Namibia Journal - November 21st
November 21stWe started today off by going to Okahandja Secondary School for the first time since we've been back. It was exhilarating just walking through the back wall onto the campus again even though all the students were busy and quiet taking exams. Our future landlord is one of the school's receptionists and a nice lady. The house we'll be living in is her house that she has not decided to sell yet because she's not sure where she's going to be next. She lives with her husband in Windhoek where he works currently.
After our visit with our new landlord, we went to our first team meeting at Mike & Josh's house. It was a good time with the team. We shared our heart's desire and prayer for the team to be PASSIONATE and on fire for God in everything they do. We just want to see God valued for how good He really is and lifted up for all of our new neighbors and friends to see. We love Him and we love them.
We saw the inside of our new place today at 5pm. We move in on January 1st. I am really glad that Erin likes the inside. It is a small 2 bedroom house with one bathroom. We will have to get kitchen appliances but that's expected. It is hoped that furniture and appliances will be available to us when a container full of Dutch donations comes in December but we are not worried about it. It is two houses down from the house that is directly behind Mike & Josh's house. It's very close by but you have to go to the end of their block, around another block, and down into a cul-de-sac to get to it so it's kind of like being in a separate neighborhood at the same time. We will have a better description of the location (and pictures) later so you can pray for our neighbors.
Erin and I had the most awesome walk yet today. We took the long walk back the 'wrong way' from our new place and criss-crossed over many new streets and areas. People are everywhere. Lots of kids. We say hi to almost everyone and are greeted mostly warmly. The only exception consistently is the young adult guys. But we figured out today that they simply don't respond to “hello”. It is much better to use a manly “what's up” with them :) which is cool and makes total sense when you think about it... The guys are very into their games. There are all kinds of groups of little children and girls and other people around but the only groups of guys we saw were gathered together to play games. For the youngest group, 9-11 I guess, it was a gambling game with a deck of cards. Then we found some older guys, late 20s to 50s maybe, playing an interesting looking strategy game that involved moving many small round objects around four rows of divots dug into the dirt (mancala?). These guys were very friendly and would like to teach me to play with them sometime. Last, there were some teenage guys playing dominoes. I could go on and on about some of the interesting people we met and the opportunities we see God might be giving us. One very awesome encounter was with a 25 yr old guy named Nicodemus. We had climbed onto a tall little rock formation close to the multi-purpose ministry center and he came walking by. He was more interested than the rest or I think I might have said something to him like “we're from America” which I like to say. He wanted to come by and visit and asked for our house number. We told him where and when we would be there. Then he climbed onto the rock also and showed me where he lived. It is an area of Nau-Aib we haven't been to yet called “Sam Stand”(?) but we will be there soon. He knew about Jesus' conversation with the Nicodemus in the Bible already and I told him one of the reasons that we have come to Namibia is because the words He said are true--Unless a person is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3). I found out that he has a gardening job and is single. I am very much looking forward to finding him before we even move in to Nau-Aib and visiting with him more after we do. While I was speaking with him, Erin was having a God encounter of her own...
[Erin speaking: I was about 12 feet away from Todd on the other side of the rock formation when about 10 children came running toward us. There were 3 girls (about age 10 or 11) and 7 boys (around age 6/7) One of the girls was carrying a baby on her hip. When they started climbing up the rock, I greeted them each with a smile and handshake and asked them if they came up because we were there. With big grins they all said “YES!” I asked them if they lived close and they said yes, pointing to the neighborhood we had just walked through. I told them we were from America and they Ooohed and Awwwed and I then asked them if they had ever been on a plane before. They said no so I described how long of a ride it was and how close you have to sit to people. They were quite amazed. ....Then I asked them why they thought that we would come all the way from America to live in Namibia for two years. One boy said, “Because of the weather?” I replied, “No, although the weather is very nice here..,” explaining how it is so cold with snow from where I just came from. Another guessed, “Because Namibia is beautiful?” to which one girl responded “No it isn't, look at all the rubbish,” pointing to the trash blowing across the field. I then said, “Yes, the rubbish isn't good, but do you know what we think is beautiful about Namibia?” “What?!?!” They asked with anticipation. I said with a great smile, “The Namibians!” They smiled and giggled excitedly :)
Once they were out of guesses I told them we came all the way from America to Namibia is because God decided to put His love in our hearts for them before we even saw them! And one reason we came is to tell them just how big and good God really is. With that they began to tell me how they go to children's club (one of Christ Hope's ministries) and asked if I would be there. ....I've never been but told them that I would probably go one day.
They then wanted to make sure they knew where we lived and I explained our housing situation (not being able to move in until Jan.) but assured them that they could come over some time very soon :) Back to Todd writing.]
I love Mike and Josh and Gert and Vincent. We just shared a great time of Bible application and study and personal accountability time together. I need better words for that because it doesn't describe it. The guys have been meeting regularly on Mondays up 'til now and looking into Ephesians together. Tonight, on the first night I've joined them, we started chapter 4 and talked about many topics from God's Word and God's work in our lives. It was a good time of struggling together against flesh, the world, and our enemy through openness and being real about the forces we fight.
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