A breakthrough and a new house!!

Well a lot has been going on lately, which is a good thing because it means we're all healthy and able to get out!! Praise God for this! The past few weeks we've spent at least 2 nights every week in D-village. Our times there have been great!! Arnett and Mitch are busy building relationships with the men, while I'm busy doing the same with the women. One woman in particular is, Mandy. Mandy has become one of my very good friends in D-village. She's in her mid 40's and has become like a mother to me. She's very patient with me and a great language helper. On one of our trips recently, she and I went out "into the bush" to look for some fruit they eat (sorry don't remember the name and can't think of something similar in the states). While we were out she really shared her heart with me. She is the second wife of her husband. As you can guess, this is not easy!! Her co-wife is constantly telling lies on her and getting her husband angry with her. Mandy shared with me that she wanted to leave her husband. Of course, this set me into a panic, thinking I don't have the language to handle this. I then just started doing the only thing I knew to do...PRAY! I felt God lead me to ask her if she was a believer. She had told Mitch and Arnett on previous trips that she was a believer but she still went to the other world religion worship site and participated in their rituals. Well, when I asked her she point blank told me no. Then she wanted to be sure that we could still be friends cause she wasn't a believer and I was. I quickly assured her, there was no problem! Now, at this point I was thoroughly confused. I had thought she was a believer. She comes every week to our storying time. She even repeats the stories and answers the questions! A rarity for a women in a mixed group setting!! I then asked her some questions about weather or not she believed in Jesus and she replied that she did. Thus, even adding more to my confusion. By this time in our trip we've made it back to the village so we had to end our conversation. This past trip I wasn't able to get her alone to talk more about it. While this discouraged me it also highly encouraged me. I felt God confirming His calling on my life. Saying to me, "I have you here for this!" I was also ecstatic that Mandy trusts me enough to share her heart with me!! Please pray for Mandy. Pray that God would show her that she can't walk two roads. That His road is the truth. Pray for an opportunity to get off alone with her. Pray for my language ability as I talk to her.

Another exciting event that's happened since our last post is we have a new house!! We haven't moved or anything, we've just gotten a "2nd home". The villagers gave us a house to use while we're in D-village. We generally just store our stuff in the house but with rainy season upon us we'll start sleeping in it more and more. The first night we had to stay in it because of the rain wasn't a good night. You see, the house is made of mud with a straw roof. Which means, spiders, scorpions, snakes and even possibly rats could be living in our house. So, that first night I spent the night scared to death of something crawling on me. And the goats and cows were trying to get into the house out of the rain, so that kept me up too!! Soon, we'll get some cots and mosquito nets set up in it, so I won't have to worry so much!! And just in case you're worrying too... I've only seen spiders. No scorpions, snakes, or rats. Even though I'm convinced there's a rat living in the roof!!

Us in front of our new house!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zeke turned 11 months old on April 28th. He's got 2 new teeth with 2 more coming in right behind them. He's still not walking yet but he's pulling up on everything. He's also really fond of pulling up on the chairs or coffee table and pushing them all over the house!! He really does well in the bush. He loves playing with the kids. He's also a big fan of rice and sauce!! I can't believe he'll soon be a year old.

Zeke lovin' some rice and sauce!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zeke playing outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Praises:

1. We're all healthy!!
2. The struggle to stay has been replaced with God's peace!
3. Relationships in the village!

Prayer Requests:

1. Language ability.
2. We'll stay healthy.
3. Mandy and the believers in D-village.

Until next time...