To My Mom

I wanted to take time out today and express my gratitude and love for my wonderful mother today on Mothers Day.

My mom is a woman who I admire more than I think she has ever known.

Her gentle spirit and loving nature draw anyone and everyone to her. No wonder I consider myself so lucky to call her mom.

She is quirky, jumpy, and easy to make laugh.

She is strong, brave, and will always fight for her family. No one messes with her babies, no matter how big they have grown.

My Mom is a hard worker and often goes without the recognition she deserves and without the ‘thanks’ she is due.

Her gentle touch soothes any kind of pain whether physical, like after a surgery or the emotional pain of a broken heart after a bad break up.

My mom has always stood beside me and supported the decisions I have made.

When I have made mistakes my Mom is right there to hold my hand and help me find my way again.

She trusts my instincts and believes in my passions and the desires of my heart.

My mom, she has shown me how to become a woman who has meaning and knows what is important in life. God and family, everything else will fall into place after that.

I hope and pray that one day I am half the woman and the mom that mine is.

She is laughter, hugs, and gentle back rubs. She is strong, wise, and brave. My mom is beautiful, graceful, and dignified. My mom is important, loved, and cherished.

I love you Mommy. Even though I am thousands of miles away know that my arms are stretching across the ocean to give you the biggest hug possible!

Conquering The Beast

This past week, our directors and chief matron were off to Windhoek for a nationwide conference. With their absence, more and different responsibilities fell into the hands of myself and the other volunteer. Some of those included pantry duties, making sure everything is ready for the kitchen staff at each meal. Other small tasks like organizing, preparing, and other things were also on our plate.

My plate that week had a nice helping of overcoming a massive fear of mine. Driving.

Yeap, with the directors gone, there would be no one who was able or licensed to drive. Leaving me with the key to the “beast” or “Quinton the Quantum.”

Now prior to this weeks driving, as you may recall, I had a driving lesson back in February. Well, news flash, it is MAY, and I have driven in those 3 months maybe 3 times. Most of which fell in the month of February.

So to say I was apprehensive is an understatement. Even in my dreams I was driving or attempting to drive that big bad boy.

But duty called and things had to be done. There was bread pick up Monday morning, town shopping, running Annia back and forth to her school, and other small errands. Driving was unavoidable.

So Monday morning, amidst constant conversation with Jesus, I took the wheel of that vehicle. After a few first attempts, I got it started and going without it dying. Of course its not just a small load of us going to town that morning, it is an entire car full. I believe it was 14 people to be exact. No pressure right?

So we take to the road ever so slowly, but hey we were making it. Once the dirt road ended and we hit the tar road I was able to breath a bit better. That is until I remembered I was going into town. Now, Katima is quite the bustling little city. I swear there are people everywhere, and even more cars. Sure it’s no Dallas or heck even Amarillo. Hey, under the circumstances, and for dramatic effect, this traffic is insane.

So I make the first left turn, remember I’m on the other side of the vehicle driving on the right side of the road. We pull into the market drop off area, and people all pile out and I take another breath. Ah, but quickly again I remember that a few feet ahead of me is a stop sign, in which I’m already nervous I am going stall out. So we take off….whew, made it through the stop sign and through town to get all our errands done.

That beast had no control over me. I was showing it who was boss. Remember, you don’t mess with Texas.

So I survived day one, only stalling out in the middle of the road a few times (and let me tell you, people here love to honk their horns). The rest of the week consisted of a few trips to Annia’s school and back. Not to many issues there, thank the Lord.

Today, I write to you all one proud girl. I conquered that beast. I conquered the other side of the road, and to add to it I even conquered my fears.

But lets not get to far ahead of our selves. It sill completely freaks me out!

Although I have a feeling I will have plenty of time to acquire more driving stories, and have n

Part Two... Adventure across Namibia!

When people say they took “trains, planes, and automobiles” to get somewhere, I would have to say that I now have that beat, just add boat, bus, and foot!!

Once school ended, Laura (another volunteer) and I decided we wanted to take some time to get away from Katima and maybe see more of Namibia. So we of course went straight to google. And after some research, we found that to travel to the coast wouldn’t be as hard as we thought! So we booked our little adventure on Friday, and headed out on Sunday afternoon! Talk about a short turn around!

So the adventure begins. Our intercape bus was scheduled to leave Katima around 3:30pm. So we arrived about 45 minutes early just to be sure everything was in order! To our surprise, the bus didn’t even show up at the station until 5pm!!! Everything and I mean everything here runs on “Africa” time. So once we loaded on and were ready to go, we pulled out onto the road to Windhoek. Windhoek is the capital city of Namibia, and about a 16 hour bus ride from Katima. Yikes!

But obviously, as I am writing this, I am glad to say that we survived that trip! We arrived in Windhoek around 8am Monday morning! But you see our adventure had two legs of travel. The second is a train ride from Windhoek to Swakopomund, a coastal town. The train was not scheduled to leave until about 7pm on Monday, so we had an entire day to wander through the capital. We definitely got our walking in. Hoofing it all around the city and through all the fun craft shops and touristy things to see. We also ended up taking a bus tour around Windhoek. That was really great because we got to learn about a lot of history, and we got to see a lot of the city we would have never gotten to see. The guide took us to several townships around the area and gave us the history and the events that took place in those areas when Namibia was trying to gain independence from South Africa. It was really fascinating.

We got to the train station and prepared to board the train. We splurged… (Which isn’t really splurging when you consider the exchange rate, our tickets were dirt cheap) and bought first class tickets. So as we board the train we were at first really impressed, tons of legroom, nice big seats, and even a TV in the train car. But our minds were quickly changed once the train got to moving. Talk about an adventure. Our train ride was another overnight trip, totaling another 11 hours in travel time! To our surprise it was freezing on the train, which we were not at all prepared for. Luckily, most of the time we just found ourselves laughing at our ridiculous situation!!

We arrived in Swakopmund around 7am local time on Tuesday. You could smell the sea air the second you stepped off the train. We then made our way through town to the hostel we had made reservations at. Walking into that room and seeing a nice plush bed made all the travel worth it! We didn’t hang out long at the lodge too long though; we were quickly on our way to finding the beach!

Such a beautiful sight we walked up on. To our left, the rolling sand dunes of the Namib dessert, and straight in front of us the roaring waves of the Atlantic ocean. Wow. God really did some great work when He made this place.

We spent the day touring the city by foot and explored all of the local shops, of course! We watched the beautiful sunset from atop of a restaurant at the end of the pier. Talk about breathtaking. Down below we had dinner, and lets just say, I saw steak on the menu so I just had to get it. What I seemingly forgot was that I don’t really understand the metric system, so when it said 800g of meat, I thought nothing of it. That steak was bigger than my head! It was huge, but oh so delicious!

The next day, Wednesday, we scheduled a seal and dolphin cruise in Walvis Bay. Talk about an adventure! Although the day was terribly cold and foggy (keep in mind we are in the southern hemisphere so its almost winter here), the 4-hour tour was totally worth it! We saw everything, including wild seals that jumped aboard the boat with us! I even met a man from Dallas Texas! Talk about a small world! We had such fun seeing the seals, the dolphins, and just being on the water! The rest of the day Wednesday was quite the relaxing one. Considering we needed time to thaw out, we spend the afternoon just enjoying having nothing to do!

Thursday was our last day in Swakopmund, we would be boarding the train that night to start our journey back to Katima. We enjoyed the day shopping some, and napping on the warm sand by the water! Although I was sad to leave that beautiful place, I knew I was ready to be back to what has become the new normal! But I could have done without all the traveling!! As our train was pulling into Windhoek Friday morning we were greeted with giraffes (tons of them), kudu, wild dogs, and other animals! It was a fun sight to wake up to!

Friday was another day in Windhoek spent trying to fill the hours until our bus was scheduled to leave.

We finally made it back to Katima around 8am Saturday morning, and I can say I was never so excited to see small little Katima.

Our adventure was fantastic, and I feel so blessed that I am able to experience so many different cultures, and see such a different part of the world. I still have to pinch myself sometimes to make sure that I am actually here!

Of course I have added some visual aids to go along with this story!

Enjoy!

Starting our adventure on the bus to Windhoek

City view of Windhoek

A beautiful church near the parliament building! 

We thought we were excited about riding on the train.... haha. 

Me in front of the Atlantic Ocean! 

Amazing Waves. 

The sand dunes of the namib dessert. these are just small ones... some are HUGE. 

My awesome flip flop tan line! 

Unbelievable sunset! 

My amazing steak dinner! 

the start of our cold foggy boat ride! 

The seal!! On our boat!

Showing off a little! 

there are over 60,000 seals in this area alone! 

Dolphin!

Massive Pelicans! 

Me, the crazy American trekking through the streets in Africa!

The beautiful Giraffe we saw from the train! Thats for you Melissa Davis! 

Part One.... The end of School!!

Let me first start off by apologizing. I realize I did not post this last Sunday, and for all of you who read and follow along each week, SORRY!!! But let me tell you I had plenty of good reason!

The last week of April was full of events! The biggest being the end of the first term of school! That last week of school was filled with fun activities in the classroom, half days, and excitement for the upcoming break! When the children are on break from school, all of the kids go home to their local villages. So the excitement was buzzing to head off to see their friends and families.

School ended Friday and that afternoon we began transporting children to their villages. Friday, was the local kids day. So we took all the kids home who remain pretty local, or around the Katima area. Saturday was an early start to the morning, we left Zion around 7am to transport all of the other children to their villages. We drove for about 3 hours each direction taking kids home! It was so great both days to be able to see where the children are from. Their families welcoming them were so excited to have them home and that was a great thing to watch! Also, on the way back to Zion we got to stop at Kongola and shop at the local craft markets! The best part might have been though the “side of the road elephants.” As you drive down the main road you will find local people with little shops set up on the side of the road. They all had some of the best wood carved elephants I have seen in my time here! And it’s the best place to strike up a deal!

I do have to say, I am excited for the break from school, but being at Zion without all the craziness of children everywhere is quite strange!

Other things that happened within the week include….

-       A massive crocodile spotting right outside the fence in front of my house!!! It was a little crazy!

-       The river is rising and rushing through much higher and faster now. It has been amazing to watch the change in the last few weeks and days.

-       Before school let out, I had a night with the older girls! They all came over to my house and we painted our nails and talk about music, boys, and what they want to do after school! It was great!

-       Planning for our mini vacation began…..

Which leads us all to Part Two…
But first a few pictures!

Sweet Josiah wearing my glasses!

Nsala holding Manyando! 

End of Term assembly! 

Auntie Mercy and I with some of our students!

The cute little girls! 

Loading up the car to take kids home! 

Jonathan hanging out the window!

Ahhhhh Elephants!! 

Auntie Mercy and I with our class and Auntie Josephines Grade 1 class! 

Your Love Never Fails

Your love never fails by Jesus Culture

Nothing can separate

Even if I ran away

Your love never fails

I know I still make mistakes

But you have new mercies for me everyday

Your love never fails

You stay the same through the ages

Your love never changes

There may be pain in the night

But joy comes in the morning

And when the oceans rage

I don’t have to be afraid

Because I know that you love me.

Your love never fails.

This week, I am basking in the lyrics of this song. My human heart and mind grow weary and faint, but his love never fails despite my shortcomings. This idea is something I have really been battling and struggling with. Failure. What if I fail, what if I screw this all I up and have all sorts of regret? Thankfully, although those are legitimate fears, I don’t have to be afraid because I know that He loves me, and that kind of love never fails. Human emotion and thoughts are ever changing, always fleeting, but my savior, his love and understanding of me is always the same and always right.  I know that he makes all things work together for His good. He doesn’t need me, but he chooses to use me and you make all things work together for my good.

The promises written in Jeremiah 29:11 give us the gift of knowing we are given hope for a prosperous life and a future that is full of hope and no harm. Our Jesus wants us to be given life. Life that is far past this earthly body we now hold. Sure trouble will come our way, we are guaranteed of that in John 16:33. The Lord himself assures us that trouble will come, but in him, and only Him we have solid peace because He has already overcome the world.

What joy and peace that should bring us, in the hard times, in the times of doubt, failure, and confusion. My Father has already overcome the world and has a life promised for me full of hope and a future.  As long as I am seeking his face first and coming to Him with all things He will not let me down. My mistakes and failures will not determine the course of my life. He can use ALL things to work together for HIS good.

What rest and peace I find in that this week.

As most of you know this week held the border crossing. God had his hand on us obviously on that Friday. He answered prayers and was bigger than any immigration officer or any border law. Thank you Jesus for choosing to work right in front of my eyes.

It was sad to say goodbye to a fellow volunteer Jessie that day. Its never easy seeing people who you have gotten close to head off back to the states! Especially when she brought up the idea of air conditioning! Haha! I am so glad we had these last 3 months together and I know she will do great things for the kingdom of God throughout her life!

This week I also acquired 5 additional kids into my already cram packed classroom! The first grade teacher had to travel to Zambia for training, and so her kids have joined my class for the last two weeks of school! Talk about a crazy learning environment! It has been fun and crazy and I know that this upcoming last week of school will be the same! We had lots of fun learning about the postal system. In fact, some of you should be on the look out for letters from my sweet kids! :)

The water in the Zambezi river is rising fast and it is rising all around us. You see, were we are becomes like an island because water surrounds on both sides. It is rising right here on the rivers edge, but also it is coming from the south and will eventually cut us off from the road to town all together. We are hoping the water holds off enough that we can transport all the children to their villages this coming Saturday! Who knows, maybe by my next blog we will be using the boat as transportation!

We haven’t had to many animal encounters lately, well minus the PYTHON sighting the guards made last Sunday night. YES. Python. As we sat at dinner Sunday night we heard a gun shot and knew it was very close. The next morning Uncle Samushi, told us that last night as he was walking home he looked in front of him and saw what he thought was a large tree limb… and then it moved. He said it had to have been 5 meters long and very, very fat. He yelled for the guards to come over and kill it. They shot at it, hence the shot we heard, but missed and the big sucker got away. Lets just say my walks back home at night have become much swifter.

This week is the start of our last week of school for this term! Friday we will begin transporting children back to their villages. And there will be just a few children here for the next month. It will definitely be a weird feeling not having them all around, but it will also be a welcomed break!

*** Internet connection has been terrible lately... so i will try and upload picture later this week!***