Cool Spring - Missionary Connection Emails, Heather Carter

Prayer Email #3
Sent 1/11/2004

     Hey guys! It's been a while, I hope that you are all doing well! Hopefully, you also got my e-mail letting you know I was leaving the country, I had some trouble with it. Well, I am here now in G-town after what seemed like a very long journey!

     Things are going really well, and I am getting settled in. I have mostly just been running around town trying to get things set up, logistically, for living here. We have also talked a little bit about our ministry here and what we are doing to get started.

     OK, for fun, here are some things I've done this week that I would not have done had I been living in America:

Drove STICK shift on the LEFT hand side of the road

Bought milk in a plastic bag

Attended a funeral that lasted SEVEN hours

DANCED in a Baptist church (ok, I didn't dance too much, we all know my rhythm issues, but there was lots of dancin' going on!)

Referred to my tennis shoes as TACKIES

     Ok, that is all for now, but there is a lot. Things are different here. Now for some Prayer Requests...

That I will get everything sorted out for living here. Especially with my computer, and hooking it up to the internet--forgive me for not being able to respond to your messages for a while!
That me and Megan will really be able to encourage each other and get used to living together and working together.
That we will know where to get involved in ministry here. There are so many options, we want to go where God wants us to.
That I will get used to being here and away from all you lovely people. At times I get homesick, but it really is a growing experience so its all good!
     OK, I love you guys and hope that everything is going well in your lives. Please do let me know what is going on, I will write you back as soon as I can! Continue to pray, you are a vital part of what God is doing here!
Love in Christ,

Heather

A Note from Heather's Parents, Wayne and Jeanne Carter, about this Email:
     Heather says her house in Grahamstown is very nice...she has her own bedroom (with a double bed) and bath. The neighbors behind her have chickens and roosters that awaken them at the crack of dawn every morning, but she is hoping she will soon learn to sleep through the noise!
     She went to 2 church services today...one in Grahamstown, which is an all-white congregation and the other in the outlying village with an all-black Xohsa congregation. She enjoyed both, but especially the Xohsa one even though she could not understand a word being said. They have a telephone in their home, and both she and Megan have cell phones. When they are ministering in the out-lying areas it is recommended that they have cell phones with them.

     I inquired about the milk in the plastic bag (one of the things she mentioned in her e-mail) and she said it was cheaper to buy that way. You pour it into a container once you get it home....and it IS pasteurized (only an American mother would ask about that!!). She was told before she left to be prepared to attend a lot of funerals because of the AIDS epidemic, and she had her first one this week! School is still out in Grahamstown for summer vacation, and she and Megan will not begin their teaching until it resumes in February.

     Right now she is concentrating on settling in, learning her way around, and making plans with Megan on what/when/where when they do start....and getting her computer up and running! She is over the cold she had when she left and is feeling good these days. Things sound very positive for her. She admits to being a little homesick, but that probably comes from being so "out of touch" for the past week...being able to check her e-mails and getting our telephone calls today helped a lot with that.

See some Photos from Heather Here