The first morning at camp, we woke up to neighbors. A small white car and 2-man tent was just a few feet away from ours. While in the restroom, I met the young woman and later was introduced to her boyfriend. Sarah and Gram are from South Carolina, but are taking a few months off to tour around Africa. They had just come from Etosha (Game park). He’s a South African so he’s guiding the tour and commented that they are enjoying Namibia.
It didn’t take long for them to ask me why we were there. Come on, you see a white lady and all these black kids camping out – you can imagine their curiosity. So naturally I took the open door and shared about our mission here, including a brief message of the “Choose to Wait” program. I boldly stated that God has a design for His children to have healthy bodies and healthy marriages, but our selfish nature has taken over and wreaked havoc causing disease and death, pain and suffering. “God’s design is that sex is for marriage and marriage is for love, but these kids don’t know what love is. They mistake sex for love and that has caused a great deal of damage.” I spoke without compromise. (Even though I knew that they are camping out together and obviously sleeping together.)
Much to my surprise, they continued to ask me questions and stretched out the conversation for nearly an hour. Just as it was getting dark, Tony walked up and I introduced them to him. We chatted a few more minutes and then, Gram stated, “Well, we were going to just dump the tent and camping stuff tomorrow on our way to the Airport, but maybe you could use it.” Of course we agreed. It was settled that they would leave the tent set up for us since they were leaving very early the next morning. Tony handed Sarah one of our cards and we said our goodbyes, inviting them to come to Okahandja and visit sometime.
The next morning, Tony pulled a few things out of the little tent including a soft cooler, a lantern, a sleeping bag, two beach towels and a kitchen knife. The rest of our camp staff looked puzzled as Tony loaded the items into our tent. “Did you steal that stuff from those people? What are you doing?” After we had a good laugh, we had a chance to remind them that you never know who you will meet and what God has in store – if you just obey and walk through the open door.
We pray for Sarah and Gram that they will seek to know the God of creation and make Him their Lord and Savior. It’s apparent to us that God was reaching out to them through us. I love this job!
It didn’t take long for them to ask me why we were there. Come on, you see a white lady and all these black kids camping out – you can imagine their curiosity. So naturally I took the open door and shared about our mission here, including a brief message of the “Choose to Wait” program. I boldly stated that God has a design for His children to have healthy bodies and healthy marriages, but our selfish nature has taken over and wreaked havoc causing disease and death, pain and suffering. “God’s design is that sex is for marriage and marriage is for love, but these kids don’t know what love is. They mistake sex for love and that has caused a great deal of damage.” I spoke without compromise. (Even though I knew that they are camping out together and obviously sleeping together.)
Much to my surprise, they continued to ask me questions and stretched out the conversation for nearly an hour. Just as it was getting dark, Tony walked up and I introduced them to him. We chatted a few more minutes and then, Gram stated, “Well, we were going to just dump the tent and camping stuff tomorrow on our way to the Airport, but maybe you could use it.” Of course we agreed. It was settled that they would leave the tent set up for us since they were leaving very early the next morning. Tony handed Sarah one of our cards and we said our goodbyes, inviting them to come to Okahandja and visit sometime.
The next morning, Tony pulled a few things out of the little tent including a soft cooler, a lantern, a sleeping bag, two beach towels and a kitchen knife. The rest of our camp staff looked puzzled as Tony loaded the items into our tent. “Did you steal that stuff from those people? What are you doing?” After we had a good laugh, we had a chance to remind them that you never know who you will meet and what God has in store – if you just obey and walk through the open door.
We pray for Sarah and Gram that they will seek to know the God of creation and make Him their Lord and Savior. It’s apparent to us that God was reaching out to them through us. I love this job!
Tony will write more about the camp..... soon..... but here are a few pics to get you started.
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