Update! Update! Read all about it…

This is just a quick update, internet access here is “few and far between.” I will type random updates as I think of them:
The issue with the car accident was finally sort of sorted out. We ended up paying the man’s deductible, it was a ridiculous situation. It would take pages to explain the whole story, in short he was threatening to sue us, his exact words were  “bombs would go off,” if we did not pay HIS deductible (his insurance and our told us not too as it would be refunded back to him after he pays it). He was calling us and anyone associated with us at least three times a day, and just causing a lot of problems. We decided to pay the $350 (that was not in our budget) so the issue would be resolved.
Thanks for all the prayers!!

In the last week we went up to the North of the country to visit with the people and church that David and Kyle planted in 2002-2003. It was a rushed trip, but it was well wort it! The people in the village were very excited to see us, and of course we were excited to see them. I will write a longer update on the village visit when we have better internet.
This week we are at school working on tutoring some of the children who are struggling, please pray for us and the kids.
Adam and Sara seem to be adjusting well to life in Namibia. Adam comes to school each day, and Sara stays at home with the baby. Pray for both of them as they adjust to life here with the baby.
The  Hunters are back from their trip to America, it is great to have them back here!
We still do not have health insurance, we applied on the 6th of June, it takes them a long time to approve things here I think.
And the best update of all, WE GOT OUR WORK VISAS!!! We only had 5 days left of our tourist visa, and we were beginning to think we would either have to do the illegal immigrant thing, or hop down to South Africa for several months while we wait for the visa to be approved. But we got it! Praise God for working this out for us!
Thanks for all the prayers, keep them coming!!!

We prayed for faith…

In church on Sunday we were told to pray for God to stretch our faith, I knew when I said the prayer what the Bible says about faith, and how faith is perfected. We are in the midst of a trial right now. We are asking that you pray with us until this issue is resolved.
About two months ago we were in (caused) a minor car accident. So through much worry and drama we fianlly thought that it was all taken care of a week ago. It seemed like the insurance was finally going to pay out, but last night we spoke to the man whose car was scratched up. He is very mad, and says that our insurance refuses to pay him, so now he cannot get his vehicle and is threatening to “take it to the next level.” We are not sure what that means, and why our insurance would decide to not pay all of a sudden. It is quite a messy situation, and we want to be sure to handle it in the most godly way possible. There are many other details, but I do not have the time to tell of them now.
Please take a minute right now to pray for this issue to be resolved soon!

ROADTRIP!

I took these pictures on the first of May, when we moved to Namibia from South Africa. We took a 16 hour long road trip, it was over 1000 miles, and it spanned 3 countries. I took these pictures intending to blog them as soon as we got to Namibia, but the internet is not very reliable out here, so here you go, (70 days later) our road trip from South Africa, through Botswana into Namibia.

 This is the last view of South Africa. The Lobatsi border crossing is about four hours from my parent’s house. It took a long time to get through the border, they still process all the paper work without computers, so we stood in line for a long time. My parents cried, and prayed for us as we set off on our trip. We stopped at a service station to buy some snacks for the road. It is illegal to take meat across country borders, so we did not pack any road trip food. We had two bags of chips and some muffins, but we assumed we would be able to stop at a restaurant in Botswana.

 David refers to Botswana as Afro-Kansas, it is flat, the population is tiny and spread out, and one may see the occasional cow. There are more trees in Botswana though!

 The areas that the main road goes through only passes by smaller settlements, where most people live in shacks or other small homes.It was interesting to see that most of these little informal homes had satellite dishes on the outside. I am guessing it has something to do with the first African world cup.

African bugs leave bigger splats than their North American counterparts…

 It turned out to be a rough road trip. There were no restaurants, we saw one that looked like one would be gambling with one’s life (or at least colon health) by eating there. So we did not eat all day! It was extremely hot too, and our truck was fresh out of Freon. Anyways, not only could we not find a restaurant, but gas stations were scarce too. We had two Jerry cans filled with Diesel, we used up both before we reached Namibia. Also notice David’s fantastic color coordination. He tries to travel in style. Actually he is wearing a South African World Cup jersey, which made the border officials extra friendly : )

Finally the sign we had been waiting for, and praying for, and preparing for for so many years. We were finally in Namibia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We made it to the border before night fall, so we decided to try and make it to the YWAM base. We had previously thought that we would stay at a hotel as it is dangerous to travel in the dark because of all the wildlife. In 2002 we hit an Oryx while driving at night, this picture was taken the next morning.

 The night fell fast, so we ended up crawling along the road for the last 200km of the trip. We made it to the base by 10pm, and were welcomed by the Hunters with homemade hamburgers and a warm bed! We were so thankful that the road trip was over, and almost overwhelmed with the thought that we had finally made it to Namibia. We spent many years preparing for this. Thanks for all the prayers, continue to lift us up to God as we live and work in this city.

The most beautiful sight in all of Namibia…

They made it!!!

Some fun things from this week…

We have been looking forward to this week since we got here. Adam and Sara will get here on Thursday night, they leave from Denver on Tuesday night. Please be in prayer for them for a safe and uneventful journey. They have a long layover in London, and a longish one in Capetown. We can’t wait to have them here!
Sunday was David’s birthday, he is now 29, I had fun reminding him it was his last year before the thirties hit, it was fun. This is a picture of his gifts, as you can see I ran out of tape and I had to be creative 🙂 (No one uses those ridiculous little band-aids anyway!)

It was a fun day! He also got a free cooler from KFC, and if you know anything about David it is that he loves free stuff..

And this last picture is of one of the kids at school goofing off…

Have a great week, and thanks for all the prayers!
Love
Sandy…

Home visits…

Bear with me as I write down some things that I have seen in the last few weeks.
In the last week and a half we have visited with several families. As mentioned in my previous post, right now we are visiting the families of the children to bring their paper work up to date. At first we did not know how the families would react to us, but the paper work has given us a nice excuse to be invited into their homes. Most of the families have been welcoming and open about their situations.
The children who attend CHS come from various home situations. Some of them live with both parents, some of them with only one parent, and some with a different relative. Some live in brick homes with windows, beds and doors, others live in tin shacks with little or no necessities. All of the homes we have visited so far have a limited number of beds and many people living in the house. So I think that there are people who sleep with at least five other people on the bed, but I suspect that most of the children probably sleep on the floor.
Most of the homes that we have visited so far are the homes of children who live with their grandmothers. The grandmothers of this township are the true mothers of Katatura. When a mother dies, it is common for a child to go and live with their grandmother, and sometimes the parents abandon their children and they end up living with their grandmothers. I have met women who are in their late eighties, they are blind from diabetes, their backs are bent over from years of work, and their limbs complain with pain whenever they move, but they have several grandchildren to take care of. One lady has 4 grandchildren, and two children living with her, the only money she makes is from her tiny pension and a token amount from the government for orphans. She lives on less than $150 a month.
Some children go home to filthy shacks, and drunk parents. Some go home to a mother who is laying in bed sick with HIV. Many do not eat at all when they are at home, as any  money that comes in is spent on alcohol.
The more time we spend in the community, the more we realize how important Community Hope School is. Even though the children from Katutura have so many different home situations, they do have one thing in common, they all go home to homes where there is no hope, and CHS exists to change that. Please continue to pray for us, and to pray for the 88 students of Community Hope School.