These past days have been rather uneventful.  We are continuing to do what God has for us to do here in Swaziland and we are so thankful we are able to be here.

The sunrise from our house.

Friday, I attended a ladies Bible study.  They are studying  ‘Peter,  Learning to Be Like Jesus’.  I spent some time this morning studying the next lesson.    I didn’t finish the lesson because I tend to find something interesting and study that particular thought before I go on.  I have one page written in a notebook from my morning study. The thought that I pursued this morning was from John 13:34 “…love one another, even as I have loved you….”   Jesus loves ALL people. No matter how dirty, hurtful, sinful, proud, arrogant, etc. they are.  He loves us so much that He suffered on the cross for us.  Love will be expressed in deeds for the unlovable as well as the lovable.   It will be an overflow of our love for Christ, to bring Him glory, not ourselves and a love without end.

My notebook contained much more than just this, but these are the main thoughts for today.   Now I need to go back to the study book and fill in the blanks.

Saturday we spent a delightful evening with another TWR family, the Clarks, and her parents from Port Elizabeth.  We enjoyed the wonderful meal and fellowship.  It is interesting that we and her parents have mutual friends in South Africa.  It truly is a small world where God’s children are concerned.

Sunday we had a very nice time of worship in song before Larry shared his testimony and a challenge during the morning service.

After church, we stopped at a place near our house where they sell grilled chicken, mealie pap

All this food for less than $3.00! Not for each serving, but for both of us. Right now, it is probably closer to $2.50 for all this food.

and salad and brought some home for dinner.  It was very tasty.  After we ate, we decided to visit the glass blowing factory.  They were not blowing glass on Sunday, but did have things for sale and we did go to the observation deck to look at the furnace where they fire and blow the glass.  We enjoyed looking around, but saved our money and didn’t purchase anything.

Today, Tuesday, a stack of parts are supposed to arrive late this evening from South Africa for the AM antenna upgrade.  Larry is anxious to get started doing the work after spending the past weeks planning, designing, finding a machine shop capable of making and ordering the parts.  There are other parts yet to come and he is hoping they will be ready soon.  It seems like things, that take a few days to get done in Elkhart, take weeks or months here.  He would love to have this project very near completion or even finished before we leave.

Also today, the missionaries, that work at the site with Larry, had work to do in town so Larry rode to the site with the Swazi technician.  They decided to repair the 100,000-watt shortwave antenna that Larry designed and built in 1984.  One small bolt had failed after 32 years of service.  Although the failure was such that the antenna performance was not compromised, it affected the appearance of the antenna.  After completing the repair, Larry asked the technician, “If we don’t tell anyone, how long will it be before the repair was noticed?” The technician replied, “One or two months!”  [So if you are reading this, please don’t ‘let the cat out of the bag’!]

TWR antennas at sunset. The antenna that was repaired is connected to the shorter towers behind the curtain antenna which is in the front of this photo.

Tuesday evening we decided to Skype with Samuel’s family and see how they were doing. We had just  finished talking to Larry’s mom via Skype and just felt we should make that call to Sam’s family.  We were unable to contact them, so decided that naps and work were in progress.  Later, I was able to chat with Sam on the computer and found out that the new baby was going to be born on Wednesday, May 25, rather than June 1 and they had been busy with those arrangements.  Apparently, there were some  tests that were questionable at Angelique’s last check-up, so the doctor decided that it was prudent to deliver the baby a bit early.

This evening we received a text message that grandson number seven was born at 10:51 a.m. He weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was 19 inches long. He was giving a lusty cry when we talked to his daddy shortly after his birth.   All appear to be doing well, tired, but blessed.  Last night when we first spoke to Sam, they had not decided on a name, but in a later conversation he said that they had decided on Arthur William.  Arthur has a big brother and sister, ages 4 & 2.  So he will have some good teachers to watch over him and teach him what he needs to know. 🙂

We had a good evening at Bible Study and continued the study in James before having prayer time together.

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD. The fruit of the womb is a reward.  Psalms. 127:3

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers. Proverbs 17:6

Shortly after we passed through the border from South Africa into Swaziland, Larry’s cell phone rang.  There seemed to be a problem at the transmitter site and we would be passing by the site on our way home.  The chief engineer asked Larry to meet him there.  It is a pleasant ride through the bush.  There are 4 gates to open.  The good thing is that they are remote controlled and one does not have to get out of the vehicle to open them or close them.  Each gate can either be opened by a remote or by calling it using a cell phone.

We arrived at the site and it was determined that the problem was with the electric company and not the transmitters.  The transmitters were running on the generators and God’s Word was going out.  Of course while we were there I took a few pictures.

As we were leaving, I noticed the beautiful sunset and snapped a quick picture.  The sunsets and sunrises seem to always be so colorful.  As we drove on down the road we also saw the full moon coming up.  I was not able to capture the gold tinge of the sky with the moon, but still a pretty picture.

Sunday was a good day of worship and sermon from John 16:12-14.  After church,  we and the Pastor Deon Phillips and his wife, Berenice,  joined Ruth Crowie for dinner.  We enjoyed lasagne made by Berenice and roast chicken, potato salad, rice, fresh green beans and pudding that Ruth made.  We had a very nice time of fellowship.

Monday was a normal working day for Larry and a stay at home day for me.  Tuesday morning we had staff meeting with some of the top people with TWR Africa.  Our Swazi staff sing so nicely.  I could listen to them all day.

After staff meeting, Larry and the other men went to the site and I walked around town and caught a ride home with Ingrid Clarke at noon.

Wednesday was another very normal day.  Wednesday evening we attended prayer meeting and continued a study in James 2 verses 8-13.

Thursday began as a very normal day.  Larry went to work and I took care of my ‘farm’ (chickens) and worked around the house.   Larry came home in the evening and asked,”How would you like to go to Kruger Park tomorrow?”  Well, who would say ‘no’ to that question? Not me.  Larry went on -line and found a vacancy! A two bed bungalow on the river.  It was self-contained with bathroom and outside kitchen.  The nicest place we have stayed in at Kruger.

We needed to leave Swaziland because our visa expired and we needed to go out of the country and get our passports re-stamped.  Kruger was the closest and most interesting place we could think of to go.  There is also a hot springs resort close, but seeing God’s creation is much more enjoyable then laying around a pool.

We were up bright an early and left before 6 a.m. to be at the border when it opened and into Kruger early to make the most of our time there. As we left in the morning, it was very foggy and then misty.  As the morning wore on, we had quite a bit of rain.  In spite of the rain, we saw lots of animals during the morning.  We even stopped at one picnic area and took a little nap during the heaviest part of the rain. At lunch time, we stopped at a picnic spot where they sold food and decided to have kuduwors and pap.  This is a type of thick sausage made from kudu meat and the pap is corn porridge that is cooked fairly thick and then served sheba, a tomato gravy. It is quite tasty and we enjoyed our African meal under a thatch roofed shelter out of the rain. While we were eating, we watched a monkey dart out of the trees and steal some food from a plate in the kitchen.  It was a plate that was to be washed.  The whole time we were eating the monkeys watched from trees and other perches, waiting for the people to be inattentive so they could grab something.

We enjoyed beautiful scenery as well a wonderful wild animals.  Enjoy the photos!

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” Ps. 19:1

I have one photo of a sunrise in the park.  Usually every sunrise and sunset are brilliant.  The sailors of old, who who trusted the saying, “Red in the morning, sailors take warning. Red at night sailors delight.” would be confused here.  It is usually red or glorious gold.

“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” 1Cor.10:26

SCENERY AT KRUGER PARK

“Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. Gen. 1:24

These are a few of the animals we saw.  Unfortunately, photos do not do the real thing justice.Kruger has  an area of 7,523 square miles, is about 200 miles  long and 25 to 50 miles wide.  It is home to many different animal, birds and reptiles.  We saw 20 different animals, including 4 of the big 5.  The big five are elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, and rhino. We did not see a leopard this time, but have in the past.  We have also see wild dogs in the past at Kruger.

We hope you enjoyed the pictures.  With the internet, it is easy to search these animals and learn more about them and see better pictures than the ones we were able to take from the confines of our car.

God has so blessed us with beauty all around, no matter where He puts us.

A couple more photos that are kind of interesting.

Monday was a pretty normal day at home.  Some of the children came over for a few minutes to play and I took a couple of pictures so you could see the fun things they play on in this yard. I think the zip line is my favorite.

Flying down the zip line on her wild horse.

Mounting the zip line horse.

Larry was busy making arrangements for the manufacture of the parts needed for the antenna upgrade.  We are grateful that there is a place in South Africa that can make the parts at a much less cost than can be done in the U.S.  He is now looking for a particular type of screw that he may need to order from the States and will be brought to South Africa by some of the TWR missionaries who are presently at meetings in the States.

Tuesday, 8:30 a.m., I caught a ride into town to get some South African currency and do a few errands.  Our  visa expires and we need to leave Swaziland and then return to get our passport re-stamped so needed to be sure we had the correct currency.  I walked to the Post Office to post some letters and cards, then walked through town and ‘window’ shopped. After exploring some of the stores that I had enjoyed on previous visits to Swaziland, I went to the market and bought some produce and then back to Pick n Pay for a few grocery items. On my way back to the TWR office,  I stopped by a little tea shop and bought a samosa and a cold drink which I enjoyed at an outside table.  I watched people and read while I enjoyed my snack and rested. By then it was nearly 11:30 a.m. and time to catch the church bus to visit one of the older widows in the congregation. After the church bus picked me up in town, we headed to Blossoms house.  The bus already had 6 people on it, including the driver, when they picked me up.  On the was we stopped at two of Blossom’s neighboring farms and picked up Dick, and Calvin and Jacquie.

Blossom was so happy to see us all.  After a time of singing and and a devotional we enjoyed a delicious meal the ladies carried in.  This time we feasted on  biryani and samosas,

This is what covers those delicious breyani dishes. If you see this at a dinner, you know something very tasty is inside!!

fried chicken, pumpkin and roasted potatoes and several types of juices. For dessert there were several kinds of cake, custard, jello and donuts.  It was a great time.  It was nice to have a small group with whom to worship, visit, and get to know people more.

Now in America, we just go out and buy paper or plastic plates, cups etc. and throw them away afterwards.  Not here.  It is very  much as it was when I was growing up.  Out comes the nice plates, glasses, utensils etc. and everyone pitches in and helps wash up.  Even the pot-luck dinners at church use real plates and flatware, just as when I was a child.  The paper plates here are thin and not as nice as in the States and are expensive.  I remember as a child, liking the ‘washing up’ time.  I liked to help and listen to the adults talk.

Back to Tuesday.  After things were cleaned up, we headed home.  When we stopped to drop Dick off, two tiny baby goats came out of their pen.  I took a couple of pictures of these tiny little creatures.  There was one newly born baby back in a corner.  They are so small and cute. Another of God’s wonderful creation.

I am sorry that I did not get photos of the farm, but perhaps I will another time.