Back In Windhoek

Greetings again!!

I have so much to say...and only 42 minutes left to type it all out! Again, thanks to everyone who wrote me...I read each e-mail with a smile, but just don't have time to get back to all of them as we only have a few minutes each week to get online.

But, on to the news!

We spent the last week in Northern Namibia in a small town called Rundu. It sits right on the Namibia/Angola border and overlooks the Okavango River...quite a site. Rundu is what you and I would call "Real Africa!" Haha. We left two Sunday nights ago and took a 9 hour trip in our Coaster Deluxe (our big 25 passenger bus) before we reached the land that we would call home for a week. We stayed in at the Youth For Christ building. Although it was only 4 years old, most of us would guess it was 30 years old! The back yard (and the rest of the town, for that matter) was sand, dirt and dust. We had showers with hot water...but really, you just can't get to the point where you feel clean in Rundu. We all had black feet by the end of each day because of all the sand. Everywhere you walk....sand! But really, we were extremely blessed to be able to stay in the YFC building. It was quite nice when compared to what most people live in there.

We spent four days in two local high schools teaching Choose-To-Wait material. It's crazy how different the school system is down here. They pretty much let us roam around and enter classes. We had a schedule for which classes we could go in teach. But often times, teachers just wouldn't show up and the kids would beg us to come teach us. Sometimes, teachers would come find us and tell us to teach their class. Often times, as I set outside, I would here an 8th grader shout out of his window "Mista Dan-yell....come teach us, come teach us!" This soon got me the Nickname of "Teacher Daniel" among the Africans on our team! haha


But, man, to say God is good and is working in these schools would be an understatement. Over the course of 4 days, we shared the Gospel and encouraged Abstainance to more than 100 class periods at two different schools. We broke up into teams of 2 or 3 (about 7 or 8 different teams) and hit as many rooms as possible. We would get many of the same classes and tried to develop relationships with these kids as we shared our lives with them. I personally taught about 15 classes....plus we did an assembly for the whole school on Friday morning. We did a African Dance that we all learned. It was quite frightening....but it went well! There were probably 1000 kids there?? We also shared some other stuff at the assembly.

But, I'd like to tell you more about the classroom time. We taught "learners" from grade 8 to grade 12. We would typically go in and ask them some general questions about sex and lead into Genesis 2:24, where God first talks about sex and marraige. Kids are a lot more open to Jesus and the Bible than they are in America. The kids have heard about AIDS so many times, and we really wanted to give them a different view point and give them some real power and reasons to abstain....instead of just "Condomize" and suffer the same consequences.

Every class was different and we really had to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us in each class. Sometimes we would just take risks and bring up subjects that we really weren't prepared to talk about. Sometimes the kids just weren't paying attention. But I tell you, my friends, if there is one thing I learned, it is that there is power in the Gospel of Christ. Every single time, without fail, when we got the part where we shared the Gospel with them, they were captivated. As I shared what Jesus did for us, and how that has affected my life....I could look out and make eye contact with any single pair of eyes that made up the 40 students in each class. It was incredible...astounding even. There is something deep inside the human soul...no matter what that particular person's story is...that so longs to hear the good news of Christ. Ya know, it's funny. We would talk about AIDS, unwanted pregancies, street children, and the list of problems they face, as youngs Namibians, that goes on and on. We would talk about all that....but the thing that got to them the most...the thing I really think tore them up inside the most was the issue of sin. What do we do with the guilt we have. If we've been having sex, how do we stop? How do we change our lives? The questions many of them asked, led us no choice but to share with them the good news. They were practically asking for it....and God was there to deliver it.


There were a number of students that came and talked to us individually througout the week. I think it was especially good for the young girls of these schools. They are the ones that get stuck with the pregnancies and feel like meat. They often feel that they owe it to guys and really just don't know how to live a pure life. But they want to know. It was awesome to see the girls on our team get to encourage them with their own stories and with the words of Jesus. You couldn't believe the stories these kids could tell. There is one teacher at the school who takes high school girls home and has sex with them. He has HIV, and he knows it. THe girls don't. You never know who has AIDS and who doesn't. The people themselvse don't even know, usually. As I sat in one of the classes taught by Fulla, she asked the students what kind of problems they were facing today. One of the 12th graders stood up and said solomnly: "AIDS...the disease which breaks our hearts." It is hard for me to keep a dry eye as I think about this young students confession. AIDS and disase has ripped these people apart....physically, and emotionally.

I'd be lying if I said this week wasn't a challenge. I'd be lying if I said we weren't mentally and physically drained at the end of each day. It takes so much energy to really passionately pour youself out to such thirsty, hungry, and needy people. But, we press on toward the goal of the upward calling of Christ.

There are so many stories we could tell...but 7 minutes is all I have to finish up this e-mail. We spent time on Saturday and Sunday ministering and visiting with the Bushmen. Quite another sand-filled experience! God is moving in Namibia. Please, please, please keep these people in your prayers....especially the high schoolers who were exposed to the Gospel last week. Pray that God will complete the good work that He has started in them. We are trusting Him to!


Pray for our team the rest of our time in Windhoek, too! Pray for our plans and the people we will be encountering during our last 2 weeks here. We have all been healthy, except for a few days of cold here and there....praise God for that!

I miss you all!!

In Christ,
Dan