simply grateful

Let me start by saying that Heather is an incredibly gracious and giving person and our latest adventure just adds to that reputation.  I (David) wanted chickens but Heather was less than enthusiastic about it.  She even vocalized that she was less than enthusiastic about it in her normal sweet way.  But she knew that I really wanted to try raising chickens for eggs so she relented.  As she told a mutual friend at a recent meeting, "When you see the ship has set sail, you just go ahead and go along for the ride."   Don't get me wrong, had she said emphatically that she didn't want chickens, there would be no chickens.  But she knows that I'm always up for an adventure so when a Peace Corp volunteer mentioned that she was going to be buying some hens... well it was just like blowing on a hot ember... BOOM! It was happening!   So, with Heather away at a meeting last week the kids and I started the process of building a chicken coop.  I though...

Msoro is a small town, a little better than 4 hours from where we live. It is “on the way” to absolutely nowhere.  The only visitors Msoro receives are those who intentionally go there.  Suffice it to say, it’s remote.  When you imagine Africa… mud huts, thatched roofs, girls walking with buckets of water on their heads, you are imagining Msoro. It was small, but with a bit of charm. Of course, being the only mazungu (white man) that had visited in some time, I was quite the attraction.  This is one of the riverbeds we had to cross to get the Msoro.  When the rains come we are not able the river fills with water preventing us access to them about 8 months during the year.   On Saturday, a group of four pastors and myself traveled to Msoro to offer encouragement to the pastor of this congregation as well as do some teachings on what it means to be a church member.  Although I had talked to the pastor, Thembo, on the phone, I had never met h...