COVID Crisis in Namibia

Prayer Requests June 2020

Please pray for:

• COVID-19 in Namibia. As numbers rapidly increase in our country, community spread is currently restricted to one region. Pray for containment as well as for those locked down in the Erongo region. Pray for protection, especially in underprivileged areas where it is likely to be most dangerous. Our neighborhood in Katutura has one of the highest concentrations of HIV and Tuberculosis in the world making it a very high risk community.
• Pray for us at 3 Measures to know how to best respond to this crisis. Pray that we might be able to provide relief where needed & have wisdom for each day.
• Health for the Echols. We need to avoid government quarantine for the sake of the kids. Also, pray for Sandy as we try to get some answers about recent health concerns.
• Reese has been talking about committing himself to Christ, pray for direction as we prepare him for this great decision!
• Future plans for 3 Measures.

Prayer Requests March 2020

2020 has already seen its share of ups and downs! Pray with us!

Please pray for:

• COVID-19: As we pray for our world, we ask that you keep Namibia in your prayers as well. We currently have only 11 confirmed cases, but need to take care not to let it get out of hand for the following reasons:
  • Our hospitals have very limited ICU space.
  • We have a shortage of ventilators.
  • Our neighborhood in Katutura has one of the highest concentrations of HIV and Tuberculosis in the world making it a very high risk community.
• Pray for God to provide ideas for discipleship during the lock down. We do not have the same online ministry opportunities as much of the world as we minister to a lot of people who do not have internet access at this time. We are currently doing Bible studies over WhatsApp for those who do have access and we are making a lot of phone calls.
• New Christians, we have 10 new Christians since November and they are all isolated right now. They are, for the most part, the ones without internet access and some do not even have phones. Three were baptized just a week before the restrictions were put in place.
• Health for the Echols. Sandy has some health issues that put her in the high risk category, pray that we can keep healthy.
• Future plans for 3 Measures.

Prayer Requests December 2019

2019 has been a year of expansion for 3 Measures, here’s how you can pray for us going into 2020!

Please pray for:

• Pray for the 3 Measures Mission Center! We are trying to buy our own building, please pray for us to find the investors we need here in Namibia and for the donors we need in the USA. For more information about the building and to see where you might be able to help, click here.
• 3 Measures First Aid (3MFA) is a new job creation/first aid initiative we are in the early stages of. In January Raylin will begin working with an incubation center to establish it into a viable business.
• Continue to pray for guidance as we seek new opportunities for Hope Cafe. Things have been going really well so far, but we have grown too big for our space. We are getting closer to being fully self sustaining, but still have a ways to go before we can hire staff and pay for the internet.
• Pray for the three new Thrive communities and for opportunity to start even more.
• Young & Pregnant, is coming again in January. Pray for us as we look for young girls to be a part of the training.
• Pray for our family!

Prayer Requests – July 2019

Things are really picking up, here’s how you can pray!

Please pray for:

• 3 Measures First Aid (3MFA) is a new job creation/first aid initiative we are in the early stages of. Having trained four young men as first aid trainers, we will put on our first program for about 50 students on July 31st-Aug 2. From here we will work with these young men to develop a first aid training business.
• Pray for guidance as we seek new opportunities for Hope Cafe. We have big plans and are looking at new ways to utilize the space, stay open more nights & achieve a more sustainable model.
• Pray for the two new Thrive communities and for opportunity to start even more.
• Young & Pregnant, is coming again in August. Pray for us as we look for young girls to be a part of the training.
• Interns, Jason Merryman and Erin Cooper, as they prepare to come August 21st.
• Praise God for our work permit!
• Praise God for providing a car for Sandy!
• The Echols family as we continue to adjust.

Prayer Requests – April 2019

It is good to be back! Here’s how you can pray…

Please pray for:

• Praise God for providing a house that was everything we were looking for (the living room is even Broncos orange!).
• The Echols family as we continue to adjust.  Especially the boys as they miss their grandparents and other loved ones.
• Young & Pregnant, running now on Monday and Thursday afternoons.
• Pray for guidance as we seek new direction for Hope Cafe.
• Pray for the two existing Thrive communities and for opportunity to start more.
• Preparation for the God Touching the Nation outreach in June.
• Relationships at our church, that God would help us build a team.

Prayer Requests Jan 2018

Its almost time to go back! We need lots a prayers, so thanks for checking in!

 

Please pray for:

• Our family, especially the boys, as we transition back to Namibia.
• The family we’re leaving behind here in the US.
• Good weather and safe travel as we drive to/from Kansas City for Sandy’s oath ceremony on Jan 16th.
• A home to rent in Namibia that would meet all our needs.
• Work visas in Namibia
• Support raising. We still need $596 in monthly support & roughly $5,000 in one time support for the return.
• Decisions about the kids’ schooling.
• The Namibian people, that God would continue to work in their lives as He does in ours.

Prayer Requests

Hello Prayer Partners!

We feel we have had a very productive seven months of Home Assignment so far. We have strengthened relationships with several supporters & made several new relationships. Our time at Central Christian College of the Bible (CCCB) has been very positive as we’ve been given an opportunity to influence a lot of young missionaries-in-training. In addition, despite all the struggles that come along with the changes and homesickness, I believe God has used this time to minister to our family as well. Our debrief in January helped us process a lot of what we had been through on the field and the environment around us here in Missouri seems to be doing wonders for our kids.

As we go into the second half of this home assignment, please pray with us for:

• Sandy’s citizenship. The process is underway , please pray with us that it will move quickly and favorably. As soon as this is complete we can make our transition back to Namibia. We need this citizenship completed before leaving so she does not lose her green card again. Our hope has been to be back by October, but this could very possibly delay us if it does not move along quickly.
• Planning our return to Namibia. We have worked out some details for our return, but still have much planning to do. We will remain with YWAM, but establish 3 Measures as a new YWAM presence in the country, separate from the YWAM base we were a part of before. We are now working out the details of how we will be received in the country as we need an official invitation back (our former YWAM base provided that before). We are hoping to work that out with our Namibian church, but would like prayer for wisdom as we seek out the best situation.
• Support Raising. The last time we made a budget was 2014. We were living in a house on the YWAM base for less than $50 per month & neither of our kids were in school. As we return we need to be prepared to spend about $1,000 per month on rent and roughly $300 per child for school fees. We’ve reworked our budget and set our total monthly need at $4,900, an increase of $1,500. So far, support raising has gone pretty well, but we would like your prayers as we still need $822 p/mo to reach that goal.
• Recruiting. One of our focuses as we spread awareness of our work in Namibia is to find others who God may be calling to serve alongside us. We have met a number of people who have expressed an interest, please pray with us that God would lead the right workers into His Namibian harvest.
• Success with CCCB. We just sent out seven teams into the world for Spring Break. We worked closely with these students to prepare them for short term service, as they return we hope to continue that work with more of a long-term focus. Pray with us that God would use us in the lives of these students during this brief time we get to pour into their lives.
• Possible summer trip to Namibia. We are looking into the possibility of me (David) taking a small team to Namibia this summer. This could help with recruiting teammates, but could also be important for making some preparations for our return and for checking in on the ministry. No decision has been made yet, pray with us as we decide whether or not to make this happen. March 23, 2018
• Family. Finally, as we continue with home assignment and our preparations to return, please pray for our family. We would ask that you pray especially for our kids as they have been uprooted and moved a number of times already. We have seen God do some great things with them and build a lot of confidence, but it has been hard and we are getting closer to our move back, which will be a whole new upheaval in their lives.

As you pray for our family during this home assignment, also pray for the ministry going on in Namibia. Here are a few things to specifically pray for there:

• Thrive communities. We left two communities behind, one is made up of young guys ages 18-19, the other is our older group of young men and women in their mid-twenties. Both groups are made up entirely of locals from Katutura. Please pray for God to continue to build them up and lead them into closer relationship with Him.
• Hope Cafe. The cafe runs on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. We lost the person who was managing the cafe (he is studying and was not able to keep up with both commitments), so there are some difficulties with managing the cafe at the moment. We’re working out a new plan, so you can pray for God to bring that all together.

Thank you so much for taking this time to pray for us, we love you all at Pikes Peak and could not do this without you on the team!

For the Kingdom,
The Echols