Two weeks later....

The past two weeks have been fun filled! We took a 9 hour road trip from the capital city out to where our ministry is in a more rural part of the country. On our road trip I learned how to use a squatty potty, and a bush for a potty…. Both interesting experiences. The other girls that we are working with are a lot of fun and it has been a blessing that our personalities are good together. We spent our first full week out in the bush this past week and our family that we are staying with is great!! I got my African name- Tobo. It means that I was born when it was raining. Brad got an African name too! It’s Jabi which means he was born while his mom was greeting someone. My African mom likes to sing our names together and I sing them with her and she gets a big kick out of that! Our language teacher taught us how to say I want to have dreams of my boyfriend tonight. It’s “mi yiddi mi hoida gitdo am Jabi hande jalem”! Our family just thinks that’s the funniest thing ever too! Our language teacher has really been a HUGE blessing! He is a believer with an incredible testimony. He came to know the Lord through a couple of dreams and suffered some severe persecution from his family. He has the best outlook on life and has kept Lauren and I in good spirits during language class, which happens to be just out under a tree in our village!! Our hut is made out of dead dried grass and it really looks like hay. It’s about 8 feet in diameter and is round just like you would think of an African hut! We decorated it a little bit with some scripture on the inside and that makes it feel more like home :) We live in the chief’s compound with his two wives and a bunch of kids none of who are believers, yet. They are all Muslim and are at the beginning or Ramadan right now. It’s the Islamic time of fasting. They wake up around 4 to eat before the sun rises, fast all day, then gorge themselves right after the sun sets. This is a great opportunity to witness when they notice that we are eating and want to know why we’re not fasting. The family has done really well making us feel welcome and we all like to laugh together. We are not sure right now how many compounds are in our village so the first part of our ministry is going to be prayer walking and finding all of the compounds and mapping them out on a GPS system so that we can attempt to reach them all. We’ll also be taking out a tape player to play some bible stories in the compounds that welcome us in. Our language teacher wants to go out and do ministry with us too, which was an unexpected blessing! He is fluent in English and our tribal tongue and will be of great value in our ministry. He is also working on translating music into our language so we’ll be able to take worship music out into our village and have nightly dance parties! One of my favorite things so far has been shi. It’s African tea, and it’s sooo good! The men usually make it in a small tea pot that sits on hot coals, and it’s served in shot glasses. It’s super strong and super sweet! They usually do it at night and there is so much caffeine in it that we get wired right before bed! There are 3 rounds of it and you’re supposed to slurp it really loud! It’s a lot of fun! Lauren, the two other girls, our supervisor and I all go into town on the weekends to take a break from the bush. We get to go swimming and go to church! I’m really thankful for time to rest and recharge! Please be praying for our people that the Lord will give them understanding. He has really impressed it upon my heart that He is the one who does the ministry. He has the power and is the only one who can bring someone into salvation, so ask Him to do that! For me, pray that I will be content in whatever circumstance I find myself in, just like Paul. Also for our ministry that the Lord would lead us exactly where He wants us to go as we begin to prayer walk and map out our village and that each compound would be open to hearing the stories of Jesus. Your prayers mean the world to me, and it’s so encouraging just know that you all are praying! Brad said that his mom needed me to update more often so this is for you Lynn, glad you’re following! :)