The 3 Week Report

• Getting a great chaco tan takes just over 2 weeks.

• With the daily potatoes, rice, and bananas at lunch, I’m carb-loading as if I’m running a marathon every day.

• Celine Dion is the songstress of this country, closely followed by Rihanna.

• The Shelby fam that I’m living with is awesome.

• Even though my phone doesn’t get service here, I still find myself checking it every once in a while for a missed call or text.  Ironically, I often forget to use my local go-phone.

• Walking to and from places is highly underrated. 

• Dreamt a few nights ago that I flew back home and then brought my family and friends back here with me.  Sometimes I’m sad that I don’t get to share any of this experience with people that I love. 

• You can still understand a good bit about people even when you don’t understand what they’re saying.

• The Rwandan pace of life is much slower. I really like it, but it’s been my toughest adjustment.  I definitely have tasks that need accomplishing and things are urgent, but there’s a different feel to it. There are a lot of pro's to this new pace, but I'm still processing and adjusting to it. 

• Mixing cultures is hard.  And I don’t just mean Rwandan and American.  There’s a third culture that exists – the Kingdom culture.  Jill and I have been talking a good bit about where all three of those cultures overlap and where there are gaps between them.  God’s way of living often contradicts what is culturally accepted and expected, both here and at home.  It’s interesting to observe the collision of all three here. 

• Reading God’s Word matters.  And patterning my life after what I read really matters.  The Peace House ladies start everyday by reading Scripture together and sharing what action they will take based upon what they read.  Every girl is expected to participate.  It’s been convicting to be a part of those times with them.

• No matter how hard I try, walking while balancing heavy (or even light) objects on my head is not in my skill set.