air conditioning and electricity

For the past few months, I have been crashing at my parents house. It has been quite an experience, seeing as I have lived on my own since 2005! Anyways, the air conditioning has ceased to work today. Now, may I remind you that we live in southeast Louisiana, just north of New Orleans. In October, the temperature can reach up to the high 80's. (I wear flip-flops until December!) I figure that God is just preparing me for the heat of West Africa where air conditioning is scarce. I think that I got plenty of no air conditioning practice when the hurricane hit earlier this summer and left us with no electricity for three days.

That's another thing God has been preparing me for. In Africa, electricity can be pretty unreliable. I will never forget my first night there when I was ten. We had just flown in from France and we were staying with another missionary family. My brother, sister, and I had just settled in to go to sleep, when the electricity went out. This was a darkness I had never experienced before. I could literally not see my hand in front of my face.

Now, years later, as I think about this story, I think about the other kind of darkness that Africa is in. I got to experience that darkness at a young age when my family and I lived in Togo (which is not far from Senegal). Ever since that time, my heart has been burdened for the people of Africa. God has been preparing me my whole life for this one specific time period in my life. Please pray for the people of Africa - that they would see the light in a dark world.

Anyways, I enjoy sharing pictures and I thought I would share one of my pictures from France with everyone! I love anything and everything French and getting to return there early in June was a real treat. This is one of my very favourite places on this planet - Mont St. Michel. It is a beautiful abbey set on an island. The neat thing about the island is that there is a village that surrounds the abbey. There are shops galore and cafes with yummy sandwiches, crepes, and coffee. Oh, and I can't forget about Orangina! Yummy!