Pemba Update 1-So far, SO good!

I've only been here 4 days but I'm already smitten with Pemba & sick of rice :)  It's hot & dirty & wonderful. The environment that's been created at the school base is amazing.  There is complete freedom here to be exactly who you are & who you know Father is calling you to be.  You feel like you are coming more & more into yourself with each day.  I already feel completely at home here-like this is what my heart has longed for & it was at rest immediately upon arriving. Complete peace, joy, & right identity abound all the time on campus & you can feel it being carried with us when we leave.   I've even found a bunch of fitness fans to work out with in the mornings!  He loves giving us the little things :) It's so good.

The campus is a beautiful & is much nicer than I was expecting! We have a toilet AND a shower that work when the water is working, praise Jesus.  The only hang up is that the power & running water shut off regularly at random, so we keep 2 big barrels of water on hand for showers/washing & there are squatty pottys available in lieu of toilets (see what I did there?). There's only a 50/50 chance that we'll have water on any given moment  & it can go off for weeks so we take it with thanks one wash at a time :) (Literally, I've found myself thanking Jesus every morning when the water works for me to wash my face)

I'm crazy about my house (House 5 for you veterans) & my family of girls already. There are 10 of us & we're from all over the globe- Canada, Finland, Brazil, England, Mexico & 3 of us are from the States.  Our house mom is Carol from Brazil, & she overflowed with love for us from the moment she met each of us.  She's such a comforter & encourager.  I couldn't have asked for a better group of sisters to do life with over the next 2.5 months.

Classes start on Monday & we will get into the full swing of morning & evening sessions next week.  There is a small village directly behind our base that we are free to visit any time & there are tons of kids who live there and love for us to come play with them.  I went for the first time today & was reminded that love doesn't look like a common language. It looks like laughing, being silly & cleaning wounds on kids feet.  It was a blast.

Here's a few fun facts about Pemba I've learned so far...
- The sun sets at 5pm & rises around 4:30am (Good Morning Sunshine)
- when there is no glass in the windows, the Muslim call to prayer at 3am out side the base will wake you up every night.
- If you forget to check the time zone on your phone to see if it synced to Pemba from Tanzania time you will wake up an hour earlier than you think you did & work out at 4:00 in the morning instead of 5:00.  Nice!  I needed a nap by 11am.
- It will get to be around 120° in November (Holy heat stroke!)
- I ate my first fish head for dinner on Friday
- Peanut butter is currently our hottest commodity
- One day feels like a week - the pace of life is slow & wonderful. Rest comes easy
- If you know a little Spanish, Portuguese is very confusing to pick up!

That's all for today folks!  Nothing deep, just an intro to the practical side of life here. I hope to check back in with you next weekend!  Love to you all!!