Sorry Friends

This is just a quick note to let you all know that since we have been home we have had quite a time with both the internet and our phone. We have had almost none of either. Hopefully we will be back in touch and be able to post some photos from our trip home and of our upcoming trip to the Sossusvlei Dunes for Penny's Birthday. Peace, Jeremy

Back in Windhoek

Hey Everyone just a quick note to tell you that we are home safely after a long week of travel. It is about 5pm and we are unpacking for as long as we can stand up. We still don't have home internet connection so I am not sure how often we will be able to email. I am at an internet cafe now not far from our house. We had a great visit home. Thanks to everyone for everything. We cannot express how great the trip was for us and we cannot wait to see you all again. Love, Penny and Jeremy

Help For Linea

Dear Friends
We have been having and incredible time on our home stay. We spent the morning at St. John's in Decatur and had a great time. I want to say another very special thank you to Rev. Richard Lawson and Ms. Monica Romano. Monica has been travelling over the past two week to wherever we have been speaking to be our all around audio/visual professional. She created two DVD's of our photos and has been an incredible help. Yesterday was very special because we got to go "home" for a visit to our old parish in Athens, St. Timothy's. This visit was all the more special because we were joined there by The Rev. Deacon Linea Haufiku from Namibia. She is currently continuing her theological studies at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas but she is spending the summer on an internship in the Diocese of Alabama. She added so much to last night's discussion. Here is a photo of her (on the left) with the Rev'd Nangula Kathindi the coordinator of the Diocesan HIV/AIDS program. Since the time this photos was taken he has cut her hair. I made a request last night for some small amount of support for Linea while she is in the U.S. studying. Although she receives tuition and housing she still has to buy groceries and other household needs for herself AND she sends money home to support her mother and the 6 children that live with her now. Many people at St. Timothy's gave her a love offering last night but also requested her information to continue supporting her into the future. Thanks to everyone who made last night possible. Here is the information:

The Rev. Deacon Linea Haufiku
SUMMER ADDRESS IN ALABAMA
107 Forest Glen Dr.
Madison, AL 35758
(256) 479-5674

PERMANENT ADDRESS IN AUSTIN, TX
3007 Duval Street
Apt. 303 N
Austin, TX 78705

First Week Home

Hi Everyone. I hope that everyone is having a great week. We are finally recovering from the trip home and have been criss-crossing the state visiting family for the past week. We are in Birmingham until Monday when we will head to North Alabama. So far it has been a great trip we spent Memorial Day with my sisters family and

the new baby Max. These photos are from their house. My bro-in

-law Phil made some incredible smoked BBQ and we had a nice relaxing day. This past Sunday night we went to St. Francis to share a little about our mission work. Monica Romano produced a great video for us and we had a really great evening. Thank you to everyone who donated to the cause. This weekend we will still be in Bham and I will be preaching at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Cahaba Heights. They have two services, one at 9am and one at 11:15am. During the Christian Education hour Penny and I will be giving a presentation on our mission work and selling all sorts of Namibian gifts to raise money for the cause.

Next week we are headed to North Alabama to visit with our friends from the Athens/Decatur/Huntsville/ Madison/Florence areas. We will be at St. John's in Decatur on Sunday the 7th of June. That night we will be at St Timothy's in Athens for a dinner and talk at 5:30pm. Ok that's all for now. Have a good weekend and follow us on Twitter. Peace, Jeremy and Penny

Feeling the trip

There is a great comment by one of the characters of Willam Gibson's book Pattern Recognition. She says that when you fly long distances you move faster than your soul and leave it behind. It takes a few days for it to catch up. Today it feels like our soul has come crashing into our body. Since Wednesday when we arived we have been doing OK with the jet-lag but today it has hit us like a ton of bricks almost at the exact same time. We are doing alright but are having waves of dizziness and upset stomachs. I am sure it will pass. Please join us tomorow night at St. Francis of Assisi in Indian Springs for our first official dinner and talk if you can. Blessings and Peace, Jeremy and Penny

We're Home!!

Hey everyone just wanted to send a quick email to let you all know that we arrived home safely yesterday around 12pm. We stayed awake until about 7pm and got up around 7am today. We are just hanging out recovering at my Mom's house in Bham. If you need to call us the number is 205 871-1084. We will be getting a cell phone in the next few days to have while we are home and I will send the number when we get it.  Our first official event will be this Sunday evening the 24th at St. Francis of Assisi in Pelham. I think it is at 6:30pm. We will have dinner and then we will have a talk and give people a chance to buy a few things we brought home.  Hope you are all well and thanks for the great weather in Birmingham. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone. Peace, Jeremy and Penny

Coming Home

We hope that everyone is doing well. This will be our last post before we come home on May 20. On Sunday Penny and I are headed to the North for a week. Penny will be helping with an HIV/AIDS prevention and home based care training of trainers. I will be going for the second week of the clergy training program. We will be back in Windhoek on Sunday the 17th and begin our travels on the 19th. The last few weeks have been really great and we have made some great connections for our return. A few days ago Penny had a meeting with one of the directors of I-TEC (International Training and Education Center for HIV/AIDS), Yesterday we had the blessed opportunity to meet and have tea with Father Michael Lapsley and members of the training team from the Institute for the Healing of Memories. Here is a little about his story from the Forgiveness Project. Today we are going to sit down with Father Rick Bauer who is the director of Catholic AIDS Action in Namibia. It is great to be able to make these connections. We realize how much they could help with the work we are doing with the Diocese. This past week the Cathedral hosted meetings of the Cathedral Chapter and Standing Committee. The meeting included the Archdeacons from around the Diocese. There are so many stories from this country and diocese and the faith and hope of Anglicans here is beyond almost anything I have ever seen. Most priest in this country work for less than $200 USD a month. They are usually responsible for more than one parish and several outstations. Since almost none of them has a car they hitchhike between locations and then walk many kilometers to get where they are going. The parishioners go months sometimes without seeing priest but carry on with Lay Ministers doing Morning Prayer. The situation is desperate but there is hope. Next week will be the second seminar for out new clergy trainees and they are excited to take up their place in a few years. The Rev Deacon Linea Haufiku is now studying in the U.S. at Seminary of the Southwest and will be coming to the Diocese of Alabama for a three month internship this summer. She will be based at St. Matthews in Madison but will do some travelling to tell people about Namibia and share her own stories. She is an incredible person. I want everyone to know that your support for us has been turned into support for Linea.
We are really excited to be coming home for a month and look forward to seeing as many people as possible. On this trip we will be in Birmingham, Athens, and Gadsden to see family and friends and to do some preaching and presenting about our work in Namibia. Unfortunately we will not make it to the south or west of Bham on this trip. We won't make it to Montgomery, Auburn, Selma or Demopolis or to the Tuscaloosa area. On our next trip home we will make sure to put you all on the top of the list. If you are able to come to Birmingham, Decatur or Gadsden we would love to see you there.
Our next post will be from the U.S. Blessings and Peace, Jeremy and Penny