Mfuwe

I stayed several days in the missionary guesthouse in Lusaka, while the rest of the group was in the bush. It was really nice to get to see that side of the mission field. I met several families and I was able to visit with them about what they do and where they live. On Thursday I flew from Lusaka to Mfuwe to meet up with the rest of the group. They picked me up from the airport after quite an adventurous plane ride. We began the 30 minute drive to the rental house we are staying in. I will never forget the drive from the airport to the house because when we were here last year, it was my first taste of Africa. The first time I was really immersed in their lives. We made it to the rental house which is apparently the cool place for baboons to hang out. Since we have been in Mfuwe, we have hosted a choir festival where we first discussed worship and what that means and what it should and shouldn't be. Then, we had 8 choir perform for us. I am just in awe of the talent they naturally have here! After being at the church for about 7 hours we went back to the house to freshen up and head to Flat Dogs for dinner. That Is where we stayed last year and they have a great restaurant. It is always a nervous walk when you go at night because you have to have a guard walk with you since the hippos come out of the river at night. The following day, we went back to church we were at the day before for the regular Sunday service. I was so happy to see a sweet couple I met last year and to find out they have had a baby! I taught the kids and shared my testimony and my Dad preached. We really enjoyed spending a couple of days with this group and loving on all the sweet kids! When we finished at church we headed to flat dogs for lunch and the evening safari! When pulled up to Flat Dogs there were elephants in the camp. We sat outside by the river where we learned the reason for the term "monkey around." We also watched the hippos in the river. We boarded the truck to head out for the safari and just about 30 minutes into the trip the guide turned off the truck for us to watch an elephant. When he tried to turn it back on it wouldn't start. They ended up pushing our truck down a hill to get us started again. A few minutes later another guide pulled up with a new truck for us to get in. Shortly after that is when we came upon a group of trucks watching something. Then we saw a leopard in the grass! It will go down as one of the coolest experiences in my life! We watched her for several minutes when a bushbuck began barking which alerted her. She then began to cross the road we were on and she laid under our truck! Mike could see the ticks on her back she was so close! She finally came out from under our truck and went to try to find that bushbuck. We saw a lot of different animals and we stopped on the banks of the river to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful red sunset! After our sunset stop we found some giraffe. It is so neat to watch them run. I don't know how they get all those lanky legs in sync! It gets dark and cold pretty quickly so we started looking with the spotlight. Not long into the night portion of our safari, we stopped the truck and turned off the light because the guide smelled something dead. We sat for several minutes in the dark and silence of the African plains. Pretty awesome. They started the truck again but the spotlight would not work this time. The guys spent quite a while trying to get it started again and put their boys out skills to the test. But it didn't work! So, we got in another truck to finish our drive. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing all of God's creatures! We came back to the house and our attendants had a beautifully set table and a dinner of grilled zebra with rice and salad. We woke up this morning and sat on the back porch and watched a bunch of elephant and giraffe. We were sad to leave mfuwe this morning. We enjoyed working with Mike, Lindy, Lari, Enjovu and Amai Justine and we look forward to the next time! We made it back to Lusaka this morning where we have spent the day enjoying the Internet and visiting the the full time missionaries that work here in Lusaka. Tomorrow we are going to the Zambian market and I am looking forward to coffee at Mugg & Bean! Then tomorrow night we will leave Lusaka at 11:30 to head home! Please continue to pray for our group as they continue to work in Mfuwe for the next few days. And please pray for us as we travel home, I am praying that I don't have as much trouble as I did in the way over here! See you all soon!