Beauty Parlor

In my conservative town, there are not a lot of great places to meet and socialize with women outside of the home.  The shops, produce stands, offices, and even women's clothing stores almost always employ only men.  It is inappropriate for me, as an unmarried woman, to have that much interaction with men beyond what is necessary for me to conduct my business.  The one place I can always count on meeting women is at the beauty parlor.  There are at least 5 to 6 beauty parlors in every section of town.  There are several within walking distance of my house.  The beauty parlor is a great place to go to build relationships and practice language, and I try to visit one every week.  Most shops are air conditioned, and the nice thing is I can just go and sit and talk without having to have something done every time.   Although the prices on facials, waxing, etc. are really great here so I indulge fairly often.  My favorite thing is to have my eyebrows threaded.  Some of you have probably heard me talk about this, but for those of you who have know idea what that means, I will now explain.  Threading is a method of hair removal using a thin, twisted cotton string to pull hair out at the follicle level.  (Thank you Wikipedia for that awesome definition.)  Basically a piece of string is pulled tight over the hair to pull it out.  For those of you who are confused, see pictures posted below.  Please lift the women I meet and talk with at the beauty parlors up to the Father.  Ask for deeper relationships and opportunities to share GN. 

  

Packages, Packages

This week my roommate and I received 7 packages!!!  Having lived here for 6 months now I can honestly tell you that there is nothing more exciting than mail.  Especially mail that contains awesome things like bacon, chocolate, and cheese.  A special thank you to my brothers and sisters in Jeff City who sent 3 boxes.  Wow, what a blessing!

September... Where did you go?

Sorry about the lack of posts recently.  I don't know where September went, but all of a sudden it is gone.  I figure the best way to catch you up on what I've done this month is to post some of my pictures.  Enjoy.

Guess what's under the bucket

If you guessed a bat, or more accurately a possibly rabid bat, then you are right.  My housemate and I had quite the excitement the other night when we discovered a bat in our house.  The whole story is too long to write here so I'll just give some of the high (or low) points.  The highlights included me standing on our couch screaming like a little girl, frozen in terror, while my friend D abandons me by running into her room and shutting the door.  Only later did she come back out and trap the thing under the trash can. 

Battle of the Roaches Part Deux

So the roaches came back with a vengeance.  D and I are not to be outdone though.  Since the spraying apparently did not work that well, we concocted something called a roach bomb.  The place we took the recipe from said it's guaranteed to keep roaches away for 6 months.  We'll see...

Meanwhile we also have an ant problem that is even more out of control than the roaches have ever been.  My goodness gracias. 

Here comes the bride...

Today one of my dearest friends is getting married, and I’m missing it.  I’m sad I can’t be there with her – to tell her she looks beautiful, to help her get ready, to watch her marry her best friend.  I’m not blogging about this so that you feel sorry for me.  Yes, I’m sad that I can’t be there, but even in my sadness, I have felt His gracious hand upon me.  Rather I want to say this – Father is so faithful!  He is so great!  He is so worthy!  There is no sacrifice too small or too big.  It is my joy to serve Him. 

This is my friend Katie - the beautiful bride!.

Thanks  Father for great friends!  Look at these cute boys!

Monsoon Baby!

Monsoon has arrived.  Actually it's been here since mid-July and will stick around through the beginning of September.  It rains at least 4 days a week during monsoon.  Sometimes it just rains in the early morning, and then clears off later in the day, but there are also those days where there is a steady downpour all day.  Everything here goes into a standstill on the long rainy days.  People don't like to get out in the rain if they can help it.  The other day I went to visit some friends in a village, and they all told me they didn't think I would actually come because of the rain.  I will admit that the rain does make some things more difficult.  For example, we walk a lot of places here and that is a little problematic in a steady downpour.  Also, the rain makes me want to just stay in bed and sleep or curl up with a good book.  Both of these options are detrimental to my current language learning schedule.  But all in all, I would have to say that I like monsoon season.  It is always super humid before the rain comes, but after it is finished the weather is so much cooler - for at least a couple of hours anyway! Today my roommate and I just stood on the front porch and watched the rain.  As you can tell from the pictures, our yard turns into a lake every time it rains.  It was nice to just stand there in silence and listen to the rain.  It also made me a little homesick as I always like to sit on our front porch at home and watch the storms roll in.  Father, thank you for your creation.  Thank you for how you provide for the earth.  Thank you for how each clap of thunder and every drop of rain testifies to your presence.