the long road from shungwe to blacksburg

Hi again, beautiful friends - and hello, America!

I'm back on U.S. soil, alive, well, and not even that jet-lagged - woo hooo! Since I last enjoyed a legitimate internet connection in Mongu, I think I've covered more ground in the past three weeks than I ever have before in my life. Bryan and I started out in Shungwe, middle of nowhere, very very much Africa just days after my last post. A 3-hour roller coaster ride later, we arrived in Mongu (Western Province, Zambia). Quick turn around: just days later, we took an 8-hour overnight bus and another 7-hour day bus to get to Livingstone (Southern Province, Zambia) to see Victoria Falls. Fortunately, we only had to endure a quick and painless flight to travel to the beautiful city of Capetown, South Africa. We sure made up for it a week later though...only after an 8-hour layover and 20 hours in the air did we finally return to the home of the Hokies: lovely Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America. I think I have enough frequent flier miles to last me for a few years/decades!

So to start from the very beginning (a very good place to start)...

Shungwe was quite an interesting little village. Only eight of us traveled out to the floodplains, four from Hope Church and four of us makua interns: Muyunda, Paul, Catherine (Zambian), and Una, and also Bryan, Wes, Catherine (American), and me. Initially, our goal was to stay in Shungwe with enduna (chief) Roberts and use a boat we brought along with us to travel down the Zambezi to visit Liyoyelo. As we soon found out, the enduna had met with some members of the Zambia Project before and was very supportive of the gospel (and of any short-term teams who wanted to visit his village). He actually went with us to Liyoyelo to see the enduna there. Incidentally, that visit turned into a bit of a flop, unfortunately: we waited a total of four hours to meet with Liloyelo's enduna, all to learn that he had chosen to take a nap instead.

 Wes doin his camera thang in the floodplains on the way to Shungwe

Enduna Roberts, on the other hand, was so enthusiastic that we were staying in Shungwe that he insisted we make camp quite literally in his front yard, which just so happened to be right next door to a house that hosted a party that week. But this was no ordinary party. Apparently in Zambian culture, when a village girl "comes of age," the whole town gets together for a three day, full-out, crazy-intense fiesta that would put any college frat party to shame. A lot of compromising things go on that week, including rampant drunkenness, grandmas pulling out dance moves that I've never seen before, family squalls, and some pretty intense brawls. On the third night we were there, the partying started at dusk and went on all night - and we're talking aaaall niiiiight loooong. Because of that, though, the next day actually turned out to be a pretty legitimate test to see how many people were very serious about their committment to what they'd heard about the gospel that week. Three or so guys, plus the enduna, sought us out that next day to ask some amazing questions, from "If Adam and Eve were the first people God created, then who was Cain afraid of after he killed his brother?" to "If there's one God and one Bible, why are there so many denominations?" So although we only had a small core group of people who were interested in hearing what we had to say that week, they showed a genuine interest in learning about the Bible and actually applying it to their lives, immediately. It was awesome.

After we returned to Mongu, Lihana and Lloyd took us to a crocodile farm, where they raise...wait for it...11,000 crocs!

 Bryan, Lihana, Lloyd, and me at the croc farm

We then said our good-byes to all our friends at Hope Church and at Mutoya, hopped onto an overnight bus to Lusaka (man, that was rough...I'm still trying to get the fish smell out of my clothes), took a day bus to Livingstone, and spent three full days enjoying Victoria Falls.

We walked (and swam!) along the lip of the falls (i.e. the water just before it falls down the precipice) with Raphael, a guy who we'd gone to the bush with from Hope Church...

 me clinging to Raphael as we crossed the river above Vic Falls

Bryan and me at one of the pools at the top of the Falls

...jumped 111 meters off a bridge on the "tandem swing"...

  

some bridge, huh?

we made it!

...saw lions, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, snake birds, and hundreds of elephants in Chobe National Park in Botswana...

...got to know and hang out with some awesome backpackers...

...and just plain soaked up God's amazing creativity!

That Sunday, we flew to Capetown to visit the Zambia Project missionaries' sending church, The People's Church (TPC), barely making it in time for their Sunday night service. I know I must have been a little bit biased towards any scenery different than Mongu - paved roads, mountains, and beaches, for starters - but Capetown literally looks like heaven on earth. It was by far the most beautiful place I'd ever seen - and certainly ever visited! If you're ever in Africa, please go...you definitely won't regret it!

 Lucy, a friend from Mongu, took us wine tasting at vineyards just outside of Capetown

 

yep - there are places in the world that look this beautiful!

penguins in South Africa! who'd'a thunk?

view of Capetown from the top of Lion's Head

So now I'm in Virginia! Next stops in the near future are West Virginia, North Carolina, NYC to see the fam (YAY!!!), Florida, and finally home sweet home: Texas. I don't think I'll ever be able to put into words how much I appreciate and truly depended on yall's unflagging support, prayers, and encouragement while I was in Zambia. Many of yall I'll be able to thank and hug in person, and I love that - I can't wait to see you all! - but to all my friends who I can't see just yet, you're constantly in my thoughts and I hope to at least speak with you soon. I can't wait to hear all about what God's doing in all of yall's lives, how school is going, how first jobs are working out, what the UMC is up to, how Houston and Nashville are, everything. Although we're no longer an ocean away, I still miss yall terribly! So for now, "muciale hande" ("stay well")!!!

In His peace,
Stephanie :)