Updates and Prayer Requests

I've been sick at home for the past 2 days with what is most likely strep throat. I'm very blessed to have 2 wonderful friends and colleagues here who are able to help me and who checked me out and got me on an antibiotic (no prescription necessary here :)). Lisa Martin, the school nurse, and Carolyn Simpson who teaches Science here and is also a doctor (both of whom are also amazing friends and people). I've spent the day watching Season 9 of Friends on my laptop (which has been an absolutely wonderful temporary break from life in Tanzania- thank you, Carrie, for the dvd's!!) and listening to the blaring loud campaign trucks drive by for the Presidential election which is this weekend (big pick-up trucks full of people and enormous loud speakers drive by about every hour blaring music and/or announcements at the volume of someone shouting at the top of their lungs into your ears..... seriously, you wouldn't think such a loud volume is possible when it's NOT 2 inches from your ear, but somehow with these loud speakers it is. The trucks have been driving around for weeks but the frequency has increased greatly over the past few days with the campaign coming up on Sunday.)

Anyway, as I've laid here (and I'm feeling much better already), I've realized this would be a good time to post some specific prayer requests:


1. My health in general. The fact that I didn't realize I was sick (and wouldn't otherwise have) until I had a 102 degree fever just shows the common state of my health here. I pretty much always feel sick due to the constant black exhaust in the air that I'm inhaling (from trash being burned on the sides of the roads everywhere; there are no landfills here) and the allergens in the dust that are everywhere and that make my sinuses go crazy every day. This combined with me getting very little sleep each night due to the incredibly loud street that our house is on and the fact that I still don't have a real space of my own (more of an explanation in a second) and sleeping without AC every night..... all combine to make me generally feel sick and tired on most days. Not to mention teaching 13 grades and 300 students. So I would love your prayers for my health and energy. (And malaria prayers can always be added in there, too.... I did my first do-it-yourself malaria test last night because of my symptoms- roomie Kate got to prick my finger.... it was thankfully negative, but malaria is always a constant possibility here)

2. My housing situation. It's a long story, but I'm moving from the current house I'm in to another one on the compound. The house I'm in started out with 4 of us teachers in it. My bedroom had never before been occupied because it is..... well, unlivable. And I've now proved that. The window the bed is on is right on top of a crazy-loud street (i.e. the campaign trucks I mentioned are just one tiny aspect of it) and nothing stops at night so it makes it impossible to sleep through the night- or even a solid hour- in this room. Not to mention the incredibly poor ventilation which makes it constantly hot and stuffy. So after trying for weeks to sleep in this room and realizing the impossibility of the task (and fyi, I'm an incredibly deep sleeper and can typically sleep through anything), I spent the first couple of months sleeping on a bunkbed in the hallway (which is our area set up for guests). I've spent the past month sleeping on a mattress in Kate's room while another teacher (Laura) moved out here from California and is sleeping in my old spot in the hallway. Anyway... Laura and I are going to be moving into another house with another teacher (Heather) very shortly. The major benefit is that we'll each have our own room and space (with AC in each bedroom!), and the house is much quieter than the one we're currently in because it's further away from the street (though "quiet" would definitely still be a big stretch). The downside is that the house is almost completely unfurnished and we're all new teachers so we somehow need to scrounge up cooking supplies, furniture, etc. etc. (there are some basic pieces of furniture in the house but not everything). It will be much better in the end but the process of actually moving and making a big unfurnished house in Tanzania livable is a huge task and not one that I'm looking forward to on top of my already very busy and tiring days.

3. My job. I love my job, and I love my students. And I love teaching Art. And I LOVE the opportunity and privilege of having an impact in 300 students' lives. But it is also very tiring. I'm basically do a 2-person full-time job teaching K-12. Next year there will be 2 of us, as there ideally would be this year, so that reveals a little of what my work load is like this year (as there's only one of me).


So I don't mean for this to be a negative blog post full of complaints. They just consist of a lot of the difficulties and stresses that daily life here entails. (and I didn't even mention the heat, crazy traffic (imagine LA's traffic but only one lane of it, throughout the entire city), sporadic electricity and internet, transportation, difficulty grocery shopping, having to cook everything from scratch, plumbing, ants in our kitchen at all times, etc. etc...) It is much harder than life in the states, in many ways. And it can be very frustrating, tiring, and stressful at times. But my life here is still much easier than the majority of Tanzanians' who live on a few dollars a day. And it is still much easier than the majority of people in the world. And though it can seem difficult at times, I also know that Jesus never called me to a comfortable life. He asked me to take up my cross and to follow Him. And "taking up a cross" isn't fun or easy. But in the end, it fulfills HIS purposes. It makes me die to MY self and thus lets HIS life live and shine and work through me. And in the end, this life is only temporary. It isn't meant to be easy or perfect. That's what the next life is for. It will be lasting. It will be eternal. It will be easy and perfect. And this one will seem like the blink of an eye.

On Wednesday in our staff meeting, a teacher remarked that a tree doesn't have to "try really hard" to produce fruit. If that tree is near the water source and near the light source, with its roots firmly planted, it WILL bear fruit. There is no effort required. And the same applies for us. "Blessed is the man who's.... delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law He meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not whither. Whatever he does prospers." (Psalm 1:1-3) When we stay close to our source of *light* and water (living water!), and keep our roots firmly planted in Him and His word, we WILL bear fruit. We won't need to "try really hard" at it. It will happen naturally. As I strive to stay close to my source of water and light, I appreciate your prayers and will pray that you do the same. Thank you!! :)