Why I like that music video...

I really liked that music video for a few reasons... and I think they all have to do with transition. I think I shared a similar graphic when I was in Dar... and now it's all happening again!!!

Changing to a new job, new people, new town, new cultural norms, and deeper language interaction is a lot. It's normal for people in any life change to go through this cycle of ups and downs. Lately I've felt more in the down part... The "who am I?" question.

Who am I when no one here really knows me yet? Who am I when I make friends with a person from a completely different culture and socio-economic bracket? Who am I when I'm writing policy to help a learning center keep families on the field? The answer, I know, is to first as, "Who is God?" then "Who does He say I am?" Even that feels difficult and foreign sometimes. So that's why I like the video... a visual/audio reminder of My Lighthouse, the beauty He creates, how He created us to be creative in worship, and how we get to do that together, in the Body... or the band.

Art. Nature. Truth. Unity... A Good Combination

Levity In the Classroom

Levity: the treatment of a serious matter with humor.

I have a little notebook; I started keeping it at my first job, after realizing that teaching is challenging and that I take myself too seriously. So I started writing down some of the funny things kids say: The free entertainment of a teacher. The notebook helps me balance my focus between the serious responsibility of my job, and the lighthearted, joyous, silly subjects of my job.

Here are some levity additions from teaching here at Lake Victoria Learning Center:

"Since I was thinking about Star Wars all evening, I won lots of battles in my dreams."

After reading a simple (yes/no) phonics workbook question: "Is a lobster ticklish under it's nostrils?" 
The student reflected, "I've never tickled a lobster... if I did it would bite me... unless I used a long stick... but it would have to be light enough so I could run away quickly... but not too light because it might bend too much..."

When asked why he and other students were lying curled up in the dirt, while other kids ran around them... 
"It's a new game. You pretend that you're a seed and somebody plants you. Then if you get watered by the plant monster you have to chase him." Is this an effect of my plant unit?!

"I told my mom I'll have a good attitude TODAY after school, because it's after art." What does that mean the other days of the week?!

An Update on Jita Jonah

A while back I posted about the progress in translating the book of Jonah into Jita, one of the 8 languages in process in our Musoma office. Now, Jita Jonah IS IN PRINT! Pictured here are the translators and the translation adviser, with freshly printed copies. After printing, the adviser delivered a copy to his neighbor who is an older Jita man. He immediately gathered his Jita friends together and they read the Bible together in Jita!

Ode to a Silly Joy

Is it a tennis racket with a galactic twist?!

No, for those of you who can't buy one from a friendly vendor while waiting in a traffic jam... this lovely device is a mosquito vanquisher; with a casual flourish of the arm multiple mosquitoes can meet death by electrocution.

It's so hard to time a swat of the hands perfectly to catch a mosquito, hence the joy of wielding one of these. ...Buzzing, itching, possible malaria or dengue fever... all evaded by one swipe!

Prayer Board

• Please help us not to get worried.
• Thank you for sending your Spirit.
• Thank you for school.
• Help Braden get better soon. x3
• Thank you for my dream.
• Thank you for the crickets.
• Please help the Ica people to get the Bible in their own language.

Join us in our morning prayers! I have the joy of leading a prayer time with the older kids each morning. As the kids come in they write down praises, thanks, and requests. Then we read a devotional from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. Then we pray. It's a refreshing way to start the day. I love to hear the kids' prayers... especially how they pray about things big and small.

My Joys are Like the Everlasting Hills

When I am with God 

my fear is gone;

in the great quiet of God

my troubles are as 

pebbles on the road,

my joys are like

the everlasting hills.

Walter Rauschenbusch

Encouragement comes in many forms and places. I've needed encouragement lately; it's been half a year since I was last in a place I'm really comfortable and feel known by friends (WA State). Since then I've lived in two towns for 3 months each... I'm settling in this place, but I don't have strong heart connections with people yet, naturally. So, when worries arise or the enemy sends lies that make me feel condemned, I don't have as many places to go. There have been some lonely and dark days.

I want to say that in these times I find all the comfort I need in God's Word and prayer... I feel like that's the "right way," the truly spiritual way. But, I think that God works in many ways. His Word does bring hope and truth that lightens my path, but sometimes it's hard to metabolize it on my own and sometimes praying by myself feels lonely.

Humorously, one of the lights of hope I saw this week was in a new friend's bathroom; she decorates with pretty cards and quotes. I copied the quote, which you see above, and later illustrated it. Drawing and coloring in connection to prayer and reflection has been another joy lately. And, I am most thankful for meaningful time with people here (unity in the Body of Christ): I was able to share some of my struggles and pray with a couple ladies at Bible study. One of them invited me to hang out soon. I went walking with two ladies the next day and over to one of their houses for ice cream and a movie the next day. God works in many ways.