Life on our compound:

We have 2 donkeys named Smokey and Teddy who haul our water from the nearby river. They're very tame and let Isaac and Evan ride on their backs sometimes. We also have a white cat named Muzungu which means "white person". She's good at hunting down rats and lizards around the compound.

We've also got about 20 chickens. Eggs aren't available at the market so we depend on our own chickens for eggs. We get about 3-5 every day and share them amongst our team of missionaries. We've even let a few of them hatch and had baby chicks. Whenever we need some protein/meat, we butcher a chicken for dinner. The only problem is that they're free range so they're not very tender.

We also have a nice vegetable garden with zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, spinach, pumpkin, okra, carrots, and watermelon! We've been eating lots of zucchini lately fixed all kinds of different ways.

Since the river water is so dirty and takes 2 different processes to clean and filter it, we collect rain water in giant barrels off our tin roof for drinking and bathing. We have a lovely solar shower (a bag we set water in the sun all day) for nice warm bath water for the boys in the evenings. Our lights at night run off solar energy and Eli even built us a solar oven using bricks, mud, and silver, reflective cracker wrappers! He's such a genius!

We really enjoy this kind of living. It took a month to adjust and now after 2 months it's feeling normal. Of course I'm still skiddish around all the lizards, frogs, and bugs of every type. You wouldn't believe the size of some of the spiders and beetles here! But I'm not afraid to go to the outhouse at night anymore and I deal with the moths mobbing me during my shower, which is also outdoors.

Isaac and Evan think this is paradise. They run around with our neighbor children, play with the animals, dig in the dirt, and even speak a little Arabic. This morning I told Evan to "jeb salaam" which means greet our visitor. He stuck out his hand to shake hands with our friend and we all laughed because I had not used any English and he understood! Isaac will surprise us every now and then by using an Arabic word. The other day I was dishing out his supper and he said, "Mommy, that's enough. Khalas!" Khalas means enough. :) We're so proud of them. They do so well here, meeting and greeting new people every day, sitting through long church services, walking miles in the heat to visit someone, etc. God truly has equipped us for our ministry here.

I just finished my first week of teaching. It feels so good being back in the classroom. I'm teaching basic literacy to people who don't have a single educated person in their whole tribe! Just in 5 days they've come so far, writing and reciting their ABC's and even sounding out short words. I only teach from 9-11 a.m. and we have a lovely young teenage girl named Radiya who watches the kids while I teach. Our school is just down the road so I'm accessible.

Eli enjoys going out on the 4-wheeler with our Ethiopian colleague doing evangelism in areas who haven't seen a Christian in years or ever before. It's exciting to make connections and encourage isolated believers and share the gospel with people who have never heard. Last week they even shared the gospel with a witchdoctor who now says he is saved and renouncing his former ways. Amazing what God is doing! It just blows our minds.

We wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It's amazing how perfectly we fit here - and only God knew. We just came in faith and He's showing us peace and joy that comes from obeying and following Him.