Excitement!

First off, I would like to apologise for not posting on here sooner, I have been pretty tired for the past few nights and sitting for long stretches at a hot laptop trying to think of witty things to say sounded a bit daunting!

On Monday Tefo and I washed all the vehicles ready for our big trips out on Tuesday and Wednesday, We slacked a bit after that I am afraid to say!

On Tuesday we were up early, around 6.30, to get ready to go to Francistown, I was happy because we had decided to take my beloved pick up instead of the landie, so I got to travel in the open back with some of the others! We had a really good time on the way there, going 120kph for over two hours! I bought drinks and sweets and we all settled down and watched all the crazy drivers go past! At one point we were in a queue of around 30cars, whenever there was a gap in the oncoming traffic, about 10cars would just appear out of the queue and dodge back in wherever there was a space! As we came into Francistown, we saw a coach broken down in the middle lane of a roundabout, which was quite a sight! It was pretty windy travelling like that, and my face was numb when we arrived!

We had five hours of ministry throughout the day, there was a guy from Wales, a missionary living in Francistown and one of the local believers all speaking (not all at once!) Actually, it was only 2 and a half hours because it was all with interpreters! We had a normal Setswana lunch, consisting of beans, chicken, and so on.

The way back was even more of an experience as it was pitch black and pretty dark at times! We could just see lights as a car came speeding up behind us!

Then on Wednesday morning we drove over to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, I got to drive over there, thinking I would have to relinquish my lovely vehicle to someone else to drive around the sanctuary, but to my complete joy and happiness I got to drive around as well! I had my first experience overtaking on the way there, which I didn’t tell Andy till after we got there!

I found it really good fun to drive on the sand around the sanctuary. It was pretty difficult at first, and quite tiring, but very rewarding! I didn’t get to look around as much as I would have liked to, but with around 8 people in the back, I didn’t want to take any risks! (ok, I did, but only fun ones!) At one point Andy warned me there was reasonably deep sand up ahead, and in a 2X2 with 10 people on board, this could have been a bit of a problem! But I just revved it up and FLOORED it all the way through! Really good fun! I forgot to tell the people in the back what was happening, due to adrenaline rush, so I think a few of them got a shock! Andy said that I did really good though, which was high praise indeed!

We saw Rhino really close, a giraffe, ostrich, kori bustard, wildebeest, antelope and quite a bit more. Dimpho ( Andy’s other ’arf) said she saw a rat caught in a spider’s web, which would have made SUUUCH a cool picture!

On the way back I was driving away from a police check point just outside Serowe, when I saw a coach ( which was meant to be travelling at 100kph) overtaking the bakkie behind me at nearly 140kph! I have to say I didn’t want him overtaking me, so I sped up a bit (just a bit!), but within a km or so he had overtaken me, by the time I was halfway back, he was way out of sight! The buses try to get from Serowe to Gabarone and back in a day, which is physically impossible at the legal speed, so they all step on it a bit!

On Wednesday night we had a Braai with all the young people (and some of the old) at the hall, Andy had a pretty impressive Braai going, and I joined him in turning the meat. It was unbelievably hot, we were soaking ourselves down with water, and within 10-15 minutes we were dry as a bone again. It was really good fun though, all the people out here like their steak burnt to a crisp, so I was lucky I was cooking as I got to pick the choicest piece and cook it medium rare… perfect it was! I have to say though, I have NEVER had anything so delicious as the water I was drinking while I was cooking, it was gooorgeous. Purely because I was so thirsty! After we had finished I cooked myself some marshmallows on a stick over the fire and relaxed, it was a pretty good night to be living!

Nothing much to report since then, We managed to get most of the work done at the hall, which I am pretty happy about. So we start on some work we have to do over on this side on Monday.

I have been thinking a lot lately about my responsibility to the Lord, I am reading through the Old testament and a lot of the earlier O/testament is about giving to the Lord, as priests mainly. It really struck me that if I want to be serious about my life for the Lord, I am living my live as a priest and should take the responsibilities and privileges that go along with that. Sacrificing to the Lord, keeping myself clean and pure for the ‘temple work’ and giving him the very best. I suppose it is the difference between the marathon runner out there for the record, and the guy who goes along for the laugh, both of them are living the life, training for the marathon, but for one it overrule everything, for the other it is part of life, but never the most important.

Please continue to pray for me out here, mainly that I will be able to carry on working as it gets hotter, I already feel like spending the day reading a book!