Connecting

Most of the OM team in training

I arrived in Zimbabwe on Friday last week with some pretty serious jet lag. I had the opportunity to attend a local church that Sunday. Most of the members were Zimbabweans of British descent, so naturally there was tea time after the service where I was able to make some connections that will be beneficial as I transition.

Sunday afternoon I went to the training center where I will be staying for the next two months. I soon learned that we are not allowed to use WiFi except for limited use on a particular computer… and my phone didn’t work. I was unexpectedly and immediately disconnected from familiarity. This has been a little tough, but it’s forced me to focus on getting connected here.

Connecting has been made much easier by a particularly sweet 8 year-old that has latched herself to me as a friend. Shalom always wants to be doing something with me, whether that be making bracelets, drawing, looking at every photo and video on my phone, doing homework, dancing, or running around the yard in a wheelbarrow… I am very grateful for her!

This week has been rather long and full of so many new things. The group I am here with has been so gracious to include me in everything and laugh at/with me when I face new cultural differences. The best adventure has been cooking. We are assigned certain days to cook with a small group. It’s been absolutely hilarious and perhaps a little bit stressful to discover the differences in how we cook things and learn to work together to create something edible.

Our days this week have been full of team building activities and lessons. I have been continually humbled as we learn and grow closer together as a team. There are seven of us, three girls and four guys ranging in age from our early 20’s to late 40’s. Some are headed the same direction as me, some are local pastors, and others are preparing to head out into cross-cultural service elsewhere. Pictured here is our group and the trainers that have been with us this week. This gives you a picture of the personalities we have in this place – literally haha.

Learning points:

• “Pants” means underwear. So don’t talk about your pants.
• You should intentionally eat cereal soggy by heating the milk before you drown the cereal in it.
• If you don’t close your windows by 6pm you will be eaten alive by mosquitos. (Lucky for me I got a heads up and didn’t have to learn this the hard way.)
• Every time is tea time, so there should always be water boiling.

Thank you all so much for your support! I’m so excited for more traveling adventures to come.