The days seem to fly by. Here we are, in Africa! It's exiting to meet new people, plan fun things, take beautiful vacations, all the while knowing something big is happening to the lives of people here. I've experienced many embarrassing moments in the past few days, by just trying to be friendly. I'm not saying that trying to be friendly is bad, but the more you do it, the more you learn from your mistakes. I'm not the most social person, so it's hard to find friends.
I've been learning Luganda, the local language. It is very hard but I'm picking up a few words here and there, sometimes enough to figure out what they're saying. It's amazing, that here, the younger the Westerner, the easier to pick up the language and the accent. I'm sorta in between 'child' and 'adult', which means I'm picking up the language but not as fast as someone younger than me. Maybe that's not true because my parents keep telling me I'm the farthest along than anyone in our family. I don't know.
Hard work is the key to survival here. I remembered the passage in Genesis that says 'you will live off the sweat of your brow' or something like that. It is very true here. Our family group, my dad, Micah and I were mounding for sweet potatoes. When I say mounding for sweet potatoes, I don't mean we are looking for sweet potatoes, I mean we're gathering dirt to plant the sweet potatoes with. This proves to be hard when you need to gather lots of dirt in one place, get all the weeds out, and continue to the next spot. At the end, if you do it right, you will have a nice long mound line. Micah got dirty from playing in the mounds when we were finished. I got blisters from handling the hoe. Oh well, my hands aren't as blistered than as when we first came. I take that as a good sign.
Please pray for us as we settle in. Our house will most likely be finished by the end of this month, we still need to get furniture and paint, thank you Aunt Sherri, MorMor and family for putting our tubs together. We have them and are loving the M+Ms!
Please also pray for our hearts toward each other, it's hard on emotions to move from one place to anther halfway around the world. Thank you everyone for your support!
-Kara :P
Kara,
ReplyDeleteI remember when you were born... we lived in Chicago and are friends of your parents. You have turned into a beautiful young lady.
Praying for your family as you are on this big adventure for God.
In Christ,
Kristen Rounseville