More of Bible Distribution

Thanks to my cousins for many of the pictures in these posts.
We saw an occasional bicycle.

 There wasn't room on this bicycle for the man to ride!

 Passing out tracts.

 The market near where one team was set up.

 Some donkeys near another one of our spots.

One day there was a regular nursery right next to a Bible table!

 Uncle Piet showing the men pictures of other Bible trips.

 This was a church we were invited to attend. The man standing at the pulpit is the pastor.

 After Uncle Piet preached, the pastor asked Aunt Hester to come up and say a few words.

 Several of the people wanted their pictures taken with us.

 Two babies had been dedicated that morning. Here they are being photographed with their proud fathers.

 After Joe Taylor's group left, Brian and Crystelle Coleman came to help for a couple weeks. In this picture, the boys are helping Brian set up a "gazebo" for shade.

 Doing business.

 Both this lady and her little girl were carrying something on their heads.

 Several ladies looking.

 A truckload of schoolchildren.

 This was at another church where we were invited. The children performed along with songs being played on a computer. It's kind of hard to find the right word to describe their "performance". It was kind of like they danced in place.

Uncle Piet had been asked to preach. He spoke in English, and the pastor translated into Oshiwambo.

One day this lady came by with her twins.

This group of ladies all were carrying loads on their heads, and each one had a baby on her back.

We sold quite a few Bibles to police officers.

Kuni being silly.

One afternoon we pulled all the bedding out of our tents to air it. Ezra used a wooden spoon that Candace had bought to whack all the dust out of this mattress.

One evening Amaris made supper. Brian was very interested to see how she made this soup.

On several evenings, Uncle Piet would grill chicken.

One evening, he gave a lesson on making "pap". It's just made with corn meal and water. If you want it to be less mushy, and more crumbly, you just use less water.

Amaris taking a turn stirring.

One night, we girls all got a break from dishes!

A Day in Namibia

A normal day in Namibia looks something like this. 

We get up and around anywhere from six to seven, depending on where we are going that day. Some days we sell in places that are almost an hour and a half away, so we have to leave at eight. Otherwise we leave at nine. We always have to make sandwiches for lunch.

 After breakfast, we make sure we have the Bibles we need, and head out. We usually are set up till about five. Sometimes holding a Bible out to people as they pass by catches their attention and shows them what we are selling. This is what I had been doing, and Kuni decided to try to be like me. :) He is holding up a Bible like I am, and he is wearing my hat, with one string (that I sometimes use to tie the hat on so it won't blow off)  hanging down in front!

 Sometimes we pass out tracts.

 A mother reading the tract one of us gave her.

 A prospective customer.

 These little girls passed by several times. They had the cutest smiles!

One of the many ladies (mostly older ones) wearing these loose, flowing dresses.

 We see many young mothers as well. They carry their babies in carriers on their back, sometimes wrapping a blanket around the baby and the carrier. It seems like that would be very hot! Even though it is winter there, the temperature gets up to about ninety during the day.

 Sometimes people in a vehicle want to see a Bible.

 Another prospective customer looks at Bibles while a donkey cart passes by.

 On the way back to camp, we count the money from the sales. It all goes to pay the Bible Society back.

 We girls help Aunt Hester prepare supper. We usually have some free time while she is just cooking the vegetables. We write in our diaries or talk. Sometimes the tent needs straightened up.

 Of course, after supper, dishes need done and everything needs put away.

 Sometimes there is laundry to do. We usually let the dirty clothes soak all day (or all night) in soapy water. Then we rinse them out and hang them up.  The wash water turns black from all the dirt in our clothes!

So there you have it!Work like this keeps you busy all day!

Bible distribution

The third day of traveling, we stopped for breakfast at a coffee shop.

Then for lunch, we stopped at a restaurant. Being a businessman, Mr. Neels liked to treat us royally!

All us four cousins ordered this warm chicken salad. It was a very big and very good salad!

That evening we arrived in the same campground we camped last year. We greeted each other and sat down for some of Aunt Hester's delicious cooking. Then we set up camp and went to bed.

Visiting in the morning.

The boxes of Oshindonga and Oshikwanyama Bibles. More kinds came a little later.

Starting business.

The first day we had two teams. Then the Bible Society gave us their bus to use, so we split up into three teams.

We were set up by the open market, where there are a lot of vendors like this one.

Where we were, business wasn't good, so we moved across the street. Here are Kuni and Candace.

This is the scene to the right of the picture above: more vendors.

Some of our tents.We were able to use the facilities in the building behind the tents.

Uncle Piet cooking sausage over the coal burner, which Aunt Hester used for cooking.

Making a sign advertising Bibles.

from left: Joe Taylor, Larry Gardner, Ted True. We enjoyed working with them.

This setup might look nice, but the Saturday morning the picture was taken, we only sold three Bibles all morning! The Saturdays we did sell, we took the afternoon off to rest.

Mr. Neels and Joe Taylor.

Someone discovered a stick insect hanging around our camp. Being a photographer, Ezra couldn't resist taking hundreds of shots! (Well, maybe not hundreds, but he took a lot!) To get pictures, he had to put a bucket upside down on a chair, and stand on it. Later he got it to move to a better position, where he wouldn't have to crane his neck to get pictures.

Here is the subject of Ezra's camera.

While Ezra was taking photographs, we girls were making sandwiches for supper. I manned the sandwich toaster.

We don't usually attract this big a crowd, but the first day in Outapi, Namibia, we had a rush at the beginning. We were selling Bibles right and left! On the left in front is Joe Taylor. Beside him are Uncle Piet and Aunt Hester.

One evening, we went to see this huge baobab tree. In front of the fence is my cousin Candace, so you can see how big the tree is.

Inside the tree is this tiny chapel, even with a pulpit!

In the open market, there are several ladies that sell dresses and these baby carriers. This lady is using a treadle machine to sew.

One of the few times we walked around selling Bibles.

Candace and a "new friend". You will have to scroll down to find out her name.

Meet the illustrious CRYSTAL LUCAS! Hopefully no one from Penn View is looking at this! (Ha ha) Like my new look???
Now that you (hopefully) have gotten over your initial shock, let me assure you that my "new look" is not permanent! Candace bought a wig and sunglasses for the purpose of playing a trick on her family when we arrived back in the States. Before we left Namibia, we all took a turn with the wig. I've already showed this picture to a few people. Some of them recognized me and some of them didn't!