Stop #3, Tsumeb

 So by the time we were ready to leave for Tsumeb, Sammie could tell that our car was a bit dirty and thought she should help to clean it up a bit.

The way it always goes when we travel is that we say we want to leave at a certain time and we actually leave about an hour or so after that.  We had a long drive to Tsumeb and little did we know that about 80km of that drive would be all on a rough dirt road.  So that 80km slowed us down a bit and not to mention all of the goats, cows, and donkeys we had to slow down for all the way to Tsumeb.

Our campsite in Tsumeb was awesome but we kinda just stumbled upon it.  We had planned to stay at one place and when we got there the gate was closed and no one was there so we drove to the next closest place.  !Uris Lodge.  (The "!" is a click)  This was probably the coolest place we stayed and the cheapest. As you can see we had a lot of room to ourselves.  There are only 2 campsites at this place but you have your own toilet and shower and all that.  You can see it in the big tree with sticks around it, that is the shower.  It was really cool.

During this whole trip we weren't sure how Sammie would do being in new places and with naps and everything else but she did awesome.  We had a harder time keeping her from running around and getting her to stop playing in the dirt while we are trying to eat.  She had a blast and couldn't be more thankful for a safe trip.




 Now our prayer is that God would lead us in the direction that he has laid out in His plan.  We don't always know what he has in store for us but we really want to just seek Him and see what he has planned.  So please be praying also that God would show us where he would like us to be and what people he would like us to be reaching out to.  Also along with that you can pray for our visa that it could be extended so that we can stay for a longer amount of time because we believe that we aren't finished yet and we would like it if the government would agree with us and let us stay for a while.  Thank you for all the prayers and support that you give us.  We couldn't do this without all of this team.  Thanks

Second Stop, Opuwo

Our Second stop was in Opuwo.  We stayed in Opuwo for two nights.  This stop was very interesting because of the differences in cultures all in one place.  You have the Himba, that still live and dress very traditionally.  On the other hand you have others that live in town that were dressed very modern.  Some of these people are Himba even that have decided to not live or dress traditionally.  It was very odd to see these two put in one place and living together as if nothing were out of place when to us it really looks different.

 It is strange to be in town with shops and all then drive just a few min outside of town and then you see huts and goats and cows everywhere.

     The view from our campsite was awesome.  we were up on the side of this mountain and we got a good look at the sunset.  i know this may not be a big deal but there was even grass to put your tent on.  In a country that is so dry, this is a really cool thing.

First stop of the trip North.

We stayed the first 2 nights in Kamanjab, a very small town with not much in it at all. It was interesting that the people that are running the rest camp we stayed at had only been there for 3 months and were previously from Cape Town SA. They were experiencing some of the frustrations that come with moving up this far where you really aren't close to anything. They told us about how they had an incident with their little girl and were scared she needed to go to the hospital but they are 250km from the nearest hospital.

We had a great time in Kamanjab. Right when we arrived we were setting up the tent and the guy running the camp told us to look up, and there was a giraffe. This was all with no fences in between us. They also said that Kudu often make their way up to or near the campsites. Here are some pictures we took while in Kamanjab and i will hopefully put some pics up of Opuwo tonight after the sunset.(I have to get a good picture of the sunset)

Please be praying with us that we are trying to see if this is where God is calling us. So while we are here and traveling around we are praying for God to put a passion and desire in our hearts to be here.

Andila gets sick!

So just the other morning as the kids are lined up nice and neat to come in the room i look in the boys line to see Andila hunched over in a ball and he says, "Mr. Wright, my stomach doesn't feel good." (Most of the kids are sick with something all year long.) So i figured i would wait to see how long this goes to see if something really is wrong. Just a few min later Andila is sitting right in front of my desk at his desk with his hands folded over his mouth and he is looking distraught. Then it hits me that his stomach really isn't feeling well. I give him some toilet paper and send him off to the toilet to take care of himself.
Andila comes back just a min later in the same position. He comes in the door with hands folded over his mouth and gesturing for more toilet paper. So quickly i see that this is more serious than i had previously thought. He comes back a few more times. Enough times that eventually i just had some toilet paper on the corner of my desk so that when he comes in the room i just point and send him back out.
About 5 to 10 mins later i had him sent to our admin/nurse/a lot of other jobs lady, Dorthy to see if she wants to send him home. I ask him a few questions to see why his stomach might be in this state. I ask if he ate this morning and he confirmed. So i asked what he ate, he said, "fat cakes" (a ball of dough fried in oil the size of a baseball or tennis ball). I notices when he said that there was an "s" on the end so i asked how many...2. Then i though... wait i think he eats here at school in the morning. So i asked about the school breakfast, and he said that they had a bowl of oats.
So Andila started his day with 2 Fat Cakes and then came in to school and packed a bowl of oats on top of that. After I heard this, there was no doubt in my mind that he should be sick. He was later sent home and was even gone the next day. Sometimes I guess it is true that our eyes are bigger than our stomachs.

Missing Home.

You know, no one ever told us how hard it is to be away from family and friends. I know as missionaries that's a sacrifice you make for the cross but someday's it's really hard. You know though, God know's when these rough days come and He has always given us something that reminds us why we are here and that His plans are always perfect! One day we went to the mall to get some things for a gift and our friend George was outside selling beads and he came and talked to us about buying beads and then out of no where he begins to tell us how much we encourage him by just being together as a family. That was just a huge encouragement for us too because sometimes we do feel worthless and just blah in this place but God always picks us up and shows us what we are doing here for His glory!

Oh Sammie.

So Sammie is talking up a storm from the moment she wakes up to the time she lays her head down to go to sleep, even then, there are times she is still talking in her sleep! She is really picking up everything we say. When you have a talking Child you can really see what you talk about it. We were driving and a taxi driver pulled out in front of us and Adam and I both were just like urg and I said Come on and then this little voice from the back seat says, Oh Come on!! whoops! I have to work on my road rage!!

When Sammie has something of ours that she is not supposed to have we always say Sorry Sammie this is not for you. So the other day Adam is helping her pick up her toys and she looks at Adam and says, Sorry Daddy not for you... She says so many cute things and just just can't help but wonder what all is going through her little mind throughout the day.

It is such a joy being a parent! We love it! There is not a day that goes by that I don't laugh at the new things she is doing and saying! She is so smart and such a good little girl. We just praise God day by day for our little blessing, Samantha Joy

LaHarpe Illinois Team!!!

We were blessed to be visited by 7 people from LaHarpe Illinois. There were 5 people that we had known from our trips to LaHarpe and two people that we didn't know before but are so glad that we had the opportunity to get to know. We have been involved with LaHarpe in a few ways. For the last 3 years we have been the missionaries for LaHarpe VBS. It was really cool because these kids saw us as we were preparing to come and now even got to see that they helped to get us here. This was very exciting but yet at the same time it made us very nervous. This was the first team that has come to visit us and to plan everything for them and have everything ready really made us nervous. When we saw them get off the plane the nervousness was gone and the excitement was here.
While they were here we obviously had to go on a quick safari, where some of the team was able to quickly touch a rhino while it was walking by the car. They came to Community Hope School and helped in many ways and really got to connect with a few of our students. We even took grade 5 out to the YWAM base and played softball and hiked the mountains with the students. We then took a quick trip to the coast where they were able to see the beautiful views of the ocean meeting the sand dunes. That quickly is an overview of the trip and there were a lot of times that we had laughs and serious conversations but we really had a great time and are so glad they were able to come out. Thanks LaHapre.

Camp

So we are healthy again and we were asked to help with camp at the church we are attending here. We were leaders in the homes where we stayed with groups of boys or girls. So we all got together in the day but went to our homes to have our group discussions and our in-depth lessons. It was a lot of fun and it was a huge encouragement. I was amazed at the people in the church and their willingness to open their homes to a bunch of kids and how they took care of us while we were there. It really was great to see that kind of hospitality. I hope that all these host know that it was not in vain. There were a lot of the youth that left with a changed mind and heart. There were some decisions for Christ and some people that decided that they really need to change some things in their lives so they can really glorify God.

Our very last session at camp talked about coming back to our first love, Christ. We were asked to close our eyes and to think of when we remember at the very beginning when we met our first love, Christ. We are told that we need to continue to do the things that we did when we first fell in love.

I want to ask you as well, to do what all these youth did and to look back and remember. Then when you have done that, try to think of things that you can change in your life to come back to your first love.

We are all one body and when one part of the body is hurting we need to take care of it. So please lets focus on caring for one another and turning back to our first love so that we can be a shining light to this world.

Sammie's sick....again!

Well i am glad i was trying to get a blog up on here and i go and say that we are doing better but we ended up at the Doctors again today. Sammie's tummy is very busy and full of air. She is throwing up and having diarrhea. So we took her to the Doctors and they gave her an anti-biotic and some things for diarrhea. The only thing is that since she has been throwing up and having diarrhea that she is loosing a lot of fluids. So we are really trying to keep her hydrated. The Doctor did say that if she isn't getting better by the morning that we may put her in the hospital so they can hydrate her and to take care of this. They didn't sound like it was an emergency but that we do need to need to take her in if it isn't getting better. So PLEASE keep her in your prayers. We don't want to have to do this. We hope that we can keep her here at home and get her better here but we will do whatever we have to do. Thank you for your prayers.

Always Sick?

You may think that we are always sick at this point. Although it seems like it to us sometimes it isn't true. We have been picking up a lot of things and are kinda going through a little bit more stuff right now but i think we are coming through. Wow i just went back and looked and we haven't had a blog up here for a long time. Really sorry about that. We have been sick, and sick, and then we were sick for a while and after that we got better for a while. I think that kinda catches you up. Honestly we (Sammie & Adam) were sick for a long time. We finally have moved past it. Now we are just getting the winter flu stuff that is circulating but we are hopeful that things are looking up. We would love to thank everybody that has kept us in your prayers we really do appreciate this so much. So we are anxious to be back to 100% so that we can be doing all the things that we would like to be doing and not have to hold back or miss out because we are always sick. Thanks again everybody and we should have a lot of good things coming up since we are not going to be sick now.

Maria.

This is the post written by our teammates David and Sandy Echols about our student Maria. Please be praying for her family and our class as we deal with the grief that we are dealing with right now. Thank you.
How Beautiful are the Feet...: Maria.

Pray for Maria

Maria one of the girls in Grade 2. We just found out that she had headaches on Sunday and then she was taken to the hospital on Sunday and put into the ICU. Tuesday we didn't know much we only heard that things were not good and that she was in a coma and that they were concerned about her having or getting brain damage.
Just today i went to see her and take a card that our class had made. The Doctors said that her Brain is swollen and that there is a lot of fluid too. He said that the fluid is most likely from Meningitis. Things are not looking good. The Doctor did not have anything good to say I don't think. We could really use a miracle right now. Please pray for Maria and her Family as they are dealing with all that is going on right now.

Grade 2

This is my class. Teaching a class in another country has proven to be a lot more difficult than i had expected. They don't have family at home that will always be there for them or even when we as teachers want to talk. Home life for the children is a lot different and they don't always know how to show respect because of it. Many of the children do not have a father figure in their lives. If they do have a father figure it is not a good one, so that puts pressure on us to really show them what a fathers love looks like. It has proven to be a challenge but I see the importance of doing this. I truly hope that these children will leave this class as one of the best classes ever. Not because of me or my influence but because of what God can do through me. I am just a tool in God's hand and i will let him do the work that needs to be done.

Enough

As I sit here and think about this past month it has been really hard..... With Adam and Sammie still sick as we speak it's been tough. Thank you for all the prayers they have helped a lot!!!
You know as I sat today and just cried I was asking God what more can I do and then the words came to mind, " I am enough." And I thought wow..... He really is enough and all this time I have been fighting with myself trying to figure out what more can I do, what more can I do. I have this beautiful baby in my arms and she is choking because all the stuff in her lungs and I have a husband who is needed the restroom every ten minutes and now starts coughing and then out of no where throws up all over the place and that is usually followed by Sammie puking.... I feel that in all this mess there has been no peace for me and my joy was out the window. Until today I had been so hard on myself and just really stressed out because it felt like I could do nothing to help them and my house is a pit because every time I do something it just gets undone, I realized that I had been doing all this stuff on my own and I have been the one to try and fix it....I can't do it by myself and I'm not supposed to. No matter how hard I try I will never be enough but Christ is!!! Thank goodness!!!
I just wanted to share that all with you...I don't know what you're going through this week but I just want you to know that He will always be enough for us and that when we feel completely helpless and like we are never enough, He is.........

Soft-serve Ice Cream

We just got back from walking to the store to pick up a few essentials. Just as we were leaving the store we saw a van that said ice cream on the side of it. We laughed at it a bit because it looked funny and then we saw that it said "soft-serve". I figured it was because they drive around all day with ice cream in this van and by the time anyone buys some it is soft. So we were curious and thought we would at least have a look inside. We look inside and there sits a soft-serve ice cream machine in a van. After seeing some other people get some and it looked like normal soft-serve we thought, what the heck, we might as well try it. So we got our ice cream for the walk home and had to laugh about this van that was really only sitting in the parking lot of our grocery store because it was there broke down and couldn't move.

Ready or Not...

School begins on Monday. So we only have a few days left to get everything together and to take on these new tasks that we have for this year. Adam is teaching grade 2 and doing book keeping at the school. Sara will be helping with a home economics class that is starting new this year. We are both excited about the changes and how we will be involved this year at the school but it also brings about a nervousness for us. Teaching grade 2, Adam will be with the same kids for more of the day and will deal with a lot more I am sure. Sara is very excited about helping with this Home ec class because she gets the chance to help change the perspective of the kids of what goes on at home and how a home should be run. Some of the kids come from rough homes so it will be nice to show them that there are other ways that they can live when they get older. So with only a few days please pray that we are not overwhelmed by these tasks and that we can show the light of God no matter what subject we are teaching.