Blossoming Deserts

New Place for a New Century of Blog Posts

After 19 months and 99 posts I'm excited to share a grand unveiling in my 100th blog post. I get to show you pics of my new pad! That's right, I've spent much of this past month (as I've had time) transitioning over to a new place. SIM sold their guesthouse, where I had been staying in one of the flats, and downsized to a house with an office space and a rental flat. So some of our team members live in the main house and I rent out the flat. Since this all happened in the middle of the very hectic end-of-semester time, I'm still in the process of getting settled so there's still a few boxes here and there. Also, part of the settling in process involves some very manly home improvement projects. You know, there's just something about using power tools! As with anything new it will take some getting used to, but overall it's a nice little place with enough space to squeeze in our young adult small group. Please pray with me that God would use this place for His glory and many ministry opportunities. Here's a few pics of the new place.

Namibian Thanksgiving

This year the holiday of Thanksgiving coincided with the last week of our semester at NETS, which is quite a hectic time for lecturers trying to get all the final assignments marked and getting grades turned in. Thus I decided against trying to host a Thanksgiving meal this year. Instead some friends of mine who had lived in the States invited me to join them and some Australian friends to celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday night.

One of their daughters had trolled pinterest for some festive decoration ideas. They found both brined and normal turkeys (fresh from North Carolina!) and made up some salad, stuffing, gravy, some delicious crumbed squash kind of dish, and confetti cream corn dip. Then, as if that wasn't enough, pecan pie and chocolate ice cream pie for dessert! Truly a case where self-discipline and taste buds were battling.

After some nice talks about football and Australian rugby and all manner of other topics, we each shared some things that we're thankful for, then wrapped up the evening playing board games. It's great having a good Christian community here that shares things like home, family and holidays. That's one thing I'm very thankful for. :)

684 Days Without Incident

Nobody likes being sick, but it happens to everybody. So despite the fever and upset stomach today, I find myself quite thankful for a year and a half without a sick day. It's been a good run for which I'm quite thankful to God and my immune system (and my parents for letting me eat dirt as a kid). This is no small accomplishment when moving halfway across the world to a different land with different foods and different sanitary expectations. So today I'm thanking God for a streak of good health and praying for many more healthy days to come (as soon as I get this day behind me). Plus lying in bed all day affords me the time to do other things I've stopped getting around to, like writing blog posts (No pictures today which I know you're quite thankful for).

Lights in a Dark World

Our church has been doing a study through the book of Philippians. I was asked to preach the passage of Philippians 2:12-30, Paul's exhortation that the church at Philippi shine like lights in the world. You can download it here or listen below if you'd like. (Note: It cuts off a little at the beginning and the end, but most of it's here.)

Farewell Braai

As the school year is winding down the Student Council at NETS decided to host a year-end function to go out with a bang. They found us a nice lodge just outside of town that had a pool and big braai area. As with any Namibian celebration they made sure there was plenty of meat! It was a good time of celebrating their completion of another year, saying thank you to many people who have served well, and saying goodbye to our soon-to-be graduates and one staff member who is leaving.

It was also the time for our super intense annual NETS Dart Competition. Participants were ranked by throwing 12 darts. The top 4 scores went through to the semi-finals. I managed a solid 3rd place finish in the seeding round. After winning my semi-final match and the top ranked guy leaving early, it was me and the 2nd ranked player in the finals. She took a commanding lead, but with a little inconsistency she allowed my slow-and-steady pace to catch back up. It came down to the wire, but I managed an 8 point lead when all was said and done to capture my first ever Golden Dart Trophy and bragging rights for the whole next year!