Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

"Just from Jesus simply taking life and rest and joy and peace."

-'Tis So Sweet

The past 2 days I have been sick...an upper respiratory infection like I had last year when I was in Uganda. It's better than a stomach bug, but still really hard to deal with. I tried to tough it out for a day, but I finally ended up taking my first dose of the high-power antibiotic last night. I already feel better this morning, and hopefully I will keep improving! Being sick in Africa has been very hard culturally. The people here don't seem to understand concepts like taking naps in the middle of the day if you're sick. Also, they love physical touch so they don't understand that people who have fever get unbearably hot when you are up against their body. It is a personal offense to refuse food that someone has offered you, so saying no to the spicy, tough goat meat last night was a difficult experience.

I went to the market yesterday and bought some things I've been wanting, like an African newspaper. It was very entertaining to read! I also bought some tea and sugar to take back to the states. Since I have been several times now, the market "experience" feels fairly normal to me! It felt like going to WalMart back in America...I saw lots of people I knew, especially kids in green striped school uniforms saying, "Teacher! Teacher!". It was so fun! To get to market, I ride on a boda-boda...a motorcycle taxi. I am not brave enough to sit to the side like ladies are supposed to do. I don't know how they stay on! I still can't believe I do that on a regular basis. It is so scary that usually all I do is close my eyes, hold on, and pray, "dear Jesus, dear Jesus, dear Jesus" because that is all I can think. Haha!

My dear friend Rebecca let me borrow 2 of her CEF books to help teach the kids here. I have really used the one that has big illustrations of Bible stories. It is perfect for Sunday School and Bible lessons at school. Last week at school I started one of the missionary story books with the P3 class. It is about Hudson Taylor and the kids are really into it. I love it, too! Yesterday I read through the whole story a couple of times. I love the ways that God used Hudson Taylor for such an incredible advancement of the gospel just because he was willing to trust Him for every little thing! The book includes a Hudson Taylor quote: "God does not do His great works by large comittees. He trains somebody to be quiet enough, and little enough, and then He uses him." Wow. It really is a sweet thing to trust Jesus, because He knows exactly what He is doing!