Week by Week

     Though there are things that happen every day that we don't expect and life can feel overwhelming at times, we have many moments in our days where our hearts are full to overflowing because we have the honor of seeing God move in incredible ways here in South Sudan. On those days, though I'm tired, sweaty and nastily covered in dust, I am deeply satisfied and thankful for where we get to live and what adventures fill our days. I've been thinking it would be helpful to share what a typical day is like for us. So here it goes, let me try.

Our Classroom

   

  Our day starts before the sun comes up with our time with Jesus. By 8:30 the boys and I start homeschool and Eli is usually doing computer work in his "office", our extra bedroom, or running around meeting with teammates or local pastors. If I had to estimate, I'd guess I serve about 5 liters of cold juice on my porch to guests every day. We have a revolving door since many people come to talk with Eli regarding Theological Training by Extension and discipleship. Some days I call a recess so I can stop and serve juice and tea to guests on our porch and then the boys and I resume school. We are usually done with almost every thing on our schedule by 12:30 and then we head to lunch club. Lunch club is a wonderful thing our team invented where you  pay something per day and you have your lunch cooked for you! We have participated in lunch club ever since we arrived in Doro last year because then I don't have to interupt school to cook lunch.

Serving friends on our porch

     After lunch we come back home and the boys have an hour and a half of silent reading and Eli and I try to catch our breath as well with a cold drink and maybe catching up on emails and doing computer stuff. In the afternoons Eli is running around again with many meetings with people and sometimes trips out into the camps and I like to go visit with my neighbors and enjoy a cup of coffee in the shade. I also like to check in on teammates on the different compounds to see how they're doing. The boys are usually playing with their friends. Some of their favorite spots are up in trees, in the sand pit near our house, and at their friends' house among the pigs, goats, cows and chickens. Last week our boys received their first gift of a rooster. He is a bare necked colorful chicken with the new name Gamecock - in honor of the South Carolina Gamecocks. :)

    This is a typical day from Tuesday-Saturday. On Saturday afternoons we head out to Yusif Batil camp at 1 pm and spend most of the weekend out there teaching our Bible class with our Ingassana brothers and sisters. We are cruising through the Old Testament stories and it is exhilarating seeing how quickly and passionately they are grasping new truths and holding on to it. On Sundays we drive back out to the Ingassana camps and worship with them. Usually we end up visiting after church and not getting home until 3-4 in the afternoon.
   

A full church on Sunday morning

Singing their praises

     Needless to say, after weeks like this, we are ready for a break come Monday.We have been taking a Sabbath on Mondays- trying to do things as a family and rest and refresh in ways that fill us up for the following week. 

   We are thankful that we've had good health as a family during this first month back. One of the challenging things in this season of the year is that it is so hot which makes everything a little harder. Last night our thermometer said our house was 98 degrees F at 9 pm! I'm trying to be creative as the heat makes us cranky in school to pause and make a cold drink for the kids or play a quick game of water balloons for PE.

Their water balloon was a lot of entertainment for our neighbors!

As I said in the beginning, our life might look like a fun adventure, and that it is, but it's also difficult and straining at times. Will you please pause and pray for our family as we seek to thrive here as a family - in this incredible place God has called us to?