Greetings Friends,

Well, right now I was to be at Luderitz, on the south-west coast. Instead, I’m sitting at home nursing a cold like half of Windhoek. But Elmo is there busily introducing SU ministry to schools. I read that tonight will be minus 2 here, so any notions that all Africa is always hot and sweaty can now be binned. Those of you watching the World Cup from South Africa will probably have noticed that everyone except the players were well rugged in the cold.

And now Spain is the champion. The big disappointments here were when South Africa went out, then when the last African team, Ghana, exited later. It’s been extra interesting being right next to South Africa while the Cup was on, and the match times were ideal for us to watch live every match, not that I did. But as Phill is a keen soccer man, I saw quite a few. And we joined together upstairs to watch the Socceroos, of course.

In May, Senior Schools Worker, Adam Nzuzi, received his university Certificate in studies on Children at Risk. He plans to do to Diploma next year, all part-time >>>

After the big trek of May, June has been more mundane, with the usual office matters to keep ministry going. A disappointment was the lack of response for our SU National Conference. So few, that we cut the weekend to one night, and it basically became a staff retreat. Good for the team, but a bit of a downer. If it had been a one-off, then okay, but we have tried various ways to raise local support, and few respond. Quite an ongoing challenge. Thankfully we have a few more keen supporters than 2 years ago, but please pray on for many more. Of course, we are reaching lots more schools, and that costs more too, so a good problem.

This week we will send out an advertising splurge for our Shalom Camp Centre. (Bookings in the World Cup period dried right up!!) Please pray that it generates more bookings, especially on weekdays. Increased bookings mean we can continue the upgrading, and have more support for field-work. I will also be getting out to church leaders more in the coming month. Pray that also brings good support in many ways.

Would you also start praying for my next Work Permit. This week the Chairman will lodge the application for its extension beyond October this year. It would be wonderful if it is more easily approved than in the past. Less stressful on both SU here and on me.

So it’s a short news this month. There may be a brief trip to the coast late July, to help SU development there, but otherwise I’m here, trying to keep warm. And most know that me and cold don’t get on, as I tend to want to hibernate till spring!

Blessings to you and yours, Graeme

For a full picture-rich copy of Graeme’s newsletter see below.