The First Look

This weekend we will get our first look at our new home for the next two years.

Melody and I will travel to Pande, Tanzania for the first time. Our unit leaders are going up there with us for a quick weekend trip. One of our main purposes is to checkout the housing options. The other main purpose is to meet the local pastor and his wife.

We are so excited about this opportunity! (Plus, we get to take half of Friday off from class!)

Some ways you can be praying for us and our leaders this weekend:

-safe travel, not only for us but also others on the road (Morogoro - Tanga and back in one weekend)
-wisdom for our leaders as they guide us in the decisions we need to make
-connections in the village to be genuine
-Digo people to have open minds and hearts about our visit and fast approaching arrival
-good health for us and for those in Pande that we will visit
-ability to identify and fight off attack from the enemy


Below is the google earth view of Pande, Tanzania.
On the right is Amani Primary School.
There are a few other villages nearby if you follow the roads out.

An Average Day

Rhythm and familiarity have both sneaked their way back into my life……and I’m ok with that. It doesn’t mean that every day is beautiful and fantastic but it does mean that I have an idea of what to expect and that is a beautiful (and rare) in Africa.

This is very much a school setting. Although, [Praise the Lord], we are not in dorm style housing. Melody and I have our own room and bathroom as does any single person here. There are “family units” for families that have more than one room. The room comes with a bed, desk with chair, wardrobe, and another chair. Bedding and a towel are provided and we can get clean linens once a week.

The campus provides all three meals and tea/coffee with a snack twice a day. I have no problems with the food. With any school setting, it does get a tad repetitive but that’s fine with me. An African porridge called uji, bread, sometimes eggs, and maybe a fruit make up most breakfast meals. Lunch and dinner are always rice, sometimes potatoes, and a few other things that rotate around. The only part that I might change is that breakfast is at 7am all seven days of the week.

A quick look at an average day would be:

7:00am - breakfast

7:45 – devotions

8:00 – classes start

10:00 – morning chai break

10:30 – classes resume

12:00 – lunch

2:30 – classes resume

4:00 – afternoon chai

6:00 – dinner

For devotions we gather in a classroom with some of the language helpers. We sing some songs (in Swahili) and read scripture. One person will read in Swahili and also in English. We will also say the Lord’s prayer in Swahili.

Class looks a little different depending the language helper/teacher. Our course is split up into two large binders that each contain 30 lessons. Each lesson presents, new vocabulary, a new grammar concept (or two), and exercises to practice the new information. Once the material is covered, we work through the exercises, which are all oral. On our own time, we have a written homework sheet to do for more practice. After five lessons, we have a test over all the material.

The 2.5 hour break in the afternoon is a huge blessing. So much information is presented that for me personally I often either need time to step away from everything or dive into on my own to attempt to better learn the material. It also offers a great opportunity for a nap.

Evenings are spent similar to the rest of the day. We may gather in one room and fumble through the homework while trying to find various pneumonic devices to commit more information to the permanent memory slot in our brain. Sometimes, we watch a movie on someone’s computer and other times we may just try to sleep if there is no electricity to do anything else.

That’s the practical look at my life in a nutshell. It’ll continue to look like that until the end of May. It’s a fairly simple life when you take away the mental struggles, challenges, and exhaustion of attempting to learn a new language. But it will be a brief chunk of time in the whole scheme of things and at this point I can only imagine what the next phase will bring.

NEWSLETTER: March 2015

Language school is in full swing and we have a beautiful view.

From Orientation to
Language School
Two weeks of healing followed by two weeks of learning

Eight weeks ago I stepped foot on the continent that stole my heart 3 ½ years ago. I can’t believe it has already been two months. God has taught me so much in such a short time. In addition to continuing to teach me about patience and His timing, God is also showing me the importance of community and having confidence in the abilities that He has given to me.

Melody and I spent an extra two weeks in Nairobi after finishing orientation in Nakuru, Kenya. Right at the end of orientation, I started not feeling well. When we returned to Nairobi, I had some tests done. After 6 doctors, chest xrays, CT scan, and more, it was determined that I had pericarditis caused by a viral infection. We stayed in Nairobi to allow time for healing and rest before heading to Tanzania.

Now, I am completely healthy (praise God) and we have completed two weeks of language school. Language school is a unique experience that includes humility, determination, perseverance, vulnerability, hope, and more.

Prayer requests: continued relationship building for Melody and I; perseverance for language learning; patience with myself; intentionality in new areas of my life

Please don't hesitate to let me know what is going on in your life. What has God been teaching you and how can I be praying for you? You can respond directly to this email. I would love to hear from each of you!!

Serving and learning in Africa,
Katherine

Melody and I with our first language teacher.

Home for the next three months!

Day 51

The days are long and the years fly by.

That’s a phrase I have heard from a few more experienced missionaries. Only 51 days into a 2 year journey and I can already see how that statement will be so true!!

We have completed our first week of language school. It was probably the hardest week I have had since moving to Africa. With a little downtime on the weekend I have thought of one reason that made this week such a struggle. I have never been around this language before. Listening, reading, and painfully speaking Swahili really is like rocket science or Greek to me. Our orientation and extended stay in Nairobi was all English. My previous trips to Africa have been in other countries with their own beautiful language and this is a whole new world. It is also school. The crash of a new culture with a school environment (which makes my brain give myself expectations that may or not be realistic) resulted in a challenging week.

The campus of our school, the town nearby, and the other AIM missionaries have been wonderful. Melody and I felt so welcomed to the school as our team leader brought us here and another missionary came just to meet us. Africa also provided a warm welcome, as we did not have electricity for three days this week. This lead to our first of many if/then statements that will soon be common in our conversation. For example: If there is power, then I will study after dinner.

Even in just one week’s time, we have met so many people. There was a large group of volunteers from Germany that were staying on the campus this week. There is also a couple from Korea and a few families from America. One thing I have noticed so far is that there is seemingly an instant sense of community. People will help others in any way they can. Walmart, the mall, grocery stores, and everything else are not just 15 minutes away in your personal vehicle. It is a sense of community that I feel like I have seen glimpses of in my last year or two in America. However, it is also something that I feel is greatly lacking. Maybe it is a concept that bleeds into our lives from the family and culture of the Africans that we are starting to share our lives with.

It seems that people, both missionaries and more so Africans, are more aware of their neighbor’s needs. It may be through intentional inquiry or it may be through being honest and sharing what we really need. Both of these possibilities allow for the option to bless someone. This is hard for me to digest. I love to give and serve. I am not always a fan of being on the receiving end. This week as shown me that I will need to be on the receiving end more than my comfort zone really cares to think about.

-If I ask Melody to help me with language, then our relationship will grow

-If I ask another student to come to town with me, then we may have an opportunity to learn something in town.

-If I ask someone in the village to help with anything, then that could be the beginning of a relationship that could be a starting point for ministry

-If I share about a struggle to a missionary that’s been on the field for a while, then they may have experience from a similar situation that could significantly help me

I am beginning to believe that this first term of commitment to Africa might be God working in my life more than I am influencing the lives of those around me. I hope I am still able to do the latter!! However, there is no doubt in my mind, that God is going to be constantly working in my life so that I, too, may grow, change, and be molded into what He has called me to be so that I can be most effective in furthering His Kingdom.

Back in School

Tomorrow, March 2nd, Melody and I will begin language school. It will be four months of learning Kiswahili. We will start with vocabulary and work through grammar and everything else.

You might be thinking, "I thought she was going to learn Swahili." It is the same thing. It is kind of like using Deutsch and German.

I am very excited about this next step of preparation! Throughout the last month Melody has been teaching me some of the basic phrases and words that she knows from her previous time in East Africa. I can remember learning to count 1-5 on the way back from going to the ATM on our first weekend here. I am quite thankful to have a few words and phrases under my belt to boost my confidence a little bit. However, that confidence my come crushing down the first week of class or even the first week.

I often wonder if some of the class time will be spent like the two guys in this video.

Although, I am descent at English and have been speaking it coherently for a number of years. I have often heard that English is one of the hardest languages to learn. If you think about it, English really doesn't make much sense.

Consider the following:

How about that for a great example of how much sense is in the English language?

I wonder what rhyming will be like in Kiswahili……

As I mentioned earlier, being able to learn a few words and phrases over the last few weeks has helped to encourage me that I CAN learn another language. I pray that I see progress in myself at the right times to help encourage myself and persevere on to the next level.

Thinking back on the English language…..it does make me wonder a bit….

Watch this:

So…with all that said (and watched), I sure hope I am ready for tomorrow.

It will be a time of learning and learning and learning more.
It will be a time to be still and and let God mold me.
It will be a time to learn the culture of the country I will call home.
It will be a time of excitement and frustration as I go through the ups and downs of school life.

Please pray for the following:
Rest when needed
Perseverance to keep going
Patience when we aren't learning as quickly as we want to
Fun times to relieve stress and recharge us
Understanding for the importance of preparation so we can be more effective when we get to the field



If you would like to learn more about where I will be, then check out the school website. That link will describe the long session which is the course that we will be taking. You can explore the site some and learn more about the school and the area.