Church and Other Social Activities

For anyone reading this blog that might not be aware, Karen and I are active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and served in various leadership capacities in the Charlotte area before coming to Namibia. Well, our church service continues down here and fills in another block of our time outside of work and travel. There are three small local congregations (we call them Branches) in Windhoek which probably have a total attendance of 250 to 300 on any Sunday. We are in the Windhoek Branch where there are 80 or 90 that regularly attend. Karen has been asked to serve as a Seminary teacher. Seminary is a gospel study program for high school age students that meets regularly during the week before or after school (usually before school in the States). Here, it meets after school on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Karen is one of three instructors and she teaches on Thursdays. She has 7 or 8 students.

I have been asked to work with the young men (ages 12 to 18) in our branch. Recently, we held an pizza making activity on a Saturday. It has been lots of fun. Below are some pictures of the activity.

Karen and I have also been asked to teach a special Sunday School class that is intended to help some members prepare to attend one of the Church's temples (we can provide more details to anyone who may be interested - just let us know). So, our church activities are keeping us busy and provide us an opportunity to engage more directly with the local community.

We were also recently invited to attend a going away party for a Namibian family that was moving to the States (the husband will be attending graduate school). This was our first invite (outside the Embassy) to a social event at someone's home. Namibians are much more formal in everything they do and there was table cloths and seat covers, real glassware and china, etc. Namibians also like to talk when given the podium and we had 45-minutes for going away speeches and testimonials before we actually got to the meal.

They served grilled chicken, sausage, and game steaks with potato salad, boiled eggs, green peppers, and lettuce salad. There was bottled water and soda to drink (Namibians really like the fruit flavored sodas; orange, grape, etc.). Before the meal, they pass around a pitcher and basin of hot water so everybody can wash their hands. Namibians grill a lot and most houses have some type of outdoor oven or grill as shown in the picture below.

Karen has also started to volunteer at a couple of schools; helping with their after school literacy programs. So, besides work and travel, we are trying to stay busy.