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!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
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.!
I think it might be my personal theme for the trip.
It's time.
I'm off to D.C.!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, June 8, 2009
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.
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.
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