Becoming Chris Kamalski

• ONLINE FINANCIAL PARTNERSHIP HERE! (My monthly financial need in 2011 is $2,908. Currently, I forecast approximately $2,431 in monthly partnership in 2011. Simple subtraction tells you that I need to raise an additional $477 in actual funds a month to meet my financial needs.)

• [2010 YEAR-END REPORT] (Looking back on all God has written in the 9 months I have lived on mission in Pretoria…looking ahead to 2011 and what is peeking forward on the horizon; plus my 2011 Financial Needs Forecast)
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Last Wednesday, Conrad Damies, a young man serving multiple years in Baavianspoort Youth Prison for a terrible, violent choice he made in his past, stood up in front of myself, Maxie (my South African lady and the Director of Pure Hope, a non-profict ministry dedicated to being a catalyst for hope and exposure to issues of poverty and injustice in South Africa), and Wessel, a man who has given his life to working alongside the correctional system to mentor, develop, and release rehabilitated inmates back into South African society, and declared the following as a culmination of a months-long process of developing a fresh vision for his life:

“I want to be a place where there can be peace, a place where people can come who think they have made mistakes, a safe place where they can speak out their problems. I want to be a source of life for those who spent most of their time with me; I want to be a place that provides encouragement for those with broken hearts, I want to be a place for those who come from afar and a source of life for those that are close and around me. I want to be a place where people can come and fish, get some advice or to just get fresh air and maybe even spend the night. I just want to impart joy, love, build character and be a friend. Even if some just come and throw their garbage in me I will never change – that is what makes me different from the sea, I like being a lake. There is no other metaphor I will take that is more powerful than ‘The Encouragement Lake.'”

Goosebumps covering our bodies + large lumps in our throats, we celebrated his vision alongside six other inmates in a bittersweet ‘graduation ceremony’ upon the completion of the Life Compass process with a group of guys who have become very dear to our hearts. As we walked through the long barbed-wire hallways to our cars after this ceremony for the last time in 2010, I found myself turning to Maxie (as it seems I do each week) and remarking, “This is the best thing I am apart of each week–I truly feel as if I am engaging in the actual transformation of South African lives!”

Countless other stories such as this small moment make up the kaleidoscope of life + work that I am engaged in as a part of NieuCommunities South Africa, our small missional community who moved into the heart of Pretoria in July of this year. Often, I find it hard to describe what how I am “apprenticing South African leaders into sustainable mission around the world,” as life transformation is slow and messy, often defying simple description. Yet this picture from last Wednesday hopefully crystalizes our mandate into an actual life. Conrad = Why I am here on mission in South Africa.

The Christmas season is upon us, and I know that you are highly busy. I’m writing for three reasons:

1. To thank you sincerely for partnering with me in finances + prayers this year (I truly am here because of you!).
2. To update you on my work as a part of NieuCommunities South Africa (Click the link below for my 2010 Year-End Report)
3. To forecast my financial needs as 2011 approaches and ask you without shame or hesitation to consider how God may be asking you to continue partnering with me financially in this coming year.

One paragraph on my financial needs: My monthly financial need in 2011 is $2,908. Currently, I forecast approximately $2,431 in monthly partnership in 2011. Simple subtraction tells you that I need to raise an additional $477 in actual funds a month to meet my financial needs. My budget increased $280 month in 2011 for several reasons:

• NCSA’s move into Clydesdale, a suburb with dramatically higher rent/utilities costs.
• The strengthening of the Dollar/ Rand exchange rate ($1=R6.8 currently, down from R8+ in early 2010).
• A year spent in South Africa helping me accurately reflect my budgetary needs (I am learning to pay for what I spend!)

I am overly aware of how inundated everyone is at this time of year for end of the year-giving requests, dramatic needs, etc. I don’t want to minimize my need (it is real!), nor the fact that my budget has been too tight for comfort this past year. Yet I know that you face real choices as well in your own life.  Will you pray and seek God for how you can partner with me, and let me know in the next few weeks?

If you would like to support online, simply click this link:

• ONLINE FINANCIAL PARTNERSHIP HERE!

If you would prefer to send in your gift in the mail, download the support card, fill out the details, and send into CRM at the address on the card.

I am deeply grateful for your generosity and belief in me on mission here in South Africa,

Chris

PS: Enjoy a ‘veritable cornucopia’ of windows into all I have been involved with this past year…click on all links below!

• [2010 YEAR-END REPORT] (Looking back on all God has written in the 9 months I have lived on mission in Pretoria…looking ahead to 2011 and what is peeking forward on the horizon; plus my 2011 Financial Needs Forecast)
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A SLEW OF WINDOWS INTO THE STORIES GOD IS WRITING THROUGH MY WORK WITH NIEUCOMMUNITIES SOUTH AFRICA (Enjoy the holiday distractions! 🙂 )

• [TEACHINGS]:
  • Nobody Gets To Watch The Parade (An invitation to engage the Stories God is writing with our lives; given @ Saratoga Federated Church on 10.31.10, my home church in the Bay Area)
  • The Arrival (Ordinary Glory//Advent 2010) (Introducing the Advent Season of anticipation for the 1st time to South AfricansGiven @ 3rd Place on 11.28.10, my local faith community in Pretoria)

• [CREATIVE PROJECTS]
  • Project 365 (A year-long, daily photography project I embarked upon in April 2010 to grow in crafting beautiful images)
    • Donald Miller Told Me There Would Be An Inciting Incident (How my camera being stolen propelled me towards growth in the art of photography)
    • Pretoria (Project 365, Day 9) (My favorite image in Project 365 so far)
  • Ordinary Glory//Advent 2010 meditations (Hi-Res; Normal) (A four-week series of meditations following the lectionary texts for the 2010 Advent season, shaped around the classic Advent themes of Hope, Peace, Joy, & Love)

• [60*SECOND STORIES] (Brand-new 2011 venture into video-blogging through my YouTube Channel, seeking to tell the stories of missional transformation and life in South Africa through short 60 second(ish) clips)
  • Meet Lewis (The unfolding story of Lewis Mhlongo, a Zimbabwean youth in prison we are working with to develop a vision for life after the completion of his sentence)
  • Coffee At Wimpy’s (Walking alongside Nosiat, a Catholic friend with a heart to see fresh missional expression within her parish)

• [WRITINGS]
  • Ke Nako (The Time Is Now) (A reflection for CRM about the power of soccer to call South Africa to a higher belief in itself as a nation)
  • Unearthing A Story I’ve Fallen Into (Reminiscing about my work with Care Workers in Soshanguve for a May 2010 CRM thank you letter sent to all donors)

• [FIELD STORIES ARCHIVE]
  • [Field Stories Jul 2010] ::: {Ke Nako} (A glimpse into a nation gripped with 2010 FIFA World Cup Fever; plus 1st glimpses of our move from Pretoria North into the heart of the city)
  • [Field Stories Apr 2010] ::: {Transitional/Rhythm} (On the nature of transition personally, as a missional community, and within mission as NieuCommunities turns its focus squarely upon South African leaders)
  • [Field Stories Jan 2010] ::: {Why I Am Returning To South Africa} (Unpacking the clear call to continue partnering with NieuCommunities South Africa as we transition our mission into the heart of Pretoria)