Elephant!!

I was in the midst of falling into a deep sleep when my dreams became influenced by outside noises. Dogs were barking, followed by a heavy scuffling and blowing, joined by the sounds of running, clapping and calling. Suddenly reality broke through the dreaming as the Tandis knocked on our doors, calling out "Girls! Girls! Elephant, elephant!"

In a state of disorientation and excitement we hastily threw aside our mosquito netting and flew outside. Tersia forgot about her netting entirely and just about took the whole bed with her. We ran into the yard to find Aaron and Nichole with Mama and Papa Tandi, all in our pjs in the pitch black night without lights. I climbed atop our truck trailer to see. Across the street a great shadow stood out from the rest, swaying and blowing heavy gusts. Not ten meters away was an elephant!

Our excitement and awe was beyond measure, even without being able to see it clearly. It was delightful to see Mama and Papa behave like little children over it, though they are used to these happenings. Some neighborhood men were in the road, yelling and throwing stones to drive the elephant away. That in itself made my breath catch, not knowing if that would drive it off or provoke it.

Eventually it turned and proceeded down the main road, but stopped at a house to feed on-and consequently destroy-their trees. Being the completely rational people that we are we immediately ran into the street to see. We moved down the road to within fifteen meters of the beast, nothing between us if he decided to charge. We were even laughing and making a joke over the fact that if we had to run for it, we'd be in a sticky situation with all of us trying to make it through our narrow gate at once. But standing there, exposed and unprotected in the presence of such power, even danger, I was struck by what it means to serve and be in the presence of our God. How great and terrifyingly wonderful! What an awesome God.

Upon returning to bed we were told that the elephants (there was another in the bush) would most likely come back. Less than an hour later we heard Aaron outside our window, "Girls, they're back, they're back!!" Leaping up on our beds we swept aside the curtain and looked out. Christine was standing on my bed behind me, her body between my nets and the bed frame.

Outside the first elephant was passing by our wall, while Aaron jumped around taking pictures and we whispered excitedly. Bats swooped around in the dark; Aaron laughed, "I'm living the Discovery channel!" But what followed caused our very hearts to stop.

Coming just after the first was the largest elephant I've ever seen, not seven meters from where we sat in the window and a mere meter from where Aaron stood at the wall. Twice his height, it's head was wide as he was tall. As it came across from us it turned it's mighty head to look directly at us; you could hear it's heavy breath and the flap of it's ear as it turned, it's eyes shone bright in the night. For a moment my breath was stolen from me, never have I experienced anything like it.

As the elephant finally moved on, Aaron voiced the only possible thought. "What do you do, what do you do?" Indeed. As we finally lay down to sleep again, Tersia summed it up. "THAT was a gift from God." Amen.

Zimbabwe

"The Eagle is flying; the Eagle is flying."

"This is the Gray Squirrel, we copy that."

"This is the Black Pearl, we've got your back."

So began our drive to Zimbabwe, caravanning and communicating with three vehicles and walki-talkis. It was a time of bundu-bashing, driving over three days from South Africa up through Botswana to Zimbabwe. We encountered elephants in the road and potholes as big as swimming pools in Botswana; bathroom breaks consisted of "Boys on the left, girls on the right" with the general rule of, "If you see a lion, grab the pants-leave the toilet paper!" Upon crossing the Zimbabwean border we were greeted by a herd of ten or more giraffes.

We arrived in the village of Chinotimba to no power and no accommodation prepared as was planned, and were greeted by a church that expected us to fall in with their denomination and programs. We ended up sleeping on the floors of a local family's house for three days and explaining to the church our method of planting Jesus in communities and not joining events. But through this we were blessed by the hospitality and open hearts of the people-in their warmth and how they helped bear our burden-and we developed a good understanding and relationship with the church.

In the following days we found a house to rent for the entire team with the Tandi family, and began going out prayer walking and forming relationships in the community. A highlight was when thirty children knelt in the street to give their hearts to Christ.

On a personal level, we have all been so challenged by God to lay down our idols and the comforts we cling to. Every day is a challenge-living in tight quarters, cooking over a single propane burner on the cement floor of our "kitchen", losing power almost every night because of load shedding. But God has said to us, "Shake yourself free, undo the chains that bind you!" And through this He is bringing freedom to our hearts and greater unity in our team. One of our most memorable and enjoyable evenings was when we lost power-again-and ended up cooking spaghetti bolognaise with soya mince over our burner, on the front porch under the stars. We followed it with s'mores and lots of laughter.

Living in Victoria Falls, you would think it is such an incredible blessing to be so near one of the seven wonders of the world. But an even greater blessing is the constant faithfulness of God as we daily die to self and learn greater humility and love. We are not content to travel around the same mountain twice but conquer each as it comes, personally and in the communities. We are excited to see what God has in sore for these next two months!