him back. One of his students cried with happiness when she saw him. Another lady, whose baby was born whilst we were in Australia, named her little boy David Greeff (more about that – and a photo - in the next newsletter)! It is moving for me to see the favour God has given him in their eyes and we covet your prayers that he will continue to faithfully teach and disciple our Namibian brothers and sisters. He goes to the Ondangwa prison this week for the second time since we have arrived and, on his way to Windhoek next week for NETS meetings, he will call in at two other prisons (Tsumeb and Grootfontein) to teach and encourage fellow Christians there. Please pray for him and them. (He will be gone until early next month.)

Caris’ best friend, Best, sadly no longer lives here. Her mother has sent her away to boarding school. This is quite usual here, if people can afford it, because the education will be better further south. As is human nature worldwide, if student teachers pass well, they generally seek the better-paying jobs in Windhoek and Tsumeb. And so (generally speaking) the less-able ones get teaching positions in the North and, lacking resources, yet another generation grows up who struggles to pass Grade 12. David was at a school recently and they proudly showed him their library. A few books on a couple of small shelves serve as the library to a large primary school (see photo).
But Caris’ other friend, Lena, and Étienne’s friend, Immanuel, live quite nearby (see photos).

Katie spent yesterday afternoon with her new friend, Iina. They walked to the local teachers’ training college where Iina was meeting someone to have her hair braided. The (not particularly big) student bedroom she saw housed 7 beds and 1 desk (to share)! How blessed we are with our own bedrooms – what a luxury. Katie is enjoying coming with me to Zulu dancing, and last week went to a drumming class. David is taking her to the market today to try oshikundu, the local drink made from pounded millet (and some sand that always gets in somehow) – full of roughage!

Étienne hasn’t gone back to karate. It is hard for him, when all his friends are now so much further ahead. Also, as the grades increase, so too the level of sparring contact at grading and he has never enjoyed that aspect. Unfortunately, there are no other clubs around here for children to join.

Domino the kitten gives us all a lot of pleasure as she gambols and purrs her way through the day.

As we have no garden to speak of, I am not sure what will happen about Bible Club. However, I have already had one child around asking to borrow books. He told me, ‘I have not had a single book to read since you went away’.

The weather has been surprising warm for Winter. David is not encouraged as he slept the whole night under only a sheet. How will he survive the Summer?!

Well, that’s it from me today. More news next month!