Picture Blog

Well, it has already been an adventure just getting internet to blog today in Choma! We came last minute this morning and I forgot our internet stick so we bought (cheap) time at an internet cafe here but then it wouldn't connect so we finally are on!

I apologize that I haven't been able to blog but we have not been to Choma in over a week and I just cannot get the website for the blog to work with our slow internet in the bush. So, here are some highlights of what has been going on over the past week for us! I am feeling much better and my digestive system is FINALLY normal so that is awesome :) I have been able to actually get out of the house and feel like I'm in Africa thankfully! Dane is still healthy so please continue to pray that both of us would stay healthy for the remainder of our time here!

This is a photo I got of 2 women walking in the market. The one on the right was carrying that basket full of water bottles with water in them. Sometimes the women here carry as much as 100 lbs on their head!

One of our many nasty 8-legged friends you've heard so much about

Last week I told you that we got to watch them burn one of the fields. It was AWESOME! Here are some pictures of what it looked like.

Christina, Axer, and Precious walking home together after school :)

Last week Dane and I had the privilege of going to Bible study in one of the villages where a 93 year old man lives (it is almost unheard of to live that long here). The village was beautiful with huts, flowering trees, and different animals everywhere. I felt like I was walking onto the set of a movie.

Wes showed us this beautiful grasshopper- yes grasshopper!

Me with Hilda, one of the teachers at New Day that we have a lot of fun with. She was the interpreter during Bible study that day. I love her!

A beautiful flowering bush in the village.

 Dane, Wes, and Ricky watching the fire to make sure it doesn't get out of hand :)

 I had never seen a fig tree before so I had to get a picture! Hilda broke the fruit open and showed us.

 We also got to see a Boabab tree which was awesome!! It was huge and the bark is extremely hard. They grow to 100s of years old. Hilda also showed us the fruit and asked if we wanted to try it (they say it tastes kind of like cream of tartar) but we declined since I was still having digestive issues. Then she showed us the sead that these HUGE trees come from...

 Isn't it amazing that something that big comes from something this small?! God is an awesome creator.

 Dane sitting next to the old man during bible study.

I saw this little guy creeping closer and closer to our group during Bible study so I went to make friends afterwards. He just kept looking up at me and smiiiling so big :) When we were leaving I looked out the back window of the car and saw him following us with a big smile and waving at me- melted my heart. I am excited to go see him again! 

 Cooking here has taken some getting used to because they don't have a lot of things we are used to using in America but Laurie gave me her recipe for lasagne and so I made it for the first time! It turned out pretty well too :)

 The kids have been begging Laurie at school every day to have Dane and I set the pool up so this Saturday we patched it up the best we could and had them over for a swimming day! They were beyond excited and had lots of fun! This is me with all the New Day girls.

 And Dane with the boys. Clearly, boys do not pose for pictures as well as girls :) There was also definitely a difference in the amount of splashing that went on when the boys had their time in the pool haha Very fun!

Dane has taken over the job of watering the garden every evening and this is how dirty his hands get after just 30 minutes of work! He is really enjoying it though, we'll have to get a picture of him in the garden sometime. He waters tomatoes, maize, rape, peppers, cabbage, okra and other things- it's a pretty big garden! 

Dane and I are so grateful for this opportunity to see what life as a missionary in a 3rd world country is really like. We have seen that it can be very difficult with health problems (a little too much for me!) and adjusting and it seems that every day new opposition arises against the efforts and cause of the orphanage. One example: we were at a new believers bible study this last week and nearly every time someone started to pray, a dust tornado would come through the outdoor church we were sitting in and it would get really loud and throw debris everywhere. Spiritual warfare is very real here. We have seen many different situations like that one where the enemy tries to interrupt prayer or times of praising God but we have seen the power of God prevail. The same day that all the dust tornadoes came, we saw 7 people decide to put their faith in Christ for the first time! In fact, that entire week had brought with it a lot of troubles, including some of the construction workers stealing a lot of materials from the orphanage and having to take 3 different people to the medical clinic for semi-serious issues, but New Day witnessed 14 people decide to give their lives to God in that one week. Praise the Lord! Dane and I have also felt growth in our hearts because here we are desperate for God and we have to lean on Him in ways that we don't at home. Since I have been here I have had to trust in God for everything. From my health to just having a vehicle to get us from Choma back to the orphanage before dark. And through this I have realized that this is the way I want to be all the time. So many times I start to try to rely on myself to get through life, and at home that can be pretty easy to do some days because of all of the technology and resources I have. But in reality, those are the days when I am empty because I am not getting filled with the only thing that really fills us. My prayer for my life is that I would hunger for God to fill me every day no matter where I am.

Some updates:

Yesterday Dane and I went to church in a different little village nearby and there is a little boy (about 2 yrs old) named King that lives there. Wes said they have barely ever seen him smile. I went up to him after church to say hi and he just started laughing and smiling and playing with me. Wes could not believe it and neither could the rest of the New Day staff when we told them upon our return. I'm not sure why he liked me so much but it is just such a blessing to hear the laughter of a sweet little boy that lives a harder life than I could probably imagine. I can't wait to go back to that village and see if I can make King smile again :)

I wish I could write so much more (because there are so many more sweet blessings like King's smile that we have been able to experience) but my internet time is running out and we have to go finish running errands. I will try to get my blog to work at home this week- probably no pictures but hopefully I could at least tell some stories. Thank you all so so much for your prayers, please keep them coming! We are getting quite a bit more used to life here which is really nice, but there is always something that challenges us, stretches us, or is just plain uncomfortable every day. We are so thankful that God is using these things to grow us, because that is the way we often grow the most- through adversity and discomfort. But it is so comforting to know that we have people at home praying for us so thank you all for your support!

Love,

Bailey