Photo Credit: Tommy Cole
On my original route, the country we were supposed to visit during month 10 said “Zimbabwe/Botswana”, meaning that there was some uncertainty as to where we would go. Last July when we arrived at training camp it was announced that a decision was made to send us to Botswana. So how did we end up in Windhoek, Namibia for the month??
Our squad mentor worked it out for us to try something different for month 10. We called it “Ask the Lord” month (ATL for short). The idea is that our team would pray and ask God to guide our decisions for the month. Our first assignment was to pray over a location, and the result rerouted us to Namibia!
Soon after arriving in the country we celebrated Ronny’s birthday. Ronny wanted to make sure he could Skype with his friends and family on his birthday, so was dropped by a coffee shop for a couple of hours. Little did we know that God bless us with our ministry for the month. After settling in for a couple of minutes Tommy turns to me and says “don’t turn around, but the guy behind you is wearing a Colorado shirt!” Sure enough, he was rocking in a nice Pike’s Peak shirt. I didn’t think much of it though, so I got out a pencil and started drawing. Moments later the guy jumps up excitedly and runs over to me. This odd conversation follows:
[CO Guy]: Hey! Where did you find that pencil??!? (I’m holding your typical, run of the mill BIC mechanical pencil).
[Me]: Uhh?? I just bought it at a store.
[CO Guy]: I’ve been looking all over for those pencils!! I can’t find them anywhere!
[Me]: Really? Well, take this one. I’ve got a couple of extras.
[CO Guy]: No, I have a few extras as well, I just don’t know where to buy them.
[Me]: Oh, well, I guess I got it at Walmart.
[CO Guy]: Oh. Bummer.I thought maybe you had purchased it around here.
[Me]: Seriously, you can have the pencil. I’ve got plenty of others.
[CO Guy]: No. Thanks anyway.
[Me]: My friend noticed that your shirt is from Colorado. That’s where I’m from!
[CO Guy]: Ya. I was born there, but I’ve lived many places since then. What are you guys doing here?
[Me]: We’re all on this mission trip called the World Race. You visit 11 countries in 11…
[CO Guy]: Oh Ya! I know the one. One of my friends did that. I’m a missionary in Angola. I meet my wife in a church here in Namibia. We’re working on getting her visa processed so that she can join me in Angola. The church is awesome, you guys should check it out. It’s called All Nations Church.
[Me]: That’s great! I think we will.
After looking up the church on-line, we discovered that it is home to the only skatepark in Namibia. Tommy and I checked it out the next day and we were sold. We immediately purchased skateboards and spent the rest of the month building relationships with the guys who hang out at the skatepark. It was so much fun. It didn’t even matter that it took us an hour trip each direction to get there. While we were there a Red Bull sponsored BMXer dropped by to help the locals build a ramp.
In the Bible God communicates with his people in all sorts of different ways: face to face, through a burning bush, in a whisper, through fleeces, by moving a shadow, in thunder, in dreams, in visions, by casting lots, etc. This month God used a guy from Colorado and an awkward pencil conversation to open up one of the coolest months of ministry on the Race!
