I am really sorry that I have not been communicating through blogs recently. I have opened countless word documents, but words do not come, and I feel speechless. However, I made a promise to my mother that I would write while I was here, and unfortunately I have not lived up to it. So today I am going to force it to happen. My blogs may be very short but I am determined to say something.
Well Nicole left yesterday, it seems crazy that is 7 weeks I will be leaving as well. It always seemed like I would be here forever haha. And now its coming to a close.
The women of Adziwa are starting a project where we are teaching them how to cut and sew fabric ornaments to sell in the states. The money will go directly into the womens pockets which is very good.
The first rain was last week. It was amazing!! We have not seen a drop of rain since we got here, and we could smell it coming. The kids could sense it too, they were a crazy mess all morning hoopin and hollarin. When it finally rained me mo and Nicole were in womens bible study, but morgan excused us so that we could go and play in the rain with the kids!!
Also last week, we got word that the water association agreed to let Adziwa make a connection to get clean water pumped into the complex!!
I am reading not a fan by kyle idleman. It has challenged everything I believe in and what I consider Christian behavior. The most important part I would say so far would be spiritually dying of yourself. That is such a crazy concept, but I don’t see how so many people have missed it. Our job here on earth is strictly to bring glory to god and worship him. Period. So if we are supposed to be his vessel where he can do his will through us, why would we think that we should ever be in control. Of anything. Surrendering to god means that you literally take yourself out of the equation. It does not matter who has hurt me or how I feel about any situation. God says to be quick to become angry when it comes to injustice of others, but quick to forgive and forget when we have been wronged. Duh ellie where have you been!
I am learning more and more Chichewa each day, it is so exciting. I have 4 pages of words I have learned in my journal and yesterday at the airport I found a Chichewa English dictionary and a Chichewa grammer guide! So I am determined to at least become conversationally fluent.
I am also applying to college right now and am feeling very stressed out. There is so much to be done, 4 essays, 2 school applications and 2 scholarship applications. Add onto that all the letters of recommendations and deadlines that occur before I even get back to the states! The deadline for mtsu scholarships in in 6 weeks!! I have to trust god each step of the way that I can get this stuff done and trust that he knows better than I each move that needs to be made. Plus I feel bad sometimes of all the things I have to ask my family to do back home. I mean there is a long list of crap. I am so thankful to have such amazing parents that will help me out!
Oh yeah, and I am coming back next summer!! Once I know for sure which college I am going to, I am going to meet with the people about the dates that I need to come up for orientation and registration and all of that. Once I know those dates, I will be back here for the bulk of june and july!!
Ooh yeah I don’t know if I have shared this with you all, but me and morgan are getting our hair braided crazy soon. We figured it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are in Africa so its gotta happen ha.
God moment--- for nicoles last day, they set up a party for all the kids, but each family had to bring something to eat. It didn’t matter if it was one banana or nsima, but just something. Well 150+ kids showed up, and as we prepared the plates, I leaned over to morgan and I said there is always enough, pray for loaves and fishes. Every single child got nsima, relish, fruit, cake, cheese puffs, and rice. Not only that, but there was lots of left overs. I kept handing out plates and plates of nsima for a solid 10-15 minutes. It just kept being there. It was absolutely incredible!
Another god moment--- this one is small but still shows gods love for me. We have been dying to watch the latest harry potter and the new greys anatomy season. Well we tried amazon and hulu and youtube and abc but you cant download outside of the states. Well I was just like god I know its small but nothing is too small for you and I would just really love to be able to watch them…. Well they are on itunes now and we are currently downloading it, even if it takes 31 hours :]
Things are really going well at Adziwa school right now, there are around 400 students, 90 students being in one standard one classroom. We had a man come in from the states this week who specializes in improving schools here in Africa, and after his assessment, things are really looking promising. So please be praying for involvement of all the partners and success for these kids and their education. They really are worth every bit of it!
Well I think that is all for today. Thank you mom for pushing me to keep these things written im sorry that I have not been very good at it. I am trying to be better :] love you bunches!
