Obviously this is long overdue. We have been in Mpulungu along with villages of Lake Tanganyika for the last 10 days. Talk about culture shock. No electricity, no running water, bathing in the lake, and food being nshima and rice, along with some dried fish or the well known capinta (a small fish that you feel is looking at you the entire time you are eating all of them because they are very small), Micah and Ben went hippo hunting one night after they were told that the hippo is probably the most dangerous animal on the continent of Africa. If you know Micah and Ben, I'm sure you're so not at all shocked by this.

We were told about all of the things that went on in the village before we got there but I'm not sure that anything could have prepared us for actually being there. We went to Nsumbu first and had some problems porting on the lake because we had to go through the military and they caused us a few problems. So waiting we did... much like what we have done for a lot of this trip as far as going to new places. (Might I add, the car broke down on the way to Mpulungu as it has done already a few times on the trip.) Back to Nsumbu-- we were greeted by Peter and Donald, some of the missionaries there, along with several small children. They waited on us, stared at us, and couldn't speak to us, except to say "How are you?" which actually sounded more like "ow are you" because of the accents. They helped us get all of our stuff off the boat and carried it, on their heads, back to the house where we staying. Peter did have solar electricity which was nice. We played outside with the kids for a while and sang songs and danced and just looked at each other when we could see. On Monday, we played with the kids at the school in the morning, Alicia and I went to visit some of the women in the village, and Micah and Ben went with Peter and Andrew to visit the headman. I complain about how many kids I have in a classroom but Loveness, their teacher who is also a missionary, taught 70-80 kids in a classroom that is half the size of man. Few had paper, something to write with, and she would go back and forth between English and Bemba. It was quite amazing. I'm just not sure that I could do it.

On Tuesday, we traveled to Nzovwe to work with Charles and Helen and their family. This is where we really got to spend time. We stayed there for the rest of the week in tents and bathed in the lake and swam and played and walked around. This is where our boat captain, Uncle Ringwald and his adopted son Kelvin, came out of their shells. They were awesome. Uncle Ringwald shared the Gospel with every person he sat down next to for long periods of time. Kelvin was a typical 13 year old who just loved hanging out. He ate all of our leftovers of nshima (a substance that looks like mashed potatoes, but taste like bland sticky something), cabbage, and fish. We had a chicken one day, which Helen killed herself and the boys named Rosie which disgusts me, but again, not a surprise. The stars were beautiful at night because there was no light pollution as Micah called it and we had services at night. We danced again, which was quite fun, and we got to learn some songs in Bemba (the local language) as well as share about what God was doing in us with the people of the village and each other.

We spent a lot of time just playing with the kids. They loved pumping the water through the water filter that we had and they loved having their picture taken, so we did a lot of that. I played with one little girl every day and her name was Mapalo, she was the headman's daughter. The name Mapalo means Blessing. Charles said that when they first arrived in the village 6 months ago, her name was Mushuni (or something similar) which means suffering and his wife Helen insisted that they change her name. She would just sit next to me in front of the lake and never need to say anything or play or anything. She would just rest with me. One day, I let her sit in my lap and the other kids tried to tell her that she should get up but I just wouldn't let her. She was so gentle, in need of affection, so I just picked her up and carried her and played with her as much as I could. I loved being around her. She taught me so much without ever saying a word. Every person wants to be valued. Every person wants to be loved, to be held and talked to and played with. We are all just Mapalo, a blessing that could have been suffering but was given the gift not to be. It's an amazing thing.

I know that we only have a couple of weeks left but I know that God still desires to use and work in us and change us in whatever way He sees fit. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts-- talk to you soon... well, hopefully!

-Melissa