December Report

Boot Camp!! Wow, crazy. We have just come out of boot camp and it was very good. I had the honor (if you can call it that) of being Miss Piggy. Katie and I walked around the campsites of the 7 teams in the hot sun and gained a whole new appreciation for Miss Piggy in Florida with so many more teams to check. But it has been a long time since I have gotten to send in a report so let me start at the beginning.

I won't lie, December is hard. I started the month rather poorly. I was sad about Christmas, sad about missing cool weather (of Florida!!), sad about missing my family, sad about not hearing Christmas music or seeing lights. I was pretty miserable. And some trouble I was having with my roommates (Nothing drastic, just typical roommate stuff, this one makes the floor dirty after I clean it, this one is nagging me, etc.) made it even worse. But I finally got out of that slump. I know this is where God wants me, and I know that sometimes it's hard, but God's will is not always easy. Also this is making me to appreciate my family even more. A lot of times I don't want to go to familial holidays because of typical family drama and conflict, but I am realizing, that no matter how annoying they are they are still family you have to love them where they are. I definitely miss my family's holiday celebration this year.

Leaders seminar started and I lost my student, Melissa. So that means I have to wash all Katie and my clothes by myself. Which is ok, but definitely something I had to get used to. But I did discover the merit of the scrubby brush that the fact sheet encourages you to bring! It is a daily struggle to get out in time for devotions, some times I make it, sometimes I do my devotions another time. But I have to say, in Africa, with no washer and dryer, when you have responsibilities, it is nice when someone washes for you and your baby. I have definitely gotten used to washing, although my fingers still suffer sometimes.

We have several new kids, and the job assignments on the girls side spread our workers out a lot. So it is important that everyone is doing their job effectively. Then I got malaria! So I was out for about a week, and I felt so terrible because I was leaving my 4 kids with Erin who was already watching 4 herself. But she was really nice about it. So it wasn't so bad. I was really down and I tried a couple of days to get back up but always ended up back in my bed after a hour or so. But now I am pretty much all better, I just get a little tired faster than normal. Other than that my health has been good. I have been eating with the kids since boot camp started and also cooking a little for myself. I am still eating well, though missing the variety of Clarissa's cooking.

There are always small things that Satan throws in our paths to try to discourage us and make us quit our jobs (disobey), but we have to remember that we are where God wants us and do what He has called us to do. Thank you all for your prayers, I hope you are enjoying this Christmas season.