Hello Auntie! The greeting I received upon the accent to my apartment this evening, by the little girl who lives down stairs. Any elder woman/girl here is called Auntie as a sign of respect. I do find it satisfying this little girl finally called me Auntie, as before she was always SO shy and would never talk to me other than formalities in answering when I would ask her a question.

The little boy she is holding is her nephew. He turned one this week and I was invited to his Birthday party. It was an interesting event, I was photographed and even put on video. I took the opportunity to give the little boy two gifts. One being the best gift anyone ever gave me, the Word of God. I do like those verses in Deuteronomy that talk about talking of the Lord with your kids. So, in a land where Jesus is not thought of, or pushed aside in worship of other gods, I hope his mother will read to him the stories of Jesus/God . I hope that in looking through these Words she herself will be drawn to the Truth they put forth.

The Word has been so great this week. God has continued to show Himself to me by adding depth to His Words I had read so many times before. The Word of God truely is living and active. How great is it that since Jesus Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered,  He is able to come to our aid when we are tempted? How do we forget what He went through in this world? God has been slowly changing my perspective on life these past few weeks, and while at times it has hurt, or taken patience, it is so worth it. He has allowed me to see what it is like to trust Him, even for little things, like transportation, and see Him come through in such great ways. It is awesome to know that He is all over my big things as well as my little things.

It has also been awesome to see the verses become real that talk about how the things we go through can give us compassion and help us help those who will go through similar things. I have seen how God has used the hardship of my last few months SO many times in these past two weeks to reach out in understanding to those going through similar heart ache or tough situations. Praise God for the hard times as well as the good times. While I have hurt more this year than maybe ever in my life, all of it has been worth it, because of the opportunities I have gotten to minister to those around me.

I got a fish last week...and his name is Blue Fish. Funny how that "will not cloud water" fish food clouds the water. Funny also, that the man here told me I had to put him in filtered water b/c the water from the tap would kill him. Hmm...


I also acquired a bike this week! Yipee! I had just said one day how I wanted a bike, the next day, a lady who is moving told me she needed someone to give her bike to. So, I am now the owner of a green BSA bike, with no gears...Bikes with gears are for sissys anyways! Right. Yeah. They sure do make those hills a little nicer...I will miss them, but will enjoy this step back in time to my younger days when bikes rarely had gears, you had bananna seats, and by pushing the peddals backwards the breaks were applied.  

Geesh. I also got a plant this week. I guess it was the week of acquiring things. Funny enough, again, I was talking of how I wanted a plant, and there you go, someone tells me I can have theirs, and it was the exact type of plant I wanted. Somehow, this lady had managed to kill most of the plant, but I am going to see if I can revive it...we shall see how that goes.

I guess I finally feel like in these last two weeks I have begun to settle here. It is about time I suppose since this is my 13th month in country.

I can only find one of my hiking boots...

All right. I have had enough for one post. I am out.