A Day at the Farm - the SNAKE Farm

Friday, after our worship time, we went to a "snake park." Kinshasa is home to the only center where venom is collected from snakes native to Congo for the purpose of making anti-venom. 

Our guide showed us the venomous snakes first, proudly proclaiming that in his fifteen years working with the snakes he has only been bitten seven times. Sounds like a fun job. 

Five of his seven bites came from this little guy. 









This is as close as I ever wish to be to a cobra. 








These snakes were beautiful but deadly. They make an ominous warning noise when they want to be left alone.

Next, we saw the non-venomous snakes. Those of us who were willing were allowed to handle these snakes. Our guide had a little fun with that, walking about in search of victims volunteers. 

One of the first things Brad (our conference speaker) said to us is that rejection does not equal failure. Sometimes it seems like MAF and other mission groups have been here for a long time and done all God has asked of us to the best of our ability but we've seen little fruit. But Christ said that when we are rejected we should remember that the world rejected Him first. Brad also pointed out that it is an honor just to be able to serve and represent the One who has saved us, regardless of the outcome this side of heaven. Important truths to remember.

We had a softball game between the Lubumbashi team and the Kinshasa team. 

Everyone was invited to play and we had lots of men, some children, and one girl - me. Everyone had a good time, and while there was NO rejection on our ball field, team Kinshasa did feel the sting of defeat. 



We ended our day with dinner out for the adults and a pizza/movie night for the kids.