"Teacha, Teacha!"

"Teacha, Teacha!" This is how the students at FHS address me. Teacha Rachel is sometimes a litttle hard to pronounce so they just cry out Teacha. :-)

Wow... there is so much to tell. I have been in Namibia for 11 days now. And honestly it has gone by so fast. Amanda and I arrived on a Friday had orientation Saturday moved in with our Namibian host family Sunday and began our work at FHS on Sunday. We are living with a Namibian family. The dad is from Angola, the mother is from South Africa and they have 2 daughters our age. They are such a wonderful, godly family!! Each night we have family bible study together. The way that they constantly praise the Lord and thank Him for every little thing (whether it be safe travel for the day or just providing food for dinner); they are genuinely thankful to the Lord for everything. This has truly encouraged Amanda and I to be thankful for every blessing the Lord has given us in our lives. Through everything the Lord has been so faithful. This blog may sound so vague... but it is honestly because there is so much to tell.

I love working at FHS. I am helping to teach Grade 3 and Grade 4 students. Each morning we start the day like this... I say, "Good morning, class!" and in unison the class says, "Good morning, Teacher Rachel!" Then I say, "how are you, class?" And in unison they say, "I'm fine. Thanks. How are you?" The students are trained to greet their teachers like this everyday. Then we begin the day with a bible story. They are so interested to hear about God and His word. They are so hungry for attention and love! Anytime they get an answer right I make sure to tell them "Good job!" and encourage them. They need encouragement in their lives because they really don't get it anywhere else. When they hear an encouraging word, their faces light up!


The students at FHS are come from homes that have been affected by HIV/AIDS. These children are so young and yet they carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. My heart broke the very first day being with these children. The children long for attention and love. I know God is doing great things. I am realizing just more and more each day how I NEED the Lord for strength every single day (every single moment). Please pray that I will be filled with God's love to pour out on these children. They need the love of Christ and His salvation. Thank you so much for your prayers and encouraging words! I am so blessed by the body of Christ. We serve a great God!! Continue to walk faithfully with Him and serve Him each day.

Love in Christ,
Rachel

Isaiah 61

We're here!!!

PRAISE THE LORD.... we made it safely to Windhoek, Namibia around 1 pm here and around 6 or 7 am Memphis time. I just wanted everyone to know that we made it here safely. It really is amazing to think that we just flew half way across the world in the past few days.. CRAZY! We are all a little exhausted and jet lagged. So just pray for strength. Thankfully we have orientation this weekend... which should be a good time for us to relax and gain some strength.

Namibia is beautiful.. it really is desert land though. It makes me feel like I am in the Lion King though. :-) The Rineer family is the missionary family we are working with. They are so great! And their kids are adorable. I look forward to getting to know them and serving with them. Thank you again for all your prayers! I can definately feel them. God Bless each of you!!! I am so excited what the Lord has in store!

Prayer

Dear Friends,
Today I arrived in Pearl River, NY for orientation at Africa Inland Mission. It has been so great spending time with these brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm so thankful to have these few days to rest (both physically and spiritually) and prepare for the trip to Namibia on Wednesday.

I ask that you would please pray...

• For faithfulness- pray that we will be faithful in our time with the Lord every single day. Pray that we will be disciplined and fight for that time ALONE with the Lord. We need it so much!
• For safety and for health- Amanda and I can get motion sickness easily from planes (we already were battling that on the way here to New York)... please pray that the Lord will give us physical strength as we travel to Namibia.
• For our team: Amanda and I are meeting up with the other girls on our team in Namibia. Their names are Liz and Anni. Please pray that we will be unified as the body of Christ. Pray that we will encourage the missionaries there (the Rineer Family and Cindy McClamma).
• For the people (specifically children and teachers): pray that we will boldly proclaim Christ's love and His gospel to the people of Namibia. Pray for opportunities to build relationships with the people there specifically the students and teachers we will be working with.
• For spiritual warfare: This one is a big one. Already.. even before Amanda and I left to come here to NY we were already battling satanic attack against this trip. Needless to say.. Satan does not want this trip to happen because he knows that God is going to do great things. Please pray that we will be on gaurd against Satan and his lies. Pray especially that we will be strong emotionally... as girls we can sometimes allow our emotions to get the best of us. So pray that the Lord would get the victory through all of Satan's attempts to attack us.

Thank you so much for your constant love and prayer support!! I praise God for you!!

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all gerations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21

God definately has a plan..

About 2 months ago, I heard from Africa Inland Mission that I had been accepted to serve in Africa this summer. I found out that I (along with my room mate, Amanda) would be serving in Rehoboth, Namibia. For those of you who don't know (because I sure didn't :-), Namibia is located right above South Africa along the southwestern coast of Africa. I was told we would be involved in serving through ministries such as: Women's ministry in the local church, children's ministry in an orphanage, church construction, and serving in soup kitchens in the community. My heart was filled with excitement about this opportunity the Lord had provided for me this summer. Especially when I heard about serving children in an orphanage, I was overwhelmed with excitement... working with children is my passion!! And the Lord knew that.... I mean of course He did... He was the one that placed that passion in my heart. So even though all the other ministry opportunities in Rehoboth were going to be great.... I was most excited about serving these children in an orphanage.

After a few weeks of sending out support letters and getting the ball rolling on preparing to go Rehoboth, I received a call from the director of our trip at AIM. She told me that a few ministries in Rehoboth had been put on hold and that there would not be as much work for us to do in Rehoboth. Before I could react to this news, she said reassuringly that there was a trip to Windhoek (the capital of Namibia) that was lacking in people for their team. She said that she felt with the gifts and talents Amanda and I had that this would be a perfect place for us to serve. Feeling curious and encouraged, I asked her what kind of ministry we would be doing. Then she proceeded to tell me all about Family Hope Services and their ministry... and how we would be serving with them the WHOLE time while we were in Namiba! And of course... this ministry is all about serving CHILDREN!!! These children are orphaned from families that have died from AIDS. At this point of the conversation.... I was so overwhelmed with excitement that I could not contain myself!! I then expressed to the director that serving children is my passion and that how this was such a God thing (of course) that the Lord would lead her to ask us to go.
Praise the Lord!! I am so excited about what He has in store!

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
Ephesians 3:20-21

The Background of Sanctuary...

North America reports about 100,000 new cases of HIV/AIDS each year compared to Sub-Saharan Africa which reports 2,500,000 new cases annually. (UNAIDS, AIDS epidemic update. 12/07 ) The home I will be working at in Windhoek is called Sanctuary, and it is dedicated to assisting children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Family Hope Services (FHS) is the grassroots organization started in 2003 that began as a plea to serve vulnerable caregivers, children and orphans in the area. It does this through:

~Access to education and school readiness program
~Increasing food security
~Psychosocial support and sustainable, long lasting relationships in community
~Facilitating income generation programs
~Advocacy and awareness programs. Empower youth to seek solutions to needs created by HIV/AIDS