Africa Update #3

Here is what we did our last few days in Africa:

August 19-20:

On Wednesday we all finished projects around Bethel; alphabet cards, orphan skirts, teaching material prep and painting cabinets. Mary Lou again did what became her favorite task on the trip; making her now-famous "Mozambique Spaghetti".

On Thursday we were supposed to organize the store room, but instead we wanted to give a "gift" of sorts to Les. We asked Mark if we could organize and paint the kitchen in their house. Les and Mark are so busy working to serve others at Bethel and in the communities during their time there, that they have little time to do anything for themselves. Being a big fan of HGTV and the organizing and decorating home shows I was feeling quite prepared for this task! We cleaned and reorganzed everything to perfection, and finished it off with a nice coat of cheery yellow paint. It made such a difference, and we hope she will feel really blessed next time she is at Bethel by not having to worry about doing the work herself. The night ended with a braai (BBQ) with some of the staff members at Bethel. It was a nice time of getting to know one another.

Friday was our final day at Bethel. We made our special paving stone on a walking path that each team gets to design. I spent some final time on the beautiful beach and got my clothes soaked running in and out of the surf. We also had to do some final horse doctoring before we left (the nasty growth on the horse that I mentioned earlier was eventually cut off by Les, and Craig and Mark devised a good method to lift his foot up for on-going treatment so the horse couldn't kick the daylights out of everyone). We removed his bandages and made sure the wound was healing as best as possible.

After that, we packed an insane number of bags into the small back area of the truck and headed off.

We arrived in South Africa at dark, staying at the guest house that Mark's parents run across from the Kruger park, in an area called Marloth park. As we went to bed we could hear the roar of lions in the distance!

August 22:

Today was a full day of driving around the Kruger. Laurie and I left early with Mark and his 2 sons Michael and Charlie. Meanwhile, Les took Craig and Mary Lou to the doctor to get some medication for what turned out to be tick bite fever. After seeing the doctor they met up with us later in the park. It was an amazing day spotting all kinds of animals: Lots of elephant, giraffe, rhino, zebra, hyena, ostrich, crocodile, hippo, monkeys, warthogs, buffalo and lots more. We saw 3 of the "big 5", but were really hoping to see some lions. I volunteered to be the one to pray for lions:-) As we were leaving the park that night, Mark was teasing me that my prayers must not have been good enough because we didn't see lion. I told him to have a little faith!

August 23:

LIONS!!! We spent a leisurely morning at the Harper's lodge having coffee on the upper deck before having group bible devotions. The deck has a beautiful view of The Kruger park across the road where the crocodile river runs through. As we were watching the peaceful setting, suddenly a pride of lions came trotting down the hill to drink from the river and relax by the trees. Prayers answered! Praise God! It was so cool to see those lions in action, especially the big burly males, who normally just lazily lay around, but this morning were being quite frisky.

After our lion sightings and a great time of devotions we left for Nelspruit and the airport. It was hard saying goodbye to the Harper family who had been such terrific hosts during our time in Africa. They are such a wonderful and amazing couple, doing incredible work for the Lord in Mozambique. It was a great blessing to get to know them.

Our trip home was thankfully uneventful as we arrived back in Minnepolis on Monday afternoon to our awaiting families. It was so good to be home, and I have a new appreciation for how blessed we are here.