So I have considered how to tell you what these past few weeks were like. And I found, that I can't. No words can describe how grand, and majestic Victoria Falls was, or how the Spirit moved through evangelism. But, in my own little words and in the words that are in the English dictionary, so I will try.
Well the first day we broke down, and so we had to tow the Land Rover to a local farm and spend the night in the bush. What I found ironic was that while on the side of the road a two mule buggy came to see if they could help. So, 3 men, 8 woman, and 1 child stayed in the bush. We had some tent issues on the way, as well as a water shortage, survival happened. It all depends on attitude. It was comical, and all you could say on the matter was TIA(This Is Africa). But, Historical Reenactment mindset came in very handy. Don't got much so take and use what you got.
Day 2
We traveled to Francistown and stayed the night in town at a friends house. SHOWERS!! That was key to our excitement.
Day 3-4
Traveling to Victoria Falls, we got there late at night, then woke the next morning to go see the town and the falls. One of the many awesome things on a personal level was that I got to sleep in my ENO, which my brother let me borrow!
The falls were full, we pulled into parking lot, which is a good distance from the falls, and we could feel the mist. It was my understanding that we were going to see the falls later in the day and go to the town in the morning, so I thought, "Okay, I know I'm going to get soaked, but, I can wear jeans around town and then where them to the falls, 'cuz after that we will go back to camp". Nope. Since the weather was so nice we decided to go to the falls first, then go to camp, then to town.
Soaked was an understatement. But, it was worth it. And was amazing!!!! I saw the first section, beautiful. Second section, beautiful and huge. I'm thinking, since we are walking still we're just going to the other side to see the full falls at once. Well, there was more and more falls at every corner! They were so huge!! I have never seen anything like it, and a shrinking, "Oh my gosh what if I was trapped in the Zambezi" feeling of reality, came over me. The fact that water fall was so powerful it could kill me in an instant, was an interesting moment. Victoria Falls truly portrays, as much as an earthly thing can, the greatness of my Father.
Day 5
We went to the market and around town. Which market is an experience in itself, because no matter where you go, someone is trying to sell you something, for the best price of course. As well as thirty people are selling you the same thing. But you get to bargain, which is so much fun. The woman are easier than the men, the men get a little to demanding to see their shop, and you just give in to get them to be quiet.
What was interesting to me was that everywhere I was going in Victoria Falls, my mother had been twelve years prior. After
After the market we went back to camp, then went to town to book our excursions. Which started off as:
Horseback riding safari- 3 people
Bungee Jump- 2
Elephant ride- 1
And ended up as:
Horseback riding safari- 4 people
Night Bungee Jump- 3
Gorge Swing- 1
Zip-line- 1
I started off do in the Horseback riding safari, after we got there I was talking to the locals, and I decided it would be lame. So, I went unintentionally, to the scariest thing, most adrenaline, that was offered at "Wild Horizons". Closest thing to a panic attack I have ever experienced. Literally, I was in tears before I even got harnessed up. Then the guy who was doing the equipment was talking to me and as he was talking hooking another strap on and "If you don't want to do this I'll just let you try then you can make your decision". As he was doing the final strap, he looked at the team, Jordan and Shea gave him a thumbs up and he unclipped the hook at the back which kept me secure. So before I knew it, I was free-falling 72 meters. I couldn't even scream, at the end I didn't know whether to be mad or shocked that I was swinging over the Vic. Falls gorge. After I got back up, it was my conclusion that it was fun, but I would never do it again. Three hours later, I decided if I was ever there again, I would do it.
So this only half of the experience. I'll have the other half on Tuesday.
Day 6 - after that experience we packed up and traveled to a little town called Kasane, Botswana. We set up camp, at a lodge along the Chobe River. Of course we camped beside a sign that says "Beware of Crocodiles", and another that said "Beware of Hippos". Camping with warthogs was entertaining as well.
After setting up camp, we went to go do hospital ministry, where we pray and witness to the patients and nurses. While we were there, we met a woman named Dorcas, who was in the final stages of AIDS. I wish I could say that we saw a miracle as we prayed for her, but, we didn't. And hey, that's okay, God was glorified through it, because the next day, Courtney and Kristen met her father as they were doing evangelism. We did learn that she had passed a way that night, we may not know why it happened like it did, but God has a reason.
Day 7 - Evangelism in the streets, which was an amazing experience. Robbie sang music while we passed tracks and then every fifteen minutes, we did our skit "Cardboard Testimony's". All through it the Holy Spirit was moving. After, street evangelism we did road evangelism.
That night the Global Year team was hanging out around the campsite and suddenly we heard an elephant trumpet, pretty cool and suprsing. After that we heard it again...only followed by a lion growl, so for the next thirty minutes that's what we heard. And, ALL of us were trying to make a game plan if they charged in the campsite (it sounded that close). We decided the best bet was to run into the concrete bathrooms, if it came to it. Haha, what were a bunch of teenagers thinking? Concrete, was going to save us, wouldn't have done much if they wanted in.
Easter Sunday, Day 8- Sunrise service on the Chobe River. AMAZING!!! Words can't describe it. Not only that, afterwards we came home and packed up camp. On our out of Kasane, we were able to go on a water safari. In the beginning we saw, a hippo, birds, some crocs., and a few elephants. We turn the corner, and there are 50 elephants on the beach. Literally, they were all ages, also there was a baby that had to just to have been born. We're in a boat and there are 50 elephants on a beach. Un-real. To see God's creation, that way.
At this point we have seen 4 out of the 5 (Big Five: Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, and Rhino). So we haven't seen a Leopard. We finish looking at the elephants and we hear one of the other boats say something about a leopard being up ahead. We had been praying to see a leopard all day. We go up and stop and look, there he is, under a tree, just hanging out at 12:00 in the afternoon. You hardly ever see one at that time. So we watch him and he just lays there, then after about 15 minutes he gets up and walks away. So we decide to go back...he walks on the beach with for a few minutes. Wanna talk God. Seeing a leopard is rare, seeing a leopard at 12:00 is rarer, plus seeing him walk around is like never. Leopards like to hang out in trees, so seeing what we saw, was God!!!!! On Easter Sunday!!!!
Then traveled to Panda. Panda is a little town of Afrikaan Farmers. The only building is a gas station/convenient store, that's how small it is. The farms extend for miles, growing sorghum, sunflowers, beans and maize(corn). Seeing farm land, and lots of it made it feel like home, with miles of fields.
We stayed at a farm, in the back yard of this family, that Mr. Palmer knew. That night we had our second church service at an Afrikaans Church. Which is very traditional, they were very gracious and did translation, and sang a couple of hymns in english. Communion...normally, crackers and grape juice right? Nope, crackers yes, grape juice no. So maybe wine, nope. Sherry. I knew in some churches they served alcohol, not a big deal. I'm sitting next to Robbie, and at this point we don't know it's alcohol. You could drink from the one cup, or the little separate ones. Robbie said something to me, my response was "Well at least it's not alcohol"....then I saw the glasses and "Oh boy" went through my head. So I'm preparing my self for wine. I'm thinking "I'll be reverent and go with it", then I drank it, and wine doesn't burn. So that's one point with communion. Jordan decided to to drink from the cup and is thinking it's grape juice so he takes a bigger sip then he meant...it's wine (and at this point I'm trying to keep it together and not laugh at the situation, all these Southern Baptist teenagers having communion) Then Jordan took the big gulp and gets a surprise, and I hear Mr. Palmer say "Your not supposed to take such a big gulp", and is almost in tears he's trying not to laugh. So I quietly lost it. Then afterwards, I felt so bad, I had to apologize, to God for not being reverent. So as you can see Easter services were a little opposite. But memorable.
On our drive home we got to ride on top of the Land Rover, there was no city around so the stars were amazing! I got to see the Milky Way, all of Orian, The Pliates, Southern Cross, and the Big and Little Dipper, amazing in it's self.
Day 8
We woke up that morning and drove to a elephant watering hole and spent the day. So the Global Year Team, decided to go swimming. Which was so much fun, had some mud fighting( actually, mud with a mixture of elephant poop). After lunch we had been getting pestered with gnats, so we had the brilliant idea to rub the mud mixture on our skin to get rid of the gnats. It worked. Arms, Legs and Face were covered! And our skin was really soft afterwards.
We then packed up and drove aways out and got to see an elephant grave yard. A little Lion King in there. What happened was Botswana is having a nasty drought, and so the elephants were very dehydrated. It was interesting though, because there were bee-hives in the carcass. Walking around we also came across some ivory, that stuff is heavy!! It was a good five pound chunk.
Driving back we came across lion tracks. So we tracked them for an hour, never saw any but we came across a springbok. The little guy was in front of us and I guess he thought we were chasing him, so he was running so fast, and after 20 minutes, he starts going slower and slower. By the end I thought he was going to have a heart attack. He decided to run to the side and got his head caught in the fence. Which was funny. Then it was back to running.
That evening, the family that we stayed with had horses, so we got to ride. English and bare back. I've never ridden either, so it was a new experience. After riding english, I switched and rode bareback. We were on our way back and the horses hadn't been fed yet, and I wanted to trot. Which I did really well, then it went into a canter, still doing good, gallop...then a buck. Straight on my butt. I've been bucked plenty of times, gotten back on no problem. Not this time, I have never been bucked that hard, or fell that hard. The wind was knocked out, and my back killed. So after a couple days I was better, it didn't hurt. But it took a while.
That night we were able to go back out, lay and look at the stars. So we had worship session in the middle, that worship session mixed with a prayer meeting for rain in Botswana, singing to "Let it Rain" by Jesus Culture. And that next night, Botswana got rain!
Day 9-12
Basic traveling and camping in the rain that God gave us.
This trip for so many reasons will always be one of my greatest memories. The stars of Botswana, will defiantly be the highlight. Seeing the Creators creation, the best I could was unexplainable. Seeing the Milky Way Galaxy in a field in Botwswana felt like I was in the Indescribable video by Louie Giglio. God has blessed this team in so many ways. Seeing, the Big Five, Victoria Falls in it's full Glory, a Lunar Rainbow (a rainbow created by the sun), Sunrise Service on the Chobe, the Stars, and doing evangelism on Easter weekend, telling people about their Savior on the day he saved them three thousand years ago.
