Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Friday, August 7, 2009
Let me be clear.
I just realized something, and it was bothering me, so I wanted to clear it up, even if I am the only one who picked up on this. I have written about me trip to Africa. I tried to paint a small picture of what we did, but I realized that most of my posts dealt with the animals, housing, food and fun that we had. Make no mistake, I was there to serve the kids of Molatane, the people of the area and the church whose land we built on. I was there to serve God, pure and simple. I just don't want anyone, especially those of you who so generously donated to this trip, to think that you gave so I could have an awesome vacation in Africa. You did, and I did, but that is not the reason I went. I can tell you as a matter of fact, that the rest of my team felt the same way. I specifically remember having the discussion with Chad after our first day, with a not so impressive build result, that we would skip all extra activities, (shopping, animal drives, walks) and work, to be sure we finished the houses. I have to say that the trip was so much more than I had ever dreamed. Chad and I discussed the animals we "might" see on a regular basis, but we both knew the real reason to go. I don't want to speak for Chad, but I'm positive I know his heart when it comes to this subject. Once I spent a few days with the rest of the team, I know with 100% certainty, they would have passed on everything else as well. I hope none of you had the wrong impression, I'm guessing you didn't, but like I said, needed to get it off my chest. If I try to do this again, I'll have to ask for help. Marcy and I are in no financial position to pay for an entire trip on our own. I'm not sure if I wrote about this or not, but I had a friend talk to me about mission trips that leave the area and how they are paid for. His thought was, why don't you keep the money local and serve people here? I agree that we need to take care of our "own," but the big picture is, there is hurt all over the world and why are we, as Americans, more important than 16 kids in Africa? If I can find enough people who believe in what I am doing, and want to send me, shouldn't I go? I'm guessing my friend doesn't listen to God either, or at least not on the big things He is trying to tell him. I respect my friend and his opinion, but I dis-agree. So now I have to decide if I want to hit everyone one up for money again, or do I just wait for a different opportunity. Plus, I have El Paso in Feb. and I have asked Marcy to try and go with me. I'd love for her to spend time with my Mission Rio Grande family (the mission was renamed to reflect our service to the area, not just Juarez or El Paso)and to see what God is doing through our church to help His children. Rio Grande is my true love, the trip I will always do, but Africa pulled on my heart a lot. I hope my pictures have done a little justice to what we saw, but to be there was mind blowing. Our first morning walk, Chad and I got up early, not wanting to waste a moment we were in Africa. We both commented, "We're in FREAKING AFRICA!" Our first breakfast was on a patio, in 40 degree weather, in FREAKING AFRICA! Day one, I went for a walk and saw a FREAKING GIRAFFE! Are you shitting me, the best I see in Iowa is a freaking deer and that is usually just because it ran out in front of me and I almost killed it and my family. It's like a FREAKING KUDU running out in front of you, but in FREAKING AFRICA! This wasn't a game park in Orlando, Florida, owned by Disney. No, this is FREAKING AFRICA, created by God. OK, sorry for all the freaking, but that was the excitement in my head. Still is.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
New kind of house.
I think I may have mentioned that Doc Blessman is considering a change of building materials from the Abod's to actual blocks. The machine is made by an Iowa company, Vermeer, and it compresses dirt and a little concrete mix and water to form these blocks. Here is an article explaining the machine far better than I could. I received an email from Doc the other day, and he is leaning this way. He has been working with Entebini, the park we saw the lions at, to use their machines, they have 2, to build the blocks and build the next homes. He is also working on getting a pre-school built in Polokwane, which is where I think we went shopping, but I'm not 100% sure on my African town names. I'm anxious to see what comes of all of this. The bricks have to cure, according to the article, for a minimum of 7 days, but it appears 28 days is optimal. That would mean 2 teams would have to work on this, a month apart, or labor would have to be hired to either form the bricks or build. We'll see where God leads.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
First to die!!!!!!
Now that I am back and have had a chance to settle back into the routine of life, I've had a chance to reflect on my trip to Africa. I was amazed at the beauty of the area we were in. It wasn't that I didn't think Africa was going to be beautiful, but the mountains in the area were awesome, way different than I had imagined. The drives every morning to the work site were filled with views of God's incredible creation and some of his critters that you just don't see in Iowa. There were several days that we would see baboon sitting on the side of the road, like we would see raccoon in the US. The first one I saw was a quick glimpse from the "first to die" seat, a lone baboon running down the side of a hill just off the road. I mentioned this seat in an earlier post, thought I would explain the title. On our first morning drive to the work site, Terry (seen here with Krista in the "First to die seat"),
our fearless leader, was chauffeuring us on a foggy morning. I was trying to soak in the sites of Africa, but also keep my breakfast down on our hilly drive at speeds that aren't recommended for a 1986 VW bus. I'm not aware of a turbo option on a VW bus, but this thing must have had one. Terry drove this thing like he was at the Indianapolis 500, which I have a little knowledge of seeing as how I lived right by the track for several years. He made the kombi fly up and down these hills, hugging corners and scarring our Missions Director, who was in the truck waaaaaaay behind us and giving us a lot more to look at than just the nature sights. I happen to be in this famed seat on this first morning and man was it foggy out. This didn't slow down Terry Andretti (Indy reference), he acted like he didn't even notice. He was passing cars like they were standing still and doing his best, it appeared, to loose the other vehicles in our convoy. When you are leading a line of vehicles, and you are the only one who knows where you are going, try not to ditch the other vehicles in your line. Don't run yellow lights, don't weave in and out of traffic, and please, please, please don't pass semi trucks on a hill, on a curve on a really foggy morning. Terry did, thus giving the passenger seat the name "first to die." I love Terry and I gained a new respect for his driving, later, much later, but this morning, I damn near wet myself, this time it wasn't laughter. I looked back at my co near death participants and they all seemed to have a wide eyed view of how close we were to meeting God on that very day. I wouldn't mind meeting God, but in a VW bus, in Africa, with baboons nearby to rip the flesh off my body wasn't how I pictured my last moments. It would have made an awesome obituary though. How many have you seen written up as death by baboon? We have had cancer deaths in my family, old age, but you get a baboon mentioned in your obit, people are going to remember you. Too morbid? Sorry. That same day, I was again in the "FTD" seat when Terry was trying to text while driving. We were 10 feet away from rear ending a car that had slowed for a speed bump when I said "Terry." I said it calmly, but I tell you now, I was a bit frightened. I will say, the rest of the week was either uneventful on the driving front, or we built an immunity to it. Oh, we did side swipe a fence pulling into the work area, but that seemed so trivial compared to the near flaming death on the foggy morning, I nearly forgot. On another, more important front, I still have the picture of the kids that will be living in the houses in my mind. Here it is.
I received an email from one of the people I went with. He had asked the names of the kids chosen to live in the house, here are some of them, you tell me if you see something in common.
Melita Tale female 13 years old
Thapelo Tale male 14 years old
Seilo Tale male
Nono Tale male 3 years old
Thabo Moomi male *special needs
Seems to be a lot of Tale kids. Appears that this is a family that has to grow up with just each other, no parents. I hope the houses we built, plus the great work that Blessman ministries is doing to educate, feed and care for these kids, can show these kids that they are loved. We may not be their parents, but they can always count on God to be there for them, he is our Father, all of us no matter where we are from. Just looking at this list and this picture, how could I not want to go back? How could anyone?
our fearless leader, was chauffeuring us on a foggy morning. I was trying to soak in the sites of Africa, but also keep my breakfast down on our hilly drive at speeds that aren't recommended for a 1986 VW bus. I'm not aware of a turbo option on a VW bus, but this thing must have had one. Terry drove this thing like he was at the Indianapolis 500, which I have a little knowledge of seeing as how I lived right by the track for several years. He made the kombi fly up and down these hills, hugging corners and scarring our Missions Director, who was in the truck waaaaaaay behind us and giving us a lot more to look at than just the nature sights. I happen to be in this famed seat on this first morning and man was it foggy out. This didn't slow down Terry Andretti (Indy reference), he acted like he didn't even notice. He was passing cars like they were standing still and doing his best, it appeared, to loose the other vehicles in our convoy. When you are leading a line of vehicles, and you are the only one who knows where you are going, try not to ditch the other vehicles in your line. Don't run yellow lights, don't weave in and out of traffic, and please, please, please don't pass semi trucks on a hill, on a curve on a really foggy morning. Terry did, thus giving the passenger seat the name "first to die." I love Terry and I gained a new respect for his driving, later, much later, but this morning, I damn near wet myself, this time it wasn't laughter. I looked back at my co near death participants and they all seemed to have a wide eyed view of how close we were to meeting God on that very day. I wouldn't mind meeting God, but in a VW bus, in Africa, with baboons nearby to rip the flesh off my body wasn't how I pictured my last moments. It would have made an awesome obituary though. How many have you seen written up as death by baboon? We have had cancer deaths in my family, old age, but you get a baboon mentioned in your obit, people are going to remember you. Too morbid? Sorry. That same day, I was again in the "FTD" seat when Terry was trying to text while driving. We were 10 feet away from rear ending a car that had slowed for a speed bump when I said "Terry." I said it calmly, but I tell you now, I was a bit frightened. I will say, the rest of the week was either uneventful on the driving front, or we built an immunity to it. Oh, we did side swipe a fence pulling into the work area, but that seemed so trivial compared to the near flaming death on the foggy morning, I nearly forgot. On another, more important front, I still have the picture of the kids that will be living in the houses in my mind. Here it is.
I received an email from one of the people I went with. He had asked the names of the kids chosen to live in the house, here are some of them, you tell me if you see something in common.
Melita Tale female 13 years old
Thapelo Tale male 14 years old
Seilo Tale male
Nono Tale male 3 years old
Thabo Moomi male *special needs
Seems to be a lot of Tale kids. Appears that this is a family that has to grow up with just each other, no parents. I hope the houses we built, plus the great work that Blessman ministries is doing to educate, feed and care for these kids, can show these kids that they are loved. We may not be their parents, but they can always count on God to be there for them, he is our Father, all of us no matter where we are from. Just looking at this list and this picture, how could I not want to go back? How could anyone?
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Misc Africa
So I wanted to share a little of the trip, that you can't really capture in photos, but I'll add a few of those as well. I told you that we ate and hung out at Dr. Jim and Beth Blessman's home, here are a few pictures.
The office:
The kitchen:
Looking upstairs:
The living room:
The thatch roof:
It's a beautiful home that they designed for themselves, but they always plan on having people stay with them, so there are 3 other bedrooms for guests. This is a loving, caring, Godly couple that seem to have a model marriage. I never saw either of them get frustrated or annoyed with each other. That may be an act, but I definitely got the feeling that it was 100% genuine. On many occasions I saw them hugging, holding each other and always verbally encouraging each other. While Jim may have been the face we saw at the job site each day, Beth was preparing food for us (really good food I might add), and even did some of our laundry while we were working. There were others in the house that were helping, but this is Beth's service and I for one was so thankful. She was doing everything she could to make our stay comfortable, and she succeeded. I heard Jim refer to Beth as his "beautiful bride" on numerous occasions, it was really cool.
So every morning, we loaded up the Kombi, seen here with our chauffeur Chad,
and headed down the mountain for breakfast and daily instructions. The drive was always eventful, do mainly to the fact that the van had no heater, which means it had no defrost for the front windshield. Whoever the passenger was, now was also the interior windshield wiper. Here is a shot of one of my times in the seat we liked to call, "first to die." (more on that later)
You will notice that Chad doesn't seem to be looking where he is driving, that happened a lot, could be why we bottomed out all of the time:)
I mentioned in an earlier post that we drove this 2 wheeled van down roads that weren't suitable for 4 wheeled vehicles, which was a slight exaggeration. Most 2 wheeled vehicles, not loaded down with 1500# of people, would probably fair just fine. If any of the girls in our van are reading this and getting upset by the 1500# number, I figured your weight at 90#, the rest is me, hope that helps. The van would rub on the rise in the middle of the road and we were pretty sure this was going to remove the oil pan and leave us stranded an hours walk from help, in the dark, on a farm loaded with animals that we didn't want to walk up on in the dark. Luckily, all went well, but I'm sure the trade in value dropped considerably after our week. Now driving on the road was only the first battle for Chad. When we go to El Paso/Juarez, I'm the driver, but I only have to dodge a person here or there or maybe an over aggressive driver or two or a dog or 100. Chad, had to dodge big game. We were on our way down one morning, doing a pretty good speed since we were now at a "level" part of the road, when a kudu jumped out in front of us. Like I said before, these things are like an elk, so not something you want to hit with a 1986 VW bus. (I don't know the actual year, but 86 sounded like a good year.) The drive up at night, might have even been more fun. I'm not sure if we were tired and a little punchy, or if it was all of the alcohol we drank, but the rides up were awesome. (we didn't really drink, just threw that in there) I think we all laughed more on those van rides that we did the whole rest of the trip, and that is saying a lot. This group was so much fun and everybody had a comment that would send the van into hysterics. I thought about typing up a few for you, but as I thought it out, there were very few that the humor would carry over to a non-kombi experience. Maybe it was the African air that was making things so funny, hard to tell. Let me give you an example that will have Chad and anybody else from the trip laughing if they read it, but maybe not anyone else. First, the set up. I mentioned the road we drove on was questionable at best, but I didn't mention that there were side "roads" that went off of the main road that you could take, but they looked less inviting, so we stayed clear. On one particular morning, we drove down the mountain to the Blessman home. When you do that, you come to a gate in the farm portion of the property where you have to go through this big Jurassic Park like gates, using the remote control that was in the van to open, then close the gate so animals didn't get out.
Then you drove around this thing
to get to the other gate, which you had to open the same way. There are several paths in between gates. Some that leave the farm are to the left or the right, then the path forward to get to the other gate. Chad took a path on the left, which he quickly realized was incorrect, so he backed up to go the right direction. The right direction had a bit of a curb you had to drive up and when we did, Ashley asked in all seriousness, "Is this a road?" As I write this, not funny. In the van, damn near pissed myself. Again, it might have been the African air.
We had to use an outhouse at the house site.
This is a shot of me using the crapper.
You may be asking yourself, why is the door wide open? I'm glad you asked, there is a very good explanation and after I tell you, you won't question my judgement again. On several occasions while visiting this stink hole, I noticed a large gecko running around. Now, I'm not scared of geckos, but I don't want them on me and I was well aware that if it did get on me, while I was using the hole, there was a nearly 100% chance that I would leave the crapper at a high rate of speed. If the door was closed, there was a high possibility that I would run into said door and knock myself unconscious or at the very least, give myself a huge headache. On top of that, there would be a urine problem seeing as how once I start, stopping is a difficult proposal, especially when I am screaming and trying to get away from the big bad gecko. This all in mind, I left the door open. Plus, it helped ventilate, which was really needed in late afternoon.
All in all, one of the best times of my life. I'm sure I will bore you all with a story here or there, but I wanted to get the main stuff down before I forgot. If you were wondering about anything, let me know, be glad to answer. I'll post some pictures of our cabins and other stuff soon. Now I'm going to bed and dream of giraffe, zebra and the ride in the kombi. WATCH OUT, KUDU!!!!!!!
The office:
The kitchen:
Looking upstairs:
The living room:
The thatch roof:
It's a beautiful home that they designed for themselves, but they always plan on having people stay with them, so there are 3 other bedrooms for guests. This is a loving, caring, Godly couple that seem to have a model marriage. I never saw either of them get frustrated or annoyed with each other. That may be an act, but I definitely got the feeling that it was 100% genuine. On many occasions I saw them hugging, holding each other and always verbally encouraging each other. While Jim may have been the face we saw at the job site each day, Beth was preparing food for us (really good food I might add), and even did some of our laundry while we were working. There were others in the house that were helping, but this is Beth's service and I for one was so thankful. She was doing everything she could to make our stay comfortable, and she succeeded. I heard Jim refer to Beth as his "beautiful bride" on numerous occasions, it was really cool.
So every morning, we loaded up the Kombi, seen here with our chauffeur Chad,
and headed down the mountain for breakfast and daily instructions. The drive was always eventful, do mainly to the fact that the van had no heater, which means it had no defrost for the front windshield. Whoever the passenger was, now was also the interior windshield wiper. Here is a shot of one of my times in the seat we liked to call, "first to die." (more on that later)
You will notice that Chad doesn't seem to be looking where he is driving, that happened a lot, could be why we bottomed out all of the time:)
I mentioned in an earlier post that we drove this 2 wheeled van down roads that weren't suitable for 4 wheeled vehicles, which was a slight exaggeration. Most 2 wheeled vehicles, not loaded down with 1500# of people, would probably fair just fine. If any of the girls in our van are reading this and getting upset by the 1500# number, I figured your weight at 90#, the rest is me, hope that helps. The van would rub on the rise in the middle of the road and we were pretty sure this was going to remove the oil pan and leave us stranded an hours walk from help, in the dark, on a farm loaded with animals that we didn't want to walk up on in the dark. Luckily, all went well, but I'm sure the trade in value dropped considerably after our week. Now driving on the road was only the first battle for Chad. When we go to El Paso/Juarez, I'm the driver, but I only have to dodge a person here or there or maybe an over aggressive driver or two or a dog or 100. Chad, had to dodge big game. We were on our way down one morning, doing a pretty good speed since we were now at a "level" part of the road, when a kudu jumped out in front of us. Like I said before, these things are like an elk, so not something you want to hit with a 1986 VW bus. (I don't know the actual year, but 86 sounded like a good year.) The drive up at night, might have even been more fun. I'm not sure if we were tired and a little punchy, or if it was all of the alcohol we drank, but the rides up were awesome. (we didn't really drink, just threw that in there) I think we all laughed more on those van rides that we did the whole rest of the trip, and that is saying a lot. This group was so much fun and everybody had a comment that would send the van into hysterics. I thought about typing up a few for you, but as I thought it out, there were very few that the humor would carry over to a non-kombi experience. Maybe it was the African air that was making things so funny, hard to tell. Let me give you an example that will have Chad and anybody else from the trip laughing if they read it, but maybe not anyone else. First, the set up. I mentioned the road we drove on was questionable at best, but I didn't mention that there were side "roads" that went off of the main road that you could take, but they looked less inviting, so we stayed clear. On one particular morning, we drove down the mountain to the Blessman home. When you do that, you come to a gate in the farm portion of the property where you have to go through this big Jurassic Park like gates, using the remote control that was in the van to open, then close the gate so animals didn't get out.
Then you drove around this thing
to get to the other gate, which you had to open the same way. There are several paths in between gates. Some that leave the farm are to the left or the right, then the path forward to get to the other gate. Chad took a path on the left, which he quickly realized was incorrect, so he backed up to go the right direction. The right direction had a bit of a curb you had to drive up and when we did, Ashley asked in all seriousness, "Is this a road?" As I write this, not funny. In the van, damn near pissed myself. Again, it might have been the African air.
We had to use an outhouse at the house site.
This is a shot of me using the crapper.
You may be asking yourself, why is the door wide open? I'm glad you asked, there is a very good explanation and after I tell you, you won't question my judgement again. On several occasions while visiting this stink hole, I noticed a large gecko running around. Now, I'm not scared of geckos, but I don't want them on me and I was well aware that if it did get on me, while I was using the hole, there was a nearly 100% chance that I would leave the crapper at a high rate of speed. If the door was closed, there was a high possibility that I would run into said door and knock myself unconscious or at the very least, give myself a huge headache. On top of that, there would be a urine problem seeing as how once I start, stopping is a difficult proposal, especially when I am screaming and trying to get away from the big bad gecko. This all in mind, I left the door open. Plus, it helped ventilate, which was really needed in late afternoon.
All in all, one of the best times of my life. I'm sure I will bore you all with a story here or there, but I wanted to get the main stuff down before I forgot. If you were wondering about anything, let me know, be glad to answer. I'll post some pictures of our cabins and other stuff soon. Now I'm going to bed and dream of giraffe, zebra and the ride in the kombi. WATCH OUT, KUDU!!!!!!!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The houses
Let me tell you a little about the homes we built. If you read my blog while I was gone, you know that after the first day, we only had 1/2 of a house built. The math doesn't work out if you try to finish 5 houses in 5 days if you are averaging 1/2 a house a day. We didn't have 10 days to complete this, so we hoped that the lessons learned on day one translated into a bigger number completed in days 2 thru 5. I'm happy to report that day 2 was a 2 1/2 house day. We were able the first house we had started, plus 2 more, giving us 3 days to finish the remaining 2 houses. We didn't chance that we could slow down and still get them done, so we had all 5 houses done by 3pm on Wed. I can't tell you how happy we were that the actual construction was done. The last 2 days were spent cleaning, finishing the rock work and then the dedication. Here are a few picks: Delivery of the houses.
Day one of the work.
First completed house.
All 5 houses done.
The dedication.
Inside of a finished house.
The construction of the houses was pretty easy, in design, but we had to use pop rivets to hold it together. The tool you use to apply the rivets hurts your hand after a couple of hundred, so my hands were aching after day one and we still had a long way to go. You can see, what I call the spines, arrived assembled and the crew from the manufacturer put them in place. When we arrived, we bolted them together and then bolted them to the ground. If you have ever bolted something together that had pre-drilled holes, you know that rarely goes smoothly. These, however, bolted together with almost no effort. There were a few we had to persuade into working, but not much trouble. We then bolted them to the ground, which I have a lot of experience in. In Mexico, we bolt the house we build to the concrete, so I've drilled hundreds of holes over the past 5 years. After that, we cut the shipping braces out and started the outside panels. You start at the top and try to get the first piece centered as best you can. Chad and Brad from our group figured out that if you measured the beam going across the front of the house, found the middle, then dropped a plumb line from the top of the arch, then all you had to do was line up the center of the first sheet with that line and your good to go. That isn't exactly how we started this, but we figured it out by house 3, so it went much faster. Then you just add layer upon layer of the sheets, drilling holes through the metal sheeting and steel spine and riveting it all together. Once we got the hang of it, we flew through the process. Like I said in an earlier post, if you have 7 people working on a house, you can have it done in 3 hours, maybe a bit more depending on bit breakage and supplies. It took us a bit more than 3 hours because people were being pulled away for other projects. Not a bad thing, just perspective.
Here is a picture of an impromptu concert givin by the kids.
And finally, the most important picture we took all week. These are some of the kids that will be living in the homes.
May God bless them and keep them safe!
Day one of the work.
First completed house.
All 5 houses done.
The dedication.
Inside of a finished house.
The construction of the houses was pretty easy, in design, but we had to use pop rivets to hold it together. The tool you use to apply the rivets hurts your hand after a couple of hundred, so my hands were aching after day one and we still had a long way to go. You can see, what I call the spines, arrived assembled and the crew from the manufacturer put them in place. When we arrived, we bolted them together and then bolted them to the ground. If you have ever bolted something together that had pre-drilled holes, you know that rarely goes smoothly. These, however, bolted together with almost no effort. There were a few we had to persuade into working, but not much trouble. We then bolted them to the ground, which I have a lot of experience in. In Mexico, we bolt the house we build to the concrete, so I've drilled hundreds of holes over the past 5 years. After that, we cut the shipping braces out and started the outside panels. You start at the top and try to get the first piece centered as best you can. Chad and Brad from our group figured out that if you measured the beam going across the front of the house, found the middle, then dropped a plumb line from the top of the arch, then all you had to do was line up the center of the first sheet with that line and your good to go. That isn't exactly how we started this, but we figured it out by house 3, so it went much faster. Then you just add layer upon layer of the sheets, drilling holes through the metal sheeting and steel spine and riveting it all together. Once we got the hang of it, we flew through the process. Like I said in an earlier post, if you have 7 people working on a house, you can have it done in 3 hours, maybe a bit more depending on bit breakage and supplies. It took us a bit more than 3 hours because people were being pulled away for other projects. Not a bad thing, just perspective.
Here is a picture of an impromptu concert givin by the kids.
And finally, the most important picture we took all week. These are some of the kids that will be living in the homes.
May God bless them and keep them safe!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Had to share.
While in Africa, actually on all of my mission trips, we do nightly devotions. On one particular night, the quietest member of our group surprised and treated us all to a song. We didn't know he could play the guitar, but he broke it out for this particular night and sang a beautiful song I had never heard before. Chad found the song on YouTube, thought I would share. I liked Ben's version a lot better, but the song and the message are the same. Damn it, allergies are acting up again. That happened a lot in Africa, damn near lost my man card on several occasions.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Just another Saturday in Africa.
Here is something I wrote last Saturday, but never posted. Not the most exciting, but it shows what the day was like.
What can I say about today, Saturday. We started off with a 4 hour walk up and down the mountain, several times. Chad spotted a zebra on the opposite mountain, so we spent a lot of time watching him, then a kudu showed up. Something made a sound that echoed down the valley that had Chad and I wondering just how fast we needed to run to stay ahead of it. Luckily we didn't get chased. We talked to a couple that said they had seen the cape buffalo just an hour earlier where we had just been. There are two of them on the farm, but they are rarely seen, that would have been huge to have seen them. We then went to Entabeni, which is a game preserve, that has the big 5 African animals, lion, elephant, rhino, cape buffalo and leopard. The drive into the park had zebra right next to the road
a herd of empala in the road
and a group of about 15 wildebeast about 10 feet from our car.
We hadn't even started the official game drive and we had all ready seen about 50 animals. When we arrived at the starting point, the staff of Entabeni greeted us with a glass of apple juice. After a few minutes in the gift shop, we loaded up the vehicles and headed out. The first 20 minutes were spent with our guide tracking a lion, so we could see it. He gave up and said we would look for the rest of the pride instead of trying to find just the one. We saw some of the old standby's, wildebeast, empala and birds, but most of us were ready to try and find the lions or elephants. We pulled up to a little pond and there were 10 giraffe drinking and eating.
It was amazing to see that many animals all together in one place. We watched them for quite awhile, drove around the pond and got right in the mix of them. We even had a younger one walk right in front of our vehicle. We continued on until our driver stopped to give us a poop lesson. He picked up a piece of elephant poop to show us what it looked like. He said it was probably 3 days old, so I was ready for him to drop the poop and move on. A few minutes later, we drove up on a black backed jackyl. 
We didn't stay there long because our guide got a radio call about some elephants, so we took off to find them. As we came around a corner, we spotted a rhino and a baby rhino,
so we stopped to take pictures. Some of our crew spotted something in the weeds behind us, so our guide backed up just in time to see two lionesses jump up and chase a warthog.
It's hard to see, but that black area in front of the lion is the warthog. I tried to get the chase on video, but wasn't able to find it on the view finder, since I was really trying to watch it with one eye. We didn't see the end of the chase, so I can't tell you the outcome, but that was cool. We thought our lion action was over, so we turned our focus on two more rhino a bit further down the road.
As we were watching them, two more lionesses came out of some trees and started walking towards the rhino.
They passed the first group of rhino, so we knew they were after the baby.
We actually got to see them stalk this baby rhino, plus we saw how the mother rhino defenede her young. 
Oh, I forgot to mention, the male lion showed up as well.
This may just have been the coolest thing I have ever seen. The ride ended with a cup of hot chocolate provided by the staff and a ride home. Just when you think you have seen everything, you step out of the car, look up and see more stars than you ever have in your life. We could even see the milky way, which I have never seen before. Crystal clear and breath taking. God has created something so beautiful, it is amazing. If you ever get the chance to go, I would highly reccomend it.
What can I say about today, Saturday. We started off with a 4 hour walk up and down the mountain, several times. Chad spotted a zebra on the opposite mountain, so we spent a lot of time watching him, then a kudu showed up. Something made a sound that echoed down the valley that had Chad and I wondering just how fast we needed to run to stay ahead of it. Luckily we didn't get chased. We talked to a couple that said they had seen the cape buffalo just an hour earlier where we had just been. There are two of them on the farm, but they are rarely seen, that would have been huge to have seen them. We then went to Entabeni, which is a game preserve, that has the big 5 African animals, lion, elephant, rhino, cape buffalo and leopard. The drive into the park had zebra right next to the road
a herd of empala in the road
and a group of about 15 wildebeast about 10 feet from our car.
We hadn't even started the official game drive and we had all ready seen about 50 animals. When we arrived at the starting point, the staff of Entabeni greeted us with a glass of apple juice. After a few minutes in the gift shop, we loaded up the vehicles and headed out. The first 20 minutes were spent with our guide tracking a lion, so we could see it. He gave up and said we would look for the rest of the pride instead of trying to find just the one. We saw some of the old standby's, wildebeast, empala and birds, but most of us were ready to try and find the lions or elephants. We pulled up to a little pond and there were 10 giraffe drinking and eating.
It was amazing to see that many animals all together in one place. We watched them for quite awhile, drove around the pond and got right in the mix of them. We even had a younger one walk right in front of our vehicle. We continued on until our driver stopped to give us a poop lesson. He picked up a piece of elephant poop to show us what it looked like. He said it was probably 3 days old, so I was ready for him to drop the poop and move on. A few minutes later, we drove up on a black backed jackyl. 
We didn't stay there long because our guide got a radio call about some elephants, so we took off to find them. As we came around a corner, we spotted a rhino and a baby rhino,
so we stopped to take pictures. Some of our crew spotted something in the weeds behind us, so our guide backed up just in time to see two lionesses jump up and chase a warthog.
It's hard to see, but that black area in front of the lion is the warthog. I tried to get the chase on video, but wasn't able to find it on the view finder, since I was really trying to watch it with one eye. We didn't see the end of the chase, so I can't tell you the outcome, but that was cool. We thought our lion action was over, so we turned our focus on two more rhino a bit further down the road.
As we were watching them, two more lionesses came out of some trees and started walking towards the rhino.
They passed the first group of rhino, so we knew they were after the baby.
We actually got to see them stalk this baby rhino, plus we saw how the mother rhino defenede her young. 
Oh, I forgot to mention, the male lion showed up as well.
This may just have been the coolest thing I have ever seen. The ride ended with a cup of hot chocolate provided by the staff and a ride home. Just when you think you have seen everything, you step out of the car, look up and see more stars than you ever have in your life. We could even see the milky way, which I have never seen before. Crystal clear and breath taking. God has created something so beautiful, it is amazing. If you ever get the chance to go, I would highly reccomend it.
Friday, July 17, 2009
WOW!
I think I'm still in shock that I was able go to Africa, something I never dreamed of doing, and I'm also sad that it is over. I'm always glad to get home and see my family, the boys rushed into my arms at the airport and to hold Marcy again was something I had been thinking about for days. I'm blessed in so many ways I can hardly believe my life. When God laid on my heart that I was supposed to go to Africa, I didn't even question it and told Marcy I was going before my brain even had a chance to wrap around the idea. Within days I was talking to Chad about it, thinking it might take some convincing, but didn't have to beg or anything. Then the letters for financial support, one of the hardest things I had ever written. Why so hard? Well, I had to ask for help, something I fail at continually, and no I don't know why. The response was overwhelming, beyond my wildest dreams. I figured I'd be able to raise half of my goal and I was more than willing to come up with the rest. I should have known that God had bigger plans than me. I've all ready been asked, would you go back? In a heart beat. If these Abod homes work as Blessman Ministries sees it, the program will continue and I would be more than happy to go back and build them again. Now that we have a system down, I know we could build 10 in a week. Everybody pray about it, see if God lays on your heart to support me again, or for the first time if you weren't able to this past trip. I'll be telling you more about the homes we built, you will see some of the children whose lives were changed and you will here stories. There was a film crew at the site the whole week we were there, so as soon as the video is done, it's supposed to be on the Abod website, I'll let you know. The homes are fantastic, although the "4 African women can build it in one day" is a bit mis-leading. These would have to be huge, agile, African women that don't need a break and are as quick as a jaguar. These homes are easy to build, once you get them figured out, but we usually had 7 people working on them at one time and we could do 2 1/2 houses in a day. The main issue came with the rivets we had to install. You had to drill through the metal house frame, plus the metal sheeting on the outside, then hold it all together with a rivet. If I had to guess, I'd say there were at least 200 rivets per house, probably more. The drill bits we had broke regularly, so we had to change them often. The rivet gun required alot of pressure to use, so at the end of day one, my palms were aching. My legs had bruises on the knee and shin from leaning on the ladders. My back was sore from being in positions I'm not accustomed to. After the first day, I was discouraged because we only had 1/2 of a house done and only 4 days in which to complete the remaining 4 1/2. Chad and I had a discussion Monday night and agreed that we would forgo all of the weekend activities, if we needed to, and work the weekend to complete the houses. Knowing the rest of the team as I now do, I know they would have felt the same way. We knew why we were there, for the children who were going to live in these houses, so we would have sacrificed everything to complete the Abods, THAT was why we were there. I'm so glad we finished so soon and were able to do the other things that we did, but the game drives weren't why I went. If you know me well, you know that there are 2 things that I'm very emotional about, my family and my missions. The family is a no brainer, I love my family. They mean everything to me, my wife, my kids, my brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I have been supported my whole life and wouldn't trade any of them. My close friends fit right into the family. I don't have a lot of friends, mainly because I'm busy with the family and I don't really meet people easily, I'm kinda shy. The friends I do have mean so much to me. They too have been so supportive, I can't thank them enough. Now, whenever I try to talk about my mission trips, I get emotional. I think it's because I know I have been direct by God to do these things, and I'm humbled by the experiences I've had. I feel so good when I do the things I do, and I thank God for giving me the opportunity and for sending me where he has sent me. I used to think there were a lot of coincidences, but I don't see it that way any more. This trip is a prime example. I wrote about it in my support letter, but I will repeat it because it is important to this trip. Here is part of that letter:
This year World Vision brought a traveling African village to my church. They talked about the children who have lost their parents to AIDS and how their own family members, aunts and uncles, wouldn't take them in because they were afraid that the kids had AIDS and would infect them. I would like to think that my family wouldn't do that to me! These kids then are left to fend for themselves. Upon entering the exhibit, you were assigned a child and given an MP3 player to listen to your child tell his or her life story. These were actual kids telling their stories, not actors playing the part. Hearing the story was heart breaking, to say the least and personally, I was moved. I kept asking myself, what can I do? Right then, sponsoring a child was not an option for us, but I did not forget and knew that God would provide an opportunity to serve. In November, the opportunity I had been looking for and praying about appeared in the newsletter from our church and I felt God telling me to GO to South Africa. I feel in my heart that I am supposed to serve the people of South Africa by building homes through the Mission South Africa work project. I am asking you to partner with me, so I can help a few of the millions that are hurting.
Was it a coincidence that I went through that exhibit and then there was a new trip to South Africa that involved physical work, which is more my style than words? Could be, but man that is a big coincidence. Since I have been working for God, I feel better, I'm happier and I feel at peace. I've been asked, "Aren't you ever scared?" A little, when I go far away from home and to places like Juarez which is dangerous, but the thing that sticks out to me is, I'm not afraid to die. I sure as heck don't want to, but I have the peace in my heart that takes all of the fear away. Enough of that, check out the business located across the street from where we were building.
Not sure what the "Fun" is.
This year World Vision brought a traveling African village to my church. They talked about the children who have lost their parents to AIDS and how their own family members, aunts and uncles, wouldn't take them in because they were afraid that the kids had AIDS and would infect them. I would like to think that my family wouldn't do that to me! These kids then are left to fend for themselves. Upon entering the exhibit, you were assigned a child and given an MP3 player to listen to your child tell his or her life story. These were actual kids telling their stories, not actors playing the part. Hearing the story was heart breaking, to say the least and personally, I was moved. I kept asking myself, what can I do? Right then, sponsoring a child was not an option for us, but I did not forget and knew that God would provide an opportunity to serve. In November, the opportunity I had been looking for and praying about appeared in the newsletter from our church and I felt God telling me to GO to South Africa. I feel in my heart that I am supposed to serve the people of South Africa by building homes through the Mission South Africa work project. I am asking you to partner with me, so I can help a few of the millions that are hurting.
Was it a coincidence that I went through that exhibit and then there was a new trip to South Africa that involved physical work, which is more my style than words? Could be, but man that is a big coincidence. Since I have been working for God, I feel better, I'm happier and I feel at peace. I've been asked, "Aren't you ever scared?" A little, when I go far away from home and to places like Juarez which is dangerous, but the thing that sticks out to me is, I'm not afraid to die. I sure as heck don't want to, but I have the peace in my heart that takes all of the fear away. Enough of that, check out the business located across the street from where we were building.
Not sure what the "Fun" is.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Home sweet home!
I should be on my way home. If I haven't posted, get ready, they will be a coming. If I have, then know this was set up prior to my departure, so if I died, don't let this "voice from the grave" freak you out.
I saw a cape buffalo today, what did you see?
We went for our morning walk today with hopes of finding the elusive cape buffalo. After hiking up a steep road, we walked up on this huge animal, a mere 20 feet away. We froze, then fumbled for our cameras, and it ran off into the bush. This is one of the big 5 animals, which means it is dangerous, so were we a bit shaken up, but extremely happy we were able to find it. I'm leaving for the airport now, see you back in the states soon.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Quick
A quick post before we head out. Today is the dedication of the Abods. Yesterday the kids sang for us, which I did get on video, it was so cute. We had a game drive last night and saw the giraffes, zebra, kudu and lots of the other deer like things. Tomorrow is the big 5 game drive, so hopefully I can get lions and elephants. Sunday we are going to a lion part which will let you play with the baby lions, pray I'm not eaten. The internet is up and down, so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
I saw zebra today!!!!!!
A few corrections.
1, The little guys name was NuNu, not ZuZu.
2. The town is Zebediela, the township we are actually in is Moletlane.
3. I still have no idea how to spell most of the animals I've seen. If it looks like a deer, only really big horns, I've seen it. We saw sable last night, they were really cool.
As I write this it is almost 11pm here, so it's only 4pm at home. I wish the internet worked where we stay, but it doesn't, so I have to post quickly in the morning. Tonight is our first game drive and a big dinner to be cooked by a guy named Abe, who claims to be a direct descendant of Abraham Lincoln.
More later.
1, The little guys name was NuNu, not ZuZu.
2. The town is Zebediela, the township we are actually in is Moletlane.
3. I still have no idea how to spell most of the animals I've seen. If it looks like a deer, only really big horns, I've seen it. We saw sable last night, they were really cool.
As I write this it is almost 11pm here, so it's only 4pm at home. I wish the internet worked where we stay, but it doesn't, so I have to post quickly in the morning. Tonight is our first game drive and a big dinner to be cooked by a guy named Abe, who claims to be a direct descendant of Abraham Lincoln.
More later.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
I saw a giraffe today, what did you see?
Hey everybody, quick post since I don't have much time before we start the drive to the build site. The work on the homes is going well. After the first day, we only had 1/2 of a house done, so things were looking bleak. I'm happy to report that we now have 3 completed homes. I'm not able to get pictures up right now, so you will have to wait until I get home, but they look great. The house mother came by for a visit toady and she was shown the home she will be living in, which we had just completed. She loved it and was very excited to move in. We met one of the orphans that may be living in one of the homes, and it broke all of our hearts. He was so cute, but looked so scared and lost. He lives with his grandmother now, but if he is moving into one of the houses, it must not be a good home environment. Today we saw a huge pack of baboons on the side of the road, there must have been 30 of them. Even though I know where we are, to see something like that amazes me. Last night on the drive up the mountain to our camp, we came across 3 giraffe right in the road. These huge animals were no more than 20 feet from our car. It was dark, so none of us could get a picture to come up, but it was awesome. We see a herd of wildebeast everyday and today we saw impala. Yesterday we were mere feet away from hitting a kuzu, which is like an elk. When we go to our camp it is dark, so we watch for eyes on the side of the road. In the morning, when we head down, the sun is just coming up, but we always see animals. I'm not positive of the spellings, so if you try to look them up, good luck. We are working in the town of Zebadilia, try to find that. Again, might not be spelling it correctly. We have 2 game drives coming up, so I'm excited about that and we hope to finish the remaining 2 homes on Wed. Wish us luck.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Love you all!
Here we go, tomorrow is the big day. Here are a few questions people have asked.
1. Do you know where you are staying? No, we only know we are on the farm, the rest is a mystery. Think of it as pulling into a town after driving 8 to 10 hours and searching for a hotel. There are plenty of places to stay, but some are full, so you have to go some where else. Will you end up at the Marriott or at the Super 8? I'll let you know, either via post while I'm there, or via email when I get back.
2. Are you nervous? Yes, but mainly about the plane ride. My goal? Board the plane in Atlanta, watch a movie or two, sleep for 5 or 6 hours. A guy can dream can't he?
3. Are you ready? Two answers for that question. As for stuff at home, I'm more ready for this trip than any other trip I've been on. I must be forgetting something, because I actually have time to blog. As for mentally ready, I think so. I'm determined to focus on God and what He wants me to see and do. I'm open and ready to go.
I spoke with the president of my company the other day and he suggested that I put together a slide show of pictures, then he would cater a lunch in for the office and I could show them to everyone. Can't wait to share, but I suck at taking pictures. I told Chad, and the rest of the team will get the same story, no pressure, but I need pictures worthy of a free lunch. No shots of their back pocket, I all ready have several of those from the last time I tried to take pictures in Mexico. "This is the inside of my pocket getting out of the van. This is a picture of the inside of my pocket at the market. This is the inside of my pocket at the house." I know that sounds fascinating, but trust me, not worth the cost of developing it. I've taken my digital camera several times, which eliminated the pocket shots, but the quality of the other pictures didn't improve much.
I'm into a band that is new to me, called FM Static. The lead singer is also the lead singer of Thousand Foot Crutch (TFK), if you listen to Christian rock. One of their songs has lyrics that I seem to relate to, maybe you do as well.
What if I stumble? What if I fall?
When I'm on my way to You,
What if I need You? Who do I call?
How do I know I'll get through?
Because I don't wanna ride the fence anymore.
I wanna stand up, and shout it,
And let it be known
Not sure why these lyrics hit me so square, but they do. I think it's because I know I fail in living my life in all of the ways God wants me to live, that I still wonder if he hears my prayers, but through all of my questions/failures, I know God is there and I want to share the peace I have found in Him. I think that may be why I do these trips. I've talked about it in Mexico, that I honestly feel God has sent me to these places, and I want the people I serve to know, it's not me, it's Him. Trust me, if I tried to do this trip on my own, I'd be sitting in my basement with a map of South Africa thinking, what if? But because I asked God for help, I'm not asking what if?, I'm freaking going. The people I was lead to send my letters to, answered, for what ever reason, and made this possible. I don't know if they sent money because they love me, believe in the ministry I'm working with, needed the tax credit, or all of the above, but regardless of their motivation, they moved. I can only say that those that donated money, did more than get me to SA, you'll just have to trust me in that. Your kindness and generosity goes deeper than me, you are a bigger part of this trip than you know. Now as I board this plane tomorrow, let these be my last US soil words to you, and I get them from a MercyMe song. These are words that I carry in my wallet to remember, always.
Whom shall I send
Who will go for me
To the ends of the earth
Who will rise up for the King
Here am I, send me
Here am I, send me
1. Do you know where you are staying? No, we only know we are on the farm, the rest is a mystery. Think of it as pulling into a town after driving 8 to 10 hours and searching for a hotel. There are plenty of places to stay, but some are full, so you have to go some where else. Will you end up at the Marriott or at the Super 8? I'll let you know, either via post while I'm there, or via email when I get back.
2. Are you nervous? Yes, but mainly about the plane ride. My goal? Board the plane in Atlanta, watch a movie or two, sleep for 5 or 6 hours. A guy can dream can't he?
3. Are you ready? Two answers for that question. As for stuff at home, I'm more ready for this trip than any other trip I've been on. I must be forgetting something, because I actually have time to blog. As for mentally ready, I think so. I'm determined to focus on God and what He wants me to see and do. I'm open and ready to go.
I spoke with the president of my company the other day and he suggested that I put together a slide show of pictures, then he would cater a lunch in for the office and I could show them to everyone. Can't wait to share, but I suck at taking pictures. I told Chad, and the rest of the team will get the same story, no pressure, but I need pictures worthy of a free lunch. No shots of their back pocket, I all ready have several of those from the last time I tried to take pictures in Mexico. "This is the inside of my pocket getting out of the van. This is a picture of the inside of my pocket at the market. This is the inside of my pocket at the house." I know that sounds fascinating, but trust me, not worth the cost of developing it. I've taken my digital camera several times, which eliminated the pocket shots, but the quality of the other pictures didn't improve much.
I'm into a band that is new to me, called FM Static. The lead singer is also the lead singer of Thousand Foot Crutch (TFK), if you listen to Christian rock. One of their songs has lyrics that I seem to relate to, maybe you do as well.
What if I stumble? What if I fall?
When I'm on my way to You,
What if I need You? Who do I call?
How do I know I'll get through?
Because I don't wanna ride the fence anymore.
I wanna stand up, and shout it,
And let it be known
Not sure why these lyrics hit me so square, but they do. I think it's because I know I fail in living my life in all of the ways God wants me to live, that I still wonder if he hears my prayers, but through all of my questions/failures, I know God is there and I want to share the peace I have found in Him. I think that may be why I do these trips. I've talked about it in Mexico, that I honestly feel God has sent me to these places, and I want the people I serve to know, it's not me, it's Him. Trust me, if I tried to do this trip on my own, I'd be sitting in my basement with a map of South Africa thinking, what if? But because I asked God for help, I'm not asking what if?, I'm freaking going. The people I was lead to send my letters to, answered, for what ever reason, and made this possible. I don't know if they sent money because they love me, believe in the ministry I'm working with, needed the tax credit, or all of the above, but regardless of their motivation, they moved. I can only say that those that donated money, did more than get me to SA, you'll just have to trust me in that. Your kindness and generosity goes deeper than me, you are a bigger part of this trip than you know. Now as I board this plane tomorrow, let these be my last US soil words to you, and I get them from a MercyMe song. These are words that I carry in my wallet to remember, always.
Whom shall I send
Who will go for me
To the ends of the earth
Who will rise up for the King
Here am I, send me
Here am I, send me
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Holy crap, 22 days!!!!!!
I just returned from an informational meeting for my South Africa trip and man am I excited. We got a breakdown of our daily schedule and went over all of the legal aspects of the trip, insurance, liability (actually, non-liability)and stuff like that. Still not 100% where we will be staying, but on mission trips, you just have "go with the flow", to quote John Candy from Planes, Trains and Automobiles, one of the best movies of all time. The group got to know each other, a little bit, and they all seem like a fun bunch. A good sense of humor, which you know I live for. One lady had even been warned about Chad and I, so I see our reputations proceed us. She is apparently friends with Kristi, who Chad and I go to Mexico with every year and knows us both all to well. She would be fun to have with us in Africa. I'm glad when the discussion came to money, I didn't have to worry about how I was going to come up with mine. Thanks to all of you, I'm ready to go, no deadlines, no kidney sales. That might not be the case soon, seeing as how our air conditioner at home is dead and the repair seems to be almost as much as a new one, so we are having that quoted tomorrow. Sucks to have to pay 2 companies to come out and look at your broken piece of junk, then pay again to get the damn thing fix or replaced. I digress. I received my flight schedule and the layover in Atlanta is only 4 hours instead of the 8 we were expecting, much better. They also gave us three books, Called - which gets you prepared for a mission trip. Challenged - which I'm sure this trip will do that to us, and Changed - which I KNOW this trip will do. I'm no rookie when it comes to mission trips, but they all change you in one way or another. Even Juarez, which I've done 4 years plus this last year in El Paso, changes me every year. This trip will be a complete shock to what I know and find comfortable. Chad and I were emailing today, and I told him that I want to really focus on where I am and what I'm there to do. I don't want to waste one minute of my time there, seeing as how I may never get the chance to go back. Usually on mission trips, you get to focus, on the job and on God. Why has he sent me here? What am I suppose to learn from this? What am I supposed to bring home? A friend told me something, years ago, when I cam back from a mission trip. I was feeling lost, depressed and guilty, actually. I have so much and they have so little. Why am I so privileged and they are not? I'm certainly not better than them. I'm lucky, pure and simple. Lucky I was born in the US. Lucky I was born into a family who isn't rich, but is by no means poor. I look at my house, then the ones we build in Mexico, then at where people live in parts Mexico and parts Jamaica, I'm rich beyond some of their wildest dreams. So when I told this friend how I was feeling, wishing I could go back and live there full time, even though that wasn't what God was telling me, my wise friend said, "God is using you here. God wants you physically here, but your heart is with the people you served." It was and is. You can't go on a trip like this and come back the same, it isn't possible. I was depressed for several months after my first trip to Mexico. Over the years, it has gotten easier, but it's still there. I've read a few books about Africa and I'm in the middle of a large one, but I still have no idea what I'm in for. I'm thankful I get to be a part of this wonderful ministry and hope that I make a difference in some peoples lives. I know when we hand over the keys to the houses we build in Mexico, I get a feeling inside me that I can't explain, but when you get it, you crave it. You know God has sent you to do something, you listened and obeyed and then you get to see the result. Now, I get to give this gift to a bunch of kids that have had a really crappy hand in life dealt to them. How lucky am I to make a change for them? I can tell them that I was sent there by God, because he loves them regardless. There was a long stretch of my life when I never thought I would be able to say that, to anyone let alone myself. Sounds like we may be able to meet the kids that will be living in the homes. I can't imagine a better end to the trip, pray that happens, but I just may explode if it does.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
37 days until Africa
So I have to admit, there was one thing that was really scaring me about my trip to Africa. It isn't the flight, although I'm not looking forward to it, I'm guessing it will give me lots of "Rants" on this blog. It isn't the food, since I have no idea what I will be eating. It isn't the lodging, since I only have a vague idea of where I am staying. It isn't the animals, no I'm not afraid that I will be eaten by a lion, again, its not that you need to be fast, just faster than 1 person and I'm not above tripping, pushing or flavoring my fellow missionaries. No, none of this scares me, ok, maybe the bugs since I found out there are scorpions, but no, still not it. I've worried about it since the day I decided to go, and now as the trip gets closer, it was all that was on my mind. It's an irrational fear, but aren't most fears? How do you put a fear out of your mind? I guess the only way to do it is to research your fear, educate yourself, and the fear will hopefully be proven wrong. I decided to do that, so I emailed my friend who is in Africa now, here is her response:
You will be working about 45 minutes or so from Shakwaru (the farm where you will stay). You drive through a regular little town with grocery stores and you will have all the access to Coke that you're addicted body will need! You'll just want to exchange some money at the airport so you have cash.
I can now sleep easy, all is right in the world!
You will be working about 45 minutes or so from Shakwaru (the farm where you will stay). You drive through a regular little town with grocery stores and you will have all the access to Coke that you're addicted body will need! You'll just want to exchange some money at the airport so you have cash.
I can now sleep easy, all is right in the world!
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