The Cross

So much to celebrate! Last week I wrote about celebrating the book of Genesis in the Kabwa language. Then I celebrated the birth of Jesus. I am also celebrating Yahweh's great provision for me to travel to places I've only dreamed of and to spend quality time with many very good friends that I hadn't seen for years.

All of this is because of Yahweh's goodness, and Jesus' sacrifice that brought about reconciliation to our relationship with God on high.

I know it is Christmas, not Easter, but before leaving for my trip Sarah and I got to paint the cross at our church.

It says "Jesus Christ has risen". His birth, life, death and resurrection were all brought about because of Yahweh's great desire to dwell with man and be their God. Praise be to Yahweh, our Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ!

Kabwa Genesis Celebration

On the last day of November this year the Kabwa language community celebrated receiving the book of Genesis in their language!

There was a lot of singing, a lot of dancing and a lot of speeches rejoicing over the joy of receiving Scripture.

Praise Yahweh for all His goodness to this language community and His faithfulness. It is always exciting to see another step achieved and to know that Yahweh is continually going before us and preparing the way.

It is always a great joy to see people listening intently to the Word of God in their own language!

As a bonus: it is also really adorable to come across a baby goat in a basket.

Kitimoto

Kitimoto (kee-tee-MOH-toh): literally this translates as "hot seat", but is the street name for pork. Pork that has been roasted.

One day Sarah and I decided we wanted to find a place to get food near our house. Thankfully, the search was quite easy and the food, well the one item on the menu, was delicious. Roasted kitimoto with roasted bananas on the side.

After a couple of visits we started noticing that many of our fellow patrons wore beautiful gowns, often prom-esque, and owned vehicles. Our fellow patrons were quite the fancy folk! So, we named our little hole in the wall food joint "Fancy Folk's".

We've been faithful members of the Fancy Folk's community for almost a year, although, generally we are the least fancy members of said community.

Here's to Fancy Folk's and kitimoto!

The kitchen itself:

The meat a-frying:

The finished product:

And now we are ready to enjoy:

Laundry

I have been lucky for most of the past five years to have had a washing machine. For a couple of years I was baby-sitting the washing machine of another missionary, but in September they returned and ended my baby-sitting term. So, I've been readjusting to washing clothes by hand.

At least once a week I incorporate boiling water and dancing on clothes into my morning quiet time routine.

The great thing is that I generally enjoy the process and it isn't that hard.

I dance in this bucket on my clothes (my feet get really clean in the process). I quote to myself from The 10 Commandments about dancing the straw into the mud. And I appreciate my clean clothes even more.

Added benefits? 

Ringing out clothes by hand dries hands out - I finally can use up more of the lotion that has been sitting around for years!

Maybe my arms are getting stronger?

As mentioned before, really clean feet.

So, overall, not a bad situation.