Palapye Baptist Church

Our church meets under this tent on Sunday mornings and for Bible study we meet at some buildings near the pastor's house. We have laid the foundation for a building and hope to start building soon. It is a small church but the people are very friendly and inviting.

In Palapye there are two other journey girls that are working in the schools with me. Emily Weaver (middle) and Kelly Woody (Right). Here we are in our traditional skirts. When we went to town we got lots of compliments of how beautiful we were in Botswana clothing.

This is a mophane butterfly. There are mophane worms which the sell on the side of the road for frying or boiling to eat. It is a delicacy here and something you must experience.

New Territory

This big hill is a termite hill. It is believed that if a young girl eats part of the dirt she will become more fertile. These are all over the sides of the road. There are a few things I have to get used to around Palapye like the donkey carts that use the roads to travel on. This is my house there are three in the compound and we are using two of them at the moment.

Fresh Start

We have a new addition to the family here in Palapye. Mouwane a little kitten we got in Gaborone. Mouwane means cloudy or overcast in Setswana but we are going to call it Mo for short. Palapye has been great, the schools have been so open to our teaching and very friendly. The students clap when we enter and leave the classroom and will sit in their seats wanting us to continue to teach them. Please pray for the language barrier as the Form One students have a hard time understanding English. The houses are nice we are renting two on the compound but since they are new there is still a lot that needs worked on. The third house on the compound is infested with bees. Kelly another journeygirl is allergic to them so please pray she doesn’t get stung. I love the village, people are very friendly and we always have visitors. News travels fast though every store we go to they already know what we do and where we live. They have even given us Setswana names. Mine is Tato which means willing. The dogs love the new compound as well because there is so much space. Continue to pray for our transitioning into this new place that we may develop relationships and teach effectively. Thanks

I love DIRT

I strongly recommend you not wearing flip flops when going hiking..... but when a lesisurely one hour hike becomes a three hour climb there is no turning back. It was worth the view don't you think?

Happy New Year

It is sparkling white grape juice..... Well I am starting off the year with several transitions. First of all I am moving to Palapye which is a village about three hours north of Gaborone. Two new journeygirls have arrived here and we will be working together doing Operation HIV. I am very excited about this as it is a huge answer to prayer and hopefully I will get to learn a little more setswana. Finally the doctors have figured out what is wrong with me. After some blood tests and X-rays I have inflammation in my left side. There is fluid around my lungs pressing everything against my ribs and causing me pain. Unfortunately there is nothing they can do but wait and see if it gets any worse. If it gets worse they will have to put a chest tube in a drain the fluid. Please continue to pray and thank you for all of the Christmas packages. Especially the Waddells and my 11th grade Sunday School class at Providence Baptist. Thanks for thinking of me this holiday season.

Merry Christmas

Somehow Christmas was not the same without family but the beach was a sight for sore eyes. Getting sunburn on Christmas day was a new experience and having pizza for dinner. The beach is definitely my kind place to live it is ironic that God put me in a land locked country. Surfing Lessons were worth the whole trip. A childhood dream come true. Cape Town is beautiful and I highly recommend the trip out there. :)

Village Stay

Mothlwane the village were I stayed for a few days. There was no electricity or running water. We stayed with a rather large family and made food over an open fire every day. People would visit at meal times and we would have to have enough food for all. We made Seswa wick is beef ground up and palache which is a thick breadlike substance. The food was very good but bathing through a bucket was difficult. I enjoyed the children they were fun to play with and they didn't care if you didn't know Setswana. I have never meet an ugly African child. I have fallen in love.... With this little one named Kato. I also got to drive the donkey cart and help pick up firewood. Ke motswana.... I am a motswana according to the family I stayed with I am know African.