For those of you who receive my newsletter and so have an idea of whats been going on the last while, that is awesome I'm glad you are signed up and being filled in on all my stuff. I appologize to you though, I'm going to have to go over all of it again for those who aren't set up to get my newsletter. For those of you who aren't receiving my newseletter I send, why not? Go sign up on the main page! But still you can just read below about what's been going on just the same.
I'll go in chronological order a little better than I did with my news letter. So almost three weeks ago, just as some teams were coming in for Kids Extravaganza (which I'll explain in a paragraph or two) I got another call from the movie studio that Ive been working with a bit. They were shooting the next day at the airport, and wanted me to come be an extra. That was monday I believe. I said sure I can do that. Oh, also just before that (there goes my chronological order, didnt think it would last anyways) I actually got to start working as a tutor for this kid really near my home. Not quite in my neighborhood, but just back behind it where there are all these huge massive houses being built. This one day I had to use the washroom there, I went in and walked up two steps to this platform that the big, beautiful toilet was sitting on. How cool is that? That gives you an idea of the place. It's pretty nice. But I was tutoring Nat in math, english, socials and reading. I didn't really have to set anything up, the cirriculum and the lessons were already there. All I had to do is for four hours a day just go through it with him, correcting his mistakes and all. It was especially interesting because I haven't done long division since about grade 5, and I hated it then. I had to relearn that, and I actually really enjoyed it! That is seriously amazing, not just that I was able to relearn it, but even more so that I enjoyed it. Tysha my math pro friend, you should be especially proud of me. I who said that is crazy that you are becoming a math teacher actually was teaching math as a tutor, even long division! So that was only about a week and a half that I did that, then I had to leave for Kumbya (which I will also get to soon). I havent heard anything about getting to pick up the tutoring since then, but hopefully I will.
So on to the movie news. I go to be an extra in the movie as a french soldier. Now this wasn't any ordinary french soldier, but a highly elite one of course. So that meant my hair was a bit too long, and had to come down. But I'm living on my own. I figured I get paid for this, I get a hair cut, and I get to be in a movie, so let's go for it. So my hair got buzzed, I got to wear a uniform, and carry around an M16 assault rifle. Not too bad at all. Also at one point I got to actually walk right in front of the camera, so I shouldn't be too hard to spot. Now, I know that isnt exactly the ideal look for a missionary, but it was only one day, and it was really fun. There were about 20 of us soldiers, and we were all like a bunch of 6 year-olds pretending to be soldiers. We just laughed and joked around; had the best time. Ive got pictures. Ill get them up when I can for sure.
I tutored the rest of that week, and also moved into my new house, which is the other half of the duplex that Id been living in. My neighbors moved out and I took their place over. It's much nicer than my side I think. At the end of the week, myself, Elmer and Sherry and the teams there for KX (kids extravaganza) headed to Kumbya, which is a camp on the shore of Lake Kivu, just north of Cyangugu in the south west of Rwanda. So I had been so incredibly busy for at least two weeks leading up to this, I needed this alot. We were there for a week, and it was a great vacation. I ate lots at every meal, swam lots, at least by my standards. I hung out with the teams that had come in and played lots of cards. No spoons. Lots of president. Very relaxing. So I was able to totally refresh and get ready for the next week after we left which I knew would be even more strenuous than the one previous. I also had my birthday down at Kumbya, which was very different from last years birthday definitely, but still pretty awesome. I made some excellent pancakes in the morning (yeah I can do that now) and they put a candle in one of mine and sung happy birthday to me. I also had it sung to me a few more times that day and then spent the night sitting around a bonfire. Also Luke Horley showed his fire poy skills at the bonfire, which is those two little balls that you can lite on fire at the end of a chain and then swing them around. It's something I think I might take up when I get home actually. And already I can almost hear the objections to that idea that will be quite agressively brought forward by all my friends who know me well as they have premonitions of my swinging around two chains of fire and then setting myself and everyone around me on fire. Haha, hey a firey ball, I should touch it to see if it's hot!
The next week of course was KX. So this is what this basically was. It was a VBS, vacation bible school, which went from August 8- August 13. I was in charge of competitive games and registration, which kept me very busy for sure. We had about just over 200 kids, and it went really well. We would have everyday lots of registration, then the opening service. After that we would have the rotations between competitive games, crafts and cooperative games. In there somewhere there was a snack and a bible lesson. After the rotations there was training time where kids could be trained in break dancing, juggling or drama. On Sunday morning, the last day, the kids all showed what they had learned as well as sung lots of songs that they had sung. It was really good for sure. There is a ton more details about it of course, but I won't get into too many because this is getting long enough as it is.
I actually started getting sick on that Sunday, I mentioned in the newsletter the day before I was getting sick. Then on monday, I got really sick. And I've been bedridden for two full days. Just today I have had enough energy to actually get up and go anywhere, do anything. I don't think it was malaria or anything, just a bad chest and head cold. But I'm doing fine now, besides shortened breath and a bad cough. So no worries. I had lots of people praying for me over here. I'm all good now. It was especially scary though because just literally one week before, this guy in our church Abraham who was 27, got sick on Sunday, then died three days later. I felt really sick on Monday, but I prayed and asked God for help with this, and Im fine now. Abraham apparently got pancreatitis though, which I am more familiar with than I'd like to be, as a good friend of mine got this terrible disease a few years ago. Thank the Lord she was able to survive it, though still committed to bed for nearly two years because of it.
So now, this week, some money should finally be coming in for me, I still haven't received my package from my mom that I'm expecting, and my work visa stuff should be just about done. The people have been living at my house left on Monday and I'm back on my own. So back to normal life. Hope you enjoyed my update. Ill try to keep them coming more often now, so that they will be shorter. Definitely an important point. I don't like typing this long anymore than any of you like reading for this long, but God bless you for making it this far! Youre a trooper! Tremendous job!
