Marvelous Mysteries

Setting out as adventure seekers, Sarah and I ran into a little more than we asked for today.  As we climbed the steep incline we found ourselves panting and straining for air.  Simultaneous with the telling of Jon’s eerie story, we saw the first item that had begun his strange encounter: a king of spades.  Slowly we continued, awed by the deep, fresh ruts in the road and finally rounding the corner to spot the lurking edifice.  It’s a low building with one long roof over about 12 rooms, each with their own doors, swinging freely open in the breeze.  Not too scary upon arrival until you survey the third door with graffiti, and then the fourth that has a whole that looks as though it was clawed out from the inside.  Sarah mentioned her inclination that a man would pop out of the last door saying “Hey ladies, where you going,” and at that thought we turned and sprinted.  Wrought with adrenaline we imagined footsteps and rustlings the whole way back, and were overjoyed upon emergence from the forest. 

Besides that small incident, life has been normal, well if normal exists in Africa O Africa.  Our battlefield excursion over the weekend proved better than expected.  Our personal historian, an ex-military-cattle advising-75-year-old man named Tony brought the real people out of the history books with flavor and zest.  He made the battles seem as though we were reliving them as we stood on the ground, snapping his stick at us, reprimanding us as tonsil experts if a yawn snuck out, renaming Regan to Nixon, and best of all falling to the ground faster than I ever could all for the sake of showing us how the lines of rifles fit into formation.  The food was also incredible, treated like queens and kings at the Royal Hotel with their spiced chicken green beans, and others as well as delectable grilled tomato/ham/cheese sandwich. 

God is so incredibly good and continues to teach me new ideas everyday! I love God’s Family Life Center Church because the people are real and love to praise God with everything they have, their voices, bodies, and minds, yet still challenge their members to motivate change in the community.  The pastor invited us for a Brie (bbq) at his home after church (pork rashes are my new favorite meat!).  The shining sun made for a perfect Sunday afternoon spent well with new friends, cricket fun, a dip in the pool, and funday relays back at AE.  People continue to challenge my views, teaching me about God’s perfect will.  I am learning the importance to develop leadership skills and exactly how to go about that.  As we prepare to begin service sites on Thursday I pray that God will bond our team and help us be facilitators in the community.  It will certainly be a challenge, but I am willing to face the challenge of unknowns with the skills Francis has been teaching us. He is a true gem and perhaps more will come about him later. For now you need to know that I am confident Jacob and I will be in the missions field someday and I am learning incredible tools that revolutionize a community. 

Random thought of the day: what is the proper etiquette to use when you are sitting on the pot and someone knocks/starts to open the door.  Do you just stammer “Uh.. Im in here” or awkwardly call out an empty “Hello” hoping they don’t respond or shout “Hey! Back off!” I’ve always wondered the proper response so if you have any insights please share.