Recent Happenings

Well friends, it's official: we have our departure date set for Saturday, October 4th around 2:30pm leaving from Greenville, SC!

Our journey will begin from Greenville, SC to Washington, DC then from DC to Zurich, Switzerland, and from there to Nairobi, Kenya arriving on October 5th. As much as this news excites me and thrills my heart, I have to say that it's completely nerve wracking too! As we say goodbye to those we love for a time, I am asking God for strength. "The joy of the Lord is my strength and my shield" Pslam 28:7. I am thankful that there are ways to communicate with family and friends, as these ways were not possible even twenty years ago. Please continue to pray for our families as we transition in these next two months. We are humbled and thankful to have so many people supporting us and sending us out. We are still in need of support and have raised 62% of our one time costs and 77% of our continual (yearly, monthly, or quarterly) costs. Please pray for our team members Cecily and Fred Foy Strang as they continue to fundraise. Our desire and hope was to begin our journey together, but we are trusting that God has a plan as our leave date likely differs at this point. Your prayers and love during this life transition phase mean more than we can say!

Now for some updates: As you may know, it has been a whirlwind in the Arndt household the past two weeks. Chase went to a training at the end of June (before we moved) at Equip International that covered farming methods. Here are a couple of photos! You'll have to ask him more about exactly what he was doing. He and Fred Foy are together in the second photo.

We moved at the end of July and were able to spend some time with the Moyer family in Castlewood, VA to learn a little bit about farming. I wondered about the possibility of making goat cheese while living in Kenya, so I had a goat milking lesson and one of the Moyer girls, Joanna, was nice enough to walk me through the process of cheese making. Here's a classic cheesy photo of me and the goat friend (below). I think her name may have been Claire? After a few well deserved chuckles from another one of the Moyer girls, I seemed to get the hang of it. Okay, not completely. But, I tried. It really makes for a great forearm workout. Chase said, "Smile!" and got this glamour shot of one of our new friends.

Chase returned from a well pump training with Equip International in Marion, NC this week and is enjoying some time in the Bristol area with friends. Cecily and I are continuing our second week at a second language acquisition course at the Center for Intercultural Training (CIT) in Union Mills, NC and will return this Friday. We'll be headed to Martinsville for a few days before James and Liza head back to college. Union Mills and Marion are so close that Chase and I were able to get together and celebrate our two year anniversary on August 5, 2014.

Here's a picture of Cecily and me with all of the homework time essentials: hot tea and various delicious snacks. We had just returned home around 3:45 after a full day of language school. It took about five tries before I could figure out how to prop up the camera to take this photo. Chase would be proud of me. I figured out how to do the self timer without any help! Also, there's a sample of our homework below. We've learned an extensive amount of material in a short amount of time. Cecily and I look forward to meeting with a linguistic instructor tomorrow to talk about the particulars of learning some of the sounds in Maa. There are few resources available to us since Maa is an oral language and the Maasai don't read or write using it.

As we finish this week, please continue to pray for us as we learn and develop skills to acquire a second language. The point of this training is to learn ways to to learn languages and develop cultural awareness while doing so. This course has taught us methods and exercises to implement when meeting with our language helpers and beginning a self taught language curriculum. It's a bit overwhelming, but Cecily and I are thankful we're in this together! 

One of my language helpers here at CIT e-mailed the group this verse and it has blessed me. It's from Isaiah 40: 4 and 5: "The Lord has given me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary with one word. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens me to listen as a disciple. The Lord God has opened my ear; and I was not disobedient not did I turn back." I am clinging to this truth as I remember the importance and commitment of learning a new language in order to best serve the people I love so much. 

Until next time!

Audrey