Compassion Walk 2009

New Hope Free Methodist Church is doing a fundraiser for Elton and I. If you want more details, you can contact: http://www.newhopefree.org/


http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154172486494

Event: Comapssion Walk 2009"Walk-a-thon to raise support for AIDS relief in Namibia"
What: Fundraiser
Start Time: Saturday, October 10 at 8:30am
End Time: Saturday, October 10 at 2:00pm
Where: The 9 mile walk begins at New Hope Free Methodist.

Thanks all for what you are trying to do to support us! We appreciate it so much!!

Fall 2009 Newsletter

The Passage of Time
It has been quite a long time since I’ve communicated with most of my supporters. It really is no excuse but time moves differently in Africa. When you are waiting in the line at the store, time moves at a snail’s pace here. But when you look at the passage of days and months, there is often little time to breath. It is hard to believe that in November I will have been living here 2 years. What a whirlwind 2 years it has been. My first year was just getting used to the culture, language, environment, my role in ministry and the adventure of living in a foreign country. The second year has been filled adding someone special to my life and ministry.

Most Exciting News
Maybe the biggest change in my life this year is that on March 14, 2009 in Voorhesville, New York, I married M. Elton Mubuyaeta. I met Elton while working at COZV when I was here on a short-term trip in May 2007 during a garage sale we had for the staff. I didn’t think much of the chance encounter but he reminded me of it when I returned in Nov. 2007. At the time I wasn’t really interested but as our friendship grew, I began to realize my opinion was changing. When a friend of mine from the USA came to spend 3 months volunteering here she saw something in the way I looked at him and gave me the final kick in the pants I
needed to give our relationship a shot. The rest is history. God has richly blessed me with an amazing man!
We had an African ceremony on August 9, 2009. To be able to celebrate with Elton’s huge extended family was such a blessing! They have welcomed me with open arms!

Our Future Ministry: The Transition home

The Epiphany House under construction. It has been delayed by the flood because the foundation was under water.

In the near future we hope to move to a new home, the Epiphany House, built just outside the gates of COZV. This home is intended to be a place where our children can move as they turn 16+ as a way of becoming more independent and preparing them to be discharged. Elton and I will be teaching them how to care for themselves when they return to a more traditional village setting. Our lessons will be kind of like Home Economics 101: Village-style. It will include cooking traditional foods, village etiquette, sewing, gardening, washing clothes by hand, budgeting, banking, etc.
The house will consist of three separate apartments: the Mubuyaetas, the boys and the girls. This will be a continuation of our ministry at COZV, just taking a small side-step in a new direction. We feel like this is a great fit for us as an American-Namibian couple and are excited about the opportunity.

A Time Of Transition
Rebecca and Gary Mink, along with their two sons, Samuel and Simeon, have served at COZV since 2001. In August 2009, they felt it time to leave this ministry to pursue a different vision that God has given them. We wish them many blessings in their future ministry. They will be greatly missed here. Please pray for our board of directors as they search for new on-site directors.

The Flood
In March 2009, Children of Zion Village had to be evacuated due to severe flooding of the Zambezi River. We sought refuge at a nearby lodge that was able to accommodate us for about six weeks while we were waiting for the waters go down. Fortunately, the water never entered into any of our buildings or did any major damage to our property. It did, however, majorly damage the 4km dirt road our home is located at the end of which has now since been repaired.

Last year, an amazing anonymous donor gave me enough money to buy a very decent 2000 Nissan Hardbody double cab 4x4 pickup truck from a private seller in Windhoek. Despite the flood waters never reaching my truck, it was still badly damaged by the rains. We had to wait for our road to be reopened until we could tow the truck in for repairs. It’s been in Windhoek for almost four months receiving repairs to the computer box, fuel injectors and other misc items damaged by water. The computer box alone was nearly N$30,000 to repair. Fortunately, the car insurance is paying most of the damage but I still have a high deductible amount to pay.

The flood came close but never actually touched the vehicle. What a blessing! At this point it was surrounded by water with no where else to move it.

Being Here:
A Psalm of Gratitude for Children of Zion Village

Oh Lord, how loving is your name in our ears.
We praise you for our home beside the fresh river;
For the birds sweet song that we hear.
Thank you for your protection through the day and night.
Thank you for our mother and father,
Our brothers, sisters, aunties, and uncles.
Many around us are starving, but we are well fed.
You are our Provider.
Many children are alone,
But you have sent us many people
From all over the world to love us.
Thank you for the many gifts you have given us;
Peaceful sleeping and joyful days.
We are all sinners
But you forgave us and changed us, oh Lord.
Thank you for Christian education.
Thank you for all you have done in our lives.
Please don't leave us; be among us.
We want to see Your Kingdom.

Written by COZV Girls Bible study
Engela, Anna, Emelia, Lisedi, Rochester, Efa
ages 10-12


Support Needed
For the 2 years that I have been a missionary, I have been uncomfortable with the title. In my mind I have this mythical view of who a missionary is… It doesn’t really feel like me. I’m just “me” doing ordinary, everyday work for God. For this reason, I have really struggled with asking for financial support and now I’m paying the consequences. To be blatantly honest, our support is almost in the red. God has convicted me that I’ve been trying to live on my own power without asking him for help. I’ve made 101 excuses thinking I can continue to do it on my own, but it is painfully clear I can’t.

Now I come to you, my prayer and financial supporters, to humbly ask you to continue to financially support the ministry God has entrusted to me despite my lack of faith and my pride. Elton and I really feel called to continue in this ministry but we will be unable to continue without an increase in finances. Please consider becoming monthly supporters by sending checks made out to Children of Zion earmarked for Jessica Breitenbach-Mubuyaeta to: PO Box 413 Churchville, MD 21028

(I know there is some confusion about where my support should be sent. Please discontinue any previous addresses you might have been using.)


If you are interested in volunteering, contact: info@childrenofzionvillage.org

Children of Zion Inc.
PO Box 413
Churchville, MD 21028
USA

The Last Few Months

It’s hard to even summarize my life over the last few months since my last blog when we left America but I’ll give it a shot...

April:
- When we arrived back we found the children living at a nearby lodge due to the flood. We travelled to and from town, the lodge and the COZV compound via boat. We lived at Elton’s village for a few weeks, but due to lack of transportation we moved back to the COZV compound and we are now living in the bungalow.
- My truck was very badly damage by water while we were in the USA. Not from the flood, but from the heavy rains. It started with the computer box and has ended with the fuel injectors. Every time they fix one thing they find something else broken. Fortunately the insurance is covering most of it, but due to the nature of the damage, it had to be shipped to the capital Windhoek and most of the parts had to be ordered from Japan. We are STILL waiting, but we are hoping to have it back next week. It’s been now almost 8 months since the last time I drove it.
- By the end of April we all had moved back to the compound but had a lot of clean up work to do some of which is still going on.

May, June, July:
- These months are just a blur of our normal chaotic routine including lots of mission teams from America and two separate road trips to Windhoek and Cape Town. Word to the wise: NEVER NEVER NEVER try to drive from Katima to Cape Town... the road is just toooooo long. Cape Town is a beautiful city, but it was not an enjoyable trip since I was completely heartbroken to be away from my sweetie for two weeks. (For any of you that were sceptical if I really had been bitten by the love bug, let me assure you, I have.)
- Every time I go into town I meet family I never knew I had. Elton has a HUGE extended family. I am very blessed but also praying for a special anointing from God to be able to remember all their names and how I’m related to them.
- I’ve been struggling with some immigration issues, but fortunately I have finally turned in my application for domicile which will allow me to stay freely.
- In July, Elton got to celebrate his birthday with the kids (pic above)

August:
- Another month of chaos as usual
- Our primary missionaries have retired back the USA. More details to follow....
- We had our African wedding ceremony. Wow, what an experience. Don’t worry! There are pictures and a lot more details to follow...
- Unfortunately last week I had my first experience at an African funeral. Even though I never met this woman, I was very moved. Mubuku passed rather suddenly after a short illness at the age of 27 leaving behind two daughters. We started the morning by driving into town to wait at the mortuary to pick up the coffin. We followed in a procession of cars to the gravesite, not far from COZV. As we drove everyone was singing quietly. When we arrived at the gravesite, the pallbearers placed the coffin on a table under a makeshift tent. We had a short service of singing, a sermon and a reading of her life story. They opened the coffin for everyone to be able to say their goodbyes. It was gut-wrenching to watch her family, especially her sisters, walk past the coffin. They placed the coffin in the grave already dug and very meticulously covered it with sand and flowers. The service was closed with more prayers and singing. It was a very difficult experience, one I will never forget. May God bring them peace as they grieve.

Looking ahead to September:
- I’m turning 32... when did I get so old?!
- Looking forward to the arrival of our temporary directors for six months
- Elton and I will be beginning to plan for our future job of working at the transitional home at COZV. More details to follow...
- Doing the very necessary job of fundraising if I want to continue to be a missionary. Hint, Hint... More details to follow...
- Hopefully getting back on track of communicating more regularly but no promises ;-)

Thank you for your prayers, emails and love despite my lack of communication!

TV Broke

When I was a little girl, we lived without most of American life’s modern conveniences such as electricity and flushing toilets. Maybe that is what is equipping me to once again live without these things now in Elton’s village. We did have an old, small, late 70s-style TV that worked off of a car battery. Quite often the battery would die in the middle of my favorite TV show, the Muppet show, and I would say, “TV broke.” One of my dad’s favorite stories was how I went into the Key Bank and told the teller, “TV broke.” Now it is a staple phrase in the Breitenbach household when life throws you one of those curves that is kind of a bummer.

Once again I find myself saying, “TV broke” today as I found that the motherboard of my laptop got fried last night. I was busy doing updates and backing up files before we leave on tomorrow. It made some weird tweet as its last dying breath. Very inopportune timing seeing as it takes 2 weeks to get it fixed. Fortunately I have an extended service contract that will fix it for free.

For those of you that I promised I’d try really hard this time to communicate more often, well…. I got bad news for you. I think I’m going to fail miserably without my trusty mode of communication. Pray I can find an awesome new cellphone with email capabilities to hold me over.

Here Comes the Flood: A Major Prayer Request

Monday Elton and I fly back to Namibia to encounter some very chaotic conditions. We've recently been notified that the children at COZV where we work had to be evacuated due to the Zambezi flooding its banks. Much of the compound seems to be under a foot or two of water already (see pic below of our Vice-principal knee deep in water). It's apparently the worst flooding in 100 years and it's not over yet. The peak isn't expected to hit until mid-April. The Children's home is 4km off the main road and that road is already washed out. They are doing all their transportation by boat. They moved the children and our horses to a nearby lodge and our goats to a nearby village. Now with the compound empty, it is at great, great risk for thieves to take advantage.

Also heavy on my mind is that my awesome Nissan truck wasn't able to be moved. It seems to be having some sort of electrical malfunction and it wouldn't start the day they were moving vehicles out before the road washed out. When they opened the hood to find out why it wasn't working, they found two cobras inside. So, currently it is on high ground along with our Quantum mini-bus which also couldn't be moved. Please pray it stays that way and is no longer snake-infested.

We all need your prayers, not only for Elton and I as we return, but for the children, the Minks, the staff and anyone living along the Zambezi. Not only are the flood waters dangerous, but with the flood waters come crocodiles and right behind them are the snakes who are looking for a dry home. Also the children will be in unfamiliar surroundings with little to keep them occupied.

We need your prayers:

• for safety from the water and it's predators
• for my truck and the quantum not to be washed away in the flood
• for the thieves to be blind to our compound
• for patience to wait out these uncertain conditions

Today I Married My Best Friend

Our Ceremony

The Gathering
The Prelude: Love at Home, Ngweze Youth Band
The Wedding Procession
The Call to Celebrate

The Declaration of Intention and Presentation
The Declaration of the Bride and Groom
The Presentation The Charge to Family and Friends
The Charge to Bride and Groom
Prayer of Praise

Proclamation and Response
Scripture Readings: Genesis 2:18-24, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 , I Corinthians 13
Song of Praise: Breathe
The Sermon
Intercessory Prayer

The Marriage
The Exchange of Vows
Elton's Vows in Lozi:
Mwa libizo lamuelna Jessica kacenu nakunga kuba musalaka kuya kwa pili
Mokunde-nimokumaswe Mwa kupila hande – ni mwa manyando
Mwa matuku – nimwa maketeNikakulata nikuku swalisa konji lifu kuluka-uhanya
The Blessing and Exchange of Rings
Jessica Nikufa lisake Le kuba sisupo sabuitamo, kapilu yaka kaufeela, nikasenina nisona, nilikute ingeli mwa libizo landate la mwana ni la moya okenile.
Lighting of the Wedding Candle: When I Say I Do, Matthew West
The Declaration of Marriage
The Blessing of the Marriage
Pastoral Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer Unison

The Sending Forth
The Wedding Kiss
The Benediction
The Presentation of the Couple
The Wedding Recession: Culture Spears

Wedding Participants
Parents of the Bride: Joseph & Ruth Breitenbach
Parents of the Groom: Brian "Candy" Mubuyaeta* & The late Julian Harris
Grandparents of the Bride: Edward & the late Mildred Breitenbach/Frank & the late Sophia Moscinski
Maid of Honor: Danielle Breitenbach, sister of the Bride
Bridesmaids: Tina Wilcox, friend of the Bride & Groom
Sara Kent, friend of the Bride
Mwenda Sophie-Lee Mubuyaeta, sister of the Groom*
Flower Girl: Morgan Moscinski, cousin of the Bride
Best Men: Situmbeko Hustings Sitale* & Patrick Myers, friend of the Groom
Groomsmen: Gerard Moscinski, uncle of the Bride & Jonathan Moran, friend of the Bride & Groom
Minister: Rev. Douglas R. Cullum, friend of the Bride
* in absentia

Something old: grandmother’s watch
Something new: wedding clothes
Something borrowed: grandmother’s necklace & earrings
Something blue: my engagement ring

A Big THANK YOU…. First and foremost we thank God for His love and guidance that brought us together. To my parents for putting a roof over our heads, food in our tummies and love in our hearts. To Danielle for making many fashionable additions to our wedding clothes. To Carrie for making our lovely invitations in a snap. To Bekah for our awesome cake. To Tom, Becca and Travis for their visual documentation of our special day. To my beloved packhorse, Lindy, for his techie genius. To Angie for standing by me as my faithful communications director. To Christy for her speedy design of our spiffy programs. To Melissa for her tireless help. To Tina for giving Jessica a kick in the pants. To Papa Gary & Mamma Rebecca for helping Elton get his travel documents and for being our African parents. To Dr. & Mrs. Loffredo for their compassion and help with Elton’s dentistry needs. To Diana at Bella Fleur for her words of wisdom and beautiful flowers. To the Schenectady SDA Church for welcoming us. To our many donors that make our ministry possible. To the kids of Children of Zion Village that make our lives an adventure. And to the many others that pitched in to make this day so special! We are richly blessed by the many people on two continents that are part of our lives!

To see more pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/jessicabreitenbach

If you would like to read about the day from my friend's perspective, she's written two blog posts. Thanks Marsha!!
http://lifeina-town.blogspot.com/2009/03/namibian-nuptials.html http://lifeina-town.blogspot.com/2009/03/namibian-nuptials-part-2.html

Our Wedding Invitation

God has led two lives
to take one path.
Before us lies the open road . . .

a future filled with adventure and love.

Please join us as we

Jessica Reissa Breitenbach and M. Elton Mubuyaeta

join our lives in marriage

on Saturday, the 14th of March 2009 at NOON
in the Camp Pinnacle Chapel
Voorheesville, NY
Food and Merriment to immediately follow!