I cannot express how blessed a father I am.

Praise God that He gave Heidi and me the resources to have our two oldest boys join me here in Africa.  This is a place I truly, truly enjoy and a people I absolutely love.  To be able to share this love and experience with my two oldest sons is more than any dad could ask for.

Jake and Derek have risen to the challenge of flying 30 hours and 8,500 miles around the world to a remote African village of Maun, Botswana.  Above this, Derek spent the first three days nursing an ear infection.  Today was his first full pain-free day. His display of toughness over the past three days is something I’ve never seen from him before – and I sure let him know how proud I was of him.  It looks like he is in the clear; he’s back to the energetic boy I always knew.

For the past few days, the boys along with a portion of the team have been visiting orphanages in the area, as Heidi described below.  Today we ventured far into the bush, past the “buffalo fence” (the fence that separates the people of Maun from the African wild animals), and into remote villages well into lion country. As we came to a small school in Sankoyo, the schoolchildren beamed ear to ear.  To them, this is a tremendous treat to be visited by missionaries – especially small ones their age.

As they all gather around, we act out Bible stories.  Jake’s made a name for himself here acting the role of David, who ultimately kills the Giant Goliath in the well-know Bible story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids learned so effectively from this; several of them retold the story verbatim, start to finish, using the gestures for an added sense of dramatic flair.

After teaching the kids the Bible and playing games with them, we broke off for lunch.  We had to drive a distance away from the school because the schoolkids followed us right into the back seats of the cars!  Despite the relocation, they tracked us down.  We happened to park in a soccer field (more like a sandlot with goals) so we threw out a soccer ball for the kids to play with.  When Jake and Derek saw their interest in the game, they quickly jumped out to play with them.  There’s nothing like seeing your lumbering, white, not-quite-graceful sons mix it up with the fleet-footed African boys.  Derek used the only tool he had to get a shot at kicking the ball – his forearm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we drove home, we did not venture too far into the bush where all the wildlife congregate, but we did manage to spy out a few giraffe grazing.

It’s 11PM here and I have to speak at our missionary school early tomorrow, so I will sign off.  Speaking of this, having Jake and Derek see 35 African missionaries give their life to Christ and commit themselves to learn how to share the gospel each and every day is another blessing words cannot describe.  I thank God for my experience too – to witness my sons on the mission field.

Jim