Oh to see the world

Because of the opportunities I've had to travel lately, I have been thinking a lot about this big wide world. It is so big and there is so much variety. No place is the same. I've had the opportunity to hike on four different continents now. I've hiked in North America, South America, Africa, and Europe. It's different everywhere. In America I love hiking in the Adirondacks. There is no humidity, there are trees everywhere, and the mountains are huge. In South America I hiked the Inca trail in the Andes mountains. It was a very high altitude, it was andean flat (which means the trail goes up and down a lot), and there weren’t as many trees as in the adirondacks. It was still beautiful though. In Europe I've only been in Tuscany so far (going to Switzerland soon though!). There are mountains all around. I think Africa is the most different. There are very few trees, many rocks, and a lot of dirt and dust. There aren’t really mountains, at least not the type of mountains I think of as mountains. I had fun exploring around the little bit I was able to during my two months in Nigeria.

Another thing I've had fun trying in all four continents is the ice cream. That too is different everywhere. My favorite place for ice cream is Italy. Technically, it's gelato. It tastes so different from the ice cream in America. It's so much better! Ice cream in Africa is not so good. At the grocery store it is way over-priced and there was only one shop where you could get it served to you in a cone. The fruit in Africa is better than the ice cream. 

Cheers for hiking and gelato!

Hard Work

sunrise in africa

Me with most of the teachers at Gyero + Nancy

It’s been interesting for me to see the culture of Nigeria and the culture of Italy. One component that really stands out to me is hard-work. In this post I’m going to talk about hard-work I saw in Nigeria and in Italy.

Almost every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while I was in Jos, Amos picked me up on his way to work. Amos is a Nigerian who has been working for the Fretheims for many years. He works at the same compound that Nancy lives at. It was good to get to know Amos a little bit during our drives. Most Nigerians I met are so hard-working. Amos picked me up whether it was on his way or not. If he was running late, he picked me up anyway. There  were only two times when he couldn’t pick me up - one when he was in Abuja and one when his car was at the shop. He never asked for any money but willingly picked me up three days a week. During my time in Nigeria, he had a bunch of family staying at his house. I found out through Peter that there was way more people than there was space in the house. But instead of telling his visiting family that he didn’t have room, they shared beds and made do. Amos has been a good example to me and displayed some character qualities that I hope to take back with me to the U.S. He is a servant and he is self-less in that he is willing to pick me up whether it is convenient for him or not. Most people I know only do favors for others if it is convenient. He is also hospitable and loving. Before most americans are willing to host company, they have to make sure their house and everything is just right. God knows that we don’t have everything together, but He does call us to be hospitable. 

I’m not sure if I ever told you the names of the teachers out at Gyero. In Nigeria they call a lot of people “auntie” and “uncle”. I was called auntie amy. Anyway, auntie Mercy teaches class 1. Uncle Julius teaches class 2. Uncle Lonz teaches class 3. Uncle Felix teaches class 4. Auntie Margaret teaches class 5. Auntie Rahab teaches the boosting class. These teachers are truly amazing. They are so hard-working. 

Auntie Mercy is married, has children, is a house parent, and is a teacher. As a house parent, in addition to her own family, she is also responsible for a certain amount of the orphans. She teaches Monday-Friday from 8am until 1pm. Then at 1 she goes to her compound and takes care of several orphans. If her husband is not home she has to bring her children with her to school. 

Uncle Julius has been coming to Gyero for about three years now but this is his first full year teaching. He is married and has a baby. His family lives in Kagoro and the most he gets to see them is on the weekends. Kagoro is about a two hour drive from Jos. Some weekends he doesn’t get to go home. During the week he lives in Gyero with Uncle Lonz and the orphans. I can’t imagine only seeing my family on certain weekends. 

Uncle Lonz came to city ministries when he was 16 years old. He has actually gone through the system somewhat. I’m not entirely sure how long he has been working at Gyero. I do remember him being there when I came in 2012. He is a house parent and a teacher. He told me that he is a scientist and he really wants to sell his inventions to the public. Right now he is trying to get registered with the government. Uncle Lonz is a thinker and is always coming up with new ideas. He wants me to help him write a book titled, The Power of Thinking. 

Uncle Felix is married to Auntie Rahab and they have a baby named Cherish. I’m not sure how long he has been teaching. Auntie Rahab just started teaching in February. The boosting class teacher left and God provided Auntie Rahab to take over. It was such an answer to prayer! 

Auntie Margaret has children of her own and also lives in Gyero.

These teachers are truly amazing. They never get a break. It’s not like they can leave and take a vacation. Then who would watch over the orphans? But they do it all so joyfully always praising and thanking God. It really makes me appreciate my life. I have it so easy. 

Please continue to pray for Nigeria! 

• Pray for the teachers at Gyero. Right now they are on Easter break. Pray that they would get good rest.
• Continue to pray for safety in Gyero. Pray that the POLICE would be involved there.

on the farm

I have also gotten a chance to get to know hard-working people in Italy too. Giacomo and Helena are both very hard-working. It’s not easy running a farm. There are always things to be done. On top of running a farm and taking care of a family, both Helena and Giacomo are also translators. Helena usually works on the farm in the morning and translates in the afternoon. Giacomo is always doing something around the farm or translating. It’s been fun to see what it’s like to run a farm and I’ve enjoyed the past two weeks! 

Life in Tuscany

Tuttomondo 

I made it to the Mediterranean Sea!

Biking in Tuscany

I am so blessed to be living in Tuscany for the next month. I am living with a family in a small town called Avane. Avane is about 20 minutes drive from Pisa. I can actually see the leaning tower from the top of their mountain. Their family has owned the farm for many years. The running of the farm has been handed down through generations. There are many different aspects to the farm. They have olive trees from which they make their own olive oil. They have a liquor making business. They grow various fruits. They have chickens and rabbits. They are building an ecological bathroom and they are also building an oven to make their own bread in. Sadly, I don’t think the oven will be finished before I leave. Giacomo and Helena, the family I am living with, run everything expect the liquor making business. Giacomo’s sister runs that. 

Giacomo and Helena have four children. Stefana (not sure if I spelled that right) is in her early 20s and is away at college. Dante is 19 and goes to school in Lucca. Here in Italy there are 5 years of high-school instead of 4. Susannah is 16 and goes to school in Pisa. Daniel is 12 and goes to school in Avane. I am sharing a room with Susannah. Giacomo, Helena, and Susannah can all speak English pretty well. The boys don’t speak much at all. I don’t have any trouble communicating with Giacomo and Helena though. If Helena doesn’t understand something she just asks Giacomo to translate. Both Giacomo and Helena are translators. Giacomo mainly does Italian to English and English to Italian translation and Helena does Italian to French and Italian to Russia. 

I have worked six days on their farm so far. I got here on a Friday and they let me have Saturday and Sunday to rest before starting work on Monday. I start around 9am and work until about 1:30. On Saturdays I only have to work 2 hours. Right now we are working on burning all the olive tree branches that were cut down in the fall. In order to burn them we have to gather them all together and if the branches are too big we have to cut them. At first it seemed like it was going to be a never ending task. But little by little we have already finished 1 hectare and have started another. They have 6 hectares of olive trees. Thankfully, some of the other hectares have already been cleared. I think we have 3 more to clear.

Even though I’ve only been here a little over a week, i’ve been able to travel a good bit so far. My first Saturday here I went with Giacomo and Helena to a fair in Vecchiano. That Sunday I went with them to a fair in Pietra Santa. I saw the mountains where, supposedly, Michelangelo got the marble to make his sculptures. Everything is so beautiful here. I’ve also had the opportunity to go to Pisa, Livorno, Viareggio, and Pistoia. One day last week I biked around too! It’s been great. 

Some reasons why living in Tuscany is awesome:

-We have pasta for lunch everyday

-There is bread and wine at every meal

-My family owns an Alaskan Malamute named Vodka

-I found out today that Nutella is Italian. Makes sense

I’ll have to share more later.

Prayer Requests:

-I hurt my foot last week. It’s something I’ve done before. It’s called cuboid syndrome and it hurts to walk. I am going to a physical therapist tonight. Pray that it will get fixed and heal soon!

-Pray for conversations and relationship with the family.

italy

I made it to the farm! Praise God. The journey here was eventful. There were a lot of new things I had to figure out along the way. But I'm here now and am so glad. The family I'm living with is very kind. I got to their house on Friday around 4:30pm. They let me have yesterday and today to rest up before starting work on the farm tomorrow. Their farm is actually on top of a mountain. I haven't seen it yet. I'm looking forward to seeing it tomorrow! Their house is on the side of the mountain. They live in Avane. Avane is a province about 20 minutes (by car) from Pisa. It is so beautiful here.

I was exhausted from traveling here. I think I slept about 4 hours Thursday night. From the time I landed in Italy until I met Giacomo (the man who owns the farm) I had to figure out how to get from the Florence airport to Pisa Centrale. Carrying all my luggage made it even more difficult. The most challenging part was figuring out how to get a train ticket at the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence and finding Giacomo once I arrived in Pisa. Not many people here speak English so asking for help wasn't very helpful.

I slept until 10 yesterday morning! That is the latest I have slept in in over two months. It is so quiet here compared to Jos and I think that's why it's so much easier to sleep late here. I had a relaxed morning and afternoon. Lunch is always at 1:45 and dinner is always at 8:30 here. Lunch is also always some type of pasta with sauce, bread with meat and cheese, salad, fruit, and chocolate. That's how it is for most Italians. They always have pasta for lunch. Some Italians have pasta for lunch and dinner.

I spent some time processing Nigeria yesterday. It has been a little difficult adjusting to such a different culture and living environment all over again. I know that I'm going to have many good experiences during my time in Italy but I also want to be able to share about my many experiences in Nigeria. So I'm really trying to be intentional about spending time to think and journal about Nigeria and all that God taught me.

I went to the commune of Vecchiano with Giacomo and Helena (the two owners of the farm). Vecchiano is a cute little town about 5 minutes drive from Avane. There was a fair going on and Helena wanted to visit her friend who weaves baskets out of twigs from trees. Some of the twigs he uses are from olive trees. Giacomo and Helena have a lot of olive trees on their farm. There were several different booths set up at the fair. There were stands selling fresh produce, meat, cheese, baked goods (including nutella crepes), animals, etc.

After visiting Vecchiano, we went to Pisa. Helena and I walked around while Giacomo went to pick up a bike for me to use during my time here. They said I can bike around during my time off but that the roads are narrow and I have to be very careful.

Yesterday evening I went back to Pisa with Susannah. Susannah is their daughter who will be 17 in May. I am sharing a room with her. We rode her motorbike to town and met up with some of her friends. We walked around Pisa for a while looking for a pizzeria that had space. We never found one so we settled on sandwiches for dinner and gelato for dessert. Everything you've heard about how good the food in Italy is, is true.

 I got to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa before we headed home. We didn't get home until about 12pm. It was pretty cool riding on the back of her motorbike from Pisa back to Avane at night. I'm still somewhat in shock that I am actually in Italy living with an Italian family.