Thursday, December 15, 2005

December Update

Greetings!

We are in the dark here in Angola! Just meaning that we have been without electricity for 12 days and counting! It is actually just our neighbourhood that has the problem, but apparently it is a major one! The first 2 days of our power outage was also a city wide water problem, unfortunately we are not in the loop language-wise so we missed out on the warning, no water for 2 days! The generators that we brought from Canada had a faulty part so we were waiting for them to come, and as I mentioned in my last email we had just purchased a side of beef that we were hoping to keep cool!!! We drove to Lubango for a prayer meeting with the SIM missionaries (thanks for the invite, very encouraging!) and to pick up our parts for the generators. Praise the Lord they were in! On Wednesday we came home and Pete installed the part and the generator fired up... it then proceeded to run for about 4 hours that day, and 2 the next and it went dead! Pete checked it over, couldn't figure out the problem. The man living in our annex offered to take it to a mechanic friend and today it is back, working like a charm! It is amazing how much you count on electricity, you only "REALLY" realize it when it is absent from your life! So I am sure you are asking what happened to our meat... well thankfully (yet sadly) the Joubert's are going home to South Africa for Christmas and their deep freeze was almost empty... it is TOTALLY full now! THANK YOU!

Is that all, you say? Well actually there is a fuel shortage now... we do have fuel in Namibe, but when we were in Lubango we drove around from one end of the city to the other looking for diesel and there was NONE to be had! In fact the line ups for gas were incredible! So we bought some off one of the missionaries at Mitcha and headed out on our way, praying there would be fuel in Namibe. I only had to wait behind 5 vehicles for my fuel this time! There is fuel today but that is no guarantee for tomorrow! This is Angola!

Other than that, well one of our batteries on the truck is no longer any good, Pete let them use it on the water pump when they were trying to figure out the problem and it sucked the life out of it. So hopefully we will be able to make due until we reach Namibia as everything is twice as expensive here as it is there. Which brings me to another point, we will have to travel to Namibia to renew our visas again in the middle of January... no one is looking forward to the trip... although in a way I find it bitter-sweet. Groceries are a lot less expensive and you can find things that you cannot find here! Other than that the bone wrenching roads leave your back a mess for weeks, so it is give and take!

On a much more positive and upbeat note... (not that we are down and depressed over the events of the last couple of weeks... it is just life here and the sooner you get used to that idea the easier it is to handle...) the girls have been going to choir practice several times a week, I am hoping they get brave enough soon to join them on a Sunday morning, but so far they are too shy and unsure of themselves to do it. The sun is shining every day, not easy to get into the Christmas spirit, but we'll survive. The kids were able to get some used books last week, enough to keep them busy for quite some time... even Trevor and Tavis are getting into the swing of reading! It is very exciting! Pete and I are plodding along with our language training, with our new teacher Augusto. He is hard on us, but it is good!

Just a couple of prayer requests:
1. For continued perseverance in every area of our lives (life, language, school, etc) 2. For Rosa's daughter Minda (our house-help, she comes 4 days a week and brings her smallest child with her) she has malaria... she was very weak on Monday and her mom took her to the hospital while we were away, she got medicine and Thursday when she came Minda looked much better, but today again she is not looking great so Rosa was going to take her back to the hospital. Rosa has 4 other children and her husband left her 9 months ago and hasn't returned, she says he is in Lubango.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and encouraging letters you've sent. Thanks for keeping in touch.

Hope you have a Joyous Christmas Season!
Love,
Charlene for the Knightly Family in Angola!

November 27 Update

Knightly News Update
November 27, 2005
Hi all,
I figured it was time to send out another update, since the last one sounded as though we were not going to make it out alive! We are still alive; a little beat up but still breathing! :0) God is good... All the time!
Some of the highlights:
1. Thankfully we have had more regular power.
2. Our rusty water lines were replaced with PVC (the backyard is still all in an upheaval, but we have water!!!) 3. We have managed to have a meeting with our leadership here in Angola, we were able to discuss our concerns and they responded very well. We are looking forward to more regular meetings (possibly monthly) just to keep the lines of communication open! Praise the Lord.
4. We had some unexpected visitors for a few days which was nice, a fellow missionary's Landy broke down and we ended up towing it to Lubango last week. I took some great pic's for all you Landy fan's out there :0) We also had a very nice visit while they were stranded, we got to know a short term missionary who is from Manitoba she just finished a 3 month term in Menongue.
5. We had another visitor from Lubango, an MK (Missionary Kid), it was nice to have the visit, PLUS it was also nice to have a translator to help out for a few days!
6. Pete has planted his garden at the farm, it is amazing how fast things grow here, the corn had sprouted and was up about 1 inch in 4 days.
7. Pete has been doing some work at the farm (gas and produce runs), a good warm up for when the Joubert's go for Christmas for 6 weeks (Ahhh). Strauss had been away to South Africa for 2 weeks and we are glad he is back!
8. Pete helped work on the water pump at the farm (which is very old and in NEED of replacement), it is up and running now... we must pray that it stays that way!
9. We have been able to go and minister to a group of people in Namibe that live in patched-up tents (they were evicted from the caves they lived in), we look forward to getting to know them better... we'll keep you posted!
10. We are very thankful for the truck that God has provided us with (it stands out like a sore thumb here in Angola, although there is a man with a white crew cab Dodge Ram here in Namibe). People here in Angola walk many miles in their lifetime, and our feeling is that if we can lift that burden for even a few miles "em nome de Jesus" "in the name of Jesus" then we will do it. Please pray for the safety of our passengers and that the truck will continue to run efficiently!
11. The kids still struggle away at their school work; sadly all the Angolan kids have holidays now until February... it IS summer here!
12. Talitha is thinking she would like to go back to Canada for grade 12, so we are working on where she will stay and go to school. She really enjoys it here, but she has some specific courses she would like to take and it will benefit her to return home.
13. We were able to purchase a side of beef from the Tchincombe Farm (another UIEA project) for the 'summer'... pray that the parts for our generator come soon as we need a back-up when the power goes out.
14. We renewed our visas in Lubango for our first renewal back in-country, as here in Namibe they translate the rules a bit differently (instead of the first renewal after exiting the country, they say the first renewal for your lifetime), the difference is about $25 US dollars per person!!! So we drive 2 hours for our first renewal! Please pray about our work visa process, it is difficult to know where it is at (or if it is LOST). The next OUT OF COUNTRY trip will be mid-January (if we have to!!!).
15. I must say that we are very thankful for the Joubert family; we are really going to miss them over the Christmas holidays. They have been a great encouragement to us and we say "thank you"!
16. On another note... I can't believe it is less than a month until Christmas!!!! It is SO warm here!!! What a transition! We'll keep you posted on how we handle that!
17. Almost forgot, Tavis had malaria a few weeks ago. He is up and running again but he sure was lethargic and worn out for a good week. Thankfully we were able to buy some good malaria med's in Namibia before we came up (we are also taking an anti-malaria medication... but it doesn't STOP you from getting it, it supposedly just weakens the effect?) 18. It looks as though we have found a language teacher. We will keep you posted on how it goes!
Well, that is probably enough for now... everyone is feeling ok now (it is off and on... kinda like the electricity... ha!). We sure appreciate all of your prayers and communication. It is so nice to hear from you. Have any questions??? Just drop us a note, we'll try to answer! Internet is one of the highlights of our week (if it is working... :0).
Just in case you wanted to send out some snail mail our mailing address is:
Knightly Family
Igreja Evangelica de Cristo
CP 307
Namibe
Angola
Via Portugal
(If you live in Africa you can leave off the via Portugal, but otherwise it gets to us quicker if you send it that way)
We look forward to hearing from you, and those of you in the north "enjoy the cold and snow"!!! If we start to miss it we will just hop in the freezer for a while!
Love and prayers,
Charlene for the Knightly Gang!

Monday, November 07, 2005

October 24

This has been quite an experience the last couple of weeks. This is the first chance I have had to sit down and write about it all! Among some of the things going on are the regular every day things such as home schooling, language learning, cleaning the house, repairing things, running out to the farm, different forms of sickness attacking each of us, and continuing to fix the house up… these things in themselves have worn us out. Sunday last week we were feeling very discouraged, tired, stressed and overwhelmed.

Monday we had to make our trip out of country to Namibia to renew our visas. Even photos cannot show the full effect of the road, most of the driving was in the ditch just to give you an idea of how bad the “paved” roads are! It took us from 4:30 AM until 8 PM to drive around 700 km and 300 km of that was nice road! The border crossing went quick as we had a local friend come with us (unfortunately he could not come back with us)! By the time we reached our destination, Oshindera Lodge in Oshikati Namibia, we were completely exhausted! We are very thankful for the family who owns the lodge, as they were very kind and generous toward our family. We enjoyed our time spent there and in their home.

Tuesday was spent shopping until we dropped, thankfully the first day Meagan stayed with the boys back at the lodge while Pete, Talitha and I went out to get groceries. The groceries in Namibia (although more pricey than home) are MUCH cheaper than here in Angola, so we stocked up on some things that we cannot get here, and things that are much less expensive. We also purchased our washing machine (that will save about 1 ½ hours a load). Our other more important order of business was renewing our visas; thankfully we were put in contact with a gal from Angola who works in Namibia. She was able to help us with filling out the paperwork and taking it in.

Wednesday, more shopping, and in the afternoon we were able to retrieve our visas and pay out the whopping $650 Namibian dollars (to give you an idea it is 5 Namibian dollars to a Canadian dollar)!!! This is per person and for a 30 day visa! We are praying that the work visa comes through ASAP! So at present we are paying $316 American per month for our visa renewals. Anyway, after shopping we went to the lodge owner’s home (Audrey and Adrianne) for supper and care group. Then it was off to bed to get well rested for the LONG trip home.

Thursday morning we got up, finished packing the truck and headed on the road, we arrived at the Namibian border at 9:30 AM and spent the next 4 hours waiting for paperwork to be filled out by a clearing agent, for which they wanted to charge us $1350 Namibian (remember 5 to 1) for 5 pieces of paper!!! When we said that was outrageous they said it would then cost $1000 Namibian to cancel it! We asked for a price list which they could not produce (as we knew others had never paid that kind of sum) and finally negotiated a $700 Namibian charge for the paper work (which took them 3 hours to fill out… it took me about half an hour the last time we went through the border to fill the same paper work out myself… at a different border)! Then it was time to cross over to the Angolan side and we began to wonder if we would ever get through. It is difficult coming through the border at the best of times, but on your own not knowing the language is a bit daunting. There were several people who came along to give us a hand, as each official would like to give some kind of grieve or look for a hand-out, this is probably the hardest thing to handle when dealing with officials, they almost all seem to be looking for a bribe. The one who took our passports to stamp them with an entrance stamp wanted to refuse us entry saying that we needed to have a letter from the church in Angola (we did have letters that we gave at the Angolan consulate in Namibia so that we could get our visa… just another game), after waiting on the Namibian side in the scorching heat and then waiting for an hour or more on the Angolan side Talitha and I just burst into tears (apparently this is a good thing as the Angolans don’t know what to do with a woman crying)… they stamped our visas and gave them to us and we were on our way to the next stop at the border (customs), of course we had plenty of groceries and a washing machine so were wondering if we would ever get through customs without being charged an outrageous sum if we wouldn’t give a bribe… one guy who had been helping us since 9:30 in the morning said that if we were taken into the gated area we could expect to have the truck impounded and we would be there for at least 7 days! So when they pointed to the gate and had us drive in we were almost ready to drive over to the Namibian side buy our tickets home and say enough! BUT God was gracious, they had a quick look, asked us what was in the big box, we told them a washer and gave them the receipt and they said have a nice day and sent us on our way. So in total at the two borders we spent just over 6 hours (don’t want to hear any complaints about that Canadian to American border!!!). As it was beginning to get dark we made a wise decision to travel as far as a Finish mission station near Chebia that Stirling had taken Pete and his dad to on the way out of Angola last year. Thankfully we were able to find it (as it is kind of in the middle of no where… like most things in Angola) and they very graciously took us in and even fed us… what a huge blessing!

Friday morning we were on our way again over the worst part of the road, stopping just long enough to let the Ritchie’s in Rio de Huila know that we were still alive (as I could not contact anyone to let them know where we were as our cell phone battery was dead)! We stopped for a moment in Lubango to speak with the leadership of the UIEA to request a meeting with them soon concerning the vision and purpose of our call here. Then it was on to Namibe. When we arrived home after our LONG trip we discovered that our power had been out for 4 days, and everything in our fridge and freezer was rotten! What a smell! Generally the power goes off for about 10 to 15 minutes at a time here in Namibe, so we were not prepared for this! However after cleaning everything up we were quite happy to climb into bed and get a good rest after another long day!

Saturday morning we went out to the farm to put all of the things that needed to be frozen or refrigerated into Strauss and Sanette’s fridge and freezer, Strauss was away in Menongue and Sanette had gone into to town to check on us (we had left the girls home so they told her we had gone to the farm), thankfully she had left the boys with their friends at the farm so we were able to get into the house and begin putting things into her appliances.

Sunday morning we went to the early service and then packed up our stuff and went to the beach with Sanette and the boys, a much needed rest after a long week!

Monday about 10 minutes before the power came back on (7 days after it went out) the water pipes broke (they were totally rusted) and now we have no water, but we have light. We feel as though we are being stretched to our full capacity but there always seems to be a little more ability to stretch a little further! Please keep us in your prayers as the adjustments are now becoming more apparent and constant. Well, the power just went back out… so I must save my battery power for who knows how long before it will come back on! Our phone is working again so for those of you who were trying to get in touch you can try again!

Take care and God Bless,
Love,
The Knightly family

Thursday, September 08, 2005


truck

truck

truck

truck

O poor boo boo

Lookin happy to be in South Africa!

Simonstown South Africa

Littered with Jackass Penquins

All dressed up and no where to go!

Boulders Beach

Jackass Penquin

South Africa fishing boat

40 and still cute!

Beach Babe

Talitha

Meagan

Afro Girl!

What a BEAUTIFUL man!

Who ya' lookin' at?

I loved the giraffes.

The muscles on this 40 Year old are amazing!

Farm

Wildebeests are Ugly

Farm

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Container is UNLOADED...

Boa Tarde!

Well after many days of waiting the container has been unloaded and the contents are sitting in our livingroom in our house in Namibe. Pete just called on the cell to let me know that things are going well. They finished up too late to be able to get the truck registered, but they will get that done in the morning and be on their way back here to Lubango to pick us up! Pastor Zebedeu is coming with him so that he can get some business done here in Lubango! We will go back to Namibe for the weekend and go camping at the beach while they finishing painting the interior of our house! They have the trim finished today and are coming tomorrow to do the main walls, not sure how long that will take... things do take time here in Angola! However, PRAISE THE LORD they are getting done, and we are one step closer to settling in.

We are not sure how much the registration and plates will cost for the truck, but so far the costs have only come to $1500 US (which is a FAR cry from $5000 US that we were told it would come to)... so unless it is going to cost $3500 US to register the truck, I think that God has been answering many of your prayers for us!!! We are thankful that you have been praying, and we appreciate it more than words can say!

We'll keep you posted on how things are going... sometimes through email and sometimes by the blog... hope you continue to check in!

Keep in touch...
Love,
Charlene for the gang!

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Another Update

Knightly News Update
August 16, 2005

This weekend we had a whirlwind trip from Lubango to Rio de Huila to Humpata to Namibe! The weekend started out with Dr. Steve Collins picking us up here at Mitcha, in Lubango to take us out to Rio de Huila, as Peter and Areni Ritchie invited us out for the day. The boys, Meagan and Pete went out to the hospital to watch Dr. Collins do an eye operation. I stayed behind and helped Areni sew an outfit for a gal going to a wedding on the Saturday. It turned out very nice. Gave me the spark I needed to start sewing again, unfortunately I didn’t pack any patterns in the container, I gave them all away! We had a lovely lunch at the Ritchie’s and when Dr. Collins was finished his surgeries we headed out to Humpata where he lives and spent the night at his house!

In the morning we drove to Namibe! This was the boys and my first time seeing where we are going to live (when the container arrives and we can get settled there). The Leba Pass is an amazing road down the side of an escarpment with at least 60 switchbacks, it is beautiful! Along the way we saw a springbok (not common in the Namibe desert), baboons (apparently another uncommon sight), and some other sights that I will never forget. Took lots of pictures! In Namibe we went to meet some of Steve Collins friends, it is nice to have some contacts for when we move there, and then it was off to the internet café. We went to the beach and the boys played in the water while we relaxed and ate lunch. Then we went to see the house we will move into when we arrive in Namibe. It looks great, needs a little work, but it looks like they are going to help us with that. We had a chance to visit with the Pastor in Namibe and we are looking forward to settling in and getting to know him and his family better. They are very nice folk. After the visit to our house we were off to the farm, Agro Sul, in the beautiful Giraul River valley. The Joubert family welcomed us for the weekend and we really enjoyed our visit with them. They have 3 boys, Evert (9), Johann (7), and Neile (5) and our boys had a wonderful time with them. They went out hunting for fossils first thing, found shark teeth, dinosaur teeth, and shells in the rocks around the farm!

On Saturday morning Pete and Strauss went into town to do some farm business. Sanette and I visited while Steve read and the boys explored around the farm. In the afternoon all the boys went fishing (they saw a cobra) caught some small fish but nothing worth keeping. Pete brought back some mussels which he cooked up back here at Mitcha. We are looking forward to the seafood at the coast.

Sunday morning we headed back to Humpata and went for a hike with a group (including our girls) from Lubango that met us at Steve’s house. It was nice to see some new sights around the dam near Humpata. It is heading into spring here and the leaves look like they do in the fall back in Eastern Canada. It is beautiful. In the evening we came back into Lubango and went to a bible study with a group of missionaries from several different organizations.

Monday, Pete went to the praca and did some shopping and while he was gone Steve Collins showed up to take us out and about. So the boys and I went for a drive with him, trying to find a farm (didn’t find the right one) and then downtown and up the hill to a place where a missionary family is building a house on the hillside. It overlooks the city of Lubango, it is a beautiful sight. It was another nice day (out and about).

Well, this is a glimpse into our lives! Be sure to write and tell us what you are doing and feel free to ask questions, we’ll try to answer them!

Prayer Requests:
Visa Renewal for the girls (almost overlooked that… they came in 2 weeks ahead of us)
Container Arrival
Smooth import of the contents of our container
Language Teacher
Adjustment for our family
Production of Agro Sul (the farm at Giraul River)

Praise Items:
Many new friends
Some new Portuguese words every day
Seeing the faithfulness of God in our lives on a daily basis
Health and safety
Relatively smooth adjustment to the climate and culture

Thank you all for your prayers. We’ll keep you posted as we adjust to our new life here in Angola!
God Bless,
Charlene for the rest of the Knightly’s

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Greetings from Angola

Knightly News Update
August 6, 2005

GREETINGS FROM ANGOLA!!!

Well, PRAISE THE LORD we have made it to Angola. On July 30th we started out from Windhoek, Namibia and drove as far as Oshiwaranga (not sure if I got the spelling right, but it is something like that!). We stayed in a wonderful Bed and Breakfast called THE BUSH PILLOW (just in case you ever go through and you want a NICE place to stay). On Sunday morning (the 31st), we started the day with Bible reading and prayer (it was a nice little church service) then we went much further up the road making a stop in Oshikati (again not sure on the spelling) to drop 2 of our travelers at a hotel there, so one could work on her visa the next day and catch a ride with someone else. The other gal, Karen Hendrickson, met us at the road to the border the next morning. We (the Stirling Fosters) traveled on to Ruacana to spend the night at a campground with a Bungalow.

On Monday morning (the 1st of August) we traveled to the border. On the Namibian side you must declare everything you purchased in Namibia, register who is driving each vehicle, the border guards check to make sure the registrations match the numbers on the engines, and each person must have their exit visa stamped in the passport. That whole process took almost 2 hours, then we drive a couple hundred feet to the Angolan border where we go through another whole process having passports stamped and new rules made for people entering on a visitor visa (meaning they would like some more money for us to be able to enter the country) next time it will be something different, but for our crossing it was that! On other days it has been money for bringing goods into the country!

So you cross the border, going from nicely paved roads to roads made from sand and tire tracks. You travel for what seems like endless kilometers (actually it really isn't that far distance-wise but it feels like you have just traveled across Canada and back when you are done) over wagon trails, "almost" broken bridges on and on and on, bumping, swaying, clunking, jolting, creeping, crawling, jiggling, and so on! The sun sets around 6:30 PM here and what a beautiful sight. Then it is pitch black with radiant stars shining in the sky! The Land Rover that Pete was driving had a radiator leak on the way, and the Land Rover that Karen was driving had the back hub go on her when we were almost to our destination, after switching it into diff lock we traveled the worst part of the road (thick powdery sand, almost like talcum powder) in front wheel drive!!! It was a nice sight to arrive at Tchincombe Ranch late in the evening it was also nice to arrive safe and sound (I would say in our right mind, but after traveling roads like that it takes days to return to your right mind... if you were ever there!!!)!

Tuesday (August 2) we spent the day recovering. Pete and Stirling fixed the hub on the Land Rover, and Donna (Foster), Karen and I went to where the farm workers live with their families and Karen who is a doctor checked some little boys who had circumcisions that had gotten infected, and Donna (a vet) administered the med's from the farm clinic and they both explained to the dad's how to care for their little boys to help with the healing. Then we went to see a little baby who had burned his little hand in the fire the night before. It was really badly blistered, so we took the babe and his mom to the house and Karen had the mom wash it with soap, then Karen put some ointment on and wrapped it in 2 clear plastic bags and taped it up! Poor little guy! In the evening, Jeffrey and Meghan Foster (Stirling and Donna's children) and our boys decided to camp out in the field... so they set up tents, started a campfire, and roasted their wild game over the open fire. Meghan decided to come back to the house, and the boys spent the whole night out in the COLD and DARK! It is winter here in Angola, so it is quite chilly at night!

Wednesday (August 3) we climbed into the Land Rovers again for another long day over trails, which I later realized were MUCH better than traveling on the "PAVED" Angolan roads. It is something you have to EXPERIENCE to understand. A tiny bit of the road is paved the rest is "a" BIG pot hole! Most people drive in the ditch! After banging and thrashing over the main road into Angola we stopped in a place a half an hour out of Lubango (I am really not sure on the spelling but I will say it "sounds like" this... Reu de Huila) to drop Karen's things off at her house, the medical supplies at the clinic where she works, and some things that we brought up for the Ritchie family who live next door to Karen! Then it was on to Lubango to "finally" get to see the girls and to have lunch with the Holden Family who have so graciously taken the girls into their family (we still haven't gotten them back). It was nice to see them again. Talitha was looking very ill, she had a high fever, chills, headache among other things... she has officially become Angolan (according to one of the pastors here in Lubango) SHE HAS MALARIA!!! We met up with Dr. Karen after lunch and she took her for blood tests (which of course turned up negative, being ex-patriots it takes a lot of "looking" on the lab tech's part to find it in our blood), however Karen explained to the tech that it need to be checked more thoroughly and Becky Loewen (our new neighbour at the Mitcha Compound where we are staying in Lubango) took her down in the evening for her second blood test and it turned up positive! She is now on Coertum and feeling MUITO BEM (very good)!

The leadership of the UIEA (the church we have come to work along side) set up a schedule of lunches so that we could go and meet the pastors, missionaries and their families. That has been a WONDERFUL experience! Thursday we went to Pastor Chiquete's house, we had a great visit (he speaks English quite well). Friday we went to Pastor Bioco's house (Jonathan Holden came along to translate) and we had another great visit. On the way home Pastor Bioco and his wife took us to the market, that was quite an experience! In fact, Pete and the boys just headed out to the PRACA (pronounced prasa) to see if they could have some fun (being that we can't speak Portuguese yet)!!! We are learning however, and I think it will be easier once we reach Namibe as not as many people speak English and we will not be able to get by without learning! This afternoon we go to Becky Loewen's (right across the driveway from us) for lunch, and then this evening we are going to Senorita Bioco's birthday party. Looking forward to that! Tomorrow afternoon we go to Dr Steven & Peggy Fosters for lunch after church.

We have been very busy as you can see, and of course without a vehicle makes it hard to get around and do things like connect to the internet! Everyone else except for Becky has left the Mitcha compound and so the only phone available is Becky's cell. We are looking into getting a cell ourselves, but we'll see how that goes! We may just wait to go with a land line phone when we reach Namibe, and we are NOT sure when that will be! Our container was due to arrive yesterday but being that we have had no way of communicating with the outside world we don't know if it is there yet. Pastor Zebedeeu (really not sure on the spelling with this one) our pastor in Namibe is the son-in-law of Pastor Bioco and we had lunch with him yesterday at the Bioco home... he will check to see if it is there on Monday morning. Once the container arrives we have a HUGE process to go through. Applying for exemption, registering the vehicle and unloading the stuff in a secure compound will be first on the list. It is going to cost around $5000 US to bring the goods into the country and to register the vehicle, we had no idea of the cost on this end, but we trust that the Lord will provide for our needs and so we are not worried about it. Please pray that it will either be less or that it will be provided.

So this is where we are at...
We wait for the container to arrive.
The church takes care of the paper work.
We unload the container.
We register the vehicle (this can take time).
We get to know the people in Lubango.
We start ever so slowly to learn Portuguese.
We fix up the house in Namibe (and hopefully get the water running and the toilet fixed)

We would ask that you pray that these things will go smoothly and quickly, and that we will be able to get moved into our house in Namibe. We would also ask that you pray that our family makes the adjustment well (it has been tiring and tense at times during the wait in Namibia and the LONG drive up to Angola, now that we are settling in things are beginning to relax a bit). We are babysitting a little dog, Wriggles (we've been calling her Squiggles... I just read on her dog food bag that it is Wriggles... she seems to answer to Squiggles) that belongs to a MAF guy who has gone to Three Hills Alberta for a month and a half... this has been a great distraction for both us and the boys. Thanks Brent (even though he doesn't know we have his dog!!!!), I am sure Gary and Tammy will let him know when they read this email!!

I realize this is LONG, but we have had so much happen since our last communication so I thought, "why not tell as much as I can" so you can get a feel for what we are experiencing in our first days in Angola. We are very glad to be here, and we look forward to how God is going to use us as we do what He has called us to do! The leadership at the UIEA has stressed that the first year is to be spent learning the language and getting involved in our local church in Namibe (learning culture and adjusting to life in Angola). They want us to have the foundation of language before any other ministry is started, we think this is wise and so we prepare for our first year... LEARNING PORTUGUESE!

Keep in touch... please write and tell us how you are doing and feel free to ask questions about ANYTHING and I will try to answer! In the meantime we appreciate your prayers and communication... THANK YOU!

Love,
Charlene for the Knightly Family!

Monday, July 25, 2005

We are in Namibia

Hi everyone,

After 4 weeks in New Brunswick, 2 weeks in Cape Town, South Africa, we have now arrived in Windhoek, Namibia. We will spend 2 weeks here at the AIM/SIM guest house and then travel up to Angola with Stirling and Donna Foster, SIM missionaries.

We have seen as a family God answer many prayers and be continually faithful to us. It has overwhelmed us just how faithful He has been.

The 4 weeks in NB, was spent visiting family and speaking in churches in both Maine and NB. We are confident that there are many who are upholding us in prayer. We thank all of you for your prayers and support.

We had many concerns as we headed out to South Africa, we were unsure about our flight into Montreal as we only had 1 1/2 hours in-between flights, our flight out of Moncton was delayed an hour, and when we arrived in Montreal they were just finishing up boarding the plane. However once we were all settled that plane was delayed about an hour, so we had nothing at all to be concerned with. We really didn't in the first place as we had prayed and knew God had a plan.

In London we spent about 11 hours relaxing in the airport, and had some chance to sleep. We boarded the plane in the evening and began our 11 and a half hour flight to Cape Town. We had no problems whatsoever clearing customs and having our passports stamped with a visitor visa.

In Cape Town, my friend Philippa and our Guest House Host, Gordon, were there to greet us. I think Gordon almost fell over when he saw how much luggage we had. We crammed it into the two vehicles and headed off to the guest house. We all climbed into bed about 6 hours after arriving and spent the next 20 hours recovering from jetlag, at one point Pete, myself and the girls got up and had a bit to eat (I think it was about 3 AM) and then we headed back to bed for another few hours of sleep.

The Sunday after we arrived we went to two different churches; they were both fantastic, great preaching and friendly people. It was refreshing and both sermons applied to our lives and we were challenged by them. On Monday we finally got brave enough to take the train, we traveled the whole week in 3rd class and met some great people, and it was a good experience for our family. We had many strange looks, but mostly people were friendly and talkative. We took a "black taxi" on a few occasions, which is quite an experience (they fit about 16 passengers in a van). We did a lot of walking, site seeing, and swimming or laying on the beach. It was a good calm before the storm!! We spent several days visiting with our friends Philippa and Darryl, and really enjoyed getting to know our email buddies. They were great and we can't wait until the come to visit us in Angola. If you would like to check out Darryl's site you can see some great photos and read his story of his experience in traveling the southern half of Angola. That is how I met him and his wife... by checking out this site: http://reports.overland.co.za/Darryl_Lampert/Angola_2003/

On Thursday the 14th we were given a lift to the airport by our host Gordon and another missionary who graciously offered to help out by taking a car load. Very thankful for God's provision in that area!! We had no problems checking all of our luggage back in (even though weight restrictions are very different over here)! We flew off EARLY (imagine that!), and arrived in Windhoek early! We had absolutely no problems going through the visa process, which again was a concern for us as we flew in on one way tickets. God is SO good! We were picked up by Dean, a missionary here. Now we are staying at the guest house, and in this 2 weeks that we have here we will need to get some things organized in regards to banking, internet, grocery shopping, etc!

For those of you praying for us here are some specific prayer requests:
1. Our container has been delayed and we would appreciate prayers in regards to importing it into Angola, it may be costly and there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be accomplished before it arrives.
2. Getting through the border in Angola can be a challenge, so we would appreciate your prayers concerning that also.

By the looks of things we will be staying at what is called the Mitcha compound (a MAF... Mission Aviation Fellowship compound) in Lubango until our container arrives and we have the house in Namibe fixed up a little (i.e. the plumbing fixed and water running). This will also give us a chance to meet with the leadership of the church and hopefully have a chance to talk about some of the plans for the orphanage.

We certainly appreciate ALL of the prayers, and letters that we receive they are a great encouragement to us.

Well, I must finish up, I am hoping to connect to the internet tomorrow, we'll see how that goes! Just thought I would give an update and let everyone know that we are still alive and well!

God Bless,
Love,
Charlene for the KNIGHTLY FAMILY!

Saturday, June 18, 2005

Knightly News Update!

Here we are in New Brunswick, visiting family and awaiting the time to fly off to Africa. I can hardly believe that we only have 10 days left until we fly away. There are moments of excitement, fear, anxiety, thrills, and so on... But all in all we are ready to go. It would be one thing to embark on such a change as a single or married couple, but with 4 children in tow it makes things a little more challenging. Some of you have asked, "How did you come to this decision?". So I thought I would write a little about how we got to this point and where we feel God is leading us.

As children both Pete and I grew up in missionaries families on reserves across Canada. We both felt a call to the mission field when we were young. However, after growing up and getting married we drifted away from our vision of missions and began to pursue a future with a good job, kids, money, things, etc! However, we never felt at peace with pursuing happiness in that manner. A couple of years ago Pete went to a prayer conference that changed his life. God was working in my life also with a Bible Study that I was attending with a group of friends. God drew us both into a matching vision to pursue missions now rather than later in life (which we had discussed for years... "When we retire"). However God had other plans, and as He began to reveal His plan for us, we began to grow excited about what He had in store for us. So we began to search on the internet for the needs of the children in Africa, and through many hours, days, months, of searching, emailing, talking to people and seeking God's direction... We were directed to a church organization in Angola, Africa who had been working on developing an orphanage project for the past 5 years. We are thrilled to join them in a few weeks and begin this journey that God has for us working along side the UIEA (Uniao de Igrejas Evangelical de Angola... Union of Evangelical Churches of Angola).

For the first year we will work on learning Portuguese, learning the culture, developing friendships, becoming involved in the church in Namibe, and developing a vision for an orphanage near Namibe. We are excited with what God has in store, we don't know all of the details, but we know that God is in control and He will work out those details as time goes on.

We would appreciate your prayers as we fly out in 10 days, on June 28th at 8:15PM from Moncton NB arriving in Montreal at 8:44PM... Pray that we meet our connecting flight to London at 10:30PM without any problems, and that our luggage is transferred to our plane. We appreciate all of your prayers and love during this journey, we are so thankful for those of you who have been praying, writing, calling, and giving toward what God has called us to. THANK YOU!

God is GOOD... ALL the time!
Love,
Charlene for the gang!

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Thunder Bay ONTARIO

I don't have time to write anything at the moment, so I will give you my MSN website address and you can check out some great photos of our day yesterday, and since the beginning of the trip!
http://spaces.msn.com/members/knightvision6/
Check it out!
Charlene

Friday, May 20, 2005

In Kenora Ontario!

We spent the night in Caronport Saskatchewan, and then headed on to Winnipeg... after having supper at a great Chinese restaurant we continued on to find a hotel. We reached Kenora by 1 AM and found a Super 8 to spend the night in. Now it is almost 10:30 AM and I have just popped out of bed, and we have to check out at 11 AM!

It has been a safe trip thus far. The trailer is heavy but hauling very well (although the Saskatchewan roads made us feel like we were on a four-wheeler going over a field full of gopher holes). Perhaps it was just getting us prepared for the roads in Angola!

This is all I can write for now, I must get everyone up and ready in a half an hour!
Just wanted to let everyone know that we are doing well and still on the road. We will ship the container from Toronto on the 24th of May (Tuesday), so now that we are in Ontario we'll need to find a place to camp out for a few days.

I can't really think at the moment, so I will write more later!
Keep Praying!
Charlene for the gang!

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

In Calgary!

Here we are at friends in Calgary. We are on our way! We had a great day of travelling through the mountains today (I slept most of the way, after popping a gravol... I was feeling a bit sick, probably more from being SO tired than anything else). The truck pulled the trailer through those mountains nicely. The kids travelled alright on their first day (we'll let you know how that is going on day 10).

Just thought I would write a quick blog and let everyone know that we made it safely! We'll keep you posted!

Love,
Charlene

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

We are back in Kamloops...

...And yes, we have a truck. PRAISE THE LORD! He is good to us. It has been a very long day, but I have to say that God has a way of working things out for good, even when we are not sure! I will tell you more about it when I am awake and can type! I am way too tired after driving all the way back, part way in the car and the rest of the way in the truck! I will give a better post later, but for now, we want you to know that we found the truck!
God Bless and thank you all for your prayers.
Charlene
PS... remember the time is set for Angola already! Currently it is midnight in BC!

Sunday, May 08, 2005

In Calgary!

For those of you checking in on how we are doing... We are in Calgary. We had a very unsuccessful day yesterday, traveling about 500 km's around Calgary, north and south looking for the right vehicle. We know it is out there somewhere, we would ask for prayer in helping us find it! God is faithful and in control of all things, even finding the truck that we need for Angola! We had a great time yesterday traveling around, looking, talking, bonding... :-) We aren't even feeling stressed out over the whole thing. We realize that our plans change like the wind, but God is steadfast and stable, so we look to Him for our strength. He has been SO good to us, and we praise Him.

Last evening we went for dinner with friends. We are staying with Linda, Sean and little Jordan, and they are treating us GREAT! Linda, Pete and I met Gary and Tammy for supper. We had a great time of fellowship together.

This morning we attending Linda and Sean's church, First Alliance in Calgary, the worship team was wonderful, the sermon was pointed and very encouraging, and we enjoyed looking over their map of missionaries that they support afterward in the foyer!

Now we are going to make some calls on some trucks that look interesting and are in the ballpark money-wise! Oh that we will be faithful stewards of what God has given us and trust Him for the rest!

Happy Mother's Day to both of our MOM's... Marge has our boys in Cranbrook... Thanks Mom! My mom is in the hospital in St. John, NB getting ready for her open heart surgery! Please pray for her this week, she will be opened up on Tuesday to fix the hole in heart! Love you Mom!

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts during this time! We will keep you posted!
God Bless,
Charlene

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Please Pray!

Hello everyone.

Time is getting short before we leave Kamloops. We are looking today at leaving in 10 days, Lord Willing! We have experience many blessing along the way, and also many set backs. We are learning once again to TRUST the Lord to supply all of our needs, including the need for sanity! We are getting down to the wire, and have been searching endlessly for a vehicle. We know that God has one available for us, and we just need to stop and listen for His voice, so He can show us where it is. We are going to Calgary to look this weekend. I believe that He has something for us there, but I would ask you all to pray that we trust in Lord and not the power of our own strength. This has been a difficult process, but God has been, is and will be faithful! I believe!

My verse for the day is what I read in Hebrews this morning in my time of devotions:
Hebrews 4:16, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

First of all it is a time of NEED and secondly during all the madness we have to take the time to DRAW NEAR! And not just drawing near for the sake of drawing near, but with CONFIDENCE knowing that you will receive mercy and grace! We have an awesome God, and He is SO good to us!

So the agenda for today is to find out how much our tickets are going to cost and to compare prices and hopefully hold them, until the money from the house comes through. Pack some more, look into finding someone who would like to drive back east with us who has a pick-up truck and can haul a trailer back here to Kamloops, meet a friend for lunch, pick Pete up, meet another friend for a quick coffee on the way to the Doctor (where I will hear him say "your headaches are due to STRESS"), I guess I just need to hear it! Then the evening will be spent packing the boys for a visit with their grandparents in Cranbrook (we will meet them in Golden on the way to Calgary tomorrow), pack ourselves, and the girls for their weekend with Jackie!

One other bit of information for those interested... we have found some water pumps and generators for a MOST EXCELLENT price, if anyone wishes to donate money to that cause let us know, the more we can take the better. The farm could use a couple more for sure (it is 350 acres and in need of irrigation). Also I found mosquito netting at JYSK for $8.88, if you would like to donate some just drop them off in the next week so that I can get them packed into our luggage or in the supplies for the container.

We thank you all for your prayers and friendship! You have been a blessing!
God Bless,
Love,
Charlene for the Knightly's

Monday, May 02, 2005

13 days, but who's counting?

13 Days... but who's counting?

Ok, I am counting. I have so much to do and so little time to do it in! I am sure it will all get done, but it can be a bit stressful at times!

Friday night Katherine P. came over for a visit (can't wait until she comes to visit in Angola ). Saturday in the evening we went for a BBQ at the Marlow's, we had a very relaxing evening, and enjoyed the visit! Tavis almost broke his nose on the trampoline (go figure), but he is fine, just a bruise, and perhaps he will develop a couple of black eyes!!! Better than the last time when he busted his teeth on a tramp.

Sunday after church we had a BBQ luncheon, it was great! Nice to be fed (meals have been pathetic in the Knightly household as of late), however going out has been GREAT! We go to the Gill's tonight for some GREAT East Indian Food! Always look forward to that!!!!

Last evening (we have Telo, from Zambia staying at our house until she heads back to her home in Africa) Binyam popped in for pictures (he is headed to Prince George to tree plant for the summer) it will be our last time seeing him before we head to Angola... it was a tearful goodbye, we will miss him and his constant smile! As we will miss Telo and her constant smile! We love you both!

That's it for now, I must make some phone calls and see what I can organize for today!
Keeping you posted!
Love,
Charlene
PS... check out the other blog, as there are MANY great photos posted there! http://spaces.msn.com/members/knightvision6/ hope you enjoy!!!

Tavis at Thompson River


Leslie D. took the boys out for the afternoon on Sunday... they had a great time at McArthur Park... feeding the marmots, and playing in the water!

Tavis


Tavis and his BIG slush!

Trevor


Trevor with his walking stick!

Trevor at Thompson River


Trevor at the river!

Feeding the Marmots!


Feeding the Marmots

All Smiles

Friday, April 29, 2005

16 days and counting...

Here we are 16 days and counting. How am I going to be able to get it all done in 16 days? I don't know! I am sure it will all come together when we have 2 days left to go! For now I will try not to panic.

Wednesday evening we went out of town to visit some friends we hadn't seen in quite a while, Wayne and Chris Friesen. It was nice to sit and visit for the evening, no distractions, just peace and quiet, way up in the hills with no neighbours! Thanks for the visit Freezies! We will look forward to you coming to Angola to help us build!

Yesterday Lorena S. came to my house and seeing my need for a sanity break, took Trevor and Meagan to her house for the day, and they ended up staying until 11 PM! What a HUGE help! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You... she will never know what a blessing that was (until she is moving to Africa on missions... hehe). Tavis went to his friend Reid's for the night (thanks for keeping him overnight), and Talitha spent the evening visiting neighbours.

Pete and I were invited out to a fantastic dinner/musical production put on by Rocky Mountain Railtour (www.tworiverjunction.com). Thank you Jim for treating us! It is called Two River Junction and it is a musical based on the legendary train-robber Billy Miner! They serve an amazing dinner, and your server is someone who is in the production (we happened to have someone we knew, Matt B.). Jim Boomer (one of Pete's co-workers) was one of the robbers, and we had a great laugh at the role he had to play... I will never look at him the same again!!! (nice dress!!!) We were happy to spend the evening with friends, Glen and Florriann Fehr (Glen works with Pete also). We also shared our table with a couple of ladies from Kamloops, a couple from Calgary and a couple from Japan (who are here to run in a marathon in Vancouver). The singing and musical instrument talent was just incredible, especially Tina Moore, she is a very gifted singer with a melodious jazz voice! TV7 was there filming the evening (they taped Florriann and I loading up on dessert... ) so if you live in Kamloops and you are watching the news today, you may see us... hehe!

Well, it is time to get back to the packing. I am also doing a slideshow presentation at our kids old school (George Hilliard) this afternoon, so I need to be sure that I am ready for that! If any of you out there know of someone with a club cab/crew cab diesel 4x4 pick-up for sale (for a good price), PLEASE, get in touch with us! We are seriously looking now, since we have 16 days to find one!

Keeping you UP-TO-DATE,
Charlene

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Project Needs!

This is a letter that I just emailed everyone... I have taken out our account information, if you are interested in supporting the project, please email me at knightvision6@gmail.com and I will give instructions as to how to send funds.

Dear Friends and Family,

I am writing today to let you know of some needs of the farm that we are going to help develop into an orphanage. The name of the farm is Agro-Sul, and it is located on the Giraul River. This river runs underground most of the year. There is an abundance of water flowing and at present they use water pumps to draw the water up out of the ground.

They have 2 very old pumps, a large and a small one, and they are constantly breaking down and in need of repair. They are also in need of a generator on the farm, and we personally could use a smaller one for charging batteries and things like that. The wiring in Angola is 220v, so we will not be taking many things that run on 110v; however there are some things we would rather not replace (i.e. computer, table saw, drills, battery chargers, etc).

In saying all this, I am sending this email as a request for those interested in helping with a project that will go directly to the needs of the farm (we will eventually benefit from this personally, once we move onto the farm, however this is for helping out the UIEA... Uniao de Igrejas Evangelical de Angola... in Portuguese...Union of Evangelical Churches of Angola... in English). Since we are shipping a container and we will have space to send things like this I felt I should send this email to inform those of you who are interested in helping (financially) the farm get up and running efficiently.

Our church has not yet set up a way to send funds for the orphanage project, so if you donate it will have to be directly to our account without a receipt, however, you can be assured that we will use this money for project needs, and it will free us up to use our own personal funds from selling the house for things like our airline tickets, shipping container and a truck (unless you would like to donate towards those things as well). If you do chose to donate, please send an email saying WHAT you would like to see that money go toward (water pumps, generators, water filtration systems, mosquito netting for those working on the farm, etc...).

We appreciate all of you who are prayerfully supporting our journey, and also for those who have been able to contribute financially. You have all been a blessing to us! I am including an account we have that is not being used at the moment at the Royal Bank, please be sure to send us an email if you deposit money letting us know to what you would like to see that money go to, as we desire to be faithful with anything that is given to us for this project!


Please do not feel pressured, this is not what I am intending, I just really wanted to share one of the burdens on our heart, for how we would like to help the Angolan Church with the project being that we will ship a container, we personally have limited resources and we do not want to waste space!

Thank you for your love and prayers at this time, we have 17 days until we leave Kamloops and head to Toronto to ship our container. Then we will go on to NB to spend some time with family and then on to South Africa for perhaps a couple of weeks, just to give that container some time to arrive so we won't be TOO much ahead of it. We will keep you posted in the days ahead on how all of this is coming together!

God Bless and Thank You,
Charlene

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

MINO'S


Mino's
There is a little Greek Restaurant located on the North Shore of Kamloops, nestled between Surplus Herby's and Mommy & Me on Tranquille Road. Just driving by you wouldn't necessarily notice it, but speak to anyone who has been in to experience the warmth and hospitality of George and they will tell you it is amazing! Not only is it the BEST Greek food I have tasted, but I have also experienced many great memories that I will cherish forever. I am going to miss George, Donna (my favourite daytime server, hostess and friend), and Tom (my favourite nighttime server, host and friend). Pete and I have celebrated many different occasions at Mino's, anniversaries, birthdays, mothers days, etc... and we have never been disappointed in the food or the atmosphere. I have also had many great times out with my girlfriends in this place. Some will NEVER be forgotten (Karen, Amy and Jackie for three will vouch for that, although there are many others I could mention here!!!)

Last night our whole family was treated to an amazing meal at MINO'S Greek Restaurant!
ON A GEORGE!

George whipped up Chicken, and Prawn Souvlaki for the boys, Chicken Parmesan for the girls, the usual (Kalamari dinner) for Jackie (who joined us for the evening), and Paella Vallencienne (if you LOVE seafood, you will LOVE this dish) for Pete and I. Jackie, Pete and I also enjoyed a couple of rounds of George's "Special" Coffee! When we were all completely STUFFED, he then sent out Baklava and Chocolate Mousse Cake. It was a fabulous evening and of course our server was Tom! "THANK YOU'S" to ALL the staff who made one of our last 18 days here in Kamloops a gloriously memorable one!!! We have been blessed by God to have such great friends put in our path along this journey called life.

After spending time at Mino's we then made our way over to the Full Gospel Church for a dessert night (we couldn't eat any) in honour of the grade 10's who went to Guatemala this year. It was so nice to see many dear friends and it may be the last time we see many of them! It was a very emotional evening to say the least, I am wondering how I am going to hold up for the final 18 days!

We'll keep you posted as this JOURNEY TO ANGOLA continues on!
God Bless,
Charlene

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Subject's have been REMOVED!

What does that mean? It means the house is SOLD, barring any unforeseen misfortunes, (i.e. death, terminal illness, etc)!! Nothing is ever for sure in this world, so I won't count the chickens before they hatch, however, it looks like we can finish packing. We have 3 weeks (May 14th is possession date), and then we are on our way across Canada to ship that container... Of course between now and then, we must pack, purchase a truck (anyone with any leads on that can call us), and of course find the many other things (generator, etc). If anyone is interested in helping with things for the farm (as noted in Letter from Angola), please contact us as soon as possible. Anyone wanting to make a trip to Ontario with a truck full of stuff to ship to Angola, you can contact us via email... :0) Ha Ha!!!

Well, thank you everyone for your prayers and love through this time of waiting, we are truly thankful for all of the friends God has given us during this lifetime! We also look forward to the many more we will come to know as we follow along on this journey! It is so encouraging!

The kids are excited and ready to go, they were disappointed with how things turned out the last time with the house, and they are ready to get going now!

I will keep you posted as things unfold in these next few weeks. Send us emails... We LOVE to hear from you... Just a reminder, starting now... Send in plain text, and if you want to send any pictures do it now before we go to NO SPEED internet in Angola!!! No such thing as HIGH speed internet where we are going! We look forward to hearing from you. Be sure to keep us posted on HOW and WHAT you are doing in your life as well!!!

Keep PRAYING!!!
Love,
Charlene for the GANG!!!

Thursday, April 21, 2005

AIRMILES NUMBER


Anyone wishing to put their purchases on our airmiles card can do so by printing this out and using it when they shop at Safeway, Shell, Reitman's, etc...! We will save them up in case one of the kids want to fly home one day.

Hand Out with contact information


This side of the hand out details times you can commit to pray for us (which is very much appreciated) and contact information. If you are sending support to the church, be SURE to designate it for the Hillcrest Mission Fund/Pete and Charlene Knightly, if you do not designate it, the money will go in the general fund.

Hand Out with list of various needs!


This is a list of various needs we will have as we prepare to go to Angola AND ongoing needs when we arrive. The equity on our house will help toward some of these needs, however we have also told the UIEA that we would keep a sum of money in the bank for emergency purposes for their peace of mind. We do not wish to be a burden to them in the future.

Anyone wishing to help with any of these needs please let us know, and we will be happy to send out the contact information and who to make your cheques payable to. Those not interested in receipts please let us know and we will deposit directly in our account. I can also email a larger file of this handout, if you would like to print it out. You can email me at knightvision6@gmail.com.

Thank you for all your prayers and financial help!
God Bless,
Charlene

Map of Language divisions in Angola


This may be hard to see, but it gives a list of the different tribal languages in Angola. The official language is Portuguese, but there are MANY Bantu languages.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Letter from Angola!

I thought I would update today on the blog with an excerpt from a letter that we received from the family (the Jouberts, they are from South Africa and their first language is Afrikaans) we will be working with at Agro-Sul. These are some of the practical ways that people can help when we ship a container to Angola:


The river in the Giraul valley has been flowing now for more that a month and it is beautiful. It also brings a lot of mosquitoes and many people have been ill and in the past three weeks 7 small children died here around the farm. It is so sad and one keep on asking what can we do. Some of the things we have been thinking about are to get a proper water well (via UNICEF) for the people and some sponsors for water filters and maybe mosquito nets to try and help in a practical way. The needs everywhere seem so overwhelming and I just constantly remind myself that it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.

The farm is doing better every month with production picking up. The expenses of fuel and insecticide and breaking of the water pumps keeps us on our knees however.
Pete, we are sure that you will see a big difference once you get here.
Since of last week we also have now running water and flushing toilets!! Praise the Lord!
Some Germans came visiting and two of them are professional plumbers. God is so good.


If any of you would like to donate water filters, water pumps, diesel generator, irrigation equipment, farm equipment, mosquito netting, insecticide (for plants and people), or if you have something you think we may need for the farm, please email us at knightvision6@gmail.com and we will be happy to discuss it with you. There are several families employed and living on the farm at present, and our desire is to help them in terms of not only sharing the gospel, but in practical ways such as health and hygiene.

We continue to wait on the Lord to sell the house. The kids are getting anxious to get on the road, but we must be patient and wait on God for His timing, some days it is harder to do than others. Especially when I get a letter like the one above, we would really like to be there to help, however perhaps now we have a better idea of how to help! There are always two ways (at least) to look at things, and we have to be open and willing for God to do His work in His time! So continue to pray with us and those interested in helping in a material way(with regards to equipment), please let us know!

God Bless,
Charlene; for the rest of the gang!

Monday, April 04, 2005

What is TRUE RELIGION?

I thought I would write out the devotion that I read this morning in John Piper's book called A Godward Life. It is our heart and may help you to understand why we desire to do what God has called us to.

Does It Pay To Visit Vermin?
Meditation on James 1:27

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this:
to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Local businessmen in Brazil call them "vermin." Garbage. "If we let them grow up, they will be criminals, a blight on our society." There are an estimated twelve million homeless children on the streets of Brazil. Their parents lost them in the crowds, put them out, died. However they got there, they are there. They beg, they steal, they sell their bodies. They eat garbage. They start scared and end scarred, hard, and dead.

Some policemen and others moonlight by contracting to kill street children so that they will not menace the city. In 1992 an average of four hundred of these children were killed monthly in Brazil.

It's the same in other big cities. The Philippine government estimates that there are fifteen thousand child prostitutes in Manila between the ages of 9 and 12. One estimate suggests that in Thailand there are eight hundred thousand girls between 12 and 16 years old involved in prostitution.

Is your first thought merely human? Like, "If I can barely rear my own children to walk worthy of the gospel, what hope would there be to change the lives of these street kids?" Or, "If it takes ten thousand dollars' worth of Christian counseling to stabilize a mature American Christian who was sexually abused, what in the world would we do with thousands of adolescents who knew nothing but abuse and lawlessness and violence on the streets?"

Do you find yourself looking (in good American fashion) at the bottom line and saying "The turnaround on this investment would not be good?" Or, "The growth potential in planting churches among street kids is not very great. There are too many obstacles."

Shift your thinking a minute (or a lifetime). What about the widow who put in her last two pennies? Jesus said she gave more than anyone (Luke 21:3). What about John the Baptist who lost his head on a dancer's whim and never did a miracle? Jesus said, "Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John" (Matthew 11:11). What about the poor in spirit? Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What about the meek? They will inherit the earth. What about those who receive one child in the name of Jesus? At that moment they receive God (Mark 9:37).

What effect does it have on your longings when you think that God says true religion is to visit orphans (James 1:27)?

The effect it has on me is to make me want to love like Jesus loved and not always be thinking of the earthly payoff. Face it. A few kids are cute, but most street kids will be thankless, rude, dirty, diseased, scar-faced, shifty-eyed, lice-infested, suspicious, smelly, and have rotten teeth. If we minister mainly for the earthly payoff, we will burn out in a year.

Jesus did not say, "True religion is converting orphans." He did not say, "True religion is making orphans mature and successful adults." He said, " True religion is visiting orphans." results are God's business alone. Obedience is ours by His grace. More specifically, by faith in future grace. Perhaps when we grasp this, we will be freed from our earthbound way of thinking and released to minister to the ones who are least likely to thank us.

I hope this encourages you. This life is a shadow, a breath, it isn't going to last more than 100 years... I just want to know that I did something that will count for eternity, and for me being shaken out of my North American mindset of being born, growing up, getting married, having children, making money, retiring, dying, leaving and inheritance... Is just not enough, I need more. I daily need to give my head a shake, and ask God to set my mind on true reality...
Life is a breath and ONLY what I do for Him will last!

God Bless,
Charlene

Sunday, April 03, 2005

SPEED BUMP!

Well, there has been a speed bump in the road! The deal has fallen through. We found out this morning, and we are not sure why, except to say that God has something else in store for us. We will just continue to lean of God for all of our strength to make it through the coming days. Pastor Zach came over this afternoon to encourage us... He read this portion of scripture which has reminded us again that He is faithful and compassionate, and we need to trust Him for all things:
Psalm 25
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O LORD! Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. For your name's sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great. Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land. The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes know to them his covenant. My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me. Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.

This is our prayer! That we will remain faithful to God in all that we do and that HE will show steadfast love, compassion, mercy and kindness toward us! Please continue to pray for us, not only for the sale of the house, but for patience to endure! Psalm 121:8 "The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore." We must believe His word, and trust it! This doesn't mean there won't be SPEED BUMPS, but He will nurse our whiplash!

Continuing to TRUST in the LORD,
Charlene and the rest of the GANG!

Sunday, March 27, 2005

SOLD!

Well... Saturday afternoon a couple came through our house, they were unexpected and without an appointment and came with Cliff Lodge a realtor here in town! He peeked in and asked if it was ok, and we said sure, and went out into the neighbourhood for a visit. A few hours later they called with an offer, and after a couple of counter offers we agreed on a price (which was our bottom line price to take). So at almost 10 PM last night our realtor Ken Endean (who has been incredibly generous to our cause, by dropping his commission) came and we signed the paper work. The subjects-to are financing (and they are pre-approved) and inspection and that is due on April 6. Then they would like possession date of April 29.

Here we go... time to get serious about packing and readying ourselves for the long road ahead. After much prayer and seeking God in this matter it is done. Now starts the more difficult part of the journey... so please continue to be in prayer for our family. We really appreciate all of you who have shown an interest in our lives and we look forward to the days ahead. Our joy is mixed with fear and trembling, but we know that God has called us and so we GO!

Thanks to all of you for your encouragement over this last few months especially. We look forward to keeping you up-to-date on where God leads us, and we look forward to hearing from each of you.

God Bless,
Charlene for the Knightly Gang!

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Thank you for your prayers!

I just wanted to say thank you for your prayers.
God has answered our pleas for mercy and has granted me sleep.
I am so thankful for 2 full night sleeps in a row.
You do not appreciate sleep until you have been without it for weeks at a time.
SO I am truly thankful to God for answering our prayers.
He is a gracious and compassionate God and we are happy to serve him.
We would ask that you continue to pray for the sale of our home.
We had someone come and look this afternoon who has been 3 times now.
Please pray that he makes an offer that will be suitable to what our needs are in preparation for Africa.
So if everyone could pray diligently about the sale of the house this week that would be awesome.

We will keep you posted as we continue on this journey to Angola!!!!
Praise the Lord for He is GOOD!
Love,
Charlene

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Prayer and Financial Pledging Information!

On the road to Angola Africa...

Here are some ways you can help!
Prayer
Prayer is the most important part of the ministry. Through prayer you have the privilege of helping those in places you cannot be.
Here are some options for prayer support:
Weekly prayer partner:
(We are looking for those who would choose a specific day of the week that we can know that you are praying for us)
Daily prayer partners:
(those who chose to pray daily for our family and the ministry)

If you have decided you will pray for us please fill out the pledge form (bottom of this blog) and know that we will be praying for you too!
Finances
There are several areas in which you can participate financially.
All donations can be sent to Hillcrest Baptist Church,
designated: Hillcrest Mission Fund (Pete & Charlene Knightly), if you require a receipt.

Airplane Tickets:
When the time comes to travel to Angola we will be looking at somewhere in the vicinity of $12,000 for plane fares to Africa. These will be one way fares.
Goal: $12,000 CAD

Shipping Container:
We are looking into shipping a pick-up truck, supplies for the farm (diesel generator), along with some household supplies (mattresses/ dishes/etc) in a shipping container. The cost for this will depend on the size we chose to send. If there are lots of donations made for the farm we will probably opt for the 40' container (the difference between the 20' & 40' is $1,500 US)
Goal: $6,500 US

Support:
Our target monthly support for living in Namibe, Angola is $2000CAD.

This covers:
*Rent
*Food/Household
*Communications
*Vehicle/Medical/Ministry Expenses
*Emergencies(any excess funds that come to us personally will be directed to the orphanage project)

Orphanage Fund:
We do not have a set goal for this, but those who wish to contribute in large quantities can do so to the Hillcrest Mission Fund/designated for the (UIEA)Orphanage.

Crew-Cab Pickup:
We will be purchasing a diesel 4x4 off-road crew cab or quad cab pickup suitable for the farm and the Angolan roads.
Goal: Approximately $15,000 to $20,000




Contact Information:

Hillcrest Baptist Church
1393-9th AvenueKamloops, BC V2C-3X6
(250) 372-2021
hillcrestbaptist@shaw.ca

PLEDGE CARD:

As a part of the KNIGHT VISION TEAM!

I would like to:

Pray

Daily
Weekly, every, Sun/Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat

Give

One Time gift $____________________
Monthly support$____________________
Yearly support $____________________

Please make cheques payable to: Hillcrest Baptist Church (address above)
Designated: Hillcrest Mission Fund/Pete & Charlene Knightly

Receive
"Knightly News” Regular up-dates on the work in Angola!
Via snail-mail: _____________________________________
Via e-mail: ________________________________________

Feel Free to forward or photocopy and give to friends or relatives that are interested!

Saturday, March 05, 2005

Prayer Request

I just wanted to ask everyone to please pray for a few things in particular.

1. We have had 2 separate people through the house 2 times in 2 days. Please pray that there will be an offer made and that we can accept it and the house will sell and we can pack and move on in this journey to Angola. You can also pray for wisdom and discernment in what to pack and take with us.
2. Pray for guidance and direction (as soon as the house sells) in purchasing the truck that we need for the Angolan roads. Specifically for a 4x4 Crew Cab Diesel Pickup Truck, in good running condition.
3. For relief from my insomnia. It has been 3 weeks now and I am completely exhausted. Please pray that God will grant me the rest that I need in order to get the things accomplished that I need to each day. If any of this doesn’t make sense, chalk it up to lack of sleep.


We are very thankful and happy to have some friends from Manitoba here for a visit. We are trying to convince them to stay a few days. I hope that I am not keeping them awake by wandering around the house all night!

Thank you to those of you who have donated money through the Hillcrest Mission Fund and directly to us. We appreciate your contribution to our journey. For those of you wondering how to go about contributing or pledging a monthly support please email us for details at knightvision6@gmail.com

We will continue to keep everyone up-to-date on the BLOG as things begin to unfold. Thank you for your prayers, we sincerely appreciate them.

Take care and God Bless,
Charlene

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Brother Andrew

Good Morning!

My friend Karen, Pete and I went to Abbotsford yesterday to see Brother Andrew, God's Smuggler. His testimony of God's faithfulness was very encouraging. His book, 'God's Smuggler' was a great story of how he fulfilled God's call in his life and God's faithfulness to him as he traveled behind the iron curtain to deliver Bible's to people who did not have the opportunity to live freely as believers under the communist regime. You can purchase his book at http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=93013&netp_id=252787&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW if you are interested in a good read. I wouldn't necessarily recommend all of his books, but this one is definitely a hit. We enjoyed a visit with Fred and Micah and some of their friends from church who joined us at Starbucks afterward. Always nice to connect with friends!

Well, we arrived home safely at 2 AM, and I was able to stay awake to drive, since I have had insomnia now for 2 weeks (and counting). I have managed a couple of nights of sleep in the middle of the two weeks, but I haven't managed to shake the insomnia yet.

The girls are still in Cranbrook with the grandparents! They have been enjoying their time away from us (hmmmm)... teenagers!

Lots of lookers at the house, but no offers yet. Still waiting patiently on the Lord to do His work in His time. We do appreciate the prayers of those of you who are continuing to hold us up to the Father. Thank you!

Just thought I would write a quick update. Hope it makes sense... my mind is a bit cloudy these days from the lack of sleep, but this too shall pass!
God Bless,
Charlene

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Morning Musings!

Well here we are February 16, 2005 and the house has not yet sold. I just finished the morning musing and hit spell check and it erased the whole thing. So here I go again! God is testing my patience this morning with this technology that He has given us. Do we trust Him or the technology? Same theory goes for the house; do I trust Him or the real estate market? If I believe that God is Sovereign and in control of all things then I must trust in Him for all things!

This morning I was reading in Ezekiel and God spoke to me with a small portion in chapter 36 verse 32. "It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways" OUCH! I am ashamed and confounded for my ways... who am I in the grand scheme of things? God is concerned with His name, He is Holy and Just and Perfect, we are not. So when God chooses to act, He will do it for His own Glory. For who are we? This brings me to the Psalm I read for the morning, Psalm 144:3-4, "O LORD, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow". Our life is a breath, and only what we do here on this earth for Christ will last for eternity. How many days can you add to your life by worrying about things? So my lesson today for myself is this: If the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, and God will act for the glory of his own Name and not mine, and my life is only a breath a passing shadow; then what I am going to do today? I am going to seek to Glorify God by obeying His commands (to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and my neighbour as myself) and stop worrying about when the house is going to be sold and when we are going to head to Africa to fulfill His calling in our lives. I am also going to pray, and I would ask those of you who love the Lord to pray with us. For I am reminded in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

So please pray along with us that God's name would be Glorified in all that He has done and all that He is about to do on our behalf. We are amazed at how He has worked so far! He is so Good! Pray for wisdom and discernment as we seek to live out God's will for us here on this earth.

I am also including a link to another missionary blog! I thought some of you may be interested in increasing your missionary portfolio and so I am including this link (Sheri is a fellow MK[missionary kid] of NCEM[Northern Canada Evangelical Mission]) http://cottrillcompass.com/blog.html for your enjoyment.

If you are not called to be a GO-er, then you are called to be a SEND-er, whether that is by your prayers or your giving, God will reveal that to you in His time.

Hope you have enjoyed my morning musings. May God bless you as you do His will today!
Love,
Charlene

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Prayer Requests!

Yesterday our visas came in the mail. I was surprised as I had asked them to hold off until I called and let them know it was time, but they sent them anyway. I guess God has other plans and we will know what they are soon, as we have 60 days to be in-country from the time the visas were issued. The house has not sold yet, we have had many people through and no offers yet. Pete is also looking for a crew cab diesel 4x4 pickup that we can ship to Angola. He is also still working full-time which is good for him and our family.

Well, we have someone coming to look through the house soon, so here is our list of prayer requests if you would like to pray along with us. We look forward to how God is going to move next, and we desire that His name be magnified and glorified in all of this.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
The sale of the house
The truck (crew cab diesel 4x4)
Peace of mind, faith and trust in God alone to work out the details
Wisdom and discernment in what to pack and ship to Angola

I read Psalms 141 this morning and this portion was especially encouraging to me.
Psalms 141: 1-5
O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips!
Do not let my heart incline to any evil,
to busy myself with wicked deeds
in company with men who work iniquity,
and let me not eat of their delicacies!
Let a righteous man strike me-- it is a kindness
let him rebuke me--it is oil for my head;
let my head not refuse it.
Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.

May the Lord richly bless you today, and may you seek His guidance in all you do!
God Bless,
Charlene for the gang!