Dietra's Journey

Pics from the camping trip!

2009-09-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

Week 3!!!!

2009-09-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

Well...it now the first part of week 3. I am trying to get better about updating my blog. The internet is down here often and we recently experienced a 20 hour power outage. It is amazing how quiet things are when there is no power. Okay...so where do I start. We have just finished up our 2 week orientation period. We are kept very busy!!!! I now have my assigned placement in the finance office. I wasn't sure how I would feel about that since that is what I got paid to do in the states. However, I find that we have a lot of ministry time and my time in the finance office helps to break up the day a little and I get to build relationships with locals. I am also learning a lot about finances in another country. The team has really gotten closer since we have been here. We have to because we all live in the same house. We are on an intern budget and that does not give us a lot of spending money for food. This has been comical! We actually have now got it down pretty well. We are not having as many cooking lessons as we were in the beginning. This is good for me since I cannot stand to cook. This reminds me of something funny one of our housemates said..."Dietra, why is that you are the one who does not like to cook yet you are always the one cooking". Yep...I have cooked dinner several nights in a row. Probably because if I don't cook I will have to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I can only take so many of those!

We went on a great camping trip this past weekend! We were able to go on a guided walk and I got several pictures of animals that were out walking around. We cooked on an open fire and slept in tents! After all the setup it was actually a relaxing weekend.

We had our first day of hospital ministry today. That was really awesome! We were able to go in a pray with the kids that are there. The families were so receptive and happy to see us there. We will be going back once or twice a week. Even though I have a hard time going into hospitals I really enjoyed this and I am looking forward to future visits.

I worked in the children's church on Sunday with the preschool kids. That was fun but a lot of work! I wouldn't mind helping out in there once in a while but not every Sunday. I am actually thinking of getting more involved with the youth. This has never been an interest of mine but I think I would like to try it. They meet every Friday night.

I am also looking forward to prison ministry. I know that may sound scary but it really is not. The prisoners are in there for small crimes done out of desperation...like being hungry and killing a goat. They need someone to come in and give them some hope!

Next week we are off for a little rest and relaxation! We are heading to Namibia which is a neighbor country. We will be staying at a hotel and spending some time having fun! Normally it comes towards the end of the internship but we are doing it early this time. It will be fun! Stay tuned for pics!!!

Please keep in touch! A lot more to come...

Dietra

2009-09-14T12:49:00.001-07:00

This is one of our daily lunch visitors. There are two of them that come to our window every day. Actually they slam into our window every day. The are very annoying but interesting to look at!

2009-09-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

This is a very common thing to see! An intern never leaves home without their water bottles!!!!

Orientation Week

2009-09-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Well I have officially lived in Botswana for one week now. We have been going through orientation and will continue with that until next Monday. Orientation is good because adjusting to missionary life is not always easy. We have had many opportunities to learn about Botswana, and the nationals. I am enjoying life here! Some of things we are working on are: driving traning (stick shift), cooking lessons (learning to cook without the resources available in the states), and shadowing various departments here at Love Botswana. We toured a local museum (not like the ones in the states). It was very small but was very interesting! We had an entire day that was based on the culture. We were introduced to the chiefs and they welcomed us to Maun. We ate traditional foods and visited some of the families we are working with in the surrounding area. This week we started shadowing departments to see where our placement will be. Part of it is our decision and then then other part is based on what the leaders decide. My first shadowing experience was with the school and I worked with the younger kids. I had to be on the school bus to ride in to town and pick up the kids. It started out with just myself and the bus driver and then by the time we were finished it was packed with children. Some of the children had backpacks that were bigger than them. They are super cute! I loved being with them but I do not think this is where I want to work my whole time in Botswana. Tomorrow I will be shadowing in the Finance department. Although this would be a good fit I am still interested in all that the mission has to offer. We are heading out on a camping trip this weekend! This will be interesting to say the least. It is very hot and dry here right now. We drink tons of water to stay hydrated. We had something sad happen today. One of the church members who also has grandchildren that attend the school died today. We did not get a chance to really get to know him but we were just introduced to him yesterday at church. It really makes you think about how short life is. We are praying for his family! We are meeting so many people here and they are all just as I remembered. The people of Botswana are a large part of why I wanted to come back to Botswana. They are so sweet and loving! We are learning a bit of the language which is not very easy. Right now we are getting the basics down. One of the interns is free to drive now because he passed all of the driving requirements. We are now free to go into town as a team. We had our first shopping experience without any leaders. This was very interesting. We have a small budget to work with and we ended up having to put some things back because we over spent. We put back a bag of chips, and a bag of apples. We could have put back some ice cream and 4 cans of soft drinks. You can see where our priorities are. We get so tired of drinking nothing but water and juice that we could not part with our soft drinks. The ice cream just goes with out saying. Please keep in touch! I will be posting more soon!

I arrived in Botswana!

2009-09-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

Hello! I arrived safely in Botswana on 9/7/09. I took a plane from Dallas to Atlanta that took 3-4 hours, a plane from Atlanta to Johannesberg, South Africa that took 15 hours, stayed over night in Joberg and then took another plane to Botswana that took another 2 hours! I'm tired just writing that!

I sat next to Dirk from the Dallas Mavericks in the South Africa airport!

I discovered the first spider in the house and Josiah my teammate killed it! Notice I took the time to take a picture before it was killed and I ran in the other room.

We had our first Botswana cooking class! The missionaries here have learned a few things about cooking American style food and we have a new class each day this week. I have already made a deal with my roommate that if she cooks I will clean!

I will be starting a self defense class, and a sign language class. The self defense class is beneficial for walking in the community outside the mission. The sign language class is so that we can communicate with our current deaf orphan that the mission adopted. We will also use it to communicate with other deaf orphans in the future. When the orphans have a disability there is really absolutely no help for them. They end up having to live in the hospital and that is hard for many reasons. First and foremost they are not sick and the hospital is no place for a child to be raised. The new baby house will be great for orphans with special needs. They are building a section just for them with all that they need to have a happy and safe life.

There is so much to do and the possibilities are endless! I am so excited about being here! Even though I miss my family and friends like crazy I know without a doubt this is where I need to be.

Take care and I will update soon!

Change!!! Change!!! Change!! and more Change to Come!

2009-07-11T10:18:00.001-07:00

Well a lot has been happening in preparation for my departure. Our flight was changed from August 31st to September 7th. There are pros and cons to the change but mainly pros. I probably needed more time than I realized to get ready. Susan (one of my best friends and roommate of 3 years) moved back to Pennsylvania. I am happy that she gets to see her family because I know she missed them very much and they missed her. However, I was very sad to see her go and miss her everyday. We had a great 3 years and there is more to come! I finally sold my car. After working multiple jobs to pay for it during Bible college I finally was able to sell it. I did not want to have to worry about a car payment any more. I am driving Susan's car and then I will pass it on to a friend at school when I leave. I am traveling to Houston to see my family and friends at the end of July and I will be there for about 10 days. This is not the last visit before I leave but it will be the last to say goodbye to friends. I will come back for another short visit and that will mainly just be for family. August 28th is my last day at work. I will for the first time since I was 17 not be receiving a pay check. I will be living totally by faith!!!! I am also going to try to take a trip right before I leave with the family that I work for. This will be a good time to spend with the kids before I go. I will miss them very much! It is going to be a whirlwind for two months but I am so excited I cannot stand it!

Botswana Bound!

2009-06-29T20:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! I will be travelling to Botswana, Africa at the end of August. I will be in Botswana for a minimum of 3 months however, I am planning to stay longer. While in Botswana I will be completing my field training for the School of Global Missions. I went to Botswana in 2003 and I have wanted to go back ever since. Feel free to check out the mission's website....www.lovebotswana.org. It is a great organization and I cannot wait to get started! I will keep you posted! Stay tuned...