Fred and Donna Otto are currently assigned to the Africa South Region with their home base in the Republic of South Africa. They are the parents of five children, Duane, William, Marvin, Clarissa and Devin. Their children, who had been on the field with them, have grown up and gone on to their individual pursuits. Fred is the coordinator for Africa Region Finance Services and also preaches as opportunities present themselves. Donna is the AWF Child Sponsorship Coordinator. On a personal level, Fred's birthday is July 25th, Donna's birthday is March 28th. Their anniversary is June 14th; they have been married 37 years.
Their field address is: Church of the Nazarene
P.O. Box 44
Florida 1710
Republic of South Africa
e-mail address is: FDOtto@africa-region.org.za
e-mail received from the Ottos 12/07:
Fred and Donna Otto
In June 1985, Fred and Donna Otto arrived in Swaziland with four children. Their fifth child was born late in August that same year. Today, their children are grown. Fred and Donna now enjoy seven grandchildren spread across the United States from California to Maine.
In these 23 years, the Otto's have served in various capacities throughout Africa.
Fred's first assignment was science teacher at Endzingeni Nazarene High School (near Pigg's Peak, Swaziland). From there he served as Mission Director. Then it was on to East Africa as Field Director. In 1995, the Lord called Fred and Donna to West Africa where they served as the first missionaries assigned by the Church of the Nazarene to Liberia. After ten years in this assignment a Liberian was ready to take this leadership role and Fred was asked to join Dr. Duarte, the then new Regional Director, as he moved to the Regional Offices. Fred currently serves as Finance Coordinator for Africa Region.
Donna has also carried important responsibilities throughout these years. Raising and educating five children was not the least of these tasks. The results are an agronomist, college professor, high school teacher, computer scientist, and Air Force crew chief. In her spare time, she has kept financial records and taught pastors and lay leaders. She currently serves in the Education and Discipleship Services at Africa Regional Offices. She was also serving as interim administrator for the Nazarene Theological college in South Africa for the last two years.
Fred and Donna are an example of lay persons feeling God's call in their lives and responding. Fred was ordained in 1996 and Donna is busy completing her preparation for ordination.
The Otto's remain focused on training others -- for now, that training is in areas of finance. However, with their experiences and in their current assignments, Fred and Donna are able to share about more than just "balancing the books".
Emphasis for 2008 Home Assignment:
Endowments for Lay and Ministerial Education: Currently Africa Region manages over 1.2 million dollars in scholarship endowments. The interest from these endowments helps to train pastors in three Bible Colleges and Africa Nazarene University. However, solid endowment programs should invest more than this for one institution, not four. We need to double this endowment base in the next three years. That would be an additional $400,000 each year for the next three years. This would result in over $100,000 being available each year for scholarships throughout Africa -- each year, "until the Lord returns".