Another Letter

to all my faithful readers and prayer supporters: here is a letter to you. I'm trying to figure out a better way than a .jpg, but for now this will have to work.

congrats to my friends, allison and alex, on the arrival of their daughter! can't wait to see some pictures of her.

it's taken me 3 weeks to settle into life here at the base. i'm finally ok with not having all the appliances which make life so much easier. there are still some things which i'm getting used to, like having to take my toilet paper to the restroom with me, because it's not available in the bathroom. cold showers are slowly growing on me, and in the hot afternoons, they actually feel pretty good. i'm loving the view of the mountains and am relaxing with the people whom i live. even though we don't speak the same language, our lives are slowly being intertwined. this a beautiful thing.

i'm been spending a lot of time on the internet the last couple of days, partly because the internet was repaired, and partly so i could learn some more swahili, but next week i'm going to make a conscious effort to not spend as much time on here. so if you don't get many updates, i'm sorry, but they will return.

it's 12.10 on saturday morning and i'm still awake; gonna regret this when my roommates start mopping the floor at 5.30. oh well, life is short and i'm learning to pray hard. :)

i pray for all of you, 'May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.' (romans 15.13)

Photos

click on the photo above to see a whole bunch of misc. african photos. this is me after finishing my laundry - from a bucket. oh what a beautiful adventure!

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.

Life at the Base

this morning one of the leader's pulled me aside and questioned how i was doing. seems to be a pretty common question recently. last week i was really focused on me, and how i was struggling with the language and not feeling connected. this week, my perspective has changed a bit. i'm focusing more on others and their lives. tho it's still very difficult because of the language difference, an improvement in my attitude has made much of the difference. so my answer was, 'i'm doing very well considering that everything i am used to doing and using is not available.'

with each passing day i can feel the honeymoon phase coming to a close. i'm beginning to miss things from america more, mostly people and some appliances. but even with those stirring emotions, i'm reminded that God has called me here, and this is where i belong right now. i don't want to be anywhere else, even tho it is stretching me in ways i wasn't expecting to be stretched. life is not promised to be easy. look at Jesus's example.

for our afternoon class today we were asked 3 questions to answer:
is there anything in my heart that i know is unclean in God's eyes?
do i tend to focus on the external religious action rather than the internal motive?
are my motives pure for why i'm involved in Christian activity?

quite the class, huh?

in 10 minutes i get to go and cook again for 3 hours. yesterday i chopped onions, carrots, tomatoes, and cabbage for 3 hours. i made something that resembled saurercraut. it's pretty good to eat. normally it's eaten with ugali, which is the flour and corn mixture. wonder what i'll be creating today?

my leader is going shopping today and she's picking me up some peanut butter. can't wait to have something other than dry bread for breakfast (even if it's miserable peanut butter!).

got my first letter today, so i know the mail is working. the letter took 21 days from alaska. - thanks laura! love the photo!

Rising Early to Pray

so the light in our dorm gets flipped on at 4.45 in order to begin our morning prayers. not quite sure why we can't have morning prayers at 12.30 to 2 when we have a break, but i guess this is what time we've been appointed to pray. and it's not like one can sleep through the prayers either. the place where we all meet is next door to the women's dorm. praying here in africa means to pray out loud at the top of your lungs. (i may have mentioned that before, but i'm still trying to accept this.) so i hear all the prayers of everyone praying in the next room the different in their prayers, is these people only pray for themselves and to exalt God. they don't seem to know how to pray for others or pray in silence.

I wonder what God thinks of this? i have my thoughts, but that is because i grew up in the western hemisphere, with the american church being my norm. but if i had a friendship - and i never let the friend say anything - and only yelled at the friend how great she is, but never allow her to speak to me... i can't imagine that friend would be very appreciative of my friendship.

so this is my prayer: that these new-found friends would experience a real and loving God who desires to have a friendship with them.

highlight of my morning: meeting a maasai man walking along a trail. he and i spoke briefly for a few minutes. he did most of the talking, and pointing, and i asked a few questions. it was really cool. here's how it went down. between 7.30 and 8.30 every day we have our quiet time. i've found this great place to sit and enjoy the view of the mountains and the landscape. but instead of sitting there this morning, i felt like walking. so i headed south from the base and began my trek. i'm not sure how far it was, maybe a mile or so. this bush is quite tame, including some plowed fields with some rock piles. it's very flat where i live. so i'm walking along and had to have surgery on my crocs. stepped on a thorn and it went right through the bottom of my shoes into my foot. so lucky for me, i had my handy-dandy multi-tool (just in case i see a black mambo!) and pulled out the thorn. after the thorn, i kept walking and found a trail. so i followed the trail a while, and noticed some houses further into the bush. they are maasai houses. it was very exciting for me. so i walked a bit further and saw some goats. and sure enough, the herd's boy was walking his goats. at this point i decided to turn around and not go any further

so i began my treck back to the base, and noticed a man following me. he was a maasai man wearing a purple robe and simple sandals and a really nice digital watch. i've discovered that most people wave to greet each other, so i waved. he waved back, so i waited on the trail for him to catch up. he shook my hand and asked me if i was with the Mission. guess he has a good relationship with us. we may buy rice from him - who knows? he knew a few words of english, and now i know a few words of swahili, and together we made it work. he mentioned that he lives near the river (which i didn't know there was a river!) and that he was traveling to boma. he also said that he knows an american friend in boma. oh the things i learn from these africans!

it was incredible to talk w/ him. my heart rejoiced that he was friendly and knew some english. i loved the interaction. seeing him and conversing with him was a great encouragement.

The Eclipse

if you get a chance to see the eclipse tonight, i hope that you take it! it was so amazing. it was so difficult to explain the eclipse.

My First Church Service

my first real african church service was wonderful. the congregation was very welcoming. all the children were very curious about me, a white person (mzungu). the kids kept touching me and trying to get my attention through the entire service.

there was on little boy, i would guess he was about 4 years old, with a t-shirt which had the logo, 'US ARMY'. there was also an older teenage boy with a fatigue US Army shirt. Tanzanians think that the US has the greatest army in the all the world. many of these young people would love to be involved in the US Army. that seems so strange to me, but for them it would be a high honor.

this breaks my heart. i'm reminded of the children that are forced to become soldiers. they are fearless, willing to do anything they are told. like these little kids this morning at church - they were so curious that they had to touch me. they were not afraid of the consequence; they simply were curious to know how i would react and why my skin is a different color.

sunday afternoon's are similar to those in american. exiit from church, get some lunch, then take a nap. it's super hot here today. we all sweated throughout our entire naps. the internet says the it's about 95 degrees with the sun blazing from a clear sky.

Today's Challenge: take a luke warm shower, and pray for those who will never experience a hot shower. thank God that you've been blessed with hot water!

New Meanings

so there have been some things that have deeper meaning to me now. there is a song, i think i've mentioned it here before, called 'i will lift my eyes' by bebo norman. the chorus is:
I will lift my eyes to the Maker
Of the mountains I can’t climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer
Of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer
Of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You
the part about lifting my eyes to the Maker of the mountain i cannot climb grabs my heart and gives it a twist. there are 2 mountain which i can see from the base which i can't climb - mt. kilimanjaro and mt. meru. both of these mountains rise high from the flat plains where i live. they are truly magnificent to see. one day i was walking with a classmate of mine who is from kenya. he said, 'there are people dying to see that mountain.' he was speaking literally of people who risk their lives to see them. for 2 million shillings ($2,000) americans can fly to see them, and many people take that opportunity. but it's not the mountains alone that draw people. it's the people who have lived at the base of the mountain all their lives, who can tell stories of their lives. and it's about the Maker of the mountains, the Maker of the people, and the Giver of the shillings to experience this amazing place.

my heart overflows with gratefulness for the opportunity to be here in the place with these people who are seeking to know more of life than what their families can offer them. yesterday during class the question was asked, 'what would you do if you had a million shillings ($1,000)?'. my answer was to come to class here at killimanjaro. many looked at me like that was the most insane answer i could give, since a million shillings is an absurd amount of money to go to school.

during class we also spoke of poverty and the effects it has on a society. my answer is so different from theirs. from my standards, many of these students life in poverty; they think i'm rich. their definition of poverty is going without food for more than a week a month, and not having any family to stay with. it definitely gave me a new perspective about american poverty versus african poverty. i am rich.

another new meaning i've come across relates to bread. we eat bread every morning for breakfast, 2 or 3 pieces, along with some tea. the tea is black tea and it is very strong, but we use a great deal of sugar to tame it down. it's a wonder any of out teeth are in decent condition! anyway, the 'our father' says, 'give us our daily bread.' emphasis on daily - everyday we get bread (or i hope we get bread everyday!). sitting in jasper methodist church saying the 'our father' wondering about what's for lunch didn't offer much insight into the meaning of 'our daily bread'. but i've learned that this daily bread is a blessing from above and without it, life would be much different. speaking of food, most of our meals lunch and dinners consist of rice and beans, in various forms. sometimes we have ugali, which is ground maize with flour. it looks like mashed potatoes without much flavor. it's pretty good and very filling. on special occasion we've had 'chips' which are french fries. my favorite meal so far is banana soup, which my training leader made for me. it was soo good. i'm going to try to get the recipe and post it here for you to have.

my reality today: tho life is simple here, nothing is easy.

Week One

so i've been here for 1 week. that's pretty exciting for me. it's been quite the week, including the storm and the culture shock stuff. but there is some amazing things happening too.

my attitude is better than it was a few days ago. i've been struggling with the language barrier. and so having the internet working again it an amazing resource. i learn best when i can see the words written out, and there are many resources available online which i've come to depend on. when the net was not working, i was really having a hard time trying to figure out the words without a means of looking them up. so now i'm back in business.

tonight was are watching a movie together as a class- i think it's called the robe. i wonder if it will be in english with swahili words written on the bottom, or vice-versa. i am the only student who does not understand swahili, and this is very challenging. i'm trying to listen for words which i've learned, and many of the things being said are not translated exactly. but, i'm getting better with that. as denise would say, 'you don't always have to figure everything out.' so i'm being disciplined to learn this the hard way.

The Storm of the Century

we had a terrible storm which knocked down trees and the power for 4 days. today is the first day that it's been back on.

i don't have much time to update, but i wanted to let you know that i'm alive and doing well. i'll update more later. thanks for all your emails and your encouragement. those words mean so much!

here's an expanded version. i'll have to update the photos later, since it's already 10.40 at night, and i need to finish my homework. but before i do, here's a brief update:

things are better with the language barrier. tho i don't understand most of what is being said, i have a peace about it. i'm enjoying being in the presence of the others students. one of the students just accepted Christ about 30 minutes ago. we are all rejoicing over this! dancing and singing galore!

dancing and singing seem to be the way of life. each day w/ start w/ dancing and singing... for an hour or so. then we have tea. then we sing and listen to a lesson. then we eat. then we have a break for a quiet time and rest. then we have a lesson. then we do laundry. then we eat. but there is a great dea more to add, but right now i don't have much time to go into deep details.

these sleepings nets are wonderful. there are bugs buzzing outside my net, but right now i'm safe and bug free!

the weather has been warm - in the 80's. it's wonderful!

gas is over $4/gallon

i'm learning to have friends who don't understand me. it's a new experience for me, but God is opening some doors and allowing me to see their hearts. we laugh at each other a lot, and they laugh at me trying to pronouce some of their words. i'm slowly catching on to what they are trying to say.

doing my laundry in a bucket was a first for me. not sure i got any of the stains out, but my clothes smell a whole lot better. and having them dry on the 1/2 of clothes line which wasn't damaged from the tree falling on it helps too. (that's a terrible, grammatically nightmare of a sentence!)

i love my dts leader. her name is jemma (gay-ma). she invited me to her apartment last night for dinner. she's taken me in and continues to question how i'm doing. she had made banana soup which was amazing. it was really great to have that time with her and her family.

we have 20 students going thru this DTS. we are getting to be a close knit group, even tho we still struggle to understand each other. our translator tries very diligently to make the english clear for me, but some of the times the stories are not quite communicated clearly. it's funny when he gets stumped and the other english speaking student translates for him. it all works out perfectly in the end.

thanks for all your prayers - they are availing much in africa. i'm really glad to be here.