Monday, September 28, 2009

Happy Night



I went to my new friend's house tonight, and it was a very good night! I've been telling her a lot of stories, I spend most every day with her in her parlor (salon). She has been to my house a couple times, but tonight was my first time to go to her house. I was very nervous because her husband would be there, and I still don't understand how to work those South Asian relationships with friend's husbands. When I arrived though, he looked very nice and followed all the rules of the society. But the best apart - My friend Loni had told him the stories I've been telling her! So I asked him if he could tell me a story, and he was very excited to tell the story of G-zus' temptation to me, and to talk about studying the Word I had given Loni. As he told the story, any time he messed up Loni would jump in and help, all I had to do was sit back and ask questions! It was so awesome to see Dad at work in this cousin family! He said he has been telling his friends! This is much more than I expected, but I am so thankful! It is so awesome when Dad shows that He is indeed in this place, that His work IS being done, despite our deficiencies.
Then the Husband stepped out and I had a word study with Loni which I was yarping for, because I'd much rather her teach him the stories. We learned a new story, acted it out, and then she told it back to me several times. She is so eager to learn, and she is always smiling. I thank Dad for such a friend!
Besides these, I keep busy trying to learn language and gather more information from people about what they believe and how they live. We have to write a big paper about the people we work with for my school, and those questions are really useful to bring out really good conversations with the English speakers I meet! This last photo is from a longuage route, these girls were so excited when I pulled out a camera! They all wanted individual pictures with me, and there was no way I could resist :)

Monday, September 14, 2009

leapord handed

I just got back from a weekend with my home-stay family, and it was wonderful! They were all very impressed with the amount of language I had learned since leaving them, and I was glad to be able to speak to them more in depth :).
On Saturday I ran around the village with my two best friends, Rima and Sosmita. We went from house to house having tea with many families. I was able to tell these families my short testimony and a story about Dad's son, so I enjoyed having something to give them. I got to watch Rima's dad while he was fishing, while Rima helped. I tried to help also, but the family wouldn't let me since it would involve me digging around in very dirty mud for small fish. I watched from the outside as they gathered the fish into their baskets, flung mud back into the river, and flung big fish out to where we were standing. That night I ate some cokura that they had caught, cokura being some sort of river crab. I also ate a sour bean off a tree. It tasted a bit like sour candy, but I was 95% sure I shouldn't be eating the bean, so I didn't have much more :)!
The girls were really good about teaching me a song - its about the beautiful world around us. I'm not sure if its the right language or not, but its close.
On Sunday I saw some henna on the hand of the girl next to me and asked if I could have some today. I thought maybe t would be too much trouble to go buy some henna. Haha, silly city girl! Rima took me to her friends house and picked the henna plant right off the tree! Then we took it back to the house where she ground it into paste to put on my hands. It reminds me of a fake tan. My hands are VERY orange! At a gathering that night I got to sing my newly learnt song plus two others I had learned. Then I was pressed to sing one more song, in English. After singing, they asked for one more - this went on for a few more rounds before I convinced them to sing to me! It was a very fun night, where I got to play and laugh with many of the villagers that I usually pass on the road. It was a very fun night.
It really was a great weekend, and I learned my testimony and short story by heart for telling it to so many people! It was great to see my house family again, and to find out the news of the village (my friend Rika is pregnant!!) .