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.

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

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!

Relationships

Once again I feel like there is so much we could write in here and not enough time to do it! We have had some amazing opportunities in the last couple of weeks and some huge blessings from the Lord! Nicole and I have been praying that God would allow us to form some solid relationships. I think we talked earlier in the blog about the struggle with forming genuine relationships here. It has definitely taken some time, but I think it has finally happened! Relationships seem to be popping up all over the place.
I mentioned before that I was leading a small devotion time for the volunteers. That mainly consisted of me doing a scripture lesson and then opening it up for discussion where Nicole and I would talk and the volunteers would sit and stare at us. I was thrilled when I got a head nod or a, “yes, yes” from someone. Well, imagine my surprise when one of the teenage boys that we have been working with, Ernest, opened up about his life! It was incredible! All of the sudden we actually had a discussion going! I was thrilled! We had a great talk about what it looks like to glorify the Lord with your life and how we are to look different to the world. Since that miraculous day, we have had a few more discussions at devotions. It is mainly the teenage boys that are willing to share. Ernest has continued to share struggles in his life with Nicole and me. He is such an amazing boy and we think that he truly understands the gospel. He has shared with us that he has seen his older brothers make several foolish mistakes in their lives and he doesn’t want to follow in their footsteps. This is a hard thing to take on because so much of this culture is based on tradition and family. To step outside of the cultural norm and follow the Lord instead of your family is huge. We are praying hard for him and would appreciate your prayer support as well.
Nicole has also had some great breakthroughs. She has been leading the “story time” for the older children at project. They have been able to discuss some really tough issues like what the Bible says about sex and finding your identity in Christ. Some of the teenagers have actually thanked her for talking about this stuff with them. They said that no one in their lives wants to talk about this with them and they have so many questions. We have been so encouraged by their eagerness to learn and all of the questions they’ve had. It’s incredible! The teenage girls that wanted nothing to do with us at the beginning are now asking to hang-out with us. Nicole has already spent one afternoon with them making jewelry while I was tutoring one of the volunteers. I’m so sad to be leaving now. I feel like we are just getting started. I am very thankful that Nicole still has time here with the children. I really feel like God is working in their hearts and I’m excited to see how these relationships develop.
On top of all the breakthroughs with project, we have met some really neat people around town. Just last week we had dinner with a local Namibian couple who are starting a church with the Bushmen. It has been rare that we meet locals that are on fire for the Lord. Marcus and Fula are definitely on fire and doing their best to follow God’s call and spread His truth. I wish I had time to write more about them, they are an amazing couple! We have also formed friendships with some women in town who are interested in learning about the Bible. Nicole is hoping to start up a Bible study with them soon. There seem to be so many opportunities for friendship and mentorship popping up. The Lord has been faithful to answer our prayers. It seems like there are many people in Rundu who are hungry to know the truth. Incredible!
On a sad note…I can’t believe that my time in Namibia is up. I remember people telling me that these three months would go fast. I don’t think I believed them, but they were right. My time has flown by and although I can’t wait to be home to see family and friends, I’m so sad to leave everyone here. I wish I could fly my loved ones to Rundu and keep building relationships with my new friends. Goodbyes are so hard and not something I like to do. I know that the remainder of Nicole’s time here will be well spent. I can’t think of anyone better to stay here and continue sharing Christ’s love and truth. I will be back home praying and anxiously awaiting updates just like you all reading this! Please continue to pray that God would grow these relationships and that the friendships would point them to Christ. Also, please be in prayer for my journey home and Nicole’s transition here. Love you all and I’m excited to see you in less than two weeks!

A Picture of Unity

It is amazing how quickly time goes here.  It seems so much happens and then I realize – I have not shared any of this!  We have continued to build relationships with the volunteers and the kids at the OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) project.  It has been so fun to watch the kids become more and more comfortable with us.  They are excited to greet us and call us by name.  Many have become affectionate giving numerous hugs throughout the day.  I love observing and learning their unique personalities.  They are absolutely adorable!

A couple of weeks ago, we learned that a volunteer from the project had passed away.  Her name was Sara and she was only 26 years old.  We did not have the opportunity to meet her, as she had been in the hospital for the past couple of months.  Death is a very common reality for this community.  Volunteers are constantly attending funerals of family members and friends.  It seems to have become a part of daily life here, still painful – but common.  We attended the memorial service and funeral.  I was struck by a couple of things.  At the memorial it is customary to greet and pay your respects to the mother and father separately.  Daryl communicated our condolences to the father as a friend translated.  Tricia, Sabrina and I greeted the mother and offered our deepest sympathies.  The pain in her face was heart breaking.  I looked around at the family members and was absolutely moved by their sorrow.  Sabrina asked if she could pray for her and she agreed.  I couldn’t help but touch the hand of the Aunt who was clearly hurting.  She grabbed my hand and we embraced and cried as Sabrina prayed.  In that moment all cultural differences were insignificant.  All that mattered was the pain that the family was experiencing and the love that bonded us as Christians.  It was so natural to grieve with this family, even though we did not know them.

I was very encouraged by the amount of community support that surrounded this family.  Choirs from several local churches came to the memorial and funeral to pay their respects, grieve with the family and worship the Lord.  What an amazing demonstration of the body of Christ!  It did not matter that these choirs were from different denominations or different areas of town.   Their differences did not keep them from building one another up.  They simply came to encourage and love their brothers and sisters in Christ.  I was struck by the sense of unity.  At the funeral, the pastor did a beautiful job of reminding the family and congregation of the hope we have in Jesus Christ.  That while there is pain and suffering now, there will a time when the Lord will wipe each tear from our eyes.  In the midst of intense grief, there was definitely a sense of hope.  Over those two days, pastors and loved ones spoke of Sara’s faith and how she lived out that faith through serving others.  The overwhelming number of people at the memorial and funeral was evidence that she had touched many lives.  This experience reminded me of our unity in Christ and how much we have in common as children of God.      

As some of you know, I turned 26 on March 20^th.  Needless to say, this was an absolutely unforgettable day and like no other birthday I have had :)  I will write more this week and give details on the fun celebration!!!

Holiday in Zambia

What an amazing time Nicole and I have been having! I wish you all could be here to experience this. Words can’t even describe the things we have seen and heard. We had the opportunity to travel with some of the missionaries serving with AIM in southern Namibia to Livingston, Zambia. I’m thanking God for the time we had to experience His creation and fellowship with other believers. It was such a refreshing trip. One of the first things we got to do while in Zambia was see Victoria Falls. This was the first of the seven natural wonders of the world that I have ever seen and it was breath taking. I couldn’t help but get tears in my eyes at the first glimpse of the falls. I know you all are shocked at my response, “What, Captain cries a lot had tears in her eyes? Who would have guessed?!” Seriously though, it was one of those moments when you think how could anyone deny the existence of our Creator God? The power of the roaring water was crazy and the beauty of it all…We stood in silence for a while and then began singing praise songs. I will never forget that moment.

Nicole and I had a couple other awesome experiences on our holiday, more opportunities for God to show off His creativity in nature. We traveled to Botswana for a safari and saw kudu, baboons, impala, giraffes, hippos, crocodile, over a hundred elephants, and what we are choosing to believe was a black mamba snake! At one point we were on a boat in the river surrounded by hippos, watching a huge herd of elephants bathing in the river! Another moment I will not soon forget.

As if that wasn’t enough, the next day we went walking with lions and rode an elephant. I love any opportunity to get up and close with animals and these were two fantastic animal encounters!  I’m pretty sure our elephant, Dan, was ready to come back to the states with us.

The best part of our trip was the time we had to fellowship with the other AIM missionaries. What an amazing group of girls and one sweet boy! I don’t think I was prepared to be in Africa without my support system back home.  This was a treat to get to hang-out with new friends. We were staying in a hostile and met some really fun people while there. Nicole was thrilled to meet a few British friends and get some tips on how to improve her British accent!  She’s getting quite good. We had several chances to have spiritual conversations with in our group and with our new friends. God laid out some amazing opportunities to share His love and truth! It’s so fun to see how He orchestrates these things and shows us that every moment can and should be used for His glory.

We had a great time and felt completely refreshed and ready to start back to work in Rundu when we got back. Please continue to pray for opportunities to form relationships with the children and volunteers. A few new responsibilities have been added to our plates that I think will foster this growth. Nicole will be leading story time for the older children at project and I will be leading short devotions for the volunteers. Pray that we would be listening for the Lord’s guidance and not taking things into our own hands. Also, please be in prayer for healing for our friend Daryl. He broke his foot playing soccer with some of the children last week and will be non-weight bearing for a month. This will be a huge change for him. Thank you all for your support, prayers, and letters. It is so encouraging!

Life in Rundu!

First of all I would like to apologize for the delay in posting!  So much has happened over the past two weeks, it is difficult to know where to begin.  We have settled into our new home in Rundu where will be living for the next couple of months.  Internet access is pretty limited, hence the lack of blog postings J We have been trying to keep in touch with loved ones, but it has been a bit challenging.  After our week in Windhoek (Namibia’s capitol), we met the missionaries we will be working with and drove on up to Rundu.  Daryl and Sabrina are a married couple from Canada and they instantly made Tricia and I feel welcome and comfortable.  Daryl works as pharmacist and Sabrina as a massage therapist at the hospital in town.  They are also in charge of running the OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) project in the nearby village of Kaisosi.

We have come to be extra pairs of hands and feet at the project. There is a team coming in August to serve for two years.  They will be adding a tutoring program, as well as continuing to train the volunteers to run the project.  Tricia and I have been doing administrative work to prepare for the team to arrive.  We have been updating files, gathering information about the kids and analyzing data regarding attendance.  Our hope is to have everything updated, so the team is able to begin working as soon as they arrive. We also have the opportunity to serve at the project.  We are there to play with the kids and demonstrate the love of Christ to those we meet.  We have had the blessing of working alongside volunteers from the community.  I have truly enjoyed getting to know them and learning about their experiences and culture.  Tricia has been serving a lot with wound care.  Most of these children have very little access to medical care.  Injuries and illnesses often go untreated.  At the project, kids will visit “wound care” when they have an injury or have been feeling sick.  I am SO thankful that Tricia (who is a nurse) is here for that job!  I am pretty sure my Red Cross Certification expired back in 1999 (every credible babysitter had to have one) and I would not feel qualified to deal with some of the intense wounds that we see.  I love the way that God’s plans work in such a personal and unique way.

God’s plan has continued to unfold in the area of social work, as well as nursing.  There is a family here in town that has been dealing with extreme conflict and complicated family issues.  For those of you who don’t know, I have been working in the social work field for the past three years and recently completed my Masters in Dispute Resolution.  I have been serving families with children who have severe emotional disabilities.  Sabrina began describing some of the issues that the family was dealing with: physical and emotional abuse, power struggles, alcohol addiction and oppositional behavior.  I couldn’t help but think how similar this family was to the families that I have been working with back in the states.  I was invited to come to the next meeting with the social worker.  It was extremely intense and emotional.  The pain and hurt experienced by each family member was so evident as each issue was discussed.  I was so surprised how natural it felt to be in the meeting.  I truly felt as if I was back home at Seven Counties, only there was a language barrier and several cultural differences.  I have attended two meetings since then and we are working towards ensuring the safety of these children and restoring relationships within the family.  The wildest part was when we learned that the social worker was going to be out of town for an extended period of time.  She asked if Sabrina and I would continue monitoring the family and scheduling meetings.   I happily agreed and I am really excited to see how God is going to work in the lives of this family!