unplugged

I am at week long meetings at a retreat center. I will have limited access to internet. Come back next week for new posts.

Nelspruit, South Africa

I am a bit behind on posting pictures. At the end of April, Kenyon and I went with the wonderful Whitlock family to Nelspruit, South Africa. We heart hangin' with the Whitlock's!

Visiting Nelspruit was like visiting another world. I haven't seen so many ammenities in months! We had some fun at the arcade outside the movie theater. The next night we went to a movie - Iron Man 2. Disappointing, in my opinion.

Dance, dance, revolution - go, boss man, go!

Shopping. Clothes. Accessories. I was most impressed by the specialty items. When I am usually struggling just to find any variety of cheese or basic ingredients for a meal, the last think I am thinking of is fudge or chocolate covered anything. Wow!

Our favorite treat that weekend - McD's apple pie. Yum! This looks like an advertisement doesn't it?

Nelspruit will definitely be a regular escape for us...a few hours on the other side of the border and it's like being transported to another world.

driving in the bush!

On my recent visit to Zavala district, we were driving in sand following foot paths to find homes of beneficiaries. The driver asked me if I wanted to drive. YEAH!

So, I got behind the wheel of the manual drive land cruiser. Sand is VERY difficult to maneuver. I even got us lost once. Ha! I've always wondered how they know where they are going. I still wonder.

I don't know if they will let me behind the wheel again, but I sure had fun while doing it!

Notice the lack of a visible road in front of me - and maneuvering through trees too. Woo-hoo!

In case you didn't know - I like adventure. Yes, I do. I like adventure. How about you?

watch out! ants?

I was recently in Zavala district of Mozambique. As we went to visit a local village leader at his home, I was standing next to a tree. One of the staff said sternly - watch out! He pointed to the tree. I was thinking maybe it was poisonous in some way.

No. That was not the danger.

What danger was looming behind me? An ant colony.

In a tree? Yup! Check it out.

This is the ant colony before we started messing with it. Sort of a web of leaves on a branch.

I didn't see ants. As a result, I kept saying in disbelief - "there are ants in there. really?" So, a staff member sacrificed himself and pulled apart the leaves of another colony on the same tree. Look at them scatter!

Ants everywhere! They did the same thing they do when you plug up their sand colonies (admit it, we've all done that) - they immediately start to rebuild. Fascinating!

Just another day in Africa...

NOTE: this is a different home than the barking dog.

solar panels: everyone should have them

From time to time I see solar panels at homes around Mozambique. There is definitely sun here, but there isn't always the infrastructure for household electrical power. Generally, they use these solar panels to charge car batteries. The car batteries are used to power the television at night or a fan during summer. It is ingenious as far as I'm concerned.

I've decided I think every house should have solar panels. It just seems to make sense here...or my homestate of New Mexico. Use the power source that the good Lord gave us. I'm just sayin'...