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!