Wednesday, August 3, 2011
That's All for Now, Folks!
I apologize for the formatting difficulties and weirdness in the blog... I also hope that my daily entries are understandable! :)
Saturday, July 9
Today was our shopping day. We got to sleep in and then we headed to the mall in downtown Windhoek. Along with the stores inside and outside the mall, there are a few “markets” along the walkways and right down the street. These markets are really just artists selling their things on tables on the ground, but a lot of their things are very good. A lot of wood carvings, jewelry, baskets, and bowls. All of these things are made out of very interesting things too! I got a pair of earrings made out of recycled paper and ostrich egg, and bracelets made out of some sort of bone or ivory or white stone. I also got a few other things to give to friends and supporters. After a delicious lunch at Mugg &Bean, we finished up our shopping at one other little market and then came back to Stephan and Beverley’s. We played some Yahtzee, ate dinner, and a few others watched a movie. While today was very relaxing a nice, I wish we were starting our long journey home tomorrow. After church tomorrow, we are doing more shopping which we don’t really need. I guess I am just ready to head home. But soon, we will be home and I can’t wait. I miss my family a lot and my own bed. I have had an absolutely wonderful time on this trip, and words can’t even describe how I feel about this trip.
Friday, July 8
Thursday, July 7
Today we went to Dune 7! I woke up this morning, not feeling well again, so I was not sure if I would travel to the dunes with the team or not, but I didn’t want my mom to miss anything again by staying back with me, so we went. The dune buggy rides were first, so I made a little bed out of the back seat in the van, enjoyed the sun, and got a good start on my new book, “Bite of the Mango.” The rides lasted about an hour and when everyone got back, they were tired, hot, and a little unhappy with the rides because everyone had to travel at one speed that was too fast for some and too slow for others. I was still not feeling great, but it didn’t seem like I missed much on the rides. Then we drove over to the dune, had lunch, and people started to hike. Of the 19 people that were with us (our team of 15 minus Joyce, and the Banda family), 16 attempted to climb. Sandi, Karen, and I were the only ones who didn’t try. Karen and I because we weren’t feeling well, and Sandi didn’t because she didn’t want to. Lynda was the first to the top, and Tresford was last, but only because he left a lot later than everyone else. Julie, mom, and Joshua started up and couldn’t finish because it was too hot outside, which I could understand because it was very, very hot. Yeshua went up part way and came down about 3 times, but after we gave him some water and he changed his pants (he was wearing jeans, which are heavy and hot) he started on his way with his dad, and they both made it. This was so much fun, and I got some great pictures. I was a little bummed that I couldn’t go on the buggy rides, but not so much when it came to the climb because it was just way too hot. After we finished climbing and everyone emptied out their pockets, socks, and shoes of the sand, we headed back. When we got back to the Beach House, we had to pack up our things because the next day we were heading to Windhoek to stay with Pastor Stephan.
Wednesday, July 6
Last night I was given the choice to go with the men back to Arundis, or stay with the women and go to the hospital today. This was a tough choice because I wanted to go back to Arundis and see the children because I hadn't gotten to the day before, but I would have nothing to do at Tresford and Fabiola's until about 1:30 or 2pm. However, if I stayed with the women and did hospital visits, I wouldn't get to see any of the kids or Pearl again. As I lay in bed this morning, trying to decide what to do, I struggled because I had pros and cons for both options. I finally decided to stay with the women because I was still feeling weak and tired, and I was running late because the men were leaving at 8am and the women weren't leaving until 10am. However, at about 9:45am, I was laying in bed when Carol came into my room and said "Rachel, I need you. We have a special visitor." I was very curious and got up, even though I still wasn't feeling 100%. When I walked toward the door, Carol told me that she has met this woman on the beach and that she was deaf, so she brought her home because she knew I knew some sign language. How crazy is that?! Carol called it a "divine appointment." Anyways, I signed with the woman, asking her name and her baby's name, if she was a Christian, and what her story was. While we both signed, I know American Sign Language and her sign language was different - maybe Afrikaans sign language? We signed for a bit while mom made her a big bag of food and Carol praised God for this opportunity. The woman's name is Melania, and she was trying to get money to travel to see her parents. We gave her a little money, but not a lot. It was hard though because when we went to ride with Joyce and Fabiola to downtown Swakop to shop; Joyce mentioned how the woman's story was likely not true. I wanted so badly to believe Melania in that she was just trying to get to where her parents are. Any who, after we finished with Melania, we went to downtown Swakop to shop. We started at the wood carver's market and just walked around town, going in and out of shops that looked interesting. I was feeling a lot better today, but I was still very tired so I often had to sit down and rest for a few minutes. While in Swakopmund, we had lunch at The Village Cafe. It was delicious! Sandi, mom, Carol, and Julie all got baked potatoes covered in cream sauce with chicken, mushrooms, and cheese. Mystomach couldn't quite handle that, so I got toast and scrambled eggs, which were very good. After having lunch at the cafe, we wandered around for a bit more. We were supposed to catch a taxi and be back at the Finnish House at 2:30 for hospital visits. But while we were shooing, we saw Fabiola's truck, so we waited by it so we wouldn't have to pay for a taxi (not that they're expensive - about $1 US dollar from where we were to where we were staying). But when Fabiola, Joyce, and Lynda returned (they were shopping for Fabiola’s new fridge, some dishes, etc) they said they still had a lot to do so they said maybe we will do the hospital ministry later, maybe not. As bad as we felt, we were relieved to have more shopping time and more down time, since we hadn't had hardly any. For dinner we had delicious pizza - finally! But I overate a bit and then despite the fact that I was feeling better during the day, I felt bad again the next day.
Tuesday, July 5
Not much to write about today... the boy's HC is going on right now but I am at the Beach House, very sick.
Monday, July 4
Happy Independence Day! Woo! Today we had the first day of HC – for the girls. We headed out at our normal time, although I’m not sure why. We headed straight for the town hall to set up for HC and then went back to Tresford and Fabiola’s house, where we sorted through all the remaining junk we had. This included decorations from WOV and TOV, toiletries, toys, and clothes. When we leave, all of these supplies stay with Fabiola so she can continue to give them away. We finished all this around 11, and we weren’t eating until 12, so I took some time to catch up on a little reading. At 12 we went to the restaurant and enjoyed some baked ziti, which was wonderful! Julie has been such a great cook while we have been here. After lunch, we went to the town hall to do last minute prayers and introductions to the helpers Fabiola recruited. When we opened the doors, there were already a lot of girls outside. Joyce let in girls 10 at a time. Each girl got a ticket, a peanut butter and jam sandwich, and a piece of candy. Beauty was the first girl in, which I loved! We seated the girls based on their height, with the shortest in the front and the tallest in the back. When the program started, Joyce first said a prayer over all the girls. Then we sang a song, and all of the puppeteers – including myself – went behind the makeshift curtain/cover thing we had made. Pearl was “Angie,” and I was “Paul.” We talked about what it meant to be undignified for God, and then we sang the song. Caleb, Trey, Joshua, and Yeshua helped with the smaller puppets that came up and sang and danced after the song started. After the puppet show, things proceeded normally. We had the drama, sang more songs, made the bracelets, and Fabiola asked how many of the kids wanted to accept Jesus into their heart. The amount of girls that raised their hands was overwhelming. We had 382 girls in attendance and at least 2/3, if not more, raised their hands. After this, we did the prize drawing. I was amazed at how loud the girls were over the Barbie dolls! They absolutely loved them! While only a few girls got prizes, all the girls were good sports. When the prize drawing was over, the girls got a wordless book to remind them about the colors of the bracelet, a certificate saying they memorized John 3:16, and a package of cookies. We tidied up and headed home, but we were a little bit later than normal because the HC didn’t end until 5, and we normally leave at 4. It was definitely worth it though! We got back exhausted and smelly, but had a wonderful time.
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