Tonight after dinner we went outside to capture the last few wisps of breeze before the mosquitoes descended. I sat by the trampoline reading a new book from our dear visitor last week and the others were jumping. I hear the tinkling of laughter from my daughters and look up to see my big, strong husband, fully bearded, hopping around the perimeter with his wrists cocked down at his chest, feet nearly kicking his backside, delighting my 3 princesses with his perfect bunny hop. He sure knows how to thrill the souls of all 4 of his ladies.
I've been reflecting on our life here. How sweet it is. How simple it is. We do home-school, we cook, we clean up, we do laundry and hang it out on a rope across the back yard. We eat rice and beans, we visit with our neighbors, we read books and watch movies. It's funny how much time you have together when there's no where else to go. No mall. No playground. No restaurants. No high speed internet. Nothing but each other and our neighbors to occupy our time.
Our team-mates have been away for a while and I have found myself becoming lonely for the first time in a long time. A good sign for our friendship! It also is a good reminder for me to go study language some more so I can make better relationships with our local friends. Here's where the Baby Steps come in. I knew that relationships take time, and our long-term goals are realistically REALLY long-term in this environment.
I try not to get impatient, yet we are also looking for every little appropriate opportunity. And there have been some! In teaching the little English school, we are going through the alphabet and learning a few words for each letter. When we came to G, I used God for one of the words. In my pathetic Swahili, I said, "God built the sun and moon, God built you! And who does God love?" The reply: "God loves the stars". Hmmm, did I say something wrong? No, I asked who not what...oh I'll just tell them..."God loves you!" Say it with me: "God loves me!" Again! It took a few tries, but they know the answer now. They also know He is GOOD. I even taught them the song, "Mungu mzuri sana" (God is so good).
We also had the opportunity to pull the Bible down onto the table in the middle of dinner with our good local friends to talk about their son's name Zachariah. The father said he was named after the grandfather of Yesu. I clarified, "Yesu Kristo?" and he confirmed. Though the Bible did not support this theory, we were able to turn to the book of Zachariah and show them that their son has a whole section of the Bible with his name stamped on it. We look forward to more and more discussions and doors being opened. Lift us up as we press on with language acquisition and for clear and effective communication. We look forward to the days where we are running and the days of baby steps are long gone.
I've been reflecting on our life here. How sweet it is. How simple it is. We do home-school, we cook, we clean up, we do laundry and hang it out on a rope across the back yard. We eat rice and beans, we visit with our neighbors, we read books and watch movies. It's funny how much time you have together when there's no where else to go. No mall. No playground. No restaurants. No high speed internet. Nothing but each other and our neighbors to occupy our time.
Our team-mates have been away for a while and I have found myself becoming lonely for the first time in a long time. A good sign for our friendship! It also is a good reminder for me to go study language some more so I can make better relationships with our local friends. Here's where the Baby Steps come in. I knew that relationships take time, and our long-term goals are realistically REALLY long-term in this environment.
I try not to get impatient, yet we are also looking for every little appropriate opportunity. And there have been some! In teaching the little English school, we are going through the alphabet and learning a few words for each letter. When we came to G, I used God for one of the words. In my pathetic Swahili, I said, "God built the sun and moon, God built you! And who does God love?" The reply: "God loves the stars". Hmmm, did I say something wrong? No, I asked who not what...oh I'll just tell them..."God loves you!" Say it with me: "God loves me!" Again! It took a few tries, but they know the answer now. They also know He is GOOD. I even taught them the song, "Mungu mzuri sana" (God is so good).
We also had the opportunity to pull the Bible down onto the table in the middle of dinner with our good local friends to talk about their son's name Zachariah. The father said he was named after the grandfather of Yesu. I clarified, "Yesu Kristo?" and he confirmed. Though the Bible did not support this theory, we were able to turn to the book of Zachariah and show them that their son has a whole section of the Bible with his name stamped on it. We look forward to more and more discussions and doors being opened. Lift us up as we press on with language acquisition and for clear and effective communication. We look forward to the days where we are running and the days of baby steps are long gone.
1 comment:
awesome opportunities!!
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