I never thought I'd want to go on a mission trip.
But God changed my heart.
I never would have expected to go to Africa.
I never would have expected to go to Africa.
But God gave me this trip as a gift. The people. The lessons learned. The whole experience.
I never would have expected to go on Safari.
But God is an extravagant giver.
It's a long way to Africa, and I don't take for granted that I may never have another opportunity to be here. So on our last day there, we all went on safari at a game preserve in South Africa.
Driving in, we saw kudu (a type of large deer), impala, zebra, and giraffe! We couldn't believe we saw so many animals before we were even "officially" there!
The lodge was spectacular; wonderful accommodations, delicious food, great personnel. Our surroundings finally looked like Africa! As soon as we arrived, we spotted some kind of monkeys in a nearby tree, but not close enough to identify. We saw birds we hadn't seen while in the city. Trees like you see in movies.
We went to our rooms to get settled. The rooms were really individual cabins, with a true thatched roof, fireplace, and a view out on hills where we watched zebra and wildebeest graze. Walking through our room, I got teary-eyed, thinking about how my God was blessing me. Or why He was blessing me, of all people. I never have trouble accepting God as Creator: huge and powerful and holy. But I often have trouble accepting that He cares about the little things. He does, though, and this is a lesson He's been trying to teach me for some time; I just never expected Him to go to such great lengths to do so.
We headed back to the lodge for lunch. Again, I was just overwhelmed. Then, an elephant walked by. An elephant. Here I was--a girl who grew up watching and absorbing all the PBS nature shows I could, learning about all the great variety of animals in the world but NEVER dreaming I'd see something like an elephant outside of a zoo. But an elephant walked by. And looked at me.
I finally composed myself enough to eat, and as we sat outside having lunch, we saw a group of baboons up on the hill. First the big leader, checking things out, then the rest of his group. Our friends from South Africa identified some of the birds we'd been seeing, like an iridescent blue-colored glossy starling. I wish I could've gotten a good photo of all the birds we saw there.
We headed back to our rooms to rest until time to go out on safari at 4PM that evening. Walking back, our friend who was staying the room just past ours said he'd just seen a monkey run off of our porch. We laughed and said, "Good thing we closed all the doors like they told us to!" But when we got in our room, we saw that the monkey had been in there, opened our tea caddy, and stolen (and spilled) packs of sugar! Turns out he'd come in a small window over the toilet, which we hadn't thought to close. How funny! So we cleaned up the spilled sugar, made ourselves some tea, and closed the window over the toilet!
One of our team members, who has been to Africa and on safari many times before, told us that morning that he wanted to be on the vehicle with us to see our reactions. As I said before, I was VERY enthusiastic about everything! I don't think I disappointed him with my excitement level. As soon as we had set out, and I leaned forward to say,
"Hey Jeff!
(pause for response)
Guess what...
We're in AFRICA!
(another pause)
And guess what else...
We're on SAFARI!!!"
Soon, our guide found lions! LIONS!!!
I never would have expected to go on Safari.
But God is an extravagant giver.
It's a long way to Africa, and I don't take for granted that I may never have another opportunity to be here. So on our last day there, we all went on safari at a game preserve in South Africa.
Driving in, we saw kudu (a type of large deer), impala, zebra, and giraffe! We couldn't believe we saw so many animals before we were even "officially" there!
The lodge was spectacular; wonderful accommodations, delicious food, great personnel. Our surroundings finally looked like Africa! As soon as we arrived, we spotted some kind of monkeys in a nearby tree, but not close enough to identify. We saw birds we hadn't seen while in the city. Trees like you see in movies.
We went to our rooms to get settled. The rooms were really individual cabins, with a true thatched roof, fireplace, and a view out on hills where we watched zebra and wildebeest graze. Walking through our room, I got teary-eyed, thinking about how my God was blessing me. Or why He was blessing me, of all people. I never have trouble accepting God as Creator: huge and powerful and holy. But I often have trouble accepting that He cares about the little things. He does, though, and this is a lesson He's been trying to teach me for some time; I just never expected Him to go to such great lengths to do so.
We headed back to the lodge for lunch. Again, I was just overwhelmed. Then, an elephant walked by. An elephant. Here I was--a girl who grew up watching and absorbing all the PBS nature shows I could, learning about all the great variety of animals in the world but NEVER dreaming I'd see something like an elephant outside of a zoo. But an elephant walked by. And looked at me.
I finally composed myself enough to eat, and as we sat outside having lunch, we saw a group of baboons up on the hill. First the big leader, checking things out, then the rest of his group. Our friends from South Africa identified some of the birds we'd been seeing, like an iridescent blue-colored glossy starling. I wish I could've gotten a good photo of all the birds we saw there.
We headed back to our rooms to rest until time to go out on safari at 4PM that evening. Walking back, our friend who was staying the room just past ours said he'd just seen a monkey run off of our porch. We laughed and said, "Good thing we closed all the doors like they told us to!" But when we got in our room, we saw that the monkey had been in there, opened our tea caddy, and stolen (and spilled) packs of sugar! Turns out he'd come in a small window over the toilet, which we hadn't thought to close. How funny! So we cleaned up the spilled sugar, made ourselves some tea, and closed the window over the toilet!
One of our team members, who has been to Africa and on safari many times before, told us that morning that he wanted to be on the vehicle with us to see our reactions. As I said before, I was VERY enthusiastic about everything! I don't think I disappointed him with my excitement level. As soon as we had set out, and I leaned forward to say,
"Hey Jeff!
(pause for response)
Guess what...
We're in AFRICA!
(another pause)
And guess what else...
We're on SAFARI!!!"
Soon, our guide found lions! LIONS!!!
Golden light, golden grass, golden lion, and I was taking pictures of two handsome lion brothers who work as a team. Big, powerful, lion brothers. They were lazing about, and almost looked cuddly. Seemed like you could just go scratch that big ol' mane and give 'em a belly rub. Jeff reminded me: that's what we'll be able to do in heaven. Can you imagine?
Eventually we moved on, saw more critters, then stopped for a "sun-downer." How lovely! A little biltong (African beef jerky), crackers, and a sparkly (non-alcoholic) beverage while we watched the sunset over the African plains. The guides even pulled out a table and tablecloth to set up for us. Unbelievable: that was the word I keep saying about everything; I just couldn't grasp that this was all really happening. It felt like a dream!
Eventually we moved on, saw more critters, then stopped for a "sun-downer." How lovely! A little biltong (African beef jerky), crackers, and a sparkly (non-alcoholic) beverage while we watched the sunset over the African plains. The guides even pulled out a table and tablecloth to set up for us. Unbelievable: that was the word I keep saying about everything; I just couldn't grasp that this was all really happening. It felt like a dream!
After the sunset, we loaded back up, found a big herd of buffalo, and I had the first bit of disappointment: these were not water buffalo, but cape buffalo, which meant the Veggie Tales silly song I had planned to sing was not applicable. A few of the giant hairy things stared us down, but I don't think any of them got fully into what our guide called "the death stare." That's a good thing, I'm thinking. {grin}
Just before it was completely dark, a family of elephants crossed nearby. I loved seeing the babies following along, flanked before and behind by moms or aunts or older siblings.
Soon, it was dark. No streetlights, no nearby cities, just the almost full moon. DARK.
Our guide drove the dirt road while sweeping a spotlight all around in search of a leopard (which proved to be elusive because we didn't find one). Then we came upon another set of brother lions lying right in the middle of the road! These guys had been hurt in a territory dispute with the first set of lions we saw, but our guide said they seemed to be doing better. We drove off-road to go around them, and stopped near to see them closer. Then the lion closest to us looked RIGHT at me and Ken, and our guide said (for the first time that day), "No one make any sudden movements."
Not a problem. Gulp.
After a few tense moments, the lion broke eye contact, but he did get up, and walked to the other side (MY side!) of the vehicle. This is not the best shot of the lion but let me just point out that the white part I chose not to crop out of the right side of the photo is my seat. In the very open (see sun-downer photo above!) vehicle, I might add.
Just before it was completely dark, a family of elephants crossed nearby. I loved seeing the babies following along, flanked before and behind by moms or aunts or older siblings.
Soon, it was dark. No streetlights, no nearby cities, just the almost full moon. DARK.
Our guide drove the dirt road while sweeping a spotlight all around in search of a leopard (which proved to be elusive because we didn't find one). Then we came upon another set of brother lions lying right in the middle of the road! These guys had been hurt in a territory dispute with the first set of lions we saw, but our guide said they seemed to be doing better. We drove off-road to go around them, and stopped near to see them closer. Then the lion closest to us looked RIGHT at me and Ken, and our guide said (for the first time that day), "No one make any sudden movements."
Not a problem. Gulp.
After a few tense moments, the lion broke eye contact, but he did get up, and walked to the other side (MY side!) of the vehicle. This is not the best shot of the lion but let me just point out that the white part I chose not to crop out of the right side of the photo is my seat. In the very open (see sun-downer photo above!) vehicle, I might add.
Our guide had turned off the vehicle, as they always did when we stopped to see an animal. But the elephant kept coming, so our guide started the vehicle and backed up a bit, to send the elephant a message that we were not going to be a problem for him. But the elephant kept coming. Our guide started the vehicle again--that is, he tried to, but it didn't start. GULP. The elephant was REALLY close at this point. So we all sat very, very still, and very, very quiet -- and did not need our guide to tell us to do so!
It took the elephant a few moments of standing close enough to touch the vehicle before he decided what he wanted to do.
We could see him thinking, swinging his head a bit.
It took the elephant a few moments of standing close enough to touch the vehicle before he decided what he wanted to do.
We could see him thinking, swinging his head a bit.
He opted for munching upon a nearby tree limb. We all breathed a sigh of relief. Then our guide proceeded to tell us that this elephant was in musth, which means he had raging hormones that often result in highly aggressive behavior. We watched him a bit longer before heading on our merry way.
During our lion and elephant encounters, my heart rate was certainly accelerated, but oddly enough, I wasn't afraid. I felt that God was doing all this to give me a gift beyond my wildest imagination, so I really wasn't worried about being eaten by a lion or stomped on by an elephant.
The next morning, we got up at 5AM to head out before all the animals were awake; when we saw this sunrise, we stopped and sang "How Great is Our God." Because He is!
During our lion and elephant encounters, my heart rate was certainly accelerated, but oddly enough, I wasn't afraid. I felt that God was doing all this to give me a gift beyond my wildest imagination, so I really wasn't worried about being eaten by a lion or stomped on by an elephant.
The next morning, we got up at 5AM to head out before all the animals were awake; when we saw this sunrise, we stopped and sang "How Great is Our God." Because He is!
We saw more zebras, a big bull giraffe, and more impala and kudu. Our guides tracked a lioness, but never found her. I was happy just to be driving around in the gorgeous African outdoors with my fuzzy sweatshirt and a big blanket because it was cold!
We stopped for morning tea, and had yummy biscotti and little pastries to accompany it. This next photo is of me, drinking tea on safari in Africa. That is one of the coolest sentences I have ever typed. Oh, extra cool points? The brand of tea we drank the whole time we were there (everywhere we went) was "Five Roses Tea." So I felt like I had a little bit of Rose Cottage right there with me. {grin}
Never underestimate God's power. love. tenderness. extravagance.
He is beyond our comprehension.
He is beyond our comprehension.
Psst!
If you'd like to see more of my photos from Africa, click on my Flickr set here.
Or click here to see the photo pool, including photos from Ken and others on our team (if they ever upload them--hint, hint!).
