Stranded in Cincinnatti! July 23, 2009
Posted by abrammajor in Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Well right now I’m in a Quality Inn Hotel in Cinci. I am currently on my way to the New York District Family Camp. I am going to be paid to basically just hang out with the teens at the family camp this week. I am excited but there have definitely been some drawbacks to this trip. First of all I missed my family reunion this year, for the second time. I thought originally that I would be able to go to at least part of the reunion, but the district paid for my ticket and they could only get a ticket to leave today. So me and my friend Brady left this morning, and made it all the way to Cincinatti. Then the trouble really started. We were traveling on Buddy passes so we weren’t guaranteed a ticket. But the lady at the desk in Cinci, told us that the first flight was probably full but the second, (and last) flight to Buffalo had plenty of seats. So when we checked before the first flight finished boarding we were told that we did have seats. Right when we found this news out the couple behind us in line offered to pay for our spots so they could make it to a wedding. Feeling nice, we decided to just let them have our spots since we had thought that the later flight would be less crowded any way.
So we waited. SIX HOURS, in an airport with no wireless. Then when we get to the desk to check in to our flight to Buffalo, the new lady at the desk told us that the first lady had a faulty schedule and that our new flight was totally booked. We waited until the flight was once again almost boarded. Long story short, Brady is now in Buffalo and I am in a hotel in Cinci for the night waiting until the next available flight tomorrow at 2:20.
But honestly it’s not that big of a deal. I am still excited about the camp and will probably be writing more about it later.
Summer Update June 23, 2009
Posted by abrammajor in books, Family, life, the truck.add a comment
- Since getting back from Africa, I have pretty much just been taking a break. Playing x-box and reading some good books.
- I am currently about to head up to Table Rock to visit the Senior High Camp and see some friends. Seeing all of the ministry team getting ready to leave for camp made me really miss the time I spent the last two summers traveling around the country to hang out at camps and play music.
- I have now read three books by Ernest Hemingway. I read For Whom the Bell Tolls in Africa and really liked it. Then when I got back I went to a barnes and noble and found a good deal on three more books by Hemingway. I then read The Sun Also Rises and wasn’t all that crazy for it, but then I read The Old Man and the Sea and really liked it. Right now I am reading The Benson Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine, it was a book that I was supposed to read in a class I took a few semesters ago and just never got around to it.
- One good thing about being home is that me and my dad can finally finish the truck that we have been working on for a few years. Hopefully we will be able to finish it this summer. We had basically gotten it taken completely apart, but the last few days we have gotten the axles and the control rods on it, then yesterday we put the engine back on the frame and today we installed the gas tank. Things are starting to move!
- Last week I went and saw UP in 3D, and it was amazing! I pretty much say this about every Pixar movie that comes out but honeslty this is one of my favorites. I can’t believe they have made so many movies that are really good. And by the way it is totally worth the few extra dollars to see the movie in 3D.
- Yesterday I found out that a close friend of mine found her mother, who had passed away some time this weekend, in their house after spending the weekend out of town. I have gone to school with this girl since middle school and our families are pretty close. This woman had some major health problems, and I know that she knew the Lord so on one hand its comforting to know that she is healed now, but still it’s so sad. It was totally shocking to hear the news, but I think the saddest part of the whole experience is that the woman’s daughter was the one to find her. I definitely think that this family could use some extra prayer right about now.
Uganda June 9, 2009
Posted by abrammajor in life, religion.1 comment so far
After we visited Zambia, we flew up to Uganda, which was totally different. When I got off the plane, it was like stepping onto another planet. The Airport at Entebbe overlooks Lake Victoria and I was amazed at how amazingly green everything was. Where Zambia was flat and dry Uganda is mountainous and humid. We drove all day to meet up with the team, then the next day we drove all day again to go to the Queen Elizabeth Park. Daniel and I didn’t realize that they were going there when we met up with them, but we really couldn’t complain. We had a great time, going on the game drives and hanging out with the team.
After the safari, we drove up into the mountains in the western part of Uganda. The team was spending the next week doing door-to-door evangelism and chruch visits in the neighboring villages. We were planning on leaving the team after about 5 days, like the Zambian team. But since we were WAY out in the middle of no-where, and since the pastors were having car trouble we decided to stay a few extra days, and just not visit the teams in Kenya. We ended up spending that whole week with the team. I got a chance to preach on my birthday, and share my testimony at a few homes, which was a really rewarding experience.
I have to admit going to the church services was perhaps my favorite part. The churches were often so small and plain, but the believers there were so focused on worshipping. We went to a service that was outside a church. We were standing under a canopy made of tarps and sheets. They had hung flowers along the seams of the tarps, and the ground was covered with woven mats. The people crowd around the canopy to sing and worship. Hearing them pray is a powerful experience. It’s like standing in a river of prayers, as the entire crowd prays on their own.
Some of the girls on the team had been complaining about some bug bites for a few days, until we discovered that they were actually fly larvae that had burrowed into their skin.
Overall, my time spent in Uganda was definitely something that I will never forget. We left for the safari plance in Kenya on our 10th day in Uganda, and it was a weird experience. We only spent 10 days in the country with the team, but I felt like I had known them for such a long time. One girl even cried when me and Daniel left. But to be truthful, she cried about alot of things.
P.S. — Right now I am at home, finally. I am pretty much just resting up before I begin the job search. But it’s nice to have some down time.
Quick update from Kenya June 2, 2009
Posted by abrammajor in Uncategorized.1 comment so far
- Right now I am in the boulevard hotel in Nariobi. Tomorrow at 7:30 Dan and I fly back to Johannesburg, then after a few hours I get on the plane to go back to the states.
- Uganda was amazing, we ended up staying in the country for 9 days instead of 5, which was a great decision. I am going to write about it when I get back home.
- I have taken well over 500 pictures, so it might take me a while to sort through all of them when I get home. But I will definitely put some up for everyone to see.
- It feel really weird to be leaving Africa, even though we haven’t been here all that long it feels like a lot has happened that I will definitely never forget.
- Me and Daniel ended up our trip with a stay at the Mara Serena Safari lodge, and it was amazing. It was one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed at, and it had one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. We didn’t see any lions, leopards, or hippos. But we did see pretty much everything else, including hyenas, elephants, giraffes, zebras, all sorts of antelope, and an awesome cheetah!
- When I get back I am flying straight to New York for two of my best friends wedding, Jarred and Brittany (soon to be) Mann. It is going to be a blast to see them married (finally) and to get to hang out with a bunch of friends from school for one more time.
- But honestly after that I think I am going to be exhausted and ready to be home.
Zambian Update! May 19, 2009
Posted by abrammajor in life, nature, religion.add a comment
Right now I am back in Jo-burg for the night, we just left Zambia this afternoon. Tomorrow Daniel and I are leaving for Uganda! We are going to be visiting a team that is basically doing hut-to-hut evangelism in villages that have never been reached before. It’s going to be hard to compete with how awesome the last few days have been in Zambia, butI am excited and I know that God is going to do great things.
Zambia has been amazing! I was realy sad to leave this morning. The team there was great, I felt like part of their group pretty much from the time I got there. The two missionaries, Butch and Janet are incredible sincere and caring. This team’s ministry involved doing VBS type things for villages near Livingstone. Playing with the kids was great, they were so cute and happy to see us. It was amazing to see these kids who basically have nothing, walk around with huge smiles on their faces. They were awesome.
Zambia is what I imagined Africa to look like. It is moslty flat with short stumpy trees and very dry reddish soil. This is the winter now so the weather has been incredible, it has been about 70-80 degrees everyday, and about 50 degrees every night. It is beautiful! Since the VBS is only in the mornings for the past few days we have spent the past few days doing touristy stuff. We saw a gorge that is the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It was like a miniature (comparatively) version of the Grand Canyon just outside of town. We also got to see Victoria Falls which is just about the most incredible thing I have ever seen! It just about at it peak when we got there, and right now it’s about a mile long and about 300 feet tall! You can walk across the other side of the gorge in front of the falls and it’s like being in a washing machine, everyone there was completely soaked. Words really can’t describe it. Afterwords we hiked down, to the bottom of the gorge to see where all of the water from the falls narrows into what they call the “boiling pot.” It was amazing, like walking from the desert into a tropical rain forest in the space of about a hundred vertical feet. Monkeys and baboon’s were everywhere. Yesterday we walked around at a 5-star resort and saw zebra’s, giraffe’s, and monkey’s which was pretty cool. The resort was on the shore of the Zambezi river and right at the top of the Falls, which was really pretty. On the drive home from the resort, I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. There were clouds in the sky (which are rare in Zambia) and it was one of the most intense sunsets I have seen.
I have taken about 200 pictures so far, but don’t have anyway to get them off my camera so I guess you will just have to wait till I get back. I can’t wait for Uganda, but leaving Zambia was harder than I thought it was going to be.
p.s. – - last night we ate the traditional Zambian food called Shema. It’s kind of like grits but plainer and thicker, it’s basically a solid that you mold into a scoop for whatever other food they serve with the shema, last night we had some rape (it’s a legitimate vegitable sort of like collard greens) cooked in a peanut butter sauce. It was really, really great.
