Falling geckos

The last week has been so busy. The power was off most of the day Saturday and Sunday. School started on Wednesday, so I spent Tuesday afternoon (after team meeting) trying to get my lessons all prepared. The first day of school was good overall. I spent my off periods scrambling to get ready for my next classes. I’ve been told that the boys in my middle school class are afraid of me. They haven’t had a teacher like me in quite a while… but they are doing ok, no big issues yet. The 3^rd grade class is a bit difficult for me since it is elementary level and I am figuring out what to do with elem. kids and what to teach them, etc. British lit. is good; I’m excited about that class. I’m taking more of a college prep approach to it since it is Lelia’s senior year. Overall school is good. It has just been difficult for me personally to adjust to the structure of school here and figure out what to leave and what to change. But, I know I will work through it all as I get settled in here. Again, it’s just more adjusting…

The team here has many things going on all the time. Tuesdays we have team meetings, Wednesday we have team devo, Thursdays we have community ladies’ Bible study with other ex-pats in Mbale, Fridays we have a prayer breakfast for the women on the team and a pancake dinner with other ex-pats at night, Saturday nights a group gets together to play volleyball, Sundays we have church and a community Bible study at night, and Mondays are our days off (which are often used for swimming, sleeping, and running errands. This is all in addition to school. Sound hectic and overwhelming? It is. Being the introvert that I am, being around such large groups of people exhausts me, especially after teaching all day. So far, I have gone to most things. Soon though, I’m going to have to decide what night I am going to reserve for phone calls and resting. It is good that there is such a sense of community here and much to do together; I am thankful for that. I just get exhausted from it. I would appreciate prayers for wisdom about how to manage my time best.

Since my last blog I have thought of many stories to add, but now I can’t remember them very well. Nancy and Sam Shewmaker were in town for a couple of nights. They have served much of their lives as missionaries in Africa. They work with Missions Resource Network and are preparing to begin work in Rwanda. They have mentored many of my missionary mentors and it was nice to spend a little bit of time talking with them. Julie arrived in town on Monday. Her birthday was the day before, so we cooked dinner and a cake and had the single folks over for dinner that night. At the moment, the whole team is in Mbale. Shon leaves tomorrow afternoon to begin a trip to Sudan with some others he’ll meet up with in Kampala. I know he’d appreciate prayers for his trip. If I remember correctly, this trip is for the SEE ministry. There is always so much going on here it can be difficult to remember who is doing what when and with whom.

On a final, random note… I opened the door from the laundry room to outside to hang up my laundry earlier this week. Something fell on my head when I opened the door. It was a gecko. I kinda like them since they eat mosquitoes. Anything that eats mosquitoes is fine with me, as long as it’s not suddenly falling from somewhere (like my head or thudding into my dresser drawer). Until next time… I miss you all and pray that you are all doing well. I added a list of prayer requests to the side. I will try to keep that updated with specific requests. :)