Koster, our yardman, needed to inform his extended family of the death of a relative. He was planning to travel by bicycle, a 5 hour trip each way. We offerred to drive him there with our car to save him time and energy. The car trip took an hour and one-quarter to reach his family. In typical African/Tonga culture, a visit like this is not just to infom. Greeting villagers, looking at homes and general visiting takes place. The total adventure (estimated to take about 3 hours) actually expanded to a total of 8 hours including driving thru the bush in the dark on footpaths in order to reach the home of the deceased.
We had a chance to meet Koster's parents and sisters. We met some of the people of the village while they were busy shelling "groundnuts", or as we would call them, "peanuts".
Some of the boys of the village were playing with home-made cars. The children are very creative in making cars and trucks and other playthings. Scrap plastic bottles work well for car bodies. And wheels come in all types - shoe-polish can size and dried mudball size.
When we were ready to leave with Koster, his Mom and three sisters, we had an added passenger, a live tied-up chicken occupied the rear of the car.
We just wanted to say THANKS to all of you that sent items to Arizona. The cargo container is full, full, full. We have been told that there was an overwhelming response to our request for items (there is no more room, so please do not ship anything additional to AZ). We are extremely grateful to you for your time and generosity. We also want to thank Kent, Bryan, and Flying Mission for allowing us to share some of the valuable space on their cargo container. The cargo container will be shipped to Zambia soon. It will take several months to arrive...We will be anxiously waiting for it, and all the wonderful things that you sent. We can't wait!
Thank you again!
We had the opportunity to provide the vehicle to transport some bags of maize(corn) from Mrs.Grace's mother's home to Mrs.Grace's home. While at the mother's home, we also saw some of the additional ways in which the rural villagers suppliment their subsistance living; such as making baskets, mats, and furniture for selling.
Getting water is a hard task also. Children fill 20 litre jugs from residual water in the stream.
Mrs.Grace and her family are making bricks to build a brick house, replacing their present reed hut, before the rainy season starts, also.
We celebrated Gil's 70th birthday at the Vision Cafe. There were games and entertainment before the meal. 
Just wanted to let you all know that Gil is celebrating his 70th birthday. These pictures are from a sandboarding trip in Namibia. While racing down these giant sand dunes, he reached speeds in excess of 60 miles an hour! Whoever says you have to slow down when you get older, doesn't know Gil!
Happy Birthday! We Love You!
While at Lake Kariba we had the opportunity to celebrate Joy's entry into MARS with her 50th birthday.
Then a final relaxing time at the Bolthouse's outside of Lusaka, where we also celebrated Ethan's 11th and the return of the "Lava Lamp".
Finally, sisters always have to whisper, even thru glass security doors. 
While at Lake Kariba, we stayed at a guest house on the lake, that also houses the largest croc raising farm in Africa.(90,000 crocs of all sizes) So, we had to have "croc stirfry" for our supper, instead of being the meal for the crocs.
We watched several people "enjoy" swinging out over Batoka Gorge, just downstream of Victoria Falls. Edith looked over the wall and down the cliff and decided that she would do it "next time".
The MARS team spent several times on the water. We crused up the Chobe River for lots of animal sightings. We crossed the Zambezi River on the ferry between Botswana and Zambia. And we had a sunset cruise to view the islands of Lake Kariba.
African sunsets are beautiful.
We walked with some lions in Zimbabwe.
They were 18 months old and we touched and hiked with them. AND we lived to tell about it.
Livingstone's statue had to be captured by at least part of the MARS team.
Edith and Joy did the proper pose to capture the moment. God provided a wheelchair for Edith, so she could see the full extent of VF without getting too tired.
The "Miller Trio" needed to have the beauty of the falls in the background to show we were all "on site".
