It's been a week now, and I can really say that I enjoy it here. Everything is going well.
One lesson we are really learning is with reference to what we're calling "Africa time". In America, everything is fairly punctual, and we get upset when people are too late. We plan our time and our events days or weeks ahead of time. Here... not so much. We had a tentative itinerary when we got here. I don't think we've done much of anything to schedule. In other words, not only does Africa time apply to minutes (and hours), but it also applies to days. I called someone from Turame (the microfinance org here) to see if I could meet with them in about two weeks, and the guy replied, "uh... that too far... call me next week." It really made us laugh.
And speaking of Turame, I met with them initially the day after we got here, and the meeting went very well. I'm looking forward to meeting with them again sometime soon to see how they operate in the field.
I'm also very excited for our opportunities that are developing with our church here. I can see so many opportunities for small investments that would provide a good return for the church and the people. I'll develop that more after returning to the States.
Our days usually consist of something like this:
Get up (7-10 am)
Go to the market or somewhere else (10-12 pm - this is only occassionally)
Lunch (12-1 pm)
Sermon preparation and relaxing (1- 4:30 pm)
Church/Bible Study (4:30 - 6:30 pm)
Dinner (7 - 9pm)
Sleep (10-12 pm)
Some women of the church (the pastors wife and a couple widows) cook for us and their food is delicious!!! That has really been a blessing. Also, the coffee here is really good.
We haven't been affected by misquitoes too much, which has been nice. The one exception is Emily who seems to get bit by everything (we keep joking that she has pure evil running through her veins and that such vile creatures are attracted to her for that reason). But I think we're doing better and not getting bit much any more.
Be sure to check out the link with group photos to the right. We uploaded a couple. The internet is very slow here (like 28.8 dialup) so we could only get up a couple yesterday.
Blessings upon you all.
Christopher,
ReplyDeleteIt's so good to hear from you. It is so interesting and helpful (and amusing) to hear the comments and observations of you and your team members. We continue to pray for all of you.
I am glad you are eating well and enjoying the coffee :) We miss you.
Mom