Household chorse and driving practice

Today marks the start of the first full week of term break, and I celebrated it by doing all my laundry, wading through the pile of dishes by my sink, and cleaning up the living room. I’m trying to get a room a day cleaned up before going on my trip—I like coming back to a clean house. Now I have a huge pile of things to be put away in locations around the station that ended up at the house during the term. Odd how things pile up…

Beth and I head out Thursday morning, and I must say I’m getting pretty excited. It will be so nice to be driving again, spending some time off station, and being able to get some shopping done. Today, much to the amusement of passing Zambians and the guy who watches P. Fisher’s hanger, Beth and I went up on the airstrip to keep practicing for the driving test. Now, driving tests in Zambia are a much bigger deal than they are back home! There is a COURSE OF DOOM that must be navigated and as I failed pretty flagrantly last time, I want to have at least a chance of passing this time. This is a picture of the course you have to drive-



You have to pull into the T and go first to the left and back out, and then to the right and back out. For whatever reason, going to the left is harder. The two circled cones are the ones that tend to get creamed or end up under the vehicle. Those are the two I hit last time. I was managing to get through the course pretty well this afternoon, but I’m just afraid we had the cones to wide and that when it comes down to actually doing it I’ll take out two ‘pedestrians’ again. Oh well, if God wants to teach me patience by trying to get a Zambian drivers license, than it is my job to face it head on!

It was so nice today to be home, hanging my laundry out on my new clothesline. There is something special in the smell of fresh laundry. The bright, blue skies of dry season are starting to come more and more frequently, and I am slowly working through some of the things that caused me so much stress last term. I am not a perfect teacher, and my students are not perfect students. However, as I work on regaining perspective and getting myself back in tune with the Lord, I’m slowly getting back to where I need to be as I serve Him here. Now that I have some time to think, meditate, and focus on something other than the desperate demands of the moment, I’m realizing again how vital it is to stay ‘charged’ with the word of the Lord. Because it is impossible to give as He asks us to give when we are dry ourselves.