Am I really in America?

In the "poor me, oh, look how I suffer" department for this week, listen to this.

We live across from a Verizon service office. We can't get Verizon internet because "all of the allotted accounts are taken for our service area." Verizon is the only Internet provider in this rural area of Pennsylvania.

Plan B...we're using our cell phone as a modem for our laptop. It's pretty slow. Not as slow as Africa, but pretty bad. Also, we can' get phone service inside the house, so we have to field all phone calls (and Internet usage) on the front porch.

The temperature has been in the 90's here with a heat index over 100 degrees. Oh, and there are farms all around and this is the season of the year that they spread pig manure.

I think I've given you enough sensory details now for you to understand why I'm asking the question...

Am I really in America?

Heart in Africa

Lots of news coming from the other side of the pond this week. First, our Rift Valley Academy superintendent sent out our "staffing sheet" for the end of the month and it was pretty bleak. Lots of people are delayed from financial troubles (i.e. lack of support), and many won't be able to come this year at all. It's hard to think of your colleagues struggling (or soon-to-be struggling when school starts) and not being there with them.

We also got news that Kenya will shut off electricity to our town two days a week due to the lack of water (which has caused the dams to produce less electricity). I experienced drought and famine during our first 4 years but never this extra burden. Food and water is a far greater loss, but electricity is awfully essential to running a modern school.

Lastly, there was an accident with Africa Inland Mission's aviation wing that took the lives of two of our missionary colleagues (both with wives and multiple small children at home). Two others were injured in the crash but are recovering. We weren't close to either family, but in the mission community in Kenya (and around the world like us) these things affect everyone.

To read news on the crash, click here.
To read a heartbreaking and vivid blog by one of the non-Christian survivors, click here.