Dear Family and Friends,
We hope that you are all doing well. We are excited and nervous as we prepare to set off for Namibia to work with Christ's Hope there. We leave tomorrow Monday, October 18th for Okahandja, Namibia.
God planted a desire in both our hearts, even when we were dating, to do missions together. After we were married, we began to really pray about the where and the when of doing some sort of extended trip together. Last summer our hearts were stricken by the hopelessness of the HIV/AIDS situation ravaging entire nations around the world. We were very aware of a growing desire to somehow contribute something to the battle against this disease. We just had no idea how; what did we really have to offer to this overwhelming need? Over the next several weeks it became clear to both of us that God was indeed calling us to Africa to do something!
So, now that we had it narrowed down to a continent, we started to pray more specifically about what organization and when we would go. In October, we heard from our pastor that he had a “chance” meeting with the director of an organization called Christ's Hope International (CHI). We didn't learn much about them initially, except that they ran orphanages for kids whose parents had died from AIDS in the country of Namibia (in the south of Africa). We were encouraged to hear that our pastor felt a definite connection with this organization and was pursuing a partnership for our church with CHI.
Fast forward to March of this year... we had continued to pray about with whom we might serve and as we learned more about Christ's Hope, it became evident that this was the place for us. Their response to this epidemic and their multi-faceted approach really rang true in our hearts. We had initially been planning on going on this trip later- next year, perhaps. But as we talked about it we kept coming back to the question: why not now? So here we are... heading to Namibia!!!
Let us tell you more about Christ's Hope (www.christshope.org) and give you a better understanding of what they are doing. CHI's mission is to work towards an AIDS free world (talk about a God-sized vision!!!). They have a three-fold approach:
1. Prevention: CHI has developed a biblically-based abstinence program called “Choose to Wait” that is being presented at public high school assemblies. They are being invited into schools across the continent and sharing this faith-based curriculum with thousands of high-schoolers.
2. Care and Compassion: CHI has a desire to reach out to the people infected and affected by AIDS and share the love and hope of Jesus Christ with them. Hospices are being opened to provide care for those that have been rejected by their families and society.
3. Nurturing: There are literally millions of orphans in Africa and CHI is running children's homes that provide kids with their basic physical needs, as well as a “family” and an education. There are three currently open with more in the planning and construction stages.
So where do we come in? We started the application process several months ago assuming that we would go serve in one of the children's homes. But the Lord has other plans for us! After speaking with the international director, we are going to be living and working in the town of Okahandja, Namibia which is where the international headquarters for CHI is located. Cale will be working as a project manager for ongoing renovations to their international ministry and training facility. Kate is going to be working in the office for the international director doing administrative tasks. We are blown away by these new opportunities for service in which we will get to use our skills and abilities. Cale is taking a nine month leave of absence from his job and they have been completely supportive of him!
We are so excited about what the Lord is doing. Please email us (caleandkate@gmail.com) and let us know what is going on with you. Thank you for being important people in our lives and for your support of us as we strive to be obedient to the Lord.
God bless,
Cale & Kate Zeune