Macha Living

I have officially been in Macha for 5 days!! Eric and Elem, an employee of PTRZ, picked me up from the airport in Livingstone safely and we arrived back in Macha right after dinnertime! I’m so blessed to spend the summer here in Macha! I miss home and my friends and family like crazy, but I know I am going to have an incredible experience here with Push the Rock!

On Sunday, I attended the Brethren in Christ Church, which has a longer service than we are used to in the States! There was lots of awesome singing and a message about true religion and living out our faith in our daily lives. After church I got to just rest for the afternoon with Corie and the girls, Char and Reece, while Eric went to his football (soccer) game.

I wish I had time to tell you about each and every day here in Macha, but I’ll just tell you about some of the things I’ve done over the past few days. Most of my time here so far has been used to get used to the new culture, adjust to life here in Zambia, learn bits and pieces of the language, and find my way around (Dad, I’ve been doing pretty well so far – I know which way east is because that is the direction all of the TV dishes face on the houses!).  So in the past few days this is what I’ve done:

·      Go to bible study with Corie and Eric

·      Begin to learn more about what Push the Rock is doing here with Eric, Elem, and Reg (one of my friends from Messiah who is here on a cross-cultural)

·      Hear an HIV patient’s story

·      Meet Vera, whose husband went to Messiah and figured out she lived in Millersburg (for all of you that don’t know where Millersburg is, it’s right down the road from my hometown!!)

·      Buy buns and fritters

·      See the construction of the rec center that is being built on the PTRZ campus

·      Learn too many Tonga words to remember from the gardener

·      Hear from Dr. Luumuno, a traditional healer in a village

·      Watch some of a football game here in Macha

·      Help Eric and Corie set up the TV for the coming World Cup games :)

·      Here a talk on malaria from Eric’s dad (some really interesting stuff – their work here in Macha has reduced malaria to almost 0!)

·      And play basketball!!!

These are just a few of the things that I have done the past few days, with so much more to come. I am learning that life here in Macha is so different from life back home. Here people take their time. They stop to greet each other as they walk everywhere. They drop in to your home unannounced and unplanned. And every single one is so very friendly! As Eric was telling Reg and I the other day, it is hard to separate life, work, and home here. You can be working, but if someone comes by or something else comes up, that is what becomes more important. It’s such a relational culture, but it’s also an adjustment coming from the States. I like to be on time for things, have a plan, and get stuff done, but here you have to learn to be flexible and go with whatever the day throws at you. It can be a tough adjustment at first, but I think this will be something I will miss coming back to the States in August.

I’m already learning so much – about life, about God, about this new place, and also about babies! I’m loving have two new little sisters for the summer! :) I hope everyone at home is doing well and enjoying the warm summer weather. I’m struggling through an 70-80 degree winter here in Macha… people here really think it is cold at night when it drops into the 60s!! Thanks for all of you that have contacted me – makes me miss home a little less! And thank you for all your support and prayers!

Love,

Emily

Mom, Dad, Jeff, Katie, Cauls and Andyroo – Miss you guys!! Keep Scooter in line for me back home. :) You guys would all also be really proud – there are these spiders here that sit on the wall and ceiling that eat mosquitos… and I’m not even scared of them! They hang out with me in my room!! Momma – taking pics for ya too!! Love you guys :)