Botswana Bound!

Our team actually split into two smaller teams for the next week for some different ministry opportunities. My team would be traveling about 6 hours to Palapye, in the midwest part of the country. The other team was going to Labotse, which is just over the border of South Africa. Getting to Botswana has definitely been one of the most interesting travel experiences I've ever had. My smaller team of 13 loaded up Sunday afternoon in 2 vans and began our trek for the border. It's only about a 2 hour drive, and it went by pretty quick as we took in all the beautiful South Africa landscape along the way. We had to get out at the border for customs and immigration, which is where everything changed. One of our drivers had an invalid passport and wouldn't be allowed to cross the border. Of course, this was the driver that I was with. The other driver's van was so full, that the 6 of us could never fit. So the only choice was to take the first van load into our stop for the night at Labotse, then come back for us. So we walked over to border patrol office, filled out our forms, and just waited. And waited. Don't worry, she came back for us. To avoid paying for a second trip into the country again, the driver had us actually walk across the border and get in her van in Botswana. So I literally walked from South Africa to Botswana! We made it Labotse without any further complications and reunited with our crew for dinner. We stayed the night there, and then started early the next morning for Palapye. Because we were down a vehicle, we now had to walk to the bus station to catch our ride. Luckily, it wasn't too far! We said goodbye to the last familiar face, and headed for Gaborone. Gaborone is the capital, and the largest city in Botswana, and this was where we had to switch buses. It was quite a hassle. People yelling for our attention, trying to sell us things, and all we wanted to do was get on the right bus to our final destination. Thankfully, a kind soul pointed us in the right direction, and we headed north. We arrived in Palapye at a small bus stop by the side of the road. We waited for a man named Pastor Peter to pick us up. We got alot of weird looks at the bus stop with all of our luggage, but I guess we'd just get used to it. Pastor Peter arrived, and he took us to his home, where all the girls would be staying with him, his wife, and 3 kids. It's tight quarters, but its a nice house with internet [yay!] and its a blessing to all be together. We have a busy week of ministry planned, and can't wait to see all the exciting things God's going to do here in Botswana!