Monday 16 April 2012

Good Friends Make Life Better

Our good friend, Dan came and joined us in March. After riding his bike from way up north in B.C., all the way from Smithers to the bottom of South America he decided to fly himself and his bike from there to JoBurg and then join us in Swaziland. We’ve enjoyed many adventures with Dan and love having him around.


 Not only does he make us laugh with his great sense of humour and his singing ability but he also cooks delicious pancakes, among other things.

Arlyn and Dan have been humming the Canadian national anthem, talking about the Canucks hockey team and dreaming of jumping into Tyee Lake on hotter days here. They’ve also been exploring our neighbourhood and have found a beautiful fishing spot. 


After a few trips to the local river they finally brought home a delicious (but a little bit bony) yellow fish dinner! 


Dan has helped with the construction on Brian’s house, made friends with some of the kids in our community while playing soccer, entertained the children at the children’s home with motorbike rides and has even taught me how to bush camp when we’ve explored some of the countryside here and shared his little tent home with us! He has also been right by our sides to help repair flat tyres and even takes me to work when Arlyn is busy.  

With Dan around Arlyn has been eager to explore more of Swaziland by bike so I’m learning to be more comfortable sitting on the back of a bike when they drive farther than I would like on winding roads. The more of Swaziland we see the more impressed we are; it is such a beautiful country and people everywhere are so friendly and helpful.

March also brought Tammie, Brian’s wife, here to join us for a while. Living with Arlyn, Brian and Dan, I was very excited to have more female company in our home. Tammie is sweet, kind, patient, loving and has a great sense of humour. Her years of experience on the mission field have equipped her with many skills, skills that I hope to acquire too someday, especially her ability to make delicious meals for us with limited resources. We are so blessed to have grocery stores here that sell fresh fruit and veg and many ingredients to make wonderful meals, but regardless of the ingredients you still need someone who can actually cook them all together or someone who is willing try new things (not someone like me who is afraid of giving everyone food poisoning!)

It has been such a blessing to be surrounded by good friends, to share time together, talk and to learn more about a new culture with the support of each other. We are all excited about forming relationships with the people in the community that Brian is building in and hope to be a blessing to those around us here. The little house we’re staying in now is getting full, but we’ve all spent time in Haiti so we all know the Haitian people’s ability to always make room for one more person so let us know when you want to come and visit!

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