Missing Africa...

I've really been missing Africa lately. A lot. I miss the culture. I miss the people, especially the friends I made. I miss the laid-back way of life. I miss the value people hold on relationships with each other. I miss the chai. I miss the food. I miss doing ministry there.

I miss how seriously they take God, sin, and the gospel.

Here in the US, life is "easy" compared to life in most other countries. For the most part, we have what we need [and want]... or could pretty easily get it.

clean water.
electricity.
food.
a solid structure to live in.
a job.
a car.
clothing.

And not to mention all the "extras" that the average American thinks is a necessity.

With all of our basic needs seemingly taken care of without much effort, it's easy to "forget" about God and depend on him for our every breath.

I'm reminded of this today as I reflect on our time in Kenya. Life in general was just more difficult. Most things didn't come as easily. I woke up most days with the feeling of dependency on Christ to make it through the day.

I miss it.

Am I brave enough to ask the Lord to take away whatever He needs to in order to make me truly depend on him?

 [mike and jake during a mission trip in meru]

 [having a good time in meru]

 [village traffic]

 [mama peris' baby]

 [me and mary]

 [the market]

[the girls]

 [the whole crew]

[me, 17 weeks pregnant]

 [jake and joseph]

 [jotham]

[jake]

[ little things ]

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First of all, I want to give a shout out to my parents, who celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary last Saturday, on the 26th. Happy [belated] anniversary! You are both great parents and we miss you a lot.

There have been a lot of 'little things' going on around here lately... not huge changes, but I figured we could update you :]

We spent last weekend in Meru with four students and a student leader. The weekend was basically a "Weekend Challenge," and all of the students had a chance to share during one of the sessions. The theme was "Make Straight the Paths" based off of Matthew 3:3. It was a good weekend, but definitely an exhausting one for me! It was neat to see some more of the African culture and see more of Kenya. We've been staying in the same place for a long time so it was fun to see some different things and meet new people. Here are a few photos from our weekend:

[this is the car we smashed nine people and all our luggage into for a half an hour ride]

[this is the church where the weekend challenge was held]

[kate leading the children's sunday school class]

[i figured out how kenyans stay so thin but are able to eat so much: they dance. all.the.time]

[mike, the student leader, and jake]

[the team, minus jake, who is the photographer, and me, who was resting at this time]

[meru was a very beautiful place!]

It's hard to believe that I'm already almost 10 weeks along... sometimes it's difficult for me to believe that I'm actually pregnant, because I've been feeling so good. I've had very little queasiness, and my only main symptoms are that I'm extremely tired all.the.time and my emotions are giving me a roller coaster ride. I think my first appointment is next week sometime [I say "I think" because Juli made the appointment for me when she took Arielle in for an appointment, so I'm not exactly sure]. I'm kind of nervous! I know what to expect for a typical appointment in the States but I'm not sure what to expect here... I guess we'll see!

Juli's parents, Bob and Kathy, came in the middle of June and stayed for two weeks. It was sooo good to have them here! Bob and Kathy are really special to us and it was such a treat to have them here. I'm sure they enjoyed spending time with their grandbaby and with Eric and Juli. I really enjoyed the hugs from Kathy. It was just so nice to have them here... I miss them already!

It's Friday, so I'll be teaching the all-girls session tonight. Besides doing that, I've been meeting with one girl every day for some one on one time. I think we've all been enjoying it. It's nice to get to know them better.

Jake is still teaching an evangelism course on Wednesdays, and he's been doing work on the barn, trying to get that finished. We're also trying to figure out a solution to our water problem... not exactly sure what the issue is, but we don't have any water! Rainy season is definitely over so our supply of rain water has been finished.

If you could be praying for one of our students, Flo... her brother passed away earlier this week. Please pray for her and her family as they are grieving.

I think that's all for now... I just heard that there are some turkey eggs about to hatch, so I want to go check it out!

Blessings!!


PS. Kathy, this is just for you, because I forgot to show you how to comment on posts before you left :] See at the bottom of the each entry where it says "comments"? You can click that, and a small box will pop up. You can write a comment, and click "publish" and it will post to my blog :]