We're back!

Haven't posted since we returned, its been a bit hectic! We had a wonderful trip home. Stayed in the London airport overnight, and slept suprisingly well. The most exciting news at the moment is that my wife (Abby) graduated from med school this past sunday! I am now married to a doctor!
We had a great time with both sets of family, along with our good friends from Harrisburg, the Killians.
We're now in a month of travel. Today we're in the Pitt area with Abby's parents, will travel to Philadelphia tomorrow, then back to central PA (Harrisburg), then back to the Pit area for a week and a half. After this we travel to Illanois for a week, then back to Pitt, and then finally, we go to our new home in Methuen MA (after visiting my brothers church in Holland MA). What a month!
Anyway, we're back safely, and God continues to be so good to us!

The sun is setting on our last day.

The sun is setting on our time here in Zambia. (this is a picture outside our house). Times of transition remind us how short our time is, and how important it is not to waste it on meaningless things! God is glorious, and I need to live a life that expresses His worth, not my TV or whatever else.

The last day

Wow, today is our last day in Macha. What an amazing 4 months it has been! Tomorrow morning we leave for Lusaka, and then on tuesday we fly to London, and then from there to Newark, NJ.
This last week has been really busy, maybe more then any other time since we've arrived here in Zambia. Yesterday we had the privelage to visit a friends village. It was about a 40 minute walk to her house. I'll post some pictures of it later, but we sat and ate boiled ground nuts (peanuts) and boiled maize and talked! Abby helped the women get the water from the well, and even carried the bucket on her head African style! It is such a blessing to be able to make friends from cultures that are this different, and to be able to learn about them. It has certainly humbled Abby and I, and it shows us how great a God we serve. He is so much bigger then our little sphere of the world! I want to encourage anybody who can, to really visit other cultures... not as a tourist, but seek friendships. It can be stressful and more challenging across cultures, but well worth it! Anything that reveals more of how big and awsome God is, is worth it!

One example of cultural differences that we have found here is in how people greet visitors. In our US culture, when a person comes to your house, you stop what your doing, go to the door, and imediately start
talking to them. Efficiency is so important to us! In Zambia, at least in the Tonga areas, the first thing they will do is bring you a stool or a chair to sit on. Then, they will finish whatever they are doing before greeting you (the visitor doesn't initiate any greeting, it is up to the host to do that). This might be 15 minutes, or 40 minutes! Then, the host will greet you, and everybody else who is there will also greet you, one at a time! If there are 15 people, you will greet and say the same thing to 15 people (and greetings are not just "hi").
Hmm, there is more I would like to write aobut this, but its 11:50pm, and I need to get some rest for tomorrow. I'll write more of these last weeks later.
It is indescribable how good God is to us. God bless you!

Neighborly sisters

Amanda (the Good Neighbor Gardener) on the left, and my lovely wife on the right.