Boabab Trees & Wedding Fun

Hello again friends and family!

I am still doing well and having all kinds of adventures here at New Day. Last weekend, we caught word that there was going to be a wedding in a nearby village hosted by one of the teachers at New Day - so we pulled some strings and got an invite {which really wasn't hard since we are white people}. We were basically treated like celebrities upon arrival. We were offered the best seats, pulled up on the dance floor in front of everyone and pushed to the front to see the bride and groom come in. It was a really fun cultural experience for sure. We finally left when the men were getting "filled up" {drunk} and we didn't feel like sticking around for hours of present presentations.

This week I also got to go into Choma to go to the market for the first time. We ran so many errands and bought all of the groceries for the orphanage {which was much easier than I thought it would be}. I got to see all kinds of different stores and shops. We saw a few other white people which was strange to me - I wanted to walk up to each one and ask them what brought them to Zambia. Overall, it was a great experience.

 

Today, a new team arrived and is putting on VBS every afternoon for the local village kids as well as the New Day kids, so my afternoon classes were canceled. This gave me the opportunity to go to a Bible study with Papa Wes in a nearby village. It was a well established Bible study full of older adults just so hungry for the Word. They had questions about everything.  We were going through the Old Testament laws and it was so cool to see them making connections and asking questions relating everything back to their lives. For example, in Exodus 21 almost all of the laws concerning fighting or cows are actually the same as the current laws in Zambia. After the Bible study, Hilda wanted to show us the Boabab tree which was HUGE! After that, a man from the village named Patrick wanted to take us to his house and meet his family. We got to try out hand at grinding maize, tasted some different plants and some "sweet beer" which is a drink made from maize. It was a great time and I really enjoy every chance I get to see the true Zambian lifestyle. 

We caught the tail end of VBS when we got back from the village. Hopefully, I will get to be a part of more this week. I just love being around all of the village kids - they are SO sweet!

In other random news, New Day has a new addition - the cutest baby goat ever! I missed the delivery but was there shortly after!

Mare adventures await this week! We are celebrating the 4th of July with a  bonfire and grilling hamburgers. I'm probably most excited about getting to wear my American flag shirt! I'm sure I will be missing all of the celebration back home so I will definitely try to stay busy and keep my mind occupied in the coming days. 

Until next time...