Author: Susie

Many of you have probably heard of culture shock, but how many of you have heard of culture stress?  At this point, 6 months since the start of the toilet paper shortage in the US due to coronavirus, I think you may be able to easily see and understand the difference. First of all, 6 […]

I have plans!  I’ve been waiting to write on here, thinking and hoping that I’d have some kind of “set” plans for the future soon, but had almost given up waiting to know something. But now I have firm dates to plan around, and it’s lovely.  Or at least one firm date and a lot […]

111 nights.  I’ve now slept in the same bed for the last 111 consecutive nights, and I imagine most of you have, too.  At one point in my life it would have been normal to sleep in the same bed for 111 consecutive nights (or many more!), but looking back, I haven’t slept in the same […]

Since I’ve now been back in the US for almost two months, I wanted to share a few of the things I’ve been up to lately. Discourse AnalysisFor quite a while now I’ve been supposed to be working on my Discourse Analysis write-up on the Jula language.  It’s to give me practice as well as […]

In 2 short days Mary’s world was flipped upside down.  Everything that she had known, the “rules to the game of life,” as it were, were all thrown out the window.  Those rules wouldn’t work anymore – not here, not now.  She’d have to learn to navigate these new waters, figure out how this new […]

A safari.  Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful way to spend your birthday, especially if you can have a layover in Kenya that day anyway? . . . There is a well-known pastor in America who came to the US from the United Kingdom years ago.  Though he has been in the US long enough […]

Prayer is very important.  When you move to a new place, getting to know people there can help you feel at home.  And because of those two reasons, when I heard that last Saturday evening there was going to be an evening of prayer at my new church here for the “young people,” I decided […]

It’s now been almost a month since I left for Senegal, and it’s been one whirlwind of a month.  Thank you so much for your prayers for me as I moved to a new country – please keep them coming as I continue to find my place here, learn life here, and try to balance […]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  May your celebrations have been ones that focus on the most amazing gift that was ever given. The new year is a good time to look both back at what God’s done the last year and forward at the year to come. Let me start by looking forward: Looking […]

Arriving back in Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon, I have now made it all the way around the world! 2 months 3 continents 4 countries 8 languages (most of them that I only knew a few random words in!) 8 1/2 days without my suitcases 11 plane rides 28,000+ miles traveled (the circumference of the earth […]