It has been entirely too long since my last blog. Blake and I have found our time filling up more and more everyday and while I was longing for “more work” I find my time at home and the time that I spend writing e-mails and working on blog updates or other areas of work in the home to be more and more precious, and I am finding myself appreciating my time at the home more regularly. I am going to write a few blogs throughout the weekend and this week, to keep them shorter, but we do have so much to share since the last update. In June we found ourselves having many visitors and I really enjoyed hosting many of them into my home. I have always loved hosting, but I have really developed a deeper appreciation for hospitality since being in Africa. We regularly have people “pop by” for dinner, and our relationships are beginning to grow deeper and deeper with so many of our leaders, that we can tell we are blessing them as much as they are blessing us.
In early June, we had some girls visiting from Point Loma Nazarene University, and it was such a good time to meet new friends, and to enjoy some time doing additional things in Africa other than just our jobs. We took a day trip to Akagera Park for a Safari, and it was so much fun. The park is set up so that you pick up a tour guide, but you drive your own vehicle, so you can spend as much or as little time as you want watching animals. We saw first the giraffes and they quickly became Blake’s new favorite animal for good reason. They are just so fascinating. We could approach them (in the vehicle of course:)), and were probably within 15 feet of them, and we just parked and watched them. They seem very mellow, and didn’t move when we were close. They just watched us, and moved about very gracefully. We were watching them blink, and it almost looked like we could see their eye lashes. They are such a large animal, but just watching how they move, we felt very close to God’s creation. We just parked and watched them for probably close to an hour. We saw other animals, like buffalo, zebra’s, hippos, impala’s and my favorite the monkeys! Which are just as cool as giraffes. They are like little adults. They are just crazy, and really funny. We had good conversation and had lunch on the lake, while we watched hippos and crocodiles pop their heads in and out of the water. It was so nice to connect to Africa in a new way that we haven’t yet had the opportunity to do, in our 7 months here. God is so good. He thought of everything when he created! I am so thankful that I can trust in the Lord for everything. He knows what he is doing, better than I can imagine. Praise the Lord!