a quiet day

I can imagine it's starting to sound extremely redundant to say that today dawned bright and beautiful, but it's just the plain facts!  Today was another beautiful day, though it got a bit hotter than it has been recently.  The sun shone brightly and there seemed to not be a cloud in the sky again.  Absolutely beautiful.

It was odd waking up and not almost immediately seeing our students!  It's been strangely quiet without them bustling about.  They've been in my thoughts and prayers all day long as I imagine them at their home stays, experiencing Zambian life a bit more up close and personal!

Larry and I started the morning with a walk into the village (or "town" as we call it, though Elaine laughs every time we say it - our definitions of what constitutes a town obviously differ!).  Early in our journey, we found this HUGE beetle, by far the largest I've ever seen.  I had recently watched "A Bug's Life" (it's how I detox from grad school and work!) and recognized him as one of the stars of that movie!  Larry tried to make him fly by flinging him up in the air, only to have him crash land on the ground.  That didn't keep Larry from trying again, flinging him even higher this time, only to have him thud even more loudly on the solid dirt upon re-entry to earth's atmosphere!  I told Larry if he could fly before, he definitely couldn't fly now!   We watched the beetle walk back into the bush, and I imagined him hurrying back to his ant and other insect friends, telling his harrowing story of being flung around by some giants!

We walked down to the market, and then stopped by the MIAM lab and chatted with one of the employees there for a bit who had just returned from visiting family in Zimbabwe.  We then stopped by the local library/craft store where I pretty much blew my wad getting some beautiful pieces.  (I'd rather spend my money here, where it goes directly to the artist, than in a place like Livingstone, where I'm not sure exactly where it's going!)  There were some lovely pieces, and it was hard to choose!

We arrived back at the Gobelo House to find Andrew returned from his home stay early, suffering from some yuckiness.  While Larry continued exploring the surrounding area by foot, Andrew and I spent the rest of the day together at the house - he resting, I making sure he was hydrating in between enjoying a good book on the porch, soaking in some of the beautiful sunshine.  (Andrew is improving, and I continue to thank God for the miracle of antibiotics!)

Larry plans to attend a local church plant in the morning, and I will join Phil and Elaine for worship at the Macha Brethren in Christ Church again as it's "Women's Sunday" and I'm excited to experience an African worship service lead completely by women!  The students will arrive back on campus around 2 p.m., I'm sure bursting at the seams to tell their stories!  We'll have time tomorrow (Sunday) night to process their experiences together before starting week two at Macha!  Time is going by so quickly!

I realized that I haven't posted a picture of where the students are staying, so here it is!  The dorm is the building on the right, and our cafeteria is the building on the left.  They are beautiful buildings, only recently constructed with monies from a USAID grant.  (It's wonderful to see our tax dollars being put to such good use!)  It has served our students very well!  We all continue to feel very privileged to be here!