Blossoming Deserts: November 2020

American Thanksgiving

American Thanksgiving has become a little annual tradition within my community of friends. The fourth Thursday of November is not a day off in Namibia, so I host everybody at my place on the following Saturday. I prepare the turkey, stuffing and gravy, the bare essentials. And then everyone else finds a recipe for some traditional American dish to prepare and bring, things like sweet potato casserole, mac & cheese, or apple pie.

Before: Stuffed and ready to go!

After: Looking delish!

After we fill up up on novelty foods that we only get once a year, we sit down together to share what we're thankful for. In a year like this, peoples' thanksgivings unsurprisingly included appreciation for friends and family which we realized much more during lockdowns, thanks for God's provision in a struggling economy, and thanks for just getting through a tough year. And there were also much happier thanksgivings like one couple announcing their pregnancy!

Sharing thanksgivings

Then afterward we pray and thank God being reminded that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17). Then we continue enjoying the lovely desserts that everyone made!

Dessert and games

Overall it's become such a nice way for us to end off the year before everyone heads in different directions for the summer vacation during December and January. It's a great reminder of the joy we have in each other, an opportunity to meet new friends or connect deeply with old ones, and a reminder of how much we have to be thankful for.

Last Day

It's been a trying year for many. Lots of events had to move online or be cancelled altogether. Every other week we awaited an announcement from the government telling us whether or not we would return to lockdown. But today was a celebratory day because we praised God that we could finish our entire semester with face-to-face classes without a single covid case at NETS!

This past week has been final exams for students at NETS (photo above). We finished off with a celebratory final Devotions, wrapping up our sermon series on "Stories Your Momma Never Told You" (photo left). Then we had a lunch together before everyone headed off their separate ways for summer vacation. Students will have about 2 months off before returning in late-January for next year.

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

At church we are going through a series about spiritual warfare called "He Will Fight For You". I was tasked with preaching on one of the most familiar stories in the whole Bible, David and Goliath. But it is also one of the most misapplied to our lives today. Understanding David’s perspective on his battle with Goliath helps transform, not just how we view his story, but also how we view the battles in our own lives today. You can check it out here.

Truth Matters

After a two month postponement due to Covid restrictions, we were finally able to hold our annual Young Adult Conference last weekend. Even still, we took precautions by having smaller groups at four different sites across Windhoek. At our location we had 42 people from 10 different churches, but across all four sites we were over 110 people! Overall it was a great time to be back together again face-to-face and to have good discussions on what God says about certain hot topics.

We chose the theme #TruthMatters to discuss what God's Word has to say about a few of the current social issues that Namibia has dealt with in the past few months. The first talk dealt with postmodern thinking that suggests all religions get us to God and you shouldn't impose your view on anyone else. The speaker (a former NETS student!) shared from John 14:6 about the exclusive claims of Christ. The second talk dealt with the issue of racism, focusing on the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10. The third talk looked at abortion and emphasized conception as an act of worship. You can check out all the presentations for yourself here.