abbey abroad :)

I want to be in Macedonia right now. For sure. But still being here has given me some really great opportunities!

My church small group has sort of "adopted" a Somali refugee and her daughter living in Memphis. Her name is Abshiro, and I think she's 29. Her daughter, Ayyan, is almost three, and she has hydrocephalus. Ayyan is absolutely precious and so happy, but she isn't as developed as she should be. She doesn't speak or walk... in fact, she just started holding up her own head last week or so. Abshiro's first husband left her and took their daughter (now six years old), and Abshiro doesn't know where they are, though they are probably still in Africa. Her second husband was killed in an explosion in Africa. Since Abshiro speaks no English, the ladies in my small group have been visiting her once a week to begin teaching her English. Yesterday, I got to meet Abshiro for the first time. It was great! I got to do a little hour-long lesson with her. I've never been able to teach ESL to an absolute beginner. And what an awesome opportunity for our small group to form a relationship with someone by helping her with a real need so that she can see Jesus in us. Pretty cool.

I've also had plenty of opportunities to speak at churches in the area. Tonight, I was able to speak to the 1st-5th graders at a local church. They were really interested, and they asked a ton of great questions. One of them even asked if Macedonia is a closed country or an open country! And, of course, they said quite a few funny things. For example:

Woman introducing me: Have any of you ever heard of Macedonia?
Little boy: No, it's called Massachusetts!

Me: The Roma people are also called gypsies. What do you think of when you think of gypsies?
Other little boy: When I'm bad, my mom says she's gonna sell me to the gypsies.

My parents are on their way home from Houston right now. I don't know much yet, but I do know that the bone scan was about the same, but his PSA went up a lot. I'll post an update as soon as I know more. Thanks for your prayers!