Update numero uno

Sorry for the late update everyone! Between late nights, crying babies, and sketchy internet, we’ve been either unable or just plain too exhausted to post.

Also, in advance, I’d like to apologize for the lack of pictures. We didn’t realize the laptop doesn’t accept our camera card and so aren’t able to show you what everything looks like. However, we’re trying to figure out a way, so don’t give up hope!

Ahhh, where to begin? It’s been such a hectic week that it seems like I have enough information to talk your ear off for a week. We left from Modesto on Sunday for a quick hop to San Fran. We must have set a game speed record that day, because we finished three games of Settlers of Catan in a little over an hour, and for those of you who play Settlers, you know how long it usually takes :) Though it was a foggy day, we quickly got above the clouds and were greeted by a beautiful sight: blue skies and the coastal mountains partly submerged in a white blanket. This leg of our journey quickly ended and we disembarked in San Francisco for a couple hours until it was time to leave. Our trip to London was uneventful and by this time, the reality of our situation was starting to kick in. We looked at each other and smiled excitedly at the thought that it wouldn’t be long before we got to London and from there, a short time before we reached Africa. After a ten hour flight, with about four hours of that in sleep, we reached London where we had a loooong layover. However, we were able to take a walk around town during that time. Though we were tired, we still were amazed by the city. When we download the pictures, we’ll let you see, too :) The transportation there was what first struck us. We were trying to reach Westminster Abbey before it closed and so we hopped aboard what is fittingly called The Tube. It is a series of interweaving networks of trains that serve all parts of London. We got aboard and four minutes later got off, walked ten steps to where our next train had just arrived, got aboard this second one and rode for another five minutes ‘til the station.

After our short stay in London, we hopped aboard a plane for our final leg. After we got through customs, we were greeted by our driver and driven to our hotel for the night. Having just come from London, the weather here was a shock to our systems. We went from about 43^oF to 83^oF with humidity. My first view of the country came the next day (it was already dark when we got here). We hopped aboard another rickety van and went down the road to pick up some water and orange time (a.k.a. phone time). As we drove along the road, we were greeted by a mixture of extremes. Even as I sit here, I can look out and see what looks like a Los Angeles view: hills covered with lush landscapes and dotted with fancy-looking houses. Yet it only takes a few steps outside of the gate to see reality. Every street is filled with shacks and architecture that looks like it was beautiful once, but due to no maintenance, is falling apart. Yesterday, we drove into town and on the way I saw a sign that said, “Showroom: Mattresses, Beds, and others.” This sign was hung on what looked like a dumpster flipped on end.

The sky here is almost always smoggy, due to a nationwide custom of burning your trash. Though this leads to few waste sites, it gives the air a continual smell of smoke. Driving here is an adventure to say the least. First you hop into a car that usually has a broken windshield and uncomfortable seats. The roads are full of potholes and bumps that shake you without mercy. The windows are always down, since there is no air conditioning, and this lets all the smoke and exhaust into the car. There are no stoplights and everyone passes whenever they wish. Taxis are stopping to pick up passengers in the middle of the road and crosswalks are non-existent. People run across the road and drivers honk at them to tell them, “watch out, we’re coming!” Driving in the city is like being stuck in an accident. The drivers even turn off their cars every 30 seconds to save gas.

Food here is good. It’s nothing amazing, but it’s filling and tasty. Tonight we had matooke: a plate of a yellow vegetable that tasted like potatoes, rice, a meat broth, and most importantly (at least for us :) was chapatti. Chapatti is most easily described as a thick tortilla-like bread. It even tastes like a tortilla that’s been drenched in butter. My mouth is watering now just thinking about it.

Through it all though, the Lord has shown me many things. I look around and am filled with idea for engineering and mission works. Africa has the effect of simultaneously killing ambition and firing up new excitement. When I came, I was all gung-hoe about how I could change the fate of this third-world country and make it a modernized and Christ-loving nation. However, I’ve been shown that that is not the way it works. Yes, there are many things I could do to improve the state of the country, but its problems will not be solved by one generation. Like in all foreign nations, the language barrier presents a challenging obstacle for missions as well. People here speak English, but so many words make no sense to them that you’re sometimes left wondering if they really know what you’re talking about. But even when my ambition was killed by reality, new ideas and thoughts came in. What could I do? What difference could I make? I could build wells and houses, fix the roads, build railways and dumps. I could teach the men here to be engineers and go out to do their own work. There are a thousand things one can do, if only one takes the initiative. A speedy difference looks nearly impossible, yet I hope for a speedy way to learning, so that I can begin work as soon as possible. Spending time here has only increased my love of home, but as we are reminded over and over again in the Word, Christians are called to be servants; going outside their comfort zones or first picks in order to save souls from eternal death. Though I’m not sure this is my mission field, I’m still praying and keeping my mind open for that possibility.

Well, I’ll try and figure out a way we can post pictures, but until then, I leave you with this:

“…but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus… For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself….Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.” (Phil 3:13-14, 20-21; 4:1)

"When the world my heart is rending
With its heaviest storm of care,
My glad thoughts to heaven ascending,
Find a refuge from despair.
Faith's bright vision shall sustain me
Till life's pilgrimage is past;
Fears may vex and troubles pain me,
I shall reach my home at last."

~Corey (for the three of us)