Beauty in the Little Things

Buzzzzzzz…. I seemingly have attracted several bugs flying around my head as the light from my computer screen is one of the few lights on in the entire house.  The power has gone out for the first time since we arrived and although we were warned about it, it still came as a bit of a shock.  Guess we will have to eat all of the food in fridge or it is going to go bad. Thankfully we have several extra flashlights stowed around the house for times like these.    

Lots more to be thankful for!

Our primary job here is to teach the seminary wives English.  We had our second official class with the seminary wives today. On the first day we did a few introduction activities with the seminary wives.  Today we were able to give them a pre-assessment to help us determine what level their English is at.  The seminary wives have an extremely wide expanse of English comprehension and speaking abilities - a few are very fluent and others know very little.  Thankfully we will be able to work with the women in much smaller groups rather than all eighteen of them at once.         

A smile is a smile no matter where you go!

Not knowing any of their language has been quite challenging but the smiles we receive are more than encouraging.  We are becoming a little more comfortable with long, awkward pauses after giving instructions or even talking about ourselves.  We just pause, gain a huge smile on our faces, and one of the wives who is more fluent in English turns and presents what we have said to the class.  Receiving a reaction from the class after a three-step process is perfectly alright with us and generally results in a few extra chuckles.  Although we have only been working with them for two days, we can already see so much of their fun, caring personalities.  What a blessing it will be to get to know them so much better!    

 The beginning of a positive thinking trend:

It’s taking a lot of convincing but I think I (Kelsi) am getting better at framing my thinking more positively-with the encouragement of others of course. “Oh, those beastly spiders hanging out on the walls… I am SO thankful for them because they are good at catching pesky flies and annoying mosquitoes.  Oh, those giant geckos/skinks making themselves at home in my bedroom… I am SO thankful for them because they eat the spiders and bugs that live in my room.  Oh, the hulking cockroaches that scamper across the floor when you least expect it… I am SO thankful for them because -- well, we are still trying to figure out why those are so important but for now we will just be thankful for them I guess.

On a more serious note.   

  

I think Mel and I turned to each other during our first few days here and kept said, “This is so amazing!”  We are definitely overwhelmed by the joy and the work the Lord is doing here in Zambia.  This country is so beautiful and so are the people who live here.  What a blessing this experience has been and we continue to pray for God’s guidance in the work that he has us doing here. Soli Deo Gloria! 

Sending hugs from Africa,

Kelsi and Melanie