We have arrived! Patong Beach!

We landed!! For awhile anyway.. (Now pleased realize that when I booked our room I based it on a few things.... 1st beach location based on price, 2nd the food stalls around it and 3rd thd Hotel amenities. With that being said please note this part of town is not for families.. oops. But we got a great price and we are normally in bed when this part of town comes to life anyways 😁 ).
We do feel very safe here especially in twos with it being a tourist area, so no reason to worry.
For the time being the exchanged rate is wonderful, it's 32 baht to 1$, that means one can live on about $10 a day. It does take time to get used to them saying something is 1500 baht and not have a coronary. 💓

For dinner we walked down to the fresh food Bazaar and got a meal for $1.50! We decided that will be our dinner of choice while we are here. 😂  They sell fresh squeezed pomegranate, pineapple, mango, even dragon fruit,I believe, here for less then a dollar. All of the food is cooked right in front of you free and streaming. I've fallen in love with it. There's plenty of meat on a stick of course and seafood all of which I'm going to try because I have the stomach of a goat. 🐐

For our 1st breakfast we tried Indian food today we went with an English/American breakfast and that is never complete unless there is baked beans. (FYI beans are never at breakfast in America. 😂) Just so you know these pages will be mentioning food often.. Just be aware. 

Sunday will be our first day in the ministry, til then we relax taking in the sun and rain. 

มันคือเวลา! (It’s time!)

Hello friends,
It’s that time again, time to pack a bag and see more of the world for a month. This time it’s Thailand and Malaysia!
In between Swahili I have been trying to memorize a few Thia words as well, so that we won’t be completely lost the few weeks we are there. I never thought I would say Swahili is easy, but it is compared to Thia. 😆

Let’s discuss brass tacks, it will be myself and my cousin Marianne for this eventful safari... first time for her on such a long plane ride, (pray for her), 😉 the tip will last just19 days,  and will be spent between  Phuket island in Thailand in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, two more countries down for me puts me in the latter 30s!
We have big plans while on the island, one being a little educational field work with the local English Kingdom Hall, searching all 210 square miles of it via scooters and tuk tuks and giving the beaches some serious scrutiny. 🏊🏼‍♀️🏖 It’s going to be ridiculously hot, humid and sticky of course weatherwise but it will be something we can  check off our lists.
So keep your eyes peeled for new photos and updates as the weeks progress. We leave Michigan the 8th and return on the 26th, hopefully tan and ready to Get back to work after our short rest.

                   Talk with you all soon!

kuzungumza na wewe baadaye!

 พูดคุยกับคุณในภายหลัง!

Jambo!!

Habari!
Well I'm back in the road again for a week or so this month. For those who do. It know I've started learning Swahili! It's been a safari for me here lately trying to balance pioneering, taking care of a home, working and learning a language. A journey well worked for though especially when you see the people hear you speaking their mother tongue even it's slightly off. 😜
I never thought of English as a fun or descriptive language but as I learn more and more words in Swahili I start to appreciate language more. For example the word for disappointment is literally translated to, have collapsed heart. And if you think about the feelings you have it makes perfect sense. Sometimes it is hard to find an equivalent in Swahili right off the bat so it takes a lot of thinking outside the box to find just the right descriptive word. At the moment my favorite fun word is Bwana thluji which translates to snow lord and basically means snowman. ⛄️ I think that's adorable. I'm still living by the phrase, "mimi hapa, nitume mimi!" Here I am send me! I will go where there is a need in this world.

I am currently in Austin Texas sharing in the Bible education work in English, Swahili and hopefully a little of Russian as well. This state, like many now a days, is a melting pot of many cultures and languages keeping us on our toes. I made the trip to attend a 6 hour bible seminar in Swahili, it will take place outside of Dallas and will be a real test to my language skills.

Tutaonana baadaye
See you later

Holiday Away

Hey Guys,
So i now it seems silly that I needed a holiday away, mostly because some you think this is one giant holiday away..(you know who you are)  NOT TRUE!

Granted I don't have the normal workday pressures or stresses. Stresses now have come from relocating myself, learning and keeping up a 3 new cultures, new ways of thinking and new ways of doing these are not always easy an easy task.

My brain needed a few days to not think, and my feet to not walk so I went up to Nyanga for the weekend. It was a nice 4 hour car ride past balancing rocks and small towns. We also took a small car ride over to Mutare which is a stones throws from Mozambique...it took everything I had not to try to cross the border to add another country to my list.

 Where is It?? Its Zimababwes' eastern highlands boarding Mozambique,  it holds some beautiful waterfalls, wild animals, mountain peaks and the coldest weather. (no snow but super windy and
it was at 5 C ( 41 F) the other night...and its NOT winter yet.. Yikes!

I happen to bump into the family that helps deliver the literature to the Shona & English kingdom halls up there. So I grabbed the chance to explore a bit more of the area, knowing my days are numbered here.

There is a small area called Mutasa, it lies between Nyanga and Mutare, it has the most concentrated witnesses there, every 3 miles (5Ks) there is a kingdom Hall! I had the pleasure to visit one of the 2 English halls this last Sunday, I think we had about 20 or more there and only 2 cars in the "parking lot"--technically it was the yard-- and no microphones, you had to use your big boy voice there. (I had no problems in that department :D)

Zumbane Lodge

It was a nice few days away in the wilderness, hiking a trail or two and staying at the Zumbane lodge. Of which I highly suggest that if you come to Zim you MUST see this place and might as well stay in a fully furnished home for a fantastic price. We did lose power but whats a trip to Africa with the full amenities of the 1st world counties? Zasa these days..haha I also may or may have not gone to bed with my winter hat on, and a towel as extra bedding..I found out later my extra blanket was being held hostage in the the other room. or....maybe I just forgot to ask for it...oops.





Now I am back home, with only two weeks left to go. These four months...man I tell ya..flown by.  The emails may be coming a bit closer together now, I have so much I want to share before I leave. Bear with me folks.

See some of you sooner then later.
Katie