And now... HEART. Wow. How to summarize this past week. First a little bit about HEART, it is a place that trains people for life in the third world. Someone explained it to me this past week that it was a little like training for the Peace Corps but with Jesus at the center. We've enjoyed this past week with no electricity, and no running water (kind of). The showers are solar-powered and amazing. As you might guess, the only bathrooms are outhouses and they're the squatty kind (b/c that is what is most comon in the third world). I'm adjusting well to this minor change in lifestyle. It's been a little warm this past week, but nothing that is unbearable. There are about 10 students here total, most of them are college students and a few of the students are just here for the experience (like Seth and myself) . We've had our first week of classes and wow- we're learned a lot. So what I think I'm going to do is go through each day and describe a bit of what we've experienced.

Monday
-Appropriate technology. Learned to cut and weld. Seth and I decided that we'd "divide and conquer" meaning there'd be some things he would try to learn well and I would do the same. Seth is going to work on "conquering" this one.
-stated to work on our projects. We have a semester project to work on. I think I'm going to do something with prenatal health (I'm thinking about studying more about midwifery). Seth hasn't completely decided, maybe something with a mime.

Tuesday
-primary health class. Our professors for this class are two retired medical workers who spent like 39 years (or something like that) serving in Kenya. It's amazing to learn from them and to hear their stories!
-agriculture class. This class has been soo interesting. I've learned so much about growing foods, composting, etc. it has been fantastic. Our professor in this class has A LOT of experience with agriculture and was an agriculturalist in Nepal for a number of years.

Wednesday
-Spiritual development. This week we began sharing our testimonies with our fellow students. It was such a blessing and honor to get to hear about the lives of my fellow students.

Thursday
-agriculture class. We learned about hydroponics and about working with local farmers in the third world. We also learned about how to grow gardens in small spaces and in difficult environments (like in the African desert)
-Nutrition class!!! Loved this class. We learned to grind grain into flour and learned to make a lot of other tasty bread dishes from around the world. Just for the record I'm "conquering" this class:)

Friday
-Cross cultural development. I've traveled a lot and I thought I knew a lot about cultures, but boy- I have sooo much to learn. This class is going to be very beneficial.
-Small animal husbandry. This week we talked about chickens and we even vacinnated a couple of chicks ourselves!! Wow. I got to help catch them. Was that ever fun! In a few weeks we get to breed rabbits. We're excited. I'm going to go read Proverbs 31 to the lady bunnies so they can consider how to be good "wives?" and mommies! I'm not joking.

Which leads us right up to today. The community here has been wonderful. They have such joy, even though they may live in small trailer homes, their hearts are centered on the Lord. Truly, this semseter is going to be so good for us. I'm learning so much and I'm so grateful for this opportunity.