Nothing to Sneeze At

As we entered the country of Botswana, as residents of the United States of America, we were asked to fill out a form concerning the Swine Flu--now known as N1K1 or something.  Fortunately we have not been touched with that illness so could safely answer No to all of the queries.  I wonder if we would have been allowed in to the country if we'd had any of the symptoms.

I have been rearranging library books to get all of a certain Dewey Decimal number together.  Books of a similar number were on 2 sides of a book case, making finding a book more difficult.  A student who also has a BA degree but is now training to be a pastor, is the paid library assistant so he pitched in and helped me and I really appreciated his help.

So far I have not started the work of adding the 600 new books.  Besides the work of entering each book into the computer, printing out bar codes and spine labels and applying them, there will also be much more moving of books to accommodate the new ones.  Aaron is going to build a new book case.  By the time I have finished I will have handled thousands of books--moving them, moving them, moving them.

Faster than a speeding bullet

It was nice to travel directly from Washington, D.C. to Johannesburg, but this year that didn't happen.  There were several passengers who disembarked in Senegal and new passengers came on.  Although our flight was a little bumpy, the worst part is the sheer boredom of being locked inside a bullet shaped apparatus, hurtling through the night skies at over 600 miles an hour.

I watched "Australia" and a couple of other movies and thanks to a nice little pill (very legal) I was able to sleep for about 6 of the hours after taking off from Senegal.

It is rather cool here in Tlokweng, not cold....just cool.  It is winter but the daytimes are generally warm and sunny.

Jet lag is a definite problem right now.  Aaron is lying on the bed snoring away and I'm desperately trying to stay awake.  Sleep may win unless I can keep moving.

It Begins

Today we fly to Seattle from Pasco, WA where we will spend the night AND have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory with a cousin we've never met.  Tomorrow morning we depart from Sea-Tac for Dulles International, and then in the evening on to Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Countdown Begins

One week from today our journey towards Botswana will begin.  It will begin with a short flight to Seattle where we will spend the night and a cousin whom we have never met will take us to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  I hope they have something besides cheesecake, although I'm sure a small piece will find its way into my stomach.

I am diligently working on my Keynote (Powerpoint) presentation for the music class I'll be teaching.  I'm about 2/3 of the way done but the going is a little slow right now.  If I'm not finished up before we leave I can finish in Botswana.

The suitcases are on the guest room bed and a few things have been moved to that area.  We are taking tape, bar code labels, and spine labels with us for the almost 600 books I'll be cataloging.  No, our trips to Africa are not just fun and games.  We go to work for Jesus Christ, for the missionaries, and for the Assemblies of God.

People have asked me if "the church" pays our way.  The answer is "No."  We pay our own way.  We do have friends and relatives and our church who give us donations.  Any money donated will be used to further the work there.  Our daughter gave us money to buy shoes for children and so we will help our minister friend's family and bless the children with new school shoes.  The other monies given to us will be given to the missionary to help fund the new kitchen in the Bible School.