As it stands right now the house at the ARK will not be completed for 'months' and we have not yet received approval from CHI (international director) to go ahead with the addition. In the meantime, we have found a house that we can rent, but the expense is clearly above what we currently receive in donations ... however, we are going to step out in FAITH and move in, trusting that the Lord will supply all that we need! The following letter will explain in detail our donations vs expenses, so that you can understand what we are facing. I must share with you that this is probably a low estimate and because Pete is incredibly frugal we can generally manage to get by. We try very hard to live responsibly with our finances, and we do not have any debt. We are very thankful to those of you who have supported us financially over this last year +, we could not stay on the field without the generous gifts that you have given to us. We are not here for ourselves, and we feel privileged to have been called by God to work with orphans and those in need here in Africa!!!
Knightly Monthly Budget
(In Canadian Dollars)
Current income:
Ø Average donations per month is $1000 (this is all from individuals, we do not have any churches that support us)
Ø Child Tax Credit $640 (this may disappear in the new year due to change in employment status)
TOTAL: $1640
Current Expenses:
Ø Income Tax $100
Ø Bank Fee $12
Ø Talitha Allowance $50
Ø House rental $350
Ø Water $40
Ø Electricity $70
Ø Charitable Donations $160
Ø Auto Insurance $50
Ø Life Insurance $27.12
Ø Internet $100
Ø Telephone $100
Ø Gas for Stove $10
Ø Household cleaners/toiletries $250
Ø Groceries $500
Ø Car fuel $300
Ø Clothing $100
Ø School $30
Ø Entertainment $20
Ø Dining out $100
Ø 10% compensation for exchange rate $236
TOTAL: $2605.12
SHORTAGE (-$965.12)
We also have no idea what the expense will be for Work Permits, and Student Visas, so this is not included in the budget… the price was supposed to change in July, and we pray it doesn’t change before we get ours! Some of the things we are not sure about such as water and electricity (this is a guess based on a family of 3 living in the house we may rent; water is very high here in Namibia). Telephones are used mainly for CHI purposes, and internet is our only source of communication with ‘home’.
Some of the expenses can be cut back on such as entertainment, and dining out (which is incurred when we go into Windhoek running errands). School fees may be higher as they must purchase uniforms, and school supplies. We currently as of yet do not have insurance for our vehicle.
We are still working on figuring out exactly how much things will cost in Namibia, so this is rough estimate, based on our first month here and some projected expenses that we have not yet incurred!
We will also have other expenses once we move into a house, such as purchasing a fridge, stove, freezer and furniture. We have beds in Angola (but we only borrowed a table and chairs while there, and we never did manage to purchase living room furniture). Hopefully we will have the details worked out for having our things trucked down here in the next few weeks! Once we have an idea of what the appliances may cost we will send that information out to you.
We encourage you to pray about it, and if you feel God laying on your heart to support the Knightly Family financially please email us with your pledged amount. Currently you can receive a receipt for your gift until December 2006 (when you give through Hillcrest). However after December is up in the air, and we are in the process of and making every effort to find an organization to funnel our funds through, until CHI has a Canadian office (which they are in the process of doing). All we can offer at this point is God’s blessing as you give without obtaining a receipt! Our account details will be included in this email if you would like to direct deposit, if you prefer to mail post-dated cheques to Pete’s parents (who have been so gracious as to take care of our banking) the address will be included also.
Specific Prayer Requests
Ø A mission organization to temporarily go under, so that we may funnel our funds through them as a benefit to the givers
Ø Finances
Ø Health (my asthma was very bad shortly after arriving here in Namibia, and Praise the Lord I was given some Mannatech and in just over a week I am feeling an unbelievable amount better!)
Ø Encouragement (this has been a difficult time of transition for me and the kids, as our hearts are in Angola. It has also been difficult living in the multi purpose building with many people in and out day and night! Etc!)
Ø House to live in and appliances
Ø Our things to arrive from Angola (safely and inexpensively)
Ø Things seem to go missing and get stolen here in Namibia, frequently (we have had food go missing from our kitchen, toiletries from the bathroom, Pete’s cell phone was stolen, etc!!) please pray for safety and the ability to not become angry, frustrated and constantly suspicious.
Ø The safe and quick return of our new passports from Canada.
Praise Items
Ø Pete is very happy with his new duties here in Namibia.
Ø We as a family enjoy going to church in Windhoek each Sunday at a Portuguese/English church. Great teaching and great people!
Ø We had a wonderful visit from Pastor Zebedeu from Namibe, Angola! What a great time we had together, and what an encouragement he was to us!
Ø One of the members from the church in Namibe sent some money to us (just to help with groceries and things)… we were speechless and challenged by the generosity of our Christian brother in Angola.
Ø One of the CHI ladies was a teacher back in America and she offered to teach my children a couple of days a week, this has been a HUGE blessing.
Pete’s Parents
Pete and Charlene Knightly
c/o Ron and Marge Knightly
19-14th Ave S
Cranbrook, BC VIC 2W9
250-426-4782
Hillcrest Baptist Church
c/o Hillcrest Mission Fund
1393-9th Ave
Kamloops BC V2C 3X6
250-372-2021
(Please make cheque out to Hillcrest Baptist and write on a separate piece of paper that is it for the Knightly Family)
We thank you for taking the time to read this over, and we thank you in advance for praying concerning the needs of our family. We thank God for you!
Love in Christ,
Charlene
1 comment:
Praise God for all He's doing to help you guys get settled in. The three of us really, really appreciated your hospitality in Namibe, and many people have heard of your work for God because of it. We'll continue to pray for your new work in Namibia, including finances, health, house, and safety.
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