A much better week

After several weeks of sickness running through our family, this week has been a relief in so many ways. Not only do we all feel better, but we've been able to get back to normal activities. Personally, I, Bethany, was getting stir crazy.
On Monday morning I decided this week was going to be different. So I went to greet my neighbor friends and ended up staying to grind sorghum on the rocks with them for a while (my back and arm muscles were sore the next day!) In the afternoon Joshua and I trekked through the slippery mud to visit some of our Uduk friends. I drank tea and coffee and then ate 2 dinners - one at Hisi's house and one at Wako's house. By the time I got home, it was getting dark, Joshua and I were both covered in mud, and we were stuffed with food!
Tuesday's highlight was going over to visit a friend named Elizabeth who just had a baby girl. I took her some goat meat I bought for her in the market and stayed for some tea and coffee. She proudly announced that they had named their new little girl, Bethany. Wow, another Bethany in Yabus!
Yesterday was our teammate Lori's birthday. The kids and I colored some birthday signs and wrapped a small gift to take to her. Later I baked a yellow cake, made tortillas, and our team enjoyed a yummy dinner together, complete with cake and candles.
Today my highlight was four wheeling through the mud to Gondolo. Gondolo is a Ganza village 4 km out of Yabus. Lori has been learning to speak Ganza and focusing her ministry with the Ganza people. They've built her her own house so I was tagging along to help move some stuff to her new house. What a ride! I wish I had taken my camera so you could better see what it was like. Since we've had some good rains lately, and the dirt is what we call "cotton soil" so it gets really mucky when wet. Lori and I (plus a mattress, a water jerrican, and a full action packer trunk) were sliding around on the path, splashing mud up into our hair and splattering our arms with muddy water. We couldn't help but laugh at ourselves. To us, it was just a ride to Gondolo, but we know people in the States would pay a lot of money to go four wheeling on a quad bike through tall grass and mud in the middle of nowhere.
I came home on my own and ended up getting the quad bike stuck in a deep rut. I had to run back to the village to find some strong men. When I entered the first house I got to, there were three good men: two of them I knew, one of them being the chief of the village. Of course I had to sit and chat for a while and then I explained my predicament and they excitedly agreed to help me. I was wondering how it would work out because they smelled strongly of alcohol. But they did a great job and once we had finally pulled the quad bike out of the rut and to the top of the hill, there was a lot of cheering, high fives, and me praising their strength and power!
I arrived home muddy from head to toe but so invigorated from my adventurous journey to Gondolo.
It's been a much more eventful week and I've enjoyed it immensely so far.