Five men from the Lord's Church in Fredericksburg Texas arrived in Windhoek Namibia on Saturday August 1 for a week-long campaign. Shown left to right in the photo above are Bob Mathews, Zach Kirkland, Bob Grinslade, Michael Hartman, and Tommy LeFan. We asked the Lord's blessings on our trip, and He blessed us with fertile soil in Rundu -- hearts willing to hear the Gospel message and eager to respond to the invitation of Jesus. We conducted studies with 63 individuals, and 30 of these responded to the message and were baptized.In the second photo above, as well as in the first 2 photos below, you see the land that's owned by the Rundu Church, and on which they meet. The Fredericksburg Church bought and donated this land so the Church in Rundu would have a place to call their own. Chariot 2 was there for the week, and we were blessed with great numbers for attendance at 2 services on Sunday, as well as evening services Monday through Thursday. (See photo 3 above.)
The mud hut shown above is a multi-purpose structure. Sometimes they cook meals there, sometimes they meet there, and sometimes they have Bible studies there. Shortly after we left, Jonas and the other brethren expanded it to twice the size you see here. In the photo showing the tent, you can also see the approximate dimensions of the concrete block structure that will be built there in coming years. It will have about the same footprint as the Chariot tent, and will be in the same location. Work began last week on the foundation for this building.There were so many kids in the neighborhood who came to see what all the excitement was all about, so we taught them some Bible songs, and even learned a new song that they taught us! We showed 2 Christian videos during the week that were directed at the children, and they enjoyed these very much. In many places where GCM takes the Gospel Chariot, people see the Chariot and are curious so they stop by to see what it's all about, and many of them study. At this particular location in Rundu, the Chariot seemed to pique the interest of only the children, so to reach the adults we had to do a little door knocking. This is a lot more effective than door knocking in the U.S.! You can see a team of 3 in the last photo above, who are returning from a study.
Studying the Bible is what we were there for, and we did a lot of it! Thankfully, almost half of those we studied with gave their lives to Christ. We recognized them by presenting them with baptismal certificates after services one evening.
It's great to see the happy smiles of new converts! It's also great to see the dedication of these precious souls, who will walk miles and miles, sometimes with very little to eat all day, just to study the Bible and worship with the Church.
As we watched the sun set over the Okavango River one last time, we knew we'd be back. As our African brother Eddie said, "I love to evangelize!" We do too, Eddie.It's been a privilege to work with George Funk and Gospel Chariot Missions for nearly 15 years. In that time, we've seen GCM grow from the seed of a dream into hundreds of churches established and thousands of souls baptized in Southern Africa. Keep in mind that this is not "George Funk Missions". George is doing a lot of wise things with GCM, but one of the wisest is that he's not only making sure the newly-planted congregations have strong leaders, but he's already preparing men to take over the GCM ministry for the day when he turns 85 and can no longer keep up his current pace.
Bob Mathews
