Darin's Journal Entries

29/June/2007 pt. 1
My first journal entry for the trip finds the team having completed the fifth day of our trip, the second of our activities on the ground in Namibia.
The trip over to Namibia was okay. None of us were able to sleep on the flight to Paris, so our day-long layover that we were so excited about turned out to be more an exercise in physical exhaustion than a cheery day. Out fatigue perfectly matched what was rainy, cold, and dreary weather from start to finish. A couple of our team members had a particularly difficult day of ‘tourism’. A couple really shined, however. Kat and Dorothy turned out to be the gems. Kat with her understanding of Paris and a bit of French language, and Dorothy with her command of French, but also her tact in negotiating enabled us to drop all our gear in a hotel room… free of charge! We did manage to visit a few hot tourist spots. To be totally honest with you, I wasn’t really into it. I signed up for this trip to get to Namibia – Paris was simply a layover in which I was trying to constructively kill some time. I did have a great sandwich there. And, a coke. There’s hope for the place.
Our arrival in Namibia brought both wonder and woe. First, the wonder: Those of you who were praying with us about the bags, their weights, their contents and the beefy Customs chicks – God is good. While I got involved with the woes, Mike and team rolled all bags thru the ‘nothing to declare’ line without so much as a shuffle-step. Our sound system – this year cleverly disguised as underwear and socks and packed in suit cases instead of road cases – rolled right through the door.
The woes involved four missing bags – my and Kevin’s guitars, one HPOM donation bag and one personal bag, belonging to Steph B. Let me give Steph a shout here. The last thing you want to hear when you’ve been in the same clothing for three days is that you may face more days in the same threads. Steph was devastated, I could tell. But, she put on a game face and demonstrated what being flexible is all about for one of our teams. I’m very proud of her. I’m thankful also for a few of her many teammates who came to her aid until her bag finally arrived some 30 hours later, with the other missing items as well.
Toivo joined us as we arrived in Windhoek. I am thrilled to have our good friend with us again this year. Mike, Kevin and I are appreciative to have one more male on this team!
Our first day in Namibia began with an orientation with Dieter and Joan. Not one of us missed the fact that this past year has been hard for the Morsbachs, evidenced by their emotions during their sharing. We drove thru Vyf Rand and then split up a bit in the afternoon, some of our team working with Joan’s Pre-School materials room, others assisting with the assembly of a swing set at one of the Pre-School properties, while Dennise, Dorothy and Amanda L (our Special Ed task force, as I call them) spent the afternoon with our young friends Janus and Stephanus helping to evaluate their needs. By day’s end we were all playing with the children of the community of Nau-Aib.
Around the fire sharing was pretty meaningful. We’re all asking a lot of questions of each other, our hosts, and of our God over what we’re seeing and hearing. We broke out the instruments (now that we had them all – and yes, Denise & Gary, Steph’s bag arrived mid debrief while we were gathered around the fire). We began our set of tunes by request with that great spiritual standard from 2005 – Summer of ’69.


29/June/2007 pt. 2
Day two saw 6 of us hit the road early for Rehoboth. Our mission was to gather Maderyna and Memory from Maderyna’s mother’s home so that they too could be a part of our team for the duration of our stay. As a part of the trip we spent an hour with Rickie seeing the Beads of Promise store. What an amazing place! God is doing great things in and thru these ladies. Maderyna and Memory were aboard and we were off for Dieters – with a quick pit stop to pick up an extra Kombi from a friend of mine. (Note: this is not a typo… see the photo.)
We made a second visit to the Ark for our Spec-Ed Ops to have more time with Janus and Stephanus. Before they were finished, Mike and the rest of the team joined us at the Ark – playtime erupted all over the property with members of our team and the sixteen children who call the Ark home. What a great time. I spent most of my time holding Memory and watching Maderyna playing with the other children. Who is this girl? A child? A parent? In what kind of world would she be both?
The reality set in for many of our team members tonight. Many of these children face very uncertain futures. Our time around the fire and our walkabout conversations tonight all revolved around these facts. So, before you go to bed tonight will you join us in praying for a few of our friends? Francina is a 16 year old. If she cannot pass her 10th grade exams, she will be tossed from school (a fact of life for 10th graders here) leaving her inelligible for 11th and 12th grade, vocational training or further education. At that point she would also ‘age out’ of the Ark – with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Francina’s learning disabilities almost assure she will not be able to continue her education. Janus and Stephanus have a laundry list of needs connected with disabilities the result of fetal alcohol syndrome. The reality here is that there are no specialists to work with them, and even if there were money would make it an impossibility. And for Maderyna and Memory. I honestly don’t have the heart to type the details of what we’ve observed in just these first few hours of our being together. To sad. I’m too sad to type it.
So what’s it all about? Toivo? Maderyna? The 18 of us from such varied backgrounds? Dancers? Teachers? Bar Tenders? Preachers? Namibia? Stars? I don’t know. He does.
Absolutely awesome night for me in conversations with a few of my teammates. Real answers to prayer, each one. I’m proud of this team. Dorothy and Dennise – they’re on the front lines of discovery, and it’s an emotionally draining work. Amanda L just caught the brunt of ministry to Maderyna. She has shoulders (more, a heart) equal to the task, though she doesn’t believe it. I do. Christine is queen – just ask Stephanus. StephL, great looking left to see her, even if it was walking the property instead of in the kombie. Melissa and Jackie (aka Thelma and Louise), they earned their own set of keys today. Load ‘em up. Amanda, StephB, Jaime & Case – did you see that? Prayer healed the blown amplifier! Amen.
Administrative minutia in the morning. Driving to Arandis in the afternoon. One of my friends often uses an away message that confesses while his body is in his office in America, his heart is in Arandis. Well, here I sit in Okahandja, my heart turned towards our friends there in Arandis, and the opportunities there to see God show up.

1/July/2007
The trip from Okahandja to Arandis was almost uneventful. We passed a giraffe. Then on eof our teammates got car-sick and vomited all over the back of my kombi. No need to worry, once all the action stopped, she felt much better. My kombi on the other hand took some work. I decided to be a great team leader and take care of it all myself. All I can say is thank the Lord for Dennise, who dove in hip deep with me – something about a mom and dealing with puke.
We enjoyed a wonderful first night in Arandis. Most of our team went on a walk about town. It was the last day of the month – pay day for Namibians, and prime time at the local Shebeens (bars). We met many ‘spirited’ neighbors as we walked. They are filming a movie here called ‘Generation Kill’. As such, we walked by many sets, including a Palm Tree they added into the Namib Desert. Lots of great conversations as we settled into our new digs. For that I am very thankful.
We enjoyed a great service this morning at Arandis Christian Church. Cool story: I had a pretty trying day yesterday for lots of reasons I don’t want to get into here – amounts to whining on my part! I don’t want to read it in print. So, I woke up this morning and prayed a bit as I usually start my days here, this time asking the Lord to refresh my faith in His being here with me. As I prayed, I decided to read thru a few Bible texts just in case Pastor Tresford were to call on me to ‘bring a message from the word’ at church. I decided to read thru three familiar texts that I could feel somewhat comfortable talking about if I was called upon. I chose three that were also easy to segue into this situation – my American team here to partner with our Namibian friends. I read thru Ephesians 2 (the two peoples becoming one in Christ), Psalm 139 (each of us ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’), and Acts 17 (He chose the dates and places of our habitation). We got to church and saw lots of friends. Awesome times! Here’s the real cool part – not only did Tresford not ask me to preach, he opened his bible to Ephesians 2. Half way thru his message he referenced Psalm 139. He wound up his message with a quote from Acts 17. All I could do was laugh out loud.
The afternoon included time with Boniface and Brenda concerning our schedule for the coming week. We will be very busy. Steph B., Steph L., Amanda, Casey and Jaime will be heading up an afterschool dance program in the community with Pearl (Pastor Tresford’s daughter). They will meet and plan in the mornings and their dance program will run 3-5 each afternoon. Jackie is going to spend time each day with HPOM families in their homes. Dennise, Dorothy, Amanda L., Christine, Molly & Toivo will be working at the HPOM school, beginning tomorrow working on evaluating the students. Mike, Kevin, G, Erin, Melissa, and Kat will be going to the High School each day this week in the morning to lead discussions in the classrooms over topics like dating, sex, homosexuality, pornography and self esteem – all topics the principal of the school has asked us to address from a Christ-centered perspective. As a team, we’re cramming tonight!
We wound our day up with a beach and sand dune visit, catching sundown from the top of a huge dune. As I finish this entry we are headed out to spend some time around the fire as a team. Looks like a big week ahead. Pray for us.

4/July/2007
For sure, an eventful first few days in Arandis. Each of our teams is engaged and doing well in their particular areas of ministry. The high school team has been spending time each morning with students in classrooms at Kolin Foundation Secondary School – a miracle in itself where I am concerned. When we first visited that school with the 2005 team, the principal was very concerned about what we would share, so much so that she stood by my side in case she needed to pull the plug. In 2006, she met me before the morning assembly and told me that she was needing to leave for the morning, but whatever I wanted to do was fine. This year, she’s asked our teams to come and given us the aforementioned topics to cover as a favor to her. Is that not tremendous?
The pre-school and primary school team is enjoying time with the children. Dorothy and Dennise continue to evaluate students and spend many hours each day huddled with their materials and conferring over their findings for HPOM. The children are capturing the hearts of our team members, as I am noting a rising number of stories about their interactions with the children. You know what that means? Yep, a difficult separation when we head out of here,
The dancers started their dance classes. The target was girls in grades 5-8. There are two boys who were allowed in, because they are a part of Pearl’s dance team. The first day 37 girls showed up. Yesterday it more than doubled – to 76 girls. Brenda advised that we limit it to grades 5-8, as they had a special program for younger kids last week. Once again, as we’ve experienced before, we need to follow the lead of our hosts who understand far better than we do the dynamics of this community and the ways in which they are making inroads. “Pleeeeeeeaaassse Oma!” the children say as I walk in the door. They press themselves against the windows to watch the class inside. Our girls have worked a couple of days now teaching some choreography to the students – each of whom has had to commit to being here each day this week and bring a permission slip to participate (another direction from HPOM). To see these girls enjoying this so much overwhelms me. At the end of each day’s two hour class the kids shout, “One more time!”
I’ve had a tough couple of days. I will endeavor to write more detail for you in the near future. The short version is that I made a very difficult decision yesterday to send Maderyna and her baby home to Rehoboth. We had planned for her to be with us our entire trip. There were problems from the very start, and I had put this team and its cohesiveness in jeopardy with Maderyna here. Again, I’m still trying to unpackage it all myself so that I can put it into words for you. The only thing I can leave you with now is that while this was a very difficult decision for me to make, I believe that I made the right decision for the circumstances we’re in. There are a few members of our team who are very hurt right now, but they do all agree that the decision had to be made. It wasn’t until after I had packed Maderyna up and sent her off with Nan Parker (who was to take her home), that we saw that Don had written a comment here on the blog for her in Afrikaans. Quite a somber moment for us all. Don, I’ll have that printed and read to her in Rehoboth… and I’m sorry.
It is a strange mix for me this morning. I am sad about the Maderyna developments, but also very excited at what is happening across the team. Parents, family members and friends at home – you can be very, very proud of your loved ones here – they are doing an awesome job of giving themselves away. This will once again be a team that lives up to the mantra, ‘Sleep when you get home’.
Last but not least, the movie that is being filmed here is an HBO mini-series called Generation Kill. There are no stars associated with it, and rumors of Vin Diesel were just that, rumors. It is funny how many people see our white faces in town and think we’re here to make the movie.
Oh yea, one more thing – and this really is the last word… Clowns are coming – and there are two members of my team who are terrified of clowns. More to come.