U ha pandula novake

U ha pandula novake, I am told by my friend Lukas is a proverb in the Namibian language of Ohsikwanyama. I means that if you have great and good things done to you and you do not appreciate then, you are bound to steal one day!
This simple proverb is like so many other proverbs in that it seems so simple to begin with and then continues to expand the more you think about it. In this case the relationship between thankfulness and theft. This proverb suggests that our daily exercise of being thankful or not has future consequences for our life. If we are not thankful it leads us on a path to stealing in the future.
But I think that there are more present realities in this proverb. In many ways if we are not thankful for what we are given we are stealing right now. We are appropriating things for ourselves that we did not create and acting like we did. We are acting as if we created all of our wealth and in this way we are really stealing from God.

In this line of though Penny and I want to publicly thank everyone who has supported us up to this point. Before we leave we will publish a list but for now from the bottom of our heart thank you for sharing your gifts with us.

What a Month

Dear Friends,

March went by so quickly and we were busy non-stop. We sold our house in 10 days and had to be out by the 28th. We packed over Holy Week and Easter and moved the week after Easter. Most everything we own is now packed in boxes and stored. We will only be taking clothes our computer and a few books with us when we go. We are now living in a great house on the Elk River until w leave for Birmingham at the end of May and then Namibia at the end of June.

Our last Easter at St. Timothy's was made all them more special by the presence of our family and our friend The Rev. Lukas Katenda. This is a photo of Lukas and I after the Easter service. He saved me this year by preaching the Good Friday and Easter Vigil services. He was incredible. Lukas was featured on the front page of the Athens News Courier on Easter Day in a story written by our friend Vickie Johnston and we were in the "Meet the Neighbors" section the same day. Who says we don't know how to get publicity.

Last night we were hosted at Grace Episcopal Church in Anniston, Alabama. it was a great evening with friends from the Anniston and Jacksonville churches. Today was recieved word of a very generous plege of support from an Episcopal Church in Birmingham. sometime over the next month I plan on putting together a list of the pledges and gifts we have gotten so far. We think it is important to highlight churches that are putting their money and support where their mouth is. "Not only with their lips but in their lives"

We have truly been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and we thank each and every person that has given of their time, talent and treasure to Mission to Namibia.