Happy Birthday, Carina

Today was Carina’s 16th birthday. I got to enjoy the blessing of taking her out to dinner to celebrate. I made a turn by her house this morning to confirm plans and tell her, “we’re dressing nice tonight”. She didn’t know what we were going to do, just that I was stealing her for the evening. I had gotten permission to borrow the bakkie from CHI and went to pick it up around 5:30. I picked up Carina at 6:00 and we were on our way. After a very short drive we arrived at the Okahandja Lodge. As we were pulling in, I asked Carina if she’d ever been there before. “No,” she said, “I was just about to say, this is my first time coming here.” As we drove down the dirt path to the lodge, she shifted forward on the edge of her seat, anticipating. It was so great. It gave me such joy just to see her so excited. The lodge came into view and I parked the bakkie. As we climbed out Carina said, “I have butterflies in my stomach!” Carina chose our seats inside, near the fireplace, since it was a cool night. And we began to peruse the menus. The one stipulation I gave her was, “I want you to get whatever you want!” After seriously MUCH debating, she chose the spare ribs. We had lovely conversation, lots of laughter, and I got to learn even more about this great young lady. I wish I would have snapped a picture just as our meals came, because Carina’s eyes about popped out of her head when she saw hers….



She ended up eating the chips and veggies and what seemed like the smallest bit of her ribs. They were seriously pretty huge. She was really glad to hear that she could take home what she wasn’t able to eat. Her response definitely showed her heart when she said, “Oh, good! I can take some home and share with my family!”

Please pray for Carina as the second trimester of school starts up tomorrow. She is a very intelligent girl and a great student (for those of you who know anything about the grading system here, she got a 35 for the first term. Yeah!). Netball also begins this term, (she and two of the other girls in our bible study are netball players) so very soon I get to go to my first netball match.

And to finish off for tonight, here are just a few random pictures…

The view from my office/teen lounge/homework room at the MPMC



the sunset-lit mountains as we drove home from Sossusvlei



me.

joys

things I love right now:

only 1 week till school starts again and i get to begin studying the Word again regularly with my girls.

cold nights with warm days in Nau-Aib.

the phrase, "i am come tomorrow"

living in okahandja's "samaria"

only 5 weeks left till June 16th

phase 10

my former random roomie K Glease, will be Kristi Demeter in a matter of two days

having a toaster. finally!

little faces peering in my door, "amanda! mahk oop!" telling them, "not right now, i'm busy. but come back later." 5 minutes pass and it begins again.

seeing pictures of spring in Ohio

My Jesus, who is always faithful

respite

sorry for my quietness recently. Not a lot of exciting news to report. However, since it is holiday, the students don't start back to school till mid May, and lots of people are still gone, and Bible studies have been hit-or-miss; we took the opportunity to have a mini-holiday of our own. the plan was that there would be 6 of us: the fourfrom our team plus jennie and maveja, but jennie's plans changed and at the last minute Todd got really sick and therefore Erin and he had to stay behind. So....Buddy, Maveja and I headed out E-A-R-L-Y monday morning and started on our way to the first destination - Swakopmund. we spent a day and a half there, then continued on the the red dunes of Sossusvlei, farther south in the Namib-Naukluft park. For more of the pictures, go visit my Flickr site. But here are some of my all-time favorites from the trip:


Trees at Dead Vlei


Dead Vlei trees against the red dunes


Dry


Self portait


The red dunes of Sossusvlei


Gemsbok grazing at Sossusvlei


Sunset over the plains as we drove home

The Storm

Last evening we had a huge storm - heavy winds, thunder, lightning, horizontal rain and hail slamming against the windows and tin roof. It was so loud. So loud that Buddy and I, even thought standing only a few feet apart, had to yell just to hear each other over the noise. That’s when the power went out. Jenny, Buddy and I found our torches (aka flashlights) and lit candles. We made our way into the kitchen to find it quickly filling with water coming in under the back door. Buddy held the dim light while Jenny and I armed ourselves with towels to mop up what we could and barricade the bottom of the door to limit any continuing water flow. Outside, the wind howled whipped around and Buddy exclaimed, “It feels like maybe we should be bracing ourselves in a doorway or something! This is crazy!” About a half an hour went by and the height of the storm was past us. I couldn’t help but think about our friends in Oshetu, braving this storm in their tin houses of scrap metal and wooden crates. After the worst had passed, the three of us here headed over to Todd and Erin’s house for the rest of the evening to play Phase 10 by candlelight. Its 1pm now, the day after and we are still without power. No idea when it might come back. I’m hoping I can finish writing and post this and check emails before the battery power on my laptop runs down. We went to Oshetu this morning to see if there was anyone who needed help rebuilding and cleaning up. All over, people were out clearing the fallen tree limbs and leaves and talking about the storm.



Oshetu actually fared ok actually. Its really amazing how much those small tin shacks can take. We did find some help needed at Keano’s grandma’s house, where part of the wall had given way and left a big hole. We listened to the stories of the children. They were scared, but as the rain poured in the wall, grandma pulled them all into the bathroom and they huddled there together. Buddy got to work helping repair the hole, while Todd, Erin and I played with the girls and boys outside. Praise the Lord for His Church and how we get to be the body to each other.

Here is a picture of Todd and Erin’s backyard this morning. The papaya tree didn’t do so well.

mavenga otjikuthinga

I’ve discovered that the lowest point in my kitchen is in front of the refrigerator…How do I know this? Simply put, that is where the water is the deepest.

MENTAL NOTE: If you are ever living at my house in Nau-Aib and you decide to take a shower shortly after finishing washing the dishes, it might be a good idea to first check to make sure that the hot water tap on the kitchen sink is closed. If you fail to do this, you may notice a big drop in water pressure and it won’t be a very warm shower. I doubt, however, that you will put two and two together until you decide to return a cup to the kitchen without turning on the light and you end up standing in about an inch of water (the deepest of which will happen to be in front of the refrigerator, by the way). At this point you may realize that while you were trying to have a shower, you have inadvertently given your kitchen a bath.

TIP: It is possible to use a broom to sweep water out the back door.

Shorn

So if you have noticed in my recent pictures, my hair has been getting a bit shaggy, but not being familiar with what kind of a cut I might experience here in Namibia (and since my roomate/hairstylist for the first month or so has returned to the States) I was a bit hesitant....apprehensive even, but I braved it today and had my first haircut here at one of the places in town. Praise the Lord for my friend, Joy, who warned me about what to expect. And thankful I am for that warning because, seriously I think she cuts hair faster than any human alive. She was completely just cutting random snips of hair all over the place in crazy haphazard angles, and hair was flying without any apparent rhyme or reason. Had I not been warned, this might have been disturbing, but I trusted Joy's word that, indeed as crazy as it seemed, the end result would be a good one. And, indeed, it was. Me = Very happy.


This is me smiling because I won't need to be wearing a headscarf for the next 4 weeks.

Enjoying the Grace of His Creation

As I mentioned, Howard and Rhonda took us to Okapuka Lodge for a day of respit and enjoying our God through what He has made. Such a joy it was! Here are the photos from our day of being spoiled missonaries:


Definitely my favorite shot of the day:



can you believe I actually live somewhere where I can take shots like this and it's only a 30 minute drive from my house? (And we're NOT talking at the zoo....)



Two White Rhinos enjoying their breakfast



Me with my new friend, Starfire, getting ready for the horseback safari at Okapuka Lodge



Riding through the bush on horseback. I think there's a wildebeast in the distance, but he blends in pretty well.



OK, just felt the need to satisfy those visual learners back home. Enjoy!

Ministry Recap

Ok, time for the much awaited Ministry Recap/Update I promised to write up once I gathered my thoughts. I decided to split it up into several entries because there’s a lot to recap. And remember, this is only a few highlighted things from the last two weeks! God is doing much more here than I could ever write enough to describe. And so much more than I know or even recognize.

We have attended a church here that may actually be teaching the Truth to people. There wasn’t any, “give-us-money-to-receive-your-blessing-from-God” teaching. In fact, the first Sunday we attended there was teaching on humility. It is a church that meets in a big tent not far from my house. The service was in Kavango but also translated into English. There was such a family atmosphere, to the point that they actually waited to begin the program until everyone had arrived – which in Africa takes quite a while. Until everyone got there we sang more songs, praising God through music. There were no instruments (which if you’ve been to many African churches usually means 1980’s synthesized keyboard) just voices with great harmonies, songs in different languages, and of course, dancing. And, as it turns out, the guy who did the preaching on Sunday (one of the men being discipled by the pastor of the church and training under him) was Tiago, a man from the Woodcarvers Bible study that Buddy and I have been leading. And he actually taught from Matthew Chapter 3, which is the chapter that we had most recently studied together. It’s just cool how God brings certain people into the path of numerous people that, if obedient, can be used greatly in shaping someone’s growth in the Lord. I say this because Bona, Kendall’s mom, formed a friendship with Tiago on a past trip here and he carries a book that she gave him about the Lord. Isn’t it amazing how God’s puzzle is put together?

OSS Bible Study

Its been very hit-or-miss lately since the students have been in exams for the past 2-3 weeks. They often have afternoon classes beginning at 2:30pm, which means only 1hr and a half in between getting out of school and beginning afternoon classes. Which for our Bible study means either not having the bible study or having a shortened lesson, so the kids can have 30 mins to run home and eat lunch. What is cool is that many of the students actually prefer the latter to not having the Bible study at all. A number of the students come no matter what and they sacrifice eating lunch, sacrifice their 1hr 30 min. break in the school day, to come join us in studying God’s Word. I am blown away. I appreciate the hearts of those kids so much! What a challenge to so many mature adults who ditch God’s Word when it comes to having to sacrifice something.

In General

We’ve seen how our individual ministries and lives are beginning to come together and how one thing is lending itself to the other:

* The mother of one of our students from the OSS Bible study, Sylvia, is part of the Woodcarver’s Bible study, and has expressed an interest in being a part of Erin’s ministry to the women of Oshetu.

* Mavea, a young woman who is Todd and Erin’s neighbor, whom they initially invited to house church a few months ago, has been devouring the Word of God and growing. She has become a good friend of mine and we often get together to watch movies and have coffee. Just last week she helped out with serving the food for Kids Club, which Jenny, Erin and Todd and I are a part of.

* Buddy and I attended the Sunday Night Bible study in Oshetu, and the women from Oshetu came to the Women’s Bible study here last week.

Its just really artistic of God to begin things in our lives individually only to bring many of those things together for a bigger impact – His greatest glory

Team

Howard and Rhonda Sheets spent the last two weeks with us, encouraging us, living with us, spoiling us (aka taking us out to dinner and allowing us to play hard at things we wouldn’t have been able to afford to do without them) and being a part of God’s work here in Okahandja. On Tuesday we went to Okapuka Lodge (about 30 mins drive away) for the day. We went on a game drive, had lunch, went on a horse safari (going out amidst the game on horseback), then watched the lion feeding and had a lovely dinner. The day was amazing! They have been very generous and helpful and will be missed.

Women's Bible Study - Colssians

Tonight was great and although it was only me, Sylvia and Nelda, we had a very nice time. I decided that we would just spend some time talking and then pray together, so that we didn’t get too far ahead of the others who weren’t here tonight. In our talking we somehow ended up on the topic of relationships, marriage, humility and submission and the role of the husband and wife. It was pretty cool how even just our “chatting” came around to focusing on God and His Word. Then I asked if we could pray together, said I would begin and then leave time for either of them to pray if they wanted to, but that they didn’t have to if they preferred not to aloud. It was such a sweet time. I began to pray and then after me, Sylvia, and then Nedla. (It is so cool just to hear her pray, especially because she seems so timid so speak up most of the time.) She prays in Afrikaans and I can only understand half of what she is praying, but it is so encouraging to hear her. God is drawing her nearer to Himself. Pray that she continues to listen to Him calling her.

Etc.

I think I finally feel settled here now. I feel like my friendships with people are natural and I no longer have to work so hard at it, like one has to when there are lots of new friendships being built in a new place.

The girls are starting to come over randomly just to visit me, which is just wonderful. Caroline (one of the girls from the Bible study – in grade 8) comes by quite a bit and has been helping me by quizzing me in my Afrikaans. She even made up a school notebook for me. The front of it reads:

Amanda Zeiders
Grade 1
Afrikaans
“Caroline Primary School”

The weather is getting cooler. Most mornings I have to wear long sleeves now until the middle of the day, then its too warm. But once the sun sets (at 6pm now since the time change) the long sleeves come back out. Hot tea on cool breezy mornings = happiness.

I’ve seen a lot of beauty in God’s creation around this country in the last few weeks and I continue to be in awe of His creativity and splendor.

Swakopmund Getaway Day

There's been so much ministry and so much to write about, that I've been overwhelmed with how to write about it all. so for now, all you get is some more pics from my recent day trip, and i will be working on good overveiw of the what God has been doing here. get ready, because there's a bunch of things! it is so good. God is so good!

After such a nasty "roadtrip gone bad" Jennie and I were both pleasantly surprised by a call from friends inviting us to spend the day in Swakopmund with them. It was a great day, and I am so thankful to the Lord for such a gift.

What I like to call "The Vortex Dune"


Jennie and I trying to be brave enough to go near the Vortex


SAND!


People climbing the dunes in Swakopmund


Ripples in the sand near the coast


Sand and scrub near the coastline


The remains of what looks like it a fromer bridge and the dunes in the background


Swakop from the end of the pier


Waves pounding the rocks


Sunset as seen from "The Tug" restaraunt (an old tug boat- turned fine dining establishment)


(the duneboarding pictures are yet to come! i've got to get them from someone else's camera)

Martin's Baptism

We had a baptism at the MPMC (Multipurpose Ministry Center)! Sorry it's taken so long to post about it, as it happened a few weeks ago. Things have been quite busy around here.
Things you should know about the baptism:

Martin was one of the workers helping to build the MPMC

He was saved through the grace of God and God instrumentally using Gert and Mike in his life
His family attended the baptism

The blow-up pool we used gave way halfway through our prayer time beforehand and the wall of water that it let loose threatened to flood us out comepletely.

We hurried, held up the sides and pretty much decided, "lets dunk him quick!"

Martin played in the pool like a child; half-doggie paddling around the shallow pool before Gert baptised him

There were 3 different countried represented

Here are the pics:


Gert preparing to baptise Martin



Praying over Martin after baptism



Martin's Prayer

Today in pictures

Child at Oshetu Kids Club



Queen (Keano's sister) and I



Oshetu Kids Club - Thursdays at 3pm



Kids "cleaning" (aka licking the pot clean) the pot after Kids club. Look closely and you'll see the huge pot!



sink huises (tin houses) in Oshetu #2

Things I love right now about Namibia

Dust tornados
Heat lightning
Rooibos tea and electric tea kettles
Choosing the steamy warm bag of bread at Pick N Pay
Never having to be on time
100% juice
Huge, fresh mangos from Fruit N’ Veg
Scrabble by candlelight

The road less travelled Part Two

Synopsis of Carasburg: Jennie’s mom wasn’t feeling well so as soon as Jennie walked in the door she was put to work – serving dinner, washing dishes, cleaning the house, sweeping the floor, washing laundry…it was maybe a little like Cinderella. I felt bad for her, and I know she felt bad for me, because I sat around doing nothing for three days. We didn’t get to use the truck as we were promised and so therefore our side trip to Fish River was non-existent. By Tuesday we were both ready to go, and we caught a ride with her dad to Keetmans, where we had hoped we might get a car and still be able to take in Fish River, but as we realized this too was not going to be possible, the disappointments were piling up enough that we both just wanted to go home. And Rather than wait around till Thursday to have a ride back with the Dutch guys, we actually decided to take the train back again. Yes! Does this give you a little insight into our state of mind and how very much we just wanted to get home to our own house in Nau-Aib? So just a few short hours after arriving, we were grabbing out still-packed bags and loading into Juliet’s car so she could drop us at the train station. We said our goodbyes and settled back in for the all-night ride to Windhoek. Praise the Lord that this time the speakers actually worked, the volume was of normal human listening level, and the movies were actually almost watch-able. (We’re not talking Academy-award winning acting or anything, but at least the films this time had a little more depth than what you’d find on a Bubble gum wrapper.)

We arrived in Windhoek at 6:30am, tired, cold and hungry and with no idea how we were going to get home the rest of the way. We made some calls in the hopes that someone we knew would be making their way into the city and could take up home with them. No dice. As the city started to awaken a little, we decided to think about our situation over breakfast. Thankfully the train station is only a few blocks from Vern Hill Mall, which for me, means Mugg & Bean. A little breakfast helped a little, but I could tell that Jennie had had it. We got a call from Gerrianna saying she’d be in Windhoek and could take us home around 3pm. It was 9am when we got the call. Jennie and I looked at each other and it was clear neither of us really wanted to sit around Windhoek for another 6 hours. We opted just to take a taxi back – (thankfully no rain this time).

We arrived back at our house and it was such a sight for sore eyes. We unloaded our stuff and headed for the door. Upon reaching the front stoop, we immediately realized that our “adventure” of a road-trip wasn’t over yet. Here in Okahandja, every house has burglar bars. Windows, are all barred and the doors have gated bars in front that must be unlocked and opened to get to the actual door which is also locked and needs to be open before you can get in. Well, it was very evident that while we were gone, someone had decided to defy our burglar bars in an attempt to make themselves at home in our place, or at least help themselves to our stuff. Whoever it was apparently tried to pry the gate open using a crowbar or screwdriver or something that they put in trying to use leverage to pry open the gate. Praise the Lord the attempt failed!! The way the gate locks is basically a deadbolt style lock that you open with a skeleton key. They pried hard enough to actually bend the 4-inch long, ¾ inch think block of metal which serves as the deadbolt. But is was still unable to be opened. Which means, if it wasun-openable to them, so it was also for us. Sigh. So much for just coming home crashing. I think asthis point we both just began to laugh and asked each other, “What next?!” Jenny walked around the corner to enlists Buddy’s help and I stood guard with our bags on the front stoop. I got out my Bible and started to read. “Consider it pure joy, brothers, when you face trials of any kind. For we know that the testing of our faith produces perseverance…”

About 2hours later, Gert and Buddy armed with screwdrivers, hammers and a welding machine broke the rest of the way into our house, replaced the old bent lock with a new one (the one Buddy bought for his own gate when his house was broken into, but hadn’t yet installed) and re-welded the gate. (pictures yet to come of our now ghetto-ified looking gate).

Ah…it’s so good to be home.

Visual Reveiw

Oshetu on Sunday night






Erin's joy at seeing her parents arrive




Todd and Keano



OSS Bible Study kids Performing "Jump Jump Jump" at the Independance Day assembly



Mavea and I (with Keano peeking through)

The road less-travelled…and it’s a good thing

My wonderful friend and housemate, Jennie, invited me to go to Carasburg with her to visit her parents, spend some time with the family, and also for a little side trip to Fish River Canyon (the second largest Canyon in the world), and the nearby Ai Ais hot springs. We were both pretty excited to have a little road-trip together and do some visiting and exploring. Carasburg is a small town in the south of Namibia – about a 7 hour drive from Okahandja where we live. (It’s a bit south of Keetmanshoop, if you’r looking at a map, or if you have a surprising knowledge of Namibian geography.)

So as we planned to embark on our trip, we made plans to stay one night at Ai Ais hot spring after being told on the phone there no reservations were available at Fish River Canyon Lodge (our original accommodation plan). The idea was to take the train from Windhoek to Keetmans, then take the bus from Keetmans to Carasburg. We would stay Saturday night and Sunday with her family in their “sinkhuis” (tin house)



have some visiting time, then head out on Monday towards Fish River Canyon. We would spend the day there, then drive to Ai Ais, have the evening there and spend the night and part the next day. We would leave from there, return the truck we were going to borrow from her dad, then head to Keetmans, spend one night at the Ark Children’s home, visit with Juliet and Berdian (our friends there), then catch a ride back with the Dutch volunteers who were returning from Keetmans to Okahandja on Wednesday. It was a great plan.

The reality turned out a lot more like this:
Friday we couldn’t find a ride to Windhoek to catch the train. We finally found a kind friend who offered to drive us, however their only form of transportation was an opn bakkie…did I mention it was absolutely POURING down rain Friday evening when we needed to leave? We kindly declined so as to not be drown rats sitting on the train all night to the south. We eventually found a ride to the taxi depot in town with Gert. He dropped us and we took a taxi to Windhoek - $35 Namibian Dollars. We arrived at the train station in time after the life-threatening experience of riding with a Namibian taxi driver whose windshield is fogged to the point of blindness and is riding the tail of the car in front of him so much I thought we were being towed by them or something.

We got tickets, grabbed dinner and got on the train around 7:45pm ready for the all-night trip to Keetmans. (By train it takes about 10+ hours, because the train tops out at about 30mph) There we sat, on the tracks for the next 3 and a half hours waiting for an engine. Oh yes, they were kind enough to play movies for our “enjoyment” while we were sitting there. “Daredevil” with Ben Affleck…did ANYONE see that movie? No. and there’s a good reason. Its ridiculous. As the suffering through that film ended I hoped for reprieve…and I got “Taxi” with Queen Latifah. That torture lasted until I finally succeeding in willing myself to fall asleep. Did I mention that the speakers were blown and they decided to turn the volume up louder in the hopes that sheer volume would make the words understandable through the garbled static?

So around 10am the next morning we arrived in Keetmans with Jennie vowing never to take the train again. Ever. As we sat on the steps of the train station trying to figure out how best to get to the bus station, Jennie asked someone about times for the bus departure, and we discovered that no busses were running that day. Which left us….taking the train. Round Two of the Namibian train experience yielded such classy film titles as “Pooty Tang” and yet again “Taxi”. (they love their Queen Latifah in the African transportation industry) About 4-5 hours later we arrived in Carasburg.

Pics from the train on our way to Carasburg





Jennie and her Oma





(I love her face! Isn't she beautiful?)


To Be Continued…

“For YOU do great things. Your Name shall be praised.”

My head is swimming in the goodness of God!! Today has been a long very busy day, full of emotions and thoughts. Quite frankly, it was a bit hectic and by the time 4:30 came around (the time for our Women’s Bible Study) both Erin and I were feeling the effects of a full day. I felt scattered and even a bit discouraged. I felt rushed and somewhat uncertain, especially since Nadine couldn’t make it tonight, and she usually helps us with translation, since the women who come regularly are Afrikaans speakers who aren’t too confident in their English. Erin and I took a minute in my room to pray for the study and ask the Lord to speak, and translate Himself as needed. We are going through the book of Colossians, and are walking through a question sheet we compiled that takes it verse by verse. Tonight as we talked with the women and as they took turns reading the Word and we discussed what the scripture was saying, I could totally sense God working. We had no translation, yet honestly, tonight the women were the most talkative and interactive that I have ever seen them yet. It was certainly the Lord. As we finished with the study for tonight, Erin asked if there were things we could be praying for; specific requests from the women. There were a few that were shared, and then this from Nelda: “You could please pray for me, because I want to repent.” This is HUGE. God has drawn her to Himself. Nelda’s husband, Christaan is a new believer, having placed his trust in Christ in June, and he has continued steadfastly praying for his wife, along with us, that she would also hear God, and that He would draw her through hope in Christ. In the last months, especially since the birth and death of her infant daughter, Nelda has been attending the Thursday gathering here and the Wednesday Women’s study. She often comes on Thursday on her own, even when Christaan is unable to. I have seen her beginning to open up to us, beginning to read and follow along in her Bible, beginning to be interested in and respond to the things of God. And tonight, He called to her. How exciting that we got to see it!!! Erin said, with a huge excited smile, “Have you talked to Christaan yet? Does he know?” and Nelda said, “No, it happened just now.” Wow. And to top that off, she immediately said, “and I want to be baptized.” I wish I could be a fly on the wall for when Christaan comes home tonight to witness the rejoicing that will happen when husband and wife pray together for the first time as a couple united in Christ - born again. Our Father is very very good. Ons Vader es baie baie lekker! (and please excuse my poor Afrikaans!) Please pray for Christaan and Nelda!

Who's Your Daddy?

At the Bible study at OSS, we asked the question, "Are we all God's children?" And that one small question tipped off a heated debate for the next 15-20 minutes, wherein i don't think Buddy, Kendall or I got a word in edgewise. And that was perfectly fine with me. I was just overjoyed to see those students so engaged in the discussion. and they had great arguments too. At one point the discussion was so intense that debating in english just got too difficult to speak the words as vehemently and quickly as desired and it went completely Afrikaans on us. Elamarie was kind enough to translate for the those of us whose knowledge of Afrikaans still consists mainly of words from the picture book on long-term loan from Nikka. I was so happy to see them drawing on the Word of God and what they have learned so far in the study. absolutely awesome.

Ek es baie trots op hulle.

mmmm….protein

Today I ate a Mopani worm. Not too bad, but the legs get stuck in your teeth.