My Ladies

So, with all of the hullabaloo surrounding my traveling and acclimating to my new city somehow I have royally let you down. I have somehow failed to write about by far one of my favorite times during my month. The time when Sarah and I traipse back across the border and spend time in B-country. Maybe you know this or maybe you don't but my primary job is to go and spend a few hours (hopefully to be extended soon into days) with these sweet ladies sharing with them all about my main man, JC. We have made two trips to two cities so far. We have two groups with about 30 women in each group. The first trip we took was actually over my birthday. It was wonderful to spend my special day beginning these relationships. The women are very excited about the teachings, whether it is because of the white faces or the message we are not entirely sure. Either way they hear the truth.

Aren't they so colorful!

Sarah up there doing her thing

Our second trip was quite an adventure. We started out around 1:00 in the afternoon to begin the three hour journey to the border. We had driven maybe 15 minutes when the car broke down. Sarah and I returned to our supervisors apartment to await a minor repair, right? What appeared to be a minor issue with the timing belt led to an entire replacement of multiple parts. They finally came back around 5:00, definitely too late to be crossing the border that day.
So the hunt was on to find a new car and figure out a way to cross the border so our supervisor could teach his class the next day. Did I mention it was Easter weekend? So it was Good Friday. No public transport available. Luckily, someone loaned us their car. Unfortunately, Sarah and I left K-town at 3:00 in the morning. Oh my goodness.
After napping at our supervisor's house, we all piled into car number two and arrived at the border 15 minutes before it opened. We enjoyed a nice cup of chai to pass the time then proceeded to make the three stops/ paperwork to be able to cross the border. As we were drinking chai, our friend on the other side of the border called to say his car wasn't starting. Great! Sarah and I had no issue getting through all of the checkpoints, but our supervisor was wanting to bring a large appliance back across the border thus raising eyebrows and questions about how much money they could get out of him. It took us an hour and a half. Thankfully, though it was enough time for the third car to be fixed.
We traveled straight to our supervisor's class where Sarah and I promptly fell asleep on the rock hard beds loaned to us for the afternoon. I also enjoyed a shower with many of my insect friends, spiders, mosquitoes, flies, dragon flies, etc.
We were determined that great things would be happening this weekend because the enemy did not want us to be there. The next day Sarah and I headed to our first class of ladies. We met in a different location quite a distance from the main road frustrating many of our ladies but I think our Father had us in the right place. We started to share about the life JC can provide, when a women in our class pointblank asked us to show her the way to that life. It was amazing. We shared His message of forgiveness and grace and five women believed that day. Two of them were even ready to be immersed in water that day. The Father provided a pond right next to the building we were meeting in. Woo hoo! We hope to be spending a lot more time with these ladies in the future.
After the immersion, we sat around talking to the people in the village as we waiting for the food to come. I love how relaxing sitting in the shade and talking with people can be. You truly get to see a whole new side of people. We even had magic tricks to entertain us. A picture of lunch is provided below. Yes, that fish is looking at you! Don't worry, a dear friend offered to take the head (its actually the best piece, its a thing of honor). They were shocked when we told them no one in the states eats the head. I'll stick to the chicken and vegetables thank you.


At our second class, we were again able to share His message. There is a lot of disparity among the women of our second class. Some women have known His message for a long time, while some are hearing it for the first time. Many needed more time to think about what our message meant for them. We will be going back again next month and I can't wait to hear what He has spoken to them over the last month.
So, there you go a small glimpse into my life as a country hopper.