The Dogs on Fire! The Dogs on Fire!!!!
It has been an amazing time so far. I am so glad to have the entire team together again. We have had an eventful 2 days on the field & I am SO proud of these kids!! They amaze me with their willingness to jump right in. The team arrived Sunday morning and of course it was a stressful time getting up ready and to the airport... but that is another story, and we don't need to talk about that right now... When we arrived I immediately went into the cafe to see if the team was still waiting to get through customs and I saw Mike, Hannah, Naomi, Krista, Colin and a few others waiting in the line... the last of the team to go through... which made me happy because I immediately was given a hug through the glass by Hannah, Naomi & Krista... my team has arrived. We then waited for all the gear to come through and there was not too much of an issue. Team Ondangwa lost 2 bags and Colin lost one... poor Colin... this makes 2 for 2. (We should hear more about them today... no worries, no worries) And of course we loaded up and after a bit of "Kombie trouble" we were off. Dieter was playing his normal pranks and took the team on a "safari", but it worked out because we saw rare albino springbok and a male ostrich... on the way up the we of course saw a bunch of baboons... Hannah was psyched about that!
After arrival at the "homestead" we got settled in and then the teams immediately started to do their thing. "By Faith" started setting up to test the system, Team Arandis/Rehoboth went on a walk to check out the property and Team Vyf Rand started working... I wonder what is up with our teams and trees man... we have 2 to tackle this year. Even on no sleep the kids were working their tails off swinging axes and sawing away. I think Katie is going to be a lumberjack when she grows up... that girl was schooling those boys & they knew it!! She conquered an entire tree basically by herself!! In no time at all 1 1/2 trees were down and we had fuel for the fires & the evening braai!! Oryx steak.... yummy!!! We had a great night around the fire & then we finally let everyone go to sleep...
In the morning we got back around the fire that hot LOTS of hot coals, threw a couple logs on and the fire was roaring again. At one point Jazzy was in front of Don looking for love & Darin yells "THE DOGS ON FIRE! THE DOGS ON FIRE!!!" and she was smokin', Don quickly pat out her smoldering fur & all she thought was that she was getting some extra lovin'... oh Jazzy!!
Later on Darin's team & I took a trip to the internet cafe to give you all an update. My team ws back at the homestead going on a nature walk, "By Faith" was preparing for their evening show & Lisa went to visit Victorina, the woman that she connected with in 2004 & Mike went to get Toivo (our Namibian team member). After we got back Dieter took us on a drive to hear the story of Okahandja & to spend some quite time on "Monkey Mountain". After lunch the band was preparing to leave for their show... man, I hate calling it a show, but I am lost at what to call it... and our team went to see the cemetary that is almost full... it breaks my heart to see how quickly it has filled up in the past couple of years. After that we ventured into Vyf Rand to play with some kids.... that was a welcomed joy after the heart wrenching cemetary experience. It's so cool to be able to see the same kids again. Some were playing soccer... Al on goalie, Mike T, Alex, Ashish, Colin were running around trying to touch the ball... Hannah was psyched... she touched it twice!!! Katie was schooling them in soccer too!! You should've seen the look on one of the boys faces when she stole the ball from him... He was like "Oh, ho!!" and laughed!! Naomi was swinging the kids around in a circle & they all wanted a turn. Karen had her "normal" swarm of kids around her. Krista had someone on her back... Mike got the usual "Hi Mike!!" from one of the boys, Jetson... who immediately wanted to be in his arms & I had two little ones in each arm... I love these kids!!!
We had a spectaclar debrief time around the fire & The next time you se them, I encourage you to talk to these kids about their experience & what God is doing in their lives.
We will have a time later on today to read your comments to the group... Keep them coming!!
posted by germaine @ 5:49 AM
