This needs to be put into perspective. Almost all buildings in Africa are made of cement or tin due to the termite issue. In our cement dorm, sound carries in an amazing way. We have 9 10-year-old boys.
And they all got their band instruments this week: 5 trumpets, 2 saxophones, 1 trombone, and one flute. And they all like to practice, because they are all enthusiastic beginners. I have dreams about how many ways Hot Cross Buns can...
Continue ReadingWe’ve been here about 7 weeks, but this week contained an amazing number of firsts:
We officially got a dog (for the year). Her name is Jesse, she’s mostly black lab, and she is pretty sweet, but not terribly well trained. She belongs to a family who is on furlough (i.e. back in the states for a year), and will return to them when we leave in July. She has actually been ours since the first ...
Continue ReadingTrust this finds all of you doing well. We heard of one dear friend whose father died this week, and it is hard to be so far away but knowing we are in God’s will, we continue on in peace. We have hit more transitional bumps as we get used to the responsibility of 9 more boys (we lost one to the 6th grade dorm-just too smart for us!). Much of my stress centers around the fact that every single...
Continue ReadingMatthew turned 8 on Monday! The first member of the Peifer family to celebrate a birthday in Africa! We would like to thank the dozens of friends, some of which we have never met, who sent cards and stickers to him. Nan and I will never forget it, and Matthew reveled in it. Five nationalities were represented at his party, and whites were definitely outnumbered, and that is such a wonderful feeling to see your sons have friends that are...
Continue ReadingThey are here! All 10 of our new boys are here and it’s going well. I watched them trudge off to school day and my heart was just filled with love for these little guys that I didn’t even know a week ago! God is amazing. And I say all of them are here, but one is in the hospital. He arrived Monday, got settled into the dorm, but had bad stomach cramps and so went with his folks to...
Continue ReadingWait- Make That Nine
We are dorm parents, and we had our ten 10 year old boys come this week. There are four Koreans, one Indian, one national, and three Americans, although two of the Americans have spent more time in Africa than America. The first night was rather traumatic; lots of tears and lots of trying not to have tears, because ten-year-old boys don’t cry no matter what nationality they are.
The differences between nationality in ten...
Continue ReadingLast hello before the storm! Hope this finds all of you doing well. We think of all of you so often and wish you were here to share these amazing experiences with us. I wanted to write once more before life becomes busier. Things have definitely already sped up for us and, yes, we are feeling a bit overwhelmed at what’s before us. But we serve a God who delights in showing Himself strong when we are weak, and He...
Continue ReadingI had a defining moment this week.
But before I get to that, there were other things of note:
We went to the dukas to eat. Dukas are restaurants within walking distance. Their walls are made of tin, and the one we ate at was deluxe; it had a cement floor rather than a dirt one. There was a large menu on the wall. It was primarily for decoration, for you soon learn it is better to ask `What do...
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