On Tour

So actually, I wrote this post at the end of April, but...there are supposed to be a couple of videos accompanying it, and I have stubbornly held onto until, waiting to upload it until I can load the videos. Then it hit me: this is Africa! It's a good day when I can get a picture to load! Video? What was I thinking. I'm hoping maybe I can send the videos home and they can be uploaded from there. You should wait in anticipation-they're priceless.
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This past Tuesday we became [short-lived] celebrities when we took our clown ministry on the road.

Clown ministry, you say. What is that?

We didn’t know, either. We were asked to do it for a pre-school and thought, heck, if we make fools of ourselves, who cares?

Then, we were asked to do it for 3 farm schools. Yep, ALL the kids at each school. It was an adventure. But well worth it. Most of these kids don’t get to see special presentations or entertainment, and most of them are very, very poor. Their excitement was more than enough reason to do it.

We had some difficulty getting there. This flat tire happened about 15 minutes into the drive. For the first school. And, just in case you can’t tell, it was flat. And this was not the only transportation…challenge. We had to go on “D” roads to reach our destinations. In Namibia, a “B” road is paved (though not necessarily smooth), a “C” road is gravel (a rougher version of what we have at home), and then there are “D” roads, which are basically farm trails, an at-your-own-risk affair.
Believe it or not, we got there relatively intact (although possibly traumatized). We got to work.

In the Clown Salon

Without saying any words or making any sound [not really a huge deal, since we can‘t speak the language anyway], we told the story of Jesus dying to save us from our sins. It was simplified, of course, and somewhat allegorical, but the message was all there. Telling you is great, of course, but I think it would be better to show you…

While we played with bubbles, balloons, and toys (we shared : )…

…they sat riveted.

Then in came the “sin clown” who tempted everyone with sin balloons.

Once we took them, we were frozen and could focus on nothing else.

After the “Jesus clown” died, we popped our sin balloons on the cross.

Even the “sin clown.” YAY!

This is us at the end of the day, in front of our tour bus. It gives new meaning to the word “clown car.”