Africa: Sooooo Incredible

• Thank you all for your prayers. My travel here was pretty uneventful--except for the flight to South Africa. I ended up sitting next to a rather large guy (who took up half my seat, snored loud enough for the whole cabin to hear, and spoke very little English) and a nun. I felt like I should be able to make up some sort of joke about it, but I was too tired to think straight. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much during that 11 hour flight.
• After the Byrnes picked me up at the airport,we went to Victoria Falls. It was beautiful and wet. The mist from the water falling from so high above creates a thick cloud all around the falls. We couldn't see all of it for that reason, but it was still amazing. The path was filled with monkeys, and the trees were mostly torn down because of some elephants that had gotten into the grounds a few weeks earlier.
• Barry and Judy Byrnes have spent the last 2 or 3 years working on their house. They moved in about a month ago, but just got their ceiling in last week. Mr. Byrnes began by using a truck and a piece of the railroad track to make a path going from the main road to their plot of ground. The house is about 1/2 mile off the road through dirt, tall grass (about 3 feet high), more dirt, potholes, and very few green trees. There are burned patches here and there because instead of cutting grass here in Africa, they burn it. It is a lot less time consuming. There is a wall-fence around the property to keep out thieves. The wall-fence is made of bricks and is about about 6 feet high. They also have three guard dogs--who last week nearly killed the plumber and bit the last girl who stayed with them. I got introduced to them last night. A few bowls of food and some bones later, and I think they like me! I'm still pretty nervous around them, but they're warming up to me.
• The inside of the house has concrete floors and they're still working on getting doors. A few rooms have doors, but none of the bathrooms do. It's all one level, and, did I mention, there isn't any electricity? They have paid for it, but the company has three months to turn it on. We run on solar power at night, and heat up water if we want to take a bath. (Cleanliness has dropped on my priorities list). We can go over to another missionary's house if we want hot water or to do some cooking. Last night Evelyn and I wanted to make garlic bread, so we decided to toast some over the fire. It looked great, but tasted like smoke. I felt I should eat it for the sake of the experience. I talked the girls into helping me make peanut butter cookies, even without butter, milk, or baking soda. They weren't all that bad, but Mrs. Byrnes still refuses to taste them. Go figure.
• Yesterday was church, and it was, for lack of a better word, very cool. The teens on Saturday thought I was funny (looking, maybe). They helped me discover the reason I never play sports. On Sunday, I sat in on Children's Church so that I can teach it next week. Well, I sat on a round log, that wasn't exactly sanded down, and was 2 inches in diameter. The children meet in a building, well, a shelter of wood and straw slashed together with pieces of string. It's just a roof with some very small benches underneath. The main worship service is a brick building with a tin roof, no windows, and no doors. There are benches about 4 inches wide, max, and some are smaller. I've never been so thankful for pews. In between services the people just sit there and sing. They create beautiful harmonies to whatever it is they're singing. (Everything is in Tonga and is translated to English). Some random person starts a song and everyone joins in. The message was by a native pastor. There was a baptism after the service so 6 people got up and gave their testimonies. It was awesome.
• The baptismal service took place about 3 miles down the road. I was told it was a 30 minute walk, so Evelyn, Andrea, and I walked while the adults drove. After walking about half the way, we got a chance to climb up on top of the van of one of the other missionaries. He was coming back for a second or third load of people. (I should explain that roads here are far from paved. Most roads are dirt with so many holes and drops that no one stays on any one side of the road. Sometimes one set of wheels is in a ditch on one side of the road to avoid the worst of the bumps. I was pretty freaked on the way back from the airport because Mr. Byrnes tends to hit 60 mph on those roads. He's very good at maneuvering around the holes, but I feel like I'm inside a video game. After body-checking Evelyn a few times, I finally got the hang of it. It's fun once you get over the whole fear of death thing. Back to Sunday . . . SO here are three girls in skirts climbing on top of a mini-van to travel about another mile and half down a dirt road. Mr.Smith (the missionary who was driving) was pretty careful about the branches hanging over the road, and if you kept an eye out everything was fine. On the way back there were 7 of us up on top, 15 inside, and 2 hanging on the back. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention and got smoked by a hefty branch right in the head. Apparently, it looked pretty funny and some remarks were made about me going back to the States bald from that branch. I'm fine however, and that was the most fun thing I've ever done in my life. I'm not even exaggerating. It was AWESOME!!
• The baptism took place in a greenish pond. It was a little off the road . .path, so we went through grass that is about 5-6 feet tall. The men joked about snakes, but I didn't think it was very funny. (There are copperheads on the path up the Byrne's house). We stood around as the pastor baptized them, and someone started singing "Washed by the Blood" in Tonga. It's amazing to see God working in lives all around the world, and I get to be a part of it here!!
• I'd better get off the computer. Please continue to pray for the Byrnes and the other missionaries as they minister here. Our God is in control of all things. This is sooooo incredible.
• Love to all!!
• Darla