Dear Friend,
Hey! I love and miss you very much. I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to talk very much (if at all), wifi in other countries honestly makes communication really hard.
I first wanted to say thank you. Thank you for your prayers, your encouraging messages, and you support of this trip. It’s been a great adventure, but I would not have been able to get this far without you. All of the messages you have sent me have helped more than you could know, and I’m sorry for when I forgot to respond. When you only have two hours of wifi time to get everything you need to done is a little chaotic and often things get forgotten. ??
Also, I miss you. I miss going to get coffee and talking about life. I miss going on adventures together and catching up. How is your family doing? And that thing that you told me about before I left, how did it go? I have been praying for you and your family.
We are halfway through Africa, and in a few weeks we will be halfway through the Race. This has been a cray thought, as it hasn’t felt like it’s been that long, but at the same time feels like forever till I come home! I can’t wait to catch up when I get home. Wanna go grab some coffee?
Oh I have a fun story for you! The last two weeks or so I haven’t been feeling too great. Nothing too serious, just some stomach sensitivity with some (possibly) dehydration and sun poisoning (it sounds really bad but I promise I’m fine.) I have stayed home a couple days to sleep and rest, and I really feel fine now. About the first day I was really starting to fee bad, I knew the food was not agreeing with me. We went to the store and I bought some mild food that would actually stay down, and as we were headed to check out, I saw a bunch of teddy bears. You know me, how could I say no to that? They just looked so sweet! So I bought Sir Rutherford and he has become a welcome addition to our team, and the kids at our house love him very much.
I’ll be honest, I’m a little scared for next month. We are heading to Malawi, and we will be there for two months. Apparently the humidity is higher, the internet is slower, and the money conversion rate is real tricky. 700 kwacha to $1? That is just crazy. We have debrief next week before we head off to ministry, and we are having team changes. I have grown to love my teammates so much, the thought of doing the Race without them with me is crazy to think about, but I know the Lord is still gonna do some pretty great things with the new relationships I get to build with my new team, whoever they are.
2017 is over. What a crazy thought! We spent some time as a team sharing ten things we were thankful for in this past year. It was super cool, and I totally encourage you to do the same! I am thankful for you, wonderful friend, because you mean so much to me, truly. I’m sorry if I don’t show that enough or if I forget to message you sometimes, but I promise I care about you so much.
It is hard being away from home and away from you, but I know it is going to make any time spent together so much sweeter, and I am so excited to get coffee when I get back!
With love from Africa,
Tara
