DAY SIXTEEN: Day of Rest + Supermoon

We were tired.  We attended the Lobatse Ward where Linda and Wendell serve.  Of course, Linda could not stay away from church!  We had Ricardo sit with us.  His mom just had a baby and he and his dad had that dazed look that comes from a paradigm shift in the home.  Ricardo was happily (relatively) quiet as long as he was taking pictures or producing videos.  Madeleine was a patient assistant.  Ricardo was a non-violent protester of the new baby brother until Primary... all bets were off.  Still, a cutie! Aunt Linda on the inadvertent photo-bomb.

After Church and dinner, we journeyed out to see the mission home before the president and his wife moved in.  All was well until we realized the alarm would not shut off. The alarm company seemed completely oblivious to the situation and when the electricity went out in that neighborhood (Phakalane) we threw in the towel on worrying about the security of the place -- the alarm company had abandoned any obligation to send out a technician.  The moon was cool, however, but our iPhone photos could not quite do justice to the scene.

DAY FIFTEEN: YSA Convention in Notwane

Indeed, we were blessed to meet many outstanding folks while in Botswana.  Wendell and Linda had been asked to speak on "Christlike Leadership" for the Young Single Adult convention held in Notwane this day.  Linda was not up to being out and about, so Wendell went it alone and did an outstanding job.  He told the great story of his and Linda's courtship -- you must contact them for the details!  We were happy to meet President Matsuatata, the 32-year-old Botswana Stake President and Elder Jacques A. Van Reenen, Area Seventy.

Strangely, I do not think we took any pictures this day... So I will treat you to a video of the children playing with the blue playdough.

DAY FOURTEEN: Linda's Home! + 2nd Day of Home Visits

Linda came home from the hospital the night before and we were so happy!  She is such an incredible, upbeat force of life.  Wendell is the same.  They are a great, powerhouse couple and hardly missed a beat despite the wild and crazy hospital stay and not feeling too great.  The doctor ordered rest.  Linda tried, but was not completely successful on the restful obedience.

Meanwhile, Mma Williams (said, Ma Williams -- I LOVED it when people called me Ma or Mama -- so sweet!) suggested we go on a couple of home visits.  Ridah went with us to introduce us and interpret.  Most folks in Manyana speak English, but were sometimes more comfortable speaking Setswana.  We never made it past Dumela (hello) ourselves, so were sympathetic to the mono-lingual plight.  These Batswana are amazingly kind and open to new friendships.  We will never forget them!

Linda was definitely feeling much better when she went home.

Reading Freakonomics in the Botswana Private Hospital

Not supposed to have favorites, nevertheless, just sayin'...

DAY THIRTEEN: Blue Playdough + Home Visit + Linda Comes Home

We are from a long line of homemade playdough makers.  My mom made playdough for us kids and I made playdough for my children.  It stood to reason, that if we were talking about the color blue with the kids, we would make blue playdough, a thing I'd guessed they'd heretofore not seen.  In keeping with the new multi-sensory experience concept for the day, we made Rice Krispie Treats for snack time.  After some initial "what the heck is this?" moments, the playdough and Treats were huge hits.

Once the children realized there was no goal other than to play, they loved the playdough!

Wasn't sure how these mallows would work, but they were actually superior in their melting properties!
Pink treats rule.

All told, Madeleine created over 12 large batches of treats.  Some for our Manyana, Place of Hope kids and some for the Kalahari settlement families  Adventures in eating!  Bon appetit!  

DAY TWENTY-SIX: Babies in the Backseat

Our plan for achieving optimal book-making efficiency involved kids in the back seat with our teacher/translator, Ridah. The kids would just hang out in the car (in our plain view) until it was their turn to show us their homes and families while we interviewed them. After our first visit, I got back into the car to find the kids blissfully chewing on something.  Blue gum.  Babs and I laughed as we figured they got into my purse and found the pack of gum. When I looked, however, no gum was missing. Nope, the kids found the wrapped up gum we had chewed earlier that day, and split it between themselves.  Yikes.

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN: US Independence Day in Botswana or Lessons in Capitalism + It's a Small World after All

God Bless America!  Drove to Manyana, rushing to get as many book visits in as we could before we came back for the mission luncheon and US Embassy Independence Day BBQ.  Mads and I sang patriotic songs the whole way and were missing the fam and the traditional 4th of July Church flag raising and breakfast and Flag trip.

As we were driving back, I spotted a family all carrying wood on their heads.  Beautiful profile against the horizon!  We passed them and I drove off the road and coerced Madeleine into running back and getting a photo.  In a true display of capitalism, the woman and children chased Mads down demanding pula for the photo-op.  Mads climbed in the car and said the woman wanted money.  I had nary a pula, but some few Botswana coins and some American money.  I handed her the American money and the Bots coins.  Not happy.  (Does she know something I don't know about American currency??)  Finally convinced her that really, we had no pula.  Her kids were delighted to have the US dollars.  Ah, youth!  

The mission lunch was fabulous and the senior sisters outdid themselves...again.  Afterwards, we ran home, snuck in a very unsatisfying 15 minute nap and went to the US Embassy grounds for a BBQ.  Apparently, the real shindig was last week for all legit dignitaries.  We were hobnobbing with the under 13 crowd, playing croquet.  We understood from Wendell, who is unparalleled in getting to know folks, that the Ambassador's parents had lived in Phoenix and were coming to the event.  Wendell led us over the Ambassador, who was holding her 4 month old son, Max, in a front pack.  And she and Madeleine discovered the great equalizer -- they are both Washington High School alums!  Ambassador Michelle Gavin was unassuming and very nice. We chatted with her and her folks and discovered they used to live around the corner from us.  Small world, indeed.

DAY TWELVE: Manyana + Bananas + Suckers

This day Linda was doing much better and very much wanting to go home, however, the doctor wanted to try to figure out what was causing the trouble, so on she stayed.  Linda was an absolute trouper and Wendell was an exceedingly great caretaker.  Madeleine threw together some cute fill in the blank books for the older children, who need to learn a bit of their letters before going to school.  We subsequently learned that most of the littles really speak almost no English, but Setswana.  Fill in the blanks -- an adventure to be sure.

Mads and I wanted to bring a bit of a treat for snack time for the babies, so went to the local Hyper Choppies for bananas and suckers.  We still were not so clear on the value of a Pula.  Because there are about 63 children at the centre, we decided to buy a large box of bananas instead of the pre-packaged and pre-weighed bananas.  And we bought suckers.  When we went through the checkout, the lady charged us a very large amount for the bananas and I started to question her, but since I really didn't know the value of a Pula (Kyle may now comment about my ability regarding the value of US currency) I opted to just raise my eyebrows and say, "That seems pricey."  She just muttered something about us buying the large box. We paid about $25 for about $10 worth of bananas.  It only took me a week to figure that out.

Note:  We have otherwise been treated with absolute kindness, respect and friendliness.  The people of Botswana are warm and accepting and we have felt a genuine part of things here.  Even the Hyper Choppies has otherwise been great.

Noah, he built him, he built him an ark-y ark-y...