Hello to everyone again! - RENAE

So much has been happening here that I feel like I should let you all know what has been going on…
My school let out April 9 since the first term was over. The school year here is year-round and split into three terms with about a month’s break in between each term. For this break, a lot has been happening.
The first vacation I went on was to the beach with a group of 10 other missionaries here. My friend’s dad won a bid on a beach house for 10 people for 1 week down in South Africa, and so our family was invited. My dad had to work, but Katrina and I went anyway. We stayed in Ramsgate, which is about a 12 hour drive from Gaborone. It was a gorgeous place to stay. The beach was 100 m away, so we walked/drove there just about every day. It was an extremely relaxing week and a LOT of fun.
When we got back from the beach, we had one day to work and get the house/yard ready for the Evans’ and Nicole, who were coming the next day. They all got here safely and it has been great to have them here. We left right after church the Sunday after they arrived to go on safari. All 8 of us, plus our luggage, piled into our Landover, Tau, to make the 10-hour trip up to Maun. That in itself was an experience – soon after dark, it began to storm and rain like I’ve never seen (which is ironic – the Evans always bring rain whenever we go camping, but it is past the rainy season so everybody was surprised), so we were slowed down considerably. On top of that, there were cows and donkeys EVERYWHERE, not to mention potholes. We normally don’t drive on highways at night (it is too dangerous with the animals), but we just crawled along slowly and all watched out for animals. Our 10-hour trip turned into longer than that, but at least we arrived in Maun safely. We camped in Moremi for 3 nights and saw a variety of different animals. The big exciting thing we saw was a pride of 10 lions. We were extremely close to them, I could easily have touched them I if I would have been stupid enough to stick my hand out the window – which was open. We were surrounded by them – in front, behind, and on both sides. Ironically, Tau (our Landrover) means ‘lion’ in Setswana :) I thought that was cool. So the Evans’ brought the rain AND lions, both of which are good. They are amazing beasts, lions, and I could have watched them all day. It was getting dark and we needed to go back to our campsite. Wow. I still can’t believe we were that close to a pride of 10 lions. They were all lionesses, and young males. I’m still amazed at how lucky we were. Our last night of camping, we heard lions roaring all night long. It kind of puts you to sleep. They were on both sides of our tent (but not too close by). All in all, it was a great trip and I was sad to go. I definitely want to return there.
On our way home from Maun, we dropped Nicole off in Tonota, a village, where she will be staying for the next 2 ½ months. I really would like to live in a village some time, maybe when I’m out of college. It seems like a good experience, but then again, just being in Botswana is a good experience. I think Katrina, Lisa (who’s coming in a few weeks – YAY!), and I will probably take a bus up there to visit her sometime. I hope so.
The Evans’ leave on our first day of school, which is Monday. I’m not excited for school to start, this vacation has been too much fun!
Trust all is going well,
Renae