January 7th was MT's birthday and we had a celebration at the office. It is so nice to have the Kowalski family back, though Cheryl was not able to attend as she was in Gaborone for an ultra sound of the new baby that is rapidly growing and due the end of May.
Early in January, we also had a visit from the family we know that are living in the remote northwest of Botswana that have been ministering to the San bushman for the last 7 years. Due to our travels, and other things happening with their mission and family commitments, it had been 6 months since their last visit with us. We could not get over how much the children had grown in that time and little Cordre was walking! In addition, Jana is speaking such good English that we could really have fun conversations with her. The children are pictured below after returning from a day of shopping in Maun. Jana was dancing for us in the new ballerina outfit that she was able to get at one of the local shops.
It is the rainy season now, and the landscape is a lush green with thick vegetation. Every year that we have been here during the rainy season, we have woken up in the morning periodically to find some sort of infestation of bugs, worms, beetles, spiders, etc. that pass in a day or so. One day we had tiny little frogs all over our patio. That was a first...the picture below has one of the little frogs next to a 5 Pula coin that is about the size of a quarter. Having the little frogs hopping around was much more pleasant than some of the other critters we have experienced during the tropical season of our summer here.
On Sunday January 16, the power went off shortly after 11am just when we had returned from church. Power outages are not uncommon at all here, especially during the rainy season, but this one was unusual because it lasted for almost 36 hours. Apparently, not only was Maun without power but all of northern Botswana for those hours. All of the cell phone reception was down until Monday morning also. The outage was caused when a lightning strike hit an important power cable south of Maun. Our only real concern was for the things in our freezer, though not having a fan or air conditioning in the summer heat was uncomfortable for the day and a half without electricity. Fortunately, the things in our freezer only marginally thawed and nothing was lost to spoilage. We tolerated the hotter parts of the day, and pulled out our emergency candles as lighting for a couple of nights. All we can say is, "This is Africa."
Patricia also had a birthday on January 24. It gave us another reason to celebrate with a chocolate cake, which is her favorite.
The last weekend in January, we were able to get away for a night to our friend's game farm about an hour and a half drive from Maun. It was July and winter when we were last able to go out for a visit. At that time, it was the dry season when it is the coldest time of year. Now that it is the rainy season, the bush was extremely thick with brush even though there had been a veld fire through there last September. Not only was it really nice to be in the bush with all the birds and wildlife, but we enjoyed the Christian fellowship of our friends immensely. Something different that we did while there, was to explore a new piece of land by following the elephant trails that lead to areas of water known as "pans". Riding in a very large and heavy4x4 cruiser, we crashed through all kinds of thick brush and only got stuck once in a large whole made by an elephant. It was right by a small pan and a good place to stop for a picnic lunch. After a relaxing lunch, the guys hooked an electric winch to a nearby tree which easily pulled the truck out.
With the truck unstuck, we all climbed on top of the cruiser to look around for the next trail to follow and then crashed on off into the bush.
Julie's favorite spot to ride was right on top of the truck cab, but through the thickest brush she had to ride low in the back to avoid being torn to pieces by thorny branches. Colin rode in the cab.
Every year during the summer months there are many migratory birds fluttering, chirping, and singing out a variety of songs in our yard daily. The first song we hear just as day is barely breaking, is the Kingfisher. There are a few different kinds, and this year we have a Grey Headed Kingfisher [pictured below] that has taken residence on our plot. His wake up call in the morning is somewhat like, "cheeeet choooooo, cheeeet choooo...." It is one thing we miss when summer is over and some of the birds travel elsewhere until the next year. At least we still have a few more months of their presence here.
We neglected to take photos of a few other things, people, and events that were a part of our lives in January. There was a quick trip to Gaborone for Julie to have more dental work, a Mercy flight to Francistown for Colin to transport a patient having an appendicitis attack, pilots and other visitors coming and going while using the flats, just to name a few.Thank you again for the interest shown in what we are doing while in Botswana. Upcoming events are a trip to Sepopa to help Pusetso with organizing a Sunday school program and a 5 day outreach Bible club is in the plans for the term break in April. Please keep these outreaches in prayer. The major issue in working with the younger children here is the language barrier. A fluent Setswana translator is crucial for the success of the children ministries. In closing, please pray that we reflect Christ in all that we do. "For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake. For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:5.
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