Under The Sea

So I’ve been dying to get in the water here because it is so beautiful, and Friday I got my chance!  There are/were two American single girls here on the Island with me (One left Sunday to return to America).  The one who left, Aly, was working at the dive hotel at the north end of the Island.  The other one, Melissa, is with Peace Corp, living in my town, and working at the same secondary school as me.  They are both awesome and very similar to me in that we all love to be outside, and in particular, in the water.  We all decided it was time to go diving on Friday, and it was incredible! We dove to 35m (I’m being forced to learn meters, centimeters, kilos, and Celsius to survive here.  Confusing me! Thanks, America!), and saw lots of beautiful coral and fish.  The coolest part of our first dive was finding cleaner shrimp.  Ever seen Finding Nemo?  If you take your regulator out of your mouth, let it fill a little bit with water, the shrimp come cling to your mouth and start cleaning your teeth.  And to think I was worried about not going to the dentist the whole time I will be living in Africa. Guess I’ll just have to go visit the cleaner shrimp every six months (or six days…).  Here are a few pics from the dive.  I didn’t take a camera, so these pics were stolen from Justin’s camera.

Friday was just what I needed- a day of relaxing with friends and enjoying God’s beautiful creation under the sea!

Sunday, we had a sweet time of fellowship with some of our other friends on the Island- Reid, Sandy, and their 4 kids!  They have been living on the Island for the last 5 years, but have just returned from a 7 month stay in America.  They are awesome, and I’m actually going to be moving in with them on Thursday of this week.  And no, I’m not sick of the Browns! Haha They have some friends coming in town for the next couple of weeks and needed their guest room back.  Shannon and I also went by “my house” on Sunday afternoon to check up on the progress.  Let’s just say I hopefully will be able to move in by the end of March! J/k- it really shouldn’t take that long (still aiming for November).  There were at least 5 workers there, but it didn’t look like they had started doing any work yet.  I’m going to slyly go show my face every day so they know I mean business.  I am excited to move in to my new house, but I am also grateful for friends opening up their homes to me now. 

Yesterday, I spent the morning in the local Primary school.  I have 4 specific English teachers I am working with- Fatma, Sharafe, Wanakombo, and Sharifa.  I met with them the past few weeks to talk about their curriculum for the remainder of the school year.  Now, the plan is for us to meet every Monday.  I will be teaching them English and discussing teaching strategies for their upcoming lessons each week.  Only one out of the four teachers is able to hold a conversation in English with me.  We are going to start with basic grammar and vocabulary and go from there. 

God has continued to give me favor with these teachers and my other students.  He has provided awesome friends, places to stay, and has protected me on multiple occasions.  I am so blessed.  I have been overwhelmed by His goodness and provision recently.  I have continued to be comforted through intimacy with the Father, and His unfailing love for me. I am so undeserving of His love, BUT oh, so grateful for it!  I have been absolutely blown away by His creation here, and grateful for the opportunity to explore more of His underwater world this past week.  Thank you, Lord.