February 13 "Intense Day (camping is intents...hahah)"

Sunday greeted us as a very warm day, and I heard the same was true in the States. We went to a church off campus that the missionaries tend to attend called Good Shepherd. Now, I am used to contemporary services, so when I saw a hymn board with hymns posted, a liturgy from the hymnal, and the pastor in black robes, I was a bit taken aback! That is not what I expected in Africa! There were African parts to the service, but it was very traditional like I would have seen at my church growing up. The bush churches that we will visit later are another story, though! After church, we were greeted by the congregation and introduced ourselves. Several members and important people that I will need to meet again to remember introduced themselves and added another facet to our stay here. We will be helping with the two schools set up through the LCCA here, too. An intense women’s Bible study followed; man, are the women here smart! It is going to take all my energy to keep up! The afternoon was mostly devoted to planning and preparing for our first day. We have an hour and a half of tutoring and of English on Mondays, as well as two hours of preschool. English is instruction for the sem wives and preschool is for 4-6 year olds, although we have a 2 year old. Tutoring will be the issue as our range is from first to ninth grade, which is basically their entire range here. We shall see tomorrow! While T was taking a nap this afternoon, I decided to venture out on my lonesome for the first time and head the other direction down the road. I felt very touristy as I snapped pictures and heard many shouts, honks, and whistles as I was walking. Oh, the joys of being a young white woman in an African country. It hasn’t been too bad yet, however. On the way back to the guest house, several of the children were hanging out on a little ledge together. I stopped and watched them perform songs to which they sang, danced, and played the drums, while the preschoolers tried to impress me by jumping off the wall, and the one year olds just smiled at me and shook my hands. So cute! Mrs. A made us a lovely dinner to break up the hard work of the day. Most of it was done without the use of technology, as we have found that going online usually requires a computer, an Internet USB, and a book, the last one to be used while waiting for things to load online! I now head to bed with the sounds of frogs croaking and bats squeaking, knowing that tomorrow, our first day teaching, will be a great day.