Recently, I scrolled through my sent box to read some old
emails from one year ago—just because.
It was one year ago that Sara joined me at Nahumba. One year
ago that we got lost out in the bush taking a back route to Sikalongo with a
friend. A year now since we started meeting with two Choma friends for a
refreshing women’s Bible study. And also a year since the first time we hosted
our Zambian youth Bible study group.
On 23 January 2014 I sent a letter home as I sipped mint tea,
listened to the train whistle through Shampande, and soaked in the
peaceful morning before the craziness of the day. We were confirming details of
an upcoming visit from friends in February. I had also recently test-driven a
friend’s Toyota HiLux (I was vehicle shopping)...
 |
| a youth Bible study in our home at Nahumba one year ago |
The past couple months I haven’t been sending regular update
letters home (I figure they’d probably just get boring).
If I were to send an update home just now, I’d probably talk
about stuff like the recent meetings I've attended for work, drinking tea from
the new teapot mom gave me for my birthday, how happy it is to have Sara,
Susanna, and Sharon all home now, the weekly prayer group I've been attending, what
we’re going to serve to our guests tomorrow, the fact that our neighbor cleared
ALL of our steps and sidewalks this morning after the four inches of snow we
received last night (yes, I baked him cookies), as well as a few other news
items, like Zambia’s presidential elections last week, and the fact that
my car is parked in the garage (I love.love.love garages).
This year is off to a much different start than last year,
but I’m looking forward to the adventures it will hold. Likely I won’t find
myself lost out in the bush (however, I did find myself LOST in my own town a
couple weeks ago when I returned from Michigan…). This year I can’t get
together with my good Bible-study friend in Choma, but… I’ve been enjoying
fellowship at a Spanish church in the area. Also, I am once again blessed to
share a house with Sara (who would have ever guessed?!). This season of life
isn’t as much a “hosting” season as my time at Nahumba, because working
full-time doesn’t leave much time for inviting folks over, but we’ve still
managed to invite a few periodic guests to our old half-a-house—and those are
good times.
Guess this is all for today’s compare-and-contrast musings.
-Tootles!
Julie...I love reading your updates and never find them boring.
ReplyDeleteI also love commenting on your posts. I also love receiving answers to comments. Have you thought of answering some of your comments lately?:-)
~ Betsy
Betsy,
DeleteThanks for your reply. Sorry I haven't replied to comments in a long time. I am typically screened-out when I get home from work in the evenings and often don't even open my personal computer.
One comment of yours to which I always intended to respond was a request for a picture-how-to on cutting mangoes. I even had planned to have a friend shoot the pics while I cut and sliced the fruit (as it's a messy job). Sadly, the photo shoot never took place and thus the blog post never came to fruition. Maybe someday...
"Never came to fruition"--LOL! Great sense of fruit humor there.:-) No worries...I will figure out the mangoes. If you could, though, I would love the recipe for the cherry dessert you posted recently. It would make a great addition to my "red dinner" idea I've been mulling over for Valentine's Day.:-)
Delete~ Betsy
Compare and contrast. We are on the second of three weeks of writing compare and contrast essays.
ReplyDelete