Toys!!!!!

Early this month, i received a box of toys from a wonderful group of GA girls in Sevierville, TN. In this case GA stands for Girl's in Action, which is a class taught at church for young girls to learn more about missions and missionaries. In this instance the "girls" truned out to be the missionaries to a group of preschool children all the way across the ocean. How awesome for them to all ready be learning about and doing missions at their age. Way to go girls!! I will say, that when i walked in with all those toys that the teacher said "Ah, this truly is an answered prayer." It just goes to show that God really does work through anybody - young, old, big, or small.

Awesome toys for the preschool!

It was kind of like being a rock star at a concert with a bunch of little people rushing the stage!!! It was the best time of my life!!

They kept moving around so fast i could hardly take their picture!!! They where really pumped about the toys!

These two little girls stopped long enough to smile for the camera, and what great smiles they have, don't you agree?

Christmas Child boxes!

So like less then 5 days after i delivered the toys to the preschool, once again I was surrounded by toys! Let me tell you i really enjoy being the messenger and seeing the faces of the kids light up at the smallest thing. Actually it's pretty humbling. This time the wonderful gifts came from people who give to Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse. We gave away 18 boxes at church and made home deliveries with the rest! It was a real blessing to see the excitment of the kids.

Simba pauses long enough for me to take his picture.....

Now he is back to going through his box!

More boxes to open!!!!!

Pure joy!

College Minstry!!

Right before youth camp Brandy and I got the chance to go down to Gabarone and help out with the college minstry at UB, Unversity of Botswana. It was loads of fun, we got to see old friends, prayer walk around the campus and help out with the welcome week at the Baptist Student Minstries! Besides all that we where also there to work with two mission teams and welcome the newest Journeyman to Botswana!!!! Wow, what a crazy time, but totally awesome!

Wabo, is totally looking forward to kicking off this party!! She was also a winter intern for Operation : HIV this winter (summer time in America) in Francistown.

Brandy hanging out with Ethel and Mothusi

Youth Camp!!

This was my very first youth rally / camp in Botswana, and i will have to say it brought back memories of going on trips with my youth group back home. Although this time i was a leader, which i totally loved!! Camp was so much fun. We played crazy games, had wonderful chat rooms and great workshops i.e. i lead one, and really got down to the heart of the matter. This is pretty much the only time these kids get to do something, so it was just great to feel their excitement!!

Masunga Baptist youth group!!!

Fun Rally!!!

What better way to jump start youth camp, then having to drink a mega coke & eat a loaft of bread in 1 min., letting your friend be your arms and prepare you for the day, and finally trusting someone not to spill water all over you while their trying to get it into the cup on your forhead?! I know, i don't know what could be better then a fun rally either!! Welcome to youth camp "It's a new thing" 2005!

Bashie and Mgu sitting back and waiting for it all to begin!

Eating contest!! Mgu, in the middle, wins by eating almost all of his bread loaf and drinking all of his mega coke in 1 mintue!!!!

It takes a trusting person to let their friend try and pour water into the cup on your forhead!

Praise & Worship!!

Everyday began with Praise and Worship. What an excellent way to start and end the day, don't you think?

The praise team was a combine effort of people from all over the country.

Everyone at Praise and Worship.

Tea Time!!

This is one of my favorite customs about living in Africa - tea time. No matter what country you go to, you'll always have tea time usually more then once a day!! I totally think America needs to incorporate this into our culture!! yum, yum,yum.......

Jake (Left) and Rob (Right) taking a chill before they start preparing for tea time. They work for ACTS, (African Christian Tours and Safaris) and guided the mission team around while they where here. FYI Jake is from my second hometown, big K-town!!! Pretty cool to meet someone half way around the world from the place you went to school and lived in for like the last 5 years!!

OK guys, i think the bread is big enough and with all that penut butter we'll need a large cup of tea to wash it down with! ahahahaha

ummm.... I think she saw the large slices of bread!!!! hahahaha...but isn't she a little sweetie?

Art Workshop!!

Ok, so this class turned out to be so much fun!!! My favorite part of youth camp was the workshops, which is a good thing since i was a teacher...hahahaha...Anyway, for an hour and 1/2 each day i held the power of a real art teacher! It was great, we talk about volume, form, shape, and then we made the big step to paint. Now this wasn't just your avarage joe paint, it was shall we say termite paint!! The best part was how we tied in the ultimate Creator into our Lessons!!

My art class.

Bone showing Okedishie how to blend smoother.

Priscilla working on her sketch.

Priscilla and Mgu showing off their finihsed 3-D coninuous contour drawing wire project.

Ann is one of our most creative missionaries down in Gabarone, the captial of Botswana, and she made lots of interesting objects with the wire before the end of class.

Mud Paint!!

I'm so serious, we totally made paint out of dirt!!! It was so much fun! At first i was really scared that i wouldn't know how to make it or that the kids wouldn't like it, but i was totally wrong. I've never been so happy in all my life to be so wrong!! As the saying goes "God made dirt, so dirt won't hurt" and in this case it totally made the class!!!!!

What am i doing you ask? Hello, i'm getting dirt to make paint with of course. Isn't it obvious?! hahahahaha....One wouldn't think to get dirt from a termite mound would be that hard, but it took me and some help from the mission team to chisel some off.

The girls are mixing and blending to see what all shades they can come up with.

Gorato, has got a lot of hidden tallent that she is smiling about.

Elise is working on her gradation scale.

Ah, and you only thought mud came in one color. Look at these wonderful works of art!!!

Here is our youngest budding artist in class. Isn't he cute?

Rec Time!!

In the evening after all of our workshops and chat rooms where finish we would go out to the pitch and play all kinds of games!!! Everyone really enjoyed it and had an excellent time!!

Priscilla, from F/town, striking a winning pose as she throws a ball at Jay from the mission team.

If Jay, thinks dodging one ball is hard look at ....

Shemia dodging two!!!!! Way to go!!!!!

On your mark, get ready, GO!!!

If dodge ball isn't your thing, then how about a good ol' game of football?....a.k.a. soccer for all of us Americans..These guys really have some fancy footwork!

Bone, cheering his friends on!!!

Now, Mothusi never goes anywhere without his phone, even to play football!!!!

Dinner!!

Duh, what else would you do after working so hard at having a great time, but eat!! Every meal was a great big helpin' of African traditional food, which i have grown to like a lot!

Open wide!!!! Some of the UB (Unversity of Botswana) students are showing us how to chow down!! Ethel, on the Left, i lived with when i first came here, and Bonsi on the right i met when she was on a mission trip out to Masunga with a group from GA. Small world.

Elise, is helping out the new jouneryman, Cystal, feel more at home.

Bonfire!!

What else do you have to end a great week of camp except a bonfire?! It was reall cool, the event not the fire...hahahaha...The best part was when Crawford, an art teacher in Francistown, dazzled us with his awesome tallent and showed us how visual art can be used to Praise the Lord!!

Bonfire time.

Crawford in the middle of his masterpiece

Ta-da, it's finished. Wow, he did an awesome job!!!!!!!!

Good-bye!!

Time has come to say good-bye, so farewell to sleeping in bunck beds, traditional meals, and salty water and hello Masunga!! It was a load of fun and everyone had a GREAT time!!!!! We'll do it again next year!!!!

Saying good-bye to fellow Tennessee and Knoxvillian, Jake, and two of my friends from Franicstown.

The youth are loaded and ready to go. Good-bye!!