Sunday, Oct. 12, we were able to go to the Evangelical Bible Church we attended while we lived in Swaziland.  It was such a blessing to be able to worship with our local friends.  It was wonderful to hear their singing and listen to their testimonies.  Since the pastor was sick, they had a pastor from the Congo speak.  He gave a very good sermon, but I was surprised at how hard I had to work to understand him.  We had attended Sunday School at a different church that morning and the teacher was also from the Congo.  I had to work to understand her as well.  I was afraid that I had lost my ear for hearing foreign English accents, but was glad to discover I was not the only one who had to concentrate to hear.

We were very happy to see some friends from long ago, Bruce and Carol Britton, and hear of their work in Swaziland.  They are now teaching an extensoin Bible School for the Zionist group.  The Zionists here are divided into several groups. There are the White Gown Zionests, who wear whitegowns. They do not participate in witchcraft.  There are the Red gown Zionists who practice witchcraft along with a little Bible.  In between are the blue and green gowned Zionists.  Bruce and Carol Britton hold classes on Saturday afternoon to teach the leaders of these people the Bible. They meet for 4 hours. They have 119 Zionists who attend these classes. Three of these people are the Red Gown Zionists, who are hearing the Truth and learning how to teach the Truth to their people.  In Swaziland the Red Gowns are increasing in popularity.  These are the ones who practice witchcraft.  Pray for Bruce and Carol as they minister to these people. Also pray for them as they are far away from their family. Their daughter is struggling with cancer and the prognosis not good.

We has a wonderful time worshiping with our dear friends at church.They had a nice tea after church and time to catch up on the families we had not seen for so long.

I had been having some trouble with my back since arriving in Swaziland.  I think it was mainly from the long trip in a cramped airplane seat, but I just couldn’t get rid of the pain.  I finally decided to stop by the Chemist and see if they would give me a muscle relaxant.  We stopped after church and they did have some relaxants. I took them for several days and my back is feeling much better.  I went back and got some more for my trip home.

I hope to write more and get caught up on our busy week later.

Miss you all!

Sign on the Highway

Ostrich

Saturday morning we headed  to Hlane Game Reserve.  On the way there we stopped at a little factory where they make soaps, oils and lotions from some locally grown nuts.  With one type of nut, they make lotions and oils and soap for any type of skin. The other type makes soap for oily skin.  I tried the lotion and it is very nice.  They also use the skins of the fruit around the nut to make a kind of candy which is more like dried fruit. We know from living here previously, that the Swazi’s use this fruit to make beer, but this factory  did not produce that by-product. They export their products, especially ther oil to France.  They also export to other countries.  It didn’t sound like they were making big profits yet, but had sponsers to get the business started and keep it going. 

When we got to Hlane, we spent some time driving around.  We saw some impala and an ostrich. We were a little disappointed, but went back to the camp which is near a watering hole for lunch.

Potatoes and Boerewors on the Grill

The ranger built us a fire and we were watching rhino sun themselves in the wonderfully hot sun. Stever asked the ranger where we might see elephant and the ranger said,”They are at the watering hole right now.” We turned around and there they were.  We watched them drink and bathe in the water and dirt.  We watched a baby trying to do the same thing as the grownups, but not being so coorinated. They were there for about five minutes and then left.  As we were walking through camp, Steve noticed some rustling in the bush beside us.  Steve and Larry looked and there was a Black Mamba! It is a very poisoneous snake and if one bites a person, they will die without immediate treatment and then they still may not live. It was a

Can you find the Mamba?

small Momba only 3-4 feet long, but just as deadly.

After a lunch of boerewors and potatoes cooked over an open fire, we sat in the comfy overstuffed chairs under the thatched roof building (no walls) and took a nap.

When we finally roused ourselves, we took another drive through the park. We saw more impala, a warthog, a nyala, a vervet monkey and lots of birds.

We went back to the camp watering hole. The rhinos were up and moving around, the elephants graced us with their presence again and treated us to a replay of drinking and bathing.  We also saw the backs of hippos that were submerged in the pool.  Hippos are nocturnal, so it is unlikely to see them in the day time.  The weather has been dry and most of the watering holes had no or very little water in them.  As a result we were able to easly see these animals.

Larry after naptime in the Lapha

After a wonderful day of enjoying God’s creation, We came home ate supper and went to bed.  Another day in this beautiful country.

Rhinos and Elephants at the Waterhole

Rhino and her

Larry with Kudu Horns -- What a Rack!

Virginia with Rhino Skull

Can you find five impala in this photo?

Today we had planned to go the the site to help Chuck Saunders finish the air ducting for the transmitter.  When Steve called this morning he found out the Mark Blosser was planning to help instead.  This gave us a good excuse to take the day off and we went to Hlane Game Reserve and relaxed.  We relaxed so much that each of us ended up taking short naps sitting in the soft chairs under the thatched roof overlooking the water hole.  While we were awake, we saw lots of rhinos and elephants.  Since Virginia was along and she will be writing so, I will let her tell you about it.

The first part of today was weekly staff meeting (usually on Wednesday but moved to Friday to accommodate the Cox’s report mentioned in Virginia’s blog entry).   We were greatly encouraged by three listener letter excerpts from the Women of Hope program.  Hope to get copies of these to share at a later time.

After staff meeting, Steve and I went shopping for electrical supplies for a work team that is coming the end of next week.  As usual, the shop was out of stock on some common parts, so another trip will be necessary next week We finally arrived at the transmitting site about 1:00pm.

Chuck Saunders continued doing ductwork for the intake and exhaust air for cooling the transmitter.  He plans to work tomorrow to finish it up.  For some reason he wants to get back to his wife in Johannesburg.

Today we did some of the few things that could be done while the duct work was progressing.  I connected the remaining water lines now that the transmission line is completed.  I also had to reroute a wire that got ‘trapped’ on the wrong side of the VHF filter — what appeared to be an easy task ended up taking about an hour!  Steve connected all the fiber optics to the SSM modules and then we checked out the PA bias regulator to make sure that it survived shipping in place.  We still have to check out the harmonic damper, but that will have to wait until the ducting is done so that we can get the back PA door open.  We also filled the transmitter water system in preparation for testing, which we hope will begin on Monday.

Today we went to staff meeting.  More beautiful Swazi singing.  No dancing today, though.  We had a TWR missionary from Benin share with us. It was interesting to hear some history of Benin and to realize the importance of getting God’s Word to that part of Africa.

Benin is where voo-do began.  Witch doctors from all over the world go there for spiritual refreshment.  It is also the point where Muslims are strong and moving southward. Pray for missionaries in this area and for God’s Word as it is taught and as it goes out over the airwaves.

We had a lovely tea afterstaff meeting and we visited with many friends.  It was so nice. I saw Nelson for the first time today. His daughter was married last weekend and in the breaking of a tradition did not ask the young man for lobola (or cows in payment) for his daughter.  All reports are that it was a very God honoring wedding.

Lorraine and I did more shopping for food for next week.  One has to go to so many shops to get things, it is a never ending job.

We are also preparing dinner for 11 people tonight.  The Cox family is coming, the two men from last night and ourselves. [One more, Chuck Saunders, was added at the last minute to make 12!]

Pray for the Farming God’s Way program next week.  Pray for those attending.  There are many signed up who are not saved.  Pray for their hearts during these two days.  Some are white Swazi’s and some are the native Swazi’s.

It was a wonderful day and I do feel a little sad to think that a week is already gone!  I’m thinking it will be hard to say good-bye, but I will be glad to see our family and the grandchildren again.  I miss those hugs and kisses!

Keep praying for us.