For Example...

For those of you who are members of a Southern Baptist church, you know that the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is right around the corner. I know that before I came here I wasn't really aware of what my money was specifically going to, but now that I am on the receiving end of some of that money, I am very aware of how much of an impact this offering has!

For example...

The money you give lets me have a place to sleep at night!

It builds kitchens/living areas and provides solar panels so that I can have electricity and run the refrigerator.

It buys solar-powered audio players so that the Toposa can listen to God's Word.

It pays for our translator who helps us learn the Toposa language.

It pays for our vehicle so we can go to different areas even when the roads look like this! (It also pays for the repairs when we need new tires or brakes...these roads are rough!)

Thank you for giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering!

This Week

One day in school Walker got to make a monster pancake that puffed up in the oven and then deflated after we took it out. I'm considering this a science/art project...

He got to kill the monster by drowning it in syrup and then cutting its face into many bite-sized pieces.

The latest project around the compound is "re-thorning" the fence. Large thorn branches are placed all around the compound to act as a barrier for both animals and people. We are paying several local men who are believers to cut and haul the branches. The work speed of Toposa men is quite...relaxed, shall we say, so this will be a week-long project or more.

In other news, we have had three villages in the Lolipan area be extremely receptive and attentive to the AIDS stories this week. We were also able to share the gospel in one of these villages and have invitations to go back to the other two villages on Monday. The rains have started to taper off, and this is the first week in months that we have been able to go out every day.

We had a small but nice victory in Kapoeta today. A lot of our friends have been demanding asking that we buy them things like wraps or cooking pots from town. We also needed to fill up 1.5 out of our 2 gas tanks, buy phone credit (pre-paid South Sudanese cell phone, holla), buy a new air filter for our truck, get several small repairs done to our truck, and stock up on whatever vegetables were available at the market. Not only did we get every single one of the things on the list done, we also were able to find an awesome bonus--fresh fruit! I've seen passion fruit in town occasionally, but it's been a long time since I've seen a pineapple, especially one that looked edible. Rarely do we have a to-do list that long, and I was only expecting to get one or two things accomplished. Three if we were lucky. For those of you who have spent any extended amount of time in Africa, you get how productive our trip was! To most people it seems like a small thing, but it was really nice to have so much success.

Uganda!

After Alyssa and I got back from Nairobi we had a whole week before we headed out again, this time to Uganda. The ladies that work for our company in our part of Africa got together in Entebbe for several days of fellowship and prayer, and let me tell you, it was just what the doctor ordered! We got to celebrate two new babies, hear what God is doing in other parts of east Africa, and pray for each other.

We left Kapoeta and flew to northern Kenya to pick up our teammate Holly, then flew on to Nairobi to catch a commercial flight to Entebbe. Our flight was delayed, plus it was raining, so the stewardesses handed out these stylish trash bags ponchos so we wouldn't get wet when we walked to the plane around midnight.

Entebbe is right on Lake Victoria so it is a really beautiful place!

It was great to spend time with friends and also eat some good food.

And huge thanks to Renee for all your hard work to make it such a relaxing and encouraging time for all of us!

Note: we did actually have a lot of lessons and prayer times, but I just didn't take any pictures then!

Malaria. Again.

The grand finale of our trip to London was that I got to spend six days in the hospital with a nasty bout of malaria. This was my second time to have it in three months, and this time was way worse!

Obviously, I did not get malaria in England. Malaria symptoms usually start showing 1-3 weeks after infection, so I must have gotten it just before we left South Sudan. The last time I had it I was tired and had a headache for about a week before the "real" symptoms kicked in, but this time all of that was masked by a cold/jet lag and so once I got sick, I got sick fast.

Because my fever was so high and I was so "out of it" at the doctor's office, they decided to admit me to one of the hospitals here in Nairobi, thinking that I would only be there for 24 hours, long enough to do a round of IV anti-malarial treatment.

Long story short, it was a bad case of the worst strain of malaria you can have (with a side of respiratory problems), and I wasn't in good enough shape to go home until six days later. Alyssa and Emily are the best friends ever and took turns sleeping at the hospital every night and even bought me flowers for when I came home. I'm feeling much better now, just tired and a little out of breath when I talk. The hospital pharmacy sent me home with a whole cocktail of pills to take every day (8 just at breakfast!). I am so thankful for all the people who prayed for me while I was in the hospital, and who continue to pray for me as I get back to feeling 100%. Your support and love means more than you will ever know!

Minster Lovell and St. Paul's Cathedral

It's hard to top seeing the queen of England, but we managed to have a pretty great last few days! We spent one day in the Cotswolds, looking around the old little English villages of Bibury and Minster Lovell.

 Slightly different scenery from South Sudan, ha!

 My aunt Janet is the best! Everyone should have one.

 Old churches...

 ...with old cemeteries...

 ...and old manor houses (Minster Lovell) that are now in ruins.

This one's for you, Brown family!

Then we went to Blenheim Palace, which is the home of the Duke of Marlborough aka Mr. Fancy Pants with the humongous house.

Fun fact: Winston Churchill was born here. 

We also spent a day in London, complete with a personal tour of the Houses of Parliament and St. Paul's Cathedral. 

 Lamb shawarma for lunch...delish.

Her Majesty

Monday was one of those "wait, did that just happen?" times when we accidentally had the coolest thing happen on our tour de England.

That's right. We saw Queen Elizabeth.

Our original destination was Windsor Castle so we drove to Eaton and were walking through the town when we saw this:

There was obviously some kind of statue unveiling and a considerable amount of security so we asked around and someone told us the queen was coming to unveil the statue in honor of her Diamond Jubilee. We decided to delay our tour and stick around for the ceremony, which was supposedly an hour or so later.

 A girls' choir from a local school showed up to sing a song. And sure enough, an hour later, the queen was there!

 60 spheres in honor of her 60 years on the throne.
The local newspaper wrote an article about the ceremony.

 After she greeted all the dignitaries she came right in front of where we were standing to take flowers from a little boy.

 The tour of Windsor Castle was a tiny bit anticlimactic after that, but still really cool!

England

Alyssa and I are halfway through our version of London 2012 and so far it's been just what the doctor ordered. I am getting to spend time with my family in a place that's fairly familiar and so far it has been so wonderful!

 Got to see this handsome man.

 Love my grandparents!

Got some cousin time with Ella and Cara 

After a weekend at a friend's holiday house we stopped for lunch on the way home. 

England is quite a bit colder than South Sudan, which is totally fine with me!