Without borders.

   We had another week of government protests/shut-downs. Today was the last day of four in a row. Cue in the "Cabin fever" dance number from Muppet Treasure Island. A few days ago Shannon "discovered" multiple new worship songs-one of which was "Oceans" by Hillsong UNITED. This song has now become my song for the week and probably for the whole trip. I have always wanted to have a theme song. If I were artsy-fartsy I would make an epic photo collage of my time here to this song that would move people to tears.

At the last house in this country before crossing the border.

   The two lines that resonate deepest are "Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders" and "take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior." I find it interesting that often in worship we, the church, can sing words without meaning or understanding them. I remember in high school when the song, "mighty to save" was a big deal I had a conversation with two of my friends who had moms battling breast cancer. They spoke of how when they sing "He is mighty to save," they believe the words and did not understand how someone could sing the lyrics without ever having trusted Jesus to move mountains in their lives. It would be like singing "brokenness is what I long for" without really wanting to be broken or allowing Christ to show you where you need to change. We sing songs because they are cool or have great beat or because they sound "super spiritual." What would happen if the words we sang with such feeling came true? For me this song defines my current life.

The border.

Jesus led me to this country where the people, the culture, the language, the clothing, the weather and the food are not mine. My schedule has not worked out the way I had planned or thought that it would go. I have been isolated, lonely, hurt, discouraged and oppressed. Praise the Lord that these things are temporary. My heart for my brothers and especially my sisters is broken that some of these things are their normal. When I come home, I do not know how I will support myself, what my life plan is, or if I will die alone with cats. The beautiful thing is that for the first time in my relationship with Jesus my trust is truly without borders. He has taken me WAY farther than I could have wandered, but all so that I am at a place where it does not matter what happens tomorrow or in January. He has me in the palm of His hand and He wrote out my story before He created light, the stars, the animals and the first people. The fact remains that even though this trip has brought me to places that I never wanted to go and has been a constant spiritual battle I would go out again if He asked me because I trust Him. Where He leads I will follow.

 Picnic spot.

I am dependent on internet.

   My past two weeks have consisted of protests, shut-downs, power outages and no Internet. I had never thought of myself as being one of those "she has to have Internet to survive" type of people. In America, my phone is not attached to the end of my arm and I do not check on things while eating or conversing with people. Here, my phone/Internet has become my coping mechanism. When I get stressed or culturally overwhelmed I check Twitter. Besides giving me an opportunity to do something mindless for a bit I need the Internet to do my research. I had such high expectations for the week that I would meet a certain deadline in my research, but with all the issues I am not likely to meet that deadline.

    I did not realize how unmet expectations can affect me...or any person. Think of the last time you had an expectation, big or small. Did you think a family dinner would be one way? The meeting would go well? You would get to all your errands completed in that one day. BOOM. Life happens and the kids argue during dinner, nobody comes to a consensus during the meeting or Sally forgot to bring the coffee, and due to traffic you only got to half of your errands. How do we cope? I like to think that I am flexible and appreciate the change in direction because it is what God had planned. That I embrace the change. Nope. This week I have cried a lot. All because my small expectation of having Internet was not met for a few days. On Monday we did not have power from 5am until 3pm.
I did not realize that I had even made Internet an expectation.

Science experiment!

   The power is now working and obviously I finally have Internet, but I am still working on having "realistic" expectations-whatever that means. I do not feel that power is too unrealistic, but this is South Asia.

   I will no longer be able to go to the slums or parlor. The current government instability have kept me from going and after looking through my schedule with all the protest days and other plans we felt that the Lord was closing that door. I am okay about it because I did not have a chance to really get to know the people and I was still able to get some research done.

 We made home-made caramel for our Fall festival.

   The parlor is another story. While I was in Dhaka my local partner, Anna, went to the parlor to take the woman who became a Christian to be baptized. When Ruth went to ask for permission to leave the older brother of one of the other women came down the stairs and yelled at Anna. He insulted her faith, her education, and her dignity. Anna did well and got him to cool down after a bit, but he was unrelenting. In order for Ruth to get baptized she has to have his permission. He did not give it. Ruth has an interesting and sad back ground story that I will tell when I get home. Basically, this man has power over her even thought they are not blood or marriage related because of cultural matters.

 I designed a candy scavenger hunt for the kids.

   Anna left the parlor and reassured Ruth that she would return to encourage her. This Sunday Anna and I went back to the parlor and were met with coolness. The women who normally chat excitedly with us ignored us, the little boy that I have bonded with was shooed away from me and Ruth barely spoke to us. Ruth wanted to talk with us, but apparently the brother has them in fear of mingling with us. Praise the Lord that Ruth and Anna have phones and have been communicating that way. Ruth said that she knows that Jesus is with her and that she is a Christian. It was hard for me to leave that place knowing that I may not see them again. I may be able to take my mom when she comes, but nothing will be as it was before. The women, besides Ruth, have been lied to and manipulated. My heart breaks for my friends. I will miss them.

  It is no wonder that when Jesus walked this Earth that he was followed by the oppressed and poor. They see their need for him immediately while the rich and educated do not see their immediate need for a Savior. Jesus came to seek and save the lost and I am getting a clearer picture of what that looks like. Ruth saw her need for Jesus because she has no real home or family. Jesus has now become her home and fellow believers her family.

My main duties here are helping out with school and compiling my research. I still have a bible study with a local that I love and Anna and I go to another parlor. It is crazy to think of how the schedule has changed so much. We are all eager to come home for the holidays. Kathy has started packing and I am almost done Christmas shopping.

Fresh scenery

    This past week of my life has been full of culture, learning and adorable children. Coming to the capital refreshed my spirit and strengthened my resolve. I probably should have blogged throughout the week instead of trying to fit everything in one post, but I was busy the whole time. I was in the capital to research and interview people from a free school/center for some of the girls living in slums here. Hopefully my work will aid Kathy in the development of a similar center in her hometown. I stayed with two wonderful women who I grew to love and had so much fun with. One of the women is older and balances grace with not taking crap in a way that I have never seen before. She extended me so much grace this week as I taught some of the classes at the center. She is the current director of the center and will take on the world to protect her girls. I respect her so much. She also loves the show ER of which I watched my first episode this week.

   The second lady became a close friend as we are close in age and in personality. I would say we are soul mates and I wish we were partnered together. I did  not realize how much I missed companionship with someone my age until we started to go on adventures and tell stories and laugh. One night we went shopping at the the market and then got the most delicious milkshakes and I felt normal for the first time in awhile. We shared our life stories, our struggles and our dreams. It was all quite wonderful. Some nights the three of us would gather in one room to watch a movie or discuss our days. I watched Braveheart for the first time with them! I loved every moment.

I also enjoyed the freedom I have here in the capital. I got in rickshaws by myself and walked to a store alone and shopped independently. It was as free as one can get in this oppressive culture. My new friends took me in and made me feel integral to their week. I went furniture shopping with Rose, the older one, for their new center and she valued my input. Besides Kathy and Shannon I do not feel valued in this country because of my gender, age and single status. Rosie gave me a feeling of importance just by asking what chairs I thought would be best. The people here never ask my opinion, excluding K and S. They ignore me or go through my guardians first.

 Cutting the grass by hand.

   Currently, I am stressed and angry because of these actions. Today I just wanted to go outside and read, but a group of men felt it was within their right to cat call, yell and annoy Kathy and me. Ignoring does not help, because they are men and there is nothing wrong with yelling at women because I am a lowly bideshi (foreigner) woman. I currently have a great dislike for the men in this country and want to punch something. Instead I retreated inside and exploded on Jesus who is helping me cope. I digress.

   I went to lots of fun places while in the capital to eat and get dessert. Shannon gave me my budget in cash before we separated and I liked being able to pay for my own stuff knowing how much I was spending. Once again, it allowed me a sense of independence...sense a theme here? At one of the restaurants they popped in a Backstreet Boys CD and we listened to its entirety while eating.

   Now down to business! I loved the center so much. The girls are precious and sweet and eager to learn. I learned about the hardships of insider/outsider dynamics and about the cultural stronghold of hingshaw (jealousy). Without airing out all my findings it made me so sad to see that the women who worked the center had no real friendship because they are so worried about one upping the other and other catty things.

   I went to the center everyday that they were in session and stayed for different amounts of time. The center is open for the girls from 8-1:30 and then for women to learn vocational sewing from 3-5. Between those two times the staff eats lunch and has a Bible study. Let me tell you that Bangla food was the best I have ever had. My translator for the week cracked me up. She is 24 and quite flirty. She is a baby Christian full of personality. She made me laugh and encouraged me that women here can be on fire for the Lord. She also had the best clothes that she designed herself. When we get back home I am going to have a few outfits made for people and try my hand at clothing design.

    My translator, Lilly, was vital to to the whole process. When we interviewed the teachers, manager, cook and children she helped set them at ease. The teachers were so nervous. They thought I was auditing them. I think they even scared some of the kids because I noticed that as I interviewed more girls the more nervous they got. Which did not make sense to me at first because my questions were not intrusive at all! However I learned that of the five little girls I talked to we have a future police investigator, a Jesus worker, a university teacher, a judge and a doctor. These girls lives will be forever changed because they had the opportunity to get an education.

   Another interesting cultural experience this week happened when we had to go the hospital. Three weeks prior one of the little girls was playing in the street and a taxi bus ran over her foot. The driver, of course, kept going. The first day I was at the center Rosie asked if I could go to the hospital with her and her family because sometimes people get better treatment when they are with a bideshi. Sad but true. We get up there and they re-bandage her foot and talk options with her father. He started to get overwhelmed (I am not sure how much he understood) so he points to me and then points to the chair across from the "doctor." I am like "Whaaaa?" The father thought that I would be able to help understand. So Lilly and I sat down with the doctor to discuss the options. I am so thankful for Lilly because I had no idea what to do. I do not know the medical system here...I barely know it in America. We got a tentative plan which I proposed to Rosie who took care of the rest. Please pray for this girl. She needs a skin graft and the best hospital is far away from here. She will also need physical therapy which would be far away as well.

   Many more things transpired that I will treasure in my heart and ponder for awhile, but I think you guys have a good taste. When I come home I would love to go into more detail about these past week so please ask! I am reunited with the family again and we are stuck in the capital for a few more days because of political things. Please pray for our safety and for the safety of the people.

Rancid.

   I walked home from the parlor the night before Eid and saw many cows tethered up to buildings awaiting their sacrificial duties. I cried as I walked down the street partly because it was hard to look at something knowing it was going to be dead the next day, mostly because their deaths would be in vain. Jesus is the sacrifice. He already paid the price for our sins and gave us the way to the Father and to Heaven. The people do not know this which is why I am here amongst so many workers. Matthew 9:36-38 comes to mind: "When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into His harvest field."

Coming home from Eid.

   The next morning the family came to my place for a TV/movie binge. Jo, Ash, and Kathy were all ill. The kids were running 100+ degree fevers so that did not help the day be any better. The cows started to get killed around 9:30am and I went out to take you guys some photos, but I got way more than I bargained for and had to go to my room to cry, pray and watch videos of Crenshaw. There were 5 casualties around my house that day. After that experience I stayed in the movie room. Not much else exciting happened. Picture a room with five people, three sick and an all day pj movie marathon with chocolate cake. That's what we did and it made the room an oasis. Almost American. The sickness ended up being a blessing because Shannon and I were no longer able to attend an Eid party.

One of my new friends here put it like this:

"The annual ritual is finished.

Yet the sins of those who took knife to throat remain. The heavy weight of shame stays.

    Yesterday they were lost, among the unforgiven… today they are lost, still among the unforgiven."

  Cow killing.

    The rest of the week was pretty low key. Most of the places we go to are closed for the holiday so all I was able to do was visit one of my friends to study the word together. She is the shy one with whom I am studying Mark. During the week we read two chapters in the book and then meet up for discussion. I ask what her favorite story is, why it is her favorite, what do we learn about Jesus, what do we learn about man, and are there any commands to follow? She wants to be a doctor so all her favorite stories involve Jesus being healer.  My favorite this week was Mark 6:30-34. This story takes place right before Jesus feeds the 5,000 men. He notices that His disciples are weary so He tells them to go to a remote place and rest. While they are resting He sees a huge crowd and has compassion on them because they are like sheep without a shepherd. This story resonates with me because I wear myself out all the time. I try to be perfect and do everything. I also do everything with all that I've got so I wear out easily. If you know me I live passionately and with lots of energy. It can be exhausting. Jesus, having created me, knows these things and works my schedule out so that I have time to rest. He does not require me to be nonstop. He requires me to do what He has asked with the strength that He gives. I just need to take the time to go to that remote place and rest. He is a compassionate God.

 Bagged milk. I am so looking forward to coming home and drinking 2%. 

   This brings me to the next point. I want to have the same compassion for the people around me that He had for His people. The people here do not have a shepherd and wander around with their clay idols, rituals and customs. I had to explain what a shepherd was to my friend and used Tiffany Naugle with her love of goats as an example. Tiffany came this summer and bonded with my friend so I feel that God used Tiffany's love for animals and her love for my friend to speak to her.

 American club!

  Thursday night I went to Shannon and Kathy's to spend the night before we left for the capital and Ashlyn and I had one of our classic slumber parties. We ate chocolate cake together and watched Mirror Mirror. It was sweet and a moment I will cherish. I also Skyped Jenny who made me laugh and encouraged me. 

   We were on road at 5:30am to the capital. I got to ride in the front seat which meant no car sickness for me! Huzzah! This morning was a rough one. I was feeling culturally stressed and hated how bad the country smelled after Eid. The best way to describe the after Eid smell is poop soaked in urine covered in death baked in the fires of Hades. For real. I retched a few times and was quite nauseated. However, Jesus came to my rescue and we made it to the capital in time to go to the American club! This club is swank and you have to be a member to join. Your American home means nothing. You have to fill out paperwork and be sponsored by a member of the Embassy. Or you mooch off your friends like I did. We went to a church service, ate meat for lunch and sat by a pool. It was the rest I needed.

   The family then dropped me off at my house for the next week and drove off. I think Kathy feels like she dropped me off for college! I will not see them for a week, but we text. The women I am staying with are spectacular and I am enjoying their company. This week I will be conducting countless interviews for the center that Kathy wants to build in our hometown. This is the research that brought me over here originally so I am happy to visit the women's center here in the capital to see how it runs and gather information. Please pray that I will get what I need and will prioritize my time, money and priorities. 

American club!

"Foreigner, foreigner!"

   Anna has recently informed me that the local people whisper, shout, and sometimes exclaim "foreigner!" as we walk down the street together. Good to know I am blending in well...

   This past weekend has been packed full of activity. We had a wonderful family of seven come and stay at the guest house and I enjoyed all the activity. Sometimes it gets lonely in the house by myself especially during mealtimes. All five kids were wonderful in their own ways and made me feel a bit old. The oldest child is 16 and she and I bonded a lot. She is intelligent, passionate and sweet. The middle child, also a girl, is 12 and loves One Direction. When she saw my 1D cup she ran to sit in front of me, stared me in the eyes and after about 20 seconds said, "I bet you are one of those stereotypical Harry lovers." Caught me red-handed. She then stared at me again and stated she was going to guess my favorite color. She nailed that too. I am kindred spirits with a 12 year old. What else is new? I enjoyed all the kids, but the girls were my favorite.

Kathy broke out her Pampered Chef skills and we showed two of our Muslim friends how to make pizza. They had never tasted its goodness.

  Saturday morning Anna, Mark and myself went to the tea gardens to try and find the name of a little girl that my church wanted to show a picture of. We also went because I will be unable to go for another two weeks and I wanted to see the kids before I left. During my time here I have not been particularly drawn to the tea gardens and sometimes I feel like it is just something to do, but whenever I get there and start talking to the kids I feel at home. There are two little ones that I am drawn to. The first is a girl about 9 years old who always wants to hold my hand and the second is a 7 year old boy named Joy who has proven to be quite clever. I shared the gospel in color and told them they were beautiful. One little boy wanted to show off his fast running so I made sure to make him feel like an Olympic athlete by the time I left by showering him with praises.

 

 Joy is on the far left in the plaid and the girl on the last row wearing orange is the one who wants to hold my hand.

 

How Anna keeps cool.

   That night we had worship with all the families and movie night. This week was my week to share and I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to Psalm 22:1-5 and Joshua 4:1-9. I shared that in the Psalm David feels like God has forsaken him and that he is alone. However, he reminds himself of what he knows...that God is Holy and has never abandoned him before. This fact brings us to Joshua where God commands the Israelites to set up 12 stones from the Jordan river which the Lord had led them across to memorialize what He had just done for them. God knows that we are quick to forget His goodness to trust in our temporary feelings. I told the group of how my dad and I often let ourselves get overwhelmed so we have set up physical monuments to help us remember. If you have been to my house, my dad has rocks all around our scenic backyard that represent the times in his life when God was faithful. To top it off we have a boulder in our driveway that reminds my dad that God was faithful all throughout his depression and that God never left him. Mine is not nearly that big. I wrote all the times that God was faithful on the back of my college diploma. He was faithful in my friends, my roommates, my jobs, my grades, my internship, and that I graduated debt free. I then basically made everyone go around and share "a stone" from their lives. I think it encouraged them. It is very easy to forget God past faithfulness here in this dark country.

 

   The next day we went to a jungle and explored a bit. Two of our volunteers were chased by monkeys here this summer, but no such luck for me. I only saw the tame ones. We then went back to the tea gardens where some Muslims had set up the cattle auction for Eid Corbani on Wednesday. I will give more detail on that after the day. All you need to know now is that these cows days are numbered. Shannon took me to see the Hindu temple that was decked out for Durga Puja, the festival that honors a Hindu goddess. The Hindus make a little clay sculptures of the goddess and throw it into a river where it dissolves representing rebirth and new life. Somehow these extremely poor people were able to get a stereo system for the holiday and were blasting music. When they saw us walk up they changed it to "One less lonely girl" by Justin Bieber. It was weird. We then headed to a cafe of sorts where they are famous for their seven layer tea. It is so secret that they make the tea in a separate room with the doors locked. Kathy made a comment that this fact should be a bit disconcerting considering the health standards of a third world country, but whatever it was so good.

 I was incredibly car sick at this time so that explains why I am looking rough.

   After lunch Anna and I went to one of our parlors, but our lady there was too busy getting women beautiful for the holidays so we left. It takes a few tries for us to get a rickshaw home because it is quite a haul, but after three tries we got a guy. This guy was super cute. He looked like a boy that I went to college with that my roommates and I dubbed "clean skin boy" because of his flawless bronzed skin. Original right? Anyway, this driver looked like the South Asian version so I gave him a really big tip and called the day a success.

   As the time gets closer to Eid my spirit becomes more and more unsettled. I am ready for this week to be over. Please pray for these people as they are blinded to truth and believe that the sacrifice of a cow will earn them merit and will atone for their sins. More and more bulls come into our city everyday and each one serves as a reminder of just how hard our work is and constantly brings me to what I know. My wonderful friend shared this verse with me this week: "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9. With this verse in mind I will keep fighting the good fight trusting that God will do work in His own time.

Family bonding.

For not being a teacher I sure teach a lot.

   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?

Just playing soccer.

   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 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?

   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."

My electric mosquito zapper. At first I though it belonged with a Wii.

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.

 Family movie night every Friday night!

   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.

Sibling love before school started for the day.

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.

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.

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!

It hurt so bad.

No power, no problem

   We have had so many power outages of late it is getting way out of hand. If you do not believe me either ask Shannon and Kathy or the people that I have been Skyping. My computer is on the later half of its life so it constantly needs to be plugged into a power source to work. Therefore when the power goes I go. Sometimes I can just Skype on my phone, but that can be fickle to. I think my favorite moment was earlier this week I was talking to Sarah Burton and after about 30min my room, the screen, and my world went black. So then Sarah and I quickly said good-bye and I sat in the dark and thought about the meaning of life. It was only 7 so I was not very tired. I had a lot of time to think that night. Take heart! All this means that I have had plenty of time to to pray for all of you! So when you give me things to pray for know that they are being prayed for.

Family bonding.

   Many great things have happened this week! The Lord is moving and shaking in the lives of some of the people. The biggest breakthrough has come from the parlors. One woman in particular is open to the gospel and we will be meeting with her hopefully once a week to the study the word. The last time Anna and I went to the parlor I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to share my story and have them to do their own designs. The women at this parlor are very proud of their designs and I think they enjoy showing off their talents. It would be like showing van Gogh a picture from my coloring book and limiting him to that picture alone when I know he was capable of so much more. The bible story Hennas are required at the beginning stages, but these women have heard four of those stories and I could tell they were itching to show me "real Henna." I digress. After telling my story of faith and why I came to their country one of the women who we have been praying for since this summer said that she was interested in the gospel and wants to raise her children up in truth. Huzzah! Please pray for her and for the other women in the parlor. One of the other women is interested in the word and the other is guarded and reserved. She will take lots of prayer to take a baby step of faith.

We have these same flowers at my house so I like to walk by them and think of home.

   We have been unable to go to the slums because of government issues so please pray for those people and that we will have an open door soon. We will be teaching medical classes to the mothers. They will learn about germs, clean water, simple medicine tricks, washing hands, etc... I am looking forward to these classes. The people need this information so bad. Interestingly enough, the time that I talk about diarrhea I will also talk about the fall of man. How fitting.

   I have been in the classroom with the kids a lot this week and I love it! I am learning so many things along with them. This week we learned about thermal, kinetic and potential energy! That was a refresher for me. History is my favorite as we are learning the states. They seem to have a hard time remembering them all so if any of you know a song or a trick please let me know. Yesterday Jordan wanted to play Apples to Apples during break, but instead of playing the kids one he insisted on playing the "adult" one (the regular one). I told him this was a bad idea, but being ten he obviously knows more than me. It turned out to be hilarious for me to try and explain Rush Limbaugh, John Travolta and cults to the kids. My favorite memory was when Jordan asked me what happened in Boston, MS. Ashlyn replied with all the confidence in the world that "Boston is where Pearl Harbor was attacked which started the Civil War." So close. Do not worry I gently took apart that sentence and clarified some things. Still makes me giggle.

The nationals do not know what to think of this odd shaped ball we lovingly call a football. 

   This week I have been reminded that God never gives us more than we can handle and is always looking to make sure we have all we need according to His love and mercy. For example, the day we were supposed to start health lessons in the Slums Shannon was going to take over school and Kathy was going to go on a home visit. God said,"NOPE!" and knew that Shannon needed to spend more time doing budgets and encouraging Kathy, I needed to rest some and finish school with kids and spend time with Ash, who I have been a bit to busy for outside of school and that Kathy needed the support of her "team." So instead of me going to the slums, Shannon teaching school and Kathy going brain dead from too much studying we all were given the tasks that we really needed. Which lowered stress and made everyone feel better about life in general.

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   We also had the pleasure of going to a national's birthday lunch this week. When we sauntered into their home Titanic was on the TV. No one in that room had seen the movie more than once so we were trying to figure out when "the scene" was going to come on, because the last thing we needed was for Ash and Jo to see that and to be watching such an intimate scene with the ultra conservative nationals. Trust me, it would have been the most awkwardly hilarious moment of my life and I have had plenty of those! Using context clues we deduced when the scene was coming and Shannon turned off the television. We then settled down and ate the best native food I have ever had. Instead of being spicy it was buttery. I ate my whole bowl for the first time. We then gave Mark our present, a tent that he so desperately wanted and then we put it up, took pictures and took our leave. Quite a pleasant afternoon.

Construction team.

   Today is my sabbath so between the power outages (we have had three this morning alone) I am enjoying a relaxing day of Skype dates, reading and television. I hope that this letter helps you guys know what to pray for and made you smile!