Same place 09/01/09 (Dawie J)

The snow is beautiful and ski is a wonderful experience. The snow is very soft: I should know because I fell in it quite often! Ski is my favorite winter sport(rugby is my overall favorite sport.) Yesterday was the last ski day, now we have “rest days”(ski is too expensive to ski every day)

Orcieres , Southern-France 09/01/09 (Chrisna)

You know this rhyme:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall…..
And the king and his men could do nothing!
Problem: they went to the wrong king!

Here’s our rhyme:
Charlie went down a slope at the speed of light
A speed that will give you a fright!
He hit in the snow a hump
He fell and his head got a BUMP.
With this fall he suffered memory loss,
Didn’t even remembered the du Plooys were with us!
Didn’t know we were in France
Although at the snowy mountains he glance.
He had a severe pain in the head
And he was put to bed.
Then we took him to the King,
The King of kings, Who touched him and healed him!!
We praise God!!

Is 35 promise us that He will make us a road where there are no lions. God is faithful.

Orcieres, Southern-France 08/01/09 (Dawie)

I still believe that one of God’s very specific strategies was the family. This is undoubtedly a part of “church” that we have neglected in the past 50 years.
A friend of mine on a question:” How will we change Africa?”, answered:”one by one”
I want to add” family by family”.

As parent I am convinced that I should be more deliberate to invest in my children individually. All 3 boys are so completely different. They need attention in the group, but most definitely also individually.

I am deep under the impression that Chrisna and I have a unique privilege to live so close to Tinus, Charlie and Dawie J for 40 weeks while we are travelling the world. We realize that it brings huge responsibilities as well.

Even in Jesus deepest time of pain and despair He demonstrated the importance of family.(John 19:26-27 :” When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved nearby, he said to His mother, ”Dear woman here is your son” and to the disciple “Here is your mother”. From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”)

Orsieres, France, 5 January 2009 (Dawie)

We spent 3 wonderful days in London, saw many things and places, many people and even for a short while a piece of blue sky! We flew from Heathrow. London to Paris on 3 Jan 09, 06h15. Tinus had the time wrong and we ended up arriving on Heathrow 30 minutes before departure of the plane. Through God’s Grace, although impossible, we still made it to the plane and to Paris!(without Dawie J’s bag – still trusting that British Airway will come deliver it) We had the 1 (very cold day) in Paris and went to Notre Dam, the Eiffel in day time as well as after dark and to the Arc de Triomf. We had time to sit in Coffee shops and share 1 pizza between the 5 of us(if you say x 15, things are SO expensive!)

If you are willing to walk a lot and visit the places where no entry is charged, you can have fantastic days in these 2 world cities! Praise God for good health.

We left Paris at 22h00 per train, went through the night and arrived at Gap, in the south of France at 7h00 on 4 Jan 09, where Piet du Plooy came to fetch us at the station. The past 2 days we spent skiing! What a privilege. Praise God!

Thank you God for who You are, FOR Your Love and Care. I praise you for the way Tinus serve us, could get good deals on the travelling expenses and the great attitudes of the whole family. We celebrated Piet and Ilsjes 17th wedding anniversary on 4/1/09 – so special. Ouma phoned, she’s in Cape Town and doing fine – thank you God for that.
As Namibia and her people is getting ready for 2009, we ask: Please bless them oh Lord, especially You’re soldiers. In the Name of Jesus.

London 31 Dec 08 (Dawie)

We have landed at Gatwick Airport in London and took a train into the city. I stayed with our luggage at a coffee shop while Chrisna took the boys to see Buckingham Palace.

I pray: Oh Heavenly Father, thank you for a country like Namibia, for her special people for Your soldiers in Namibia. Please bless them oh Lord that they will remain faithful in 2009.You have blessed us so much over the past 21 years(that’s how long we have been married) We give you all honour and glory! God, to have an impact in our government, our country’s history , in Africa and the world, we need more fully devoted soldiers. Please raise them!

As 100s and 1000s of people rushed past me in London, I also pray for them. They all look so busy, may they all know you for who you really are. In the Name of Jesus.

On the plane to London, evening of 30 December 2008 (Chrisna)

“You’re gonna do what?!” We’re going on a tour around the world for 9 months.
“How are you’re going to do that?” We have an around the world air ticket.
“But where will you go?” We don’t go to a place, we go around the world.
“WOW!”
That wow means: you’re lucky, you’re mad, what?!, you must love each other, you’ve got guts, you’re blessed. And yes: the wow for us is all of the above.

This conversation took place quite a few times during the past 6 months, that was when we started talking about our trip. I want to assure you that we know we are blessed and we are thankful that we can do this. (during the past 2 months I often thought that we are a little bit crazy as well.) What I do know is: we are in God’s Will , in His Hands and that is the best place to be….

Let me start at the beginning(I’m writing this on the plane to London because there were no time before this, we were focussing on leaving things behind in good hands and planning ahead and packing etc)

The dream started with Dawie about 3 years ago, even before my Dad got sick.” Lets go away for 1 year and that way have 1 extra year with Tinus still with us. It will be a sabbatical(but obviously it will be a working sabbatical) We cannot go if every person does not have a project.” We talked, we prayed, we dreamt – and it went on like that until Dec’07. We had to make a decision. After lots of prayer and talk we decided that we will go, and the wheels were put into action.

Why do we do this? Lots of reasons:
1. God released us and showed that a year away from Namibia is what He has in mind for us.
2. We wanted to thank Tinus for the son he was for the past 18 years. Always serving us, always giving his best and being an excellent example for his 2 brothers. The cherry on the cake was when he was the best grade 12 student in Namibia with 7 distinctions. We give all glory to God.
3. It will give us 1 more year with Tinus in the house without him wasting it.(he asked for it.)
4. We want to show our 3 sons the bigger picture, the world that is their competition. Everything doesn’t stop in Namibia(although it is the best place to be!)
5. We want our sons to see that what ever culture you’re part of, Jesus Christ is the answer.

That’s a few of our reasons. Here is also a few that God showed us along the way what is on His Heart:
6. We had to physically give our dreams(our ministries) back to Him and hand it over to other (very capable) people. We trust God to equip them to drive the vision even better than we can.
7. We need distance (for a while) to see better.
8. God wants to work IN us now more that what He wants to work THROUGH us.
9. He wants to learn us a new and different type of dependency upon Him.
10. He wants to help us to be better servants.(by serving one another for 24 hrs/day, 7 days a week, 9 months of the year.) That’s almost scary, but lets rather say: it’s gonna be challenging.

What I realized in October 2008 was that 2009 will not be a year of Feasts and mountain top experiences and big events, but it will be a year of being faithful in the ordinary things of life! I realized that it will be important to come back to Namibia having an even closer relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

At one stage I was worried that our year will be too busy: moving, packing, new places, always on the run – when God showed me in Is 28 about “Menucha”: resting place, to rest in Him, Peace. I realized that I must make sure that amongst the excitement of it all, to always make time for rest and quietness. God is ready to give me “Menucha”

So yes, it might be a little extra ordinary what we’re doing, but we follow God. We trust Him and will listen to the voice that will speak(Isaiah 30:21). We want to go with His plans. So here we are: GOING!!

We greeted loved ones, friends, soldiers of God’s Kingdom and Namibia. We trust God to come back stronger, wiser, energized and seeing far and clear.

We also trust God to be with my mom. That He will comfort Ouma Himself and through special people who will hug her for us. Thanks Mamma for who you are, what you do and how you love us. We really love you!

May God bless you all as you go into 2009 – for you a new adventure just as much as it is for us. Stay close to Him, listen well and then do whatever He asks. We will do the same.

Remember to live well, love much and laugh often!
Thank you Jesus.