Home Safe and Sound

Sorry I was slow with the final entry into the blog as we had a recovery day from our travels.  I thought that we should make one more entry to confirm for everyone that we did make it home safely.  We had a wonderful welcome with friends and family waiting for us, with a banner and everything, at the airport after we cleared customs.  All our flights were on time and without any issues.




We are so thankful for everyone that prayed and supported us in so many ways before and while we were on this trip.  It was an experience of a lifetime for sure!  We are thankful for the one life that we know was given to God as a result of the Centershot part of the trip and we pray that all those who heard the message of salvation will be changed as a result of what they heard.  We may not know any further results until we arrive in heaven but we are thankful for the opportunity to love all these people and children and to be able to be changed by them.

Matt 10:42

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.

A few more highlight pictures to end with!

Shouldn't every missionary report end with a sunset?

Waiting in Amsterdam

Good morning everyone! After a sleep on the plane through the night we are sitting in Amsterdam Airport.  Nothing much to see at the airport other than construction and renovations.  We had to go through about 4 or 5 security checks with passports and now we are just waiting to get our flight to Minneapolis which leaves at 3:10pm local time here.

When we arrived here we said good bye to Felicia, the Rickenbach's and the Vogt Family.  We are going to miss hanging out with them all and look forward to when we will see them again.  All of those listed are staying here in Amsterdam for two days of wind down time before they head back to the states.

The rest of our team will already be back in America and heading to their homes.  It was a great experience for everyone and we are thankful for the unity amongst our team.  Of course there were a few minor personality conflicts along the way but all in all we had a great team to work with and many children heard the gospel message of Christ through our efforts.  I don't have any totals of how many kids we had contact with.  I would estimate that our family would have had contact with about 2000 kids.  Just a guess but we had kids from Zambia, from children's church two places, from 5 schools and two drop in centres.

Thank you for your prayer support.  Please continue to pray for safety and health as we travel the last two flights home.  Crystelle is still suffering with a head cold but the rest of us are feeling well.  Once home we will all get to experience jet lag together.  Prayer for patience for us all!

See you soon!

Last Full Day In Africa!

From August 24th

Today was our last full day in Africa.  We won’t actually fly out of Africa until 11:15 pm tomorrow night but today was our last day to take in some activities and have a more relaxing day if we chose to do that.  The most special thing that we were supposed to do today was go experience “Walking with the Lions”.  Even though it was supposed to be a relaxing day we still had to get up at 5:30 for breakfast so that we could leave in time for our early start with the lions.  That was alright by me because then it would leave us more time in our day once we got back for other activities.  

“Walking with the Lions” is at a wildlife conservancy about a hour away.  It is just as the name suggests, a walk with lions!  Ever since going last year it is something that I wished for my family to all experience together if we ever came to Africa together.  Now here we were and this year we had been told that you had to be 15 years old or older to be able to go.  My heart sank for Terrace at the beginning of the week when we heard this.  Last year the age was 13 so we are unsure why they made this change.  So we decided we would take Terrace along and be completely honest and see if they would let her go on the walk.  The leader of our group agreed that she could go but then when we got to the gate to get in with the lions they questioned us again and seemed very reluctant to let her in.  She was also acting a little nervous and they said that is a problem too.  So we explained what they had told us about letting her in and then they said to keep her in the group at all times and she could go.  We were so thankful that this work out for her!  Terrace was a little reluctant to want to go all along but as a dad I knew she would love it if she did it. Turns out this time I was right!  Has that ever happened before?  

They remind you that the lions are wild and that you need to follow all the rules carefully or you risk being attacked.  I have no doubt if they were not there you would be attacked.  Even though they seem to follow direction relatively well you can see at times they are just waiting for someone to make a mistake.  You cannot bend down for anything or or run or go off the trail, but believe it or not you are allowed to hold their tails.  Have you ever tried to hold your cats tail?  Usually cats don’t like people pulling on their tails!  

Today they had four lions for us to walk with.  You go out in a natural area with four staff and the lions for about a two hour walk.  They keep the lions attention with real meat for them to eat that they throw or put on a stick to keep the lions nearby.  We all walk with sticks since that is the tool they use to train them with so it makes us all appear to be trainers.  It is an amazing experience as you can see from the pictures.  They give everyone opportunity to walk holding their tails, plus have pictures taken at one area where they have the lions lay down and you sit behind them.  The staff do a fabulous job of giving everyone an opportunity to be with the lions, including lion bait Terrace!  They even will take your camera or cell phone and take a ton of pictures or video while you walk.  They love taking pictures.  We left there with well over 600 pictures that had been taken for the four of us.  Yes, a little excessive, but we will be able to pick a few we like and delete a bunch.  The girls loved the experience and it was even better this time for me than last year.  

After we returned to the lodge from the lions, with arms and legs intact, we had time to spend around Shikwaru relaxing and visiting with other team members.  There was still an opportunity to hunt today for those who wanted to.  Yesterday I had asked Jaelyn what she would want to do more, shoot an impala or see a giraffe.  She easily said see a giraffe!  Since we had not run into any yet on the trip we knew we wanted to make that a priority.  Of course I still really wanted her to have another chance at hunting and shooting an impala or blesbok but Jaelyn was tired of sitting in the blinds not doing much.  She felt better about spending some time around the lodge, swimming, playing catch and then going on a game drive to look for giraffe.  

The first time that we went to Entabeni we never saw elephants or giraffes.  Today there were several of the team who wanted to go back and see if we could see some more animals.  As a family we decided to join in and we were happy we did.  You all know I would have loved to go hunting one last time but it was worth it to see the girls when we found several giraffe as well as a herd of elephant.  It was awesome to see the look on Jaelyn’s face when she first saw the giraffe.  This has been her dream animal to see while in Africa and she thought it might slip away without happening.  I’m so happy it didn’t!  They girls both loved being able to watch these majestic animals in their natural habitat.  

After supper there was a special presentation of what is called “the pink jacket”.  It is awarded to whoever earns the most points after telling there stories about their hunting adventures.  Each hunter gets to tell their version of what happened and others who were with them or not can question the facts or add their two cents worth.  Lets be clear that the pink jacket isn’t usually something that you want to win!  It is usually because you have missed an animal or done something odd or funny on a hunt. 

It was looking like Jesse from Kentucky was a shoe in to win with his miss on a wildebeest earlier in the week.  We also gave him the gears because he is a police officer and should be able to shoot (he was hunting with a rifle).  But just when it looked like he was going to win I got to tell my story which really was very uneventful.  I really only hunted a few minutes.  I brought my bow along on the girls hunts but they were first up to shoot any impala that came in.  It was only when a kudu came in that my hunt began and Jaelyn stepped aside.  It was already decided that they would only be allowed to shoot blesbok or impala so everything went according to that plan.  But during the ceremony Terrace decided to put her two cents worth in and threw me under the bus.  She said piped up with, “dad lied and didn’t let Jaelyn shoot something before him” (this is all in good fun).  Well Jacques awards point however he feels led and this was all he needed to give me a bunch of points for misleading the staff that I wasn’t going to hunt and not putting my children first.  Suddenly I was in the lead and the pink jacket was mine.  Jesse you can thank Terrace for that one!  It was fun and I am so glad that both our girls and Crystelle could be together to hunt as a team.  We would have loved for Jaelyn to have a chance to shoot something too but it didn’t work out.  I’m glad she picked the elephants and giraffes to see…that was a dream come true for her!  We have great family memories together of Terrace’s first bow hunt, as well as all being together for when I shot my kudu…a dream come true for me.  God has truly blessed us!  I guess I can deal with wearing a pink jacket for a day in exchange for those memories…but  Terrace…watch out!  Dad may find some way to embarrass you as a little payback in the future!

I apologize for all the spelling and grammatical errors you have had to read through the last couple weeks.  Just didn’t have the energy to always proof read!

Out of Africa...Almost!

Hi Everyone just wanted to let you all know that we had a few internet problems over the past day so I was not able to post the blog entry for the final full day yet.  I will hopefully get that done soon but we wanted to just let everyone know that we are on our way home soon.  We are sitting right now waiting for our flight to leave Johannesburg.  Today was a very simple day of packing up in the morning and leaving to stop at a curio (store) to do some shopping for souvenirs.  At least half of the group has to leave on a flight for Atlanta that leaves in a few minutes from right now.  Our flight will not leave until 11:15pm local time.  We will be flying through the night to Amsterdam and then on to Minneapolis after a 5 hour layover there.  All is well but we are tired after a kinda boring day today.  We should be able to get some rest flying through the night so that will be good.

We look forward to seeing everyone when we get home.  We appreciate your prayers so much and hope that the blog helped you to feel like a part of our team (because you are) and help you to pray more effectively for us!

See you all soon!

Busy Weekend

We made it to the weekend and normally for most people that is a time to relax.  Our weekend did have some relaxation time but we also had ministry opportunities on each day.  Saturday began with our family heading out in the morning to hunt again.  Now Jaelyn is the only one in our family left to hunt.  We were dropped off back at the same blind that we were in last night for my successful Kudu hunt.  We had Jabulani as our PH and we were all together again to support Jaelyn in her hunting adventure.  Although we never had the right size Impala come close enough for Jaelyn to shoot we had a great morning watching all kinds of wildlife.  Hunting as a family at times can feel like everyone sitting playing games on their phones while the PH watches for animals but really it is only like that part of the time. It has been good to be together as a family in this way.  There has been a lot of laughter in our family during this whole trip, including in the hunting blinds.  This morning Crystelle was playing cameraman filming all the animals that were coming and going.  It was a most incredible morning having over 50 animals come and go from the area we were sitting in.  We saw Guinea Fowl, Monkeys, Blue Wildebeests, Impala, Zebra and Blesbok.  What a show everything put on for us!  

Having a monkey come right to the window of our blind and Crystelle being inches apart for a few seconds before both Crystelle and the monkey startled one another was a highlight for us all.  There was some good giggles after that.  Even Jabulani was trying to hold it back.  We may of had a couple hours first thing in the morning with no action but from about 9:30 on we constantly had animals nearby with some even laying down just yards from the blind.  We virtually wore out the batteries on the camera getting video of all these animals that we don’t normally have opportunity to see.  If you want to hear another story from this day of hunting ask Jaelyn to tell your her “#1” story!  

Our hunt came to an end around noon and then we had to continue preparations for the Unite youth conference that Shikwaru was hosting for the local youth in Mokopane.  We had begun preparations for this the night before by deciding who would host each activity and planned out a service for the evening.  It felt a little overwhelming to have a big chunk of this ministry put on us with not much prep time, but despite how tired everyone was it still came together pretty well.

Basically the youth would be arriving any time after 2 pm and spending the afternoon doing various activities at Shikwaru with our team.  It included a craft table (yeah, we got to use our beads and string that we forgot to take to Zambia), “putt putt golf” as they call it here, frisbee golf, archery, swimming, volleyball, pool tables and table tennis.  We had people at all these locations supervising and willing to spend time with the kids.  At 6pm supper was served for the over 100 kids who attended.  A live worship band was playing and you could tell that the kids were having a great time.  Many of the black kids who attended started their own kinda worship time while they were swimming in the pool.  They just began singing in harmony multiple worship songs while wading in the cool water.  They have such energy and outward love for the Lord that you don’t see often in kids in North America.  It was a very cool thing to witness! 

Our team was running the service after supper that included some skits and games for fun and to get the kids excited and laughing.  Jaelyn and I kicked things off by showing the kids how Canadian girls get ready for youth conferences.  Basically, Jaelyn was the head while I was her arms  and hands.  I had to reach through from the back while hiding behind her in the same big t-shirt and use my hands to brush her teeth and hair, wash her face and do other beautifying things that girls do to get ready for big events.  I think the kids enjoyed it but I really couldn’t see much from where I was at!  The service also had a good worship time led by the live band along with Brennan and Anna who taught the kids the Salvation Poem Song.  John Wheeler had a great message for the kids of his experience being an adopted child and related it to them also needing to be adopted into the family of God.  No one came forward for prayer but it was an effective message despite the howling wind that tipped over the speakers.  John also had to battle a power outage in the middle of the sermon where lights went out and his microphone would not work but being outside with a huge fire pit burning nearby provided enough light.  

It was a good evening but I think that our team is worn out at this point.  You can imagine how the illness has been a factor as well all week.  I’m so proud of our family for working so hard this week to serve in as many ways as we could.  Many of the Centershot Team are wore out, so you can imagine how proud I am that our girls have done so well serving for an additional week prior to the rest of the team coming!  They have done so well with all the early morning and have not complained.

I should mention that around lunch time on Saturday both Crystelle and Terrace came down with fevers and were not feeling very well.  Terrace was able to perk up by supper time but she rested for a good chunk of the afternoon.  Crystelle was feeling a little more rough and needed to rest the whole afternoon and evening. The illness’ have just continued to hit our team with new members each time.  Today Danielle and Sam were also not feeling well and missed out on the youth conference.  Please continue to pray that everyone will feel better and that those who have not got sick yet will not be sick for travelling home as that could be an uncomfortable situation.  By this morning everyone was feeling better for the most part.  Crystelle was still not 100% as she seems to be coming down with more of a sinus infection/cold, but she was able to still participate in all the days events today.

Today we were able to sleep in to almost 7:30 AM.  The only thing on the schedule for today was attending church for those who wanted to go.  Some members of the team were going on the lion walk today or staying at lodge to hunt.  We went with a group of 11 from our team to attend Leon’s church in Mokopane.  Leon has been working for RaG for over a year full time but has been volunteering for them for about 10 years I believe.  He has assisted in beginning a church in Mokopane that meets right now in a tent.  I believe about 150 people attend with about 1/3 being kids.  It is in quite a poor neighbourhood similar to the neighbourhood of one of the drop in centres that we served at a few days ago. Our team helped to assist with some games for the children’s church time, which is in the first half of the service.  I kinda like that the kids come back to the main service for the sermon time.  

A couple nights ago Leon had asked if I would speak in the main service for 15 minutes as well.  Boy, I did not feel prepared to do that but I agreed that I could speak for about 10 minutes for sure.  I only had late Saturday night to really prepare anything but I could tell that God was helping to give me something to say that would hopefully fit with the theme of Leon’s message for this week.  When he asked me to help in this way along with one other team member who agreed to speak I could not help but think of 1Peter 3:15 which speaks of always being prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks about the hope that is within you.  I guess this was a test to see if I could give an answer.  Leon had also told me that his message was about “preaching Christ”.  This led me to the passage in 1 Cor 1:20-25 where it talks of “preaching Christ crucified”.  These verses talk about man’s wisdom versus God’s as well as man’s strength versus God’s.  The lesson in this for me was that I may feel inadequate and not very bold a lot of times.  For me, especially in my work place!  I also may make excuses why I am not wise enough to share the gospel.  What would I say?  It is often easier to be bold and share Christ in a situation such as this when your on a missions trip.  But my challenge was for them, and especially for myself, is to be more bold to preach Christ in my home situation (at work for me).  We cannot all go far away to share the gospel like our family did this time but we can all chose to do it close to home. Sometimes this can be the most challenging place to do it and we often feel we don’t have the wisdom to do it (an excuse).  But God wants us to be faithful and preach Christ.  He can use our words, which may seem like foolishness or unwise, to save any He wishes, and He wishes for all to be saved!

I must admit that after church I did feel a sense of relief that we don’t have any other things to prepare  for on this trip.  Our official ministry time is complete.  But who know who God may put in our path to share with while we are still here or travelling home.  Our journey seems to be winding down somewhat.  I sense in the girls and Crystelle and desire to be heading home soon.  We look forward to a couple days of activities at Shikwaru.  Sunday afternoon was spent visiting and relaxing for Crystelle, while Jaellyn, Terrace, and I as well as Danielle (who is our fellow SK girl) went out to hunt.  Danielle came along to film our hunt.  She has a passion for filming hunting and outdoor shows and is very gifted at it.  It was fun to have her along with us and we had another great afternoon of seeing animals.  Just not the right opportunity for Jaelyn yet but we are still hoping her hunt will work out soon.

This evening we had a brainstorming meeting with the Centershot leaders who are here.  It is always great to see how other groups run their ministry and to be encouraged for our upcoming Fall session of Centershot.  We are looking forward to that coming up this October.  Although, I hate to speak of Fall as if it is close already!

Family Hunting Memories

Warning: This blog entry has details of a big game hunt.

As promised here is a more detailed account of our family hunt after our school ministry time. I will mention for those who maybe don't know that RAG's major source of income for the mission does come from the profits of Shikwaru's big game hunts. So for someone like me who wants to experience hunting in Africa it is a great way of doing it and still having it benefit the children's ministry here.  As the back of our mission's team t-shirts say, 'It's all about the children!'


So after we were all settled into the blind and Kevin had all the camera gear set up we sat and waited giggling at the occasional noises that we would make that seem so loud when you are all trying to sit quietly. 

The first animals to come by were a group of Kudu cows. They have such huge ears they are difficult to trick. These ones looked like they wanted to come closer in but then seemed to notice some thing wasn't right. I think there was about five of them that passed by.  They are so majestic the way they walk!  

Terrace had been so tired from all the busy days she actually missed out on the Kudu cows and the Impala that were the next species we saw.  It was funny to listen to her heavy breathing as she was stretched out on the bench at the back of the blind for her nap. 

The excitement was building as we watched a few Impala that were a long ways off.  We couldn't see one that looked big enough to shoot but suddenly they were coming closer and we seemed to have more and more appearing just beyond where we really wanted them to come to. But still no 'shooter', just one that was about two years old and ewes. They also seemed to know something was wrong at the blind. Very few of the 14 that were close by would come in. It is amazing how long they will stand and just stare right at you without moving at all. They are a very nervous animal, like most here in Africa.  Terrace was still laying unconscious with her heavy breathing!  Maybe that was why they wouldn't come it. 

Finally Terrace woke up and was a little more alert. Having your whole family with you hunting is quite amazing and enjoyable but can be a challenge to keep them interested during the long waits.  Cell phone games, colouring, crafts, giggling over silly stuff and naps are all the norm.  

Things were slow for quite awhile. Nothing other than the approximately 30 Guinea Fowl. It was starting to seem as though nothing more was going to happen for the evening. Then Kevin said, "Zebra coming in!"  You could see about four zebra including a young one.  They all passed by and looked like they were leaving but then a little later they started coming back again. They also seemed to know something was wrong at the blind. But they were also a little more determined to get to the water hole on the other side of our blind.  Kevin figured they would try to circle around and come to the water. 

Now you have to understand that these blinds can be difficult for everyone to see out of at the same time. There are various windows around the blind to look out from, plus a couple spots that you can shoot from. So not everyone can always see the animals that are around, plus moving around in the blind to see out windows always has the risk of spooking the animal when they see the movement. The reason I tell you all this is because as the Zebra were circling us to go to the watering hole Terrace had been in a spot where she didn't get a really good look at them. Now they were circling us on the side where she could easily peek out her window and have a great view of them all. This window was covered with a dark curtain, so she peeked her head behind it and was looking out and then whispered, "Wow, that's a big Kudu!"  Not even for one second did I believe her!  We had just watched the Zebra all walk that way and now Terrace is trying one of her little gags on us. Kevin asked me what she had said and I told him. Then she said it again!  I still didn't even lean over to look out the window.  Kevin asked Crystelle if she was serious. Crystelle replied back with something like, "Who knows, you can never tell." There had been a big Kudu bull seen at this stand a couple evenings ago and Kevin was hoping he would come back.  When Terrace said it again I replied, "Well, your going to force me to look so I will know if your joking or not."  I leaned over a lifted the curtain and said, "Wow, that's a big Kudu...she is totally serious!"  All I could see was the biggest Kudu I have ever seen while hunting the little I have in Africa.  I guess I really need to take Terrace more seriously next time. That is two hunts where she has told us she sees something and I have doubted her because she is such a joker like her dad. I guess that will teach me!  

So now we had just enough time for Kevin to get the video rolling and then the massive bodied Kudu was walking right in front of the blind. Kudu and Impala have always been my two favorite African animals. So now here I was with a huge one in front of me with my whole family along for the experience, plus Kevin with us to film the whole thing.  This was a situation we had discussed but had never really come to a final decision on.  Now here we were with my bow sitting in the far corner of the blind and my arrows also behind Crystelle.  We were not ready for this at all!  It was supposed to be Jaelyn's turn to hunt!  While the Kudu stood their Crystelle and I exchanged a few looks and I asked whether I should try to do this. It was going to be difficult to even get the bow in my hand and an arrow nocked with the bull standing only 16 yards away.  My answer came as Crystelle reached for my arrows and handed them to me and said, "He is big!"  Next she slowly passed the bow to me. Twice the bull let out a warning bark and we had to freeze to let him settle down. We thought we were busted because of some of the noise we made. If it wasn't for the Zebras drinking at the watering hole I think he would have been long gone.  

My heart was really starting to pound with excitement now.  It was amazing he stood there through all the shenanigans and I was able to get to full draw.  As the sun had just set it was difficult to see my sight pins for aiming.  I did my best to make out the one I needed and aimed low and on his front leg at the the proper spot  for African game and before the girls expected it the arrow flew. I knew I hit him hard but was still stressed a little as he ran away.  I saw the arrow flip forward as he bolted but it was really hard to tell exactly where I hit him.  Terrace was quick to congratulate me but I said I didn't want to get too excited until we could tell more about the shot.  After her experience I really wanted to see how much blood there was before I would feel more confident it was a good shot. You always start to question things when it happens so fast and it was getting more difficult to see because of fading daylight.  We paused as a family with Kevin to pray that my shot was a good one and that we would be able to easily find the Kudu.

We had planned to wait half an hour before checking for blood and following the trail but the truck with other hunters had already arrived after 15 minutes.  Jacques wanted to get on the trail right away due to darkness coming. It didn't take long to see a good amount of blood and shortly after we found my arrow.  It had not passed through but their was really good blood on it and it had penetrated about half the length of the arrow.  It didn't take long to find more blood and Jacques, Eugene and Jabulani were off heading down the trail to find it.  Kevin and I were trying to get the camera gear together to follow along and had problems with the microphone that delayed us a few minutes.  We followed along part way and then we heard the words every hunter want to hear when others are helping to track their animal..."We got him here!"  Ahh, what a feeling of relief.  Once we got everything with the camera working we continued down the blood trail while filming me first walking up to my kudu.  It was so exciting to have so many people with me that are good friends.  It was 'especially special' to have Crystelle and the girls with me!  


We had a blast enjoying the moment.  It was fun to get a bunch of pictures and have other friends also snapping pictures with their cameras.  Then because of the possibility that this hunt may be used on a  show we made sure that we did some more video shots as well as retelling some of the story for the camera.  It was all a new experience and made the whole hunt a most memorable one for our whole family.  

I need to thank all the staff and guides as Shikwaru Lodge.  It is awesome to hunt here knowing that it is "hunting with a purpose".  They do a wonderful job of setting you up in good blinds on a property with good opportunities.  Eugene is always ready to answer questions and willing to serve you the best way he nows how.  Jacques has quality staff for all of the hunting operation from trackers to PH's to skinners.  They do their best to provide you with a great outdoors experience!

We still hope that Jaelyn will get her chance at an Impala.  We have a few opportunities to get out yet and hope that it will all come together to create another amazing family memory together.  

Last Day in Schools and Family Memories

When looking back on time it often feels like a paradox.  In some ways it seems like so long ago when we first left home to come on this short term trip to Africa.  But on the other hand, it is hard to believe that today was already our last day to serve in the schools with the Centershot team.  We will have opportunity to serve more over the next two day in different capacities but the main purpose to reach out with Christ and archery to local schools is already over.  It has been a busy four days serving at the schools and each one had its own challenges and rewards.  I would definitely say that we feel tired.

Todays school’s unique challenge was that we were far more limited on what we could share directly with the kids than at any of the other schools we were at.  Although we were told that this school might have as many as 70% christian kids it is known to be a very multi-cultural, multi-faith school.  It is actually owned by Muslims and you can easily see the muslim influence as soon as you enter the school.  Because of this Muslim influence/ownership we were told that we needed to be sure not to present Christ directly while front of the whole school. Leon, who works for RaG, has been working with teachers in this school to gain their trust and confidence so that as time goes on they will have more opportunity here.  We were directed by one of the female christian teachers at this school to be very careful how we approached this situation so as to not ruin future opportunities that they are hopeful will come their way to minister in this school. Our main goal for the day became to love the kids as Christ would, and to show them in such a way His love that they would wonder what is inside of us to make us want to come from the other side of the world to share archery with them.  I think we were successful in this goal and also remained true to our own convictions to still speak with them in our study time about sin and get them thinking about how they need to deal with that in their own lives.  

This school was so different than our rural school from yesterday.  This was a school where more affluent kids attend.  Although the majority were black kids, there were multiple races of kids represented here and that gave it a different dynamic than all the other schools we attended.  Discipline was also more apparent here and you could see the kids showed a lot of respect to the teachers and were diligent about following the rules laid out for them.  This element of discipling as well as the set up of where we were able to shoot made this a nice location to be at for our final day.  It was also a lot of fun to have kids from every grade at the school come and shoot with us.  I believe the school had 500 students from grade 1-12.  It was a blast to help the little kids and then on the next group have 16 and 17 year olds who we could interact with in a totally different way.  Despite the differences in ages they all loved being able to shoot and spend time with us.  The excitement showed and once again archery was the great common denominator.

RaG hopes to be able to start a Centershot program in this school soon with the gospel message being part of that.  They already have 10 kids from this school signed up to begin their Leadership Academy where Christian values are taught to the kids while training to lead in their schools and communities.  We hope that our ability to “play within their rules” will help to open  doors for future more bold ministries.

After we packed up all our gear and headed back to the lodge for a slightly late lunch it was an afternoon for some to relax or if they wished head out for a hunt.  We decide to go as a family to hunt today.  Our main goal was for Jaelyn to have a bit of time to practice with the crossbow and then head to the blinds in search of an impala.  I also took my bow along to hunt but really was not expecting to shoot anything…it was an impala hunt for Jaelyn as the main priority!

Today we also had the privilege of having Kevin Vogt join us to film all the action and just hang out with our family.  He has become a great friend and I love being able to spend time with him and his family on this trip. It was special to have him spend time in a hunting blind with us, as a family, helping to preserve our memories of this hunt on video.  It was exciting to see kudu in the general area as we drove in along with some impala that were right at the blind.  

In this blog entry I will not go into all the details of our hunt, as I realize some of you may not be interested in that.  I will make a separate entry with more details and fun stories from this hunt.  It is a day I will remember for a long time and was happy to share it with all “my girls”.  I will say it was amazing to take in God’s creation together as a family, except during Terrace’s one hour nap where she missed seeing all the impala.  We were able to see Kudu, Impala, Guinea Fowl, and Zebras all from this one location.  The best part is the memories together and the bonus is that we will have it all on video thanks to Kevin!  If your interested to know more watch for the next blog entry that I hope to get done on Saturday sometime.

We would appreciate prayer again for Brennan as he was sick today for a good part of the day.  Seems he got what his wife, Anna, and so many other had.  Everyone else was feeling well today so we are thankful for how prayers have been answered.  

We would also appreciate prayer for our team and the kids we will be ministering to tomorrow afternoon and evening.  Shikwaru Lodge is having a youth event called ‘Unite’ and we should have 150-200 youth coming for games, skits, archery, special music, speakers, supper and a camp fire.  They have asked our team to participate in the event by helping with games and activities in the afternoon and then hosting the whole service in the evening.  As a team we have a few nerves about this as we have not really prepared for this kind of thing and fee a little rushed with our preparations for it.  Please pray that God would use us to make it a success.  Pray specifically for John Wheeler who will speak and Danielle who plans to share a testimony for the youth.  Also pray for Ryan who will be the emcee and has details to work out to make the evening flow. We had a brief planning meeting for this event tonight but many more details will have to be worked out before it starts.

On a final note at the end of our meeting Jannie, who leads Centershot for RaG and has done so much to lead our group this week, brought out a birthday cake for Jaelyn.  It was nice for Jaelyn as she kinda missed out on a cake because of our travel on her special day.  What a kind thought to remember it was her birthday when we arrived and to make it special for her later in the week.  Jannie has been a source of comedy for us most of the week with his dry humor and ability to keep you guessing if he is serious or not.  He had mentioned several times during the week about having to celebrate her birthday.  So all the girls had a small party in one of their rooms to end the night by eating cake!  Thanks everyone!