Today we went by Laurence’s shack, where the church had been meeting. You may recall I mentioned in Thursday’s post that sometimes homeowners allow others to build shacks on their property, in return for rent. This is where Laurence, his brother Eric, and their families had been living. After taking some photos, we then went to the new place, where these will be living, and where the church will meet. George will arrange for a sign that will be mounted outside the house, so people can see this is where the church meets.

Old location	New location

This afternoon, Laurence’s other brother Funky was off work and was able to meet with us. Also present were the Chariot drivers Erick & Foster, Eddie from Rundu, Philip, and a neighbor who is also a member of the church — Jeffrey. George demonstrated the use of the flipcharts that we had used this week. They are excited about being able to use these in their own evangelistic efforts. We left two flipcharts with them, and left one with the Chariot drivers.

Room where the church will meet at the new location	George demonstrates the use of the flipchart

Beginning this summer, Harrison will be visiting the Walvis Bay congregation every other month. Harrison is a Malawian who works with George in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and who also worked with us in Rundu during the 2008 campaign. His regular presence will be a great boost to this baby church, and should be the booster shot they need to keep the high spirits and encouragement flowing.

Before we left this afternoon, we sang some songs in English and some in Nyemba. Each of the American men had some words of encouragement for the Namibians. Two of them prayed in their native tongue, and two of our men offered prayers in English. We are excited about the future of this congregation, and look forward to watching the Lord’s harvest in succeeding years.

This will be my last post for this year’s campaign. In the morning, we will meet with the church here for services at 8:30, and by 10:00 we will be on our way to the airport. We look forward to presenting our report to the congregation on Sunday night. See you then!

Milton. Milton came to the Chariot on Wednesday, wanting to study. Jon asked the usual questions, one of which is “Have you been baptized?” Milton said he had. He had, in fact, been baptized by Dimpo on the Chariot’s trip through Walvis Bay last year. He had experienced some trouble in getting the WBS lessons — perhaps postal difficulties or perhaps other, but we promised to get the lessons to him. He wasn’t aware of where the church was meeting, so was very glad to find out the address. Milton came for studies every day, and will be at worship this Sunday.

Jephrey. Jephrey came to our evening service on Wednesday, and returned to the Chariot Thursday afternoon. When I saw him coming our way, I greeted him since I had met him the night before. I asked if he wanted to study, and he did, so we sat down and went through the introductory process of getting his information recorded, asking the standard questions, etc. Turns out Jephrey had been baptized too. Many students say that though, so we try to find out some more particulars. In this case, I asked him when he was baptized and what he remembered about it. He was baptized about a year ago, and he described perfectly the type of baptism described in the Bible. I looked at his Bible, and it was well-worn, marked, and highlighted. I told him I could tell he already believed the things we normally study, so rather than go through the normal study, I asked him if he had any particular questions he’d like to discuss. He did, and he was very pleased with the answers I showed him from Scripture.

One thing Jephrey told me that I’d like to share with you. He said in the past, when he went to church, people didn’t act all that glad to be there. When he came to the Chariot, he said, he saw people who seemed to be genuinely happy to see him, happy to be there, and happy to be with each other. He said this is the type of church he’s looking for. Thursday evening, I introduced him to Laurence, in whose house the church in Walvis Bay meets, and he’s looking forward to attending services there.

We had the day off today, so our count remains at 77 studies and 15 baptisms. We will work a half day tomorrow, meeting some of the neighbors in the neighborhood where the church will begin meeting this Sunday. I’ll publish our last campaign blog post tomorrow afternoon. We leave here Sunday afternoon (5:30 AM Texas time), and will be back home Monday afternoon.

Today was our last day of teaching. We are taking the day off tomorrow, and on Saturday we will be working in the neighborhood where the church meets. The church had been meeting in Laurence’s “house”. What is very common in Walvis Bay is that many houses have additional space in the yard. What they do with this extra room is allow others to build lean-tos, or sometimes free-standing shed-sized buildings, and then charge them rent to live there.

Laurence is one of the brothers here, and had come to Walvis Bay from Rundu to get a job and help start a congregation. The church had been meeting in his shed-house. George and Terry tried with Laurence to get his landlord to give them additional room to allow the church to meet, but being an unbeliever, she was unwilling. We had been praying that we would be able to help them find a better place, and today they finalized a 1-year lease on a larger place. This will be much better, and will give them an address to tell people where the church meets. This gives the church more credibility in the minds of a Bible study student, and is a definite answer to prayer.

Everyone was involved in teaching this week, and everyone has interesting stories to tell. However, I can really relate to Jerry’s situation. On the Rundu campaign of 2007, I seemed to get mostly what I’d call “high maintenance” studies. In 2008, there were even more. On this trip, it seems like this is the only type of study Jerry had.

What I mean by “high maintenance” should not at all give the impression that I believe these studies are a waste of time. I simply mean that in this type of study the teacher puts a great deal of time and effort to answering the type of questions that don’t lead to conversion. These are important questions no doubt — at least to the student they are — but the answers tend not to bring the student any closer to a decision. Jerry was well-suited to teaching this type of student, but it’s a more physically and emotionally draining process than teaching “normal” students. My hat’s off to you Jerry. (Don’t you think he deserves this break?)

All told, we had studies with 77 and baptized 15. Please pray that the church will continue to grow, and that the follow-up with the students will produce an even greater harvest.