O Yea...The Flood Thing

O yea, the water started going down this weekend!! It's not going down so very quickly this time, but has at least started. Please pray it goes down quickly!

Klepto

This ridiculous dog has become a very good guardian, friend, and source of entertainment for me over the past year. Though it is really Jessica's dog, she has been on loan to me as protection since I've been living alone most of my time here.

In short, this dog is quirky with a loyal superiority complex. She follows me everywhere, except she "follows" from about 20 feet in front of me. She is always looking back to make sure she's predicting correctly where I'll go next and, if I'm sitting in a room, she will jump up and race to the door at the first remote sign that I'm even considering getting up. If she needs to stop and scratch or pee along the way, she will do so, but will immediately stop as soon as I catch up to her and race ahead before continuing her business, just so long as I am never in front of her.

Kleptomaniac--an all too fitting name. I was with Jessica when she got this nice little border collie mix from Windhoek in the summer of 2008. She had several nice names picked out to try, but upon getting to know her better, Klepto soon replaced them all. There were 3 of us living in the house at the time and suddenly our things kept disappearing only reappear where they didn't belong. It only took a few times of Jessica asking me why in the world my socks were in her bedroom before the new name was final.

Now I say she "follows" me everywhere, but there are a few exceptions. Namely Cleo, Ginger, and the chickens. (Cleo & Ginger are cats...) Now, she is the fastest dog I've ever seen (she can run from the children's home to my front door in 11 seconds, if you are familiar with the compound), but she has only ever managed to catch a cat once...and she came out of the fight limping and bleeding. But nevertheless she continues to try. She has become quite the avid tree climber, but so good that her newest trick is to climb up onto the children's home roof. She then proceeds to chase the cat all over the roof, but still to no avail. From the inside, it just sound like Santa's reindeer are practicing their crash landing...

She also loves to chase other things, especially small children. Now this may sound horrible, but hear me out (don't worry, noone gets hurt). Out of all of them there is only 1 that hasn't quickly figured out that if they just stop running and stand still, she will bring her full-out running charge to a screeching halt right at their feet, then both parties just walk off. But this sheep-herding quirk of hers has more practical uses indoors. If I am in any room of the children's home, she will lunge at anyone who comes running down the hallway so as to stop them dead in their tracks...its actually been a quite effective policing tactic; they come to a screeching halt and she comes back into the room to wait for the next one.

I will really miss the protection and daily entertainment I get from this quirky dog, but maybe she will finally have time to master catching a cat? I'd hate to know what tops learning to run around on a roof...

And Then There Was One...

Okay, really 14. The children's home is almost completely empty now as, for the first time, arrangements have been made for many of the children to be on an extended home visitation. It is currently a one-month school holiday and 43 of them are busy visiting with family and friends in their home villages. Even though these kids live here in the children's home, most still have aunts, uncles, grandparents, and some even a parent, that they can go to to visit, but that can't financially support them full time. The kids were very much excited for this opportunity to be reunited with friends and family that many haven't seen in years and certainly not for this length of time. There are even some that are getting to meet family they have either never met before or never knew they had.

There are several that are welcoming this opportunity to take their relationship with Christ back to their villages. Most of these kids had never heard of Christ upon first coming here to Zion, but now many are on fire for Him. There is one young teenager who has had a particular heart for her two older sisters that remained in the village when she was brought here. In one of her past shorter visitations, she was able to lead one of her sisters to share her faith in Christ. It was only a while later that this sister then passed away, but now both find comfort knowing they will meet again someday. She expressed to me that she wants very much to lead her other sister to faith in Christ during this visitation. Please pray that this young girl finds both the courage and opportunity to do so and that the sister has an open heart to receive her words. Pray also for the others that wish to take this opportunity to share about their heavenly relationship with their friends and family.

Meanwhile, back on the Zambezi, things have never been so quiet--or empty. Several of the kids have their whole bedroom to themselves and there is a whole lot less fighting over who gets the leftovers :-) It will be hard to keep them 'un-bored' during the coming weeks, but Dave has been teaching the boys how to fix the boat and they are all now all the way up to season 3 (in only a week) of their newest television addiction--LOST. Today we had a modified church service surrounding a fellowship lunch with all the volunteers and staff that were working today. The staff cooked a chicken, pumpkin, and potato salad meal while Margaret & I made some desserts and we all fit around one large table setting for a nice Sunday meal. I spoke this morning about one-on-one fellowship with God. Pray that those left might be able to use this rare opportunity of a few quiet weeks to deepen their relationship with Him.

Figures...

Just when Gilligan had sighted hopes of escaping Zion Island via road, more flooding hit the headlines; there is a second wave well on its way. Despite the water already flooding our walkways again, there are at least rumors that it won't hit the eastern Caprivi (our region) as bad as before or as bad as the western Caprivi. We barely got by with the height of the last flood in respects to not having to evacuate, but we have yet to see how high this new one will come. Please be praying that it doesn't rise so much and starts going back down quickly. Also continue praying that the boat remains in top functioning order since its much-needed vacation is not even in sight yet.

Please be in prayer for the entire Caprivi Region, particularly the western portion. We have actually been quite fortunate right where we are despite being an island. There have been at least 10,500 people relocated due to this last wave of flooding, but with the predictions of this next wave being record breaking for the western Caprivi, that number will soon spike. Pray for provision physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually during this very wet time.

Pictured above is a relocated village living out of tents and tarps just outside Katima.

Last Holiday

I was watching this movie the other night; it left me with a sharp conviction and I felt led to share it...

I believe there comes a time in everyone's life when they realize that it's length is dream; they are suddenly snapped into its brutal reality called 'short.' Everyone has varying thresholds to the onset of this stark reality. It could be the death of a family member--sibling, parent, grandparent--a close friend, a classmate. Or maybe a personal tradgedy, to either yourself or someone you love, a natural disaster, watching your kids grow up before your very eyes or so many others. It only really happens once before you are reminded an infinite number of times. But all leave you with the same question--what am I really living for??

In a twisted way I feel incredibly blessed to have stumbled upon this question at such a young age. For me it came with the personal tragedy of losing my leg, but not just that, the overwhelming report that I should not have lived. I was supposed to have bled to death except for an artery in that leg that I never knew I was born without. God had it all in his perfect plan, for many reasons of course, but the most important personally was to force me to come to peace with the fact that I could have died, right then and there, at age 16--no drivers license, no big senior year of high school, no college life with all of its own experiences. Nothing.

But there is something perplexing and magical about not dying when you are "supposed to" that is permanently engrained in your mind and screams "Live! Really Live!!" For me this is where God really took ahold of the steering wheel in my life. There was one night in the hospital I was feeling particularly discouraged and one of my doctors ended up sitting beside me on my hospital bed with two very clear messages. The first was this, "Blossom where you are planted." And she stressed that it started right there in that hospital room despite the fact I couldn't even get out of bed. God had planted me there as well as divinely planted every doctor and nurse that walked through that door, and I was to get going on blossoming for Him. But the second thing was that all pain that we as humans experience can be used to bless someone else, if we choose. Pain is something one only understands by experience, obviously, but it is also a specific tool that can be used by God to fuel compassion and understanding of others in similar pain.

Now its one thing to realize that the length of life is a dream, but it's another in what is done with it. I promised God that day that I would never take advantage of another step or breath or opportunity to share His name, but guess what? I have. I'm one of those crazy sinners He created, BUT, lucky for me, He is also a crazy awesome forgiver.

In the end, it doesn't matter what "livng everyday to it's fullest" means to you--that's up to God. But it is our responsibility to do it, whether its in a hospital bed, an office chair, on the moon, in a classroom, at the grocery store, etc. None is greater than another in God's eyes as long as it is to the fullest.

Baby's 1st Boat Ride

Ok, and mine too...solo driving anyway. With the multitudinous trips that Dave has to take in the boat (seeing as it's the only means of transport for 80-some people) he decided it was time to gve himself a break and teach me to drive to town when I needed to...starting today. Well, what he failed to mention was that on my first solo boat run I'd be bringing back a 26 HOUR old infant! But don't worry, we made it back safe and sound. Fortune, the principal of our mission school, just had a new baby girl added to his family yesterday morning. Dave had to rush the wife into town yesterday at 6:30am, just a few hours before she gave birth (maybe that's what did him in :-P). Margaret and I have been fearfully reading up on how to deliver babies incase the wee one had bad timing (its danergous to take the boat out at night). Needless to say we're more than relieved we didn't have to! But all's well that ends well. Mother, baby, and family are all back home safe and sound.

And as for our other "baby's" first boat experience? Well...he's now almost 2, but Little Mr. Adventure loved it. He wasn't in the boat hardly minute before the exact words out of his mouth were, "Uncle David, I Want to Drive the Boat..."

Blessed

I have been extremely blessed thus far in my African adventures. It has been clear to me many times that people are continuing to pray for me day in and day out even after I've been gone for so long. It is often at the most random times, especially when I'm not asking for it, that I feel God's presence with me and I know it is because someone is praying. This reminds me that I can't be over here on my own--I need that prayer support. Anything good that comes of me being here is thus a team effort led by God, not anything I could ever do on my own.

What I've also greatly appreciated is all the financial support that has been so generously given. Since I first raised support before I arrived, it has graciously carried me all the way up until now. But I am now lacking some to get me through these last 2 months. I would humbly ask you to pray if God is leading you to donate any additional financial support. I still feel very confident that He has led me here and aim to continue through my final weeks, but I can't do so alone.

If you feel God calling you to do so, you may send it to the following address with my name in the memo:

Children of Zion, Inc.

P.O. Box 413

Churchville, MD 21028

Thanks again for both your prayer and financial support. Even if you are not called to support further financially, I ask that you continue your prayer support as that is by far my most vital need. Although I could never repay all I've been given, be encouraged by God's short and simple promise--"I (God) will bless those who bless you," Genesis 12:3. Thank you for being both a blessing and a part of my ministry here in Namibia!