My tired bakkie!!!

Only 3 days into our mission's outreach to Rundu, Namibia, my car pooped out. Praise God, it ended up only being a radiator problem, but it meant we had to hire a car for the next couple of weeks. Bad news, it wasn't in the budget. Good news, car hire is cheap in Africa. We continued on our journey in the heat and humidity and made Rundu without missing a beat. While there we taught in the government high school (their life skills classes), held an after school club at the local Christian school, did various 'devotional' gigs and worked in the villages. We showed the 'Jesus film' in the village one evening. It was so cool. The film was showed in english and then a guy translated it into the local tribal language...it was one of the highlights of the trip. Then Yolanda shared her testimony as local Shebeen owners (bar) and the local chief heckled and tried to derail us. But they all settled down, God removed obstacles, and, working with a local missionary to the villagers, we were able to minister out in the middle of the desert.

massive boabab!!!!

N'Kwazi Preschool

In Rundu, Namibia, we had multiple opportunities to bring hope and good news, but the preschool was a definite favorite! How can you resist the little ones who are faithfully attending preschool to learn English. By the time the children are in 4th grade they are taught exclusively in English in the government schools, but the children in the villages stand little chance of learning English before they are 10 so they are put back into 1st grade while their english speaking peers move ahead. The drop out rate gets progressively worse. So the Valerie and Wynan, the owners of the N'Kwazi Lodge, have opened a couple of preschools for village children to ensure that when they finally get to a government school they will be equipped for moving up with their class. Their dream is to start 30 more preschools in the next few years. Currently they are using America's ACSI Christian Curriculum. It seems to be working for them!

Makora Magic

On Safari (Swahili for 'journey') in Botswana, after the outreach. We took a cruise around the Okavango Delta in makora's; hollowed out wooden canoes propelled by pole-carrying native. Sam rode with Josh, while Bec and I followed about 6 other MCM duos. It's pretty amazing to know that hippo's and pythons are below you somewhere and you're floating only 3 inches above the water level. We took a little hike on the island and, although we could see elephants across the way and spotted lion paw prints, mostly we just examined differing dung...

"It smells in this truck."

Our trip was the equivalent of driving from Seattle to Florida...only a quarter of it was on dirt roads (way off-roading) and crammed 5 per bakkie in the cabs. Consequently, we became quite familiar with one another...as if we weren't already! :) Sam and Yolanda are fast friends forever...even though Sam looks only mildly enthusiastic in this photo.