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!