Safari and then some

Julie and Micah,

I don’t know how to start this entry. Well on Sunday night I decided to do laundry, thinking I would get up early enough on Monday (the day we left for the Safari) so I could put everything in the dryer. Well I got up early enough, but then I kind of forgot until the last few seconds to get everything out of the washing machine. I decided to get as much out as I could and then leave the lid open. We wouldn’t be back until Tuesday night so I thought everything would be fine. NOPE. My clothes that I left in the washer, which included a number of Brian’s clothes, were neatly piled on top of the empty dryer and smelled quite rank. As I sit here writing this I hear the spin cycle that is a part of the rewashing process.

So the safari…

Well I have never been on a safari before so I didn’t know what to expect. It was fun, but honestly I didn’t think about having to be on the same bus we drove to the park in for the whole day. The seats were not exactly comfortable. All is okay though. Everyone survived the first day and no one was eaten by anything. We saw all kinds of animals. We got to our bungalow by 4:30 and had to board the night viewing bus by 5:00. The sun sets early when everything is surrounded by mountains. We took just over 3 hours for our drive. It was a great time for our group to finally be together and not doing anything. We sat on an open air bus and saw many beautiful pieces of God’s creation. There are “The Big Five” in Kruger National Park, which include, the lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and elephant. We saw everything but a lion. There were two things we saw in the dark that would not come out from behind whatever ever it was they were behind. We saw their eyes reflecting off the light of our bus flash lights. It was weird to see nothing but dark and then two shiny eyes. Because their color was a reflected yellow the tour guide said it is most likely some type of cat. Some of us on the trip would like to believe we saw two lionesses who had just killed an animal and were eating it. In case you did not know a lioness does the hunting BUT the lion gets to eat first. Kind of like a wife who goes grocery shopping yet the husband eats the food…sort of. Personally I thought it was another buffalo that we saw because of how far the eyes were a part. We saw giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, zebras, rhinos, kubus, deer, wild boars, wart hogs, mere cats, monkeys and lots of birds.

The trip back was very eventful. First, some of us decided to get up very early and do a morning drive for about an hour. I saw the most amazing sunrise. It was very, majestic. No other word could describe it. We were asked if we wanted to leave straight away from the park, take a short but bumpy unpaved path or a long but paved path. We took short but bumpy. Exciting! When we stopped for lunch things started to change. Our bus that we are renting rolled almost going through a fence and almost seriously hurting one of people. It was a freak accident that none of us can explain. The bus is a diesel and it is a clutch. It is parked in first gear, which means it won’t roll. The main door must be opened when the key is at least in the ACC position. For some reason, with NO ONE behind the wheel the bus started to roll. Now someone did put the key in just before it happened, but you have to wait for the engine (in a diesel) to be ready, depress the clutch and finally push the gas. If you push the gas, without the clutch being depressed, the vehicle will lunge forward, but the engine has to be engaged. So now that that is explained, the vehicle just started to roll forward. The person in front of the bus turned just in time to prevent any serious damage. The person who had put the key in the bus experienced, understandably, a lot of anguish and guilt. Those of us who saw it were left speechless. Here is where God provides for us. One of the guys on our team is an E.M.T. and one of the ladies on our team is a nurse. The person who was in front of the rolling bus was in some pain but they were able to give a quick prognosis. We did end up going to a doctor’s office, and were blessed with the same prognosis. A big bruise. There was a lot of relief and no one was blamed for the accident.

So we kept on going to the boarder. The boarder took forever. We met a really nice older lady in an odd sort of way. She saw a group of us guys “having fun”. She assumed because of our jolly outlook on life that we must be Christians. She approached us and began talking in a language that none of us knew. Realizing we spoke English she began to be understandable. She was from Victoria, which I believe is in Australia. She told us her story and we bid her God’s blessings on the rest of her journey.

Finally, we are back in the bus. About a half an hour more and we hear a bad noise coming from the back driver side (which is on the right here) of the bus. We had a flat tire. GOD BLESS double axles. Then the question comes, does anyone know how to change a tire on a double axle vehicle? Out of the middle of the bus comes a yes. One of the guys on our team is a technician (commonly called a mechanic) for Toyota. He just happened to majored in double axle when he studied in trade school in Orlando.

In short our 3 hour trip turned into 10 hours. Not exactly fun, but from what I understand, it’s an average day on the mission field.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Mozambique…and Africa for that matter. We will be debriefing (talking about what we did and didn’t like or understand), repacking, getting last minute things done which includes laundry (mine is almost done thought). Tomorrow night we will have our last campfire (making it three). The fires have been interesting. I was told hey, you’re from Kentucky build a fire. So Bradley and myself, both being from Kentucky, decide the best type of fire to build is a “log cabin” styled campfire. It was a thing of beauty. Don, who was also from Kentucky, said he had never heard of a log cabin fire, he only knew of the teepee fire. He told us to build a teepee the next time we did a fire. Bradley and I built the teepee fire and it flopped. It eventually lit, but that was after everyone trashed talked the fire, without knowing (or perhaps knowing but not caring) who built the fire or that it was Don’s request. Well tomorrow night it will most definitely be a log cabin, and Don agreed.

Let me end by saying everyone is OK and seem to be getting along or tolerating each other. God has done some great things through us and with us on this trip. Today was a day we got to see how we were gifted in different ways. We are a body. We all always have a purpose. It was nice to see so many people using those purposes in different ways today. Good night. I will see you soon dear. I love and miss you. I can’t wait to hold you in my arms when I get home. Tell my little buddy that Daddy is coming home. Tell him when I get home I want the best hug ever!

I love and miss you!

all about Christ,
David