525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes - how do you measure,
measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In
inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In 525,600 minutes - how do you
measure a year in the life?

Yet another set of song lyrics that speak to my heart. What is going to be the measure of this year? Is it going to be yet another year of working and earning a paycheck? Another year of searching for that one thing that will make life complete? Another year spent wondering about the direction God has for my life? 

Today marks the 209th day of the year 2013. Of the 525,600 minutes in the year, today we have gone through over 300,000 minutes. This year is going to by far outweigh all of the rest. I can't compare the sunrises I have experienced here to any others before. There is a peace and beauty seen here that I don't find when encumbered by the busyness of home. Each morning I am greeted by a chorus of birds. I don't know what kind they are but they do sing sweetly. Kenyan sunsets are just as beautiful as the sunsets at home. For those of you that know me best, you know how very much I love to watch the sunset paint a colorful palette of reds, oranges, and yellows that fade into a deep bluish purple sky that becomes filled with twinkling stars. Midnights... There are some midnights that will be burned into my memory for as long as I am able to remember. Nights filled with laughter and tears and endless conversations.Cups of coffee... Well there are more memories tied up in cups of coffee and conversations than I care to think about at this time. Miles... around 9,000 miles traveled to get to this adventure of my lifetime. Laughter...Giggling adults laughing until the tears are rolling down our faces about random movie quotes... Laughing because you are so tired that everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING even breathing, is funny.... Telling ridiculous jokes and making yourself laugh... For example: Why do cows wear bells? Because their horns don't work... Laughing with children...  A mission trip isn't a mission trip without some laughter along the way. Laughter through tears, laughter that results in tears, tears that resolve into laughter... No matter how you look at it, laughter shapes our day moment by moment. Strife... yeah I guess you would have to say that there has been some strife this year. Nothing unbearable, but certainly life changing. 

Each day you have 1,440 minutes to spend. You spend about 480 of those minutes sleeping. That leaves you 960 minutes a day to make an impact. What are you doing with those minutes? My minutes are being spent teaching children, cooking in a large kitchen, getting to know a most wonderful man better every day, and loving on some very precious children. Every minute is a chance to minister to someone somewhere. You only have to be willing to stop rushing from minute to minute and stop to cherish the minute you are experiencing. God didn't create things like sunrises, sunsets, stars, babies, or any other number of things for us to rush past them without giving them notice. Noticing takes time. It is just that plain and simple. You can't notice something without taking time to see the small details. Intricate details that would escape you if you glanced too quickly. God is truly showing me the importance of each minute. 89 children at the orphanage... 300 children at the school... Each and every one of them deserves to be noticed, deserves to be heard. That can't be accomplished rushing through the minutes I have each day. Getting to know that special guy in my life can't be accomplished rushing through our time together either. 

Today I challenge you to take a long hard look at how you are spending your minutes. Make the most of the minutes that you have. You can't get them back once they are gone. You can't reclaim the memories that might have been made had you taken the chance to simply stop and observe what is going on around you. Cherish them! Make them count! Find ways to serve others before yourself! Find ways to be Jesus with skin on to someone who needs it desperately. Look for opportunities to be the church to everyone, everywhere. You don't know when that will be a life changing encounter for someone else. Find a way to make someone else smile. It isn't hard. Just be willing to step out of your comfort zone and be amazed at the things that God will show you. I know that I have been in the last few days here in Kenya. 

Making memories of a lifetime and loving every minute of the journey!
Until next time!
Love you all!
Melody 

Look at this picture. Isn't he the most handsome little boy? He has amazingly bright eyes and a beautiful smile. I can tell you from experience that underneath that smile is a boy who loves to build and create things. He loves to sing. He loves to do the same mischievous things that most little boys his age like to do. What would you say if I told you that he almost didn't get the chance? Would you be shocked? Let me tell you a little bit more of his story.

First of all his name is Delmas. My friends Mick and Tammy are his sponsors and since I consider Tammy to be like one of my sisters, I consider him to be my nephew. I love him like he is family. He is quiet and shy when you first meet him. He would duck his head and run away when I would try to talk to him. That has most certainly all changed. He comes running to find me at the school or the orphanage. He is the first to tell me about his grades or anything else going on. He comes running when he feels there is some great injustice that he needs help fixing. Just a normal little boy.... Now.

What would you say if I told you that Delmas had been taken to the woods in the mountains and left there? He had basically been hidden there and left to die. I am sure that stories like his are abundant at Seeds. I am sure there are so many more that don't have the same happy ending that is there for Delmas. The thing that just unsettles me is that children are disposable. If there is something wrong with them, get rid of them. That just breaks my heart. If you don't want them abandon them somewhere and hope for the best.

I know that the societal standards aren't the same here. Things are wildly different, but that doesn't change the fact that I just don't understand how you could do something like that to a child. The thought that kept coming back to me was that if I had been born here, would I have been cast aside? Would I have been called cursed? More than that I know that my dad would have been cast aside because of his heart problems. Which if that had happened there wouldn't have been him and there wouldn't have been me. It was too much to process. It still is too much to process.

In light of all of this, my thoughts then turned to God. What if He cast us aside or left us to die because there was something wrong with us? We would be in a whole lot of trouble. Praise God He saw us in our time of need and met us there with a free gift of salvation that frees us from being cast aside. I encourage you today to extend love to someone who can do nothing for you in return. Simple acts make the world much better. I plan to love on as many kids as I can today while I am at the school. I am truly learning what it means to be the church to everyone, everywhere, and I am thankful for the people that have chosen to love me when I needed it the most.

Brokenhearted but full of love,
Melody

A New Take on Normal

A house with people coming and going regularly every day has been a comfort to my heart for many days now. A house with the smells of supper cooking away, boys talking and laughing about who knows what, and sharing suppers together every night have been my normal since Sunday. I'm not ready for my normal to change. I'm not ready to send this group back to the United States. I'm going to miss having someone just across the room that completely understands my goofy sense of humor and fascination with quoting lines from random movies. I'm going to miss having someone here that I can just look at and both of us start to giggle. I'm going to miss having someone here that understands the cause of my sometimes scary and strange dreams. I'm just being wholeheartedly honest.

 Sending them home signifies the beginning of a completely new phase of my stay here in Kenya. The wonder and excitement of everything is beginning to wear off and I am starting to see some things for what they really are. This is a good thing. It is time to stop seeing things through the rose colored glasses and start to see the world as it really is here in Kenya. I know that can't really begin until I begin to experience life on my own. For the first time in a long time, I feel as though I finally made a choice to do something that was entirely for myself and didn't have to be concerned with who needed me to be at home and take care of something for them. This is a time to learn what I am really capable of doing while completely on my own.

Furthermore, I am completely ready to go beyond just surface knowledge of a lot of things here. Deeper relationships with the kids at the school and the orphanage are beginning to build, and for that I am very thankful. Those kids, all 350 plus of them, are incredibly special to me. I don't know all of their names yet, but I will learn them eventually. I want to know more than their names! I want to know their stories even though I am certain that their stories will probably break my heart into millions of pieces. I am also quite excited about the new friends that I have made since I have come to Kenya. Many of these look to be life long friendships, and that alone is great. I wasn't sure how that was going to work, leaving all of my friends behind at home and venturing off into a foreign country. God is faithful and meets us at our point of need. He knew that in order for me to feel at home, I would need some friends, and that is exactly what He provided very quickly into my stay here. Friends and kids... what more would my teacher heart need to feel at home? Not much else! Going beyond surface knowledge isn't just limited to the kids and new friends. I am probably most excited about learning more about Jim. We've been communicating for almost an entire year now. It isn't easy though to reveal the most personal details and stories about yourself over a computer screen. Those things have to be done in person and I am so glad that we have the time now to do just that.

For now, I am learning to be content in the newness of this experience. I am looking forward to it becoming less new and more familiar. Time will most certainly tell if this new normal is the plan that God has for me to become my everyday normal. I look forward to sharing the experience with you all.

It is time to get ready for another day here in Kenya: time at the feeding station serving fruit to the children, lunch at the Coffee Shop, visiting one of the kids at boarding school, spending time with the kids at the orphanage for devotions, and hopefully some time with Jim tonight. Days are always full of things to do, people to see, and children to love. I wouldn't trade my days for anything.

Until the next time
~Melody~

Rest

 

What is it about being a woman that makes you think you are Wonder Woman and you have to accomplish everything in one day? Why is it that sitting down to rest is such a challenge? Exactly what do I think isn't going to be there tomorrow if I don't do it all today? Am I going to miss out on something? Am I going to lose a race? Is someone going to accomplish more than me? Will there be someone that I didn't take care of the way that I should have if I take a little time to rest for myself? I have so many thoughts and questions just racing through my mind right now!

Rest, my child. You need to just rest.

I heard a soft and peaceful voice telling me these words in my dreams last night. Comforting and delightful feelings wrapped around me as I drifted farther and farther into deep sleep.

 I know that I have been needing to rest. I can feel it deep down, but it is hard for me to justify sitting down and resting when there is work to be done. There are things that need doing, meals that need cooking, children that need loving, and the list goes on and on and on. I know that the same things will be there the next day and the many days after that, but there is something pressing about needing to make the most of every day that I have here and not letting one go to waste.

Pushing through and continuing to work even when you don't feel well isn't a foreign concept. You can't sit down every time you feel bad and just wait for it to pass. Life doesn't wait on you to feel better. You have to keep going. I suppose that is just some jacked up logic imposed upon people in society because you are expected to do it all faster, smarter, and bigger than the person before you. It's like we don't want to be left out or behind. This week I am quickly, quickly learning that you have to take time out to rest, or your body is going to force you into resting so that it can get what it needs to build you back up and keep you going. To say that I haven't felt great for the last few days would be the absolute truth. As a result of the dry, dusty air, a sore throat has been bothering me for several days and is now being accompanied by overwhelming exhaustion and a headache that varies in intensity throughout the day. Thankfully, we have had time every afternoon to come home and relax, and that helps tremendously in keeping me running. However, because I know that I have work to do, I will put that all too familiar smile on my face and keep going no matter if the headache is bad or not or I am tired or not.

Yesterday afternoon, completely out of concern for my well being, a certain special guy informed me that I really needed to rest. This is a whole new experience for me. I am not used to having someone else looking out for my well being. It has always been up to me to make the decisions and take care of the things that needed to be done. I am incredibly thankful that God has chosen to place someone in my life that looks out for my well being.  Today, after much debating with myself, I am staying home to rest. It is much needed. I realized last night that I have been pushing myself a lot more than usual and not taking the recovery time to let my body recharge. Late nights and early mornings are starting to catch up with me. I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything in the world, but I am realizing that if I don't take the time to rest now, later on I won't be able to enjoy the things God has prepared for me here in Kitale, Kenya.

For today, I am content to listen to the birds merrily chirping and watch the beauty of Kenya through the doors facing the backyard at Hospitality House rather than viewing it all from the window of a vehicle as I am whisked away to one location or another. Tomorrow, I am certain that it will be back into the same routine of school, lunch, cooking, and going to the orphanage. Today is though is all about resting.

Enjoy your day!
Melody

A Heart Full of Love

"A heart full of love, a heart full of song ..."

Yep it's a line from possibly one of my favorite musicals of all time, Les Miserables. It however accurately describes how I am feeling after a wonderful afternoon a couple of days ago. My heart has been captivated and I don't think I will ever be the same again.

Slow down and read what I am writing before you make too many conclusions about what this could possibly be talking about.

God is truly showing me some new things about myself that I either didn't know or had pushed back so far I didn't realize them. There is a deep, deep seeded mothering instinct in my heart. I know I love children and I would adopt everyone of the ones that I have seen, but I didn't realize how much of a mothering instinct it was until yesterday. My heart was nearly broken in half yesterday when I met a precious little guy named Mickey. He has the most infections smile I have ever seen. You can't help  but just grin when you look at him. And then someone puts him in your arms. He kind of burrows in close to you and you feel his body relax. While I was holding him, one of the ladies there told me that he has had rickets but is greatly improving. He is also slightly behind developmentally and isn't able to sit up on his own quite yet. I was also told that he would most likely never be adopted because he is HIV positive. My heart completely broke then. What did that precious little guy do to deserve that outcome? Why would the HIV status be the deal breaker? Shouldn't a child be given a fair shot at having a family? These questions and more marched through my mind as I struggled to comprehend what I was hearing. I had to fight back the tears at the injustice for such a precious little boy. I just don't understand how you could not fall in love with him immediately. Big brown eyes, a gummy smile that will just melt your heart, and a ready and loving spirit. Talk about the momma coming out in someone. I can't even explain how that happened but it sure did.

My heart has been captivated by a tiny little guy with big brown eyes and  a sweet gummy smile that reminds me all too much of little miss Susanna Jane. Hasn't Jesus commanded us to love the least of these? That which we do unto the least of these we have also done to Jesus. I haven't been the best at this, but thankfully eye opening experiences are all a part of being on a mission trip like this and from this point forward things have to be different. It isn't enough to throw money at a problem. It is time for action, and the action I know is required of me is to love on these precious children every chance I get.

From my heart to yours!
Melody

Dramatic music, shocking pictures of children dressed in rags, and one celebrity or another speaking about the horrors of this country or that where the children live... Those were the images that I had in my head in preparing for this trip. I know that a lot of it was just unrealistic, but at the same time it did reflect some of what I experienced.

Life has fallen into somewhat of a predictable routine. I have a schedule of when I am teaching the children each day and can sort of begin to plan out my days. I never dreamed that I would be coming to Kenya to teach fifth grade math, that's for sure. After class, we leave to go have lunch, and shortly after that it is time to head out to the orphanage. After the orphanage it is time for supper and then some relaxation time. The next day the pattern is the same. I'm not going to lie, I love it when life finds its pattern and I can settle in and get to work.

Through all of this though, there is one truth that seems to be resounding. Kids are kids, no matter what situation life has placed them in. Kids still want to play. Kids still desire boundaries. Kids still desire affection and attention. I love to sit outside and just listen to the games that the kids play in the yard in front of the school. They play on playground equipment, draw in the dirt, and make toys out of nearly anything that they can get their hands on. It was no different at the preschool. The kids made food and who knows what all else out of wood chips.

I am completely humbled by the fact that two little girls from the orphanage have declared that I am going to be their mother forever. They are such sweet girls with some of the same spunk and spirit that I seem to remember seeing in myself when I was their age. They are smart, funny, energetic girls that make me smile every time I see them at school or the orphanage. They make the "Mom" part of my heart come to life.

 Can you imagine the impact that the sappy TV commercials would have if they would just show the kids being kids, instead of trying to make people feel sorry for them?  Please hear my heart, I am not saying that there are real problems that need to be addressed in countries around the world. I know that's the truth. Just look back at some of the pictures that I posted in earlier blog posts. There are real people, really suffering, who need to know about Jesus and who need a helping hand.

Like I said, kids will be kids regardless of their situation. They will still play. They will still laugh. They will still seek out affection and attention in whatever ways they can. These kids in just a few short days have all captured pieces of my heart, through their singing of "making Melody in my heart" to their constant "How are you's". The days ahead are likely to be filled with challenges and things I have never considered before, but for today I am perfectly content to tell you that life is good. I am happy. I am learning more and more each day about the plans that God has for me while I am here in Kenya and I wouldn't trade where I am for anything in the world.

Love to you all!
~Melody

Quiet

The house is very quiet this morning after the rush of suitcases, backpacks, and people out the door. There isn't any chatter. There isn't any laughter. It is just very, very quiet. The only sounds I hear right now are the clicking of the keyboard, the quiet hum of the fan on my laptop, and the occasional sniffle of my nose.

I have never been very comfortable just sitting in the quiet and listening. I feel like there needs to be something going on. Maybe that's the lesson here. Sit still, be quiet, and listen for what God is saying to me.

My heart is full and ready to just overflow with so many different emotions floating around. Perhaps the quiet is what I need to be able to sort through them all.

I do know this. In just a few short hours, the second team will be landing in Nairobi, and in just a few days the team will be here with me in Kitale and the house will no longer be quiet. There will once again be laughter and chatter, although I am certain it won't be anything quite like "God bless America... Who lives in a pineapple under the sea..." or "Asante sana squash banana".

Until then, I am content to listen to the quietness and learn whatever it is that God is trying to teach me.

Blessed Beyond Measure

Have you ever had those days where you just want to look up and smile toward Heaven and say "Thanks God, I know this is coming from you as a sweet reminder that you are taking care of me and filling in the things that I feel are missing with the things that are coming from You?" If so, then you will understand exactly where I am coming from with this post. If not, then I encourage you to check your heart and see if there are areas that need to be completely and totally relinquished to God's control and taken away from wholly relying on yourself or others to fulfill the needs in your life.

Friday.. July 5th... This is a day that will forever be burned into my memory. I pray that I never forget the sounds and the emotions of this day. I feel certain that you may just be a bit confused about what I am talking about. A birthday in Kenya is a big deal. It is a chance to celebrate and share and that is exactly what happened.

If you had asked me last year what I wanted for my birthday, I probably would have given you some ridiculous idea of a present that wouldn't matter after six months or so. Before leaving to come to Kenya, I asked God to show me something new and exciting for my birthday. I can't believe the way that He chose to answer that prayer.

For starters, I didn't expect Jim to be waiting for us to arrive at the airport. That was a sweet surprise! We landed rather early Friday morning and I thought that he would have been at the school teaching his Bible classes. It's nice to be surprised every once in a while. I wish that I could say that that was the end of the surprises for the day, but it wasn't. The surprises continued throughout the day. We went to the feeding station/school and the entire school full of children, which was about 350 kids, sang and celebrated my birthday with me. If you want to feel love, listen to a group of beautiful Kenyan children sing to you at the top of their lungs with more passion that I think most people possess. My tinsel necklace will by far be one of my most treasured possessions because of the sweet memories it brings to mind. Later in the afternoon, we headed out to the orphanage. This has been a place that I have only dreamed of and experienced through pictures and stories of others. You can't even begin to imagine the love that just radiates from the entire property. Again the surprises weren't done. Jim Cooper again found another way to bless my heart and add to the feelings that I was special. Shortly before we were to head out to go back to the house, two large metal pans were brought into the main sitting area. We had devotions with the children and then I began to figure out what was going on. Jim planned a birthday party for me to share with the children. I can't think of a better way to celebrate than to share with children who have so very, very little in this world. Sharing my birthday with them is something I will never, ever forget. The thing that makes it just a tad bittersweet is thinking that at home, my birthday is considered more of an afterthought because of its closeness to a national holiday. Someone taking the time to think of me, wanting to make the day special, really spoke to my heart.

It is easy to focus on the things that are missing from your life... I don't have _______... the perfect job, the perfect husband/wife, the perfect children, the perfect house, and the list could go on and on. What if instead of focusing on what was lacking we took the time to look around and see the things that God is placing in our lives that are far, far better than the things that we lack? What if we placed value on relationships, people, and acts of service rather than what others can do for us and things? I can tell you this much, you'd be seeing and experiencing so much more in life than just being miserable with what limited things you have. It would be easy for me to focus on the fact that I am 34 years old and not yet married without children of my own, without parents, mostly without grandparents, and lacking the ideal job and income that society says I should have. Being around such precious children and absolutely wonderful people here in Kenya has put an entirely new perspective on society and its expectations of me.

 Again, I know that the words that I am writing really aren't doing this trip justice. It truly takes being here to understand what I am trying to describe. This has truly been the trip of a lifetime and the experiences are making dramatic changes in my life.

More will be coming in the days to come. There is a lot more to see, hear, and do. I will update as I have the chance. Love to you all!

Melody

A lot to Take In

Today was one of those days where you can't quite seem to get a good grasp on all of the things that you have seen, heard, smelled, tasted, and experienced. It's almost as if some of it feels like it came directly from a dream. As I am sitting here writing this, I am beginning to feel more and more that most certainly what I experienced today was the farthest thing from a dream.

Close your eyes... Well not really because that would make reading kind of difficult, but imagine if you will, gray dusty streets filled with people, cars, animals, and every kind of trash and waste you can imagine. Now add to that noise. Noise from people, noise from the animals, noise from the cars... Just lots and lots of noise. Now add to that the smell of raw sewage, burning trash, dirty animals, body odor, cooking food, burning charcoal, raw fish, and probably a million other things that I just don't have the right words to describe. Can you picture it?? Can you smell it? Can you hear it? Trust me it is not something that once you have experienced you will be soon to forget. These words of mine truly aren't enough to even begin to put into words what the experience of going into the second largest slum in the world was like. It is sensory overload.

This isn't from the slum that we visited this morning, but it gives you an example of the kinds of livestock that just roam freely through the streets. Add to that sheep, dogs, cats, pigs, and goats and you have a general idea of the things we saw.

This is one of the teachers and her children from the school in the slum.

 Another group of the children from the school along with Hannah, Zoe, and Misty.

 Zoe and two of the children in the slum. Do you notice something on their faces that you don't always see on the faces of the children at home in America? That's called joy.

At the school we visited in the Mathare slum, we were able to see the Scout Team practicing. They are very good at what they are doing. They are very respectful and polite.

More of the Scout team practicing.

 Again the scout team. They were really cute!

 Looking up from the end of the street, in the slum this was the view. In the light of such desolation and despair, you find this picture of beauty.

 The children were waiting to perform for us. They were such sweet children. The one thing that I noticed the most about them was the way they obey.

 They are just beautiful! I think they may have already captured a piece of my heart.

 Some of the teachers praying with Chris over the school and the children.

 A view of the slum. Can you imagine your house being made of just pieces of random materials? Can you imagine your house being this close to your next door neighbor? Can you imagine living with about a million other people... and livestock... and trash... and sewage?

These children are just wonderful. They are so happy! Living in the midst of such terrible conditions and they still have joy!

 

Like I said, it has been a day that makes you wonder whether or not you are waking up from a horrible dream. Time will make things make sense and help to heal the pains in my heart. For now, it is enough to know that I was blessed to have encountered these precious children who have absolutely captured a part of my heart.

 

Tomorrow morning we leave for Kitale and a brand new adventure will await me there. Looking forward to more experiences!

 

~Melody~



The Journey Begins

Going on a mission trip is not something new to this somewhat tired traveler. Going on a trip this far away for this long has been a new and eye opening experience and I have only been traveling for three days.

Sleeping the night before we left was nearly impossible. I tried to rationalize this in my head by convincing myself that I would have plenty of time to sleep while we were flying. That was far from the truth of how things went. Getting through security was just as interesting. I've not been through such intense security at the airport before and so that was most certainly a new experience.

The first flight was incredibly full. It seemed like there were people everywhere. Thankfully, we were toward the back of the plane, which helped for being able to feel comfortable in leaning the seat back as far as I could to stretch out. I can honestly say that I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was for being on the plane that long. It was nice having a seemingly endless supply of movies and music to watch and listen to, but after a while there's only so much you can do before you begin to feel slightly stir crazy. Sleeping on the plane was tough. About the time you are ready to fall asleep it seems like there was a crazy amount of turbulence or it was time for a meal or a snack or a drink. Note to self.... Bring several drinks with you on the next long flight.... The small cups of whatever you wanted to drink when they came around seemed to just bring out the need to drink even more. Lesson learned!

The airport in Dubai was absolutely beautiful and just bustling with people. The layover didn't seem nearly as long as I imagined it would. It felt absolutely amazing to be able to get up and walk around. After a quick snack at McDonald's... I know what you must be thinking... You're in a foreign country... Why not try something you can't get at home? Here's your answer... I was brave and tried new things on the plane... I'll stick with more familiar foods for a bit... it was time to head over to the gate and check in for the next flight. The second flight was crowded and again I was thankful to be at the back of the plane and able to feel like I could stretch out... Well somewhat stretch out... As soon as we had taken off and the seat belt light went off, I believe I fell soundly asleep for about an hour and a half. It was nice to sleep but strange to wake up and have such a stiff feeling in my neck and shoulder from leaning on the wall next to me. The flight seemed to go quite smoothly and for supper that night I ended up having some kind of a lamb dish... Not sure I want to eat it again soon, but it wasn't terrible. I don't think that I have ever been so happy to see a plane land as I was Sunday night.

The Mennonite House where we are staying is nice. The property is absolutely gorgeous. I will try to get some pictures tomorrow and include them with the blog. Just before meal and tea times someone comes around with a xylophone or metalophone (didn't get a close enough look to see for sure which it was) to announce to the guests that things are ready. There are beautiful blooming flowers and trees, green grass, and peaceful looking nooks all over the place.

Going around the city today was a different experience. I was completely taken aback at how much English I saw and heard. The only foreign country I had been to before was Mexico and there you don't see writing in any other language besides Spanish, so I suppose that was what I expected to see when I got here. It's a nice feeling to be in a foreign country and feel like you can communicate easily with people. I think that takes away some of the natural stress you feel while on a trip like this to begin with. We strolled through some different shops and stores before we went to have lunch. I can tell you this much, after not eating much on the plane, a "real" meal was nice. It was nice to sit and visit and just work on getting acclimated to the time change, the surrounding, the sights, the sounds, and the smells. After a yummy lunch, we went to the mall. I suppose the thing that surprised me the most at the mall was the fact that there was a grocery store in the mall. I just can't picture myself walking into the Longview Mall and coming out with my arms loaded down with groceries.

All in all the experience so far would have to be classified as wonderful with some quit unexpected surprises. I am looking forward with anticipation to the things that God is preparing to show me through these experiences. It is sure to be a time of much learning, if I will be open enough to receive what He has for me.

Tomorrow begins the work! Prayers are greatly appreciated for continued health for the team, peaceful rest for everyone, and receptive hearts to the messages we have to share.

I look forward to updating again as soon as I have the chance.

Much love to you all,
Melody