Africa time

Africa time – means anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour or more later ☺ awesome
We often reply to many comments with TIA - “this is Africa” ha I think some of us forget sometimes ;)

Yesterday we took our girls to the beach – each house of people in the school (our house is 10 ladies…) get a room of girls that live here! Adopt a dorm – we got 2 rooms – 18 girls! So we take them 1 room at a time - it was so much fun! To really get more personal time with some of the kids! Usually on the base there are hundreds of kids and most of them are asking for your stuff and it gets hard to keep a soft heart when you see all the begging spirit and orphan spirit, both of which we are told not to encourage… so we try to act towards them as you would your own children. Teach them not to beg or pout, yet they have so little its hard not to just feel sorry for them! Anyways, we took our room of girls to the beach and got them a soda and candy! It was so much fun just to play and talk! To love on them and show them who they are in our God, how He loves them unconditionally!

I just tried out my theory for working out in Africa! I figured that I could use my back pack and put enough big water bottles in it to be heavy enough and use the handle to lift! It actually worked for a few things! Yay! I was able to do front raises, curls, bent over rows and upright rows! Ha ha okay for you who think I am crazy for this, I am sorry, its just part of how God made me! I love to exercise and have missed it a lot!

I am loving all the accents I am surrounded by! How the British call the kids cheeky little monkeys… how my room mates call flash lights a torch, they call candy lollies, and flip flops are either thongs or dandles…
My towels stink like wet dog, and I cant seem to change it no matter how much I soak them in soapy water and wash them by hand, then dry them on the line in the sun… I usually walk away from my laundry thinking something like well… at least maybe it’s a little better than before… or its sooo hot! That’s good enough! Ha, nice! My clothes will probably never be the same, stained with red dirt! I am so thankful now for washing machines, they are surely a gift from God way more than I knew before!
All my meals consist of rice…
The beans usually have some lil black bugs in them… I try to pick them out, but we don’t get much meat so its kinda like our protein!
If I don’t let my clothes fully dry in the sun on the line and take them in damp… the little eggs the mango flies leaves in them will hatch and get into your skin! You then have to squirt them out! A girl here has already gotten them… needless to say I let my clothes dry fully in the sun on the line!
When I leave apparently I will most likely have worms in my stomach! Just from the food we eat… they give us de-worming medication when we leave… this disturbs me a lil…
I had the best trip into town yesterday – we took a couple of the village kids with us! They were so sweet and helpful! I love pouring love into a child who doesn’t get enough other wise!!! Little Tiebu walked with me holding my hand, he would pull on it to guide me away from the giant holes in the sidewalk, the random trees, and the trucks coming at us! It was so sweet! Ha ha I realized what he was doing after a few times and was really touched… God brought to mind how gentle the boy pulled but if I noticed it was for my protection, he knew best… just how God speaks to us and guides us… not by force, but gentle and sweet, we have to want to listen, and to feel Him guiding us… we don’t have to obey, but chose to trust Him to guide me in His best for me!
My hearts desire is to mother children not my own biologically or my own color… to take them in and show them the love of our Father!
I am liking the shower situation ☺ some of you know that even back home I didn’t shower every day! Ha, here we only get about 1 minute of shower each day, so I could take super short shower every day or I can wait a few days and take a 3 minute shower! Ha so that’s what I do! Probably wash my hair every 3 or 4 days! Its amazing! Oh and around my ankles might be permanently stained a brownish red color… ha!
Oh and also, I have received tons of awesome gifts from God! Felt His presence closer and seen Him more and more… dreams, visions, pictures, through prayer and worship… and lots more! I also received the not so nice gift of bed bugs! Ha I had to re-spray my mattress and wash my sheets, it seems to be better!

God keeps reminding me through all the spiritual warfare and attacks from the devil (he hates all were doing here and all Gods doing in us!) that God is bigger, He is bigger than ALL things… God is biggest. Anything were facing, He overcame on the cross… His blood covers it ALL. Wow! That’s so powerful for me! He also keeps reminding me to place my thoughts, my mind, my heart in heaven, in a higher place spiritually! That is so helpful… I love my Jesus!
He reminds me to never question God. What He has said, what I have heard. I remain firm and strong in His will! Not shaken! I am excited to see what is next in my life! I feel like God is telling me that He will show me the next step later on… He wants this to be such a time of intimacy between me and His, so I fall in love with Him so deeply I will never fall out! He wants that secure, deepest, supreme love so that even when I am married I am never tempted to put my husband above my God! He is always so much higher than anyone I love on earth!!! This takes some time to really go deep! I feel like that is what He is doing right now and sometime before I leave He will begin to show me the next step!