A month in a glimpse:
Christmas: we missed getting to be with family… hardly seems like Christmas without being either with family in California or Tennessee. The hot weather confuses things a bit too. But the good thing was the opportunity to completely avoid shopping madness, to have a Christmas not cluttered with stuff; just a few meaningful gifts were enough.
Josiah’s favorite: Tool box with trowel and float block.
Elijah’s favorite: A plastic cow.
Charity’s favorite: baking sheets that actually fit in our tiny oven (the ones we brought don’t).
My favorite: A french press coffee pot (no power, no problem…)
While our holiday wasn’t dominated by stuff (some is still lost in the postal system here), we did have a holiday blessed with deepened friendships, both with Tanzanians who we visited, as well as those who came to visit us. We also enjoyed a Christmas meal with our wonderful teammates, plus an “explosive” new year’s party with a larger fellowship of missionaries (Josiah played until 1:30 with some new friends, as we blew up every Chinese firework we could find!)
Other highlights and lowlights:
The power is (mostly) back on here. The power situation here remains a great mystery, producing no shortage of conspiracy theories.
A tornado came through town a couple weeks ago. Waterspouts are common on the lake, but this one moved inland, displacing a couple thousand people, and killing several. The same storm brought large hail that battered Josiah’s corn stalks… Josiah worried about his corn, I worried about the truck. Both survived.
I can teach a little bit in Swahili. This exercise helps me build language skills, and fosters humility as well.
We had two birthdays… Elijah’s in December and Charity’s this past week.
Mwanza is having a problem with crocodilescrocodiles.
And the next time we build a house in Africa, we will know what we are doing.
More later…
Christmas: we missed getting to be with family… hardly seems like Christmas without being either with family in California or Tennessee. The hot weather confuses things a bit too. But the good thing was the opportunity to completely avoid shopping madness, to have a Christmas not cluttered with stuff; just a few meaningful gifts were enough.
Josiah’s favorite: Tool box with trowel and float block.
Elijah’s favorite: A plastic cow.
Charity’s favorite: baking sheets that actually fit in our tiny oven (the ones we brought don’t).
My favorite: A french press coffee pot (no power, no problem…)
While our holiday wasn’t dominated by stuff (some is still lost in the postal system here), we did have a holiday blessed with deepened friendships, both with Tanzanians who we visited, as well as those who came to visit us. We also enjoyed a Christmas meal with our wonderful teammates, plus an “explosive” new year’s party with a larger fellowship of missionaries (Josiah played until 1:30 with some new friends, as we blew up every Chinese firework we could find!)
Other highlights and lowlights:
The power is (mostly) back on here. The power situation here remains a great mystery, producing no shortage of conspiracy theories.
A tornado came through town a couple weeks ago. Waterspouts are common on the lake, but this one moved inland, displacing a couple thousand people, and killing several. The same storm brought large hail that battered Josiah’s corn stalks… Josiah worried about his corn, I worried about the truck. Both survived.
I can teach a little bit in Swahili. This exercise helps me build language skills, and fosters humility as well.
We had two birthdays… Elijah’s in December and Charity’s this past week.
Mwanza is having a problem with crocodilescrocodiles.
And the next time we build a house in Africa, we will know what we are doing.
More later…
posted by Kevin at 3:19 AM
1 Comments:
The holidays can definitely be tough . . . and so I pray that blessings will ease some of the difficulty.
I remember baptizing in the lake and having to put the thought of crocodiles out of my mind - even when some of the onlookers (curiosity-driven ones) said I would be eaten. I think they were just "messing" with me. I prefer cattle ponds to the lake.
Marsha reminisced yesterday about her small African stove after reading the blog of her niece who is in England and attempting to cook on one! Everything really is bigger in America.
May you find God present in everything.
Post a Comment
<< Home