Africa for Beginners

So I’ve realized I haven’t really shown any of my team yet on my blog. This time, as I write about the highlights of the last week, I’ve included some recent pictures of a lot of the members of my Navigators team here in Namibia. As I’m sure you’ll see, I’ve been ridiculously blessed to be able to spend so much time in community and fellowship with them! They are all amazing people. Tonight in our meeting, Lauren said that it was obvious that God wanted each and every member of our team to be here. How true. I’ve learned so much from them. It will be really hard when most of the team leaves next week, but I know we’ll always be connected having shared this amazing experience together.


I should mention that this picture and the other like it are from the single birthday party we had for all four members of the team that have birthdays during our trip. We all just went downstairs to see our leader Ed (bottom right) wearing some clothes backwards. One thing led to another and soon everybody was decked out in whatever crazy clothes we could find. We had a blast. That’s just the kind of people the team is.

On to the recap:

We spent this last week on the campus of Polytechnic of Namibia, right next to downtown Windhoek. It’s a really cool place, complete with its own sort of “steps” area to remind of home at UC. It was a seriously tough and challenging week, but one where God showed up with some huge blessings.

I know a lot of us have been learning some tough lessons, myself included, but it’s been paying off big time. Throughout the week, we had ups and downs of resistance and breakthroughs. Some relationships didn’t pan out the way I wanted them to, but other really cool ones were formed.

Dan, Living, Me and Chris at the Birthday Party

I won’t go into all the details here (I have to save something for when I get back) but the week all led up to a Braai (an Afrikaans word that essentially means Barbeque) that we had at our house on Friday afternoon. We ended up having about 25 of the people we met during the week come over to eat a lot of meat (a necessity for any Namibian gathering) and hang out. At the end of the night, a few people from our team got up and shared testimonies, then Dr. Fynn got up and explained what the Navs are all about. Dr. Fynn is the leader in the Namibia Navigators and has a very cool story himself, but that’s another tangent to save. Towards the end of his spiel, Dr. Fynn started to talk about what it really means to be a Christian and ended up asking if anyone was there that hadn’t committed their lives to Christ and asked them to come to the front of the room if they wanted to.

13 Polytech students came forward and prayed to accept Jesus in our dining room. It was very cool, and it was amazing to see what God was able to do in just a week on campus.

Allie, Erika and Kelsey

After the meeting finished up, many people had to leave but some stuck around. At first we were just hanging out, but before we knew it the night erupted into an unplanned all-out Navigators Dance Party, Namibian style. People brought in speakers and Nathan was DJing the party with plenty of “House,” an Africa-infused dance music. Kelsey even whipped out some glow sticks. It was awesome to be able to show our guests that if there’s one thing the Navigators know how to do, it’s have an awesome dance party!

Saturday morning was a time of fasting and time with God over on the campus at the University of Namibia. I had never done anything like that so it was a cool experience. God definitely told me some things that I needed to hear following the week at Poly. I’d definitely like to take time at the end of this trip to do something similar.

Alex, Simba (our coaster driver), and James

Today (Monday) we were originally planning on going over to the UNam to start talking to students there, but we were all feeling led to follow up with our Polytech contacts and really building into them. For me, that meant that I spent the whole morning with Chris and Botshélo aka BP hanging out and talking to them about life, Jesus, and the Navigators. They are really cool guys that I’ve definitely connected with and they’re really interested in getting involved in bible study with the Navigators. I definitely want to help them get some roots in the Navs before we Americans leave. Today I also ran into Usiel, a guy I met last week who actually came to the Braai and was one of the people to commit their lives to Christ. He told me he really wants to learn more about the bible, so hopefully we’ll be able to plan some solid time later in the week.

Last Wednesday night, Dr. Samuel John, the head of the Engineering Department at Polytech and a member of the Naivgators Board of Directors in Namibia came over to thank us all for coming. It was powerful when he talked about how much Namibia is in need of a moral base. He talked about how messed up the family structure is in Namibia thanks to a lack of real, responsible men, and how much separation and dissention there is between churches and believers in the country. He said he believes that the Navigators, being a strong interdenominational discipleship-focused ministry, have the opportunity to really change the country for the better.

Recently I’ve heard a lot of people joke about how Namibia is “Africa for Beginners,” meaning that it’s a relatively westernized country that isn’t too terribly shocking or difficult to get used to. Like I said in my last post, this doesn’t fit with my romanticized view of mission work in Africa. Still, as we experience the amazing need of this country and connect to the people in it, it’s impossible to deny the fact that Namibia is ripe to become a major stronghold for the Kingdom. We’re all seeing the signs that God has big plans for this small country in southern Africa.

Lori with Simba's Son

It’s such an amazing privilege that God is letting us take part in his work here. As I get over my stereotypes, it’s awesome to see that God has put me here for a reason. He’s always wanted me to come here.

Right now, this is exactly where I’m meant to be.

"There's far too much to take in here..."

So, it’s been a week since my last update, and somehow, today already marks three whole weeks in Africa! Amazing. Anyway, I’ll cut to the chase! I have a lot to talk about and some pictures to share!

Last Wednesday the entire team was reunited up in Tsumeb. When we pulled in to park at the place we were spending the night, everyone’s faces lit up when we caught sight of the Coaster Deluxe and all the folks who had gone up to Rundu. There were big hugs, smiles, and laughing all around. We had been apart for a longer period of time than we had all spent together, but it was like meeting up with lifelong friends!

The next day we all drove up into Etosha National Park, and let me say, driving through there was definitely one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Everywhere you looked, all you could see was pure Africa. We drove through wide open plains, through forests and past dry lakebeds. It was all I imagined and more!

I’ll say right off the bat: no, we didn’t catch sight of any lions this time, but we did see elephants, springbok, kudu, wildebeast, and plenty of giraffes and zebras. I guess I’ll have to save the lions for next time!

For the most part we stayed in our vehicles, as you’re required to do, but at one of the outpost areas you could get out and walk over to a water hole where we saw a huge group of zebras come over to drink.

While driving by a water hole later in the day, we came upon what must’ve been a hundred or more zebra, at multiple points the coaster was no more than five or ten yards from the animals.

Another highlight was later in the day when we drove past a huge giraffe walking through the road. He walked around and started to chew on the trees right next to the road, giving us a perfect view straight at his long neck and head rising above the leaves. We all just sat there in awe, marveling at the size of the animal and watching him grab and chew his food. He didn’t seem to mind, and I probably could’ve sat there and watched him all day.

As we were driving to the park exit during the sunset, we passed this massive open plain. Not far from the road was a wildebeast among some springbok and a bit further back was a giraffe. Way off in the distance were the silhouettes of probably ten giraffes. It was absolutely beautiful; a major Jurassic Park, in awe of creation-type moment.

I know none of the pictures I took can do justice to how amazing the day in Etosha was. It was the Africa I’ve dreamed about. The "Circle of Life" Africa.

After Etosha, we drove back down here to Windhoek, Namibia’s capital city. Africa here is definitely different from the Africa of Etosha. Windhoek is quite a modern, beautiful city. All twenty team members are now living in a great six bedroom house in one of the nicest neighborhoods in Windhoek. In fact, the neighborhood feels very much like the hills of Los Angeles, save for the electric fences around every house. We’re here to evangelize to the students at Namibia Polytechnic Institute and the University of Namibia in the hopes of sharing the gospel and helping to really grow the Navigators Ministry here.

The last few days have been a bit of a struggle, as I’ve been trying to justify living in a beautiful, comfortable house and walking onto modern college campuses telling students about Jesus. It just doesn’t fit with my romanticized view of what it’s like to do mission work in Africa. However, I’m learning that mission work doesn’t necessarily need to be all about living in huts and getting dirty trekking out to villages where no one speaks English. God has blessed our team with a nice house where we’re able to relax when we need to and fellowship and study in a comfortable environment. It definitely helps us to charge up to go out into the city.

As for the college ministry, I’m realizing that the faces of the students I’m meeting are the faces of young men and women who have grown up facing the same struggles as the kids in classes back in Otjiwarongo. They’ve been taught many of the same lies and get caught up in the same snags. My heart broke for those young kids, and so it’s now pretty awesome to have the opportunity to minister to the next evolution of them.

Yesterday and today we were at Polytech, ministering to students, just starting up conversations with people, talking about God, sharing the bridge when possible. It’s incredibly difficult to just walk up to a stranger and start talking, but it’s gone pretty well. Some people aren’t interested in talking or say they have to get to class, and others are very happy to talk and learn. It’s challenging in that it’s extremely upfront in ways I’ve never been. It’s requiring a lot of faith in Jesus’ authority and the power of the gospel, but it’s resulting in some instant faith-growth for me. Some don’t know much about Jesus and God, but many claim to be Christians. That means different things to different people, and we’re really trying to find out what that actually does mean, trying to encourage and press students to get plugged in somewhere that is pouring into them and challenging them to grow. We’re telling them about the first Navigators Namibia One Day Conference on August 1st and many seem to be interested in coming.

We’re trying to build some real relationships here, and I’m really hoping and praying to have opportunities to follow up with some of the people I’ve met over the last two days. We’ll see. It’s been tough but very cool so far. Hopefully there is much more to come!

Okay, that’s it for tonight. I hope everybody is doing well, wherever this finds you! Here’s one last picture from my day at Etosha.


I know, it’s ridiculous, but how could a Pittsburgher like me go to Africa without a terrible towel? I was hoping I’d have the opportunity to wave the golden towel above the African landscape, and there I am, proudly repping the City of Champions.

"D’yinz guyz see dem zebras n’at?"

Love and miss you all!

The Herd is on the move

Today ends our stay here in Otjiwarongo. Tonight we're headed up to Tsumeb where we're reuiniting with the rest of the team and spending tomorrow touring Etosha National Park (where the Lions, Elephants, Giraffes and Zebras are). It's crazy how fast our time here has flown by.

It went so fast, and yet I've definitely become connected to this place and especially all of the kids we've met here. They are all full of so much potential, and unfortunately there are major hurdles they have to overcome. Talking to the kids in classes this week, we've seen how painfully deep misconceptions about sex and manhood run. Unfaithfulness among respected adult men seems to be frighteningly common. These kids have the power to stop the progress of so many horrible things by standing up and refusing to accept them as "just the way it is."

I pray that our message didn't fall on deaf ears. It was amazing to see kids open up their eyes and connect to what we were telling them. If even just one of them will "Choose to wait" and avoid the pain, brokenness and health risks of sex before marriage here, this would all be worth it. That's a prayer we're praying hard.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Joy Center. Auntie Fisch is convinced it wasn't goodbye forever, and that whenever anyone walks through the front door, Joy Center becomes their home. And that's exactly how it feels. Hopefully that wasn't goodbye forever. There are amazing things God is doing, and the kids are extremely blessed to be able to stay there! We all want to stay as connected to it as we can.

Every day here was full of challenges, both external and internal, and it's been quite an adventure. I can't wait to reconnect with the team that was up in Rundu and find out what they've been doing!

Now I'll leave you with a shot from the Crocodile Ranch here in Otjiwarongo. And yes, it's a ranch for Crocs just like ranches in the U.S. raise cattle. They raise the Crocs and sell them. If the buyer wants, they'll even kill the crocs. Not quite what I'm used to hearing in our animal conservancy-minded country! And crikey, those were some huge crocs!

Maybe next time I post I'll have some sweet animal photos for you. I'm praying for everybody headed on their trip to Ghana now. I know it'll be awesome!

In three days or so I'll be in Windhoek for the next leg of our adventure. Hope everybody is great. Catch you on the flip side!

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!