Tomorrow Today: to catch you up.

Internet was off for a week while the Lewis family was gone, and then our power went out (this time it's not the solar panels but the breaker) and was finally fixed today.

This is a catch-up blog...

First, our friend, Renee, from Uganda came and brought us fresh fruits and veggies. YUM. She hung with us in villages and did stuff like this...

Then, I turned 24. It was weird having a birthday in South Sudan. Mindy was actually the only person who was physically here to celebrate my birthday. And she went over the top!!! While I was still in my pjs, she came to my tukel door and blew a noisemaker very loudly. She kept this with her the whole day, whipping out at the most unexpected of moments. The Lewis fam left some gifts with her, and she showcased them quite nicely! She even made me peanut butter brownies. (We ate the whole pan by ourselves for the next three days, or was it two?) We did not teach school with the boys gone, so we told stories in the morning and had time in the afternoon to watch a movie on our outdoor porch.

The newest addition to Lo Compound is a baby ostrich. Yes folks! There is now an ostrich living at 100 Toposa Lane. And it is the weirdest, funniest looking thing I have ever set eyes on. See for yourself!

And we wish it ate rats. February was officially the Month of the Rat. But with a combination of Davis' arrow shooting skills, the bottom of a shoe, real rat poison from Uganda, crumpled biscuits mixed with powdered milk and the contents of 100 smooth muscle relaxer tablets, puppies, hawks, traps, and a homemade concoction of flour and salt and sugar (because rats can't burp the gas from the flour and therefore explode internally!) there are 30 dead rats on the record. Here's a giant fat nasty one that Mindy found dead the other day:

As for exciting news, we now have a new translator!!! I wrote in my newsletter, but just have to mention the faithfulness of God again. He brought two possibles to the compound about twenty minutes apart from each other. Only God. We went with the one who arrived first, and he helped translate today! It went so well!!!

And finally, an update on the AIDS storying. Short version? We went to a village in Cumakori, and the people loved the stories and listened well. The old man who listened said he wanted to be the leader of getting people together to hear these stories about AIDS and those from God's Word. The second time we went back? He had told tow separate groups of people the story we told the previous time! So cool! We got to share the gospel today, and they listened!!! And they want us to come back and teach them more about Jesus! Please pray for guidance on what stories to teach them.

And other pictures:

Some friends, all three are married or almost so.