Welcome to our apartment! If you were here we would invite you over and in typical African style we would sit in the living room and we would have a cup of tea and talk about life. There would be no concern for time because you are important and you matter more than my schedule today. You might not be allowed into the other areas of our house, those are not for guests, but because you are special I have posted some photos so that you can see what life is like. I spend a lot of time preparing lesson plans, it's a rare occasion to be wearing pants so you are being let in on a private moment :). The other photo is my 'office', really just a space on the back deck, but I spend a lot of time there to, praying for you as I see your face on my picture wall and dreaming about how 50 people can get excited about prepositions. If you've been praying for my students to be engaged in class I want to thank you, this week my students enjoyed our lesson so much that another teacher had to come and ask my class to be quiet, ooops, once again I feel like I am playing the role of the 'crazy American' and doing it quite well, breaking all sorts of cultural bounds as I teach in a new style and make odd requests of my students and even make an uproar during class. I am thankful for the graciousness of the African Staff and of my students who, I'm sure, walk away very confused at the end of some classes. But I'm also sure we are learning from each other. It's more than just English, we are learning how to have patience, how to express our concerns and viewpoints and how to make it through this semester still respecting one another when we are finished. On Tuesday the 23rd Rachel and I will leave for Kenya, for an Africa Area Missionary Conference, I am so excited to be with friends but also to be refreshed and encouraged. Please be praying for safe travel and for a renewal of energy and insight.
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