Fire & Honey

Sadly I have to report that our computer/internet situation has declined even more...a few days ago our laptop stopped charging. At first we thought it was the charger cord that had died but now we are pretty sure it's the actual charging port that has gone out. The computer is over 5 years old but has been working perfectly well the whole time we've been here, never had a problem with it at all, and then just out of no where, it decided to stop charging. They don't have any apple stores around here and even if we could find one, it is very expensive to get a charger port replaced because they have to take the whole laptop apart. So we will probably just end up having to buy a new computer when we get home which is a bummer since the actual computer is still fast and fine! But we might take it to an apple store once we get back to the States to see if there is any cheaper option. Until then though, we are without computer here :( Bummer!

Luckily for us, we are sharing the house we are staying in with a man named Ricky while he oversees the building of his family's future home here at the orphanage. The Cook's will be here full-time serving as volunteer coordinators. And Ricky has nicely offered to let us use his laptop for the rest of his time here until the end of November! So, I will still be able to blog sometimes but I'm not sure if I will be able to upload anymore photos while we're here because the internet out here in the bush is just not usually fast enough...sorry :( I will try though!

So last week we had one day that was really packed with adventure. Here is the story:

• After teaching in the morning, Dane and I were in the house reading when someone came and told us that the field behind our house caught on fire! Wes and Ricky were both gone so a bunch of the brick makers ran over to help contain the fire. It is pretty amazing how well they can contain the huge wildfires here. The grass around the orphanage is all really tall elephant grass, some trees, and other dry foliage so the fires get huge and spread really quickly. But the men jump right in there and get them under control, it's pretty sweet to get to experience something like that. I do not understand how they can handle being so close to the flames either! But it was actually pretty fun for Dane and I to get to help. They have grass fences around all the houses here so you have to wet them down if there is fire in the field behind the house to stop the fire from taking the houses. So, at one point I was standing out back with one measly garden hose (that did not have much water pressure and couldn't reach all the way to the fence) trying to wet down the fence while watching 12 foot flames shooting up right on the other side. The brick makers were the ones on the other side of the fence fighting off those flames. Talk about adventure!  
• After the fields had burned some of the Zambian men that had helped put the fire out apparently found a bees nest in a tree in one of the fields. So they took some grass that was still smoking after the fire and smoked the bees out and took the honey combs! Dane, Hilda, and I were watching the whole thing and the men came and gave us part of the honey comb to try. It was awesome!! So we got to eat honey straight off the comb, right out of the tree. How much fresher can you get? It was sweet and delicious. And I got it all over myself...but it was so worth it :) The men definitely got a kick out of watching us eat it with such excitement.
• After the honey tasting experience, we went to help Debbie, the farmer here, contain the fire that was near her animals. While we were helping her, the two milk cows, Martha and Daisy, got out of their pen (a daily occurrence here haha) so Dane and I went to get them back in. Talk about an action packed day. That is what Dane and I really like about life here though. You never know what job you will need to help out with and each day brings it's own adventure. When we decided to come to New Day, neither of us imagined that we would wear so many different hats here like teacher, fire fighter, farmer/gardener, and so many more. But that is what life is like here and being flexible is key to surviving! We enjoy that and the opportunity to learn about so many different things. Some days though, the adventure is more fun than others and adventure here always has the chance of getting dangerous so we are grateful that the adventures of this day stayed on the safe(r) side ;)

Here are some other things we've been experiencing here at New Day:

• Last week we also helped teach language arts for Laurie which was fun. We are starting to get the hang of this teaching thing more now that we've had some practice!
• Went to the village at Kabonga (with the old man) and did Bible study again. In this culture, the women wash everyone's hands before a meal so I learned how they do it and even tried it out on Hilda. Every time we go to Kabonga, they have a new treat for us to try. This week it was roasted peanuts! It is a sign of welcoming and friendship to offer guests a food item. I love the simplicity of what they give us. The villagers have nothing compared to how much we have and yet they offer their best. It is really touching to see their caring, welcoming hearts. Kabonga continues to be a highlight of my week every week. 
• One of the little girls here named Precious had to be taken to the hospital in Macha (a small village about 30 mins away) because she was very sick. She is still in the hospital due to some illnesses they need to treat and more tests that need to be run. She may have to be taken to Lusaka (the capital of Zambia) if she does not start getting better. Please pray for this sweet girl that God would heal her and help the doctors figure out what they can do for her.
• Rainy season is starting here which means a number of different things! First, it is cooling down more which is a welcomed break from the 114 degree weather we have been experiencing! The house got down to 75 degrees inside for the first time since we have been here the other morning so that was really exciting haha. Another thing the rainy season brings is power outages. This is a major part of life in a 3rd world country. Even out of the rainy season, the power goes out at least 1-2 times a week here to avoid black outs. These power outages are not scheduled so they occur randomly without warning and can last anywhere from 5 minutes to a whole day (it was out for 8 hours 2 days ago-yuck!). In fact, the power just shut off as I was writing that sentence haha! Anyways, the rainy season can cause the power lines to fall because they get really strong storms here and so if that happens the power can be off for hours or even days while the power company goes and finds the pole and fixes it. I really hope we don't experience any of those because that is when you have to start thinking about throwing all your refrigerated food away and stuff like that. These power outages have made me realize how much I rely on electricity. Like a ton. Because of the fact that you never know how long the power will be out, you can't open the refrigerator or freezer while it's off and during those really hot days (even nights) going without a fan is not fun. It also has made me realize a little more realistically what life is like for all the people around us that live in villages without electricity or running water. Living here has, above all, challenged my idea of needs vs. wants and necessities vs. luxuries in life. That is one of the many heart-changes I am grateful for and want to carry with me when I leave this place.

We are really having a lot of fun here and experiencing more incredible, new things than I could write! A lot of these things are also very challenging to our currently held views on how to do life. And some days, you do just get tired of all the hard stuff and miss the comforts of home. We have had a unique and rare opportunity to see just how much the full-time missionaries give up to live here and how many hardships they have to overcome. That is why we wanted to come for a longer amount of time. Don't get me wrong, I think God can do a lot through just a week. But being here for 2.5 months makes you look past a lot of the initial glamour and see the reality of what it is like on the mission field. This includes some amazingly heart-warming moments and some really, really hard moments. We are grateful to see them both because if we are truly going to consider going into the mission field long-term, we will be better off having the experience of both the good and bad. Thank you so much again to all that enabled us to go on this trip financially and through prayers. What an awesome opportunity this is.

Well, I better get off the computer so that this one doesn't die too just in case the power stays off for a while :) Please pray for: our health, for Precious to get well, for God to reveal to Dane and I what our next path in life should be, for God to put a barrier of protection around the orphanage as they continue to face widespread opposition from the enemy, and also that Dane and I would get to go on our safari soon!

Love,

Bailey