quick update

We've been here for about a month now and have been gone from the states for over a month. This past week has been a transition, as I fade out of the honeymoon stage of being in a new place and slip into the working stage. Things are quickly becoming more normal. This past week we started working with the orphange and school. When we are at the orphange we worked with the hospice kids and I had forgotten how emotionally draining it is. I was able to play some soccer with some of the healthier kids and one of those kids will be leaving soon and going back to his home. Some of these kids are over a year old but have severe delayed development. This is an orphange for kids who have HIV/AIDS and most have other problems as well. There is one little boy who is severly anorexic and his body is shutting down and they are doing what they can for him and he is a strong willed kid, but its heartbreaking at times.

We also work with a private school that is about thirty minutes outside of town. Last week we worked with grade 2 and helped the students and checked papers. The teacher has about 60 students and grade 2 and 3 are in the same room so she teaches both. Kids are kids no matter where they are. Second graders will be second graders. We mainly helped out with checking papers and keeping kids on task. While we are there they have lunch/break so we are able to play and interact with the other kids as well. I will say being here has made me more apprieciative of the schooling I had and just the ability to be able to go to schools where we didn't have to worry about teachers striking or having enough school supplies.

This past week being able to get a taste of what we will be doing on a regular basis has been good and I am able to prepare myself more for future visits and just knowing what to pray for on a specific level. This past weekend we went on a baking spree and made tons of cookies or "biscuits" as they call them here for our neighbors. We were able to meet some neighbors and we are organizing a game night at our flat for neighbors and people from church so that they can become invovled with the outreach as well. Our goal is for the people from church to continue working with the people from the complex after we leave.