Tuesday, May 26, 2009

And then there was one ...

As many of know, I travelled to Windhoek (the capitol) over a week ago to say goodbye to my dear friends Daryl and Sabrina. They have faithfully served in Namibia for one year and are headed back home to Canada. The goodbye was tearful and hard. I had the blessing of spending the following week travelling with friends and hanging out with the AIM Windhoek team. The week was very refreshing and encouraging!!! I was a little hesitant to travel back to Rundu, knowing that things would be very different. But nonetheless, I took the eight hour bus trip last night. However, before the journey began something very interesting occurred. A nicely dressed Namibian man stepped on the bus and called for everyone’s attention. He introduced himself as Pastor Danny and explained that he had a message to share with the passengers of the bus. He began to read some passages from the New Testament and communicated how we can each have a personal relationship with Christ. He shared that each of us are separated from God due to our own sin, but that through Jesus we can be reconciled with God. He explained that by trusting in Jesus and following Him, we can have a relationship with God He encouraged all of us to think about where we stand with the Lord. This in abridged version- his presentation was both eloquent and sincere. I couldn’t believe that this man had just sauntered on the bus and was speaking such bold truth! Then (to my surprise) he asked if anyone felt led to make a commitment to follow Christ. “Easy there buddy”, I thought. I was relieved that everyone was even politely listening, but what were the chances that someone would be brave enough to make a decision in front of this group of 30 passengers? Well, good thing I wasn’t in charge! Wouldn’t you know that one man raised his hand and Pastor Danny prayed for him! It goes to show that God works in a variety of ways and uses our faithfulness to reveal Himself to those around us. After Pastor Danny prayed for the man, he prayed for our safety and blessing upon our trip. It was an unexpected encouragement. I arrived around mid-night and was welcomed home by my sweet friends – Monica and Hansie. They are a couple from South Africa and they each have a tremendous heart for people and the Lord. Monica is a general practitioner and Hansie is a dentist. I was touched that they were willing to pick me up so late.

I woke up this morning wondering what the day would be like. For those of you who do not know, I am now the only member of the AIM team here in Rundu, but fear not – there are many people within the community who will be working along aside of me. I will tell you more about them in upcoming posts. I decided to jump right in and keep myself busy. I set up several times to meet with people for discipleship and fellowship over the next week. I tried to reconnect with many friends whom I haven’t seen in couple of weeks. I needed to go into town to grab some groceries (the fridge was pretty empty) and stop by the Post Office. I called my and Tricia’s friend, Seketa. He is a local taxi driver and extremely reliable. His greeting was beyond encouraging! “It was been too long with no seeing. It is very good you are here”. I knew he genuinely meant it because I had missed him too. It was like being reunited with an old friend. I also received kind text messages throughout day of friends welcoming me back. I arrived at the Post Office hoping that there might be a card waiting for me. Much to my surprise, there were two cards and FOUR PACKAGES!!!! Four packages!!!! What in the world?!?! I couldn’t believe it! How sweet of the Lord to have those packages arrive on my first day back. How sweet of my dear friends to send such kind things.

All this to say – I do think that this transition will be challenging, but I felt extremely loved and cared for today! Thank you for all of your love and encouragement!!! Please continue to pray that I would remain focused on the task that God has for me and that I would not waste any of the time I have left. Also pray that God would continue to soften the hearts of the people of Kaisosi and reveal Himself to those who do not yet know Him.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Cultural Experience of Lifetime!

Have you ever experienced something so unusual that you were certain you would never be able to explain it to your loved ones? Well, that pretty much describes a recent experience that I had! I am not sure that I will be able to do this next story justice, but I certainly will try. I had the privilege of attending a week long EBC (Evangelical Bible Church) Youth Conference and Choir Competition. Close to 50 members from our local church were able to travel to Katima for this conference. For many of the choir members, this was their first trip outside of Rundu! Needless to say they were very excited! So Daryl, Sabrina and I spent the next week camping on the church property with 1,000 of our closest friends. Along with a few others, we brought a tent. While the rest either slept on the ground or stayed in cardboard structures put up by the church.

The toilet situation was quite interesting. There was an area sectioned off by plastic tarp that was for peeing and bathing. The idea was that the washing would help to rinse the away the rest. I’m not sure that this idea really worked out and the stench was pretty intense by the end of the week. Bathing was also limited to occasional rinse. Thankfully Sabrina and I were both sporting weaves, so we did not have to wash our hair. I am really glad that the Lord blessed me with the opportunity. Many of you know that I not one who often has the desire for “roughing it” in the wilderness. However, there is something empowering about knowing that if needed I can go without the comforts of home for a period of time. It also helps to increase my thankfulness and appreciation for the blessings the Lord has given me!

Food during the week was another cultural experience. At the beginning of the week, my friend Daniel invited me to watch as he slaughtered a goat for the group’s dining pleasure. I thought “of course I want to watch!” What an experience – I have never seen anything like it. Well as I rounded the corner I saw the goat standing in the back of the truck and he was pacing nervously. He began to make some anxious noises and I knew I could not watch. “I can’t do this”, I said as I ran away. When I got back to the rest of the group, I explained why I couldn’t watch and they laughed hysterically. Over the next several days we ate goat for many meals and slaughtered another in the process (I did not watch). It was actually delicious! The only down side was the decision to post the two goat heads on a stick for all the world to see. As you can imagine the smell was pretty rancid by the end of the week and a little unsettling to look at while eating.

Sabrina, Daryl and I stuck out a little more than usual as we were the first white individuals to ever participate in the choir competition. The Luchazi word for white person is chindele. Everywhere we walked we would here, “chindele, chindele”! I have a new appreciation for frustration with the paparazzi. We had people taking pictures of us all the time: while we were visiting, walking, eating, washing our faces and especially when we would perform with the choir. As a side note – participating in the EBC choir has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Not only are all the songs in a foreign language, but none of the songs are written down. So sweet Sabrina has worked hard to collect and write down as many songs as possible. Besides learning (and pronouncing) all the words – there is the performance aspect. Dance is an imperative part of the choir performance. If this were a shoulder shaking culture (as many of you know), I would be fine. But it's not - it is a hip shaking culture and not the hip shaking I am used to. So here I am trying to learn these dances, with what limited rhythm I have. All the while people are laughing and pointing. Needless to say I tried my best, but there were some moments of humiliation. People were so excited and would go crazy when Sabrina and I would perform! There were photos and video recordings taken inches from my face. Screaming, chanting and scarf waving along with hugs while we were performing. We even had individuals run and grab our hands only to thrust in the air as if we had won some sort of championship. We were often approached after we sang only to hear rave reviews and comments such as “I have never seen a chindele dance before”. I even had one guy who told me he liked my “stylee”. All through out the week we were asked to pose for photos with many "new friends" :)

All in all it was a great week, filled with meaningful conversation and relationship building. We were able to hear the preaching of an amazing pastor from Zambia. He boldly proclaimed the truth and addressed many important issues pertaining to this region. Pastor Moses even had a time where he invited individuals to come forward to be prayed for. We were thrilled to see many of our choir members go forward! He and his wife also met with many people individually for additional prayer and counseling. After speaking with the pastor, several choir members expressed interest in meeting to study the Bible after we get back! I had the chance of speaking with Pastor Moses and it was so encouraging! He is passionate about sharing the love of Christ and pouring into the local church. The conversation renewed my hope and reminded that God is often at work in ways that we do not see. I was able to share how the Lord had been working in Kaisosi. Pastor Moses smiled and said, “I see we are working in the same field.” It was a true blessing to meet him! Please continue to pray that I would be sensitive to God’s leading and obedient to what He has called me to do.

For another version of this priceless encounter please visit Sabrina and Daryl’s blog - Neufeldsinnamibia.blogspot.com

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Amazed By Blessings!

Well it has officially been three months since I stepped foot in the beautiful country of Namibia! Time is just flying by! For those of you who do not know, Tricia has traveled home to the States and is safe and sound. She has started back to work and is transitioning back to life at home. She is greatly missed (not only by me) and all of our friends here in Namibia have been asking for her. It was apparent what an impact Tricia has made here during our last time of Bible study and devotion with the volunteers. We were asking some discussion questions when Anita (one of our most consistent volunteers) began to share some insight. She said “this reminds me of what Tricia was teaching us” and presented clearly to the group a lesson that Tricia had taught. It was so exciting to see that Anita had learned and was able to apply biblical truth! I have no doubt that this is one of many examples of how Tricia has left a lasting impression.

Saying goodbye to Tricia was harder than I expected and the transition has been pretty challenging. Fortunately I feel like I am finally back into the swing of things. And what a swing it has been! Things have been extremely busy and rewarding over the past week. Towards the end of Tricia’s time here, we began to brainstorm ways to bless the kids we are serving and use the money we have raised wisely. We started talking about possibly buying each child a Bible. Our teenagers are constantly asking questions about Scripture and a few have explicitly asked to have Bibles. The Children’s Bibles are always the first books in our library to be checked out, so we knew there was a strong interest. However, I truly thought it was long shot. Where in the world were we going to get 180 Bibles in two weeks time? Daryl had the brilliant idea of calling a friend in Windhoek (Namibia’s capitol) to see if she might know of an organization that could help us. Turns out she did! Less than 24 hours later, Tricia and I were buying 200 children and youth Bibles at an exceptionally low price. Because of the generosity of our supporters, we were able to fund this purchase solely the money we had raised.

Daryl and Sabrina were also brainstorming how to contribute to the big give away. Winter is coming in Namibia and very few of the kids have any sort of bedding. So they decided to buy blankets for each of the children. Sabrina wisely went to a local store in town (Pep) and asked if they would be willing to provide a discount or donation. After countless visits to the store and multiple calls to managers, Pep agreed to donate all 180 blankets to the OVC project!!! We were blown away! God is so good! In turn there was money left over (that was intended for the blankets) and so they were able to purchase: a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, a notebook, eraser, pencil sharpener and colored pencils to all of the kids! We were also able to give pens, pencils and candy from packages sent by our supporters. It was an exciting day!!! Daryl and Sabrina were also able to provide funds for an incredible feast. Each child, caretaker, volunteer and committee member enjoyed chicken, rice, potatoes and soft drinks. I was told that most people in the Kaisosi village only enjoy a meal like this once a year (Christmas) and sometimes never. Needless to say everyone involved was thrilled.

Thankfully we had enough Bibles to also give to the volunteers. So the day before our big giveaway, we met with the volunteers to thank them for all of their hard work. We also discussed plans for after Daryl and Sabrina leave. They were so encouraging and assured me that I would have their help and support. When we gave them the Bibles, you would have thought we had given them a million dollars. They were so excited!!! Several volunteers said that they did not have words to thank us. Ben, volunteer and choir director, said, “Nicole, you have given me the greatest gift – you have given me the Word of God”. It has been amazing to watch God provide and bless the people of Kaisosi. The kids were equally thankful and excited. On Sunday we saw several people with their new Bibles at church. Please keep praying for our time here and that we would be sensitive and obedient to what God is doing! Also, I am leaving today to go to a choir conference. It is five days long and should be an extremely interesting cultural experience. Please pray for us!