Back from Zim...

If you ever have the chance to go on a trip to Zimbabwe, you definitely need to do it...I may not be full of much good advice, but trust me...this is the truth!!

Monday night I returned from a long-weekend trip to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. There were 8 of us...Zana, Natalie, Bethany and Drew (a couple from Greenfield, TN- friends of Nat's), Mike (our friend from Zim who made all of the trip arrangements...and our tour guide), Carl (a friend of Mike's), and Kate (a friend of ours from Chicago, met her in CT, she is now in Malawi). Anyway, this was our small army!

We arrived on Thursday afternoon to find our accomodation to have one of the most amazing views you could ever find...the Zambezi River!! That afternoon we looked out to find about 5 hippos in the river, and elephant on the other side of the riverbank, and a crocodile. And this was only the beginning of our raw encounters with African wildlife. There are warthogs, baboons, monkeys and mongoose all over the place- in our trash kind of like racoons or possums. One of the monkeys found his way into our cabin and the powdered milk. He definitely had a milk mustache!

Watching the sunrise and sunset in Zim was amazing...probably a highlight of the trip for me. A couple of mornings I woke up early to go watch the sunrise over the Zambezi...kind of surreal!! (It's funny because when I watch an African sunrise or sunset, I get really excited about watching these things in Tennessee!! So if you know of the best spots in Nash to watch the sunrise or set...let me know :)

It would take me about an hour to tell you all about our weekend, so I'll just hit the highlights!! The first morning, we rafted down the Zambezi River- and let me just tell you, the Zambezi and the Ocoee...NOT THE SAME!! I'll have to admit that I was a tiny bit nervous about this because Mike and Carl were trying to freak us out about crocodiles and anything else they could think of. I just decided that as long as I could just stay inside the raft, I'd be fine :) So, we hiked down into this huge gorge to where the river was...this was a completely straight down hike...praise God that I'm not afraid of heights. I would have passed out and rolled down into the river, and that have been it for me.

Anyway, we got on the river with our guide Kossam. Kossam was one big muscle...probably no body fat at all cause all he does is raft down one of the most powerful rivers in the world. He made the trip so much fun, and he really knew what he was doing. He yelled out instructions to us like "Forward," "Back Right," and my personal favorite, "GET DOWN!!!" Translation- get down and hold on for dear life!! One time I didn't hear him yell it and I was paddling my little heart out then looked around to find that I was the only one still up...needless to say, I moved pretty quickly to get myself down!!

Remember how I said that as long as I could just stay in the boat I'd feel fine?? Well, famous last words...on rapid #8 (out of 23) our boat flipped over and we all found ourselves swimming in the middle of class 4 rapid!! Crazy right??
Again I should remind you that this is not the Ocoee! It was a little scary for a moment...I came up several times to grab a breath only to have another wave knock me in the face again. I'm pretty sure that I swallowed a good bit of Zambezi!!

So the raft ride was quite an adventure, I loved it!! The most interesting part of the day though occured after we got off the river...remember how we had to hike down into the gorge?? Well, that means that you have to hike OUT, right?? After we had been in the sun on the river we had to hike out a half mile STRAIGHT UP...do you hear me?? STRAIGHT UP!! So here I am with a wet life jacket, a helmet and a paddle climbing straight up!! As they say in South Africa, it was a HECTIC climb!!!

The next day we went to see Victoria Falls which is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The falls are about 1 mile wide and 130 meters deep. It stretches between Zimbabwe and Zambia. The power of the water is so great that the spray from the falls can be seen from miles away...it looks like smoke over the trees. They call it the Thundering Smoke. When you get to certain parts of the falls the spray from it is so great that you get drenched!! It was like standing in the middle of a rainstorm!!

My thoughts as I looked at Vic Falls...it's probably the most powerful force of nature that I've ever seen! And with all it's power, it is nothing in comparison to the power of God!! That's hard for me to wrap my mind around. And for all the beauty that I saw in Zim and have seen in SA- the natural beauty of the ocean, the mountains, the sunset- God is infinitely more beautiful!! And the vastness of the ocean and the African sky...God is bigger!! And all of this points to how pea sized our human brains are because we can't even comprehend how BIG, BEAUTIFUL, and POWERFUL that He is!! And all of this beauty that I've seen here shows not only how much God loves us and delights to show us good and beautiful things, but the natural world points to Him and declares His glory...He doesn't NEED humans to show the world His glory and worth, because nature does this without words, singing, and all the other stuff we do (ok, not saying that we aren't responsible to declare His glory and worth, just that He'll get His glory despite what humans do, make sense?)

Here in Africa, my eyes have been opened to so much of God's beauty through nature. I'm sure I'll miss all the beauty at my doorstep here, but I am so excited to come back to Tennessee and see how God manifests Himself through nature there!! God is just as present through nature in Nashville as He is in Africa. I'm not sure why I have not been too aware of this until now, but I can't wait to get home and see things with new eyes!!

The people of Zim were absolutely beautiful--on the inside and out! All that we encountered were cheerful and welcoming with the biggest smiles you've ever seen. They seemed genuinely excited to have us in their country, and are resiliant people- they face daily challenges with grace and joy.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, things are very hard for the people of Zimbabwe. There are often shortages of food, power, and about everything else. Gas cannot be purchased in the country, so people must make a plan to get it from somewhere else. Inflation is so high that 1 US dollar is equivalent to 1 million Zim dollars, and the value of the Zim dollar is decreasing rapidly. Banks are not good places to keep money or withdraw because they will give a different exchange rates than the "black market"- so people often have to come up with an alternative way to get cash. Bread and milk are almost impossible to find in the country (we brought in most of our food). We ate a 2 resteraunts and each time the waiter told us that out of all the selections on the menu, there were only 2-3 options that we could order (because of short food supply). We ordered 7 bottles of water at one resteraunt and he came back with only 4 (that's all they had), so we split 4 bottles between 7 people.

These are just a few small things to give you a little insight into what's going on in Zimbabwe. I learned so much more about this whole situation- what's created the problems, etc- over this weekend. Pray for the country of Zim- that God would strengthen the believers, bring people to a saving knowledge of Him, and bring restoration to all that has been destroyed.

I could go on and on and show a million pics, but that will just have to wait!!

As for the rest of the week...well it's Thanksgiving tomorrow!! I'll be spending it with my American family here in SA--can't wait for the turkey and dressing!! I'm so thankful that although I can't spend this day with my Barkley family- God has gifted me with a "family" here in CT- and I'm so thankful for that provision.

So, if you are still reading...please know that I am infinitely thankful for you and your willingness to share in this journey with me!! (And if you are not reading, I'm thankful for you too :) God has filled my life with so many good gifts- but people and relationships have always been my favorite :) I could never really express my gratitude to God for having the grace to fill my life with so many DEEP and TRUE friendships and with such a LOVING and SUPPORTIVE family!! Ok, I'm getting a little sappy now and I'm about to cry into the keyboard- so I'll stop :) Just know that as you are eating your turkey and dressing...Laural in South Africa is thanking God for you!!

P.S. Please watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for me :)