New places, new friends

Just wanted to share a few scenes from our last couple of trips out of the city...


Recently we have had some rainfall after several months of severe drought.  Many farmers have left rural areas to find work in the cities.  In some areas, those who stayed behind to farm were given plastic by the local government to cover the ground they plant so that more moisture is retained in the soil.  Their crops will likely yield only enough to feed themselves this year.  We are already experiencing the effects of the drought as the prices of rice and produce are rising. 

















Selling wood at the weekly market...

Caleb in the entrance of the courtyard...

 Catching grasshoppers

 

New faces...

...soon become new friends...

While the pictures portray the kids interacting and having fun together, what they can't communicate is the strength and courage and effort it has taken for them to get to this point--the point of being able to walk into a brand new place as strangers, the first foreigners these people have ever seen, and talk to them, join in with what they're doing, and connect with them.  These pictures are preceded by a long road of going into uncomfortable situations, feeling scared and intimidated and uncertain.  Long ago our kids began adjusting to the fact that we aren't going to choose friends based on whom we like or are naturally drawn to--by his grace we are going to befriend whomever we are with.  Thanks be to the one who gives us both the desire and the ability to do these things.