This past Monday we went to visit a couple of people, both families were Otjiherero. We have a good size population of this people group here in our town. The Otjiherero women, some today, still wear the traditional clothing from many years back during slavery. I have attached a picture below of one such lady. It was good to sit and talk with these people, but to also see the way that they live is interesting as well. You will have many people living under one roof, this home had close to ten. There were two small babies crawling around naked in the home, one happy and one not so happy. The home was very hot, due to the 100+ degree weather we have now, and there was no air circulation at all.
We spoke with the first family about the gospel and whether they understood what it meant. They did have lots of questions, but were very open to hearing what Christ had done for them on the cross. So I shared for a while and then we prayed for them. One of the ladies in the house was probably in her mid 30's and is struggling with some family issues. Her father died two years ago and her husband was killed in a car accident a year ago. She was struggling to understand why God would allow things to happen like that. There is never an easy answer for non-Christians when it comes to tragedies. Yes we can tell them that God had a reason for these things and that God is in control, but to tell them from Romans 8:28 "that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" is not easily taken. This is what gives me hope and we can only pray that God will make this same hope real in their lives also.
We then visited another Otjiherero family. It was a girl around 19 years of age, and her two brothers. They live in a small little building on the property of their Aunt. The mother and father are nowhere to be found, so the older sister takes care of the two brothers. The girl was very accepting to the Bible and we gave her and her brothers a Bible to read. I met this girl working on a local farm and she finally showed up in our church a couple weeks ago. We talked for a while about praying through the holy fire. Many tribes in Namibia believe in the worship of ancestors, and they are taught that they pray through the fire, the smoke takes the prayers up to their ancestors and then their ancestors take the prayers to God. Now we know from scripture that is not truth, but many kids that I work with struggle with this being false. By the end of our conversation we were able to joke about the fire and I asked Somoa if the fire ever talked back, he laughed, but seriously they are taught that the ancestors talk back to them and the thoughts that come to their minds are the answers. All three are supposed to be at my Saturday Bible study this week and church on Sunday, and Lord willing, they will be.
These home visitations are things I wish you could experience for yourself first hand to see how people live, their thoughts about God, and their traditional religions. This is one of the things that is out of my comfort zone each week, but once we get talking, it is one of my favorite parts of the ministry.
Please continue to pray for God's work in the lives of these people as we minister to them each week.
God Bless,
