There’s a lot to be learned from the natural world. Most of the plants here on our compound have evolved over time to become drought-resistant. There are almost six months of extremely dry conditions—akin to the harsh conditions of a prairie winter—but when the rains come, everything blooms into being.

We have a small garden which we water with the grey water from dishes, laundry, & showers. When we were gone for Christmas & some holiday time the whole thing shrivelled—flowers, aloe veras, lemon grass; we returned to a brown wasteland. After a few days of grey-watering the aloes gained their colour back. After a few weeks, the lemon grass was looking more spry. Now, at almost one month, flowers are appearing again in our tiny garden.

(NOTE: I took a photo of the new flowers, but haven’t uploaded them to this computer yet. Said photo will appear here someday.)

When plants get what they need, it’s amazing how quickly they begin to thrive again. My hope is that by getting the help i need, i too can begin to thrive again.

On Wednesday, February 1 I took really boring, random pictures – loofah seeds, water bottles, new phone airtime cards, Joel’s crafty materials, the sheet that protects our bed from dust and needs to be shaken out before we sleep at night, and the pool filter.

To survive this dry season (our last!) Joel and I have decided to do some more of our work poolside (our office gets crazy hot in the afternoon) at our new home-away-from-home – Safari Style. If you are ever coming through Rumbek you should stay there. It is nice. And it makes work a bit more pleasant too.

Ethiopia Adventure 2012

Click on the picture above to go to our Ethiopian album.

Since we are awesome travel planners we didn’t realize we would be travelling during one of Ethiopia’s biggest holidays. Also, we didn’t realize that we would be in the city with the biggest celebration for one of the biggest holidays in Ethiopia. This was equally an amazing and terrifying experience. It was amazing to witness such a meaningful holiday – Timkat, or Ethiopian Orthodox Epiphany. It was terrifying to realize how much things cost when there is a big celebration and how many people are running around the street at all hours blowing horns into the faces of foreigners. So it was an experience.

Here are some pictorial highlights.

Working in Sudan and South Sudan is physically and mentally challenging (as can be seen by our medical budget). So getting away from our work places into a completely new and interesting location was just what we needed.

MCC Sudan met in Addis with the great help of MCC Ethiopia (specifically Dan and Karin and Ada who helped us plan and then came along with us as translators). We travelled 2-hours south-west of the capital and stayed at Negash Lodge. One day we went to a crater and rode horses. That was fun.

Other highlights included: games of pool and carcassonne, fancy cheap meals, walks in the woods, traditional-looking rooms, pools, dancing, a museum, and visiting a MCC Ethiopia project.

Non-highlights included: missing Jennifer and food poisoning.

A final last highlight: fruit fruit fruit.

When my parents came to visit us a few months ago they brought along the hand-made quilt. It is full of squares that were created by the different church members, just for us. It is just lovely.

But it came with another gift as well. When my parents brought the quilt they also brought unseasonably cool nights. We did need the quilt.

So many blessings came with this present and for this we are most thankful.

Thank you Hanley Mennos!

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So January 1 was a gloriously lazy day with my computer and I and Joel. I did spend some time with a book as well.

January 2 we had the pleasure of tagging along with the Jantzis on their family vacation. We went to an elephant orphanage and then ate lots of meat meat meat in the evening.

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See … 2009, 2010. There, you have seen. (Oh, actually after posting this I realized that the 2009 post was all messed up. Sorry)

So now I present ~~ 2011 Year in (Re)View ~~

JANUARY – A few weeks after the Sudanese referendum was held we went, along with the rest of Rumbek, to Freedom Square. Here we waited for the announcement of the referendum results that everyone already knew. Unfortunately, there was a delay. Instead we listened to this guy telling us to go home and come back in the evening. We went home but, unfortunately, couldn’t return in the evening.

FEBRUARY – We stayed in Rumbek for February, attending the annual diocesan assembly. We continued to find ways to entertain ourselves with supper clubs, birthday celebrations, and games nights.

MARCH – We went to many parishes in March. We led seminars, workshops, and did radio interviews. We met with youth, women’s groups, and priests.

At the end of the month I left for the Africa Peacebuilding Institute in Zambia while Joel continued the parish visits himself.

APRIL – Amy came to visit us over Easter. It was great to show her around Rumbek and then take her out to one of the parishes we work with.

MAY – We travelled to Juba to attend some workshops and MCC meetings.

JUNE – The fuel crisis in Rumbek affected us in June when we had to buy a barrel of diesel in a back-yard deal for an exorbitant amount of money.

JULY – The MCC Rumbek team went to Juba to meet the MCC Juba and MCC Uganda teams to celebrate the birth of a new country – South Sudan. This was definitely a highlight of the year. After the celebrations Joel and I took a week of vacation in Tanzania to visit my old MCC placement.

AUGUST – In August we were back on the very bumpy, muddy roads making parish visits. When we returned to Rumbek we found that our house had finally been completed and happily moved in.

SEPTEMBER – We spent time settling in to our new place in September, and recuperating from our travels the previous month. We worked from our office in Rumbek because most of the roads had been washed out. We planted and decorated and spent good time with friends.

OCTOBER – We had been looking forward to October for months. First we went to Juba for some meeting and then travelled to Nairobi where we met my parents and took a fabulous vacation with them.

NOVEMBER – We brought my parents to Rumbek with us in November. Joel installed a solar system for our house and also hooked up the new solar fridge that had arrived from Nairobi. Preparing for and helping to facilitate the two week Women’s Peacebuilding and Trauma Healing Workshop took up most the rest of November.

DECEMBER – We celebrated advent in Rumbek before coming to Nairobi the week before Christmas. In Nairobi we have been catching up on appointments, visiting friends, enjoying cool weather, and dreaming about next year.

For more pictures about our life and work in South Sudan go to our Picasa album Still Sudan 2011

And a big thank you to Luke and Kaitlyn for their blog (to help me remember everything that happened this year) and for being swell people to share our life with in Rumbek.

We wrote another newsletter. Click on the picture above to read it.

A few times a year we try to compile our thoughts and words into a few pages. Once a year we try to do this about food  because we like food. Since it is almost the end of the year, and we have not written the annual Building Bridges Food Edition (and we know you were wondering where it was), we put our fingers and minds to work. And now… here it is!

Inside this newsletter you will also find your Christmas present. It is true that we got everyone the same present this year. Sorry. But what can you do when you live across an ocean? So, click on the picture of ugali above, go read, find your Christmas present, and then have a great New Year’s celebration.

Oh, and if you want us to email you a version with clearer pictures – let us know.

Merry Christmas from Nairobi