Africa was an insane three month journey of beauty, trials, inspiration and growth. But it was also a journey with horrible internet. My videos made it on-line some how but there are still more stories I want to tell. I hope to share with you in the next few posts some of the lessons I learned while in southern Africa.
Our first month in Africa, we worked in Tsumeb, Namibia at an organization called TOV servings orphaned and at risk youth suffering from AIDS. We held a VBS each morning and led the local kids in games, skits and lessons from the Gospel of Luke.
One day toward the end of the month I was at a restaurant desperately trying to upload a video (daily vlogging in Africa isn’t ideal.) I got a message from Sara saying we had been robbed and I needed to come home and tell the police if any of my things had been stolen. I returned to the house to find the bars on the windows had been broken.
Our landlord was a prosecutor and had the police, half our stuff and two of the perpetrators in her yard with-in a few hours. My team was calm, we handle it with grace but the the locals were angry. We stood there in the yard watching the police yell at the teens that had broken in. I sat there cringing at the thought they might hurt the young men. Though there was an intense drought, it began to rain and my teammates and I stood there in a straight line and started to pray out loud for them.
The scene dissipated and we moved back into the house. We got back most of our things, however my external hard rive with all my video work had not been recovered. I sat down on the floor in front of Lyndi Jo to let her pick through my hair. I found out the day before I had gotten lice from the children we had been working with. What a crazy few days I thought.
Later that night as the sun set and the rain stopped, I looked out the window to see a rainbow had formed in the sky. How encouraging, I thought, God’s promise of faithfulness to this earth was shinning in the backyard.
The next day Anna, Erin, Justin and I piled in a car and headed east toward Botswana to Victoria Falls. On the way there I got sick and threw up in a random rest stop bathroom and then again several times on the side of road in the Namibian Caprivi strip. When we got to the border of Botswana we found out it was closed until the morning and we had no choice but to sleep in the car. I spent the whole night throwing up, sweating and getting eaten by mosquitos.
When we woke the next morning, we headed back to the border and witnessed the most incredible sunrise. The kind that redeems the toughest of nights. That day we drove through four countries and saw a week old elephant crossing the street. We made it to Victoria Falls at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe and bungee jumped right into the Gorge.
I laid in my bed that night in the hostel under a mosquito net reliving the adventure that was the past few days and the seemingly horrible things that had happened to me. But, the truth is, that these aren’t things that can happen when you choose to go on the World Race or to Africa. These are things that can happen when you choose to walk out your front door.
There is danger everywhere and it, in-and-of-itself, can’t hurt us – its the focusing on it that will.
So yes I got lice, but I got to hold orphans in my arms, kiss their cheeks and tell them they were loved by the creator of the universe.
Yes we were robbed, but we got to forgive and pray for our transgressors as they stood in front of us. We got to pray with our landlord and share our faith with her and show how God’s peace transcends all understanding.
And yes I got sick and endured the worst night on the race, but I awoke to God’s beauty and it’s invitation to an incredible day of adventure. I found that the night, no matter how hard, will end and joy really does come in the morning.
Your comfort zone is a safe place free from illness and thieves but it isn’t a place God wants you to stay.
Danger is out there, but God is out there too and He makes it all worth it.
