Thanks to everyone for your prayers for our health, we are well on our way to recovery.  All of us had a respiratory virus of some sort (flu-like, but no one is saying H1N1 so we're not either), and along with that virus five of us got a secondary infection that was bacterial so we took antibiotics.  I have never had it so bad that I could not sleep because it hurt so much to swallow!  (And by the way, I never noticed how often I swallowed).  Anyways we are past it - a couple of us still have some lingering chest congestion and cough, but that is (according to our doctor here) part of the deal.  It's no wonder either - as I drove the other day I looked out over the city and there was just a ton of dust and exhaust kind of clouding the air a weird yellow color.  That can't be good for the lungs.

Speaking of driving - yes - I actually do it now.  Quite a bit actually.  A couple of weeks ago I was scheduled to be at a meeting with leaders of the Lutheran Church here in Gaborone and my LBT colleagues visiting from the USA.  We were going through all kinds of itirations about how they could get there and pick me up or how Maya and the kids could drive me over and then wait til the meeting was over and one of the guys said, "you need to start driving more now or it will be a real problem later."  Something just clicked and I saw the foolishness of this fear and so I committed to drive to the meeting myself, studied the map diligently, and did it!  Been driving just fine all over the place ever since.  So, praise God for that, because I didn't think it would happen anytime soon, much less while still in Gaborone.   Of course, I still make Maya nervous but that's the way it was in the US too. 

And the van - many of you may know that we were in a minor traffic accident just a week after we got here.  We finally got the insurance to authorize repairing the van so it is in for repairs.  The downside to that is that we are without a vehicle now for four days or so, but we'll have to make due.  Pray that the 'panel beater', as they call them here, can get all the replacement parts quickly and do the work well so we can get the van back. 

Also still pray for our residency paperwork - I don't think it has a problem, it is just taking a good long while.  We were given a waiver extension through September 19, so they're not kicking us out just yet.  It would be VERY good to have that residency paperwork in hand before we move to the village, which we have planned to do September 17.

Lastly a few more British English terms that have found their way into our vocabulary:

You'll remember that 'robots' are traffic lights.

'stealing the robot' = going through a yellow light.  (I love that one!)

'trading hours' = the hours that a store is open

'car park' = parking lot (sounds like a fun place to take a stroll, right, the car park?

'serviettes' = napkins

'napkins' = women's hygiene product (don't ask for this at a restaurant BTW)

'paraffin' = kerosene

'is it?' = conversation filler, like 'really?'

'just now' = 'later' as in let's not go now, let's go just now.

'smart' = nicely dressed

'clever' = intelligent

and finally

'plaster' = a band-aid

Take care y'all!  Grace and peace to you!