Australia – 7 April 2009 (Chrisna)

They are real! That is kangaroos and koalas, they are real and I saw both today! It was so amazing – I praise God that He made them and I could see them and not only a picture of them. There are so many animals and birds in Australia that you do not find elsewhere. I think God enjoyed every moment while creating so many different animals and birds and plants and mountains and seas! We serve the Almighty God! I am so grateful that we as a family may see so much of that diversity in a 9 month period – I am so grateful…

This is me and Charlie. (Charlie is the koala, the only one that was not in his own house, but sleeping outside!) You will see a mix of amazement and longing(for the real Charlie)

We've been in Australia now for 12 days, mate, and it's been a real blessing, (but I think I said this of every other place we've been to so far!) We were 2 days in Sydney – long enough to be spoiled with a barbeque at our home exchange house and to visit Hillsong Church (what a blessing both events) and then for 5 days down south to a small coastal town, Culburra Beach.

Our neighbor welcomed us with a shepherd's pie – may God bless her. We saw rainforests of eucalyptus trees and waterfalls and the most spectacular sea sides.

And we saw 1 kangaroo in the wild (those today were in a wildlife park, but not in cages. I do not like zoos at all, but today's outing I will do again)

We came back to Sydney over the weekend and again visited Hillsong. God's Holiness struck me once again. He is Awesome and I really love Him! We've managed to change our plane tickets to fly to New Zeeland only on Monday i.s.o Saturday. That way we can attend ALL the services and celebrations at Hillsongs over Easter. As in Singapore, they really put a lot of emphasis on this important event, and use it to reach the Lost. I do pray that in Namibia this can also be true. (But using this wonderful long weekend to get away, will be a hard habit to break)

After church on Sunday, we walked over the Harbor bridge, went to the Sydney opera house (the one we always see on pictures and now could take our own picture of!) and we went on a ferry ride. Sundays they have a family pass on all the public transport – you can take trains, busses and ferries as many as you like, for 25% of the price of a normal ticket. (it's no secret that we go for all the "specials", discounts and real "value for money" – that way we can experience the place where we are and we stay within our budget ) I had to remind myself, like today, that this is real. It's not "just a dream". It was as if I realized once again how privileged we are. I am so grateful… (I was actually sad to leave Singapore, I enjoyed it so much there, and here God is giving us a totally new and different experience. Yes, I am really grateful)

Our house is next to the Woronora River. Dawie J goes kayaking daily. I sit on the side of the river to watch him. I am the lifeguard – I pray that he will come out of the river safely and will not need me, because the water is too COLD! God granted me my request every time. Yesterday, after the kayak time, Dawie J and I made a list of all the things that we can give thanks for, just for the past 1 hour. It was amazing – we could just go on and on. We realized once again how many "thank you's" there are in every moment of life. We must just see them, they are there!

Another fact that I was reminded about once again, was the importance of every moment. It's not only the big events or the mountain top experiences that make life special, but it is the every moment. How does my moment look like? What do I think, do, say? God's gift for me is the present – I must, no, I want to live for His Glory!

It is so special to have this time with my family. It's a blessing to be able to focus on them, serve them and be with them. Of course I miss Charlie (I don't mean the koala this time), but I know he is well cared for, and now is the time to give all attention to my other 3 men. We really love being together and experiencing everything together. It's as if this time is "bonus time". I really enjoy sharing life with Tinus and Dawie J and Dawie, the love of my life, and am looking forward to Charlie returning soon. Thank you, God, for these men.

Thank you for every person praying for my mother. She is doing great. She received radiation therapy and there is no pain in her back anymore. All other tests she went through also revealed that there is no cancer in any other organ. We firmly believe that when a repeat bone scan will be done in May, it will be clean. That I say in the Name of Jesus.

Before I sign off, there is one more blessing I want to share. This blog I am writing, I'm writing on my own small little laptop! Dawie bought me a laptop, now I can read and write and (hopefully) be creative at any time! This is the first ever personal computer, (or any high tech something) excluding my cell phone, I have ever owned! This is so wonderful. I think I am grown up now..? What do you think, mate?

Bottom-line and summary of this post: I am so grateful! Praise the Lord!

Singapore 27 March 09 (Dawie)

For years now I have had this desire to compare Namibia on a number of selected criteria with a few other countries. In discussions with friends in business, church and government circles we reflected that good comparable countries will be Switzerland, Botswana and Singapore. I have visited Botswana years ago and spent seven weeks in the other two on this trip. Those who know me well, can witness that I am extremely passionate and loyal to Namibia and her people! But…there is so much room for improvement.

In my previous blog, I already suggested that business, government and church leaders can do so much more in our country. I pleaded that we , as leaders, should let more things happen!

In a certain sense this tour is giving me so much hope in what is achievable, but for the first time ever I doubt if my dreams for our country are realistic ...we are, in many instances, just so far behind. (But, as a dear friend recently pointed out, dreams are by definition unrealistic. We only need to make sure they are in line with God's picture of the future.)

As with many challenges the place to start is in a different "way of thinking"

The church should earnestly seek God's presence and His holiness. Fear (reverence) for Him and His righteousness should return…and we, as church, should play a life changing role in the challenges (poverty mindset, passivity, idolatry, immorality, lack of integrity, etc). The market place (government and business) should completely rethink the way in which we are going to create wealth, approach technology, demonstrate our integrity and unity. Yes, I know for many, these will just be empty words, especially if it is not explained in detail with practical accompanied examples. For the time being I think I should leave these "empty words" there and just tell you what I, due to personal experience, appreciated about Singapore.

* Their extremely efficient and professional airport, harbor and public transport system

* Their highly affordable and effective internet connections.

* Their positive approach towards technology , skills and development.

* Their hundreds of well looked after public parks (gardens) and the cleanness of the city

* The way in which they embrace their vast diversity (cultural and religion)

* The way in which government, business and church make lots of money in a country with no natural resources

* Their hunger for more knowledge, professionalism, quality and improvement

* Their high levels of integrity and respect for God, fellow human beings and God's creation

* The high priority they connect to the family as a unit (their families are small because they only have children when they can afford them).

* Their ability to work extremely hard ( long, fast and effective)

* Their good habits ( not addicted to TV, sport, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, etc.)

* The hundreds of people being saved every Sunday (where after they immediately form part of small discipleship groups)

These are just a few things that I appreciate about Singapore after we stayed here for a month. No wonder the country is prospering...no wonder the whole country is literally been build up and developed in one generation...no wonder Tinus said he would love to come back and study here...no wonder Chrisna is saying that to come and stay here will not even be out of our comfort zone.

So what am I saying...

" I think God called me to go back to Africa"

Ps If there are volunteers who will help with that comparrison study please let me know.

Singapore - 23 March 2009 (Chrisna)

God is good! What a privilege to know Him, to serve Him, to walk my walk with Him. How empty a life without Him will be, a life devoted to things is surely like a dead tree, a stump...

Being on this world tour, has slowed me down. I know I said it before, but I want to confirm that it still is true. Now there is more time to sit at His feet, longer, quieter,open to His voice. I've come to realize once again that the primary purpose for this journey is for what God wants to do IN me. He continues to lift up a mirror, to reveal those parts that does not look like Jesus and kindly take whatever I repent and throw off. He is gracious and slow to anger, He is patient and gentle, full of loving kindness. This however does not mean that I can ignore the truths concerning myself that He shows me, because He also expects obedience, submission and change of behavior. The wonderful thing is also that I get more than enough opportunities to practice whatever choices I made!

Saturday evening, like the 3 before, we went to church. What a blessing once again! As we sang together with 8000 Singaporeans, I was overwhelmed by realizing that we are Chinese, Indian, Western people, all with different cultures, worshipping one God, the one and only Living God and that gives purpose and a unifying factor to us. We sang "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord" and as we sang I sensed the Spirit telling me: "Be Holy, as I am Holy". That is the end result that He wants to see. He wants us to be Holy. He also gives us the Holy Spirit - who is Holy- to live inside of us and help us to be holy. God surely does not want us to play "Christian". He longs to see the fruit (of us being His children) in our lives, in our behavior, in our thoughts and in our words.

God, please help me to be holy as you are holy!

We also sang: God is the giver of life, God is the Healer. That was clear confirmation that God will touch my mother and heal her completely. 5 Days after she returned home from her visit with us, it was discovered that there is cancer in her spine. She started with radiation therapy today.
We praise God for the Peace that is within her heart. We will be praying, waiting and evaluating whether I need to go to her in Windhoek or not. We trust God that He will guide us. Thank you for every person who is helping her and praying with us. God is good and in control!

The 4 Fouries left here, had a special time of prayer last night. There is so many pain and needs out there, but we know that God's ear will hear and His arm is not too short to help!

The time here in Singapore surely is a special time. God is so faithful. He always meets us in our individual place of need. So I want to declare once again: As for me and my family - we will serve the Lord.

The Church is the hope of the world –Singapore - 16 March 09 (Dawie)

When we arrived in Singapore I asked the Lord to direct as to a Spirit led Church. I was tired after two months of travel in Europe only visiting churches as museums and not representatives of the risen Christ. Paul said to Timothy to stay away from those who have "a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Tim 3:5)

I visited the websites of various different churches, but this story caught my attention:

(I made a copy of it for you from the website…you can read so much more on the website yourselves)

"THE CITY HARVEST STORY

The Call of God In 1989, Kong felt the call of God to enter into full-time Christian service. Kong had, by then, graduated with a degree in Computer Science from the National University of Singapore and was working for a publishing house. Having held several small, but successful, evangelistic campaigns in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, Kong wanted to become an itinerant evangelist to assist the churches in Southeast Asia. In April that year, he left the Anglican church he was attending since he was a child and set out to become a staff evangelist with "Christ for Asia," a Singapore-based missions organization. The Birth of CHC After leaving his local congregation and embarking on a walk of faith in the mission field, a group of young people that Kong had previously ministered to gathered around him. They wanted him to be their shepherd, to pastor and lead them. With the support and encouragement of numerous senior pastors in the city, Kong decided to pioneer a new work, and hence, put aside his desire of becoming a traveling minister. Today, City Harvest Church has more than 25,000 attendees in its weekend services and is still steadily growing. Locally, the church has 36 ministries for its members to volunteer actively in. Overseas, CHC has 27 affiliate churches and 10 Bible schools in the Far East. The Malaysian Harvest Fellowship Kong co-founded has another 17 affiliate churches in East and West Malaysia. In 2001, CHC built a 2,300-seater, titanium-clad church complex in Jurong West Street 91 for S$48,000,000. Apart from that, it has offices and schools in five different locations. CHC is effectively a multi-site church with worship services at multiple sites, conducted at various times. Its main English language services are held every Saturday and Sunday at the 8,100-seater Singapore Expo Hall 8. The Vision of Our Pastor Kong is known throughout Asia as a dynamic speaker, communicating the message of faith in a very relevant and contemporary way. He has a strong vision to train 21st century leaders who would plant strong local churches everywhere in Asia. Each week, his half-hour television program "Harvest Time" is broadcasted many times in 145 countries through 13 television networks. With effect from 1 November 2005, Kong has asked to be taken off the church payroll indefinitely. He is now officially a pastor strictly on an honorary and volunteer basis. These days, he travels around the world as an entrepreneur, educator and conference speaker."

For the past two weeks we had the privilege to visit the City Harvest Church, three times, here in Singapore. Let me just highlight a few aspects we have learned from the church: Kong Hee founded the church with a few youngsters in 1989 Their current membership is more than 25 000 people Just less than a 1 000 active small groups are functional On weekends up to 50 000 people attend their services Their yearly income from donations are more than N$200 million They have more than N$180 million in the bank They spend more than 50% of their total income on ministries "to the outside" More than 1000 people are in the process of signing up for their yearly Bible School (extensive discipleship training) In 2008 they recorded more than 10 000 new (from the street) salvations They currently focus (as I see it) on spirit led weekend services, small group participation, strong families, discipleship, leadership development, cultural diversity, being relevant in a recession and a technical world, being involved in the need around them and to fulfill the great commission Their weekend services are well planned, transferring lots of biblical knowledge and the application thereof, strongly supported by drama, music, technical (audio, video, DVD), worship and fellowship. What can I add? They are not playing church. They ARE church..and they are changing lives and impacting their city and country.To Jesus all honour and glory. Bill Hybels said: "there is nothing like the local church ,if the local church is working right!" But then the local church should work right! Paul said in 1 Cor 4:20 "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power" Leadership and to see God's glory shine in Namibia and Africa is my passion, but every time when I see the local church that is working well (or not),something strange is happening in my deep inner being…some day , maybe some day….

Amazing Singapore - 16/3/09 (Dawie J)

Singapore is probably one of the nicest places we've been so far.Why I say this: The people are kind and it feels as if your'e in a rainforest. Also because Ouma came to visit.

We go to swim everyday, because there is a big pool near our apartment. Even my mother swims!

With all the sightseeing and mall-crawling, it is a very nice place to be. Ouma went everywhere we went. Although I do not like shopping, walking in all the different malls is quite an experience.

We've also been to Sentosa. It is an island attached to Singapore. We went there by cable car, even my grandmother.(the last time she went on a cable car, was when she was in grade 5, and she is now 72!) Me and my 2 brothers went on the Sentosa luges, it was great fun! We also visited the beach and ate Singaporean food. I liked the food very much. We also went to the Merlion. We went back by train.

2 Other places we visited were China Town and Little India. It is different than the rest of Singapore: it is dirty and there is small, cheap shops.

We live on the 6th floor of a 23 storey apartment building. The treetops are higher than our windows! It rains a lot! Without Singapores good water drainage system, it would have been flooded many years ago.

It was sad when Charlie and Ouma left us. It was really nice to see Ouma again.

One big choice I have made recently, was to give thanks in everything. Also to buy a book, instead of a controller(for a computer game) I read often.

Singapore - 15 March 2009 (Chrisna)

It's 2 weeks since we've arrived in Singapore. It was a blessed 2 weeks.

Singapore is for sure the cleanest, and I think safest city/country there is. This is the result of a government implementing rules and regulations, fines and education on not littering and keeping crime at the lowest possible rate. Even chewing gum is against the law. The wonderful site of NO moving, chewing jaws ! (I know of a few Namibians that will suffer not being able to do the futile chewing passtime!) I realized once again that we must put more effort in educating our people in not littering, it is not something that comes naturally for many people.

This is also a city, like London and Paris, where one gets along easily with public transport (buses, trains and taxis). The only difference here is that it is clean. We are pro's by now by knowing the best routes to almost any place in this city, which is also the country. A big benefit of this transport is that we have to walk a lot. The departure point is never from your front door step! We really follow the rule of healthy living by "adding steps to your day". We also excercize daily by walking in the park next to our apartment building(block of flats) . During such an outing one loses at least 1 litre of sweat, not because the excercize was so vigorous, but because of the heat.
After the walk , we take a refreshing swim, even me(who almost never swims back home).

The city planners took a lot of effort to create open spaces, parks and playfields, which is wonderful as there are thousands of apartment buildings everywhere. There are also more malls in Singapore than churches in Rehoboth- and you know how many there are!! People shop as a way of living, shopaholics originated here. Everything is also very expensive, except for eating out at the local foodcourts. These are big halls where there are different foodstalls (all with local food) and tables and chairs to sit and eat. Singaporeans eat out as a way of life, because these places are so cheap. We are brave and comfortable in eating (some) of the local food, which is RICE /noodles with something on top of it. I must admit that we have not tried the pig intestines yet!

The good news is that I still make most of our meals, although it is challenging. This time we do not have an oven. We have a rice steamer, a gas stove and microwave. The supermarkets also do not have many "western" food. We eat rice with chicken,noodles with chicken and if we want variety: potato with chicken!
(a note for any one back home who want to treat Charlie: give him MEAT, not chicken!)

This is also the first place on our tour where we go to church and God is there!(we went to many churches -where God went in with us, where people go just to see what the inside look like, but here people enter to have a meeting with God.) Oh what a blessing it's been to attend a service, praise and worship with fellow believers and get a very good Wordbased message. Also a blessing to see it is people who look different, who has a different culture and habits, but we are one body, brothers and sisters because we worship One Living God. Our housechurch was always very special, but this is God really spoiling us. We attend the City Harvest Church together with 9000 other people in 1 service. They have 4 such services on a week end.

My blog is getting too long now, but I do not have the computor often,so while I have, I'm using it! Feel free to continue reading later.

Last Sunday was a very special day. It was Charlie's 15 birthday and My mom arrived the previous evening for a short visit and We were invited to a barbeque with the Prins's and other friends of theirs and We ate lamb for the first time since 30 December. It was a special day!

The braai was in a public park next to the seaside. The sun was shining and a breeze helped to break the heat. The people we met are wonderful people living in Singapore, all Christians. It always amazes me that although we are strangers,we start on the same page because we have the same Father! A blessing for the children was ... a rugbyball! They had great fun playing rugby with teams of all shapes and sizes. Charlie, being the birthday boy, had a Singaporean party! They sang to him in English and Mandarin. We all really enjoyed the day and say "Thank you" to our special friends. It was great!!

Back home we had our own celebration with Charlie. Dawie J baked a chocolate cake and we had chips and cookies. We prayed for Charlie and praised God for his life. 13,5 years ago he drowned and was dead, but God gave him back to us. We will continue to praise God for that and are grateful that Charlie's life glorifies God!

On Wednesday Charlie flew back to Windhoek for 2 months. This was what God showed Charlie during October 2008. It was hard to say goodbey to him, but we know God has a plan. We also know that no pain is wasted pain for the Lord. We all must just be faithful during these 2 months of seperation and God's Goodness and bigger plan will unfold.

My mom's visit of 1 week was also a true blessing. You can imagine how she spoiled us all. There were sweets and cake to eat, there were cooldrink to drink and we even visited Pizza Hut for pizzas! We went all over to do site seeing, that way not only us, but Ouma and Charlie could experience Singapore with us. We, Ouma included,walked many kilometres . We did a lot of talking and sharing, enjoying being together. She left yesterday. Praise God that she had a mission leaving us: to take care of Charlie for the next 2 months.

We've sent 35kg of clothing and books back to Windhoek with the 2 of them. It is all our winterclothes and even summer clothes as well. We realized that we do not need that many clothes. We actually need so much less than what we have...

And then there were 4... That is where we are now. But the 4 of us are 100% sure that it is not time to go back yet, not time to end this journey. We will miss them, but go full out,listening and following where God is taking us. Learning what He wants to teach us. Enjoying, knowing how blessed we are.

Leadership lessons - 9 March - Dawie

The African Leadership Institute asked me to comment on what this trip has taught me thus far in its most recent newsletter. This was my reply…

What the Founder learns about leadership while travelling the world.

I am grateful towards my board who allows my family and me to travel the world. We saw and experienced London, France, Switzerland, Germany, Phuket and Singapore.

We visited churches, businesses, museums, resource centers, leaders and local citizens...asked questions, observed, read, prayed and meditated.

What have I learned so far? So much, but let me try to summarise:

• Great things take time, deliberate planning, focus, courage and endurance
  
• Expertise and sound finances are needed to make a difference
  
• Without good leadership and hard work, worthwhile legacies will not be created
  
• Following Jesus' example and character was prosperous for many nations
  
• A healthy family foundation remains non-negotiable for any country
  
• Working together in teams speeds up development
  
• Political stability is a precious necessity for growth
  

The world is in a growing recession and times are changing very quickly. Therefore, more well equipped and integrous leaders are necessary. I was amazed and blessed to realise that our curriculum is timely and relevant to equip leaders to transform Africa.

Lastly, I encourage you all to appreciate and pray for our government. There is so much about them to be thankful for. But, I wish to boldly state that we as leaders in Namibian (government, business and church) should let much more happen to ensure ongoing growth and the fulfillment of the great commission.