Internet Issues
so the internet has been out since last thursday and now it's tuesday. the bummer part is that they are not sure when it will be repaired. supposed we are to climb up on the telephone tower which is about 40 feet, remove part of the receiver, and take it to the shop to be repaired. this is why nothing has been done to fix it. it's quite the system. i really wish that it could be repaired because i miss communicating to my friends and familly from america. that's why i bought a cell phone with a local number, but it cost $5 for 7 minutes of talk time. i can receive/send text messages for 10 cents, so that's a blessing. i've run out of money on my new cell, so i've had to request one of the leader to get me some more. hopefully i can get the credit soon so i can not be without any form of communication.
but i have learned some lessons through this time of being completely cut off from communicating with friends and family from america: first, that i can still survive without it and secondly, that God designed me to communicate with Him. He's given me new meaning to when He says, "I AM". i've had to depend on Him to fulfill my need for communication, never before have i realized how much i depend on talking with people to express myself and for them to express themselves to me. i crave that. but before this trip, i may not have understood the depths of how much i long for this. i'm not a good hermit, nor am i an island.
our class is going really well. the teachers have been wonderful. this guy that we have leading us this week has been incredible. he is the king of open-ended questions. he's straight-forward, and not afraid so say, 'no, that's the the right answer'. it's pretty intense, but we just can't get enough of him. he speak the truth in such a way that you feel compelled to look up in the Bible where he found that info. and sure enough, he has all the scriptures stored in his mind in order for us to know for sure that he's speaking Truth. it's been really good for me. one of things he's spoke about it repentance. he mentioned how we need to get rid of idols. and he explained an idols as anything you feel you can't do for the sake of Christ. for me this means eating goat meat. i hate it. honestly - it's so disgusting. i gag each time i attempt to eat it. so i've stopped trying to eat it, but that's just a little something. how about eating caterpillars, or cow intestine, or eating food which has sat on the counter all night with the bugs crawling in it. just take a minute to think about that definition and think about what you are not willing to do for Christ. that was a hard lesson for me... and it continues to be hard.
i've accomplish a simple task which i'm hoping will drastically help me: i've added another foam mattress pad to my bed. since we are all sleeping on bunkbeds, the bunk above me isn't being used. so i added that to my bed. now i have a double mattress and so far it feels pretty good. this might help me to sleep a bit better. it's not that i've been sleeping poorly, but i can tell that i've been moving around a great deal in the night. oh and the fact that since i've been here, i've not used more than a sheet to sleep under. it's quite hot, and there are no fans. (for me to say that it's hot, most of you will know that it's really hot --i've been nicknamed 'refrigerator woman' {that's for you, val!})
so this weeks 'work duty' is to clean the bathrooms. let's just say that they are nasty. from the showers (called bathrooms) and the toilets (not to be called bathrooms, but toilets!), they are just gross. it's amazing how much dirty can stick to one person throughout the day. then multiply that dirt by 40 people and you can begin to understand how disgusting they are. then multiply that number times the amount of urine that misses the hole in which we are to pee. (all for the glory of God, i tell you!) good thing for my scrub brush! for a $1.50, it's been worth its value time after time.
had another discussion on one of the dts leaders today. he mentioned that he appreciate my patience, and the we are all struggling together. he said a lot of other things also, but it was good to hear that we are all struggling together. it was a good reminder that i'm not the only one struggling the differences.
on sunday i went to a different church, El Shaddai. we sang for 1.5 hours, then were screamed at for 45 minutes. i don't worship best when i'm being screamed at - another new understanding for me. i really don't like to be yelled at, not at all. just tell me politely what i've done wrong, and i'll do what i can to change... no need to holler at me for 45 minutes. (but this is another way that i'm learning who i am.)
i've come to understand that i'm irritated by many things. and all these little things are the things which God desires to change in me. simply because i don't worship best while being screamed at, doesn't me that it's wrong. God is using this church to impact many people. i'm expected to be patient and seek the truth, which i assume was being preached (i didn't understand a lick of the message since it was all in swahili.) the pastor used many scripture passages, for which was a grateful for a broken english student to be sitting near me in order to tell me where to look in my Bible.
often during our class we go outside. this morning is the first day that i forgot to put on my sunscreen and i've acquired a nice burn, my first one since i've been in africa... very exciting for me. the sun blazes here on the plains. we were outside for 30 minutes at 10 am and i'm burned. that's just an example. about 4 in the afternoon is when it feels most like a furnace. having the sun against my face and the wind at my back is not pleasant here.
enjoy the photo! this meal was very good - except for the meat, still not very keen on eating goat meat. the fun part about this meal besides being an incredible variety of food, was that we got to eat all of it with our fingers! it was my first african wedding and first time eating rice with fingers. all very exciting! you'll have to click that photo so see more wedding photos.
