A Day in the Life

I wake up around 6:00 am. It is still a little dark, so I get dressed and make breakfast by flashlight. Sometimes I eat roasted groundnuts or leftovers from dinner the night before. When it is light enough, I read and pray. After finishing a few household chores, I leave for school a little bit after 7:30. [Update: I am now in a house with power! I can turn on the light in the mornings!]

Every week day, the teachers and junior teachers at the school meet at 7:50 am to pray for our students, have devotions, and go over any announcements for the day ahead. Assembly with the students starts as soon as we are finished, and then the students are dismissed to their classes. I help in the oral English class in the mornings from about 8:30 am to noon. The lunch break is from noon to 1:30 pm, and I use the time to prepare my lesson for Bible class, check email, or talk with students.

After lunch, I lead the 4th -6th grade students in a Bible lesson. We are learning about the captivity of Judah in Babylon. Bible usually takes a little over half an hour and then the afternoon classes begin. The school day ends at 4:30 pm. After tidying the room and locking the building, I go to my language lesson with a local pastor or to a team meeting depending on the day. Usually, a few students walk home with me and have some sort of request for the evening. This past week it was haircuts and FaceTime with my dad.

When I finally send them home, I make dinner and take care of things around the house. It gets dark about 8:00 pm and that is when I go out to shower. My shower is one of my favorite things about the day. The water has been warmed by the afternoon sun, but the night air is deliciously cool. It’s reminiscent of trips to the beach with my family. After I finally pull myself away from the moon, I read under my mosquito net until 9:00-10:00 pm when I fall asleep.

That’s a typical weekday. I haven’t gotten the hang of weekends yet. Saturdays are strange. The ladies of the team meet for prayer at 8:00 am. After that, my time is fair game. Sometimes I supervise boys working on the compound. Sometimes I have Bible study with a few students from school. Sometimes I just have an endless stream of visitors and spend my Saturday making tea. Completely enjoyable.

Sundays are wonderfully relaxing. We have team worship at 4:00 pm with dinner afterwards leaving my mornings free. I’ve gone to a local church a few times, but sometimes I take the morning to read and listen to sermons. It is nice to stay connected with my home church by keeping up with the sermon series online.