"What do you call those girls who dance in the parades?"

My dinner.

Stephen, me, and Lulu at Athletics--it was HOT!

Athletics on Saturday.

The giraffes on our "farm safari!

Some of the school kids...need to give me a break right now with all the names I'm learning! (:

Playing with the kids outside the youth center at lunch.

Christy and Paloma during orientation in Windhoek.

This is the question Karl-Hines asked me as we cleaned Tuesday morning at the Center. “There are girls who do Rifles, Flags, or maybe you’re thinking of the Rockettes?” I asked, demonstrating a high kick. He seemed satisfied and said, “Yes--that. You’re going to do that when we have our parade to open the Youth Center. And I will do Flags.” He then began twirling the broken broomstick he was holding. He explained that we will get some kind of marching band to come and walk through the streets of Rehoboth to announce the grand opening…And I apparently will be the one-woman Rockette. I am constantly laughing--or scolding him because sometimes he makes noise just for the sake of being loud--as we work together. He also asked me to bring my guitar along this week so we could practice. “Practice what?” I asked. “We can sing a duet for church this Sunday. Well, I’ll just sing, and you can play your guitar,” he responded. “What song are we doing?” I ask. “An opera.” I then explained that I am not quite skilled enough that I can come up with an accompaniment on my guitar for an opera in just two days. He is not convinced.

Saturday, me, Steve, and Lulu went to “Athletics” which is basically track and field here. It’s a pretty big deal because they continue to have these competitions until a national team is selected to compete against other athletes from different countries in Africa. It was very similar to a US high school track meet except that the track was dirt and many of the kids ran in socks or just barefoot and without any specific uniform. One guy even ran in a Polo-T with the collar popped…

I have been gone from home for a month now and in Rehoboth for almost 3 full weeks! We celebrate a lot of little anniversaries each week…Keeps it exciting (: This weekend we will be returning to Windhoek to buy some supplies for the Center and also some much needed items that can’t be found in Reho--like granola bars! Those are a necessity. Also, two of the girls on our Reho team are heading home, so we’ll be going out to dinner to say goodbye. And speaking of dinner--a man stopped by Lenie’s house Sunday night with a truck full of sheep. I said, “Hey Lenie! Are you going to get a pet sheep?” Just joking--until she pointed behind her, and there was a little lamb tied up to the clothesline pole. I was so excited until she explained he would not be a pet but rather, our dinner. Then I started to cry. I wanted to go and cover his little ears as we stood there talking about slaughtering him and cooking him up for dinner. I had to go inside and turn my iPod on full blast so that I wouldn’t hear anything. Luckily, we had chicken for lunch today…I don’t know how I’ll react when a little lamby shows up on my plate.

People like loud sound here, whether it’s the radio or the TV, and most mornings I wake up to some of the best 90s music I can think of…Celine Dion, Boyz II Men, Prince, and much more. The songs jump from country, to a love ballad, to gospel, to an Afrikaans song, and so on. You never know what you’ll hear--but hearing it at 7am makes it that much better. It reminds me of listening to Casey Casum’s Top 20 in my basement when I was little and taping parts of it with a cassette so I could play it on my Walkman later. I love it! We had a surprise birthday party for one of the women on our team on Friday (we got to eat pizza and cupcakes AND M’n’Ms…So good!) and when they started playing Whitney Houston’s greatest hits, everyone was humming/singing along. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It doesn’t get much better than a campfire, Whitney Houston in the background, and a beautiful sky full of stars.

This morning I got to sing/play “Living Water” at church, and it was really cool to think I’m in Africa sharing a song that I’ve loved since I was a camper years ago. They sing a lot of the same worship songs at our church (the Evangelical Sending Church), but they hadn’t heard this one, and it was calming for me to hear the familiar words and tune filling the sanctuary. Me, Lulu, and Steve are starting to pick up on more of the Afrikaans worship songs, and we’ve been very blessed to each have a translator at the service so that we can understand the message. One of my biggest problems initially was that I never could tell when they started praying, so I would be standing there, hands folded, head bowed, eyes closed until someone would nudge me to let me know that we hadn’t actually started yet. Everyone else is just standing there eyes wide open looking around. Now I wait until I see everyone bow their heads and then I go ahead and follow suit. “Amen” sounds the same in Afrikaans, so at least I know when to stop!

Amanda’s host dad Eugen (pronounced Oigen) took a few of us on a farm safari earlier this week. We rode through the countryside in the back of his truck before pulling off at a beautiful farm--not like farms in the US with fields of corn and wheat, although they did have cows. On our adventure, we saw springbuck, huge nests with tons of birds, giraffe (my favorite! How cool to have giraffes in your backyard?), Kudu, and a few more antelope-type animals I can’t remember. We did see one ribcage stripped clean, which made me hopeful there was a carnivore of some sort living out there--a lion?--but we had no sightings of any. The rains descended while we were out there but didn’t actually rain on us (until the drive home). So all around us the skies were dark and the wind whistled through the pipe fencing--it was eerie and beautiful. I felt a bit like I had entered Jurassic Park.

I’ve been listening to Podcasts by Peter Haas (Substance Church in Minneapolis) this week and learning about obedience, self-control, and the discipline required to live a “champion” lifestyle for God. One key idea that stuck out to me is that, “Delayed obedience is disobedience.” In a simple way, this applies when my alarm goes off at a too-early hour and I think, “I’ll just snooze it a few more times…” Instead of getting up right away, not because I feel like it but because I have decided that that is when I’m going to spend time with God. It is a lot about overriding your emotions and living by discipline. And discipline is generally built and sustained by hard work, practice, and pushing through the tough times. Like running cross-country or finishing a huge project…it takes a lot of little acts of obedience and hard work to be ready for the big test that will undoubtedly come. I want each day I spend here to reflect discipline and obedience to God--so that when a “big test” comes along, I am prepared. I want to be living a lifestyle that has prepared me for battle--spiritual, emotional, or physical.

Prayer requests:
*We are going to start painting next week at the Center--pray for volunteers to come so that it can be done quickly and efficiently!

*Amanda, Molly Bea, and Paul are all heading home this weekend--pray for safe travels and peaceful hearts as they readjust to life in the US and the UK

*Children have started stopping by the YC as they walk home after school (around noon)--would you pray that we can brainstorm games, stories, songs and other activities that can be done in our “ball field” out front that allow them to have FUN but also to learn more about God’s truth and love

Thanks everyone for your continued support and prayers!
Can you believe it’s February?