Clothes, Bugs, and Bumps

It has been raining a little each day here as it is their rainy season. The rain is a great thing as it cools everything down! However, rain does not help our clothes washing experience. We wash our clothes in a bucket and then rinse them off in another bucket and hang them out to dry. It’s a lot more work to wash clothes then what we are used to but it’s actually kind of fun. In fact, I’m thinking of getting rid of our washer and dryer when we get home! J/K.
We have seen a variety of bugs while here. This really big beetle thing flies into our living room area almost every night. The kids at the home here just pick it up and throw it outside. We are all afraid to get near it…lol. Last night I was getting ready to get into my suitcase and I saw a critter run behind it into hiding. I jumped back hoping it was not the mice that we were told were in the place we were staying. The past few nights a little Gecko has been watching my nightly rituals of getting ready for bed. Probably waiting for me to leave so it can move again. The good thing is that we sleep under a mosquito net so they can’t get us while sleeping. Although this morning I woke up and there were about 5 flying things in my mosquito net. Not sure how they got there!
I developed some big bumps on my arms and some on my legs that itch. We have been told that there is a worm here that comes out and if you touch anything it touches you can develop these bumps that itch. However, some think that I may have a food allergy. The bumps are starting to get better which is good; however, I do not know what caused them!
Things are really going quite well here even though living here is much different than the states! All but one day has been pretty cool. There is usually a nice breeze which is great! This past week was the first week of school for the students here in Churachandpur. Many teachers were absent so Barb, my mom, and I filled in as substitute teachers all week. Between the three of us we had math, geography, writing, and reading covered. We also led the devotion time on Tuesday and Friday. We sang songs and Barb taught a lesson to the students from the Bible. The past three nights, my dad, Josh, and Barb have given a message during the boy’s orphanage devotional time. Tomorrow Josh is preaching 2 times and tonight we are doing a drama for the youth group here. Please continue to pray for health and strength. We are going to bed around 10 every night and get up around 4:30 or 5:00 each morning. Because everything is open (i.e. windows) we basically wake up with the sun.
Josh and I have had it made while here. We’ve not been staying with the rest of the group. We have been staying at the pastor’s house so we have some luxuries that the others have not had. For example, we have a fan at night…..of course it’s only on when the electricity is on which is very touch and go…but still….it’s better than not having it at all! We’ve also had hot water for bathing. The houseworker puts two canisters of hot water in our bathroom that we mix with cold water in a bucket to bathe with! The others are bathing with cold water….sshhhh don’t tell them.