Twenty Years Later …

2011 Visit to Namibia

This week we received a letter from our dear friends Helmuth and Niina Garoeb from Namibia who reminded us of a wonderful experience we had twenty years ago and the subsequent fruit. Helmuth was a student involved in our ministry at the University of Durban Westville until 1997, where he studied geology.

In 1998, with Helmuth as our in-country organiser, we led a team with participants from Finland, South Africa and Swaziland  for three weeks in Windhoek to launch Campus Crusade for Christ Namibia at the University of Namibia. Niina was a Finnish exchange student at the time and volunteered with us.

Looking back, we hardly knew what we were doing, however, it was a great opportunity to see God at work. Now twenty years later, Helmuth has been a part of it all from volunteer to board member to joining as missionary (13 years ago) with Niina also in the mix for most of this time.

Helmuth and Niina look back at some of the things God has done the past twenty years:
“We want to thank God for His continuous faithfulness. We do not even know all the stories of what God has done and continues to do in people’s lives but here are some things that we can praise God for:

• All the main campuses in Windhoek (plus Ondangwa, Rundu and Katima Mulilo) have (had) student movements of evangelism and discipleship.
• Jesus Film teams travelled all over Namibia, visiting villages and local churches. Now local pastors become Jesus Film partners to do the work in their local communities.
• The Jesus Film has been recorded (lip sync) into Kwanyama, Otjiherero and Khoekhoegowab.
• The “Knowing God Personally” track has been translated into Kwanyama, Afrikaans and Otjiherero.
• The “Walking with Jesus” follow-up DVD-series has been recorded in Kwanyama.
• We currently have six full time staff, two interns, two salaried staff and dozens of volunteers.
• The national office was built with local resources and all current staff are locally hired.
• We work in collaboration with several local churches and some other Christian organisations.
• And the work continues… there are many who still are to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ!”

Wow! THANK YOU for partnering with us in this part of God’s work and mission in Namibia. Little could we have known that a student project in September 1998 would spark such a movement of God.

Continue to pray for Helmuth, Niina and our other missionaries working in Namibia. Also pray for the teams that have recently left to start ministries in countries we can not even mention. Pray that the fruit we have seen in Namibia will also be true for these countries!