Just before leaving for Bayanga I had a terrible first--my first real grey hair. It was long and wiry and for one short moment I thought, oh know, so this is what it feels like to really know you are getting older. I am six months from turning thirty and while I know it isn't that old, I was still shocked to be shocked at finding my first grey hair. I am pretty much over it so no worries.
Our other first occurred yesterday on our trip to two outlying pygmy villages. We got our truck stuck in a nice, big mud hole. It took 30 minutes, Darren at the wheel, two Aka pygmies digging with their hands, and me taking pictures to get us unstuck. Okay, so me taking pictures probably had nothing to do with getting us out but the photos are impressive. Once you have been up to the door handle in one mud hole I suppose all the rest don't seem that bad but I would rather not find out.
So now that we have been stressed enough to get grey hairs, been stuck in a mud hole, eaten monkey and caterpillars, travelled on local transport (motorbikes sitting three people and the jungle-bus), slept in mud houses, and acquired a second language, we are well on our way to becoming 'real' missionaries, the kind that can either entice others or scare them away completely from becoming missionaries themselves.
What a fun job we have!!!!
