I arrived safely in Namibia on Thursday. I have been so anxious to finally land in Windhoek!! The last few weeks have been great and filled with wonderful times of learning about the African culture, getting to know other missionaries with AIM, and just settling into the idea that I’ve moved halfway around the globe.

I flew to Namibia with 11 other people, two families of 5 and another single lady. We landed in Windhoek, right smack in the middle of their winter. Brrrr! Last night it got down below freezing! :( Aside from freezing my tail off, things are off to a great start. On the 25 mile ride from the airport to Windhoek, I was all smiles. We passed a warthog crossing sign (I haven’t seen any yet), and a couple baboons hanging out on the fence by the road. So cool! For the next week or so we’ll have orientation here. At ABO we learned a lot about the culture of East Africa. There are quite a lot of cultural differences between those countries and Namibia here in the South. We’re also learning about the history here, which is so important to understanding the people I will encounter throughout my ministry. We watched a movie last night called “Cry Freedom”, a true story about the apartheid in South Africa. Tonight we will watch “Beat the Drum”, a movie about the effects of AIDS in southern Africa.

For now, Margaux and I are staying with a missionary couple, a pediatrician and his wife. We’ll be here throughout orientation and then Margaux will head up with her team to Rundu (about 500 miles north of here) and I will move into my “permanent” living situation. I will share more details about that soon.

Yesterday we took a brief tour around some of the historic sites in the city. Namely, the Parliament building, the State House, and Heroes’ Acre, a national monument to honor heroes who died in the struggles for independence. On the way back to Mick’s house, we drove through Katatura, a former black township. It was a very sobering drive. Family of Hope Services, where I will be working, is in this part of town. I look forward to working in that area as my heart definitely broke instantly for the people there. Apparently, two-thirds of the population in Windhoek lives in Katutura.

This morning Mick took us to the store to buy converters and cell phones. I have enjoyed not having a cell phone, but it will be important to have one here to communicate with the other missionaries, for emergencies, and so on. We went to one of the malls here. It was an incredible mall with every store you could imagine, the local gym, and even a fudge shop. One strange thing about such a nice mall was that we still froze as we walked through it on this winter day. Most of it has some type of roof, but it's not completely closed off from the elements. The rest of the day was spent covering the topic of HIV/AIDS. As I’ve stated before, at least 20% of the population here have the disease. We had the opportunity to meet a lady here who is HIV-positive and has lost her husband and one of her babies to AIDS. It was good to hear her story as we must remember that AIDS is not a bunch of numbers and statistics, it is over 35 million men, women, and children living daily with the disease. It could be so easy to be overwhelmed by the needs here. I just trust that God will lead me one day at a time, one person at a time. Thank you for your prayers. Keep ‘em coming!