8 days.

8 Days. This morning we woke up, and the date was the 20th of October. The visa that we are on expires on the 28th of October. We have 8 days left and then we need to pack our stuff and get out of the country. This knowledge that we are only here on a temporary visa has been on our minds for 6 months now. (That’s right people, we have been in Namibia for six months now!!!)
We have applied for a work permit, the application takes several months. Apparently it can take up to a year, but usually at least six  months. We turned ours in in August, so if any of you are doing the math three months is more than eight days.
This morning I was sitting in the living room trying to decide where we would pack all of our things and how we would tell our landlord.
Then I went to lunch with Suzanne, (yes I am doing better, I can walk unaided now!) and then David called.
He was acting kind of weird on the phone, he kept asking me weird questions, and his voice was hoarse. It turned out that his voice was hoarse because he had been yelling. It also turned out that he was yelling because he got a letter from home affairs congratulating us on our two year work permit. We got it. We are now able to legally work in Namibia until the 15th of October 2012.
Praise Jesus! Thanks for all the prayers!

Thanks, and random bits of news…

Thanks for the prayers! On Saturday morning I was finally able to find a dr. with an open slot. She prescribed a weak antibiotic, some allergy meds, and an expectorant. She never said what was wrong, but I feel like I am on the mend! Still have the fever, but I did get my voice back little by little over the weekend, now it only squeaks and squawks every now and then 🙂

We bought a fan today. A fan that is also a humidifier. David is calling it the FANcy pants fan. It has been around 75 degrees at night,  it is really hot! We continue to worry that as summer approaches we will slowly melt.

One of the kids at our school is getting a cornea transplant in the near future. Last week we learned that after the transplant he will not be allowed to do anything that may jar his eye. No running, no playing soccer, so swimming, and he has to wear sunglasses all the time. When David told him he expected Ricardo to be upset, soccer is life out here, but Ricardo just rubbed his hands together and said: “Yeah! I am going to tell my auntie she has to buy me sunglasses now!” Pray for him when you have time this week!

Today we reapplied for our work visa. We only have 2 and a half weeks left on our current visa. Technically one can not reapply for a work visa, and you only get 90 days a year on a work visa. We still handed it in, and we are praying and hoping for the best. Our are still waiting to hear about our 2 year work permit, apparently it takes them up to 8 months to get an answer back to you.
We are not sure what will happen if the visa is not approved, we may have to go down to South Africa for a few months. Please continue to be in prayer for the visa, we really can not afford to leave the school right now. Above all we know that God is in control and whatever happens will be fine.

This last week we have really missed Central Christian College of the Bible. They had the Missions Emphasis Week. We dedicated out lives to missions because of MEW. While at CCCB we spent many hours planning MEW, it was the highlight of the semester! If you are interested in CCCB, the tuition pain college, check out their website here.

There are six weeks left in the school year. This week I am teaching on HIV/AIDS in health class. The new teacher for next year made it to Windhoek yesterday. He is a down to earth South African guy, we look forward to getting to know him!

There are some days when we realize working at a school is not what we had in mind when we planned a life on the mission field. Yet, I have seen the hurt a child can suffer, and I know that the Heart of God the FATHER is broken over the children of Katutura. We may not have planted any churches yet, but I have seen a child be transformed from shy, heartbroken, quiet, lonely stranger to a smiling, participating, strong leader. God can change lives, go out and show the love of Christ this week!

Jingle bells Jingle bells!!

Hello!
It is Thursday night here. It is stiflingly hot, and I feel like listening to Christmas music. It is true that I am one of those people. You know, those people who can listen to, and enjoy, Christmas music any time of the year. Today we were discussing how different Christmas would be this year. I think we will still get a nylon (is that what a fake tree is made of?) Christmas tree, and maybe even hang some socks on the wall. This year we will probably eat watermelon, and go to the public pool. This Christmas mood has been brought on by the Christmas play that we are rehearsing for. It really has been a huge blessing and so much fun. I used to lead some dance groups when I was in high school, I always thought it would be part of my future. But then I moved to America, and ya’ll just don’t dance much. I remember the exact day when I finally said “Ok, God, I am not sure why you gave me this desire to dance, I guess that was just a passing thing.” I was pretty sad. Now I am here dancing with our kids, and let me tell you these children take to dancing like fish to water. It has been amazing to see some of the attitude changes in the kids who I am dancing with. God knew all along! 
Now I would like to take this opportunity to officially invite all of you to attend our Christmas extravaganza! There will be hear melting singing, foot stomping dancing, and Hollywood level acting!
Thanks for the prayers! God in moving in Namibia!

Here is a small taste of what we will be doing. I am teaching dances to three groups, this song is for the fourth grade class. They will be playing the super cool wise men. (When Don Stoll was here he helped to pick this song! ) 

What spring looks like in Namibia…

something hilarious…

So the toilet, bathtub, and sink in our house are pretty ridiculous. As you can see from this picture:

  

HA! The set is new! Someone RECENTLY designed this porcelain throne (and matching basin). Our landlord went out to the store, and after looking at all the options they had she picked this set on purpose. We laughed for a long time over this amazing find. Just finding this set at the show was enough for us to declare “the show this year was a success!!!”

“In His name the nations will hope”

Thanks for praying for the kids at CHS! The fifth and sixth grade class (the class is combined) has had a rough few weeks. Some of our kids have terrible home lives, and sometimes they bring their frustrations to school. However, in the last week they really pulled together and their behavior has been great, so as a treat we took them to the pool. It was a fun day! It seems as though the boys especially enjoyed getting to hang out with David, especially when they were wrestling, and he was teaching them so swim. Please keep praying for our children, pray for their broken homes, and broken lives. Pray for the ones that go home to no love and no care. The name of the school is Community Hope, we believe that through loving the kids, and introducing them to Christ, they can bring hope to the whole community. Pray for that!

…and a picture from Etosha.

Quick update…

The weeks have rolled into months, we have been here for over four months already! We are two weeks into the last school term of the year, and boy, has it been a busy two weeks. We have been teaching, attending a class, planning new classes, doing some home visits, and preparing for the Christmas program. The weather has been warming up and we will be having a sweltering African Christmas in no time! I (Sandy) will be teaching the kids some dances for the Christmas play, so right now I am looking for the perfect songs for the program. David will be filming the play, and the Wrights are working with the choir. We have heard that the Christmas play is one of the biggest events of the year, it is an opportunity to reach out to the whole community!
We also have been teaching some extra classes as the 5th and 6th grade teacher has been stuck in Zimbabwe waiting for all his papers. David has been teaching Bible to the fourth grade class, and I have been teaching Bible to the fifth and sixth grade class.
Not a very exciting update I fear, but please keep us in your prayers! Also specifically pray for the other teachers ans staff at CHS as the year draws to a close!

Don was here…

The third and final term of the year is upon us. I think our first Christmas in Namibia will be here before we know it!!
The last few weeks have been quite exciting. Don Stoll, one of our supporters and a dear friend, came to visit us! He stayed with us for almost three weeks, and we had the privileged of sharing Namibia with him.

 We took him up to Etosha game park (a world famous safari destination,) where we had a close call with an angry elephant! We also saw some rhinos!

After that we took him to Opuwo in the North of Namibia, where he met Asser, the preacher at the church that David and Kyle planted in 2002. Asser was greatly touched by Don’s visit. Don gave him a Bible commentary that Don had used when he was a young preacher. It is very uncommon for Himba or Herero men to cry, but I think I may have seen some tears in Asser’s eyes!

I think Don is already planning his next trip to Namibia, so that he can meet with Asser again. He also got to meet John and Suzanne, they hosted a pizza night at their house, and they were busy carving up the meet of an Oryx that John had shot.

While he was here he gave a talk to the kids about his time in Zimbabwe, and how important it is to stay close to Jesus. Don was born to talk to children! They were absolutely hanging on his every word!

It was great having him here. If you know Don make sure to go by and see him so you can hear first hand about all his adventures while he was over here!

“Lanch” party…

After many weeks of work our new website is finally up! Check it out HERE and let us know what you think!