Friday, June 20, 2008

Laundry day in Africa!

What a beautiful day to wash clothes, cook a tasty lunch and sing praises to the Lord! Today Cathy joined ministry partner Terry Earl in "the village" of Clarkston in Atlanta. We visited friends, hugged lots of children, and even wrote some curriculum.

This woman regularly strolls the village with her makeshift drum and sings praises to Jesus. On a day like this, it was easy to echo the Swahili expression, "Bwana asifiwe!" Praise the Lord!Terry and I had spent three weeks away from our ministry to refugees. She was busy preparing for a wedding, while I was beginning a new writing project. But today, we went home again -- and what fun it was to see our friends. The woman on the left has six children now, including a new baby I had never met. Such a cutie!
I had not seen her since my last visit to Atlanta, but she remembered me. She kept saying, "You got lost! You got lost!" I was proud to hear her confident English . . . and happy to tell her that I now live in Atlanta. I've been found!I won't deny it . . . I talked, talked, talked. I'm sure I threw in a few Spanish words while I was trying to communicate in Swahili and English. Please pray that I can sort these languages out in my head. They're all vying for attention.
Big smiles greeted us as children poured out the back doors of their apartments. It's fun for them to be home from summer school and have lots of time to play.
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One of my favorite friends was busy in her kitchen. She, too, has a new baby. Along with nursing the baby and caring for her other children, she had been washing clothes by hand. They were hanging outside to dry on chairs and a makeshift clothesline.
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Of course, she was cooking lunch, too. There's always so much for these mothers to do -- yet they're eager to practice English and learn as much as they can about America. (photo removed by request)

Please pray for Terry and me as we write curriculum. We'll be returning to the homes to begin teaching mothers and preschoolers when school starts in August. Until then, we will drop in on our friends in a more casual way. Try saying this, "Leo tunatembelea, tu!" (Today, we're just visiting!)
Thank you, God, for open doors and open hearts.

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