June 2, 2012

Hey everybody, so i know the last post wasn't exactly lively and I apologize I just wanna try and give everyone some sort of an understanding of the good and the struggles  here.  today I think im gonna share more about the people and food and.    I first want to start by sharing about my friend Peace.  She has really been such a blessing to all of us here because she cooks, cleans, makes us African tea, and on top of all that has a 3 month old baby that she takes care of.   She really is wonder woman to us haha.  She makes great food and is always so cautious about us being taken care of... She spoils us, but the women here are all like that, what a wonderful culture!      The food here for the most part is great.  There are some specific dishes that I'm not crazy about, which wouldn't be so bad but during a meal that meal is your only option.  There's no choice b.  they also don't really snack here so it's either suck it up and eat it or don't eat at all.  I think my favorite thing here to eat is the chapatti.  It's basically an African tortilla.  But it's 100 times better than a tortilla you're imagining because they're much denser and thick and just amazing!  My least favorite dish is goat and matoke (basically matoke is plantain).  I think I might go hungry that night.. Haha.  Unfortunately, they also like to fry a lot of stuff here so peanut butter and jelly is gonna get old... Fast.  When it comes to food here I think about it a little differently tho.  I'm sure everyone has heard the phrase "there are starving children in Africa".  Number 1., yes that is true and number 2., it takes on a whole new meaning when those children live right outside your kitchen.  So, yes I do feel like being picky sometimes, but at the same time we don't waste food here.  Being well off and fortunate enough to have some sort of meat AND a starch here is such an anomaly that it really shows me not to take anything for granted or to waste.  I only get what I know I'll eat and nothing more.  at the same time, people here know they're blessed to have what they do have.  More often than not, being poor and not necessarily even having what they need doesn't usually shake their faith.  So many times when I'm talking to women here they greet me with "God bless you" and then they'll continue on to tell me about their lives, which is incredibly interesting and at the same time very sad.  But it never fails, whenever they're finished with the conversation they 95% of the time end it with "God will provide".  I mean gosh! Just writing that gives me goosebumps!  How many times have we questioned the Lords motives or existence at home when something bad happens? Or if we get into a bad situation? Or if we don't necessarily get something we want?! I mean geez if there's anything you take away from this blog please let it be that!  They literally have nothing and they trust that the Lord will provide because He is their hope and their strength and they're provision 100%, no questions asked.  I wish we could all live with a fraction of that trust.  I mean shoot if I could take even a small amount of that faith and trust from them then I would be so blessed!  That's definitely a huge lesson that I think the Lord is teaching me while I'm here.  Without the Lord there is no hope.  You can't look into these peoples'  faces and day that the Lord doesn't exist.  Take one look and you'll see, I promise!  Yes I understand sometimes we go through difficult things, but I promise you the Lord is doing something amazing with that tough time for you! Yes it is hard to see what He's doing at the time, but have faith and trust Him because he will provide.  Jehovah jireh - God will provide! Love you all