And the Thunder Rolls...

If anyone out there is questioning the power of prayer, I would say you probably shouldn't. I know there are probably many times when we feel like the Lord isn't answering but have you ever thought, maybe He's just telling us what we don't want to hear so our ears are closed off? Anyway...that's not really the point of this blog. The point is that after 7 months of living here it has finally thundered for much of the day. Yes, it rains here and it has been much of the last month and never has it thundered. Then the day before my birthday and even on my birthday there was a moment of thunder...one of those where you think it may be, but question the possibility and say it could have been a plane. But I missed thunder so much that I say it was definitely thunder. Plus, I had been praying for it and I trust that the Lord will provide even in the things some may think are silly. I continued to pray for it and guess what?!? He provided! And today it's unquestionable...it was definitely thunder because it happened more than once and it was normal, God is bowling thunder. So thank you Father for giving me thunder! I missed it greatly, You knew that and You provided! :^)

We Hosted a Christmas Party...Can You Believe It?

Last night we had about 25 of our friends over for a Christmas party. Yup, 25 people, it was pretty crazy but if everyone we had invited had come we would have had almost 50, so 25 was nothing. We had a lot of fun! Whitney and I spent the day getting things ready for it. We went to the store and bought some cellophane and ribbon to put some gifts together. We came up with some games to play. We made pizzas and brownies and then we set everything out and got ourselves ready. Our first guests arrived exactly at 5 pm, which was the time we had said it would start so we were actually pretty surprised. I mean, time doesn't really mean anything, I hardly even wear a watch and if you recall the last time I had guests over they were almost 2 hours late. The people trickled in until about 630 and we ate and laughed and everyone talked to everyone which was awesome. Then we played our first game...pictionary. Whit and I came up with some Christmas things for them to draw. We did our very best to make them things we thought they would know, but we failed on a couple of things so we turned it into a learning about American culture and what we think of when we hear Christmas. But then they really didn't know how to play pictionary either, but we managed. We finished that game, ate some more and then played another game...hehe, this one was great. We had 6 people volunteer not knowing what they were getting into and then we told them what they would have to do. We were going to put peanut butter on their faces and they would have to stick their face into a bowl of cotton balls to make Santa's beard. They all went and sat back down but we got them to do it. It was hilarious! I don't think the girls we made do it were too happy with us but they were good sports. After that, Whitney read part of the Christmas story to them and we talked about why we celebrate Christmas and what it means for us. Then they all left. We had a good time and after a really hard week with no one being in touch with me and having no Bible studies, much needed. As Whitney reminded me this morning, it's why we do what we do. To be able to bring girls together from all walks of life and they all enjoy each other is incredible. To be able to share each of our lives in a group setting is awesome. It was great to have them over too because it caused me to remember how much I do love them. Yes, they cancel on me, yes they are inconsistent and some just don't get it, but I love them.

We Have a Tree!

I never thought I would ever spend Christmas in Africa. And when I decided to move here and realized I would spend Christmas in Africa, I didn't think I would actually decorate my house for it. I had no idea I would be able to purchase decorations here. And if you asked me a couple of weeks ago whether I would be decorating my house, I probably would have told you "I don't think so" or "maybe but how and with what I don't know". But then we heard some of our friends here were selling some of their stuff because they are leaving in a month and one of those items was a Christmas tree. Whitney and I jumped at the idea and the next day we had a Christmas tree. We took it out of the box that night and put it together. Then we went to the "mall" and bought some Christmas lights, flashing ones at that (it's all they had) with no ability to plug strand to strand because the strand made a loop and so basically there is only one end and we added a few ornaments that were given to us. This week we finally bought some ribbon to put on the tree and I guess you could say it's finished. It's a little bare of ornaments, but we haven't had a chance to go out and buy some. We could go this week, but not sure that we will. But it was fun to decorate. We have stockings hanging on the wall, not by the chimney with care, but by the window with care :^) Maybe Saint Nicholas will soon be here, but only if Whitney is lucky...I'm thinking she's getting coals in her stocking.

And Then There Were Two...

This past Tuesday, our roommate Keri took off for the states...the start of big changes to our team around here. She was the one who could keep us in line and keep us from forgetting things. I'm now afraid that our house is going to fall apart. She was a rock of a woman, amazing prayer warrior, awesome friend and very wise in the Lord. She will be greatly missed around here but we know that the Lord is going to do even more great things with her as she walks through this life. So as her last hoorah we decided to go spend the day at the beach. I know, I know, we spend a lot of time at the beach or at least it seems that way, but if you lived this close to some of the greatest beaches in the world you would be there as much as you could too!

My prayer for you is that the Lord would give you "wisdom and understanding so that you will walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord". That even if quite a few more months go by and you still aren't sure what He wants you to do, you will not be discouraged or dismayed and you will continue to walk faithfully in Him, knowing that He is faithful to you. I love you!

To My Family...

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about my family. It's the holiday season, a time filled with many traditions and I am not able to participate in any of them with my family due to being miles and miles away from them. But since moving here I've grown to appreciate them more and more with each day that I can't just hop in my car and go see them. I miss my dad with whom I can just sit in a room with and not say a word, knowing that all we need is to be there and all is well. I miss my mom who asks me tons and tons of questions and while I usually got flustered with so many questions, I always knew she was interested in my life. I miss my sister whom I hardly ever talked to when I was 15 minutes away and now wish I could talk to more but can't because there's a 9 hour difference. I miss Glenn, my sister's husband, who pesters me like only an older brother could. I miss my grandparents who always knew how to take care of me and who just wanted me to come over so they could tell me about the good ol' days, whether it be true or some crazy, made-up story and I was the only one who would listen. I miss the laughter of my family. I know that this is a bit of a downer of a post, but there is much that I have learned from all of this. I've learned how to appreciate my family. I've seen how much they love me. I've been able to take a step back and look at them and love them even more than I once did. I long to see them again but I trust in the Lord and know that He will comfort me as I spend this season basking in His presence and completely relying on Him because He is all I have. I am getting to truly see the Lord as the baby in the manger who came to reconcile my relationship to His Father. I am getting to experience Him in ways that I have never experienced before. So in this season, family, as you spend it with one less chair at the table, remember that I am being held by a most loving Father. Remember that I miss you greatly and long to be there but my life is not my own and so I walk in faith towards the Father.

As all of you know the other day was Thanksgiving and it was my first major holiday here in Africa. We had a good time and most of the day was a bit different than "normal". We decided to head out to the beach and spend the day there. This was the first time for that...the beach on Thanksgiving. The only problem was that the beach we usually go to we couldn't really get to...they are developing a lot out there and so the roads are being closed off. We found a road that got us there but we weren't suppose to do that and the guy came out and told us we had to leave, but we could park somewhere else and walk to the bungalows we sit at. So we went a little ways down and parked and then trekked out to our bungalows, it was a lot farther away than we first realized. And then we got there and the guy said we still had to pay the 2000 shillings to use the bungalow which we all thought was ridiculous but we still paid. We enjoyed being out there and the ocean was great as well. But then while we were out there the crows came and ate some of our food...half of mine and Whit's food so we had a sandwich and a small bag of cheese nips between the two of us. Oh and the crows attacked a book too. They weren't very nice crows. Well we really didn't do a whole lot there just relaxed which was beautiful. I did get to open one of the gifts that my mom sent me...Grey's Anatomy, Season 2...so exciting! And I could then say I got to spend my birthday on the beach...I've always wanted to do that, either the beach or a pool party and I finally got to! After that we went over to one of our friends' places and had a turkey dinner...turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, potatoes, the works. We had a lot of fun and this year I didn't have to sit at the "kids" table. And that's about all to the day. It was a great day! And it was good to do something different from "normal". However when we got to dinner, I did start to miss the fact that my family wasn't there. I was happy to be with my family here but I missed my grandma's turkey and stuffing and celebrating my birthday with my aunt because hers is a couple of days before mine. I missed it but there are a lot of things that I am grateful for:

1. I have the greatest friends here...wonderful roommates who encourage me and hold me up, great friends on campus who I get to pour my life into and encourage and a beautiful community surrounding me.
2. I have the greatest friends located around the world...people that know exactly what I'm going through, people that are very wise and I have learned a great deal from!
3. I have a supportive family in the states, who loved me so much that they were very proud to send me overseas.
4. I live a life that is worth living...my faith is in Christ and He has given me life and for that my greatest desire is to glorify Him.

Part of our trek down to the part of the beach we normally go to...we had to go over barracades and brave the sand and heat :^)

This was me and Whit before the crows got to our lunch. Keri thinks were weird because we don't have very many pictures where we are just smiling without our mouths wide open.

My first birthday present...Grey's Anatomy...woohoo! And Mom you would be very proud because Whit likes to take multiple pictures so she got a few shots of me opening the gift.

Our turkey dinner...it was yummy! Nice to have a great dinner with all the works.

Us roomies...see we can take a "normal" picture, but who's to say what's "normal", isn't it all relative anyway? Don't worry we really weren't that red, just a little glow from the day in the sun and as always it was completely tan the next day, no red left.

Oh and I have to add...did anyone see that the Aggies beat t.u. the day after Thanksgiving?!? Yea we did...first time in a few years but who's really counting. It just makes me happy that we closed out our regular season this way! Gig 'Em Ags! WHOOP!!!

Dinner for 8 anyone?

Last week I invited one of the girls I study with and her roommates over for dinner on Sunday. I spent the day slaving in the kitchen trying to put together something that was nice but also easy to do for 8 people. I chose to cook spaghetti, a family staple back home in the Moorehead household. Of course I cooked it a bit differently from my mom, the main difference being that I put meat in the sauce (yes mom, I eat meat in my spaghetti now and dad it's a lot better when the meat is cooked in the sauce so that it can soak up the flavor). I also made some homemade chocolate chip cookies using my favorite recipe, mommy's of course, she always made the best cookies (the cookies were made possible thanks to Mama P and her sending me chocolate chips). And so when it came closer to time, the meal was pretty much prepared, I just let it sit there and soak up the flavor, and then I hopped in for a beautiful cold shower (it's getting really hot these days, we are unsure of how we are going to make through the next 4 months). And it was time to just wait for them to show up...well about 615 I got the phone call..."we are just now getting prepared." What does this mean I ask myself and hope that it means we are gathering our things to walk out the door and catch the daladala (bus). Alas, 645 rolls around and still haven't received the phone call saying we're at Survey so that I can meet them on the road and bring them back. So I call again and Nancy says they are still in the room getting prepared and she'll call. Finally at about 715 I get the message that they are near Survey so I start to walk, taking Whitney along with me for it is now dark. We met them and then saw how dressed up they got for this very informal dinner...I always forget that they really like to get dressed up when they can. We started eating around 745, only 2 hours after the meal was actually ready. But it was great to have them here. We had a lot of fun just hanging out and talking about life, all the general getting to know you stuff (Whit had never met them so questions were being asked and I learned a few things myself). Then I brought out the cookies and everyone dove in (they loved them Mom). We took a few pictures and then we looked through my photo album that my sister made for me before I left. It was great to go through it and tell them about my family and friends. Then of course I had to explain the tattoo on my back, which for me is always fun because I get to talk about the greatest girls in the world! But after that they had to leave because many of them had tests the next morning...but before we left one of them was like we should pray before we go (someone else taking leadership so amazing!). I prayed and then we piled into the Rav and I drove them back to campus. This Rav doesn't have a radio though so I told them they had to sing and they did. It was so much fun. I love these crazy girls!

All of us: bottom-Erika, me, Mary, and Rose; top-Esther, Nancy and Angel

Angel, me and Mary

Nancy, me and Erika (these are the girls that I specifically study with, many times some of the other girls are in there hearing what's going on).

Rose, me and Esther

Nancy wanted a funny face contest...we tried to do a funny face pose before but the girls in the front wouldn't make a funny face...we finally got them to do it.

A Few of My Friends...

I finally remembered to take my camera along with me this week and snap a few photos of my new friends here. So now I can share with you who some of them are. It's definitely not exhaustive of the friends that I have here but a couple of them are who I spend most of my time with. This is Edna...she's one of the first girls I started a study with. And she is one of the girls that I have told will be a leader next semester. She chuckled a little but she agreed to it which is awesome! She's from Uganda by the way.

This is Angela...she's in the same study as Edna and also another one I've told will be a leader next semester. She chuckled as well...what is it with people laughing at the idea that they are going to be a leader?!? But she's willing as well and that's all I need to keep pushing it.

This is Agnes...she just started coming to the study I have with Edna and Angela. She's really cool too, has a lot of knowledge and is usually able to relate what we are studying with another passage...it's really neat.

This is Nancy...I just met her a week ago and she started coming to one of my studies where I am storying through the Bible. She's very talkative and has a lot of insights into what we are reading.

This is another Nancy...I met her a while back. She's really awesome too, I look forward to seeing her every Monday and am very sad when she can't meet. This is the room where I go and there is usually a lot of other people around, provides for some great opportunities. She and her roommates (there are 6 in her tiny room) will be coming over on Sunday for dinner...I'm so excited about this!

This is Stella and well she rocks! We just started meeting this morning and we are talking about the various women in the Bible so to kick it off we talked about Eve and everything she caused. She's very wise and has a lot of insight into what God is telling her. It has been pretty amazing to get together with her. She's from Uganda as well, one of Edna's roommates.

So these are just a few of the girls I meet with...these are the ones that I spend most of my time with. They are all really amazing and I know that God is going to do some amazing things through each of them. I'm just here to help them get out of the boat. :^)

Tanzania Chainsaw Massacre...hehe

Last night a group of us here got together for really what was our rendition of carving pumpkins for Halloween. Yes, it was a little late and no, there weren’t any trick-or-treaters, nor were there any costumes (except Whit taking the kanga that she wore to the house and making it a cape), and actually there weren’t any pumpkins either. We instead carved watermelons because here they are round and a bit easier to carve than the pumpkins. Whit and I were very reluctant about this night of carving watermelons and honestly didn’t really want to do it, but since we were there and there were 4 watermelons, we decided to get into it a bit and came up with a plan. We worked together but took 2 of the watermelons because the 4th was an extra and made our rendition of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, of course this Texan is not so proud of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as I would assume all aren’t, but it was fitting for the night. We called it the Tanzania Chainsaw Massacre. I would sit here and describe what we did but the pictures speak for themselves. We just tried to have a lot of fun with it. Then we all judged the three creations and well they all were given a category, most thematic (ours of course), most geometric, and cutest. But you know overall Whit and I won. We probably had the most fun doing it and that’s what mattered to us.

Whit being a superhero in her kanga cape, she was Swahili girl with the amazing power of speaking fluent Kiswahili...HA

I was concentrating on my creative superpowers, don't need a cape for this :^)

If you look really closely you can see a tear rolling down this guy's cheek (left side of picture)...poor guy already seems to know what is coming.

The scene of the crime, still fresh from occurrence.

The competition...the one on the left was the cutest and the one on the right was most geometric.

So after the results came in, our creations ended up outside and there really was a massacre. The culprits were able to escape from authorities, but the evidence was there. Looks like Whit did it to me, she seems too happy at the site of watermelon guts. We were not able to find a survivor in all the carnage, but each lived a good life with the exception of one.

I Live in Africa...

I have to remind myself of that everyday. Nothing is predictable around here and you have to figure out ways to go about life. Nothing is convenient and time goes slow. So here are some of the things that I sit there and remind myself I live in Africa over...

There are many things that I have been doing but haven’t had the pictures to post about it because many of them have been times that Whit and I have been together and well she always has her camera on her so I figure I’d default to her for taking pictures…so beware this will be a long post I’m sure.
First I’ll start with the night I went to drama and worship practice for the service that I attend. Whit is part of the drama team, she’s just there for critiquing and to help push them along and well this night I decided to go because she had to stay for the worship practice as well since our sups were out of town and I was about to make her get up in the middle of the night to pick up my friend from the airport (yes, this was that long ago). So I wanted to share some pictures of the peeps who are involved in these activities…a few of them we meet with for Bible studies, many of them not, but they are all potential leaders so you can pray that the Lord would give them a vision for spreading truth among their classmates.

Then here are some pictures from a night where we didn’t have any power. It has been really bad lately and very unpredictable when we will actually have power and when we won’t. A little over a month ago, the city went on a seven days a week, no power from 7 am to 7 pm. We are pretty fortunate because we are on the university line, a government run facility, and therefore we still had power, every once in a while it would just shut off but for the most part we had power. But then they decided that it wasn’t fair for everyone else so we went on a three days a week without power from 7 am to 7 pm. Unfortunately things are so unpredictable here that the schedule never held true. And really we knew we wouldn’t have power Monday, Wednesday and Friday but the other days it was anyone’s guess. Then when the team got here, the rest of the city had power all of the time, but we were still on rationing and still we never knew when we would have it or not. Then we had power for a few days in a row and it was great, of course, yesterday it seemed to go back to “normal” schedule, it cut off at 7 am and so we expected it to come back on at 7 pm. Yea it didn’t. It came back on around 830 or 9, then shut off again, then came back on and then shut off again until 1030 this morning. Thankfully we are in short rainy season and it was a pretty cool night (just because it’s rainy season though doesn’t mean it really cools things off, when it’s not raining it’s hotter than hot!). It’s really hard to figure out what to do when you don’t have any power, especially in a place where time just ticks along anyway. We end up reading a lot of books. Unfortunately with that we go through them fast so we will probably run out of books to read before the year is up (so if anyone wants to send us some books they’ve read that they found were good, we welcome it!). So one night when we were in unpredictable power outage, Whit and I busted out our headlamps and played some cards. We had some fun with it!

One of the American girls that we do a Bible study with had a birthday at the beginning of October. They all decided to go out for her birthday and asked us to join along and we thought, hey we hardly ever get out, it could be a lot of fun, besides we get to spend some time with these girls outside of study which is always fun. They ended up going out to Seacliff and well this area is another world. Basically when we go there we feel like we’ve stepped back into the Western world. There are a bunch of white people around, mainly tourists, there is a food court, and little expensive shops, it’s really quite crazy. This night we went into one of the restaurants that was there and it really was like we stepped into America…American music, booths, totally weird. The food wasn’t as good as if I had gone to Chili’s or something of the like, but it was still good. We then went to the hotel in the area and bowled! It was so much fun! We danced to all the crazy American music and had a blast playing the game. I upset a Canadian because I completely out-bowled him. He really didn’t even compare (the unfortunate thing for him though is that if we had played a second game I probably wouldn’t have done as well, I tend to fade after game 1, weird I know). It was a great night though. Then when we had our study with the girls, it was actually her birthday and so we celebrated again. The girls had bought her a bunch of random things, not things that you would take home with you or buy if you were here as a tourist, more household type things, you could only get in Africa. We showed up with some brownies and they went crazy. They had tried to find some stuff to make brownies with but alas that kind of thing is hard to come by and they couldn’t get a hold of us so when we brought them they went crazy. They brought some ice cream and we put candles in the ice cream for her to blow out. There was a bit of wax but oh well, we live in Africa. Then we all ate out of the bowl, passing it around for everyone to get a scoop. The things you do to celebrate your birthday around here.

And lastly here is just a random picture of some guys hanging out on a billboard they are supposed to be putting together. I thought it was quite a fun picture.

the haps of the week...

We had a team in town this week and it has been pretty crazy around here because our new members, the Oaks, joined us as well. So every morning we trekked to where they were staying, picked them up, and headed to where the team was, then headed to campus for a good bit of the day, then headed back for dinner, then took the Oaks home, then came home ourselves. Thankfully there were many times where I was able to come home and rest, which was nice. And I rested a bit on campus too, sitting in the grass and relaxing is beautiful, reminds me of the good ol' times at "the farm". The team has been awesome though! They've been going about the day in full force, encouraging some of the people we know and meeting new ones. I think we have like 5 or so new girls to start visiting, which is awesome. I don't really know what else to say about the week. Still have to kind of process it all, a little too tired from it all to really sit down and think about it...maybe next week after I've been able to recover. At that time I will also have pictures of their trip. I'll even have pictures from a boxing match we went to tonight...it was cool, slightly boring fights (the last two were more energizing), but it was fun to watch all the drunk people run around being crazy. Ok, I'm going to rest so sometime soon I can actually process things.

Being an Aggie

Ok so when you tell people you're an Aggie, you get a lot of jabs especially if they know Aggies. I pretty much expect it from everyone I meet unless they are a fellow brother or sister. But I must say that I am pretty darn impressed with our football team this year. And this past week I've really started to miss being in the states and having the ability to watch my Ags play football. The past few years, they've really stunk it up and the year I decide to move they've picked it up. Of course, many of their games this year have been nail biters but they make for amazing games. I realized how much I missed going after viewing some photos that a friend of mine took when she went to a game. To be in that atmosphere again where pretty much everyone in the stands is a crazy Ag is so awesome! To stand up for the whole game because you've got their back if they need it, is a feeling that you can't describe. And to be there during a winning season well I'm sure it's just crazy out there, especially when we are BCS ranked baby! Yes I know, we're still low on the totem pole and the tides can change at any moment, but I'm still proud of their season this year! Way to go boys! I may be miles away, but I'm ready to go in if you need me!