When baboons attack

So I am extremely late posting this, but since I have been back "home" it's actually been nonstop travel.  Anyway, I'm finally playing catch up and will try my best to continue blogging!

Saying goodbye to my hugging buddy

Last day reading with Emmanuel

saying bye to my sweet baby Aggie

No tears shed here - we'll see each other again

Stanley (Shuga/Sugar) the little stud

Leaving New Day was obviously hard.  Having the team there that last week, however, made it a lot easier.  It made me just the right amount of "homesick" to keep me from turning into a puddle of tears when it was time to leave New Day.  I was also very excited to go to Victoria Falls with the team and, of course, the safari in Botswana.  For those who don't already know, I LOVE animals and have always wanted to go on a safari in Africa.  I am glad to say I got to check that one off my bucket list.  

Little did I know, I would be having an animal encounter ahead of time at Victoria Falls our first day in Livingstone.  We were told that if you went down this one trail to the whirlpools at the bottom of the falls you would see baboons.  We were also told that you shouldn't carry snacks because the baboons would take them from you.  Well, I didn’t have “snacks” per say, I did have a plastic Coke bottle, thinking surely that was fine - WRONG.  Halfway down the steep, rocky incline a large baboon crossed paths with us, stood on his hind legs, and reached for my coke.  Instinctively, I pushed him away with my leg, putting him back on all fours.  Needless to say he was not happy and snarled at us so Cindy, Katherine, and I quickly turned around to head back up the hill.  Of course, it was steep and rocky so Katherine slipped falling on top of Cindy, leaving her with a BIG bruise on her back.  As she was on the ground, the baboon came up and hissed right in her face.  We hurried back up the hill with him following us the whole way.

  

Victoria Falls 

Even in the ponchos we still got soaking wet

I had already toured the falls before the incident; so after I was ready to go.  Others in the group were still shopping in the market though so I went and sat on the bus with Jamee, Miranda, and Andrew.  I was sitting next to all of my shopping bags with the window open because it was HOT.  All of a sudden, another large baboon jumped up in the window and grabbed my bags.  I yelled, shocking the others on the bus, and grabbed my bags literally having a tug-of-war with the baboon.  It managed to grab the Ark I had bought for my mom and ran off with it.  Fortunately, one of the market workers hit it with a slingshot and it dropped it.  Yes, that’s a real thing.  All of the workers carry slingshots to hit the baboons with if they get too aggressive or take something.  I got my ark back, broken but fixable, and a story with it.  Everyone on the bus during that fiasco couldn’t stop laughing the rest of the day.  
I HATE BABOONS.

Baboons along the trail

EVIL

Dinner in Livingstone! Kailyn and I split this and obviously couldn't finish; it was HUGE.
On the right in crocodile ribs and croc bites.  We also tried fried caterpillar, not bad. 

The next day was the safari.  We crossed the river on a barge with cars and commuters to get to Botswana.  We were picked up in an open safari trucks and went to have tea and sandwiches.  We began with a boat tour on the river, seeing hippos in the water and many other animals on the land, and then we did a truck tour.

I don't normally take selfies, but when elephants are in the picture...

Mal's 3rd safari so needless to say she was not as excited as me 

Honestly, the pictures speak for themselves so I am just going to post those.  I will say, to our disappointment, we did not see any crocodiles or big cats.  A bummer, but that just means I will have to go on another safari (God willing)!

Many more photos on my facebook page.

The whole Earth is full of His glory!

(Isaiah 6:3)

Easter in Africa

           The morning of Easter Sunday, us girls woke up extra early to climb the water tower before dawn.  Cindy was there too and we sat for a while just soaking the scenery in and listening to songs of praise.  Cindy read Matthew 28 and we reflected on Jesus’ resurrection as the sun rose. 

Expecting a big crowd for the Easter Sunday service, we set up chairs outside under the trees.  It could not have been prettier outside.  We began with worship, mostly in Tonga, but our team did go up and sing “Amazing Grace.”  Randy preached with Hildah translating and it was an excellent service.

LOVED Mama Tembo's Easter outfit  

Phillip and Misheck all dressed up for church 

            Afterward, we walked to the river for baptisms.  40 people had attended the meeting on Wednesday, eager to be baptized, and on Sunday it actually ended up being 45 total!  The river was packed with everyone from church.  Even those that the climb was strenuous for (one man missing a leg did hiked down the bank on crutches) made sure to be there.  Papa Tembo, Wes, and Blu each baptized three people at a time.  To see the expressions on each person’s face when they came out of the water was awesome.  Ages ranged from 6 to 60.  Some of the New Day kids were baptized and Cason too!  It was amazing to witness and you could feel everyone’s joy and excitement. 

Walking to the river 

The trek back 

            Once back at New Day we were (a little) sunburnt and worn out form the trek.  Darbi, BLESS HER, invited us over for strawberry punch and carrot cake that she had made for her family for Easter.  We helped Blu stuff eggs with candy for their kids to hunt and spent some time relaxing and enjoying the day.

            That afternoon, we did a fun art project with the kids that Pam Sewell had suggested.  We had been saving hallow eggs for the past 2 weeks in order to do it.  All the egg were filled with paint and the kids each got a canvas and three eggs.  They would throw the eggs at the canvas to make a splattered, abstract work of art.  They had a blast doing it.  There was a learning curve as we realized you have to throw the eggs pretty hard and fast for them to really break and the paint splatter well.  It was just as fun as it was messy.

The team helping with the art project

Gertrude

Luumono

Kelitah 

The aftermath

That night we had English Worship, singing songs at the fire pit under the stars.  Miranda shared an amazing devotion and others shared their testimonies and stories from the day.  I think I can speak for everyone when I say it was an Easter Sunday we will never forget.

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised form the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” – Romans 6:4