I can hardly believe that it is now March; the last couple months have certainly been filled with change and exciting new developments. Below I'm putting the requests of things to be lifted up first so you can't miss them, then there's news for the last few months, and an attachment that contains some photo highlights of recent events.
Things to lift up:
- We have begun training a local woman, Asha, who has been a follower less than a year, encouraging her to grow and share with others. So far the training is going well, but ask that we will continue to be able to share effectively in her language and that she will in turn find and take opportunities to share with others. Asha is also experiencing a difficult home situation, so ask that she will sense the Father's presence with her at all times and that He will give her wisdom as to what she may need to do next. (name changed for security)
- Some co-workers are currently traveling to a different area to begin exploring the possibility of working there in the future. Ask that the Father will give them safe travel and discernment to know if, when and how they should pursue work in that region.
- Next week I will finish my required amount of hours with a language tutor. I still have a LONG way to go in language learning, but it is very exciting to officially finish that phase! Now I am setting new goals for the next year here. Please ask with me that I will listen to Him and that I will use my time in the way that He shows me.
- Life here is always in transition one way or another, whether it's moving, changing language helpers, or teammates coming and going. Also, living in another culture is, in itself, one long transition: there is always more to learn and process. Recently I have been feeling mentally and emotionally stretched. Ask that my joy would be renewed every morning and that I will make it my top priority to have time with the Father.
-In my last update, I asked you to lift up Christmas we were hosting for our national friends in Addis. The party was awesome; a true blend of cultures! We had a blast starting with decorating sugar cookies and finished with African drumming, singing and dancing. In between we showed a short video in their language about the birth of Jesus and that seamlessly turned into a conversation about the complete story of His life. It was particularly exciting that our previous language helper got to hear the whole story from someone with superior language ability.
- Praise the Father for a special first African Christmas for me. I got to spend Christmas eve and Christmas day with several friends including some families with children. It was really special to be with a family to see their children open presents on Christmas and later that day I also got to skype with my own family.
If you would like to receive more regular emails (bi-weekly) with requests of things to be lifted up, please send me an email and I will put you on my list.
What's New?
In the first week of January I moved to my new home, an eastern city of about 400,000 that I'll refer to as DD. I have wonderful co-workers here who have become great friends and there is really exciting work going on here as well. Two single women and myself share the house I moved into, and we also have a spare bedroom that we use frequently to host guests. During my first three weeks here in January both of my roommates along with several other co-workers were out of town, so I had a bit of lonely start here but thankfully that has righted itself! Lesson learned: I don't like living by myself in Africa any more than I liked it in the States!
Within the first week of moving, I began meeting with a two new language tutors, and have been meeting with them about 12 hours each week. Next week I will complete Phase 3, my last required phase of language lessons!! I still have a long way to go to reach fluency so I will still meet with a tutor occasionally after that, but it is truly exciting to complete this landmark in my time here. This also means that I will have a significant amount of time come open each week, and I am currently asking the Father to show me which of several options would be best to get involved in.
Each week I help in two medical clinics run by our team; one is in DD (our city) and the other is in a smaller town about a 10-minute drive into the countryside. At both clinics, we see patients who come with problems ranging from ear aches and high blood pressure to severe infections and chronic illnesses. Our patients will speak one of three common local languages, so when I am checking people in, I try my best to use the language I'm learning when I can and use a local translator in other cases.
There are also opportunities to have spiritual conversations while people are waiting to see the doctor or while they are waiting for a friend. It has been encouraging and frankly amazing to see the Father active at work in healing people's bodies and hearts. We have seen two children with life-threatening infections, one four-year-old girl and the other a tiny baby, being miraculously healed in ways that cannot be explained solely by the medical care they are receiving. In both cases, we were about to share about lasting hope that cannot be found in a pharmacy and the children's families believed and have begun telling many in their communities!
With this city being smaller, there is some loss of creature comforts, but there are also some wonderful perks to life in DD. Here are a few:
It is possible to go to the post office, bank and market in a hour (or two); this is a huge blessing!
The weather is sunny and more sunny, and I LOVE it! Right now we are nearing the end of the cooler season; each day starts and ends at about 70 degrees and reaches the 90s in mid-day. In close relation to this perk: every Saturday morning we go to the swimming pool to lay out, relax and swim!
There aren't many restaurants or variety of food, but every night, several women in our neighborhood sell a delicious combination of spiced beans and potatoes for about a dime! We probably eat that for dinner twice a week, and love it.
I see camels every day; they never cease to amuse me!
Thank you all for your emails, prayers, support and encouragement. Please let me know how you are doing and how I can be lifting you up to the Father.
with love,
leigh
ps: I have a new address for snail mail: let me know if you'd like it.
No comments:
Post a Comment