Through an intense push by the Dutch Reformed Church, many Ju//aonsi pastors and elders are getting trained and supported to reach the extensive network of remote villages in north eastern Namibia.
Also the Kwhe and !Kung have seen a growth in the church recently. Please keep praying for these small (<50,000) people clusters, spread out over large expanses, to become rooted in Scripture and intentionally sharing their faith.

Praise the Lord that a group of African missionaries from Zambia were able to participate in an exploration of ministries in Namibia. This is an encouraging answer to prayers for more harvesters, so please pray that these faithful men would be led by the Holy Spirit to work amongst the San, both to evangelize and to nurture the growth of San believers there. Also continue to pray for the translation work, that many more Bible stories would be effectively translated, distributed and shared across San land.

The San people believe in a creator god, but they are not considered religious. Despite there being a couple of San churches, they are largely unreached. This could be due to living in remote/inaccessible areas, a nomadic lifestyle, and a unique and difficult to learn mother tongue. Pray that San believers, and other close-culture Christians, would commit to bringing the Gospel to the lost. Pray for work to be done in bringing oral translations of the Bible in the San language, bringing the beautiful Good News to those who are perishing.

There is a new translation project led by the Namibia Bible Society. Pray for the team that is being assembled and will start soon. Pray for hearts to respond to God’s word in the mother tongue as missionaries and disciples take newly translated scripture and stories to the villages.

As many San people have left their traditional way of life and moved into the city, pray they will hear the gospel and be saved. Pray they would adopt a new way of life that leads to life and joy in Jesus.

Lift up those working amongst the San people in Tsumkwe, Namibia. Ask for continued strength and energy as they disciple believers there in the Way; pray for those seeking to build relationships in the community, that they would become spiritual guides to the lost, leading them to Jesus. Pray that the stories from the Bible Story Project which have been shared amongst the San would make deep roots in their hearts, and that the Way, the Truth and the Life would be known to them. May the Lord send more and more workers to San to spread the Good News there.

Pray for continued good relationship with the Minister of Marginalized People, that he’d continue to allow more workers to come into San region, and that more workers would be called to come. Pray for new relationships to be formed with the “gatekeepers” amongst the San, and that Christ would be known by many more in Namibia.

We are THANKING the Lord for the men who are being discipled. In Feb. 2020 there were 2 coming…and now there are 10! Praise God. The Sunday after Christmas, 8 of them were baptized. Continue to pray for the Oral Bible Story Project as 10 stories are in various stages of translation. ASK God to use these stories to take the Gospel to some who have never heard.

Please pray for the discipleship group as they learn how to teach others using the oral picture dictionary. Oral story creation is creeping along but thankfully moving forward. Pray for wisdom and divine inspiration as we create and translate these stories. May the Good News of Jesus come in a clear, understandable and reproducible way.

After sharing the Jesus film with one family, we are now receiving requests from others who also want to watch it. Pray for this seed to be watered by the Holy Spirit and that the people’s hearts will be opened to understand what they see. Alongside this, the Bible story set is still in its infancy but the local workers are faithful and it’s going very well. Pray for this group of people as we wrestle with scripture, culture and sharing the good news in a clear, understandable and reproducible way.

There are encouraging signs that people are eager to learn and gather. They want more stories, but the story sets are not yet ready in their language. They want to meet with others but in the current circumstances this isn’t easy. Ask that God would move and draw many to Himself, even without the polished, perfectly articulated stories in their heart language…. and that all the glory would go to Him.

The Ju/hoansi language is one of the hardest to learn, but is beautiful to hear with its different clicks, tones and noun classes. Lift up two men who are being discipled by a worker who’s still learning the language. Pray for these two as they have started to go out and share the Good News. Ask that the Gospel would come to the people in a clear and understandable way and they would be obedient to its teachings.

Pray for all the believers in the Tsumkwe area. Pray that the Holy Spirit will help them to grow spiritually and to stand strong in the Lord. Pray for the gift of discernment so that they will accept and obey the pure, living Word. Pray that believers will answer the call of the Lord to become involved in His service.

Pray for the leaders in the area, chosen by their people to represent them in governmental matters.

Pray that the Lord will keep the children in his hands and protect them against abuse and that they will continue coming in great numbers to learn about the Lord and accept his love for them.

At the end of June, I was in Tsumkwe to meet with a team of four from Johannesburg to minister to the Tsumkwe secondary school children on how to overcome drug addictions, alcohol and all other related social challenges Tsumkwe people face. The good news is that the team ended up ministering to the teachers, police officers and inmates of the Tsumkwe holding cell as well as to a group of San youth at the Dutch Reformed church.
There was a positive response. The speaker kept pointing to Jesus as the ultimate deliverer from all the bondages of addictions.
There was a huge and evident sign of hunger- people want to hear the Word of truth being taught.
Pray that those who heard the teachings would be set free from bondage and that they would share with others about the power of Christ.

Pray that the Lord will keep the children in His hands and protect them against abuse and that they will continue coming in great numbers to learn about the Lord and accept His love for them.

Pray for the oral Bible translation for wisdom to find the correct words in context and for persistence through long hours of concentration, all to the honor of the Lord.

* Please pray for the pastors’ (Gerrie, N!aici and Leviet) ministry amongst their people. May our Lord keep them steadfast in their ways before Him. Pray for their families as well to support them and for good health.

* For the church board to walk closely with the Lord and for guidance by the Holy Spirit.

* For protection on the roads when they drive/walk to the villages in the bush.

Pray for God’s continued blessing on the craft market. Part of Pastor Gerrie’s visits to the villages is to exchange crafts for food. Pray for wisdom for Pastor Gerrie.

Continue to pray against the evils of alcohol abuse. This is a widespread devastating problem.

Pray for all the believers in the Tsumkwe area. Pray that the Holy Spirit will help them to grow spiritually and to stand strong in the Lord. Pray for the gift of discernment so that they will accept and obey the pure, living Word. Some are being led astray by people teaching the health and wealth gospel. Pray that believers will answer the call of the Lord to become involved in His service. Pray for the adult group being taught by Pastor Gerrie. May the Lord really open their hearts to Him.

A local pastor serving with the San people made the following prayer requests: Please pray for healing of those who are sick among the people, and for people traveling for Christmas. Pray for spiritual strengthening of our Chief and church leaders and that they would fully participate in Church activities.

Many of the San will say that they are believers, but few are truly following the Way. Pray for the believers to be bold in their faith both in their walks and talks. Pray that they would be united in their love for Jesus and that there would be no strife over doctrinal differences. Pray for the church leaders to lead the sheep.

Many residents of Tsumkwe town continue to live without the understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The few who profess to believe hardly get the nurturing that is needed to come to the knowledge of the truth and live in it. Informal research by Gospel workers living in Tsumkwe has found that most of the people are nominal ‘Christians’. Please pray that the few Christian leaders would prioritize feeding the flocks with God’s word. Oftentimes the leaders are so busy with many other things that they have no time for the sheep.

Pray for the Chief, who was baptized recently. Pray he will study the Bible and do what it says and live a life worthy of the Lord. Pray he would be bold to share God’s goodness and the salvation He offers with his people.

A man committed suicide and left behind a wife and 5 children. No evidence that the man knew Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He could not bear the news of his HIV positive status. The wife told mourners that she will follow in her husband’s footsteps. Please pray against that plan.
At the burial, Zeka was asked to share God’s word, and there was a positive response.
Pray for the late’s wife. We paid her a visit and she looked worried. She is   unemployed and asked for prayers that God would provide for her family.
She will be going back to her village with 2 kids while the other 3 remain in Tsumkwe with grandparents.

We praise God that the chief in the region where our workers were located was baptized recently along with one of his advisors. Additionally, the local pastor has baptized at least four men and women. Praise the Lord! We praise Jesus for the work of the Spirit among the San people. Pray that more will soften and open their hearts to the saving news of Jesus Christ.

Many children continue to be left behind due to lack of modern education. People really want a kindergarten and preschool for the children. Pray for people to be available and willing to be trained to do this work for future generations.

On October 21, 2016, the Tsumkwe TIMO team had a farewell party. This was an important event to thank the community, especially the few San believers, the families that hosted the team members, the community leaders, and to say a public goodbye. There was a lot of encouragement from the community. They appreciated the relationships they had with team members. The team left Tsumkwe on Monday, October 24. Pray for the community leaders (traditional authority, particularly the chief of the San) who are upset for not knowing the details as to why the team had to leave. Pray also that the Holy Spirit will comfort and heal the San’s hurt. Pray that the Lord will open a door for more workers to come into Tsumkwe and help support local believers.

Missionary working with San writes, “Please pray for close friend and language helper #Oma (# is a click sound) who recently lost his only son.” Pray for his family at this difficult time and pray for missionary, Zeka to be salt and light.

Praise be to God for the arrival of 3 out of 8 team members in Tsumkwe! We are trusting the Lord for the remaining 5 visas so that we can have the whole team. 2Cor 5v7- Zeka-team leader for San Team

The San TIMO team started on October 15. Three members were given visas and so could arrive on time to join Zeka & Anita and their family. The remaining 8 adults and three children are still waiting for official approval before they can enter Namibia. Please pray they will receive this soon.

Praise be to God for the arrival of 3 out of 8 team members in Tsumkwe! We are trusting the Lord for the remaining 5 visas so that we can have the whole team. 2Cor 5v7- Zeka-team leader for San Team

The San TIMO team started on October 15. Three members were given visas and so could arrive on time to join Zeka & Anita and their family. The remaining 8 adults and three children are still waiting for official approval before they can enter Namibia. Please pray they will receive this soon.

Zeka, team leader writes, ” Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him Ps127v3. Many San are blessed to have children. This morning many San children came to see the girls, after being away for 11 weeks. As they played, I thought of how wonderful it would be if these children had an opportunity to know their maker. please pray that the Lord will raise up more workers to address this need.”

Zeka wries from Tsumkwe, NE Namibia…
“He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your god” Josh4v24 Many San are yet to know about this God of creation that we worship. can we pray taht the San will come to experience the power of the Lord and know that He is mighty to save them from their everyday struggles.
Pray for Zeka and Anita and their twins Sally and Sarah as they settle in the San community. Praise the Lord that they are picking up language fast!!

Tsumkwe is mourning the death of a San woman, It is likely that she died from alcohol poisoning. please pray that the Lord would protect the San from the dangers of addiction and that the children in the community would be saved.