Hi-Lo

I once saw a movie where the family played this game at dinner table, asking what everyone's highs and lows of the day was. Just a different way of saying, "Tell me about your day."

My highs for today?

• Praying with our interns this morning and really being excited about the things they are experiencing by being here.
• Getting an early-morning phone call from my sister Liesl, a call from my folks later plus a text message from my other sister, Sanet.
• Studying Swahili. It's encouraging to see how much I really do understand.
• The storm. We had a huge thunder storm this afternoon. Terrible lightning and thunder. Heavy rains. But it was wonderful. Great weather to get lots of work done. It inspires me!
• Having a tropical burger (sort of) for dinner. I have a pineapple in the fridge. And ground beef. And bread rolls. So I made a burger. I even put some pickles on it. I had made these last year and everyone whom I had given a jar to raved about it, but I've never dared to try them myself. Till tonight. They are good!

Lows?

• Trying to connect to a person who accidentally left his cell phone in my car yesterday. Which meant I had to make a trip to town, which I wasn't planning on doing. (It takes up much of your day.) And then being confronted by some hard-core beggars and vegetable vendors in town. It's always hard for me to know what to do. I usually don't give beggars money because of lots of glue sniffing in town. But some days it's just harder than other days to try and get into your car with bags and people crowding you asking for money or trying to sell you tomatoes and onions. I so want to respond in the most Godly way. I don't always. Sometimes it's just overwhelming. Sometimes I just want to get into my car... I walked off to go and buy bread for the one lady, but when I came back, she had left.
• Being far from friends. I don't think that'll ever get easy.
  

Tomorrow, I'll be in town, doing work from some corner in a restaurant while waiting for the interns to get their e-mail and shopping done for the week. Will be meeting with Kierra (ELI staff) and I'll be planning the leadership retreat to be held in the Kakamega Forest later this weekend. I really am looking forward to that!

I'm off to be to the howling of the area's dogs.