Yay for Absolutely Incredible, Amazing, Beautiful Friends!

For about over a week my amazing friend, Amber, was in town! She got here a couple of Fridays ago...in the middle of the night, mind you, but hey we got an extra day out of it so I was happy to stay up until all hours of the night. First time I've done that in quite a few years...man, been out of college too long. But we still got up decently early and headed out to town to do a few things anyway...like a pedicure...that was fun, wish they would have massaged my feet a little longer, but alas, I'm not in America. So we didn't do an extreme amount of stuff around here...mostly we went to campus to visit my friends and we went to the beach, which, of course, is the best ever. We stayed at this cute little bungalow and pretty much just laid on the beach for two days. It was nice to get away for a while and just be able to sit still in the presence of the Lord. And to be able to do that with one of the best people in the world was just awesome...to be honest words cannot describe. It all definitely felt like home with her around. To be able to talk like old times and share what's going on knowing that she understands and could pretty much read me like a book was the best. And to top it all off, the Lord didn't think that the one week was enough for Amber to be here and so her flight was delayed and we got 4 extra days. Yippee! I wish there were words to describe what this time meant to me but there are none that really could portray it so that you might understand...so I will head to the Word of God...no better words than what is in there anyway.
"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!" Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
AND
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends." John 15:13

And this is the post that my friend did...she has more of cultural craziness in hers...

TOP 10 DAR ES SALAAM!
So this past week I’ve been in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to visit a good friend and I thought I’d give you my “Top Ten Reasons to Visit Dar” complete with pictures. Then my plane got delayed a few days so I’m still here and thought I’d add another number for the extra days:

11. English Magazines (All the best – Time, The Economist, GQ…you can probably guess which two I bought).

10. On the Road Stuff: awesome billboards, driving on the “wrong” side of the street and ghetto rigged radio (you have to set these things up if your stereo gets stolen).

9. Two words: Dr. Pepper. It just makes the world taste better. (So do A&W rootbeer and crunchy Cheetos!)

8. Bungalows and the Beach. These are at Kipepeo Beach where Mar and I spent one night on the beach. The place is pretty much complete with restaurant/bar, rooms, the beach and the Indian Ocean. You know a girl from FL has to have the beach on her Top 10!

7. Pedicures. Yeah, we get gross feet in Queensland and having someone else scrub ‘em off, rub ‘em and paint my toenails a pretty pink was amazing.

6. Mama P’s Gingersnaps. That’s right - my mommie’s package of cookies for Marissa arrived while I was in Dar so I got to enjoy them too!!! They are delicious, and you should request your own box sometime or at least ask for the recipe.

5. Restaurants: seafood, Indian, Chinese, Lebanese, American, Tanzanian…mmmmmm.

4. Short sleeves and no bandanas - all day everyday inside and outside.

3. Green grass and awesome students at University of Dar es Salaam. I got to meet lots of the girls Marissa works with and we had some beautiful bonding time on the grass hanging out under the trees. That is something I really miss from UF so it was just like hanging out at home. I also went to their on campus Sunday service which pretty much rocked it just like GCL (my college church). I felt like I was at home for a couple hours there.

2. Marissa! Yes, the best thing about visiting Dar is my friend Marissa. We basically spent the whole week encouraging each other and getting to work out some of our experiences from the last few months. She took me in and created safe space for me to vent, cry, laugh, joke around and just chill with her for a week. It was refreshing to have such a close friend sing my song back to me when I had forgotten some parts. I am thankful for this week and for everyone who lifted it up.

1. Flying regional airlines that cancel/delay and getting bonus days with Marissa!

Busy...

Hey everyone! I just wanted to make sure you knew I didn't fall off the face of the earth. My friend is in town and we've been having a blast and very busy. It's been great to have her here and be able to be encouraged and to be encouraging. So I just wanted to let you know I'm still here and doing well. Actually doing pretty amazing! One of my closest friends is here what could be better?!? Pictures will come at a later date.

More Internet...

Well, our internet is still just chugging along. Hardly ever working which isn't a whole lot of fun when you are trying to communicate with people back home. At this very moment in time it's working, not very well mind you, but who knows what will happen in the next few minutes. Of course, we did decide to invest in getting an antenna on our roof or wherever they actually put the thing (you'll see why I said that in a minute). But when we called they said they wished we wouldn't because at that very moment our signal was fine. He said he'd call me back in 5 minutes and guess what...he didn't. So the next day we went up to the office to talk to them about getting an antenna. Well the trip to downtown took longer than it did to talk to the guy about getting an antenna. He said he didn't think they had one in stock but if they did they would be out the next day otherwise it would be the next week, but he would call me soon. To my surprise he called yesterday morning to tell me they would be out in an hour. Of course that didn't happen and about two hours after they called the electricity went out. And five minutes later is when they decide to show up. Go figure...they couldn't do anything when the electricity was out. Probably a little less than an hour after that the electricity came back on. But alas no workers to come hook up the antenna. And well the antenna was not what I was thinking it would be and I'm not sure where they actually put it. It kind of looks like a power strip (without the sockets of course) and then has a cord coming out of it to be plugged into something...what I have no idea. Hopefully they will come out tomorrow as they said they would and this will all be taking care of. I'm also hoping that the signal will be so good that the internet works a lot faster and maybe, just maybe I'll be able to keep updated on football scores while the games are taking place. But I'm not banking on it. Hopeful, but very realistic.
On other news...a very good friend of mine is coming out to visit me and will be here in less than 5 days! Woohoo! I can't believe it's almost here. Continue to be praying for our time together, that we would both have words of encouragement and wisdom that only come from the Father.
And also, I'm now studying 5 books in the Bible, well actually 4 but I'm preparing for 5 different things. Currently I'm going through 2 Kings for my own personal enjoyment. And well I could stop that, but I've really been excited about going through the history that I find it hard to just stop. So I don't think I will. But now I'm involved in 4 Bible studies. One, Hebrews, I only have to facilitate every few weeks so that won't be bad but I still have to be prepared for discussion. Another, Peter, I co-lead so for the most part I won't have to do much preparing except every other week and we might try to get some of the girls in it to also facilitate. And then two others, Corinthians and Chronological Bible Storying, that I definitely have to prepare for. Not complaining, just a bit overwhelmed. I've never had to prepare for 5 different Bible studies, let alone read 5 different things simultaneously. I know it will all go well and being that it is what I'm here for, I know I have the time...I just pray that I won't mix things up and confuse everyone else.