Kirk's conversation

Kirk was invited by a man to come the other night and sit and talk. Kirk thought it was going to be one of those things were they bring you to a center and then basically argue with you and try to convert you; so needless to say he wasn't really looking forward to it. But when he got there, they we just at the mans house and it was about 6 men just sitting around hanging out. The conversation turned to religion, which it always does and Kirk was able to share a lot about what we believe. The interesting thing was when he left one of the younger guys that was there walked about with Kirk and said, "just be patient, and keep talking to them, it takes them a while to catch on to new ideas." We are not sure what that meant or what he even thinks about the things Kirk shared, but something to be thinking about it! The guy whose house they were at Kirk sees at least once a week, he owns the little street resturant where we always pick up local food to eat. I'm just asking the Father that Kirk would be able to continue to bulid that relationship and that they would have many questions and truely start seeking, and that this younger guy would start to ponder on what he thinks about this "new idea" Kirk was sharing about.

my new friend

A few days ago we had a knock at our gate, I thought it was the girls friends coming over to play, and it was, but after them came 2 new girls. I reconized them from the street, but I don't know their family at all. They wanted to play with my girls so they came in for a while but I told them that I should meet their mother if they want to play here. They were very excited about the idea of me coming to their house. So the next day after they finished school they came and got me and I walked with them to their house. (they don't get out of school to 5:00) I was not quite ready for the visit that was about to take place. After climing up three very steep, very uneven, and very narrow fights carring Abram's not so light 23 pounds I was tired before the visit even started :) After only talking for a few minutes she stated telling me her very sad life story. She is not from this city, and only has one sister here. Her husband is not a good man, he hits her and the children, he has also divorced her twice, but both times has taken her back. She would rather not be with him, but he will not let her have the children if they seperate. She told me she only stays for her children, he also rarely lets her leave the house; she does work for 2 hours every morning, early. But other than that she must stay at home, she doesn't ever get to visit her sister. She said it was okay for me to be there since I am a foreginer. (I thought that was interesting). I wasn't sure how to repond to anything I was hearing, it was all so overwhelming. I have heard some sad stories since living here, but this one was one of the worse as she described the way her and her children are treated. One of the rules that we are living with right now is being home by dark, so after about an hour I had to leave. I felt complety defeated. I hadn't been able to share anything important with her and I just felt like I was not cut out to be a counserlor! What could I possibly share with this women? The next morning one of her daughters came over with some bread that she had baked for me, I couldn't go back and visit her that day so I asked if I could come back the next. So today I had my second visit with her. And after time with the Father about this, I felt much more equipped, not that I have anything to offer her, but I know the one that does. We had some great conversations. I was able to tell her about having a relationship with Him and then at the end, I told her you may never have peace or joy in your life, but you can in your heart, then I was able to share how much the Creator loves her, that he made her and loves her so very much and that in our book one of His names is love. She had tears rolling down her face, I know that she had never heard that God loves her. She had already told me early it was about works and doing what is right, being clean on the outside being the important thing. She had never heard about have a relationhip with Him. I will go back next week to see her again, please be thinking about her, and her 4 children.

park

After class the other day, we all went to the park. We went to a small park not far from our house, one I like a like a lot. It is all fenced in and they actually take care of it, rare! The girls played and I sat down next to three women to chat. I started talking to the one that was playing with a little boy, thinking that it was hers I ask her how many kids she had. She was actually just the big half-sister of the boy. She was only 14 years old she told me, the veil!!! Sometimes I just can't tell by the eyes how old they are! I could tell she was young but I was thinking early 20's the way she was caring for the young child. It ended up being her step-mother and her father's mother sitting there with her. We chatted for a while and then the mom got up to take care of one of the other children and I started talking to the girl again. She told me that her father and mother divorced many years ago when she was around 8 years old. She has one younger full brother and her mother was pregnant when they divorced. After the divorce her mother moved to a different city (back with her family) and she has not seen her since, she also has never met her sister. Here the father has all the rights and can choose for his children where they should live. I asked her about her relationship with her step-mother and she said there are many problems. She said life is very hard and she misses her mother a lot. Since she is the oldest child I'm sure she is responsible for a lot, and you could tell that she spends a lot of time taking care of her 4 half brothers.
I did give her my phone number and i'm hoping she will call soon.
At the same time that I was having these conversations Kirk was talking to the dad. It is a little unusual for the whole family to be there, but he was and he and Kirk talked for a long time and exchanged numbers. I am really hoping that it works out and we are able to visit this family. Please be remembering this girl, my pr@yer for her is that she will know the one that can bring her Comfort and give her an everlasting Hope.

good conversations

I was able to have a great conversation with my teacher the other day. We were talking about the kids and some way we started talking about Ayden and I was able to share with her Ayden's testimony. It was such a foreign thing to her that my children or I were not born "believers." I talked about how Ayden had to decide to follow and believe that the Son is the only way. And then I told her a little of my testimony and she asked some questions. Then she asked the hardest question, "so if you don't believe in the Son and follow him, you'll go to hell." I wanted to be honest and answer the question, but also be loving and not offensive. I finally just said that I believed the "Word" and in the "Word" it says that we must follow the Son and believe in Him. She didn't seem to be offended, she thought for a minute and then said, "I use to think that your religion and mine were very similar but really they are very different." Please be remembering her, as we have a couple hours a day together, that I may be able to speak truth into her life.
My other story is a girl that I was friends with before we left, she has read through some of the NT and has asked lots of questions in the past. I was not able to talk to her about religious things as we were never alone and I'm not sure how much her family knows about her reading and seeking. However, I was also friends with her sister who was never interested in the past. As I saw her this week I barely recognized her, she has gained a lot of weight and has been very sick. She has traveled outside the country a couple of times already and is getting treatments for a kidney problem. You can tell she doesn't feel very good and has had a very rough year. My request is that you would just remember these two ladies, that the younger is able to share the truth she knows with the older one and that I'm able to have some serious conversations with both of them. Also that the Father would just reveal Himself to the older one through this time of sickness.

cooking

This blog is for my sister! When I was cooking with my teacher, here in my kitchen, I couldn't help but think of my sister. Pretty sure she would have been sick. Germs don't really bother me but even I was quite grossed out. My teacher came over and taught me how to cook a couple of national dishes, which I was very thankful for. They came out great and i'm glad to know how to make them. Plus it helped me pick up some more kitchen words. However, our culture is just very different from theirs. She came in and we started cooking and she had asked me to cut up the whole chicken and put it in the pot. So I got the cutting board I use for meat and my knife and begin to cut it up, I was not doing it fast enough so she found my scissors and quickly cut up the chicken, so know i'm thinking the board, the scissors, and the knife are all dirty and our hands. I go wash my hands, and start to put the other things in the sick, but before I can get the board picked up she is cutting veggies on it. I thought, o-well, those veggies will be cooked, but I knew we were making one thing where you don't cook the veggies so when I got a chance I flipped the board over so at least those next veggies would be somewhat clean. About half way though cooking I realized that she was washing the dishes as we used them, that is great, but then I looked closely and realized she was not using soap. Again all I could think of was raw chicken, on everything. We did have a good meal and no one got sick. She and I and the kids all ate together and Kirk in the other room. It was a great meal and I was very thankful to know how to make these dishes, but after she left, I did go clorox the kitchen and rewashed the dishes. I know when I eat in other peoples home or even at restaurants they do not keep things clean like we would, but it was something different about it being in my kitchen. I have cooked with them in their kitchen and just thought it was normal and it didn't bother me, but being in my kitchen did make me cringe a little ;)
So interesting how different cultures view different things and also just how lacking the education is here.
But for what they are lacking in education they really do make up in hospitality.

garbage!!!

The garbage men have been on strike for a little over a week now, serious problem!!! We put our garbage out before we knew they were on strike and by the time we found out someone had already gone through our garbage and it was all spread out in front of out gate. YUCK. But that was nothing, as the days went on people just kept throwing there trash out and now trash is piled all along the sidewalks and in the median along the major highways. One of the pictures above is our street and the other is the major highway that our street runs into. So even on main streets the trash is piled high. This can not be good for the city!!! and some areas you can hardly stand to walk through because of the smell!

Electricity

Sorry I didn't write much last weekend. The electricity has been awful the last week. Only an hour or two a day and only about 20 minutes at a time. It would be so funny, after not having it for hours it would come on and we would all shout and then 10 seconds later it would go out and you could hear everyone sigh. It became funny. I can't say how thankful we are that a class at our home fellowship gave the funds for us to buy a generator. We would turn it on for a few hours a day and wash cloths, check e-mail, etc. The only bad thing about the electricity being out was that the hot water heater didn't have time to heat up. We would unplug the heater when the generator was running because it pulls to much on it. So finally I had to bathe the kids so i filled the tub up some and then boiled water and mix that in to make it warm enough. They were somewhat cleaner afterwards. :)

Easter

HE IS RISEN!!!
We had a great Easter, it always feels a little different here on holidays, when you are the only ones celebrating. It is strange to be out on the street and no one around you even knows that it is a holiday. Just a different feeling.
We went to a sunrise service and it was beautiful to sit outside with other believers worshiping the One True God. It was a great time and then we ate a potluck breakfast; and since this was with the international community there were some interesting things brought for breakfast, some of which I have no idea what it was. (There were quite a few Indian families there). After breakfast there was an egg hunt for the kids, the youth (i think there are about 6 or 7 of them) dyed 300 eggs; there were about 20 kids hunting so lots of eggs for each child to find. The girls had a great time, the first time they have been with kids other then nationals since we arrived back. Ayden made a friend, he was Indian and they had a great time playing together. I was thankful there was someone there her age that spoke English. Was hoping there would be a girl her age, but there wasn't. All the kids had a great time and we were home by 9:30!!! We hid eggs again and they got their baskets and then we all rested for a while, after waking up at 4:00am we were all tired. We had lunch with some friends and spent the afternoon playing games together. So thankful for the fellowship we were able to have with like-minded people on Easter. It made it a very special day.

Old city

On Friday ayden and i went down to the old city on Friday. One of my favorite places to go in the city. I love to look in all the shops and just walk around and see all the people. We went with 2 other friends and they enjoy it too. Ayden had been wanting a "balto" so we found one for her down there, everything like that is much cheeper in the old city. She doesn't have to wear one, not until she is older, but she wants to dress like the older girls here, so she wore her head scarf and once we found a balto that she liked and that fit and that I could bargin a good price for, she wore that the rest of the time. We didn't really get to talk to anyone, not really a great place to meet and talk to women, but it was just great to be out walking the streets there. It is great too, becuase you can get everything imaginable in one spot. I found three baskets that I liked and so I picked those up for the girls Easter baskets, I got a kilo of cornmeal, some nuts, a little short broom (the kind they use here), and Ayden's balto all right there, then we walked to the middle and picked up some potatoe and egg bread and a water. shopping and dinner all right there! For the potatoe/egg bread, they take a round bread, cut it down the middle, open it up, stuff some boiled potatoes in there and a boiled egg, put some cheese (not cheddar, something that i like but don't really know what it is) and then some seasonings. Pretty filling and it taste pretty good, the only bad part is, we can't sit down in that area where the food is served and eat, becuase it is for the men. They would probably let us sit there because we are foreginers, but it would not be well respected at all, so we ate while we walked and eventually sat on a ledge somewhere and finished up. Well that was our day in the old city. I really think this city and country have so much to offer, it could really be a tourist destination and it has so much history, if it just didn't have all the other problems it would be such a great place.

Kirk's teacher

We talked about him many times when we were home. He taught us both for the first year and half and he is still teaching Kirk. We have really enjoyed getting to know him. But while we were gone over the last year he got married. So this past week I got to meet his wife. I was so excited about meeting her, someone we have be lifting up even before we knew she existed. Kirk and I did not visit them together, his wife and I were in one room and he and Kirk in another. The kids went back and forth as they had really gotten to know him and love him. She was so sweet and I really enjoyed being around her, i'm hoping to visit her again soon. She already knew so much about me and our family and she had seen pictures of all the kids that he had on his computer. It was so funny, but I wondered how much else he had told her. How much she knew of what we believed. I wasn't able to share a lot with her, but really asking for more chances to see her and talk with her. They seem to really love being together. Because they are from another part of the country, after they were engaged they talked all the time and he was allowed to see her. She even showed me engagement pictures they had taken. I little different then my teachers marraige experience.

my teacher

It has been great to get to know my teacher better over the last few weeks. She comes to our house everyday for classes, but this week she invited me to her family house. She is married so she no longer lives there, but she goes over there almost everyday. It is a nice house with a great view of the city! I went and visted with her mom and sisters and neices and friends. They are all very friendly and it was great to get to meet a new family and spend some time with them. I'm not sure how much I really learned because I spent most of the time chasing Abram around, but it was still really good.
It was also good for me to see a little of where she comes from. Our class is set up where everyday we do an hour of grammar and a hour of conversation, so I had already heard so much about them. My teacher has been married for a little over a year, but it has been very hard for her. She did not see or talk to him before the day they were married and even though she tells me they ae beinging to get use to each other, she told me how horrible the first months were. My heart broke for her. She works two jobs, she teaches at a high school in the morning and then she teaches me; after that she usually goes to her parents house and visits for couple of hours and then she goes home and cooks and cleans and takes care of her husband; who drives a taxi, when he feels like it. From what I can understand he really does very little. The good thing is I have been able to share some things with her. I told Kirk her eyes seem so dark to me and so hopeless. Please join me in asking for the right words and stories to tell her. I was able to tell her a story from the Book the other day, please ask for more opportunites like that.

I know as you read you may wonder why we love it here. It seems like i'm always saying some crazy thing they do or how dirty it is; but really we do love it. The women here are so kind and generous and as I sit and listen to them my heart breaks for them and the hopeless they live in.

day at the park

This past weekend our neighbors asked us to go to the park with them. So Thursday morning we loaded up and went. They set the time 9:00am, but of course they really weren't ready until about 10:15. Why do I still try to be on-time here??? Anyway, after them planning it, it ended up just being one of the older brothers and the oldest sister, (she is 22, not sure how old the brother is). Along with the were three younger brothers and sisters and two cousins. So we had a van full of kids! They all played on the playground for a while and we visited, the sister is fixing to become engaged, she thinks. He is not from this city, but because he works in the country to the north, he has said he will get a house here so that she doesn't have to move. We will see if that really happens, who knows. She has never met, seen, or talked to him, and she will not until they are married. Even after they are engaged she can not see or talk to him. I can't even imagine! So we talk about that for awhile and then some of the older kids wanted to go to the other part of the park where there are amusement rides. We had never been there, so we all decided to go. Let me just say, it was an experience!!!
The girls had asked numerous times when we were here before to go, but Kirk always said NO! He did not want them riding on rides in this country that were maintained here. a little scary. But I guess we have worn him down, so he agreed. So we go and buy tickets and we all just pool the money and tickets and we got 28 tickets. So with about 8 kids riding each child should get to ride 3 things and we would have a couple of tickets left. Of course, i'm thinking and doing the math, forgetting where we live.
What I learned was even here where it seems there would be rules, there really are none!!! The first thing the kids wanted to ride was the swings, seemed like a good idea, and that would take 8 tickets, but no! Even in the seats that are obviously meant for one, two people can get in and then you bargain and don't even give a ticket for each swing you take up! Crazy!!! I could not believe that Ayden and Addie were sharing a swing and Annie lynne was sitting on the lap of another girl. Also forget about rules, and safety and lines. There are NONE. When the swing has almost come to a stop everyone rushes up and pushes and grabs until everyone that can has gotten into a swing, and seat belts, forget it. It did have the bar that came down, but the kids could pick it up and put it down anytime they wanted. As we left that ride, we went to the roller coaster, it was worse! no line again and this time people are pushing and shoving up to the ledge, so if someone fell they would fall right off onto the track for the coaster. The people that work there, don't care, it is completely normal to them; really Kirk and I were the only ones that thought it was strange. The funny part was watching as the roller coaster came to a stop people were literally climbing in on top of the ones getting out, so funny. But it gets funnier! Kirk's friend wanted he and Kirk to ride, so the girls finally got on (annielynne is pretty good at pushing her way to the front, she wasn't missing out) and then after they went Kirk and his friend got on, when they sat down a lady handed the friend her baby (maybe one year old). So the baby rode with Kirk and his friend in their car. Why, who knows, the friend didn't know the lady she didn't know him, she just handed her baby over to some random person so he could ride. Then my friend and I got in line, but before we could ride the electricity went off and the roller coaster got stuck full of people, glad we were not on!
Each ride was kind of like this, if the car on the ride was meant for two, four or five people were riding in it. Never any lines, or organization, no rules, babies riding everything. And on that note if you look close you can see abram riding a spinning ride that annielynne probably would not be tall enough for in America. But he liked it! (sorry mom) They really wanted him to ride one, so Kirk got on too, but his friend was holding Abram. The things I really never thought I would allow. Thankful I can put my trust in something Greater!
Fun day! and I figured it out that all the kids rode about 5 rides and the adults rode some too, and we had tickets left! Glad we went with a national family, don't think we would have ever gotten on any rides without them helping us push through and I know we would have actually paid for each ride. So a fun day and the kids got to go on all those rides for a grand total of about $4.

Addie's tooth

We may be across the world, but apparently we are still pretty redneck!
Addie and Annie lynne were pretending to be horses and Addie grabbed Annie lynne with her mouth and Annielynne's button on her dress got caught behind Addie's tooth. It left it hanging on by a thread. It did come out two days later and she was very excited about the money she got for it!!! But she looked so funny when it was hanging on and now with a big whole in her mouth she looks so different. The front two are loose, so i think pretty soon she will have a really big whole in her mouth!

dirt

It is amazing how dirty and dusty everything is here. When the girls got out of the tub the other night I could not believe how dirty the water was! Had to take a picture of it!!! This was after a couple of normal days, not even rolling around in the sand, just hanging out in the house and playing on the swing set in the little concrete yard :)
Because of the water shortage, they can't take a bath everyday, so just a couple of times a week; however, compared to most here, they are pretty clean!