We're Cruising!

Sondra & Charles - living, breathing gifts from the Father!

Classes are under way! Our friends (the Rosen’s) have their sea legs and are fully cruising with us and enjoying the adventure.  It’s so great to have partners in our mission here.  Each day we hear more stories that touch our hearts in a profound way.  Now that we are beginning to build relationships with our students, we are hearing about serious financial crisis in families, need for eyeglasses, medical care, and school fees for siblings.  Some families have a basic need for food.  Our hearts are moved to compassion and yet, we don’t have the finances to care for all the needs.  Please pray with us that others will open their hearts to give – both locally as well as friends around the world.  As we have slimmed down our personal budget we are able to help some, but it’s just not enough.  It’s another lesson in prayerful perseverance.

The most exciting and rewarding part of our job is welcoming a new believer into the family of God and last week – we welcomed five of our students.  We are rejoicing with the angels and invite you to join the celebration.  Now, we have much work to do as we nurture and disciple.  One question we hear and see in their eyes, “If God loves us so much – why are we suffering?”  We need wisdom as we counsel these precious new family members. 

Thank you for your support and prayers!  We are able to do what we do - because of your continued support!  We pray God blesses YOU!  We can't thank you enough.

One by one

Ernesto has been in our home many times.  We first met him about 3 years ago.  He was introduced to us as a young man who works with the game drives.  Over chips and cool drink we listened to his story.  He is the oldest in his family and there is a strong pressure for him to contribute financial to the struggling family.  I've never heard him talk about his father, but he does mention his mother and sisters.  Ernesto described his job with the game drive company as very risky.  He was injured more than once by animals which were being herded into trucks for transport to game reserves.  This born and raised Namibian expressed his fear and respect for the wild animals he captured and helped transport.  He shared that he was studying and practicing so that he could get his drivers license and drive the trucks, which would grant him more pay and less risk.  For the past two years he tried and failed, until finally after much encouragment - he passed his drivers test, however the game company did not grant him a driver position.  When he talked with Tony, he sounded desperate to find another job.  Tony then contacted friends of ours who own a local paint company and asked if Ernesto could come in for an interview.  After completing the application process, he was hired and is happy now to have such a good job with a good, reliable, growing company.  He drives truck delivering paint to the various locations throughout Namibia, and enjoys his work.  His big smile is genuine!  Thank you for all your partner support, because we were able to help Ernesto through some very dry financial seasons as he struggled to find stable employment.  He expresses his thanks too.

Training Begins Again

New Students

One out of these five was selected. Very difficult to choose.

We have just begun our third training. On Tuesday the 6^th of September we handed out 27 applications and we had 23 return the applications. We invited all 23 to come back for interviews and as we sat with each one and talked to them our hearts were moved and we wanted to invite them all back to be a part of the program. We sat with our friends from the States, Charles and Sondra, and reviewed the applications and had the difficult task of deciding which ones would participate. Having to choose ten was just too hard and in the end we accepted eleven into the program.

The program began on September 13^th and will run for twelve weeks. We have four men and seven women this time and we are already very excited about this group. We now have the next twelve weeks to work with these eleven young people - to help them develop and grow – in personal character as well as practical skills which will help them find work. We look forward to the coming weeks to share with you how these young people are progressing.

We recently had friends from Germany visit us. We had met them last year while they were visiting Namibia and told them about our idea of starting a café and they got involved and began helping raise awareness in Germany for the program and they helped raise funds allowing us to purchase laptops which we use in the program and equipment that we needed in the café. It was nice having them visit because they could sit with some of the young men and women who have completed the program and hear directly from them how the program has helped them.

One thing we are being asked is how successful is the program so far. I have to say that I have wrestled with this question because how does one define success? My definition will be different than yours so how can I measure the success of the program to say it is good or bad. I can say that we have successfully completed two trainings so far. We had 5 out of 11 complete the first program and we had 9 out of 10 complete the second program. Of the 14 who have completed the program all are working fulltime. Six are working for us as the Café, five are working at Clowsa Biltong, one is working for NamGem and one is working at a restaurant on the coast. The Café has gained a very good reputation in the community for great service, great food and a great setting. We successfully hosted a private luncheon for the First Lady of Namibian and 124 guests. These are all things that people like to hear about and we are happy to share. I come back to the question: “What is success?” Who am I to determine what it is and how it should be measured.

Catherine and I have been called here by God to this work so for us our success will be measured by Him when we get to heaven and we can hear Him say well done good and faithful servant. Our hope is that our friends, family and partners will be happy with what we are able to share. We will make every effort to show how things are going by sharing stories and testimonies from those who have completed the program and from those in the program. The success of this program is largely because so many wonderful people have heard about this mission of hope and have caught the vision and chosen to participate with us.  Together, we have seen lives changed and transformed – from hopeless to confident, from despairing to motivated.  We call that SUCCESS!

The Swinging door

Ulrich on his last day

Our door welcomes many young people who have found themselves at the bottom of the hope barrell.  They have no prospect for further education or job opportunities.  Then we invite them to join us at YDM - Youth Discipleship and Mentoring.  Ulrich was one of the first to enter our program almost one year ago now.  He told us later that he only came to encourage his brother, but didn't expect that there would be any hope for him personally.  Not only did he complete the program with top marks and high recommendation, but we hired him here at the cafe.  That's how highly we think of this young man.  Just recently he was offered a full time job in a very good company, where he will have opportunity for advancement.  It's always difficult to say goodbye, but isn't this the reason we came?  To bring hope and tools to gain a more successful future.  So, it is with blessings that we said goodbye to Ulrich and pray the Lord continue to show Him favor and prosperity in his family and career.