Our welcome to Namibia!

Thursday 10.11.07
The team met at the church at 10AM this morning to pack, weigh, and re-pack our bags. We were desperately trying to squeeze in every last donation that was brought in last night (after all our donation bags had been packed). We were amazed by the generosity of our Glad Tidings family in donating clothing, school supplies, and money for the children of Namibia. So if you’re reading this and you were one of those people, thank you from the bottom of our hearts and on behalf of all the beautiful children who will be blessed through you!

The church staff, led by Pastor Bryan, sent us off with prayer, and by 11:00AM we were on our way to the JFK airport. Brady Treat was nominated our “Hero of the Day” for driving a van AND trailer all through Manhattan, while remaining calm, cool and collected. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and went through security without any difficulties.

Our flight will be overnight, and we will land tomorrow in Johannesburg around 4:00PM (local time). Jet lag, anyone?


Friday 10.12.07
Today was another long day of travel, but the flight seemed surprisingly short. Fortunately, we are all able to get some sleep (some with the help of sleeping pills!). Note to self: never give Geralyn sleeping pills – she ate her delicious breakfast of French toast with a berry sauce, and an hour or two later asked, “When are we getting breakfast?”

By the time we arrived, it was close to 6PM. We had all prepared ourselves on exactly what to say when we went through customs, and were pleasantly surprised when they just waved us on after asking if we had wine or cigarettes (of course not!). One slight problem though – George Gonyea’s guitar and Joey Gonyea’s BRAND NEW guitar were both lost in transit. We’re praying they arrive safely. Hopefully they will arrive in the next day or two and be shipped to Melissa’s home in Otjiwarongo. George and Joey handled it VERY well.

Our accommodations tonight were absolutely wonderful! We stayed at a place called the Eland Guest House, which was a large but cozy house run by a retired Greek man with fascinating stories. For dinner we went to a local steak house, where a wedding reception was also taking place. We were entertained by a man playing guitar and singing to American karaoke tracks (think 70’s rock), while other customers unabashedly made their way to the dance floor – SO amusing! Jeanette was the first brave soul to try an exotic food. She ordered monkey gland sauce for her steak (turns out it’s not made of monkeys).

We had our first “family time” with “Hero of the Day” nominations – it’s a little Real Life missions trip tradition we’re introducing to the team. It was so encouraging, and we’re looking forward to doing it the rest of the trip.

Tomorrow we leave lovely South Africa and fly to Namibia! It doesn’t feel like Africa yet, but I have a feeling that will change after tomorrow!

Loving Africa, missing you,

- Pastor Courtney (on behalf of PE and the team)

Saturday 10.13.07
Today we flew to Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia. After our 15-hour flight to Johannesburg, our 2-hour flight to Windhoek went by in a flash! However, the descent was alarmingly turbulent (which we later found out was due to the heat). Several team members were feeling queasy!

Once again, we cruised right on through customs without a problem or delay. It was SO wonderful to be greeted by Melissa! She was so excited and welcoming! The McGaffee’s (an incredible missionary family we’ve fallen in love with), were there to meet us as well. From the airport, we traveled to Windhoek, and saw a baboon eating trash along the road! That’s Africa.

Again, we are staying in a nice little hotel. There was a bit of confusion with the rooms. When Jeanette and I arrived in our room, there were personal belongings in the bathroom. At first we thought the room just wasn’t cleaned until we discovered the closet full of clothing! We realized we had been assigned to an occupied room! Fortunately it was taken care of quickly and painlessly :D

For dinner, we went to a ranch house with a Native American theme – how crazy is that! The McGaffee’s joined us with their three lovely daughters. We celebrated Pat’s 66th birthday a day early, and it was the best birthday song ever (complete with drums and tambourines)! It was so much fun! We are SO excited about our first day of ministry tomorrow!

Loving Africa, missing you,
- Pastor Courtney (on behalf of PE and the team


STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATES