Welding, GPS, and the 21 Irrefutable Laws....(with a side of Beef Stroganoff)

As we’ve said before, Jake and I are really enjoying being students again. Especially because the subjects are often regarding some of our favorite things: people, God’s Word, African culture, and bush living. Today, we had such diverse classes that I felt like I just had to tell someone about it.
The day started at 7am with prayer and worship. It is about 45 degrees Farenheit here in the morning, and when you live your life outside…that feels frigid! I got up in the cold today and Jake stayed in the tent with Sunda to wait for the sun to come out a little stronger.

Breakfast, oatmeal porridge, was ready at 8am. By 8:30, Sunda was playing with her nanny and Jacob was having a meeting with our director.
9am-the school bell rings!

This morning we sat down to a DVD lecture series by John Maxwell on his book, the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. We are completing the workbook and studying the text as well as listening to the lecture series. It was really fantastic! I can’t believe that I’ve never taken the time to read that book before now. Maxwell says that now everyone will be strong in every law and that there will be some laws that you will definitely be weak in. I can think of many that I’m very weak in. But so far, it seems obvious that I’m a “Navigational Leader.” That means that I’m someone who knows how to get from point A to point B and how to make a plan to get there. I don’t have a whole lot of visioneering or plans for busting up the system. I’ll have Jake get back to you on his thoughts, but my conclusion is that, since Jake is definitely a visioneer and not a navigator, if I just followed him around with a pen and paper, we’d get a whole lot accomplished in Zambia!

After a couple of hours with John Maxwell, it was time for welding class. Blech. As of right now, I’m a terrible welder. I can’t get the arc started correctly and my rod always sticks. One of the tricks to arc welding is that you need a strong and consistent electrical source. This is kinda hard to come by when you’re working from a generator that is also powering what seems to be a constant construction site. I think I just need more practice, but I definitely don’t have the knack as of right now. So, if the chassis of your Toyota Corolla breaks while you're offroading on the turnpike, don’t call me to weld it together.
After a little lunch and some “Elmo’s World” with Sunda, GPS training was on the menu. The afternoon was filled up with learning how to plot points on a handheld GPS and plot it on Google Earth. Overland uses the Google Earth system to locate unreached people groups and….reach out to them! It is an amazing use of technology. Unfortunately, I’m a little technologically behind the times (I think my Ipod Nano is technical), so I was also a bit frustrated…no, let’s say challenged by that new learning process.

I wish I could stay longer, but it’s time to cook supper for 40 people. Tonight’s chef? Who else? The day needed to be a bit more diverse and challenging, so I’m the head chef tonight. The menu? Beef Stroganoff with linguine and a salad. Let’s hope I can get it done in time!