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!