What We Love About Africa

Top 10 Things I love about Africa!

10. Where else can you see all your old t shirts! My favorites are the many Cardinals shirts, but the highlight last week was seeing a 2002 Lafayette Lancers Sophomore Conference Football Champions on a man at the bus stand.
9. Viewing the sky at night is an unbelievable site. You can see galaxies, shooting stars, and even the international space station orbiting. And the southern cross is an encouraging site watching over this community.
8. The wildlife is definitely wild. The count in the two months here:-2 rats, one dead and one still to catch-5+ scorpians killed in our house, thankfully no stings-hundreds of cockroaches did live in our cho although since we did a treatment nearly three weeks ago we have not had one-a few very big spiders, but we have only seen them at our team members house
7. The children are so excited to see a Mzungu (white person). The kids are delight to be around and keep things light and fun.
6. Language learning is an opportunity to laugh at yourself. A few nights ago I asked our dinner guests if they wanted chai na mahindi (tea with corn), when I meant chai na maziwa (tea with milk).
5. You get to see medical problems that you would never see in the US. Lets just say I have never seen so much pus in my life, but I will spare you the details.
4. We have seen God’s hand in our safety, protection, and health. We feel strong, are encouraged when tired by His Word, and know He is always with us.
3. We pray at church on our knees with our head bowed down. I high recommend praying this way for focus and reverence.
2. Each day begins in the Word and with total surrender as here you cannot survive without strength from the Lord.
1. Seeing God work so intimately in people’s lives is the most beautiful thing I can think of.
We have been blessed by another challenging yet rewarding week. We still feel like we are learning how to live life here. Thursday morning brought tears for both me and Sarah. For me, I was struggling with learning to make hard decisions about who and how to help along with frustration with getting taken advantage of (doctors ordering unnecessary test and me paying for them, etc.). For Sarah, she was experiencing many emotions of teaching in a totally different culture and learning to keep the children in control while still learning the language. But we surrendered our emotions to the Lord, and wow what a day. God was so faithful to our prayers and turned the day around. We had great interactions with many people and felt encouraged by His word in Colossians about suffering for the glory of Jesus. And the day ended with having the teachers from the school over for dinner and the evening was filled with laughter and fun.
Sarah has been busy working on developing her English test she will be giving in a few weeks. In September the children have “midterm” testing before their school break. Our team is very excited because in September, we are having a conference for our church members about learning to story the Bible. The primary role of part of our team is chronological Bible story telling as a means to share the Gospel and this is a skill we want our church members to learn to witness to their family and neighbors. Please join us in prayer that many will attend and better learn how to witness to this community.
As for me, each day is different but it’s always a full day. I made two trips to town this week bringing in sick people who need medical attention. And a main focus continues to be language learning and practicing. Through practicing, we are developing relationships. Please be praying for this community in this time as it is a time of fasting for their religion. Many do not know why they fast, they just do it. We are trying to ask questions to provoke thoughts about the reason they do it.
Thank you for tuning in. The pictures are of some of our school children and of Habulie in his new chair our team got made for him. He is the little guy with cerebral palsy and cannot sit up. This chair supports him in a reclining position so he can sit. I enjoy meeting with him and his family ever week.
Many Blessings,
Emily