Shoutouts from the Team

Lauren: Hey everyone! I hope you’ve been keeping up with Mike’s posts. Don’t worry, Mom and Dad, we’ve been staying safe and going out in groups. We wear our sunscreen and drink lots of water. Tell E.J. I think he would have a great time chasing/wrestling with/being chased by little kids. Tell Tom we saw a huge owl hanging out at the outdoor theater the other night. One of the things I have been blessed to do is visit the dance classes hosted by the pastor’s daughter. She has a couple dance praise teams (young kids and older kids) that meet a couple days a week to dance around for God. Jessica and I have gone a couple of times and helped out with warm up and taught a few ballet moves. I’ve so enjoyed using my dance again, even if it’s a completely different setting from anything I’m used to! Keep praying for us, everyone! We so appreciate the prayers.

Parker: Hey Everyone. Things are fantastic and having a great time. I think I have some sand in my blood all ready. Sorry mom I think im goin stay here……haha jk. Take that back im just goin bring back ten kids with me. Cant wait to get home and see everyone but don’t want to leave. I love all of you see u in two weeks!!

Katie Kozak: Hey! I am so happy to finally be in Africa! I am safe and am having an amazing time here. So far I have helped clean up trash around the town and I have helped paint over graffiti marks on the amphitheater wall. We painted this so that we could watch a movie with the community to raise money for a youth camp. The people here are very nice and the kids are adorable! Overall, we are swell.

Meghan: Hey! I have already had an amazing time here and we have only been here for a couple of days. I have cleaned, painted, and just overall loved serving the people here. One of the things I have most enjoyed was playing with the kids! Playing a mix of Simon says and red light green light or just sitting in my lap for the movie has been so much fun! A group of children followed me and copied everything I did, so I started making animals sounds and skipping and they loved it. Although when I stopped and bent over for a breather I was not expecting them to still be copying me and bend over just like me and start to mimic an over exaggerated version of my breathing. I even got to play soccer with the older Namibian guys! At first they were hesitant and treated brook and I like small children, but once we started schooling them they started passing the ball to us and copying our communication skills. Even though I have been having an amazing time, I miss you family including Eric so much! Keep praying for our trip and I will be home before you know it! Love you guys!

Jill: Hi! I can’t believe the first week is almost over. Time has flown since we first took off in Raleigh. I can speak for everyone on the team and say we were SO happy to finally arrive…36 hours of traveling can be exhausting! Our days here have already been such a blessing. I have to admit that I have been comparing everything to where I stayed in Uganda and there are quite a few things that already warmed my heart. My first meal was a samosa and a Stoney Tangawizi! The children here have much joy and long for love and attention. My favorite moments are always the times spent on the streets playing games and giving lots of hugs. Next week I will have to opportunity to sub in the fourth grade class at TKS! I am looking forward to serving in the classroom and getting a taste of what school is like here! Thank you for your prayers! Love you all!!

Jes: Hello friends and family! What an amazing place Namibia is! We are beginning our third full day and I am so excited to see what is in store. I have been helping out with dance classes put on by the local church- leading warm-ups and doing some choreography! The students are so talented and hungry to learn! My new friend Pearl leads the classes and it has been such a blessing for me to see the program that she has started right in her backyard. It reminds me so much of the dance classes that I did in Mexico, so I am thrilled to be able to encourage her and help her this week! Next week Jill and I will be taking over some of the classes at the school to give the other teachers some much needed time off. I will be teaching 5/6th grade math and social studies (haha God worked that out perfectly!). Yesterday we went in the school to meet the teachers, and my heart was immediately touched by the sweet little school. When the students came into the room I was overjoyed to see that the students I will be teaching are also most of the students that are in the dance classes! Please be praying that I will be able to build strong relationships with these students, since I will be spending everyday with them next week. Gotta run! Love from across the miles!

Linda & Fred (Mom & Dad): Hi everyone! Thinking of you from across the Atlantic. Sheyla: Glad you arrived safely. Hugs to everyone from us. See you again soon. Dakota: I know you’re having fun. Enjoy camp so we’ll have lots of good stories to talk about on the way north. Josh: Hope the job is starting soon & you can work out the transport to/from. Adam: Hold down the fort & don’t forget to walk the dog! John: Hope you get a chance to catch your breath soon. I’m sure the long days are tiring. It’s always a unique adventure over here. So far there’s been lots of painting & cleaning up town. You never know what God has for you when you follow Him. The kids, as always, are wonderful & full of energy and smiles. All are so appreciative for everyone who sent “stuff” to help. As leaders, we are so enjoying each member of the team. All are working together so wonderfully I hope you hear lots of stories when they get home.

Day One

Thursday morning was set aside to helping us get over jet lag, so despite the early night before most people slept in to get their much needed rest. The remainder of the morning was spent sorting and categorizing the 11 extra bags we brought which were filled with donated items. These items will be used to stock the “store” where ministry parents can come provide for their families. Thanks so much to everyone for the incredible outpouring of all the donations. With everything we were able to bring their store will be stocked with medicines and clothes for quite some time!

One of our projects this trip will be helping the youth of Arandis Christian Center raise money for a leadership camp they wish to attend. On the weekends they have been hosting movie nights for the community as a fundraiser. So Thursday afternoon we worked alongside some of the church members picking up broken glass and trash from around the amphitheatre where we’ll be having our movie night on Friday. It was great making new friends and seeing that Namibian youth aren’t that different from American youth. When our cameras came out to take a group pic, some of them grab out their cell phones for a pic as well! Others saw us cleaning up and went home to grab their shovels and rakes to help out as well. Even some children put some bag-gloves on their hands and started picking up trash with us. We soon collected quite a group helping out!

Meanwhile, Jes and Lauren went to check out the dance ministry of the church led by Pearl, the pastor’s daughter. They expected to simply observe and encourage, but when they showed up Pearl asked, “So what do you have for us?” They ended up leading warm-ups and choreographing a short dance for them to perform at an upcoming talent show. Since both Jes and Lauren have spent years dancing they were able to make this all up right on the spot and come up with a nice piece. It’s cool how God uses the circumstances of our past to help prepare us for future ministry!

On our way home we came across a bunch of guys playing soccer and Meghan and Brook asked if they could join in. At first they didn’t really take the girls seriously, but they jumped right in and when the guys found out they could really play they actually started passing them the ball. Meghan even juked one of the Namibian guys and everyone else started laughing at him that he got beat by a girl.

We made it!

After an hour delay in Johannesburg we boarded the short 2 hour flight to Windhoek. We arrived at the smallest airport we’ve been to yet and walked across the tarmac to the terminal. All our bags arrived safely and we breezed through customs with no issues. We loaded up our two kombies with luggage and set out to Arandis. Along the 4 hour drive we watched the sun set glad we didn’t have to get on another plane. Everyone wanted to see and experience the new landscape, but the exhaustion finally took over and most everyone fell asleep except our drivers and the few people keeping them awake.

When we pulled up to our house in Arandis people woke up long enough to unload the cars, blow up their air mattresses and get situated in our new place. Everyone crashed pretty early hoping a good night’s sleep will help us get over our jet lag. With great expectation and anticipation we look forward to what adventures our two weeks in this new place will bring.

Arrival in Joburg

We made it safe and sound to Johannesburg airport! Those who got some sleep on the 14 hour plane flight are window shopping while others are enjoying the chance to stretch out and sleep. Some people (a.k.a. Parker and Brook) enjoyed the individual tv's on the plane a little too much and didn't sleep at all. But all in all everyone's feeling fine, just a little tired.

We have a 3 hour layover here and then a short 2 hour flight up to Windhoek, Namibia. After that we'll enjoy a 3-4 hour drive through the African countryside to get to Arandis. We should arrive there in the evening, just in time for supper, just in time for us all to crash from exhaustion.

Welcome to the Blogsite!

Dear Friends & Family,
Thank you so much for all your support in helping make this trip possible. Many of you have supported us financially or given donations for the orphan ministry. Many of you have committed to pray for us while we're on the field. Without you this trip would not be possible. So again, we say a resounding THANK YOU!!

This blogsite is our way of helping you be as involved as possible in the day to day activities of our trip. We'll be posting travel updates, daily activities and the ongoings of our team, up-to-date prayer requests, hopefully some personal thoughts and journal entries from teammates, and even some shout-outs to our loved ones back home. We'll also be posting photos as often as we can in our photo album which can be accessed from the link in the right hand column on this page. We may even get some video uploaded depending on our connection speed. So all that to say, bookmark this page and check back frequently because this is your way to stay connected and involved with our team even while we're on the field.

Not only that, but we LOVE to hear from YOU! Every post has a comment link at the bottom where you can give shout-outs back to us. Leave us a little love in the comments and we'll get to see it while we're in Namibia. Just make sure to leave your name so we know who it's from!

Thanks so much again for your support and we look forward to all that God's going to do in Namibia and in the lives of the team over the next few weeks!

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