Purposeful Camp Namibia

During the summer break, I got the privilege of joining the team for Purposeful Camp Namibia. This camp was started lasted year as the brain-child of four first-year university students who wanted to pass on the leadership skills they have learned to those younger than them. In only its second year, they selected forty 15-19 year olds out of almost 200 applicants to participate in this influential camp. The Covid regulations restrict group sizes to 50 people, so following all health protocols we were able to successfully pull off this camp in the midst of a global pandemic!

The first day targeted personal development. Participants had a chance to share their personal stories and discuss topics like forgiveness, personal boundaries, and habits. These sessions were led by one of the young ladies who has been in my D-group for the last two years. I also got to share from Philippians 3 about spiritual development and making Christ your supreme treasure. Throughout the day, participants also broke out into pairs or small groups for stimulation activities to discuss and apply the things they were learning during the lectures.

The other days were focused on topics like leadership, public speaking, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. Participants got to practice giving speeches and making a pitch to potential investors. We also got to have lots of fun with team-building activities, the pool, and even a color party!

The last night was a fancy Gala Dinner where students received certificates and each one got to express what they learned and were taking away from the camp. Our inspiring guest speaker was the Honorable Emma Theofalus, the youngest ever Namibian deputy minister at only 27 years old. Overall the camp was a great success and young people left inspired to live with influence and purpose and make a difference in their communities.

Arriving for camp

A session on telling your story

Teaching about spiritual development

Breakout discussion groups

A team-building activity where we all needed to cross
the finish line at exactly the same time

Color party!

Covered in colors

A toast at our Gala Dinner

Some of the amazing staff and organizers

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.

Social distanced during worship time

Worship Team

Watching the video presentations

Small group discussion

Preparing for lunch

Gotta have the meat!

Hanging out at break time

African Communalism and Psalm 51

Did you ever realize how much your cultural biases influence your understanding of the Bible? I hadn't until I started learning about the rich diversity of other cultures. In an article published today on The Gospel Coalition Africa website, I reflect on how the African cultural value of communalism helped me better understand the last few verses of Psalm 51. Go give it a read, then come back and leave your comments!

Covid-19 Update

On March 17, Namibia received its first two cases of Covid-19 and immediately declared a State of Emergency going into lockdown. After feeling the economic pressure of the severest lockdown restrictions, the government has increasingly been trying to keep those restrictions limited. Additionally, though our total confirmed cases has eclipse 11,000, our daily average of new cases has declined. Thus it is no surprise that 6-months later, when that State of Emergency was set to expire, they decided against extending it.

Many were celebrating, calling Sept 18th an "independence day" since we were free from lockdown. Others claimed the government is simply throwing up its collective hands and saying, "Let the best immune system win." Somewhere in the middle, I believe they are trying to do their best to protect both life and livelihood, because as they said, "Poverty also kills."

We have all now settled into the routine of preventative measures such as face masks, sanitizing, contact tracing logs, and social distancing. Those measures will continue. Group size is still limited to 50 people. But the airport has reopened and is welcoming tourists. Domestic travel is unhindered. Curfew has been removed. Contact sports are allowed. So basically we have determined to coexist with the virus and move on with life.

NETS is continuing with face-to-face classes. We have not registered any positive cases on campus. Students with symptoms or close contact with a positive case are asked to stay at home and we will make special arrangements for them. Our hope is that this remains the case and we are able to finish our semester unhindered in about 6 weeks.