Christmas 2011

The Halls at the top of Table Mountain with Cape Town and the Atlantic ocean in the background.

“A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees, oh, hear the angel voices,

O night divine, o night when Christ was born! ...”

Dear friends,

This year we’ve asked each member of the family to share with you one or two highlight of this very eventful year, as well as something they like about Christmas.

Rachel (13 yrs): “The beach holiday in South Africa was one of my highlights, especially seeing whales, dolphins and seals. And collecting hundreds of beautiful shells.  As a birthday present I also got to pet some baby cheetahs at a Wildlife Farm.”

“I love that we can be with family and friends at Christmas to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Thinking up and making gifts to give to my family and friends. Christmas carol cd’s that are on all the time, and Christmas movies.”

Acacia (10): “Something I really liked about this year is all my new friends at the school in Denmark, where we went for three months, and getting to have play-dates with most of the girls in my class. And being in a really cool summer-house for 4 days with all our cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. There was a small pool outside, a Jacuzzi and sauna inside, and we could walk down to the beach.”

“I love the Christmas music that you can worship with, and baking Christmas cookies and making Christmas cards. And all the decorations and the Christmas tree.”

Mikaela (8): “One of my favorite things this year from America, was to go ice-skating with my grandma and grandpa in Portland, because I had never tried that before. It was a bit hard in the beginning, but then I got quite good at it. And to go snow sledding in the mountains in Idaho was so much fun too. Even though I was born in Denmark on a snowy winter day, I  could not remember ever seeing  snow before.”

“My favorite part of Christmas is that we give gifts because Jesus was a gift for us. I like the Christmas tree, how there is an angel or a star at the top. I got to decorate most of our tree this year. And I love the full stockings on Christmas morning.”

Naomi:  “My favorite thing is that I had my birthday. I’m 5 now! I had a butterfly cake, lots of presents, and ice cream, and all the kids got to swim in our pool – it’s not too deep, I can touch the bottom. And I can swim now, all by myself!”

“I love Christmas!!! - Why?  - Just because! …  Because I like to pull things out of the stocking, and I like the tree, and the beautiful manger scene that daddy’s grandma made a long time ago.”

Jette: “I think that aside from being with family in USA and Denmark again after four years, one of my highlights was how my family spoiled me on my birthday. We were at the beach flat in South Africa. They brought me tea in bed before fixing a nice pancake breakfast. My husband took me out on a lunch-date, and I got to walk on the beach at sunset with him too. Then the girls prepared a special bath for me, with candles, little lavender twigs, and lots of small white and pink flowers floating in the tub… I should have many birthdays every year!!”

 “Another highlight would be the one-week Alaska cruise that Lyle and I were blessed with together with about 16 relatives from Oregon. We had so much fun with everyone, and what fantastic scenery; hour after hour, day after day! Mountains, fiords, glaciers, icebergs.. “Then sings my soul, my Savior, God to Thee, How Great Thou art, How Great Thou art!”

“Christmas is a great time. Seeing the children’s excitement with everything, and the challenge to stay focused on the Christmas message in the midst of the fun and busyness. I love the candles and the Advent wreath as well as all the fantastic Christmas Carols, new and old, Danish and English. The message of Emmanuel - “God with us”- just never ceases to amaze me!”

Lyle: “This is a hard task for there were many highlights; all the friends we re-connected with, visiting my parents in Japan, seeing family in the USA and Denmark, spending 36 hours in Istanbul,where this fun photo was taken…

One of the highlights for me was my travelling alone by car from Kabwe to Cape Town (2,200 miles), picking up a few hitchhikers and ministering to them, days of self time and thought and seeing the millions of new flowers that carpeted the vast plains of Southern Namibia and the northern part of South Africa. In that part of Africa 3 out of 7 years there is basically no rain but yet after years of drought the roots/seeds still blossom.  Though the world seems to being dying in many parts the earth still brings glory to its Creator. It was just a joy to my soul to see that part of God in that little part of his splendor.”

“My favorite part of Christmas is the rainy season here where everything becomes green and of course all the folks who come to our house for coffee or dinner is always a pleasure.”

“Always remember that if you would like to come out for a great ministry and adventurous time in Africa you are most welcome. Karibuni.”

Merry Christmas to you all and many blessings in the New Year.

Much love from Rachel, Acacia, Mikaela, Naomi, Lyle and Jette

Summer in Denmark

We left the States on the 4th of July after a whirlwind couple of months with many wonderful hours with family, new friends and old friends. Thank you to all who made it such a special time for us!
We have been in Denmark now for 10 days, and Lyle will be leaving today to go to South Africa for a 3-months training course called International Sports Leadership School. The family will join him in South Africa end of September. Until then the children will be in school in Denmark and we will be connecting with family and friends.
Thank you for your continued prayers.

Photo news

A few photos from our first month in the States, it is so great and refreshing to re-connect with friends and family and to see some of this beautiful country.

Easter Newsletter

Hello everyone once again,
We would like to wish you all a Happy Easter. May we all take time to reflect on what the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ means to us. Sharing communion in church the other Sunday and listening to ‘O Sacred Head Now Wounded’ was a good reminder of what God did as he ‘so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son...’

We have wrapped up in Kabwe, Zambia. Yesterday, we arrived in Seattle to begin our 6-month furlough.

We will be starting out in the Seattle area and will be making our way to Co. Springs to see family. This time is not necessarily a holiday as such, for it will be full of appointments and many miles on the road. But even this will be good for us, just to be out of the environment for a little while. The last four years in Africa have been tough in many ways for us.

We will be in the States for about two months, then on July 4th we are off to Denmark to see Jette’s side of the family. Jette and the girls will be there for almost three months, whereas I will be coming back to Zambia July 17th. I will drive our minibus to Cape Town in South Africa, where I will be attending a 3-month International Sports Coalition Leadership course. A course that teaches how to use sports; not only as a physical activity, but as a ministry tool. As we all know, the whole world likes sport, whether you play or not, nearly everyone roots for one team or another somehow.

I know from experience that if you walk through a village here with a bible tucked under your arm you can look over your shoulder and very few people will be following you. But you go through a village with a soccer ball tucked under your arm, look over your shoulder and you will have 20-30 young people following you. Here is your new church. So the idea is to use sports as a tool to train the youth in life skills, spiritual skills, environmental skills, social skills, etc.

What is my role in all of this? I have been selected out of many to go through this course so that this same course can be duplicated here in central Africa. So my purpose after completing this course is to come back here to Kabwe and begin this type course. There is a team already in place here and our first course will start hopefully in April next year. We have lots of people already very interested in coming, including several in the police force.

It is my desire to implement a strong aspect of the “disciplining of the mind.” This, I feel, is a huge key that has been missing in missions here in Africa, it is in the mind. Africans by the millions go to church and call themselves Christians but their minds are still un-renewed, therefore transformation never takes place. And we see the fruits of this through every area of life, still being influenced by their old mind-set.

Everything under the sun has been tried, from governments to the church, to help Africa out of poverty, but to a large degree nothing is changing. It is the world-view that must be changed, a mind-set that must be renewed.

This course will be physically and spiritually challenging. We intend to have some class time but mostly field experience in the bush, among the unreached, on Lake Tanganyika, in city dumps and so on.

Well, this is all from here for now, we will see many of you over the next few months. Please write, if you would like see us or maybe have a group that you would like for us to share with.

Once again, we wish you a Blessed Resurrection Sunday!

Love and blessings,
from Naomi, Mikaela, Acacia, Rachel, Jette and Lyle

March 21, 2011

Please keep Lyle in your prayers, he and Mishack left today to visit several church plants in the Lukanga Swamp area. They will be away all week and have no phone coverage out there. Thanks for your prayers!

Family News March 2011

Greetings All

A short report from us here in Zambia. First of all want to say thank you to all of you who have asked about my parents who are living in Japan, 16 years now as pastors. They are fine for they live in the southern part of Japan. It has saddened my heart to see the tragedies that continue there in Japan, please remember to pray for this nation. They are in national struggles. And of course you have seen the news of all the other stuff happening here in Africa, in the north. This is what makes it hard to completely settle down in Africa, there is always a sense of risk and insecurity. We live all the time with an extra eye open, you have to and that in itself takes a lot of energy. Zambia is safe on a national level and this we are thankful for. Liberia was the most secure country in Africa for years, but most of you know the history there in the last 30 years.
All of this to say, let us continue to pray for nations around the world, study the atlas, love the world, for God did and he sent his only son..... what will I/you send?

January and February is rainy season here, so things are wet and green, and muddy. Our yard is most beautiful this time of year but we know that the rains are on their way out and until December things will be getting drier and dustier.

TTN (To the Nations), the group that we are working with, we take off these two months of rains and this is the time to spend planting the fields, fix up broken equipment, time with the family, and also take classes of some sort to build up self. Some of the guys are taking computer classes, others finishing up with their high school degrees at 34 years old. I am going through different leadership books with the guys two mornings a week.

Jette is getting more and more involved with the deaf group in the church that we attend. A lot of abuse happens to the deaf, it is true for any handicapped person out here really. The church has begun to set up a safe haven for some of the deaf, a place where they can learn life skills etc. I have been teaching in their cell group and most of them believe that they are cursed or punished, this is their mind set. How is that for a world view?

Mishack and I go into Lukanga Swamps Monday the 21st for a week to visit several church plants to encourage them in the Lord. There are several islands in the swamps and it is here that Mishack has planted churches. Several of these islands are floating islands. Years of reeds have been entangled together and small villages live on these grass islands year round. I look forward to this trip, I do not look forward to the mosquitoes, though; there are many...

Some good news, at least for us... we will be flying into Seattle WA. April 22nd so we are expecting a big party at the airport... It has been 4 years since we have been to the States and Denmark and we know that it is time to take a small break and visit churches, family and friends. Our time is only really two months then we are off to Denmark for a few months as well. We will be in the Seattle area, Portland OR area and Colorado Springs area, and hopefully Michigan, so if you are in these areas and would like to get together, let us plan ahead and we would love to see as many as possible, then we will rest when we get back to Zambia....

Ok this is all from us at this time.

Enjoy some photos

Someone is taking a day off....

Is this what they call a Family Tree???

Some Masai Friends from Tanzania.







Bird's Eye View of the Rufiji River Delta, Tanzania

Drying fish in the sun to be sold in the big city.

Typical village house built on stilts in Rufiji Delta.