The Honeymoon is Over!

To say that today was a BIG ADVENTURE would be the understatement of the century! All six of us left the house this morning in our rental van (praise the Lord we finally have a vehicle) to follow Auntie to a camp about three hours away. Aaron got a quick education in driving in Africa. The roads are horrible and you have to watch everywhere because there are no traffic rules! It is crazy. He did a wonderful job I must say (-: The day has been relatively cool, and so that was a huge blessing with no a/c in the van. We arrived at Auntie's place and were richly welcomed. The people were so excited about Lydia and everyone wanted to hold her. One lady even put her on her back! Elisha and Judah went off immediately to play with the many many children. They didn't skip a beat. And no one there speaks English except the Pastor. He is learning. We had a wonderful time and got a glimpse of what staying there overnight would be like. We are discussing whether it would be feasible with our family because there is no electric or water and just an empty building to sleep in. Oh, my! We are even more grateful for the house we are in and how nice it is compared to anywhere else we have seen. We had a wonderful lunch and the boys even ate well. It was basically American food. We had a great time and Elisha didn't want to leave. We thought, "wow, this has been a breeze!" Little did we know the day had just begun. We went to the bush on nonexistent roads for miles and miles and miles until we finally came to some land Antie owns. She showed us her farm and then took us deeper in to a camp of the people we have come to serve. Wow. Can you say primitive? There is no water or electric and the houses are grass huts kind of like an upside down weaved basket. I (along with another lady who came along for the day) were greatly honored by being asked to go into one of the women's huts. The door is so low that even Caleb had to duck! It was wild. We were offered a bowl of what looked like balls of fat on a piece of bone. The lady left us there with it and we pretended to eat some. Sorry Terrie, I'm not as brave as you! We finally left and drove and drove back home. We ended up driving in the dark for two hours which was a big no no and not planned. TIA! We prayed the whole way and everything went smoothly. By the time we made it home Aaron had a tension headache! God is so faithful. We cried with joy when we made it home and I can assure you that from now on Aaron will never let that happen again. The lady over our time here told me that sharing specifics like the locations and the people group and her name could put everyone in danger from certain religious groups. Therefore, from now on I will attempt to be very discrete in my writings. Thank you so much for your prayers. We needed them today! Imagine all the pictures you have seen of primitive Africa and we lived them today. Children drawing water from wells. Everyone carrying buckets on their heads, many naked children, you name it. The boys are so young and they just took it all (for the most part) in stride. It was awesome. The women are so beautiful and even the little girls have a baby on their backs. Like six year old girls! It is wild. I can't wait to post some pictures from today. Check the picture link and hopefully they will be there soon. Please pray for direction for us. There are many opportunities to work with this specific people group and many angles to take. Pray we will have wisdom and a heart for God's plan for us. Farewell for now.