Daniel in Africa!

Dear Friends,

After long months of planning, fundraising, training, and preparations, I
have finally launched to Africa to assist the Petersen’s in the Himba church
planting project. As I type this, I am crossing the Atlantic Ocean en-route to
Namibia, Africa! So first off, I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of you
who are supporting me through your prayers! That means a lot–just to know
you are praying for me. Also many of you have supported me financially in
this undertaking–for that I am very grateful! Without your support, this
mission trip could not have happened. Of course, I don’t want anyone to think
for a minute that this mission trip is about me or anything I can do–this
venture is all about God and what God is doing, through people like you and
me, to reach the unreached in Africa and around the globe. It is my fervant
hope and prayer that God can work through me and the Himba Project team, as
well as you–our supporters in the United States–to reach souls for His
Kingdom. I also hope and pray that you will be blessed and inspired to
continue service for God and perhaps even join frontier mission work as a
short-term or career missionary.

Anyway, let me take a few moments to review some of the miracles that God
has worked over the past few months to bring me to this place. As you likely
know, I officially joined AFM (Adventist Frontier Missions) about this time
last year–largely as a result of reading the Adventist Frontiers Magazine
and getting acquainted with a couple AFM missionary families: Tim and Dawn
Holbrook and David and Cindy White. The last year has been filled with
adventures in itself: I spent 2 weeks in Cuba last spring helping with a
condensed evangelistic series. Last year was my second year of community
college, so I had all of the usual busyness that goes along with college
life, along with working part-time at the Somerset Oil Refinery. The summer
and fall were filled with fundraising speaking appointments at various
churches around south-central Kentucky, as well as spending an exciting month
in July and August in Berrien Springs, MI, experiencing the AFM training
program where I learned many valueable things and had some unforgettable
experiences (such as losing my wallet, and having it found again in the
strangest circumstances).

This fall, my goal was to finish my fundraising and my AAS degree at
Somerset Community College. I finished all the classes I needed to graduate
with good grades–although I came very close to not finishing two of the
cap-stone classes in my degree: the last to classes in Oracle database. I was
literally down-to-the-wire the last week, but by God’s grace and through much
prayer and support from parents and praying friends, I was able to finish and
turn in the last assignments within hours of the deadline. Also, I not only
raised the necessary funds to go, but I raised more than enough to attend the
optional re-entry program in Michigan in 2007.

The last few weeks have been a real flurry of travel and activity. In
mid-December I went to a 3-day workshop on PHP programming in Louisville,
returning home just in time to go with my family to Louisiana for the
Christmas holidays to spend some time with my grandparents. We returned home
the Tuesday after Christmas, in time for Timothy and I to go to Chattanooga,
TN, with some friends to attend the General Youth Conference. That was a real
blessing and encouragement–just the inspiration I needed before I left for
Africa.

After returning from GYC on New Year’s Day, I had only 2 weeks to do all the remaining preparation and packing to come to Africa–in addition to finishing up business at work and at home so that I could “take off” for a year. Also, all during the fall I had been communicating with the Petersen’s and the AFM office about the purchase of recording equipment for the project I’ll be doing in Africa. We weren’t sure if it would be best to purchase the equipment so I could take it with me, or to wait until I had time to do some cultural learning and research and then receive the equipment in May. Well, in the last couple weeks the AFM office decided to send the equipment with me. So, I spent the last couple weeks researching equipment and working with Pastor Laurence Burn at AFM to order the equipment and accessories needed to create a portable recording studio for the Himba recording project in Africa. We weren’t sure we were going to make it–it came down to the wire again but last Thursday I received a shipment from Fed-ex and UPS with consisted of the entire recording studio. So spent the evening Thursday and all day Friday and Sunday unpacking the equipment, testing the studio, making last-minute purchases, and then re-packing the equipment into two plastic tubs, along with all my clothes and belongings that I’ll need in Africa for the year. Truely, the last week has been just one miracle after another. The fact that all the equipment arrived, in good condition, and in time for me to pack it before I left. The fact that we were able to order the equipment from so many vendors, have it all arrive on the same day (except the batteries–they arrived Wednesday–I guess God knew I needed time to charge them!). Also,
because of the short time I had after the equipment arrived, I had no time to find out if the equipment would be too heavy to take in 2 bags or if it would even fit in the boxes I had. I could only take 70lbs per bag maximum, and only 2 free bags are allowed. But praise God–with a little stuffing I got it all in–and the bags weighed 66 lbs and 71 lbs at the airport–just at the limit but they let both bags through. I had to laugh this morning though–I guess the box with recording equipment looked suspecious or something–the security agents had to unpack it and you should have seen them all puzzling over how to put everything back in that box! They finally got it back in and closed the lid–I hope it makes it to Africa OK.

Anyway–those are some of my experiences so far. Am I a little nervous?
Yeah. Do I know God is leading? You bet! Am I going to have trials this next
year? You bet! But will God see me through? You better believe it! I don’t
expect to see crowds of people baptized this year as a result of my work in
Africa. That’s not what I’m going there to do. I don’t even know if there
will be any visible results at all. Who knows? Things may change–I may not
even end up doing recording or youth work or VBS. But one thing I know will
never change–I’m doing God’s work, and whatever He calls me to do, He’ll see
me through!

Keep pressing towards Christ!

In His Service,

Daniel