WE ARE A TEAM!

Phyllis has been around for a whole week and will be here for another week plus, AND…

Stephanie Harris has arrived!! Yay! First of all, we love her. She is from Wenatchee and we are friends with her folks, too. She spent much of last year in Malawi, and most of this year in Burundi. After thinking everything was falling apart because of visa processing issues, the Lord came through and got her here early – in time to celebrate her birthday on Sunday. The boys got to spend some time with her when we were in Kenya, so they were very excited as we continued to pray for her arrival. The boarding students think she is just the BOMB, and came and said to me, "please ask Aunty Stephanie to come and play!" She has a ton of energy, is organized, knows a bunch of games, and has a great sense of humor and peace to get through the rough spots. She has a great Christian family heritage, and it is apparent in her life.

She is a real missionary, comfortable in the heat and flies in the meat/butcher section of the market, and with negotiating for a price (including walking off). I can't put into words how fun it was just to sit and play Rummikub with Phyllis and Stephanie last night. AND – we received all these wonderful boxes of things in a shipment from WFMC that I was looking at and thinking "OH MY…!!" Well, she has gone through and sorted and moved the bulk of them in the past few days. I don't even know how long that would have taken me. I am blessed beyond words. She has met with almost half of our teachers already, and is getting a good feel for the many needs our teachers have.

And, as if it couldn't get any better, today we received a package in the mail from part of our HOME team – the Abbotts. Silas is the one who manages this blog. It has the Jesus film in several languages spoken in our church, some favorite food and candy items (brownie mix and Stephanie to share it with!! YES!) , and even a late birthday present for Ben that he is going to LOVE. The timing is great as he is down with a tummy ache and fever right now – that and prayer and he should be "up" in time for dinner.

It's good to be part of a team and on the WINNING TEAM.