Back to school

Oh dear! I haven't posted for nearly a year! Sorry guys! These pictures are all from the beginning of the school year, but maybe someone will enjoy looking at them! I was able this year to move in with  Uncle Elon's family to cut down on schooling costs. It's a little more relaxed not living in the dorm, but I still have plenty to keep me busy! These first few pictures are of a Labor Day picnic at Uncle Gabriel's.  

The men watch the food for a change! :)

Uncle Gabriel extracting the finished hot dogs from their swinging sizzler.

A game of Capture-the-Flag. It was getting dark, as you can tell by the picture.

One Monday, my teacher took our History of Western Civilization class on a field trip to Gettysburg. It was a good thing we had him along to be our guide, or a lot of the tour wouldn't have meant much to me. Here we are going into the visitor's center to purchase our tickets. 

These pictures are especially for some of the people in my family who like to look at guns. These are pistols like ones that were used in the Civil War.

These are models of rifles and muskets like ones that were used in the Civil War. As an interesting side note, there was a display of states and territories, with the number of soldiers from each state/territory that fought for the Union, and the number that fought for the Confederacy. Not all states had soldiers on both sides, but most of them did. I found out that Colorado, which was a territory at that time, had over 4,000 volunteers in the Union army. There weren't any to speak of that fought for the Confederacy.

Insignias from different regiments.

After a short film about the battle of Gettysburg, we entered the Cyclorama, a round room with a painting that goes around in a complete circle. The painting of course depicts the battlefield of Gettysburg. These pictures don't do it justice. This was my favorite part of the trip. I could have stayed there half the day! This is as good a panorama shot as I could get on my little camera.

A little bit of a closer look.

This is really zoomed in. The detail in this painting is amazing!

One of several cannons. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but sadly my camera battery ran out!

A monument built by the state of Pennsylvania to honor its troops who fought in the Union Army.

Maybe someday I'll post some other pictures, but that's all for now!

Fall semester and Christmas 2015

Here are just a few snapshots from the last few months. Most of these are actually with my relatives. What a blessing to have cousins fifteen minutes away! They have made a (sometimes lonely) college life more bearable with their friendship and support.

A church picnic in September.

One weekend, I had the privilege of going along with some students to the home of Jacob (on the right). It was great to meet Jacob's family and get better acquainted with some of my fellow students. I was the "lone ranger between two couples"!

Some of the fall scenery at Penn View.

Another weekend, my Aunt Kezia and Uncle Chris visited Uncle Fain, so I went over to see them. We ladies worked on preparing crafts for VBS's my relatives were planning to hold on a missions trip to Guatemala. 

My cousin Candace with two of Aunt Kezia's children: Matthew and Lydia. It was fun to get to meet little Matthew.

Somebody wanted to send a picture of we cousins who helped Uncle Piet the first year in Namibia. The only one who didn't go the second time was Nathaniel, on the left.

I got to go home for Thanksgiving and of course, for Christmas. It was fun to go walking through the fields again, under the big Colorado sky.

While I was home for Christmas break, I got to see my friends at Federal Heights.

Beautiful sunset as I headed back for Penn View. (I think this was in Charlotte, where I lost my cell phone! I never did find out where it ended up. I have a different one now.)

Belated post--trip from Namibia to South Africa

This was supposed to have been posted a long time ago. I thought about just deleting it, but someone wanted me to post it anyway. So here it is, for the benefit of anyone interested!
 The morning we started for South Africa, we had a lot of stuff to pack. It was interesting trying to figure out how to get seven people and lots of camping gear into this five-seater Land Cruiser and camping trailer. We had to pack tents, bedding, cooking stuff, lawn chairs, etc.

 

The last tent to come down.

 Under Uncle Piet's direction, the boys had to pack and repack the top of the Land Cruiser to get everything to fit.

 Finally tying down the load. There was stuff packed in the back of the Land Cruiser too, with just enough room for two people to lie down on top. There wasn't room to sit up straight!

 Some baboons we saw along the road.

 Our first night, we young people stayed in the same tent-houses we had stayed in on our way north. Uncle Piet and Aunt Hester stayed overnight with acquaintances of theirs who lived nearby. For supper, we feasted on sandwiches. You can be sure that before going to bed, we girls thoroughly checked our beds to be sure there were no spiders! No more spider bites, thank you!

Candace and I enjoy our tea at a restaurant the next morning. The secretary of the Bible Society of Namibia treated our whole group to breakfast. He thanked us for helping get Bibles to places that the Bible Society has been unable to reach. 

 A stop by the road side for lunch.

The second night, we stayed in these cabins at a hotel complex in the middle of Botswana.

 Inside the cabin we girls stayed in.

After crossing the border into South Africa on Friday, we camped Friday night and Saturday night in a small game park. We saw quite a few animals there. Here are a couple female kudu.  I want to maybe add more animal pictures but for now I will post this.

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!