22 March 2006

Home Again

---Back on my Home Coast---
Quick trip huh? Today is the first day I am feeling normal, we got worked
over there and I have been tired and a bit sick. This summary is going to
come at you in two parts, one now and one in a few days so you are not
overloaded with words all at once (yeah, I know I talk a lot). I'll catch
you up on what my week looked like than you won't hear from me till I head
to India in July. Deal? Deal.

---Guinea Pigs---
After many fascinating emails about the origin of the Guinea Pig (South
America) I can't decide if I feel smarter or not. Anyway, my friend Maria
won with an amazingly quick response! Thanks for the laughs and info about
pigs, currency and migration patterns, but Maria wins (which means I get to
ship her prize to Hong Kong). Good job!

---Life---
Darla and I stayed with Pastor Joel and his wife and fluctuating countless
others living there for the conference or something. We had a room to
ourselves, bucket shower and a fan that aided the generator in humming the
household to sleep.

The conference occupied a lot of our time, but when we were home we hung out
a lot with the ladies. About ten of the liveliest women you could imagine
cooked for everyone in the house. We would sit around two open fires topped
with huge pots filled with rice and sauce taking turns stirring, chopping,
and sifting, buttering and baby holding. They would laugh at Darla and I and
we would make their babies cry if they looked at our scary white faces for
too long.

---Conference---
Much to our relief we only had to teach for about an hour a day. Day one I
stood there in front of maybe 20 women and flopped. I just stood there
looking at women, half of whom are refugees from Sierra Leone and Liberia.
These women are wives and mothers and have risked their lives and the lives
of their families to flee the horrors of a war torn nation only to start
again in a foreign land with a different language and culture. And there I
was, 23 year old twerp from San Diego about to teach them how to be
influential women.

After the initial shock I tried to get the feel for what they needed to hear
and why the heck I went to the other side of the world to do this. I was
drawn to Mary and Elizabeth's story in Luke. They were rad women who were in
tough spots but fully in God's will and they knew it. With these women as my
example I began to draw up a map of some sort through scriptures that
established each individual woman as an intentional and integral part of
God's plan.

From there we focused on what passions and visions God has given each woman.
It was so amazing to see them "get it". One woman came up to me and told me
how she had been thinking all night about her life and how God wants to use
it. Another woman told me that our teaching changed her life, she had never
been told she had a purpose or that her life had any use. Quickly I realized
that it was the simple message of love that was changing these precious
lives. I am blessed to be a witness.

I have put up some photos on http://flickr.com/photos/courtneyanne/ and
there will be more put up in the next few days... I have a lot.
Remember, if you don't want to get these fill ins on my life, you are in a
google group and you can take yourself out of it by going to the homepage
listed on the initial email you got saying you are on the list... did that
make sense? Or just email me and tell me to take you off I guess!

Much love to you, thanks for your prayers and notes of encouragement!

Your sister,
courtney