Sharing Our Home In Him; 8821.8 Miles From Home: We are definitely American...

Top 20 Reasons "We Are Definitely American"

1. We pay and run
2. We require a sign and door for our bathroom with toilet paper
3. We expect running, warm water
4. We expect lights to turn on when we flip the switch
5. The art of dining is lost; we are rushed out in order to make room for the next reservation, we would be asked to leave if we stayed at the table and talked
6. We get into the "driver's" side in order to be a passenger
7. We don't drink coffee at 9pm unless there is a legitimate reason
8. Fast food is fast, not off the street
9. Traveler's mugs are a must, we don't sit and dine
10. We most often buy fruits and vegetables from the store
11. Fresh bread is not available only at the hours of 5am and 1pm
12. Disposable things are readily available
13. We assume houses have air conditioning and heat
14. When we order chips, we mean chips, not French Fries. "Crisps" come in a Lays bag.
15. We use bags, not our heads to carry things
16. We use Starbucks for tea, not a tea cutter and basket
17. When we see a gravel road we avoid it, not say "Game on!"
18. Airport security is not a man "people watching" at a laptop screen and checking the security camera every other minute.
19. We expect fences at the zoo, not pathways to where they step on you.
20. We don't expect a man to run to the gate to let us in and greet us every time we come home.

Man I love things I have learned about Africa so far! What a fun culture. One that definitely takes getting used to, but one that I LOVE things about!

VBS is always hard on a first day. It doesn't seem as smooth, things are getting worked over, trying to work on crowd control in a smaller building since it was raining out, etc. It was a great first day in the sense that we got to teach the story of the Good Samaritan to 110 children and they were able to hear God's Word. Sometimes, the logistics around that don't always matter. It still is amazing to me that majority of them do not even know what a crayon is so we physically have to show them how to color. Makes you think about everything we have. We went to the wood carving place today and got to see how everything was made. It was amazing. I took some videos but those don't upload from here so I will attach them later when I get home. We also went to the disability shelter that the woodcarving place supports. It's incredible. The kids are funded from housing, food, schooling, transportation....Everything. The work going on there is so cool. They are working on expansion and have other locations they are looking to get information from as well. It is such a growing mission and it was so cool to see. We finished off last night with some "Friends" as we went to sleep. It was a very relaxing evening.

VBS went great today. It ran so much smoother, the sun was out and we were able to be outside and the kids were loving it. There was so much energy and we increased 80 kids from the day before! Word of mouth here is incredible. The songs were a lot of fun and the leaders were getting into it as well. We noticed there were two children who laughed every time we spoke and we couldn't understand why. We came to realize that they knew English and thought everything we said was hilarious. They were so cute and would converse with us the rest of the day. After VBS we went out for a small lunch at a cafe in town. Walked to the grocery store to get some food. We went over and met our neighbors next door who are also missionaries. They are with a group called S.I.M They have missionaries coming throughout the year that do various things in Malawi for mission work. Many of them come on their "gap" year from Germany or surrounding countries. The girl we met today was really nice, however she leaves tomorrow. Disappointing. But she had been here 11 months and was heading back to Germany in the morning to start college as a nursing student. Then we went out to a fabulous Italian restaurant, came home and finished with some work for tomorrow, made homemade pretzels, and we are one by one turning in for the night.

Goodnight from "The Warm Heart of Africa!"