Forgive my blog today if it's a little foggy. I'm still recovering from jet lag, and a 32-hour trip home - oh my goodness! I can't believe how long it takes to get to Namibia - it's one of those "you can't get there from here" things. I keep telling everyone that it's like having a baby—the day after you say you'll NEVER do it again, but then a few days later you start to reconsider. We had such a huge response that I imagine we WILL reconsider for next year, but hopefully with the family so we aren't separated, and with a few stops in between to make it more tolerable.

This trip was so different because we worked in the developed areas of Namibia—modern cities where we held conferences in churches just like we do here in the US. The difference was in the hunger of the people and their true desire to be different. It's hard to find that kind of passion in America.

And it was so COLD at night. It was winter in country, and we just really couldn't get our heads around how bone-chilling it would be. Our first stop was at a mall to buy long-sleeved shirts! Our hosts also bought us jackets and electric blankets - their hospitality was amazing, and they treated us just like family. Everyone we met was warm and friendly, a true joy to know.

I spoke and spoke and spoke until I felt like I couldn't give the message any more! Two sermons, umpteen youth groups and schools, two full conferences and everything in between. Our team was probably sick of hearing it by the end, but we had some other great opportunities, too, interacting with the poor in a squatter's camp and contributing to families' incomes by purchasing crafts and jewelry, passing out books and gifts and blankets and shoes, learning from missionaries Lon and Val Garber in rural Namibia, watching children in public schools being taught biblical truth (heartbreaking that we can't be as outspoken in our own "enlightened" country), our teen girls working with poor preschool children …

But we also got to do some amazing things on a couple of days off, like climbing Dune 7 (it's like being on a dinosaur's back), riding the dunes on quad bikes (something my mom would NEVER have let me do), and a safari where the rhinos got so close we could have touched them. African wildlife is always awe-inspiring.

African community is such a blessing to me. It's one of the things that makes coming home so hard. By the time our visit is over, I can hardly bear to leave the sweet family that we've come to know and love. We are already sending emails back and forth and looking forward to more fellowship next year, as well as publishing our materials in the area so they can be available to EVERYONE.

Have I said before that everyone should go on a trip like this? I say it again. Don't put it off. Get out there!

Thanks to so many of you who prayed and contributed and followed our blog and sent emails—you are so dear and you made an impact on hundreds of lives that are thinking differently today about purity and becoming newly committed to living that truth. Because of you, some of these new friends will not contract AIDS, and that is a reason to celebrate and continue to partner with our brothers and sisters in Africa. Purity works! We saw it in Namibia and continue to see it every day …