beautiful day.

(If you haven't read the previous post, please do!  This one will then make more sense.)

Like I said before, nothing in Toposaland is constant.

Bleh days are followed by crazy days followed by weird days and slow days followed by the worst days ever.  But then, every so often, a day steps forth and is truly like a diamond in the rough.

Some days are full to the brim of beautiful.

School went well on Wednesday.  The day before we agreed to take two of our close friends, Maria and Lokuru (yes, that Lokuru!), out to an area called Lomeyin where they would get some food from their family members out there.  It takes a while to get there, so I planned accordingly and Davis and I buzzed quickly through Reading, English, Math, and History before 12:30pm.  The rest of the subjects I made homework.

I headed to the kitchen to eat lunch with Mindy when my name was called at the gate.  It was Natori, who just had a baby.  I hadn't seen her in a couple of days, and she wanted to come in the compound.  "Oh, why not?" I thought.  So I let her and two other ladies in.  They came and sat on the porch where I served them nyebiskuits and ngakipi (water).  We talked for a while.  I remembered the days when I first came that times like this got on my nerves.  I found myself enjoying their company!  Praise God.

After a while, my stomach was calling to me.  It was around 2:00pm.  We tried many different excuses to let them know that we had things to do; finally, they left.  I ate quickly and then headed to Nataragat to ask Lucy to help me tell the next story to the group of men under the tree in Nyaronyit.  She was not there, but somehow I was able to communicate my message to a lady there.  She said she'd greet and give my message to Lucy when she returned.  Some young girls were there, and they really wanted rides.  I thought again, "Why not?"  I let five girls hop into the car (which by the way was the white third car we have on the compound---the steering wheel is on the left side---I was driving this one because this past week one or more of Buck's tires have been flat, I got them fixed, and then they all went flat again!).

I stopped by Nyaronyit on the way back to the compound with the girls; no men in sight under the tree or in the villages (probably off celebrating and koroting somewhere else!).  I left word with a little girl that I'd be back soon to tell more stories.

I took the girls back to the compound.  I shared some nyebiskuits with them too and chatted and laughed and learned their names:  Namana (garden), Nyakor (chicken), Nyamuriat (bore hole), Nyemonging (bull), and Nangokwo (?).  Did I ever mention that the Toposa name their children based on something from their birth?  Namana was born in the garden, Nyakor around some chickens, and Nyamuriat by the bore hole.  My name means house, Nyakai (Nakai).  If I was appropriately named, I'd be Natalia (clinic or hospital).  But that's boring!

Anyway...they wanted to see some pictures of my family, so I whipped out my photo album.  They loved it.  Loved the dresses and the hair of my friends and family!  Mom, they thought you were really beautiful.  :)  And Colin, they kept thinking you were Shannon...they think America is a village and we all knew each other before coming here.

Finally, it was time to head to Lomeyin, so I said goodbye to the girls, who had agreed to return to their village by foot, and with huge smiles they walked out the gate.

The road to Lomeyin was smooth (not physically).  On the ride, Maria and Lokuru told us they had something to share, and without a moment of hesitation, they began to sing.  Along with two other ladies in their village, they wrote a song about the story of Hannah that Carrie told on Tuesday at the women's gathering!!!  The words spoke about how she prayed to God for a child, promising she'd give the child back to Him, and ended with a prayer saying, "Help us, God."  It was beautiful.  They sang it over and over and over.  Then, they started singing another song we had not heard before.  They wrote two!  I do not remember those words, but they, too, were heartfelt and beautiful.

We dropped off Maria at her sister's village, and Mindy and I continued onward (the farthest I've been in my time here so far!) to Lokuru's village.

Now, Lokuru is considered my mother ("ito kang") because she named her baby after me.  It did not dawn on me until we were waiting for her mother in the village, that this was my grandma, "ataa kang." Exciting moment.  Some of the women cautiously approached me, white girl in their village.  When I told them my name, they burst at the seams in joy!  That Nyakai!  They warmly welcomed me into their village (which does not happen here), and my Ataa brought me back to her house, giving me an old jerry can to sit on.  She gave Lokuru the food for which she came, and then turned and gave me a calabash jug, lots of sesame seed, and some sorghum!  First gift I've received since being here.  I was at this point smiling from ear to ear (I think!).  I whipped out my camera and took some pictures of my "family."

 (Lokuru is third from the left)

Ataa kang

After goodbyes, we returned and picked up the rest of the gang and rode home.

It was a long day and a tiring one.  And one full of change.

Visitors?  Hungry tummy, four biscuit packages, many refills of H2O.
Giving those girls a special ride?  Saying no to many others who also wanted to come, more biscuits.
Hearing those songs that brought tears to my eyes?  Diesel to get to Lomeyin.
Meeting my Toposa family and the time I got to spend with the people doing all of the above?

Priceless.  Exquisite.  Precious.

Beautiful.

Other pictures...

 Bertha, the bathroom bat, and baby

 Samson and Delilah's puppies!  (The Lewises' dogs)

A brand new Toposa bracelet

 Blue mashed potatoes for our team dinner--it was science themed!

 These were a first.  The school kids threw sticks over the fence with notes on them. This one is asking if I was going to Nataragat that day.

A picture from my journal--this is of the tree under which we sit doing church on Sunday nights.  I looked up and noticed the stars behind the cage of the tree branches, piercing the deepest darkness.  This is my prayer for Toposaland.  That God will come and pierce the darkness.  That He will draw hearts to Himself, one by one by one, and that they can be like stars shining His truth for His glory and bring light to their own people.