The Power of Candy

If you have never been to Tanzania before, you might not fully understand the power of candy. Granted, I am sure you have some idea because there is nothing like a lollipop to help you forget the pain of a shot. And, nothing says, "I love you" or at least "I think you're cute" like a box of chocolates. The swahili word for candy is pipi and I think that one too many white persons have handed out candy to children here in Africa so they now think that white people come from Candyland. =) If you want the full attention of a child, give him some pipi. Actually, now that I that I think about it, it works the same in America. But I digress, let me get back to the point. I decided to tap into the hidden power of Candy! I bought a bag of gummy snakes! (They were on sale). The cover has a red and orange snake with bows on that have a big, friendly smile on their faces. The caption below says, "stretch them. Crush them. Watch them wiggle." So I ate the whole bag while staring at my ceiling making sure that all my slithery roommates knew what I was doing and I understand that they would be my next meal if they decided to fall from the ceiling.

Okay, not really. Don't worry mom and dad, I haven't lost my mind or at least not anymore than what I had before I came to Africa. I do appreciate all of your prayers and words of encouragement. I think God will use anything to get us to a deeper place of trust. Being the math geek that I am, I know that statistically speaking, it is not common for snakes to fall through the roof but I could not rationalize with myself. I had to get to a place of trust with God; to know that He would not give me more than I am able to handle and that He is sovereign and in control.

Enough about the snakes though! I have actually learned a lot and experienced a lot in the past ten days that has nothing to do with scaley, wiggly, ugly, poisonous reptiles. I haven't really thought about the snakes that much but I wanted to give an update on the situation. A team from Perimeter just left yesterday. WOW! What an amazing time, so many stories to tell but I will fill you all in tomorrow!