Thanksgiving in Namibia

Well we are about to celebrate our second major holiday this week since arriving in Namibia.  Thanksgiving will be quite different here. 

Kristen and my mom are working on their shopping list as we are making a big Thanksgiving dinner for many of the people around us here.  We will be the only family in our town celebrating Thanksgiving.  We are blessed to have my parents here to celebrate with.  Needless to say Kristen and mom have quite a challenge on their hands today.  No turkey this year, or ham as you can not find either one within 5 hours drive of our town.  No pumpkin pie, as they do not have pumpkins this time of year, and no canned pumpkin like back home.  No sweet potato casserole as we have white sweet potatoes and not the orange ones like home, and they are nothing the same. And it is hot outside, not cold!

The substitute for the turkey are chickens, but our whole chickens are a little larger that the size of Cornish hens back home.  Namibia is very strict on animal raising for human consumption, no antibiotics or growth hormones are allowed in animals.  This is actually a good thing, so we got four chickens to cook.  We did see some turkey's at a farm recently, but he would not let us purchase one for the big day! :)

Black Friday will be a day of rest, since there is no such thing here, and well there are no Wal-Marts, Target's, Mall's, or Best Buy's to stay up all night in the cold for the reduced price on computers, camera's, play stations and mp3 players.

No big NFL football game to fall asleep to on the couch after eating way too much food, well I guess that only applies to most of us guys.

But this is what we do have for Thanksgiving, we have Jesus.  This year we are not going to have our minds cluttered by all the stuff above.  We will have nothing to distract us from just being thankful for God's gift of salvation through the death of His Son on the cross.  This year we are thankful for our precious salvation, we are thankful for the calling God has laid on our hearts and for sending us here to Namibia, as we have learned quite a lot in this past year of service.  We are thankful that God has given our family the chance to experience living in a world that is not nearly as blessed as back home, so that we can focus more on God and not ourselves and our worldly desires.  We are thankful for the blessing of our supporters back home that God has used to help send us to this mission field as we share together in presenting the Gospel to a lost world.  And we are thankful that we have my parents here to share this day with.

We pray for all of you that you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year as well.  We are thankful for all of you, for your thoughts and prayers and financial support that makes this ministry all the more worth it as we work together to share Christ to the ends of the earth.

God bless!