Where does my hope come from??

Today started off pretty mellow, everyone woke up at their own time. Sat by the fire, had breakfast and then we unpacked and sorted the Hope’s Promise bags. We had a time set with Dieter for 10am to have a presentation about what their ministry is and their vision. About 11am it started… ahhh, African time. Kevin & I were setting up the projector with my laptop while they were outside for the introduction. We had everything all set pretty much instantly and then suddenly it decided not to work…nothing had changed, everything just decided not to work. It was a bit nerve racking… Although I know that Dieter can talk, I had NO idea how long the “introduction” would take. Kevin suggested another adjustment and I finally just prayed that it would all come together and then Kevin said “Oh-oh, better hurry up…” the GINORMOUS presentation opened up just as the team started walking toward the door, the sound hadn’t been tested (we decided to use the sound system that the girls will be using when they dance). And everything went off smoothly. No one realized that we had spent the last hour+ trying to fix the projector that shouldn’t have stopped working in the first place. Ahhh, the humor… wish I would’ve just prayed in the first place. I think that is one of the biggest lessons for me to learn on this trip.

After the presentation we took a “tour” of Okahandja. We drove through Vyf Rand, Nau-Aib, visited the cemetery & drove through the more affluent parts of the town. After lunch, some went to build a jungle gym at one of the preschools where Joan mentors the teacher. Some went to the Ark, an orphanage, to evaluate some of the special needs students. And the rest of us stayed behind to sort through preschool supplies for Joan. Once we completed what we could we met over at Maria’s preschool to play with kids and see how the construction was coming along. Her school is amazing and she is truly gifted in teaching these kids.

Dinner was Kudu Stew… which was utterly amazing. After dinner we debriefed about the day and it was truly a tough day for most of the team. They have experienced things that most have never seen and it’s is heart breaking. They learned that Namibia is the third highest in HIV/AIDS cases (and remember, most people are not said to die of AIDS, but are listed as having died of the sickness that their immune system couldn’t fight off). They learned that the world is a much bigger place than they ever imagined. They learned that there is no plan… at least not one of our own… because the second we come up with one… God is sure to change it in order to grow and mold us. And for some, they learned or were reminded that God is faithful. Our bags and guitars arrived this evening during our debrief time. Steph has her own clean underwear and we celebrated by singing everything you could imagine around the fire… songs from the ’05 CD, songs from the ’07 CD, and some other very special songs… :-) even if we couldn’t remember all the words… they were so very special!

I still haven’t made it to the internet café. Hopefully I will have more pics up soon. I got to get to bed. Sunrise is coming quick & we are going to see it from monkey mountain.