The first days in Kazakhstan have been incredible! Upon my arrival to Shymkent, the city where i am staying, I was greated by my good friend Ethan Taylor and his Kazak friend Timor. We packed the luggage into the back of the car, all except for my guitar which still seems to be somewhere stuck in the void between here and Ottowa. (where i flew out of) I am staying in one of the tallest buildings in Shymkent. Due to a superstition, the people of this country prefer to build out rather than up. So to be in such a tall building, which is only ten stories high, is quite rare. The view from my appartment has the mountains on the outskirts of the city. Which is an incredibly beautiful sight in the mornings. As far as my Schedule goes, i wake up each day at 7:25am and get ready for the day. I take a bus which is sometimes very packed to the point where you can hardly move. The bus gets to my site where we have our daily business meeting and talk about the plans for the day. afterwards I make my way to the coffee shop where i set up my program for the day and think about what I am going to talk about in the English conversation classes. I have the availability to talk about anything i want and have some great stories about what has been taught especially in the ministry aspect which i cannot type here, but if you want to hear about it feel free to email me at carltonyelle@yahoo.com. My other daily activities include organizing shipping containers and the goods inside them, work on building projects, learn Russian with a local tutor, and clean up the cafe area. About once a week i get to go into the community and do house calls and meet some of the families who we are helping.
I am sorry that this is so short right now but i promise there will be more to come. Including stories of what is happening however, i am limited in my time right now and must go but know that i am doing excellent and have had ome incredible things happen in the past week that i have been here that i will tell you about soon. Until then God Bless and i will update again soon!
Blessings,
Carlton Yelle
