Christmas

Christmas is difficult when you miss your family and friends.
But hanging with the Straw family helped to ease the pain.
I did get to talk to my family over Christmas... which was GREAT!  The skype connection on Christmas day was fantastic - no delay!!



I like giving gifts when I know that it is going to make that person smile.

Megan is a gift giver... she loves to give.  I loved watching her give... she's showing her dad the backpack she gave him.

Hannah and I gave Joe a wallet with our picture in it!  We had the picture taken down the street and the guy took a toilet paper roll and took our picture through that to give it an effect... the effect it had on us was laughter!

Sam got a tattoo sleeve!

What our weeks have looked like lately...
More pictures...

Ok so you will hardly ever see pictures of us busy at a medical clinic... cause when I'm busy working I don't have time to take pictures!  We did a couple eye clinics at two schools the past two weeks.  

We (mostly Hannah) helped Alace hang her Christmas decorations!

I know this is a fuzzy picture, but the lighting is more realistic...  her tree (albeit fake) is beautiful!

Hannah is learning to drive stick!  And she was actually driving around Libreville until we were stopped by the military the other night and he told her that she needed a Gabonese license.  

We were driving home from the Straws the other night, when we got stopped at a military checkpoint.  He asked to see our papers and Hannah's driving license.  The fire extinguisher had expired about a year ago, the vehicle inspection had expired that day!!, and he claimed that after being in the country for six months you needed a Gabonese driver's license (though she had just started learning standard shift a couple weeks before!).  So he told us it would be 36,000cfa (~$72).  He left and we sat there waiting.  I don't remember how many times he came back to the car, only one or two times, but the last time he asked for the money.  I told him that we needed a receipt, so he said we would have to go to the police station back across town.  We asked for directions, he explained, we sort of understood.  But then when we asked if he would be coming with us... because he had the papers and we couldn't go to the police station without them... he offered us 10,000cfa.  [For those of you unfamiliar with how things sometimes work here - that would be known as a bribe.]  We acknowledged that that was a better deal, but insisted that we needed paperwork.  Hannah got into the back seat, I got in to drive (after showing my Gabonese driver's license), and we motioned for him to get in the front seat.  He gave us our papers and told us to get them corrected.  

Moral of the story... wait them out!!

Thank you Father for the motivation, courage, and freedom to do what is right.  

Praying before a building committee meeting

Building committee meeting... great minds!  I am very thankful for this group of people... Pastor Hippolyte (on right),  Pastor Pilot Steve (middle), and Hannah (left).  They are awesome!