Final Remarks

It has been a great experience and its amazing it is over now. The five months went by faster than I could have imagined but I am ready for the next steps ahead. Going into my time abroad I was very frustrated with the Lord and had no clear direction for my life but since going on the DTS the Lord has really blessed me and opened multiple opportunities for me. God has really showed me how to trust him and he made himself real to me through different experiences including the holy spirit week. Although I did have a lot of fun I also had a great time serving the Lord. I would say my favorite thing for my time away was the story about the hippo and also about talking to people in the restaurant. God has blessed me a lot and I hope that I will be able to continue to walk with the Lord. My time has allowed me to see many things about Christianity and was able to look at it from different perspectives. Now that my time at YWAM is finished it is time to look to the future. While on my DTS it seemed the Lord had given me three options: go to Australia to staff a YWAM backpacking DTS, lead a hiking ministry for college aged kids in Seatle, or to attend Graduate school to get my masters in International Care and Community Development. Although I was leaning towards the hiking ministry in Seattle, I feel that going to school will open so many doors for me (hopefully somewhere like World Vision) and God may later on have me do the hiking ministry on the side. I want to thank all of you who have contributed to my amazing time in YWAM Lesotho. Your prayers and contributions have allowed me to be blessed as much as I was. So again I thank you for all your support and keeping up with reading my blog. I hope you have enjoyed reading through my story and I hope it has blessed you as much as it has blessed me. I can't wait till see where God takes me next!

Debriefing Week

It’s amazing that this is the last week. I will be on a plane in only a few days but it has been an amazing journey. During the first few days of the week we had a speaker come in to talk to us about returning home. For the first two days we where taught about how to go about telling our story to those to ask and how to explain in 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 15 minutes what we did and how we have been affected. For Monday and Tuesday we had the pleasant surprise of having Marie stay with us again (she was the student that didn't come on outreach to work at a orphanage.) It was great to catch up with her and to swap stories. It seemed quickly apparent that it was for the better that she didn't come on outreach for she was able to do some amazing things in the corporate world and it allowed our team to open up more and grow together (especially Joy which was her best friend). This last week was fairly hard on me because I had gotten to the point where all of us where ready to go home and ready to get away from each other. Although I enjoyed my time, I was ready to be with my friends and family once again and in 7 days that would be a reality. On Tuesday we had more classes on telling our story and during the day we very bored. There isn't to much to do in Maseru so we just played a lot of the card game Uno and would go to movies at the theater (only 2 dollars too!) and try to watch the important World Cup games in this empty room in the mall that they made into an impromptu bar. On Wednesday, our last day of lectures, our speaker talked about what we where going to do next in our lives and how to plan for it. He told us that we need to put less pressure on ourselves about our calling and to look at what our desires are, education, and that the Lord will lead us toward the area he wants us to be in. It took a lot of pressure off me to not have to have an obvious, in your face, calling and that God can put opportunities in front of you and will give you the skills to be successful in that and to glorify God in that. I have always felt that the Lord would be obvious with me and in some ways was hoping he would just literally telling, do this, but now I see that he has given me some unique gifts and opportunities and he will lead me towards something but it may not be as obvious as I would like. As I went to pray after that God seemed to put on my heart to go ahead with doing a ministry with college students in the outdoors. This would include taking these guys on camping trips, rock climbing, and disciple them. It was great to feel that the Lord wants me to do something that seems so fun and exciting. Although I am going to take a lot more time of praying and asking for confirmation it seemed right. That afternoon was definitely the high of the week but what happen after that would definitely be the low. Soon after we as a group tried to talk to our base leader about getting clarity and transparency of how the finances where being used and it created some tension for the rest of the week. The back-story is that at times during the DTS we had asked for clarity on the finances and he wouldn't give us a budget. Other times he put a student in charge of the finances for the outreach phase and she was asking him about the finances and he got very defensive and walked away. Since he wasn't around very much and acted fussy about the money it created a barrier between the students and the base leader. He also mentioned that if we saved money for outreach we could use some of it to go out to eat during the last week and so we asked him about that. When we sat down with him he was very offended that we even asked about the finances and stormed out and created a tension filled last week. It took a second meeting with other staff members and a mediator to finally help resolve the broken relationship. I had a chance if I wanted to ask once again about the money and see if we could get the extra back, as many other bases had done if there was money left over, but after praying and talking to a few people I felt God wanted me to let it go. I have been blessed a lot and I realized the money wasn't mine anyways it was God's money. Although the last week was very tense with our leader we tried to make the best out of it by relaxing and enjoying our last week together as students. Wednesday afternoon we went to go buy these blankets that the people from Lesotho make...very beautiful and warm! On Thursday we all went to some chick flick that although wasn't very good it was filmed in Seattle and it made me very excited to go home! On Friday we where able to relax a little after our talk with Nathan about the finances was over (as I mentioned earlier), and we where able to enjoy watching a few fifa games that night. I would say at around Friday and Saturday I really just wanted to get out of there...the maturity level of these fellow students where getting to me. They would blow those vuvuzellas (the horns you hear during the World Cup games) in the house and right next to me. After multiple times asking them to stop, I couldn't handle it anymore and just wanted to leave. On a more positive note I was able to enjoy the last few days by watching a movie every night. One night we watched toy Story 3, another a pirated version of x-men origins (yeah we got it from the movie rental store...only in Africa) and another night I watched Stranger than fiction. On Saturday we had our graduation and although it was small it was great to finally be done with the DTS and at this point there where only 2 days left before we headed home. It was also nice to be out from under some of the DTS rules which I felt where a little ridiculous (no one of the opposite sex could give someone a backrub, among others.) On Saturday and Sunday night we had our first beer since the start of the DTS and it was against the rules. Although I didn't have that much since I only feel its good to do it in moderation it was still nice to feel somewhat normal again. In Lesotho you have to put deposits down to be able to take any glass beer bottles out of the bar and so when we finished them we went back to return them and ended up having a few wonderful conversations with the local crowd. It was fun to have one last interaction with the locals before I headed home. People in Lesotho are so friendly and it will be weird to not say hello to everyone I meet on the street. Finally Monday came and although I had been packed basically all week it was finally time to actually go. I said goodbye to everyone and headed to the airport. I happened to be on the same plane all the way to D.C. with Josh, one of the fellow students, and it allowed the flights home to be a little easier. I first flew from Maseru to Jo-burg on a 1-hour flight, and then had a 5-hour layover. I then boarded a plane to D.C. with a 1-hour stop for gas in Senegal at 1am.awesome... The next day I took a plane from D.C. to Seattle and after 24 hours of flight time (not counting layovers and time change) I was finally home. As I flew over Seattle I pointed out my parents house and was ready for the next adventure in my life. In the next post I will talk about what is next and how God has blessed me on this DTS.

Rustenburg, South Africa Week 2

So week two in Rustenburg was great. On Monday the other people on my team went back to martha's house to do the feeding program but I went with the base leader to go to a soccer camp. The whole day I took about half, 20 or so, of these kids that showed up for this free soccer camp. Most of the kids went to the school next to the soccer field. The ages ranged from 8 to 14 and we tried to usual split the older kids up with the younger kids. Most of the kids lived in the small shacks that surround the soccer field. The reason they where having a soccer camp was that a bank in Germany decided to donate a lot of money to build a small field turf field for the kids to enjoy and it was our job to put together a soccer camp before they arrived and to also talk to them after the camp about life lessons like tell the authorities or parents when bad things happen, etc. Anyways, the first day of the soccer camp I took half of the kids and just winged it. I have never coached any soccer camps so I just went of my previous knowledge and what I had to do as a kid when I played. It was so fun! It was hard at times to think of things to do but eventually I got used to it and really got the hang of it. After the soccer camp I went back to marthas where the rest of the team was and played with the kids there for a bit then we usually just relaxed after that which made the week fairly easy. On Tuesday I went back to the soccer camp and this time the rest of the team came to help me out with the camp. The guys helped do the soccer camp and the girls helped with netball...which is basically a mix between ultimate frisbie and basketball. On wednesday we went back to martha's house and did the usual program that we did the week before. I also played a lot of soccer with the kids there as well so this whole week included a lot of soccer...which was awesome! On thusday we went back to the soccer camp and after doing a normal set of drills...which I mainly had them do passing drills (africans seem to like to dribble a lot and shoot a lot..so i just had them pass)... they finally got to play on the new field turf field that the germans paid for. Before they had been playing on the dirt field next to it but for at least a little bit that day they got to play a scrimmage and I was a referee for a bit. I couldn't handle it anymore and after one of the kids left I went in a played awww I missed playing! That night we went to the Japan vs. Denmark World Cup match. Martha's house had been given a lot of tickets from sony to go to the game and Martha gave some of them to us so we got to go to the game for free!!! I rooted for Japan which won 3-1 and it was an overall great game...so much fun. It had been a dream of mine to go to a game and finally I had my chance! We soon realized at the game that the U.S. was going ot play in the same stadium on saturday..the same day we planned on leaving.. I got so excited and pleaded that we could stay one more day! On friday we did more of a soccer camp and at one point they weren't listening to me so I almost made them do sprints but after they listened up I let them play a fun game. Soon after I said goodbye to all the kids and also at Martha's house. After that, and much pleading, we headed to the fifa ticket office (there was so much security!) to get our tickets for the U.S. game. They only had category 2 tickets which where about 130 dollars. At first the ones that where interested said no, except me of course! Soon after Josh one of my teammates said sure I will go with you and we quickly ran back to get the tickets. Soon after I was suppose to go on a blind date but it was canceled so my south african blind date experience never happened haha. That night we where invited to the base leader of Rustenburg's house. We ended up just relaxing and watching Gladiator. The next day was game day...I was so excited..I was going to a U.S. game!!!! After cleaning up the house and doing facepaint (which we only could find fingerpaint but we went with it) we also painted our white undershirts. When we got to the game we had about 30 different random people want our picture. We also had the New York Post amoung other journalists take our picture. As we waited around for the game to start josh and myself got interviewed by about 4 or 5 tv channels..many of which where spanish countries...random! I also saw ESPN and ran over to be in the background so if anyone saw me let me know haha. I never felt so famous with all this attention! As we sat down we quickly realized that everyone except us and a few U.S. fans where all going for Ghana. This also included the English fans that where behind us that bought tickets thinking their team was going to play but they didn't. So all the English fans where trying to piss us off my yelling in our ear, "Go Ghana." The game itself didn't go the way I would have liked, obviously, but it was great to go to a world cup game and see the U.S. play...it has been a dream of mine to do!!!! After the game as I was walking to the bus another channel interviewed me and knowing I was repersenting all U.S. fans I tried to be as cordial as possible and I wished Ghana the best and the continent of Africa eventhough I didn't really want to. I soon found out that the channel was SABC which is the largest South African TV channel. So I was broadcasted all over the country haha. On Sunday we just got ready and headed out. We soon found out on the way home that the car was leaking antifreeze and we had to keep filling the radiator with water. It was hard to get home but eventually we made it to Lesotho. It is quite weird to be back but am looking forward to getting home now! In only a week I will be back in Seattle!

Rustenburg, South Africa Week 1

So after we finally arrived to south africa we went to the YWAM base in Rustenburg to stay for 2 weeks. We arrived late friday night and I had to jump the fence and walk around the base to find someone to be able to open the gate that was closed. The next day we just relaxed, slept in and went to the mall. At the mall there was a great amount of England fans and also U.S. fans for the U.S. England game was that night. We also had to help plan for our teammate mohapeloa to be sent back to lesotho. That night we went to watch the U.S. vs England game at a friend of a friends house. It was a huge house with a nice t.v., pool, hot tub...you name it. I felt like I was back in the states and visiting a rich friend. It was great to see the first half of the game there...but everyone wanted to go back to the base to see the second half so we quickly left and tried to make it back in time for the second half and although I was a bit nervous we would miss some of the game we did make it in time. On sunday we went to the mall again and watched Robinhood...yeah it just came out here I dunno about the states but probably has been out for awhile! That night I went to Mcdonalds with the team...something I would never do in the states but outside the U.S. its not that bad. On Monday we went to a orphanage I guess you could say...except none of the kids live there...its mainly kids who come there after school or anytime they can..so they can be away from their houses. I think a few do live at the house but most do not. For the whole week outside of tuesday we planned things for them each day (11am to 3pm). These consist of teaching about a country of the world, a bible story, a craft, and a few games. After we are done with that we just go back and relax most days..or on tuesday we had a 2 hour intersession time which we are not used to. At our base we have a lot of intersession time but try to split it up into different days. On Tuesday we went to a squater camp to pray for the clinic's patients there. If anyone has seen District 9 that is basically what these people are living in. The government allows people to rent these shacks but gives them basically nothing else and they are surrounded by barbwire..its horrible. We prayed for about 6 different people that day including one lady that got stabbed in the face because a guy wanted her cellphone and attacked her for it. It was har to see these people in these kinds of conditions. Also many of the people living there are actually from Lesotho. What happens a lot of the time is the man goes to work in the mines and then brings the kids and wife and then he either loses his job and is stuck there or never finds a job. Also sometimes the lady and the kids come to live with the father then he leaves them and they are stuck. Instead of sending them home to their countries (most of the people aren't even from South Africa) they force the people to live in these camps. That night we had an intersession meeting and prayed for about an hour then as it got quiet the Rustenburg team tried to help to continue the prayer time by asking if any of us needed prayer and I asked for prayer. Over the past few weeks I had been looking forward to going home but at the same time feel like I will be in the same place I was before...eventhough I have changed as a person. As they prayed one of the staff members told me she kept getting the words, leader... This wasn't the first time people have felt the lord is calling me to leadership. I feel the Lord wanted to reiterate to me that yes he does want me to be a leader and I should keep looking down on myself. It was nice to hear that and it brought my spirits up. On wednesday through friday during the day we went to Martha's house, which is across the street from the Fifa stadium, which is the orphanage as we went to on monday. We again had a similar agenda and have been starting to get to know the kids better. On saturday we went on a second safari...yeah God is spoiling us. This time the safari was a bit different for we drove our own car and there where many many people there because of the world cup. Instead of having hippos charge us like last time..we actually saw a dead hippo, a bunch of wildabeast, a few giraffe, and a rhino (which we didn't see at the other place so that was cool). We also had a warthog come right up to our car and give it a love tap. It was funny that this warthog was just walking around the parking lot in the center of the park. Although it was fun...it wasn't the same as the park in Maun. Outside of those things this week we have been hanging out with a staff member named Ryan and watching as many of the Fifa games as I can. Our time in rustenburg has been luxury compared to the other places for we have a bed, a kitchen and apartment that we can use (which was for our base leader but didn't come..story coming..) Also can watch fifa with ryan..so its been quite relaxing and fun...So originally nathan our base leader was suppose to come for both weeks here but because of visa stuff that got changed to one week...then because mohape came back to lesotho he had to plan for his two weeks before we all came back and so it looked like he wasn't going to come.... We hadn't seen nathan for 3 weeks because he left when we where in the bush to go to a leaders meeting, but something we didn't know till a few days ago was that when he got back to his house he started to be hurassed by someone. For the past 6 days he found slaughted and mutulated animals on his doorstep. it seemed like it was witchcraft or something, which is everywhere in lesotho, and someone didn't like that God was with him. Because of these different animals that where placed on his doorstep he decided that it would be best for him to stay home and not come visit us in Rustenburg. On sunday we went to church and didn't have to plan it which was very nice and took the whole Rustenburg team out to lunch. On Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a short hike up to a prayer chapel on the mountain and had a great quiet time. Our time here so far has been a lot of fun and looking forward to next week but I am and have been for a bit counting down the days till I head back to the states I am ready to go home and be with my family and friends!

Maun

As we got to Maun we didn't really know how we would fill our week but we knew that the Lord would help us in that. We didn't have to stay in a tent for the first time in 5 weeks...we did still sleep on a floor but it was better than the tent. During the day it was quite warm but at night it was very cold and we froze in our sleeping bags. The day after we arrived we went on a safari and had to leave at 5 in the morning. As we got into the safari truck, which was just us and our guide, it was an open truck and well it wasn't warm. We all froze until the sun came up about 2 hours later. It took about 2 hours to get to the begining of the park. Before we even got to the park though we saw 3 of the 5 "big 5". First we saw the water buffalo, then we saw a giraffe and finally and the most awesome in my opinion was the lion. They said it was rare to see the lions before the park but we didn't just see them...we saw a male relaxing in the grass and we drove slowly up to him. We got within maybe 10 or 15 feet. We stayed there for a bit and it seemed to just pose for us it was amazing. After we started to go to the gate of the game park our leader realized she dropped her camera and we all looked back and there was the lion walking across the road we just where at..maybe 500 yards behind us. As we drove back the guide got as close as he could to give us more opportunities for pictures and to get the girls camera back which was in the middle of the road. After we went into the park we saw many other animals but it wasn't until we saw the hippo that made the biggest memories... Mohape first pointed them out and our guide was, "they are out of the water? oh crap." He went on to say that hippos don't having things between them and the water and well we where very close to being that thing. Our guide decided to gun it and try to get away from the hippo before they noticed we where in there way but one of them heard us. As we gunned the truck the hippo started charging us. I was in the very back leaning out of the truck and taking as many pictures as I could but then it got closer and closer and the girls started to scream. As the hippo started running at us and got within 5 feet I thought it may hit us so I then jumped in the truck and ducked but at the last second the hippo changed direction and ran into the water. Although it was a little scary it was also awesome to have a hippo run at us...great memories. Although nothing the rest of the day topped that we did see a few elephants. We got very close to this old male and actually got near him when he was releaving himself which was hillarious. He got within 10 feet or so and it really shows the amazing grandure that they have. Later in the day we also found about 10 lions lying on eachother and on their backs because they had just eating a water buffalo that was nearby. They where just relaxing and being lazy so eventhough we got really close they didn't even move. After that we didn't see to much else but just seeing the lions, elephants and a charging hippo it was so worth it! On saturday we did more yard work and just relaxed. On sunday we went to a local church where I told my testimony and talked about the importance of taking a step of faith with God and how he will bless you in that. We also helped with the kids church and after the church a random man in the congregation handed me 1000 pula and said he wanted to bless our team with that. 1000 pula is about 175 dollars. On monday we did yard work then went to a school to do a bible story and found out that prince harry and also the jonas brothers are in Maun and specifically the Jonas brothers are playing at this school...The school was the nicest school I had seen in a long time in the states or here. As we prayed to see what God wanted us to do with the money we felt that God wanted us to go to this local botswana hangout restraunt called choice and pay for different people's meals then sit down with them and tell them about the gospel. Before we did that in the afternoon we did a bit of street evangelism which for me is hard to do but the Lord blessed us and we talked to these two college students for about an hour. That night we ended up going to that restraunt...choice. This was also somethign I was nervous about because walking up to people is not my forte but I went with it. As I went up to talk to two guys they where shocked that they wanted to pay for them and although they where not that talkative I was able to talk to them about God for 45 minutes. After that I went to talk to another guy that was drinking by himself and he was way more talkative. Josh, Mohape, and myself talked with him and enjoyed hearing about his life and eventually told him about God. Its amazing how open the people in africa have been about hearing about the Lord. If we did the same thing in the states it would have never worked. As I talked to these guys our other teammates talked to other people and we ended up talking to about 10 people that night. The next day we did what do you know...more yardwork..I must be in shape now! After the yardwork we met up with a few guys that Josh had talked to the other day and the girls talked to a few people that they met with the night before. As we eventually found the guys we where to talk more about God with a few more where interested in coming including one guy that knew the bible very very well and was preaching to me. Once we all sat down another guy showed up and found out about what we did last night and walked about 2 hours just to talk with us and so he sat down and we all talked about God. There was about 9 of us at this small table enjoying botswana food and talking about the Lord. Out of the guys that where most interested was the preacher and the guy that walked 2 hours to see us. After the others left these two sticked around for awhile to talk longer. I feel blessed that because of listening to God we where able to meet and talk to these guys. Just before we parted Josh gave the "preacher" his bible and the other guy was really excited about what we where doing and was interested in joining YWAM eventually. The next day we left in the morning because we wanted to drop by Ghanzi, our first stop, to see a few people we met with. When we got there we went to talk with the paralyzed kids again and we all felt that they should take off the bands that they had around their waists. They had got them from the Zion church and basically came from a traditional healer or witch doctor. We knew that the bands can come with many demons and felt they needed to take them off and burn them. We talked with them for awhile about it and eventually took them off which was very encouraging but once we started praying I felt they needed to burn it and not just place it in the room. I then mentioned they needed to burn it but as I told the mom she told me she had to tell the dad and then when the dad came back he said he had to talk to the church. At that point we realized they where only trying to please us by takign them off but they truly didn't trust that we where telling them the truth and they trusted those bands more thang God's healing. At that point we all prayed then said bye but all felt dissapointed and frustrated that they had only done it to please us. We feel sad that that happen but we know that we did all we could in the time we had. We just slept on the floor in the same house we stayed at when we where there the first 2 weeks. That next day we tried to leave for Rustenburg, South Africa and so we left early in the morning. We where suppose to be in rustenburg at 1pm but we didn't show up till 10pm... When we got to the boarder we all got through except for mohape because he had a temporary passport which is basically this piece of paper that anyone could have copied...can't believe he got all the way to botswana in the first place. Anyways South Africa changed the law while we where in Botswana and they refused to let him in. They told us that he would have to go to the south african embassy in Gabarone, Bostwana...which is about 2 hours away from where we where. So we rushed there to hopefully make it before it closed. Once we got there we found out that not only was it closed at 11am (we showed up at 5pm, and where told it was open till 4pm), but it was closed for the next 3 days because of holidays. We had to make a decision either drive back and stay with a missionary there..(hopefully), or to drive to a different boarder post and pray and pray that they would let him in at least to get to his home in Lesotho. When we eventually got to the boarder post two girls and mohape went to each post and had to tell them the story of where we had been to try to get across the boarder and each post said, well I am pretty sure they will say no but you can try. They eventually got to the end and got a lady to say yes he can have 3 days to get back to lesotho...which is surrounded by South Africa. When the rest of the team showed up and got to the south african side the same lady wasn't there....and they wouldn't let him in. So again we all prayed and explained to them what we had to do and eventually they did give him 3 days to get back to Lesotho. That night we drove to Rustenburg and just crashed. We realized mohape had to go back to lesotho ASAP now or he would be arrested but at least we got through! Hello South Africa!

The Bush Week 3

Another week in the bush and another week of more yardwork. On monday we did a small bit of painting, while the girls cleaned the missionaries house. That day the guys went ontop of this carport which the structure was made of wood but the roof was made of grass so it was a little scary since my leg would fall through the roof everyonce in awhile. We took off the tarp that was covering it so they could take the carport down at another time. That night I taught mohape how to play solitare and enjoyed the night. Tuesday we did a lot of weeding and yardwork at a different church plot but it felt just like all the other spots we have done yardwork at. This week I started to feel a bit down and looked forward to getting home and was in a negative mood for a bit until I got called out for having a bad attidute. Since then I have been counting down the days till I get back. I have been enjoying my time and looking forward to the rest of the time but also ready to go home...its a weird place to be. On wednesday a massive truck came with a bunch of supplies for the missionary family...The two drivers where from his home church in south africa and had everything from building supplies to batteries to chairs they left in their old house. We spent most of the day helping unload all the stuff. That night we spent a wonderful last night in the bush. They where nice enough to let us sleep in their house and allow us to pack up early so we could leave early for Maun. That night after dinner as an act of graditute and to bless us they washed our feet and affirmed each of us and we did the same for them. The next morning they blessed us even more by making great pancakes...who knew having awesome pancakes in the bush! We then got in the car and headed to Maun which is still a small town but known for being the tourist spot to stay if you want to go into the Okavango Delta. I will talk about that more in the next post on Maun.

The Bush Week 2

To say week two started with a bang is well a little too true. We went to a local village to pick up an ox (a male castrated cow) for a team that will come in a month or so. When we got there we had to help them rope the ox and then hold onto a rope to get it under control so they could slaughter it...I know now that was the plan but they didn't tell us when they where hey come over here and hold this rope... As we, about 4 of us, held the rope we got pulled around the ring and I was in the front very close to the cow. I definitly got an adreniline rush from pulling it to the ground. After we did that the cow everntually gave up and the local bushman took a large hammer and wacked the ox on the top of the head and it shook a bit then he did it 3 more times before it died. It was a shock seeing them do it like that but hey this is the bush they don't have any fancy modern items to kill the oxes. Once it was killed we pulled it on a trailer and took it back to our camp. At the camp myself and our team helped the locals cut up the cow and take out its guts and such. My white clothes, the only clothes i didn't care about getting dirty, where full of blood by the time that was done a few hours later. After they cut it into a few large pieces that was only the start. For the next 3 days we spent helping the missionary cut up the meat into steaks, beef stew pieces, and billtong (South African Jerky). A few members of our team got cuts from the very sharp knifes we where using and a had infected fingers. After we where done eventhough the meat was for other people we where giving a piece of it..About 10 pounds of ribs...we ate all we could and it still lasted for 2 more meals!!! Although the meat was a bit tough it tasted great! The next day we went to a village to go pray with them but we soon found out that a girl (about 16 years old)had been in labor for 2 days and needed someone to take her to the clinic and so our plans of being there with them ended and we prayed for the girl then took her to the clinic. You never know what will happen in the bush or africa! On Friday we went to Namibia and went to visit these HUGE baobab trees that can be seen in planet earth and the kids movie madagascar. The ones we saw where about 2000 years old...yes 2000 years old. The trunk was about 10 feet wide and we could easily walk on its limbs! It was great to hang out there for the day and have a picnic. The following day Dries and myself had to go back to Namibia to get gas becauase most of botswana had a gas strike going on. As we where half way to the small town that had gas we saw a 10 foot black momba cross the road. As we slowed down it stood up and a third of its body was in the air! It was great seeing another black mamba! There was chaos at the gas station because that gas station was also out of gas the day before and this day the gas truck just showed up so there was a large line to get gas. That night we also watched the Super-14 Rugby championship game which had 2 south african teams. Dries was really into the stormers a team from his local home town and so we rooted for them and had a lot of fun watching rugby in the bush with him. I never have been to much into rugby but after being told of the rules and strategy it was a lot more interesting that it had been for me before. Sunday we relaxed most the day and Joy did a short sermon for the bushman at a local village. It was cool to sit around in a circle with bushman and have a worship time with them. We also prayed for the local "healer" or witch doctor. He was very open to what we had to say and was open to be prayed for. I never thought we would be praying for a witch doctor and with one that is as open as he was about christianity. Well we spent 4 more days in the bush but will talk about that in the next post.