I missed last week's mail call due to translating letters for Manna 4 Lempira (which is so much fun!), so the letters piled up!! Enjoy!
We received two letters from 8-year-old Estela.
The first was titled "Holidays in Brazil" and we learned that her favorite festival is Children's Day and her favorite celebration is Mother's Day! For the New Year, he family celebrates by walking and they celebrate Christmas "with love."
The second letter was titled "The Weather." She likes playing the rain and she was supposed to mark the hottest month with red, and she marked every month!
We also received the two letters from 8-year-old Gizelle.
In her "Holidays in Brazil" letter, Gizelle had the exact same answers as Estela! Maybe they copied a sample letter?
And in her "The Weather" letter she said she likes playing in the park and she also marked every month as the hottest.
Then we heard from 16-year-old Erick of El Salvador. He is a more recent correspondent and is so fun to exchange letters with!
Erick responded to our asking about his favorites and so here you go: Bible story of Joshua, verse Philippians 4:13, "Perfume a Tus Pies," pet parrots, tigers, chicken soup, science, and Barcelona. He said, "In the future I would like to be a solider and be a minister in the church and also be blessed by a beautiful wife and children."
He also shared what he's learning in the Bible, "We have a devotional in which we read the Bible. What I have liked is the love God has for us and that is why he sent his son to be called his sons and daughters."
And his drawing is titled, "I am praying for you:"
Our Ethiopian letter came from 14-year-old Seyefu of Ethiopia.
Seyefu said he liked the letter about raccoons!! And he said his favorite subjects are math, civic education and ethics.
We received two letters from Ghana, the first being from 14-year-old Christoper.
Christopher shared that his school is preparing for an inter-school soccer and track competition! Doesn't that sound fun? And he answered my question regarding how his parents chose his name: "My name was giving to by my parents and according to them, they said the meaning of the name impressed them a lot 'one who hold Christ.'" And he shared Psalm 23:1.
The other letter from Ghana came from 16-year-old Sandra.
Sandra likes to write, and she shares literally. Under the topic, "Child's new experiences at project/home/school/community, etc.," Sandra shared a very detailed description of what she learned about dentition and digestion. I love that she's learning so much! She also answered tons of questions, including sending a recipe! I had asked the kids to give me the recipes of their most commonly prepared meals so we could try them. (This idea was inspired by my friend Teresa who blogs at Connected in Writing.)
The most commonly food eaten by my family and I is Banku with Okra soup, when you are about to prepare the banku, you first need your ingredients; corn dough, cassava dough, water, salt, spatula and for the okra you need to by peper, meat or fish, sliver, salt, okra, and get some amount of red oil. You first mash your corn dough and cassava dough together by using water, put some amount of salt in it, stirring it on the fire till it becomes a little bit hard, cook it together with the spatula. For the okra, put your slide okra into the silver and add water to it for it to boil, add your peper and salt, put your meat or fish in it and pour your red oil on it.
Just in case you, like me, were wondering why silver is in the recipe, here's something new: silver is the short name for silverbeet, which is like spinach or kale!
Sandra closed by sharing 1 John 3:21-24.
Next comes our batch of Kenyan letters! First, 14-year-old Ndeleva's.
Ndeleva also shared a recipe!
Our staple food in my community is maize and bean. You have asked me how to cook it.
1) Take maize and beans and look if there is any dirt
2) Then take them and put them in water to boil
3) Look if they are read and then put some salt
4) Wait for thirty to forty minutes and the food will be ready for eating
Next we heard from 15-year-old Gatwiri.
Gatwiri was so sweet, she shared, "I say thank you because you sent me many letters for me. I also appreciate your sincere support toward my eduction. I also tell you thank you so much for being there for me and willing to support me." She said in her free time, she likes to visit the needy, mould pots, and play soccer!
Then we have a letter from 15-year-old Japhet.
Japhet really enjoyed the Olympics! He shared, "During the olympic games, I really enjoyed watching soccer and wrestling. My favorite Kenyan athlete is Julius Yego. I really like the way he compete with the other athletes. I also wish to grow strong as the way Julius Yego is." (In case you are wondering, Julius Yego is a Kenyan track and field athlete!)
Japhet also said, "I tried to play the Hatian game and it was full of fun. I really enjoyed playing the game with my friends."
Our final Kenyan letter came from 16-year-old Grace.
Grace shared that she's doing better in school this term than the last, and that while on holidays she helps her parents with digging and planting. She also shared Psalm 55:22.
Then we heard from 18-year-old Elinami of Tanzania.
Elinami said she wants to be a teacher when she completes her studies! She shared Psalm 125:1. And Elinami shared a recipe for stiff porridge:
I like to eat stiff porridge and vegetables. When you want to cook stiff or ridge, prepare source pan, then prepare fire, put water in the source pan and then on the fire, wait for a while to water to boil. Then put flour and start to cook. Keep cooking until it become stiff."
Finally, we received 2 letters from 14-year-old Cissy of Uganda!
When Juanito completed his first year of AWANA Cubbies, I sent the kids a photo of him with his vest and ribbon. Cissy replied, "Congratulations Juanito from our AWANA graduations. I am excited to hear that you memorized a verse and that you got a ribbon for it." And then she shared Proverbs 16:9.
In the second letter, she said she enjoyed the penguin letter, "The story of the penguins was also exciting because of the wonderful colors, black, white and yellow." Sadly her grandmother is unwell with malaria and Cissy asked for prayer for her grandmother.
