Survey Trip in Pictures: June 10

A cathedral in downtown Lubango

Lunch in the park

Rusty is really enjoying his hamburger!

Teague and Jordan visiting the mission hospital

Survey Trip in Pictures: June 9

The infamous bus trip to Lubango...

Breakdown #1, about 8:30 a.m.

Passing the time while waiting for a replacement bus.

Breakdown # 2 (flat tire, and yes, this is the second bus), about 12:30 p.m.

Survey Trip in Pictures: June 8

Sunday in Benguela...

Rusty preaching. Charles translating.

Alex making another friend

Rusty and Danny talking with some of the church leaders.

The ladies with Fifi, the dress-maker. She made us all matching African dresses.

Me and Katie

After church, we spent the afternoon relaxing at another nice beach. Alex got to go swimming this time!

I spy a little boy -- do you see him?

Survey Trip in Pictures: June 7

Rev. Chipenda (former president of the All Africa Conference of Churches) and his wife outside their home in Lobito. They are an amazing couple, and were so gracious to us!

Don't they look like they're having fun?

Survey Trip in Pictures: June 6

House-hunting in Benguela...

A good example of an older, colonial Portuguese house.

We also looked inside one of these two-bedroom apartments.

New, smaller homes right on the beach! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

After a long day, it was fun to relax on the beach. Alex loved playing in the waves.

Survey Trip in Pictures: June 5

First day in Lobito...

Wherever we went, Alex attracted a lot of attention, especially from the children! They all wanted to touch his hair or rub his skin to see if the white would come off.

Team photo with Rev. Chipenda (on the far right)

Survey Trip in Pictures: June 4

The 16-day tour of Angola begins...

We stopped at this monument to look around on our way out of Luanda.

A baobab tree overlooking the ocean.

Mesmerized by the waves.

Breakdown #1: Radiator trouble

Rather than stand around and wait, we decided to go exploring...

...and we found this really lovely beach, where we watched the sunset!

Breakdown #2: Replacing a front wheel bearing

Survey Trip in Pictures: June 3

A day in downtown Luanda...

Luanda traffic. Wouldn't you love to sit in that for over two hours in a non-air conditioned car?

Walking on the marginal (waterfront) in downtown Luanda

Enjoying pizza with Daddy.

Outside the US Embassy overlooking downtown Luanda

Survey Trip in Pictures: June 2

The only picture we got on this day was this one -- some fried caterpillars that the guys were served for lunch. Yummy! I sure am glad I decided to stay home and do laundry!

Survey Trip in Pictures: June 1

Our first Sunday at church...

Robert preaching. The gentleman on the left is Charles Kambungo, our Heaven-sent translator and guide. I don't know what we would have done without him!

Alex making friends after church.

One of these things is not like the other...

A very common sight -- a baby tied on mama's back.

Precious little ones.

Survey Trip in Pictures: May 31

Our first day in Angola!

Here we are in the taxi on our way home from ShopRite (the Angolan version of Wal-Mart) after buying groceries for the week. Don't we all look happy? That's because it was just the first day of bouncing over dusty roads on barely-padded seats. Someone should have taken a picture on our last day -- I doubt we were all wearing those goofy smiles.

London Vacation in Pictures

Reference this post if you need to catch up.

Lunch in an English pub...

... called the King's Head Inn

An English village

An English garden

What tourist doesn't have a picture of themselves in a red phone booth?

Warwick Castle

On the ramparts

Two brave and daring knights

The castle grounds

Big Ben (alternate title: The Picture that Ended Up Costing Over $500 -- but that's a story for another time)

Post-Survey Trip Reflections

I know, I know -- you are all eager to see pictures of our time in Angola. And trust me, just as soon as I can get them uploaded to the computer and organized, I will be sharing them. I had hoped I would have a chance to do that this week, but it has been crazy busy at work and at home. So, for now, I will subject you to some of my stream-of-consciousness reflecting on our survey trip...

1. Convenience is king in America. I mean really -- life is ridiculously easy and convenient here. One-stop shopping... drive-through everything... online banking... salad in a bag... need I say more?
   
2. Tevas are a really wonderful sandal and well-worth the investment. I bought my first pair this summer just before we left and was so pleased with how comfortable they were and how well they supported my feet. Definitely five stars.
3. I am amazed at how many toddler behavior issues are related to either a) sleep deprivation or b) being in an unfamiliar environment and unsure of the rules / boundaries.
4. I must have intestines of steel (or maybe just a really great immune system), seeing as I was the only one who didn't have stomach trouble at all while we were there.
5. Learning Portuguese is going to be an absolute necessity in order to live with any sort of functionality in Angola.
6. I have a new appreciation for simple things like green grass, paved roads, clean running water... and garbage trucks.
7. We Americans are extraordinarily wasteful, as a general rule.
8. I don't know how we would have survived traveling in Africa with a two-year-old without this and this.
   
9. Driving in Africa requires a video game mentality -- and lots of prayer.
10. Children's television programming is awesome and will definitely be missed when we move to Angola. Thankfully, we can get many of Alex' favorite shows on DVD.
11. Our king-size bed and wonderful Stearns and Foster mattress is just as comfy as I remembered longingly during our five weeks away from home. We are bringing this bed to Africa with us!
12. At the end of a long, hot, dusty, sweaty day, a hot meal and a hot shower make everything better.
13. Harry Potter and "LOST" are great stress relievers!
14. This trip revealed a secret addiction to Dr. Pepper! I really missed it!
15. Bourneville chocolate is just as delicious as I remembered, growing up in Kenya.
16. No matter how well they mix-n-match, wearing the same four shirts, the same three skirts, and one pair of pants gets very old after awhile.
17. I have a new appreciation for the HUGSR laundry room after one time of washing our clothes by hand in big washtubs. I told myself I would not complain about it anymore... which lasted until today when one of the washers ate over $2 in quarters. Okay, so I will try not to complain about it as much.
    
18. The missionary community is a wonderful thing.
19. It is such a blessing to find brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter where you are in the world.
20. A smile translates into any language.
21. Although I grew up in Africa and this was Rusty's fourth trip, we both found that we were seeing it in an entirely different light now that we had our own child along -- but that is probably a separate blog post.
22. Funny how a trip to Africa made both of us "homesick" for Japan. I know one thing -- after bouncing over bumpy roads for hours on end, we were sure thinking longingly of onsens.
    
23. Hiding a pill in a spoonful of jam is a very painless way to get a toddler to swallow it!
24. I am really looking forward to the day when we are no longer the only parents on the team.
25. And finally... Angola will be a difficult place to live and work, but the need is great and the workers are few. Someone asked if we are "having second thoughts" now that we have been there. The honest answer is no, but we are "counting the cost," if that makes any sense.
    

You Know You're In Africa When... (Part 2)

• the owner of your taxi sends along a mechanic on your trip because he knows the car will most likely break down along the way.
• you take a leak behind a bush by the side of the road while said mechanic is repairing said broken down taxi.
• your taxi's rear door is tied shut with a piece of rope, and its hubcaps are held on with zip ties.
• you see women carrying their groceries or their wares on their heads and their babies on their backs.
• you wear a kerchief over your hair to protect it from all the dust.
• you spray your bedroom for mosquitoes before going to bed and sleep under a mosquito net.
• the phrase "in ten minutes" really means "in the next hour or two" or even "sometime today."
• you see chickens, goats, and pigs walking down the road in the capital city.
• "good" and "nice" are relative terms, especially when describing roads and bathrooms.
• sweeping dirt somehow makes it clean.
• a 5-6 hour bus ride ends up taking 12 hours due to multiple breakdowns.
• after said 12-hour bus trip over dusty roads, your child's bathwater is brown at the end of his bath from the layers of caked-on dirt.
• power outtages (for no apparent reason) are a common occurence.
• you plan your use of any electrical appliance around when the generator will be on.
• you do your laundry by hand (okay, so I only had to do this once), and hang it out to dry.
• a real American hamburger is one of the highlights of your week.
• you make your own tortillas for taco night.
• sunscreen, bug repellent, and hand sanitizer become three things you never leave home without.
• you don't measure distance in miles or kilometers, but in how long it takes to get there, because as everyone knows, maps are deceiving!
• your Seventh Day Adventist neighbors play obnoxiously loud Christian music until the wee hours of the morning, and no one tells them to shut up (guess who was hoping for a power outtage that night?)
• you stay at a nice hotel with a nice pool -- that has no water in it.
• you take a malaria pill every Sunday.
• the person who looks through your bags at the airport asks for your cookies.
• you bargain with vendors at the market.
• people call you "mama" and "sister" even though you aren't their mother or their sister (I don't know why, but this has always annoyed me).
• you huddle in a tight circle with four other people around a computer screen to watch the season finale of one of your favorite TV shows. (Have I mentioned how amazed I am that this was even possible? Technology is a wonderful thing!)
• you plan to arrive at the airport several hours before your flight is scheduled to depart.
• a man is smoking just in front of a no smoking sign, and a police officer standing ten feet away says not a word.

We are back from Africa, but I thought I would go ahead and share the remainder of my list. I really had fun with it. Those of you who have lived, are living, or have ever visited Africa -- if you can think of something I left out, feel free to leave a comment below.

Survey Trip: The Journey Home

Saturday, June 28th – Our journey began at 6:00 a.m. when we left the Baptist guest house. We arrived at the Luanda airport at 6:30, were first in line at 9:00 to check in for our flight, and then spent the next few hours killing time in the restaurant until our flight left at 1:00. (For those of you wondering why we left so stinkin' early to catch an afternoon flight, you have obviously never been to an African airport. Luanda can be an absolute zoo, so we were thankful everything went so smoothly and we ended up with so much time on our hands.) We flew from Luanda to Johannesburg, South Africa, arriving at 5:00 p.m. After a four-hour layover, we boarded the overnight flight from Johannesburg to London.

Sunday, June 29th – We arrived at London Heathrow just before 7:00 a.m. We met the rest of the team, minus Danny and Nathan (who stayed in Luanda for a couple of weeks) at the airport -- they had flown direct from Luanda to London. Our flight from London to Chicago left just before 1:00 p.m. We arrived in Chicago at 3:00 p.m., and were out of the airport and to our hotel by 5:00. Total travel time (from the time we left the Baptist guest house to the time we were in our hotel room): just over 41 hours. We were TIRED!

Monday, June 30th – We left the hotel at 6:30 a.m. We flew from Chicago to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Memphis, arriving just before 1:00 p.m. Katie and Jordan met us at the airport. We stopped at Sonic on the way home for drinks (Route 44 strawberry-limeade, baby -- been craving it for a month!) and ice cream. We were back at the HUGSR campus by 3:00. It is wonderful to be home!

Survey Trip: Week Four

Saturday, June 21st – Our plan today was to meet with a realtor who could show us housing options in Belas, a subdivision south of Luanda. After talking briefly with her, we realized that renting in Luanda is absolutely prohibitive (a small, three-bedroom apartment rents for $1800 a month and up; a modest house would rent for $3000 - $4000 a month), so we decided not to waste her time and parted ways. We went to the tourist market to do a little souvenir shopping, then to the mall for lunch – it was like a mini-America. Well, except for the fact that we had to pay about $13 for Alex to spend an hour playing in the little kiddie play area. Then, we came home. After we had dinner and put Alex to bed, we were finally able to watch the season finale of LOST, complete with popcorn. (Thank you, Helmer Jensen and i-Tunes for making this possible!)

Sunday, June 22nd – We worshiped with another ICA church today. The service lasted until 1:30. Alex did well for the most part. He got very restless towards the end. After that, they fed us lunch. Most of the group spent the afternoon visiting with some of the leaders while Teague and I watched Alex play outside. We didn't leave until after 4:00, and then we went to see two other churches on the way home. It was a very long and exhausting day – our last Sunday in Angola.

Monday, June 23rd – Most of the group spent the day downtown. Rusty, Alex, Katie, and I spent the morning at home and headed downtown after Alex' nap. We had planned to meet up at the old slave fortress turned museum. Once we arrived, we found out that everyone else had gone to watch a soccer game. The four of us walked around the fortress for awhile, then headed out to the Ilha (peninsula) for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant ended up being closed, so we ate at Bob's Burgers (a Brazilian fast-food chain). They had a nice play area for Alex, and we didn't have to pay for it! The rest of the group came to Bob's after the game and we all went home together where we enjoyed chai and Katie's homemade apple pie!

Tuesday, June 24th – I was feeling a bit under the weather this morning, so Alex and I enoyed a day at home. The rest of the group headed up to Caxito, a city north of Luanda, for the day. We thought Caxito would be close enough to allow us to work in and around Luanda, but far enough away to make living there a bit more affordable. But we should have known better than to be fooled by distances on a map. The trip to Caxito took about 3.5 hours, one way. So, the group spent 7 hours in the car and about 1.5 hours in town looking around. Needless to say, I don't think we'll be living in Caxito.

Wednesday, June 25th – Katie, Jordan, Teague, and I attended a women's worship service in the morning. I was going to speak to the women, but they could not locate a translator (or at least one who could translate from English to Portuguese -- there was one who could have translated from French to Portuguese). So, we ended up singing a few songs, which they seemed to enjoy. They served us lunch, and then we went home. Some of the group visited a few more ICA churches in the afternoon. For dinner, we grilled out hamburgers for the Jensens and McHaneys -- our way to say thank you to these missionary familes in Luanda who have been so good to us!

Thursday, June 26th -- We visited two ICA churches and the Assemblies of God seminary where several of the ICA ministers have received their training. This was followed by lunch with Andre Banda, the "president" of ICA and his wife. It was our last night to be all together as a team, so we made pizza, played cards, and just enjoyed some down time.

Friday, June 27th – Danny left for Zambia very early in the morning. Some of the group went to the mall to have lunch and see a movie. Rusty, Alex, and I stayed home and focused on packing since we were leaving very early the next morning.

Survey Trip: Week Three

Saturday, June 14^th – We spent the morning in Huambo and had lunch in one of the city parks. That afternoon, we flew from Huambo to Luena. We were warmly welcomed by the missionaries and spent the afternoon and evening settling in, buying groceries, and cooking dinner.

Sunday, June 15^th – Happy Father's Day! We worshiped with the small church of Christ here that is made up mostly of returned refugees to Zambia. It was a wonderful time of fellowship that reminded me piercingly of church meetings in rural Kenya. The church served us lunch afterwards, and then the guys stayed on to meet with some of the leaders while the girls and Alex went home to rest. We had dinner with the Trotts, missionaries here in Luena, and Alex enjoyed playing with their two boys, ages 5 and 7.

Monday, June 16^th – Some of the group visited the local clinic. Others went out to visit an NGO that is doing some de-mining in the area. We also visited the local market, did some laundry, and enjoyed some time just to rest and process.

Tuesday, June 17^th – We flew from Luena to Malange, the last stop on our tour of Angola. We spent the afternoon getting settled in at our hotel and buying a few groceries. The hotel is very nice; unfortunately, there is no water in the pool right now. We walked downtown to a restaurant for dinner, then came back to the hotel and watched a movie in English (with Portuguese subtitles).

Wedneday, June 18^th – We enjoyed a great breakfast at the hotel, then drove out to the Kalandula waterfalls. They were pretty amazing. We enjoyed the view from the top; then, a “guide” offered to take us on a hike down to the base of the falls. We trekked through the jungle, along a trail that got pretty muddy towards the end, until we reached the river. Rusty did an amazing job with Alex in the baby carrier on his back. Then, some of the guys hiked along the river to the base of the falls while the rest of us waited at the river. After we hiked back to the top, we had lunch and relaxed for a bit, then drove home. We had dinner at another restaurant downtown, followed by another English movie back at the hotel.

Thursday, June 19^th – We decided to head back to Luanda a day early since we were pretty much done with our surveying, and the missionaries in Malange were very busy and had told us they could not spend any time visiting with us. The guys spent the morning meeting with some of the ICA ministers while the girls took moto-taxis to the market. We checked out of the hotel, made our way to the airport, and boarded the plane for the flight back to Luanda. It was great to be back at the Baptist guest house, our home away from home!

Friday, June 20^th – The guys had a couple of meetings downtown scheduled for today. The girls (and Alex!) stayed home and did a mountain of laundry and made tortillas for our taco night. Yum

Survey Trip: Week Two

Saturday, June 7th – We met with the Chipenda's again, this time at their home. They recommended a good beach near their house, so we went there for lunch and played in the waves for awhile. That evening, we met with a Brazilian eye doctor and his family at their home. They fed us dinner and proved to be a wealth of information on life in Benguela.

Sunday, June 8th – We worshiped with an ICA church in Benguela and enjoyed our time with them. Alex nearly got clipped by a motorcycle after the service while he was playing outside – very scary moment. In the afternoon, we wanted to visit a local beach called Baia Farta (and, yes, I believe we cracked about every joke in the book and then some about the name). Baia Farta definitely lived up its name!  It was about the nastiest beach I have ever been on – piles of burning garbage, piles of drying fish, and of course, flies everywhere. We quickly decided to try another beach called Baia Azul, and this one proved much more pleasant. Getting home that night was quite the adventure. Our driver basically ditched us, and we could never find a taxi because we were pretty far out of town, so Rusty eventually flagged a passing car. The driver turned out to be a friendly Portuguese man who, along with his brother, managed to get us all back to the YWAM compound safely.

Monday, June 9th – We took a bus from Benguela to Lubango. For an entertaining account of our day (and a lesson on why NOT to rely on public transportation in Africa), please visit Teague's blog. We arrived in Lubango safely after an extremely long day, and were very glad to be warmly welcomed by the missionary community there.

Tuesday, June 10th – Teague and Jordan spent the day at the mission hospital. The rest of us did laundry, visited with the missionaries on the compound where we were staying, and spent some time in downtown Lubango. We had yummy hamburgers for lunch at a hole-in-the-wall (literally) restaurant, very popular among the expat community.

Wednesday, June 11th – Team prayer-time in the morning, followed by our first moto-taxi (motorcycle taxi) rides! It was pretty fun (Alex stayed home with Robert and Teague)! We spent more time in downtown Lubango, then had lunch with the Holden's, long-time missionaries to Angola, out at their house, which is still under construction. Later that afternoon, Rusty and Danny went to the mission hospital while the rest of us headed up to the Cristo Rei statue that overlooks Lubango.

Thursday, June 12th – We enjoyed a day just to relax at home before beginning the next part of our journey. We did laundry, emailed, and blogged, and Alex got a good nap in. We had dinner with one of the professors at ISTEL (the interdenominational seminary) and his family.

Friday, June 13th – We flew from Lubango to Huambo on a small 10-seater plane that the team chartered with MAF (Missions Aviation Fellowship). We arrived in time for lunch at a local restaurant, where we met Justin Pearce, an English journalist who now lives in Huambo. We found a guest house with enough beds for all of us for the night. Rusty, Alex, and I stayed back for the afternoon to rest while the rest of the team went out to explore the town.

Survey Trip: Week One

Saturday, May 31^st – We arrived in Luanda at 4:00 a.m. We spent the day getting settled in at the Baptist guest house in Luanda, buying groceries, meeting some of the missionaries, and trying to stay awake until a late enough hour that night to avoid jet lag.

Sunday, June 1^st – We spent the day with one of the ICA churches in Luanda. We worshipped with them; then they served us lunch. That afternoon, we visited a couple of other churches and met some of their leaders.

Monday, June 2^nd – Most of the guys went into town to meet with some of the ICA leaders. Rusty stayed home because he had some sort of stomach bug. I enjoyed some time just to relax, write in my journal, and do some laundry. And Alex got to take a real nap for the first time in almost a week!

Tuesday, June 3^rd – We spent the day in downtown Luanda. It took two hours to get there and even longer coming home because there was so much traffic and congestion. We walked on the waterfront, had pizza at an Italian restaurant, met with the Secretary for Religious Affairs, and registered at the U.S. Embassy.

Wednesday, June 4^th – We began the drive from Luanda south to Lobito and Benguela (also on the coast). We didn't leave until about 2:00 p.m., and after a couple of breakdowns, it was dark and we were only halfway to our destination. When our second wheel bearing gave out, we decided to call it quits for the night. We were in a fairly large town, so found a hotel with two rooms for all of us to crash in.

Thursday, June 5^th – We got up early and finished the drive to Lobito (the mechanic replaced the wheel bearing while we were all sleeping). We met with one of our contacts in Benguela for awhile, then got lunch and drove out to the YWAM (Youth with a Mission) compound where we were staying. Most everyone else went back into town for the afternoon. Katie, Alex, and I stayed back and all got good naps.

Friday, June 6^th – We met with a realtor who showed us several housing options and gave us prices and other helpful information. After a late lunch, we walked down to the waterfront and spent some time just walking on the beach and playing in the waves. There are some really lovely beaches here, and the best part is they are not overrun by tourists (yet)!

London Vacation

We left the United States a few days before the rest of the team so we could spend a few days just as a family in London. We had a very nice time, and it was a good way to relax, in between the craziness of getting ready for the survey trip, and the survey trip itself. (Pictures will follow after we return to the States and have high-speed Internet again.)

Monday, May 26^th – We left Memphis about 10:30 a.m. We had a layover in Cincinnati, then another layover in Chicago. We flew out of Chicago at 8:30 p.m. We were all tired, having not gotten much sleep the night before, so we slept most of the way to London.

Tuesday, May 27^th – We arrived in London about 9:00 a.m. Unfortunately, our bags did not, but they were delivered later that day. After we picked up our rental car, we drove out to where we were staying at the Wycliffe Center. We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stay awake, to avoid jet lag. We had dinner at the Center (Alex fell asleep at the table), then came back to our room and just crashed.

Wednesday, May 28^th – We drove out to the Cotswolds, a truly beautiful part of the English countryside. It was foggy most of the day, but we still enjoyed seeing the little villages with their stone houses and winding streets. We had lunch at a very cool old English pub, and the food was delicious. We went to a grocery store and bought food and had dinner back in our room that night.

Thursday, May 29^th (our 9^th anniversary) – We spent the day at Warwick Castle – very cool! Rusty and Alex had never been. We walked around for a bit, then bought lunch and ate it on the grounds and let Alex burn some energy. We walked around the town of Warwick for awhile, then had afternoon tea. We got take-out for dinner that night and ate it back in our room.

Friday, May 30^th – We were supposed to meet the rest of the team in London for the day, but they were all re-routed, except for Nathan. So the four of us drove downtown, had to sell a kidney to pay for parking, had lunch at an awesome Japanese restaurant, then walked over to where the Parliament Building and Big Ben were and took a few pictures. Then, we drove back to the airport, returned the car, checked in, and waited for a gate assignment for our flight to Luanda.

You Know You're In Africa When...

• you soak your salad veggies in bleach water before eating them.
• you flush a toilet with the water you just soaked your veggies in and take a “military shower” to conserve water.
• you wash your feet before going to bed.
• you walk down a street that’s been literally paved with garbage.
• a church service starts a half hour late, then lasts for over three hours.
• you put your toddler’s carseat in a van, realize the van has no seatbelts, but strap the kid in anyway because that’s what he’s used to, and try not to worry too much about it. Later, your husband figures out how to strap the carseat in using a luggage strap and a carabiner.
• you drink and brush your teeth with water that’s been put through a filter.
• the exuberance and joy of a worship service is enough to bring tears to your eyes.
• you go for days without checking your email or watching TV.
• you walk out the front gate into an open air market where you buy bananas for your breakfast and bread for your supper.
• you cut up a chocolate bar to make chocolate chip cookies.
• your husband wears a short-sleeve shirt, tie, and red and white basketball shoes to church
• Memphis drivers start to seem tame and well-mannered.

This is a running list that I will be adding to this month while we are in Angola. So far, everything has gone really well. We have been in Luanda for the past several days, just getting acclimated and taking care of some business. Tomorrow, we will be heading out on our 17-day tour around the country. We thank you for your prayers for our health and safety and ask that they continue.