La Sonya

Dear Diary, The men-folk have been gone from the homestead today as have most of the women-folk. That left Sister Annabel and I, Sister Josephine, to hold down the fort for the day. We had plenty of things to keep us busy as it was just past harvest time and the kitchen was busy with food preparations and our lodgings were getting put back into shape. Directly following a hearty breakfast of mush and fresh milk from our cow, Soy, we got straight away to work. Sister Annabel had to hitch up the team of oxen to go into town to get our mail from the neighboring town of Fish Camp and I straight away got to work on sweeping and mopping up the floors where the vitals are eaten. I left open the door to let more warm sunshine in and soak up the warm autumn sun. The door was open for most of the morning. Right before Sister Annabel and I stopped for the mid-afternoon meal I heard a very loud commotion coming from near the door in our kitchen. Thinking perhaps it was the men-folk coming back I c...

An ENFP needs to focus on following through with their projects. This can be a problem area for some of these individuals. Unlike other Extraverted types, ENFPs need time alone to center themselves, and make sure they are moving in a direction which is in sync with their values. ENFPs who remain centered will usually be quite successful at their endeavors. Others may fall into the habit of dropping a project when they become excited about a new possibility, and thus they never achieve the great accomplishments which they are capable of achieving. ~ BSM Consulting, Inc See I need quite alone time too.

All you need in the world is love and laughter. That's all anybody needs. To have love in one hand and laughter in the other. ~August Wilson I love working with kids. I don't care in what area; school, camp, church or food service. Kids are great. They see the world through open eyes that believe and trust in everyone. They laugh when things are funny, they cry when their hurt. But best of all is the love they give. I want to give that kind of love back to those kids. I think there is a reason that God makes the connection with adults needing to be like children to enter into heaven. We need to love, trust and laugh like they do.

Hope is a funny thing. I have hope. I want my hope to come to pass and no longer be a hope but to be a reality. Where does God fit in that? Jesus asked his Father to take this cup of suffering from him. Only if it's what God wanted. I want my hope, but only if it's what God wants. Only the hard part is, it's what I hope God wants. "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." Romans 12.2 I want to be thinking the way God thinks. I do see a difference in His ways vs the worlds ways. So this is how to hope? I let go of this hope, and focus on God. I'm giving this hope to God. I'm learning to wait and hope in God. "So be brave and courageous all you who put your hope in the Lord" Psalms 31.24 If He's working in me on this journey I will find myself wanting the same goal...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood And sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler Long I stood And stood And stood. Then looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth Knowing how way leads on to way I fear for both, uncertain of today Both roads are grassy and wanting wear. Both roads are having the better claim. Yet knowing how way leads on to way I won't be coming back? To choose another would be to Deny the other Both are grassy and wanting wear. I stopped and paused at Two roads that diverged in a yellow wood And prayed for help to travel both I looked above as long as I could For today I had Tomorrow I didn't When I saw someone coming, AH, a friend, then another and another. Help had come as I knew it would. To cheer for me on the path I took. But for today- But for today- a place to rest. For though there are two roads in a yellow wood I am in a spot made for waiting and living Only to take the next path when needed. And that will make all ...

We drove 3 hours to get to our lodge right outside the Ngorongoro crater where we stayed for two nights. On the way there we saw camels that had been imported fromthe north and we also saw TWIGAS (giraffes)!! Straight up WILD. No conservation, no park just pure wild animals! Here at the lodge the stars are so easy to see. Again simply beautiful, bright new stars, except Juma says that you can see Orion here!! How wonderful and comforting to see a trusty star constellation in a new foreign place. On our big day into the Ngorongoro crater we were basically stuck in the car for 11 hours driving around the crater floor. It was mainly over dirt roads with lots of stopping to just watch the animals. So many too! Zebras, gazelles of dif ferent types, buffalo, hyenas, wildebeests, flamingos, all sorts of birds, ostriches, lions, hyenas, elephants, baboons, a lizard, hippos, and several other animals that I don't remember the names of. It was a beautiful trip and we were all covered in di...

I loved church. I loved walking by myself to church, going through the village. It helped me proccess many things. I felt like I could belong and that perhaps one day see myself fitting in. I was able to practice local greetings, smile at children and explore the paths that lead to and from church. God worked the timing out right so that I met up with Jordan and her kids right as they were leaving Sabbath School. The whole pack of us --something like 20 kids (two homes combined) trooped right in during the announcements and sat right in the front. The church was full for the most part. It's a fairly large church I guess since the University of Arush (the local Seventh-day Adventist Church) is right there. I'll be a little honest I was a bit sad that we didn't sing the doxology in Kiswahili. I have been practicing it since last November when I first started praying for Tanzania. We sang many songs in English and there were a few special musics, they were at least in Kiswahil...

Don't pretend that you love others. Really love them. Romans 12:9 Yesterday I didn't sleep well and I woke up at 2:30 AM. So my emotions were a bit streached out. We visited the Good Hope home for children in Arusha slums. They are a poorer home in the suburbs of Arusha. Yet I enjoyed the children very much. Their home was more lived in (dirty and paint pealing) the children were able to interact with us. They are in school yet they still had time to play with us :) We visited their new buildings that are going to be their new homes. I actually didn't look at the buildings because I was to busy playing with the kids. I could only take so much of the buisiness side/tours of buildings when there were so many eager children to play with. So I broke out the best currency in the world of children. . . balloons. I started passing them out and boy did I make friends fast. Then after they peeled me away we left to go shopping! The shopping was fun. We got to see many things made by...

Here is a link to Jessica's blog . She has spectacular pictures and is capturing so many great emotions.

Things are going well. We saw Havillah Village, a home for children. It’s where Jo-bob is. I learned quite a bit about how our home could be run. It was great to help get me in the mindset. I’m going to go back later to talk with Debbie the director there. Then we went to see our property. Wow, what a morning. Seeing the location for SSC is serious business! It’s very long as aposed to a perfect square. Juma (the director of operations here) has planted lots of trees, banana, guava, mango, papaya and even a pine!!! It’s a good soil and it’s back off away from the main roads and houses and people. In the afternoon we went to cradle of love. They have 50 infants and toddlers all between the ages of 0 to 3 years of age. They were all so precious. They would run up to you and throw there arms up in the air just asking to be held. If you are a personal contact type person that is the place to be, so many children just wanting to be touched, held, looked at and talked to. Just hold a...

Currently I am sitting on a plane. I've been on a plane for what feels like DAYS. It may in fact be days. I boarded the plane in Orlando on the last day of August and will get off in Kilimanjaro on the first day of September which is coming to a fast end. I've seen movies galore, listened to music, brushed up on my French (Berlitz language game), reconnected with Tetris, read Health magazines, missed a sunrise, sunset and most everything in between. I've had meals and more meals. I've slept, thanks to Tylenol PM and I've dozed, thanks to staying up almost all night the night before I left. All of our group has made it together safely. We have people from all over the US. Kathy from SoCal, Jessica from Utah, Shannin, Kaylene, Stanley, Enrico, and Charlene from Orlando and me from . . . well . . . I guess I'm from central Cali. This is my first time to cross the Equator and it's one heck of a crossing. The supper cart is making it's way by so I'll fini...

When God’s children are in need, be the one to help them out Romans 12:13 Amazing, I just read this for worship ->God is guiding us! Amen Instantly when I stepped off the plane Wednesday night I could smell the warm night air and Iknew I was back in Africa. How it can small the same? I don’t know but it did, it has been a familiar sent that warmed my heart and touched a part of my soul. The stars are all new down here! It’s as if to see the night sky for the first time, to disover God’s beauty anew. To be a small child just learning to open m yes. I’m reveling in the beauty. I’m allowing myself to be effected, to let the new things overwhelm me. I’m allowing God to shower my senses with delight. Today holds so many new thigns for me. I’m sitting outside now and I hear many things in the early morning; a child humming, birds singing—all kinds too, a bycuicle going by, a truck, a far away chicken and a close by chicken too. I get to see Jo-bob (Jordan Sager) today! I’m so excited. So ...

Msifu mungu wa neema Enyi viumbe po pote; Wa juu pia sifuni Baba, mwana Nayeli Roho. Amin