Hey!!! Its an..... oh never mind.. its an Impala.

Angry Elephant- whiny engine from red car... shiny truck... elephant stuck in the middle. Bath time for baby ellies!

I love lots of things about Africa-( the heat is not one of them), but some of my favorite things are the animals- not including reptiles of any sort! This past weekend we were able to spend several days at Kruger National Park with Dwight and Lynn, and their neice Kim. What a blessing it was to be able to see so many of God's creatures- in such beautiful surroundings. We were able to see Africa's "Big 5" and numerous other animals as well. Lynn's blog has great pics of the Big 5 that we saw so make sure to click on the link and check out her page as well (link is on right hand side of this page).

Rick checking out the view from a hill high above the "flood plain" of a dam. Its been so dry lately even the dams have dried up!

As the title of this entry implies, by the end of our drives we were beginning to feel like we had seen at least half of the parks hundred thousand Impalas. However we made a game of being just as excited about the impalas as the beautiful lioness's we had the blessing of viewing, the baby elephants and the leopard. Kim in particular was very good at joyous excalamations over Impala. :)

Lynn enjoying her breakfast, watching the Impalas that snuck into our camp (ours didnt have a cattle gate).

God gave us two good days of relaxation and fellowship with our new team mates, and for that we are very grateful. After our wonderful time in Kruger, we returned to Nelspruit for several more days of business, errands and supply purchasing. It will be a miracle if we manage to get all of this stuff into (and on) the truck. And there are things we havent even gotten here, that we will be purchasing in Mozambique! Tomorow (friday) will be our last day of errands- and then we hope to be on the road very early on Saturday. We are planning to spend most of tomorow afternoon "practice packing" so we can determine the best way to sqeeze everything we have into the truck.

some of our supplies- a power invertor (small but costly!!!) and deep cycle batteries.. our source of power until we get a generator of our own.

Please pray for us as we travel- for safety as we drive for two ten hour days (minimum!), and also for hassle-free border crossings and good fellowship with each other as we travel. (Five adults in a "bakkie" is not exactly "fellowship" but we can try!!!) Thank you so much for your prayers- we look forward to arriving in the land of our calling!

If I ever see a mall again......

Some portuguese language childrens bibles we picked up in Brazil before we left.

......... I'll probably jump for joy! LOL These past few days have been FULL of shopping for supplies we are going to need once we arrive in Mozambique. We have purchased everything it feels like, including..deep cycle batteries, coolers for meat, bedding, towels, hammers, cutlery,flashlights.. and well.... the list goes on and on. However.. we know that being so close to a mall and a grocery store with plentiful options will soon be a thing of the past. We have also had to do some research shopping to prepare ourselves for when we will need to purchase a new vehicle to replace the aging mission vehicle currently available to us.

Getting prices for a new line of Chinese made 4x4 trucks! For mozambique... everything has to be 4x4... or else!!

Kim ( Dwight and Lynn's niece) checking out the inside dimensions of a trailer.

I can see why Dwight and Lynn and their kids love coming down to Mercy Air- it is absolutly beautiful here, and very peaceful. Mercy Air is a "flying mission" that reaches a good chunk of southern africa. Their base in White River, South Africa is well laid out, and has several guesthouses available for visiting missionaries to rent at very decent rates!

One of Mercy Air's planes, recently used in a movie about Amelia Earhart (sp??)

And of course... what would Africa be without Elephants??? We already saw one... albeit a circus elephant in a parking lot just down the road from the business park.. but hey... it was an elephant!!!! Than you so much for all your prayers... we were blessed to arrive here, safe and sound, with all of our luggage, and with very few delays or problems! God is so Good. Please continue to pray for us, that everything we need to accomplish in the next few days will get done, and for safe driving next week as we have two very long days of driving towards the end of next week.

In Africa- Praise the Lord!

Hey all- Ive only got time for a short note, but wanted to let you know we made it to AFRICA! God is so good- not only did we make it, but all of our luggage arrived as well. We have been pretty much running since we got here, and are busy pricing out supplies and picking up necessities. Today was a good day, we saw two elephants already!!! (ok.. they were in a parking lot nibbling on the trees along the edge) ( did I mention the parking lot was next to a circus tent?) :) We will definetly post again before we leave South Africa- and Ill post some pics then too! Thanks so much for your prayers for safe travel! God Bless, Rick and Heather

Almost time!!!!

Well, it is almost time for us to head to Africa- as I write this blog my "facebook countdown" is informing me that I have 7 days, 15 hours and 23 minutes until we get to africa! WOW!

Our friend Sheila celebrating her dutch blitz win!

This past week we spent time with friends, beginning our busy rounds of visiting homes to have one last chance to visit with everyone before we leave. On tuesday we took Bebeto and Suely out for dinner to say Thanks for all their help. They suggested we try Churrascaria Devon, in Curitiba. Not only was this place decently priced, but the food was AWESOME, the service GREAT and the Bathrooms were soooo cool. They had sensors for movement that turned the lights on and off (to conserve energy), and a Dental floss dispenser!!!! Gotta love that! The part that made me laugh most though, was the plastic security strips they used to secure our purses to our chairs- you had the get them cut off before leaving!

Although we still struggle with understanding what is said in the church sevices, we know we will miss our church here. The worship is great, and we love the fellowship we have with people.

Andriel and Isack playing drums for worship!

This week we are booked EVERY night to go to places for dinner- and on saturday we are having a brazillian version of a going away party -described to me as - the whole world giving us a hug! Sounds good to me! We are going to the pizzeria here in town for some great food and good fellowship! Please continue to pray for us, as we enter this last week here in Brazil. It is so exciting to be so close to leaving.. and yet it will be hard to go at the same time. Please pray for travel safety, customs and immigration in South Africa to go smoothly and that we will be able to find everything we need in South Africa. We appreciate your prayers soooo much and look forward to posting pictures etc, from Africa! Hopefully we will be able to post once more from Brazil. Also, thanks for checking out our resource page! Our video was downloaded more than 45 times!!! God Bless,

Rick and Heather

Cookin' up some fun!

Hey all- we can hardly believe we only have two more weeks here in Brazil. Time has just flown by, and it will be so hard to say goodbye to the many friends we have made here. Now that we are in the final weeks of our time here, everybody and their brother wants to have us over for supper! We are booked for five nights out of the next seven- and then some for the next week already too!

Rick showing Suley how to make German pancakes.

We of course want to show some good Canadian hospitality.. but our little house is to small for entertaining anyone with kids.. so we are creating a portable meal maker! We have the supplies to make enough german pancakes and waffles for a small army! We have asked everyone to let us come to their house and make THEM dinner! LOL. It worked well with Bebeto and Suely yesterday. Rick whipped up some really yummy german pancakes and we had ALL the fixins'- strawberrys and strawberry sauce, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, nutella and even the Brazillian staple- Doce de Leite. Of course, for our good friends and neighbors we also gave them a little jug of good ol' maple syrup!! MMMM. It was a great time. Cooking is something I was quite scared of when we started this adventure. (Many of you may know that my primary kitchen tools are the freezer and my microwave- neither of which I will have!!!) However, working in the MH kitchen has taught me soo much! I even made my very first pot of soup last week- FROM SCRATCH! (and it was good too!) I have learned several ways to prepare meat, and can even make homemade salad dressing... and onion rings! I am feeling much more confident as we head out to Mozambique- if nothing else, I learned to cook in Brazil!

My very first homemade soup!

Please continue to pray for us as we near our next set of flights and border crossings. We value your prayers so much! Also- we have started a new resource page (link in upper right hand corner of this blog) where you can download videos etc of our ministry. The most recent one is about our time here in brazil, the next one we hope will be uploaded in September, from Mozambique! (pray for good internet connections!!) God Bless, Rick and Heather