We’re in Maun, Botswana, spending time with the Witts at Love Botswana. We were here a few years ago, and it’s nice to be back and see some familiar faces. Exciting things are happening here, and it’s a blessing to be able to see first-hand all God is doing.

As always, we set out with great intentions of posting more often over the last 9 weeks, but African internet got the best of us. It was easiest just to check email periodically on the phone, rather than sit down for full posts at internet cafes. But, we do have internet today, so here’s a quick synopsis of the last few, event-packed, weeks!

Kilometers Traveled: 17418 (10823 Miles)

Active Volcanos Hiked: 1, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Road Kill: 1 (Marc’s a little sensitive about this one…)

Flat Tires: 0

Ministries Visited: 10+

In Nairobi we stayed with a friend of mine, Marilyn and her husband, Dan. Years ago, we worked together at Big Brothers Big Sisters. We were also able to visit with Julius Murgor, the Director of Pokot Outreach Mission in Kenya. Julius is also a member of Kenyan Parliment, so with a busy schedule, we were thankful he took the time to spend with us.

We also spent time at New Life Home Trust in Nairobi. Caring for orphans, they provide a home for abandoned children. In addition, they feed and care for kids all over Kenya and have planted churches all over the country.

We were also able to meet a pastor and his wife from the DRC, which sparked a idea that we’d be able to visit the country later in the trip (which we did!).

Later in Uganda, we stopped in the office of Invisible Children and unsuccessfully worked on our DRC visas. We headed to Rwanda hoping that we’d have better luck going to the DRC border directly for visas.

Before getting to the border, we stopped to see some friends we’d met in Cape Town. Jess and Mel are traveling the world this year and they were spending 6 weeks in Rwanda working with Team Rwanda–Rwanda’s national cycling team. It was great seeing familiar faces! (Check out these articles on Team Rwanda: this one in Sports Illustrated, and this one on Cycling News)

Going to the border wasn’t such a great idea, it would have cost us $285 per person for the visas, but we connected with another pastor and his family. We spent the week with them, we were shocked when he took us to see the 1700 orphans that his ministry cares for in rural Rwanda. It was overwhelming to say the least, we’re definitely still processing this part of the trip. His kids definitely stole our hearts, too. Despite some language barriers, we were entertained for days!

But, through chance meetings we were able to get our DRC visas through the National Park Office. The only catch was that we needed to hike an active volcano to get the visas (a cheaper visa option is available if you visit a national park in the DRC). A couple we met in Rwanda decided to join us, which was great. The situation in the DRC isn’t the most stable, so we were thankful for the company.

Our visit to the DRC proved to be impactful in ways we could have never imagined. We’re still processing what that means for us, but we’re still a little speechless. But, having it fall on Thanksgiving week wasn’t a coincidence, we were reminded over and over again all we have to be thankful for.

Moving South into Tanzania, we were able to stop and spend a couple of days in the Serengeti. It was an unforgettable experience (partially because we managed to get stuck in a river and thought we’d end up there overnight). Today we’re getting our 4WD worked on because of the water.

After a brief stop in Zambia to see Victoria Falls we arrived in Botswana late Sunday night.

We’re overwhelmingly thankful for the opportunity to see so much of Africa the last few weeks. And, amazingly, we’ve only touched the surface of the 50+ countries that make up this incredible continent. We’ve been constantly amazed by the tenacity of the people we’ve met and the strength of spirits.

Hoping to be back in Cape Town for Christmas, we’ll be hitting the road tomorrow, driving through Namibia before getting back home.

Today we went back to the farm where Marc & I met. It was neat to see friends and see how everyone was doing. We had lunch with our friend Thandi, as well. She left her training early just to see us. We had fun catching up.

We were supposed to leave for Richard’s Bay to see the Mafu’s this morning. At 3:30 we were finally leaving Harrismith. We keep saying we’re going to stop driving at night, and tonight we broke that rule again. We took back roads the drive was beautiful! Again, there were random speed bumps that weren’t too fun to hit in the dark–but we’re thankful to be at the Mafu’s.

Marc met their son, Ndumi, in Michigan. He started a ministry called Impilo and his parent’s also have a ministry. There’s a full house, they’re having a youth rally at the church tomorrow. We’re excited to hang out with Ndumi again (he visited us in Cape Town a few weeks ago).

We were supposed to leave Harrismith yesterday, but Marc wasn’t feeling great and had a project to finish, so we stayed an extra day. How cute is this picture of Amanda?!

We picked up the bakkie today, it has a new speedometer (yay!) and a new windshield (thanks to our insurance).

We’re excited to get back on the road tomorrow! We’re also going to head to the farm where met. It’s been so great being able to spend time with the folks from Ignite! We’re really thankful for the work they’re doing here.

We had such a great day today. We were able to go to a coach meeting in Qwa Qwa–they were sharing about their year, and it was a blessing to be able to hear how 2011 was for them. We loved seeing old friends and being able to be back in our old stomping ground.

Tonight, we had dinner with friends from our church in Harrismith. The Bramley’s have been so great to us, they’ve visited in Cape Town and we are really excited to be able to spend time with them while we’re back in Harrismith. They have such a heart for ministry and their family has been such a blessing to us! 

(Ethan wasn’t too excited about being woken up, so he slept through the photos!).

Ethan’s still sleeping…

We’re feeling 100% better about leaving after reorganizing our truck. Over the past few days we’ve been looking for stuff and have had NO idea where to even start looking. But, today we pulled everything out, reorganized and put it all back. It looks 100% better. We’re feeling a ton better about leaving South Africa this weekend (we’re heading to Swaziland, and then back to South Africa to go to the Kruger for a few days before going on to Mozambique).

We still have a handful of errands to run in South Africa. But, we’re gradually knocking them out. Our speedometer went out on the second day of driving. Hopefully we’ll get that fix today. We bought the truck in Harrismith, so we were able to take it to the guy we bought it from, hopefully they’ll be able to get it fixed quickly. We have a speedometer on the GPS, but it’ll be nice to have the one in the bakkie back. Our insurance covers the majority of a windshield too, so we might get that replaced too, if we have time. It’s got a small crack, but two months from now, that small crack will probably be really irritating (not to mention the safety issue).

Tomorrow we’re going to a coach meeting in Qwa Qwa with June and Amanda from Ignite. It’ll be great to be back on our old stomping ground!

Prayer Requests: Financially there have been a few extra expenses (like the speedometer), we’re praying for God’s provision throughout this trip. We’ve done our best to use wisdom planning and budgeting, but we know there could be unexpected expenses, so we’re praying for God’s provision for those.

Praises: We’re so thankful for our friends in South Africa. We were sent off well, and made new friends via Twitter this weekend, and now are staying with friends in Harrismith. Two of the ladies we’re staying with were my roommates before I got married! It’s fun to be spending time with them again.

We had such a wonderful day with Derek and Shea today. Their morning plans got cancelled and we were able to go to breakfast and hangout today. It was great hearing about what they’re doing in South Africa!

One of our friends in Cape Town joked about using the term “to Marc” something as a synonym for “to fix”, because he tends to be the go-to guy for all of their tech stuff. He was at it again today when he fixed Derek’s iphone while we were hanging out this afternoon.

We got to Harrismith tonight. It’s raining (still) and was a little foggy, but this was a quick 5 hour drive. We couldn’t see much of anything coming in since it was dark, we couldn’t even see the Platberg because of the fog. It’s nice to be back where we spent the first part of our South African experience. Honestly, it feels like it’s been way more than a year. We’re mostly just excited to spend time with our friends here.

We’re staying with the wonderful ladies from Ignite South Africa, but we’ll be able to see our friends from church and ministry as well. We’re super excited. And, of course, will take tons of photos!

We stayed near Port Elizabeth last night. It was the first night in the tent and it went really well! It’s super comfortable. We stopped at a foam factory yesterday on our way out of Cape Town and bought egg crate foam padding–it made a HUGE difference.

When we got to the camp site it was dark, so we just set up the tent, ate PB&J and went to bed. This week has been crazy, so we were just excited to sleep. It rained most of the night and, thankfully, no leaks! The rain died down enough for us to make some grilled cheese for breakfast.

Today was supposed to be a 9 hour day, but it ended up being nearly 13. The roads were decent at the beginning, but the last half was a little rough. The roads weren’t fabulous and there was serious fog. Marc did an amazing job driving, I was so thankful it was him and not me. He drove most of the day and a lot of the time it felt like we were driving through a snow storm the fog was so thick.

We’re thankful for traveling mercies today, as well. We saw a bunch of accidents and an obscene amount of cows in and near the road.

On the plus side, we’re staying with friends we met on Twitter. Shea, and her husband, Derek, are missionaries living in South Africa. It was great to meet them! We’re feeling like the worst house guests ever, since we didn’t get here until after midnight. But, they’re super gracious. It’s such a blessing meeting other Americans living here–we’re excited to learn more about them and their ministry.

Today is the first day of travel. Truthfully, us deciding to move yesterday and leave today wasn’t the greatest idea. Our bakkie is just stuffed full, we have no idea where everything is. But, we’re hoping we remembered everything!

We’re feeling so blessed as we head out from Cape Town today, though. Our friends have, once again, gone above and beyond in sending us off well. We can’t get over how much God’s blessed us with such an amazing community here. We’re so thankful!