This last week of my life has been full of rain, sickness and teaching. Jordan and I both caught the local bug from something and I battled it for about four days until we decided it was time for medication. Going to the pharmacy was interesting because here you just go to a shop on the street and tell how many pills of what drug you want and they give them to you. They open the box and cut out the amount you need. Quite low-key. It made me feel shady. Anna and I went after leaving the parlor around dusk so we had to cover our heads for protection, I am assuming. When it comes to cultural things like this I just follow her lead and do not ask questions. Anyway, I got the meds and have been feeling better ever since. How's that for a cultural experience?
Our country is currently in the midst of their rainy season and it rained for three days straight. Streets, stores and homes flooded up to the people's knees. Some homes try to be proactive with the rainy season by building up their door entrances so that you step over a two foot wall to get in. Pretty smart. On one of the rainy days our neighbors decided it would be great idea to butcher a cow in the middle of the road. Do not worry, they placed a tarp underneath it. It was quite nasty, but it is almost preparing me for the Muslim holiday called Eid Corbani where they kill bulls/cows for religious purposes on the street. We are planning a movie marathon that day.
The best news of the week is that Anna and I led one of the women we have been working with to a relationship with Jesus! The woman who we will call Mary told us the last time that we visited her that she wanted to become a part of God's family, but things got hectic and we were not able to follow up until this week. Anna and I talked with her about her decision to make sure that she was ready to make this big life change. She was confident that Jesus needed to be her King! We then asked her if she was ready to follow Jesus' example by getting baptized to show that she is dead to her old self and new and clean in her new life with Jesus. She said she was! We were about to find us a tub and do it right in the parlor, but Mary said that if she was baptized in the parlor then no one would know. So she said she wanted to be baptized at a church. So pray that this will be able to happen this next week! I am so thankful to have new sister in Christ and to be here when a new follower is born. We will be having a bible study/house church where she is every week!
I will be getting trained on what to teach starting tomorrow which I am quite excited about. Why must I be trained? Well in America most people have some kind of idea of who Jesus is and what his followers believe, but here that knowledge does not exist. Before you think about how sad that fact is I would like to insert that while they know little of God's word they know Him as healer and provider. How many American believers can say that they solely depended on Jesus for healing or that they prayed for a miracle and believed it would happen? How many people trust only in Jesus to provide their every need instead of their job or savings account? Anyway, we will be going slowly through God's word. Shannon gave me a great analogy: "sharing these teachings is like having a bag of M&Ms. These new believers can only handle one M&M at a time because they have no frame of reference for the Gospel where as most Americans can handle half the bag or maybe the whole."
A young lady who works with Mary is Muslim and is quite interested in what we have to say. She is the one who cried when she found out I left my country to come to hers. She wants me to teach her English. I told her that if she comes to our bible study I will teach her English based on what we have discussed. To start her off this week I taught her colors and numbers. She struggles with the word purple.
Besides this new friend, I am teaching English to a parlor woman on the other side of town. Anna and I waded through the streets on a rickshaw to visit her this week. I asked her what she wanted to learn and she replied with, "fish and sentences." Umm... I think she meant animals because I feel that teaching her the words clown fish, tang and trout would be useless in this culture. So next week I am bringing my "Go Fish" cards to teach her and my other friend animals. I am not a teacher so I am totally winging these classes. I think I will also begin with possessive stuff. I do not know. I asked my mom and Sarah Burton (Education major) what to do and they offered a bit of advice, but it looks like I will just make it up as I go and keep asking them what they want to learn. At this parlor Anna said I looked fat in American clothes and I battled a cockroach the size of my pinkie finger in the squatty potty bathroom. Super fun.
Anna, Mark and I were finally able to engage the slum this week! It was nuts. We walked up and next thing I know I am surrounded by lovely brown faces of all ages and genders. Literally. I have been really aware of my surroundings of late and I always try to plan my escape route and guys, I had none. A rickshaw closed me in behind and people were on all sides staring at me. I forgot all the language that I had learned. After an awkward pause we were invited into a home and given chairs. The little home filled with people and I was filled with peace. I came here to love on these people with the love of Jesus. I then went into my intro speech and asked permission to ask them survey questions for the health classes I will be teaching. It was a pleasurable time in the slum and I feel that we were well received. My translators were rock stars and I would be so lost without them. We will be unable to return for two weeks because of Eid and my trip to the capital, but I am at peace that we have engaged the people successfully and they know why I am there. Now to work on lesson plans! First class will be on germs and the importance of hand washing.
Today after teaching Ashlyn and Jordan, Kathy, Anna, Mark and I went out to visit the cook that cooked for the girls that came this summer. We did not know this, but she lives in a slum. This slum was like a maze and I felt that it would be easy to get lost so I stayed close to Anna. We have started to hold hands in slums because we need each other. It is very sweet. For some reason this home impacted me more than the one that I visited earlier in the week. Maybe it was literal and spiritual darkness of the home, maybe it was the foul odor, the queasiness in my stomach after drinking some bad water or maybe it was the little girl playing with a used condom as a toy. Since I could not follow the conversation I prayed the whole time. I prayed for Kathy who has been so burdened for this woman of late. I prayed for the woman. I prayed for the home and I prayed for the children. That visit will stick with me. There are so many needs in this country that it is hard not to get overwhelmed.
One another note I got my nose pierced. Live sugar!
Just playing soccer.
The nationals believe that if they keep their hair dry they will not get sick.
The best news of the week is that Anna and I led one of the women we have been working with to a relationship with Jesus! The woman who we will call Mary told us the last time that we visited her that she wanted to become a part of God's family, but things got hectic and we were not able to follow up until this week. Anna and I talked with her about her decision to make sure that she was ready to make this big life change. She was confident that Jesus needed to be her King! We then asked her if she was ready to follow Jesus' example by getting baptized to show that she is dead to her old self and new and clean in her new life with Jesus. She said she was! We were about to find us a tub and do it right in the parlor, but Mary said that if she was baptized in the parlor then no one would know. So she said she wanted to be baptized at a church. So pray that this will be able to happen this next week! I am so thankful to have new sister in Christ and to be here when a new follower is born. We will be having a bible study/house church where she is every week!
Who needs garbage disposal when you can burn your trash?
My electric mosquito zapper. At first I though it belonged with a Wii.
Family movie night every Friday night!
Sibling love before school started for the day.
This is, of course, a recreation since it would have been quite rude to take their picture. I am in the green with the bun, just in case you could not tell.
One another note I got my nose pierced. Live sugar!
It hurt so bad.
Wow! That's all I have to say...
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