I have looked at some of my past posts and I must not be pushing the spell check button- sorry all of you english/grammar weirdos:) I am one too, but these late nights and early morning cause me to do crazy things. AND Sorry I did not write last night! We were up late because of church then we watched Finding Nemo with all the kids. I am still pretty exhausted, their services last a longggg time with 3 sessions every day. They were good though- 5 baptisms this morning. I will talk about yesterday since I did not post..
Yesterday was pretty much filled with church. I sat in the front with all the little kids. I also had the joy of putting Baby Joyce to sleep. I need to get some mom arms, because my arms were falling asleep 5 minutes into the hold. Not good, she slept and snored for a good hour.
Some of my students donated Spiral Notepads which I handed out to some kids and they all took notes, which was very cute. I took notes and they all copied mine. That afternoon I made the mistake of whipping out some stickers for the kids. I tried to tell them to get in a line, then I gave up. Most of these kids had never seen stickers, and so they were fighting for them. I told the kids only one sticker, but problem was I could not tell which kid had a sticker already. I would walk around and see some kids with 5 stickers all on their faces-haha. Here is a picture of me getting mobbed.
Find the stickers...ha
I really had fun passing the stickers out, even though it got a bit crazy, and kids kept lying and telling me they did not get one yet:) Kids will be kids.
That night I went to talk to the women who were serving the food to all of the people (about 300 people) and they asked me to help them serve. It was a very fun experience- I was the bean girl. Boy do these women know how to cook for large groups... Here is a picture of them cooking.
After church I played volleyball with the young kids- that felt a lot like home, so that was good:) But then I went over and saw kids plucking feathers off of dead chickens(does not feel like home) haha. I am sure anyone who has done foreign work is used to kids running around all in church. It's something that would take me a long time to get used to. Kids as young as 7 carry their baby brothers/sisters on their backs in slings, and it seems like they just run wild. A few times I saw kids running with sharp objects... it is just funny how different our parenting styles are in America. I feel like I need a heavy dose of anxiety pills every time I see those kids playing around dangerous things or with dangerous objects. It's the mother in me. Everyone is really nice though...Very kind. They all ask how America is doing- never really know what to say to that one.
The lights went out... around the whole house and church- but the stars were amazing! You can actually see Venus really well- I love how they have different stars than us! I was enjoying the stars when Lyton jumps out and scares me (thanks to Duane all the kids find that funny:) He got me good...and luckily the lights came back on. I took a video of some of the singing, I thought you might enjoy a taste of Zambia.
Today ....No we did not have fireworks, but instead we got some gunshots- Before I go into that let me set the scene for you.... It is really cold here- like 50 degrees, and sitting outside can be painful, so a few of the men noticed that we were freezing and put a fire right in front of us. It was really nice of them, but just funny to sit in front of the campfire in a tabernacle. Anyways at the end of the service we heard a few gunshots in the distance- it was kind of creepy....then we kept hearing more and more getting closer. I was nervously laughing- if you know me, you know the laugh. Anyways it was pretty funny because we were singing and then you would hear a gunshot in a pause. The gates to the yard were locked, and nothing ended up happening, but it's just one more experience I will not forget.
Tonight I sat by the campfire with some kids and I listened to them sing, just having a connection with Christians around the world is such a blessing and joy! Then they started to ask me lots of questions. I think they way the do marriages and engagements is fascinating. They have to offer the girls family cows, chickens, or something like that to be engaged. A few of the guys said well I guess I need to go to America with only a ring. Another cultural difference is that the boys do not really talk with the girls, but since I am American, they can talk to me. The first few days the guys would not look me in the eyes or talk to me much, but now I just go up to them and they are getting more comfortable. You do not really see the teenagers talking to the opposite sex because it is inappropriate. I guess I was a rebel, but Duane said with me it is fine because I do not know their rules being an American.
That is most of it...I think I left a lot out, but I cannot think. It's 2:00 a.m. right now- Night!
I remember the being mobbed feeling when handing out "sweeties" in Jamaica. I'm sure those kids are loving you!
ReplyDeleteI remember trying to hire a girl to work for us and none of the "hirees" would look at me. I told Jimmy I didn't trust them cause they would look me in the eye. He told me it was a sign of respect to look away! ha dana c.
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