HOW GREAT THOU ART

Ok so I have done some pretty amazing things the last few days. When we arrived in Livingstone last Friday we were able to bring one of our dear friends, Moses that we met in Macha, he is from Zimbabwe. We are staying at Jollyboys, which is a backpackers place in the heart of Livingstone and it is so cool!! It is so chill and we are able to hang out by the pool and it has tons of places to relax. On Saturday, we were able to go to Victoria Falls, which is the most amazing, powerful thing I have ever seen in my life. The sound of the water crashing down in such capacity takes your breath away and made me realize yet again how great my God really is! We proceeded to walk around the Falls and got absolutely soaking wet with rain ponchos on! We were just getting wet by the mist of the rainfall and we were absolutely SOAKED!! It was so so amazing!!! We took many pictures that I hope to share when I get back to the states. As I kept looking out over the Falls and reviling in the majesty of God and His beautiful creation, I started bursting out in song, one of my favorite hymns: “How Great Thou Art”. Sawyer and I also sang, “How Great is Our God” by Chris Tomlin, another one of my favorites and I could not stop gasping and screaming at how overwhelming it was. The experience with 3 people that I have become really close friends with because of Christ was amazing.

We also were able to go on a 3-day 2-night safari in Botswana that was absolutely incredible. We left early Tuesday morning and had to cross the Zambian border into Botswana and met 3 great people that attended the Safari with us, Darcy and Janet were mother and daughter from Idaho and they were both teachers and Kevin was a single 28-year-old that grew up in California and went to Stamford and now lives in London and is pursuing an acting career. So cool!! We crossed the border with no problem and arrived at the Safari Lodge for our 3-hour boat cruise. We were able to see many Hippo and Elephants, mongoose, crocodiles, water monitors, impala and many birds. It was really beautiful and peaceful and we continued to meet more and more new people on the Safari. One of my favorite parts of the boat cruise was seeing the abundance of water liliesJ It was so beautiful and they were many different shades. After the Boat Cruise, we returned to the lodge and had the most delicious meal I have had in my time in Africa and then headed for the land safari portion. Our group was made of 10 people including us 3, Darcy, Janet, Kevin and 4 girls that were studying abroad in Cape Town. Our Safari guide was named Jinson and has been doing tours for 22 years and has such knowledge about African wildlife and is a great man. We were able to see Kudu, Impala, Zebras, many elephants, giraffes, buffalos, water bucks, water monitors, eagles, many birds, hyena, lions and their cubsJ, all kinds of antelope and so much more. The coolest experiences of the 3 days were “running with the elephants”, seeing the lions everyday and almost seeing a leopard… “Running with the elephants” was when Jinson brought us down to the river and we stayed in the car and started speeding up and made the elephants run, many trumpeted and got a little feisty, it was incredible!!! Then we were able to see 2 Lionesses and their cubs on the first day and then seeing them eat their kill. The second day we saw Lions in Sunset at the river, the third day we saw lions in the morning at the river and then we saw Kudu making their alarm call and saw a baby Kudu get killed by a leopard…we actually didn’t see the leopard kill the baby, but saw the baby dead in the bushes and we were in the presence of the leopard, which was CRAZY!! The elephants and the giraffes and Lions were definitely my favorite part!

Today I was able to ride an elephant!! It was SO AMAZING!!! AHHH!! We got to ride it for a whole hour and then got to feed and pet them! So So COOL!! Tonight we went on a sunset boat cruise and tomorrow we are going to be doing some Adventure at the FallsJ So so excited!! We leave for Lusaka on Monday morning and I head back to the states on Thursday. It is going to be very bittersweet leaving Africa, I do not want to leave but I know I will be back someday! Thank you ALL for praying continuously for me, the Lord is teaching me so much right now it is crazy. I am realizing some reasons why He brought me here and have been able to reflect on my time at MICS while I have been in Livingstone. I miss MICS A LOT and especially the kids but they are on break right now and will not be attending school until May. Please continue to pray for my safety and for healing for Gil and Rhonda Krause. You are all a blessing to me and I cannot wait to see all of you again soon in the states. His name is above every name and He is majestic and SO WORTHY. PRAISE HIS NAME FOREVER.

-rach