Open doors Part 2

I know I got a bit long-winded in my last post; I was just so excited!  Anyway, there are other sweet things going on here too.  There are new friends who are quickly becoming a part of our daily life here.  One of those friends is Savimbi.  We met Savimbi during our first week in Otji.  He is a taxi cab driver and he gave us a ride home from the grocery store before we had our own vehicle.  Well Geoff exchanges phone numbers with pretty much everyone he meets, so in the coming weeks he and Savimbi stayed in touch.  We have been blessed my Savimbi's kindness and the innocent way he expresses his appreciation for Geoff.  He often sends text messages saying, "I love you. My best friend. We are family." One night Savimbi joined us for supper.  We happen to be having BBQ chicken sandwiches.  I didn't think much of it until after we finished eating Geoff let me know we had committed a cultural no-no.  Savimbi is Herero and the Herero are HUGE meat eaters...beef and game.  It is the staple of their diet and any meal without meat is not a meal.  It has been said that Herero consider chicken to be a vegetable.  Afterwards we all laughed about it.  I asked him if he ever eats chicken and his response was, "No, chicken not very nice."  Oh well.

Last week Savimbi ran into Geoff in town and was so excited to present him with a surprise.  We had made a copy of this photo for Savimbi a few weeks back.  Well, he went one step further and had matching "muscle shirts" made with the photo on them.  It was such a sweet gesture and Geoff and I were touched by his thoughtfulness.  But I must admit, when Geoff modeled the very small, very fitted, and very femmy muscle shirt, I laughed until I cried.  Good times.  Please pray that Savimibi will come to saving faith in Christ, that God would be preparing his heart to receive him.

 This is the close-up view, I'm sparing you the full-body shot.

Another of our special friends is Way-mu-vada (have no idea how it is spelled).  That is his Herero name, his English name is Naphtali.  Waymuvada stopped by our house one day while Geoff was weeding the sand out in front of our house.  He asked if he could work for us and Geoff invited him to join him in weeding.  We were told not to hire anyone off of the street so we were cautious as we got to know him.  He has continued to return to help with the yard work, where he and Geoff usually work side by side. We have come to really appreciate his friendship.  Over time we have all gotten to know each other, although language is a barrier.  He pretty much speaks only Otji-Herero and we pretty much speak only English, but it is amazing how much can be communicated through laughter, smiles, and hugs.  Waymuvada has a gentle spirit and a humility about him that has drawn us to him.  We now pick him up for church on Sundays.  We recently commissioned him to build a headboard for our bed.  I am excited to see how it will turn out! When we were explaining what we wanted we invited him into our room to get the visual and to take measurements.  I know that this was unusual, but under the circumstances we thought it would be ok.  When Geoff brought him home that afternoon, Waymuvada invited him into his own very humble home, a zinc house in the location.  Geoff was very honored that he would feel comfortable sharing this with him.  When we got to Namibia, we were told by several people not to expect to be invited in to any homes for a very long time, because of the racial issues between blacks and whites.  Geoff has been welcomed into three homes already and we are so thankful for the trust that God is growing between us and our new friends!  Also pray for Waymuvada, that he would put his faith in the Lord.

Geoff and Waymuvada

A Saturday afternoon game of darts in our garage...Waymuvada, Roberto, Rovaldo, Geoff and D

Roberto likes to hang out at "Uncle Geoff's" and "Auntie Leah's".  He is a great kid and loves the Lord like crazy.  Geoff calls him his African Jake.

We live across from the water department, where there are guards at the gate during the day.  One day one of these guards approached Geoff and told him that he has seen people coming and going from our house and that he would like to study the Bible with Geoff! Wow!  Since that time, Setson and another guard, Emmanuel, have begun meeting with Geoff on Monday evenings to get into the Word.  They are both believers, but wanting to grow in their knowledge of the Bible. Emmanuel came to Christ through some missionaries who were here years ago.

Last, I want to share a couple pics with you of a wedding Geoff was privileged to attend last weekend.  Ignatius is a friend of ours from church.  When he heard that Geoff is trying to learn Otji-Herero, he invited him to join him at a family wedding.  Geoff was honored to be invited and didn't want to miss this amazing opportunity to witness this cultural tradition.  Herero weddings are four day events, but Geoff only attended the last two days.  Although Ignatius is a believer, the family members getting married were not, so they were still practicing the Herero tradition of consulting the dead ancestors in the Holy Fire.  I cannot share with you a first-hand experience, but I can tell you that there was a lot of sitting around, a lot of meat eating, and a lot of beer drinking.  Geoff was the only white guy out of the 500 people there, but everyone was very kind and welcoming to him.  It is basically a big camp out, everyone sleeping in tents, cooking over fires, etc.

Geoff and Ignatius

Ignatius and his family.  These are traditional Herero dresses and head pieces...the hats are to represent cattle horns; cattle being of central importance to their culture. 

Love this view of all of the hats.

The bride's belongings, ready to transfer to the groom's household.  The groom's family still pays a dowry of two cattle to the bride's family.  Everything in African culture is about the community, not the individual.  It's all about the two families coming together, rather than the two individuals, so different than in western culture.

Wow, now that I see all of this together I am so thankful for all that God has done in only three months! He has been good to open these doors.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
Matthew 7:7

It's so exciting when the doors begin to open!

Next week will mark four months since we arrived in Africa, three months in Otji, and already God is opening doors for ministry and relationships.  It is so exciting!  This past week I have been greatly encouraged by opportunities to do exactly what I felt God leading me here to do, care for the fatherless.  A couple weeks ago Geoff attended a community meeting and came home excited about a connection he had made with a woman named Monica who runs a center in the heart of the location, where we both desire to be working.  Thursday our whole family made a visit to this place and were literally greeted with open arms by Monica at the door.  She gave us a tour and shared about what they do at this Multipurpose Center.  The two groups they serve primarily are orphans and vulnerable children (OVC's) and people with HIV/AIDS, exactly what I have been praying for!  They care for almost two hundred OVC's there by providing school fees, doing their laundry, providing a morning and after school meal, as well as after school help and activities.  Many of these children are orphans, but live with an extended family member in the location, and a few live in the hostels.

As for the HIV/AIDS outreach, my jaw almost dropped when Monica told us that they serve over eight hundred people with HIV/AIDS, all living within the location in Otji! Many of these people live in the "informal settlements", meaning the zinc houses or shacks built of corrugated metal.  That was shocking and made me wonder how many of the friends and acquaintances we have already met here may be living with HIV/AIDS.  The good news is that of the eight hundred, over six hundred are receiving the anti-viral medications, prolonging their lives and also reducing the risk of further transmission.  That is a big part of the service they provide, as well as sending out volunteers on home visits where the volunteers help with bathing, wound care, etc.  Talk about being the hands and feet of Christ. 

So, for now we are planning to come on Tuesday afternoons.  We will assist with serving the afternoon meal to the eight-five children who come for lunch after school.  Sophia is going to come up with a craft to do with the pre-teen age group.  I am going to do a story-time with the little ones and Geoff is going to assist the older kids with homework.  We can't wait to get started and I have a feeling that God is going to be giving us more opportunities to serve there in the future.

The second open door is out at the dump site.  You may remember us sharing a bit about the dump site ministry before we left America. Our AIM teammates Courtney and Hannah are just getting this ministry going full-time.  There are not only many children and adults foraging through the dump site daily for food, but there are many children actually living there.  Friday was our first time out there and it was fun, and it was humbling...

As you turn off the gravel road into the dump site you immediately notice one thing, garbage, everywhere.  We wound our way through the narrow, dusty garbage-lined paths until we came to a little spot where the path split in four directions.  There were the children, anxiously awaiting our arrival.  This past week they have been taking part in a holiday club from 9-11 am.  We call it holiday club because children here have been on "holiday" or school break since the end of April.  But this holiday club looks nothing like our American VBS.  Here there are no brightly colored posters welcoming the children at the door, no stereo system with fun kids' worship music blaring, no pretty themed snacks to go along with the week's lessons.  Here there is not even a table, or a single chair.  There is no shady tree or even a patch of grass.  There is only dirt and garbage and 13 children eager for this time.  As we got out of the car and began meeting the children, I was overwhelmed at their appearance and hoped that I could keep it together. Eagerly, they all gathered side by side on the two old pipes which served as our benches.  Most had no shoes on, all of them were thick with dirt, probably not having been bathed for years, literally.  Their clothes were dusty, torn, full of holes.  I can't imagine how long they had been wearing them...months straight? Their smiles were so sweet.  The girls seemed soft, the boys perhaps a bit more calloused, yet wanting to be there.

We brought water for them to wash their hands and then they were given an apple.  We prayed, sang a couple songs, and Hannah shared a lesson on the Fruits of the Spirit.  Next we broke into three teams and had a challenge to see who could build the tallest tower.  They were off in an instant collecting garbage to build their towers, Henry and Davis included.  Sweet little Elizabet brought me a box and whispered, "Heeya, teechah." We finished by playing a couple more games.  Freeze tag in the middle of the dump made me a little uneasy, broken class, metal, and everything else covering the ground.  Of course the kids don't even seem to notice it.  We finished with another round of handwashing and giving them each a glass of water and a half of a peanut butter sandwich; I'm sure the only food most of them will have that day. Davis provided a little meal-time entertainment by making a coin magically appear from behind the boys' ears.  They were amazed!

Beginning next week,  a few of these kids will go back to school.  For those who do not attend any school, Courtney and Hannah will come mornings and try to teach them some basic academics.  For those children who do go to school, at 2:00 they can return for help with their schoolwork.  I'm looking forward to helping with this.  I can get our own homeschooling done in the morning and be free to help at the dump in the afternoons.  Believe it or not, this is just a glimpse of all the doors God has been opening.  For your sake, I will stop now and share the rest in a "Part 2".

I just want to end with something I read this morning in My Utmost for His Highest.  I've read this many times before and have it highlighted in red. I like this reminder that we do not make the plans, but God does.  Our job is to be ready for the task, whatever that may be, big or small.

"Readiness for God means that we are prepared to do the smallest or the largest thing-it makes no difference. It means we have no choice in what we want to do, but that whatever God's plans may be, we are there and ready.  Whenever any duty presents itself, we hear God's voice as our Lord heard His Father's voice, and we are ready for it with total readiness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us just what His Father did with Him. He can put us wherever He wants, in pleasant duties or in menial ones, because our union with Him is the same as His union with the Father. '...that they may be one just as We are one...' (John 17:22)"

Since I don't have any photos of the dump or Multipurpose Center yet, hopefully a cute Carl pic will suffice.

Gifts by the sea

Many of you already know of my love affair with the ocean, a love that even drove me to create a Florida beach house in the middle of land-locked Minnesota. When we learned that God was calling us to one of the driest places on earth, I must admit we wondered, "Really Lord, the desert?" Geoff and I immediately got out the map and looked up the distance between our future town and the coast.  Since that time, we have been looking forward to visiting the coastal town of Swakopmund; it did not disappoint! Up until now, our annual pilgrimage to the ocean has required a thirty-hour drive, so this three and a half hour trip seemed almost too good to be true.  Getting out of the car and taking in that first deep breath of salty sea air releases my endorphins like nothing else!

I'm not the only one who loves the beach...They just couldn't wait to get wet!

Beautiful, palm-lined streets

"I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh and free salt air was like a cool, quieting thought."

Helen Keller

"The cure for anything is salt water- sweat, tears, or the sea"

Isak Dineson

A little sibling love on the pier at sunset

"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonders forever."

Jacques Yves Cousteau 

While we were in Swakopmund, Geoff and I both marveled at God's blessing upon us.  It might seem insignificant to many, being able to get to the sea in three and a half hours, but to us it is an incredible gift from our Father, given especially to us.  I think often of Matthew 7:11, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" I can't count the number of times since our arrival in Africa that Geoff and I have said to each other, "Wow, God so knew we would need that" or "God knew we couldn't have handled that!" and so on. Each of these instances is a gift from Him!  

I want to help our children recognize God's gifts in their own lives. This isn't always easy when they are so accustomed to having everything they want and need.  Far from recognizing their blessings as gifts from the Lord, children (and adults) can easily see their blessing as something they are entitled to! We try to bring attention to the ways He has been faithful to them; a new friend, seeing a giraffe, a good tasting treat, a tortoise named Lois, and a chameleon named Poser....these are blessings from the Father! I love it when one of our children is praying and thanks the Lord for something very specific that happened that day.  They are acknowledging that that good thing was a gift from Him!

"Poser", a recent gift God has given to Henry

Take a minute to look around and take note of God's gifts to you...they are everywhere!  There are the biggies (His Son, the Holy Spirit); the necessities (clean water, enough food to eat, a safe home); and then there are those little extras that add so much enjoyment to our lives (friends to meet at the park or facetime with, a good ice cream cone, fresh-smelling laundry, healthy children, a good book, salty sea air, memories that make you happy). His gifts are everywhere. We deserve nothing, yet He lavishes us with blessings. Take note and thank the Gift-giver!

Happy Mother's Day!

 

Mommy and me circa 1974

Happy Mother's Day!

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and causes peace to return to our hearts.

Washington Irving

Celebrating Mother's Day with my wonderful mom-in-law and sisters-in law, 2008

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts.  A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.

Sophia Loren

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms and a special happy Mother's Day to my two moms.  We are missing celebrating with you.  Thank you for loving us, supporting us, and praying for us as we serve the Lord here. We recognize your sacrifice and we love you!