Preparing to leave the Xhosa tribe...

For those of you who don't know, Gene and Janice (the missionaries Jonathan is serving with) are required to leave the Xhosa tribe the end of May, due to the expiration of visas.

Jonathan is planning on leaving with them, however, will be travelling on to Nambia where he will assist other missionaries as they prepare to open an ophanage.

Following is a recent update from Jonathan about their farewell party:

"We had a big celebration as a thankyou -good bye and invited every one.
 Not everyone came, only aprox 300, but serving that many definitely kept
 us on our toes.
 Monday a bunch of Mamas came to help with preparing the food and Tatas
 helped with slaughtering the ox.
 The next day was when the crowd came starting at 8am. We didn't know how
 many would come but God made the food stretch and everyone went away full
 with still a pot left over.  About 40 came back today for clean up of the
 property and the left over meat.
 The whole thing didn't go quite as we hoped it would. A bunch of
 people came up from the mission (some invited and others not) and tried to
 treat it like a revival meeting which is exactly what Gene didn't want. So
 he had to talk to some of them, then it went a little better.
 But even with the little things the enemy tried to throw in, it was a
 good day.
 The weather was perfect ,the food was more than enough, and the people
 enjoyed it.
 Its funny how we have our plans, and God has his which in the end is
 always the best.

 Yes, plans are on for Namibia
 Just last week we got it all planned out.
 Gene and Janice and I are going to be leaving from East London  on Sun May
 27 by train. That is almost a 24hr ride to Jo-burg (ariving 10:30am) where
 we will part. Gene and Janice will have a few hrs to get to the airport
 (on their way to Turkey)
 And I will have the day to spend in Jo-burg to see around and find a place
 to spend the night (a backpackers place).
 The next morning Tues May 29 at 7:00am I will get a bus (intercape bus
 lines) on my way to Windhoek Namibia there is one 1/2hr lay over in
 Aptington where I change buses.
 Lord willing I should be ariving in Windhoek at 5:25am Wed May 30 where
 the Knightlys will pick me up.
 And I'll be staying with them at their place at Okahandja for a few days
 till I can get a ride with someone they know (maybe them) up to Oshakati
 which is another 8hr.

 There is going to be a lot of traveling for me in four days but I am
 looking forward to it.
 In the train the three of us booked a sleeper with three beds. I am
 looking forward to going with them and I am planning on only taking my
 backpack and Gene and Janice are taking everything so I get to be a bag
 boy for them(-:

 On the bus when I get to the border of Namibia I am told I will be able to
 get a three month visa with out problem.
 Which I am only able to use two of those months so I have time to get back
 to East London (hopefully going through Cape Town for some different
 scenery) where I will catch my plane back to CANADA on Fri Aug 17.

I'll arrive in TORONTO Saturday Aug 18 where I'm hoping someone will
 pick up a strange looking guy with a saddle.

 So as of now those are my plans.

 Both Lucas and Pumla are having a hard time with us leaving they can see
 it for the best but its like taking a family apart not knowing if
 they will ever see any of them again.
 If you think about it they could use some prayer as they adjust to
 their new life and that the people will still except them once we are
 gone.

 Well got some more emails to read and answer. Every one is leaving till
 Saturday for East London and I'll be here by myself with out the
 blackberry so I'm trying to quick do some stuff before they take it.
 Guess what.... there's only 108 days left till touch down!

 Miss you soooooo much

 Love you,
 Jonathan

Serving alongside the nationals

Cheasman, the one guy we work with has been trying to build a new rondoval ever since I got here. He would start building then the rains would come and the mud walls would just fall down again.

Well, we have just got through the dry spell and he got the walls up and the poles on the roof and then Thursday morning we cound see the clouds coming.

Gene, Lucas, and I were talking about it before breakfast. After our devotions and prayer I felt that I should go help him put the elachy (sticks that hold the poles together) on. Even though I knew we would probably be working in the rain and then I would have to walk 1hr home in the rain.

So within five minutes my plans were changed. Gene was going into town before the rain came so he could take me part way, so I grabbed my hammer and all the tarps we had, and we were gone.
While we were driving it started to rain just enough to turn the roads into mud and it took a couple of trys to get up the one hill.

Just as I got to Cheasmens the sky cleared right above us and stayed that way the whole time we worked. There were two other friends of his helping. We got all the walls covered with tarps and the elachy on in four hrs. We were only done for ten min. and it was like the sky opened up.

He was so thankful, that they slaughtered a chicken and insisted that I stay for lunch. I was back to his place yesterday and it's still standing!
It felt so good to help him out like that, even though I had to walk home in the mud and rain - it was worth it.

So that's been my excitment for the week, other than yesterday we went on another long ride and spent nine hrs in the saddle. But I won't go into that now.

I had my first guests!

Right now Brian and his daughter Jenny (friends of Gene's from the US) are
here so I am hosting my first guests in my new house! It's fun having them
here. This morning Lucas and I took the two of them out on the horses to
give some injections. I love taking people for horse back rides when they
have next to no idea what they're doing, but by the end they were both
getting a lot more comfortable and even got the horses into a gallop for
a ways.

Let me know when you're in the area! I'll take you out for a ride!

New News from South Africa!

Here's the latest from our missionary...Jonathan! We hadn't heard from him in awhile, so here's the scoop!

From Jonathan:
We have had some cooler
weather here! 15c which has been so nice to finish up some work out side.
We are now done with all the cement now and just have painting left! Its all
coming together and it's exciting.

All my bruises are healed up from the horse kick. And we are all are having
good health. Gene has the occasional head ache but that's about it.

Nesi is doing great .Every time I ride her I can tell she is getting
stronger. Yesterday Lucas, Cheasman and I were gone for 14hrs. From dawn to
dusk. It was to a new territory that none of has ever been but there was a
man that organized men who were wanting injections for
 their cattle. We did 200 injections and ran out of medicine so we'll have
to go back some time. We have been praying that God would open a door for us
to go to this comunity for some time now and here a man
came to our door inviting us. There's not much the enemy can do if we are
invited to come, and it happend so smooth that they didn't know we were
coming.

Gene had a dream some time ago. Him ,Jan, and Lucas went into a prison
through the back door to install toilet paper dispensers. When the officials
saw them they questioned them and then let them in to talk with all the
prisoners. While inside they saw another Christian team
coming the the fromt door and were refused entrance.

This is how yesterday went. We came in the back door,(a small path winding
through the woods up and down cliffs- sometimes we duck to get under
branches while other times we are looking directly down a cliff)
and did something so pratical that those guarding the area would never
suspect what we are doing. (the spiritual realm would not attack some simple
people on horses doing something like giving injections to cattle, and the
end result, we were able to pray with some of the guys
and they invited us back). If we would have tried to do a big revival
meeting or something and walk in the front door like the christians trying
to get in the prison we would have come up against many obsticals.

Ya so that's how things are here - every day getting more exciting.

Thanks for praying!

PRAISE THE LORD! Please keep praying!

Hey! I needed to tell you just how God has blessed our New Year already!

It didn't start out so well...
Sunday morning our neighbor died. She was very old.

Well, to make a long story short,

That evening, while sitting with all the mourning family and others from
in the area, Gene ended up asking the men "how Jesus came for the good or the bad."
Now, remember, the men have had no interest in the Bible. This question
God used to stir the men.

They thought this was the greatest and started getting excited! And the
leader of their clan said
"We want to know more about God, but just
need someone to tell us"

Praise God!!! This is exactly what Gene and Janice have been waiting for
the past 3 years!!!

We have not had a chance to meet with them yet.

Please pray that the men will continue with their excitement and that we
will have the words to say when the time comes.

I'll keep you posted!