ita calas?

we are catching on to the arabic tongue here in Yei. My spelling is unsure, so i've been spelling as the words sound. So here is a brief update to what we have done and experienced here so far in Southern Sudan...ita calas? (are you ready?)

-we set up two water filtration systems in the orphanage in Lora, right outside Yei, a few days ago. 94 kids, 30 workers. I will put up videos and pictures of these amazing people upon my arrival, since the internet here is pretty slow... but this orphanage has clean water now!!

-Two systems were set up in Goli, a city in Yei, to a school of about 200 kids. This is where i got to ride a bicycle from the hospital in Goli to the school, so there would be enough room in the van. so yes, i rode a bicycle on the red dirt road here in Sudan. They say once the red dirt gets in you, you won't want to leave it...

-we are 'quadas' here...white people in arabic. the kids love yelling this while running up to us or as we are driving by. it has become quite humerous now.

-the game 'spoons' have become our nightly ritual with many of the locals. One of the first things some say when they see us in the mornings is "i'm the winner! we play tonight?" something we all look forward to.

obviously there is tons more to share but no time. Updates will be caught up with 'published' journal entries on here when i return back to the states. Our journey to the orphanage in Morobo is tomorrow! Please pray for a safe trip. Also...$5,000 was stolen from us last night. We know this will all be taken care of, but please pray for the person who stole from us and that the Lord will weigh heavy on his conscience and heart. The people here have been amazing to us. We are thankful and blessed for the joy that is spread around here.

until....soon...
steph

***edit:
so we found out the day before we left, after using this phrase for atleast a week now, that 'ita calas' really means 'are you finished?'. 'Are you ready?' is 'Ita jais?'. Zachariah especially had a good laugh out of this, spreading around the laughter...and story.