Rejecting Hakuna Matata

Wow, it's about day 10 in Africa. I have more than a month left and I cannot believe how much it seems like we've done already!


My team got here to Otjiwambo early on Saturday, and although it took us a day or so to get our bearings and figure out what we were actually going to do here, it's exciting to feel like now we're taking the city by storm! I can't really go into all the details now and I have to save some stories to share over meals and coffee upon my return, but I'll give you an idea of all the stuff we're doing here.

One of our main projects is going into schools and teaching kids this "Choose to Wait" abstinence program that we learned back at camp. As I think I said in my earlier post, although I was initially skeptical, it's turned out to be an amazingly powerful Christ-centered teaching. The message that they are all equally loved and valued by God, and that he has a perfect plan for sex in marriage is something that they don't seem to be hearing at all. We've given some big assemblies, but it's mostly when we're able to get into the classroom and give more personal lessons that the kids really seem to respond.

Today we spent the whole morning teaching classes to some 8th and 10th graders. Their teacher is a christian guy who would normally be teaching Life Skills classes about accounting, but when we talked to him he was thrilled to let us come in and he even talked to another teacher and we taught her classes. At the end of our last class, the kids were asking some awesome questions about sex and Jesus and salvation. Although we've definitely seen how the stereotypes about sex in their culture run deep (and probably deeper than they do in the U.S.), many of them really seem to be getting it! They are so open to discussing Jesus here, it's crazy!

Another awesome way we're serving the city has been visiting an orphanage, Joy Orphanage. This amazing woman started this place five years ago and is doing great things providing kids a safe place to live and be loved. She teaches these mostly 9-22 year olds about the bible, and has even encouraged the older ones start up and run a bike shop all on their own! We've spent many afternoons there already, with the guys mostly kicking around soccer balls while the girls learn dances and braid eachothers hair. We've also showed them the Navs "Bridge" illustration and might even teach them some choose to wait stuff. Whatever the case, there are huge smiles on the faces of both us and the kids everytime we visit.


I think you'd be hard pressed to find cuter kids anywhere in the world. Joy is definitely a place I would love to stay connected to in the future.


The other big thing is that we've teamed up with guys from Campus Crusade (Who would have thought, right? Navs and Cru!) who travel all around Namibia setting up a giant screen and showing a film about Jesus. Actually, the Namibians all pronounce it "fill-um" so that's usually how we Yanks refer to it!

Again with my American stereotypes, I was skeptical what the results of showing the film in public would be, but the first night we showed it there was a huge crowd and I ended up praying with a young guy named Jerome how said he was caught up in a lot of bad stuff and that he wanted to give his life to Christ.

Since then we've been showing the film about every night this week, and although it's been very cold at night, big crowds have come. Last night there were about 200 or so people standing and sitting in the dirt watching it, and at the end, probably 50 people or so crowded around the screen to commit their lives to Christ.


It's difficult doing these things to know what kind of an impact we'll have in the long run, especially being a group of Navigators who are all about mentoring and discipleship, but we're learning and trying to see how we can really connect people and make sure they are being filled up. A lot of it is definitely planting seeds and praying hard.

It's amazing that I haven't even been in this city for a week yet, but already I'm really connecting to it and starting to feel like I belong. We can walk almost everywhere, and when we do we're constantly running into kids we've taught or met in schools and seeing familiar faces at night when we're showing the Jesus fillum. I can't help but wonder what kind of an impact a person could have if they invested in this place in the long term.

This has been ridiculously amazing already, and we're justing getting started.

I think God's just getting started, too.

Greetings from Namibia!

So I made it to Namibia, and it was quite a journey!

I didn’t get much sleep flying and ended up missing my flight in Joburg! It was kind of terrifying when the woman told me that I was too late to make the plane and that the next flight was full. It’s fairly scary being temporarily stuck alone in a foreign country. I had to walk outside through customs and go to the front gate where I waited in line for a while at the South African Airlines counter. I was very frustrated and my mind was racing, having no idea what I would do if I couldn’t get on another flight soon: who I’d call, how I’d contact anyone without a cell phone or how I could pay for a changed flight. Thankfully, I told the woman at the counter what happened, she typed into her computer for a minute or so and said, “Okay, you’re now on the 1:20 flight.” That was the same flight the other half of the group that spent the night in Joburg was taking, so I was very relieved. It was a huge relief then when I saw the faces of my teammates walking toward me in the airport. Then, on the plane, I got upgraded to Business Class and had one of the best meals of my life, some wine, and good conversation with the man next to me who works in the Namibian Government.

God definitely watched over me and got me to Namibia safely, just not at all the way I had planned! Already I’m learning major lessons.

We were greeted at the airport by many smiling faces of some of our Namibian teammates, Vanessa, Vicky, Living, and Emmanuel. They were very excited to see us, and we immediately shared hugs and warm hellos. Driving back through the countryside in our 30 person bus, “The Coaster Deluxe,” we took in the beautiful Namibian countryside, which in this area happens to look fairly similar to the southwest. Mostly flat, with large mountains jutting up almost out of nowhere.

Since then, we’ve been here at a camp in Okahandja spending time getting to know each other, meeting more of our team, learning about what we’ll be doing, praying, worshipping, and playing soccer and Frisbee. Tomorrow morning we’re splitting into two teams for 10 days. Like I said earlier, my team is headed to Otjiwarongo, where we’ll be spending time at an orphanage, visiting some high schools to talk about abstinence, helping out at a chapel, visiting a hospital, and doing a bit of painting.

That’s the plan, anyway. Who knows what will actually happen! That’s Africa!

We’re all really excited to get out into the country and start meeting a lot of the people. We’ve done a lot of waiting, now we get to start doing!

It’s amazing that I get to spend the next five weeks here. Every day is so beautiful! There’s never a cloud in the sky and the sun is always shining. It is chilly at night and in the morning, but it’s nothing a kid who spent the winter in the Big Apple can’t take.

God is already working in me in big ways. He’s starting to work his way into places I haven’t wanted to let him. It’s pretty freaking exciting. Scary, but awesome and exciting.

Okay, I can’t promise how often updates will come. Internet is not easy to come by here! Hopefully up in Otjiwarongo we’ll be able to go to an internet café often. We’ll see.

Either way, I hope everybody is great! I love and miss you all!

I believe I can fly...

It's Sunday afternoon and orientation weekend has been great!

My ten American teammates are awesome people and I'm feeling extremely blessed to be able to serve alongside such a great and loving group. I'll probably talk more in detail about them later, but on my team is Kelsey, Lori, Alex M., Lauren, Allie, Jeremy, Erika, Dan, Sonja, and our leader, Ed. We've had a lot of fun hanging out together, preparing, praying and worshipping. I cannot wait to get to know these people better. They are all so passionate, encouraging, and easy to connect with. There has been a lot of talk and prayer about group unity, and it is forming very quickly! Now I'm really excited to meet the 8 Namibian folks that will be joining us!

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the group yet! I will make sure I take plenty.

So, half the team just took the shuttle to the airport, but the rest of us don't leave for a few more hours. Tonight at 11 I get on a plane. Tomorrow morning I'll be in London. Hopefully we can leave the airport and see experience a little British culture! I'd really like to have an opportunity to sing a few lines of "Chim-chim-cheree" or "Step in Time" in the city. Then tomorrow night I'm flying alone to Johannesburg, and Tuesday morning I'll meet back up with some of the team again for our last leg of the trip from South Africa up to Windhoek, Namibia.

Since I'm on a different middle flight than the other 4 folks going to London first, I've got a shorter layover in South Africa than they do and I might be cutting some things close. A quick prayer for that would be much appreciated!

Anyway, depending on when I'm near an internet cafe updates might not come too often. Once we get to Namibia, we'll be staying a few days getting oriented at a camp in Okahandja, and then we'll be splitting up into two teams for two weeks. My team will be in Otjiwarongo. I'm not totally sure what exactly we'll be doing, but it will be a whole lot of different things. Once we get to Namibia we'll have a much better idea of what kind of work we'll be doing.

Anyway, that's it for now. Hope everyone's doing well!

In two days I'll be in Africa! Ridiculous!

It's Time

I really love this song.
I think it might be my personal theme for the trip.



It's time.

I'm off to D.C.!

T-minus 10...9...8...

Well, I don't know if I ever really thought this day would come, but tomorrow my African adventure really begins.

Mom and I are driving to D.C. in the morning, where I'll be having a weekend of orientation before flying across the pond on Sunday night. It's pretty cool that the departure point in America is the Capital; I haven't been in probably seven or eight years.

I'm feeling pretty calm but very excited at the moment. I really have no idea what emotions I might feel over the next few days, but it will probably be a roller coaster of excitment, fear, joy and nervousness. At the moment, I'm especially excited to meet my team tomorrow, the ten other people from all over the states who I'll be doing almost everything with for the next month and a half.

It's very cool to look back at the last six months and see how while originally I became connected to this trip through design opportunities, that is now just going to be a small part of my time in Namibia. Doing design work is something that I know. It's safe, comfortable. That's why I was pulled in. But once I committed, the opportunities grew and evolved and now I'll be doing a whole lot that is uncomfortable. Talking to students at schools, visiting AIDS patients, ministering to students at the University are just some of those things. And the craziest part is that somehow I'm okay with that, and although I'm nervous, I see how God showed up to get me here and because of that I'm stoked!

I don't know how often I'll be able to blog while in Africa. Hopefully I'll be able to, and we'll see about posting pictures. Whatever the case, I got a sweet new notebook at Target this morning and will be writing in that often and taking pictures constantly.

You're all great. I can't wait to share this adventure with all of you!

Holy Crap

...I'm going to Africa in three weeks.

Now that the quarter's ending, it's starting to hit me like a wall. I'm feeling very unprepared and unqualified.

But I am willing.

Thirst

I feel pretty good right now.
Better than good, I feel pretty amazing.

My Africa fundraising has been extremely encouraging. Last week I realized I was counting on myself way too much to make this happen. Since then I've been trying to just trust God to provide, not me. Not that I can sit back and watch. I still have to work, too, but the weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I've been awesomely blessed.

I have a lot of big stuff coming in the next year. I'll have a lot of huge, life-changing decisions to make.

That should and normally would be scary and intimidating for me, but it isn't. I'm thankful for the peace and solid foundation I'm feeling right now. I can't say how long this feeling will last, but while I'm working on building a rock-solid base, the decisions I'll be making and the paths my life could take are all exciting possibilities. The decisions aren't really mine to make anyway.

I want so much to be filled, but before I can be filled, I need to experience my thirst.

I want to be thirsty.
I want to be filled.

. . .

Friday morning I bought my plane ticket to Namibia.
All of a sudden, this is very real.

Here we go.