let the teams begin

our first team was a repeat offender... Fellowship Alliance Chapel from NJ
I learned a lot about NJ... it seems a little like Gabon in that you have to know people to get things done

Suzzanne, Ashlee, and Susan helping the widows make peanut butter to sell.

Steve, Ryan, and Doug playing wiffle ball with Janice and the other kids at Hope House.

Ashlee, a black belt in some form of martial arts, taught the kids a few self-defense moves.  Here Ellie is hitting a target.

I just loved Joshua's smile in this one!

This is a toilet that Ryan and Doug installed at the Hope House along with two showers!  Now the 48 kids have more than just one toilet and one shower to use!














Ashlee and Joy both shared at a women's meeting.  I translated for Ashlee into French and then Mama Jeanette (my former English student) translated into the tribal language.

The road to the village where we did our mobile clinic was long and rough.  This is a better stretch of road.  We got stuck several times with a 4x4!

Steve shared his testimony before we started the medical clinic and 22 people decided to follow Christ!  Please pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in their hearts and will provide discipleship for them!

Doug was the group's fearless leader.  He was definitely a servant leader and I learned a lot from him!

Suzzanne was really great at showing God's love despite the language barrier!  Here the ladies of the village were giving her a pineapple and peanuts!

Did I mention that this was a fun group!  We were hanging out and having fun in the kitchen.  Suzzanne was having a little too much fun!

friday night

Its Friday night and I am struggling with what to post on my blog.  I have decided that I am going to try to post every week and I'm going to aim for Fridays.  Let's see how long this lasts...
So tonight as I am wondering what to write about, the following events unfold.
We've had a leak under our sink now for quite some time, but today when Claude came to investigate he actually made it a little worse so he had to shut off the water going to our kitchen sink.  No big deal we have two other sinks.  Or actually the shower would work...

At first I was taking pictures, then Hannah asked me "Do you want me to take a picture of you in the shower?" and of course I replied, "Yeah!".   How often do you get asked that question?  And how much less often do you answer in the affirmative?

 When Hannah was cooking chicken for dinner, she started smelling something weird and then discovered that our transformer was smoking!!  We have two other transformers... they are in the office.

Hannah on the office floor.  Oops forgot to vacuum after dinner!

Then to top off the night... we had found some glue to catch mice/rats with and had put it on a piece of cardboard with a big dollop of peanut butter in the middle.  Right after dinner, I walked past and saw that the mouse has already been trapped.  We spring in to action, hesitantly of course, I go get a bucket of water and Hannah puts a bucket over him to make sure he doesn't get away.  Hannah dons oven mitts and flips the bucket with the mouse stuck to the cardboard.  I pour the water over, and Voila... a dead roommate!  He won't be eating my granola bars again!

He is under there... I hope.  Isn't it appropriate that we used the box of the glue that killed him?

a new boarder

times are tough
you have to make ends meet
sometimes you have to rent out a room
she's small, she doesn't take up much space
you hardly ever see her, in and out like a flash
weird thing, she lives under the sink
i was starting to get used to her until she ate my granola bars!
THAT'S IT!  i've had it!
i'm going to kill her!  or is it him?
to tell you the truth i'm not really sure
but the day i remember to buy a mouse trap
will be his/her last

United States of America

I was there for a few weeks...
It started from an Envision conference in LA.
But I extended my time a little and visited home... my friends and family.
It was hard being home and realizing what I am missing.
But it was good to catch up with people... hear what's going on in their lives.
It was also great because you get to hear people's prayers.  People don't usually send me their prayer requests.  Maybe cause I'm not the greatest prayer warrior there is, but I've been doing a lot better especially when I get to hear their heart prayers, their struggles.
Also I learned in LA that I need to be posting at least one day a week.  Any votes on which day it should be?  I will probably be cheating to some extent and writing them ahead of time and just having them post on the correct day!  I probably shouldn't have told you that.  Oh well.

Diane and me... she does our financial stuff.

It was great to meet people that I work with on a daily basis, but had never actually met in person!

Hannah's great grandaddy was Warren Hull... you guessed it the original Green Hornet!  We were all pretty excited to get to see one of his two stars!!

There are people so poor, that the only thing they have is money.

I love this quote.

But on the ride back from Bongolo I caught myself asking the question... Why was I born into such riches, such affluence?  We pass a bunch of small villages on the route and there is always a woman walking along the side of the road with a heavy load hanging from her head.  

So today this quote hit me... why do I think I am richer?  Because I'm riding in a car?  Because I don't have to carry heavy loads on my head?  Because I have food in my refrigerator?

What if I am not actually richer than she is?

What if she has more joy than I do?

What if she has more strength than I do?  (Which I pretty sure she does!!)

What if she has more character than I do?

Am I really richer?

Spoiled

I know I am spoiled by my earthly parents but sometimes I also feel spoiled by my heavenly Father. The Sunday night before last I was talking to my friend Kate and we were talking about the movie Blue Like Jazz which is coming out in April. I mentioned wanting to see it but recognized that I would probably have to wait till it was out on itunes where we could rent it. The next day Kate got an email invite to go see a preview of the movie either in Greeville, SC or in Raleigh. Amazing! We ended up going to the Raleigh preview last Monday night! How cool is that?! Today I was driving back up to Raleigh and stopped for lunch at a sheets. I had $3.00 in my wallet, but I figured that I wouldn't be able to buy lunch for three dollars (and those of you that have seen me eat know why). But I had plastic so I wasn't too worried. I went into Sheetz and finally decided on two hot dogs and fries when a woman comes up beside me and gives me two coupons - one for fries and one for a smoothy! My bill was supposed to be $6.46 and it ended up at $2.92! Amazed again! I paid with my cash!

Forgiveness

The other night Hannah and I had finished the book we were reading and some how got on the topic of "Les Miserables".  I have read the abridged version of the book (original is LONG) and I have also seen the play.  But somehow I had missed a main point of the story.
She had caught the main point through the musical which she performed in in high school.  She noticed that the melody for the song of Jean Valjean was the same melody as for Javert's solo.


Both men received forgiveness and grace.
Jean Valjean became a new man full of love and mercy.
Javert could not understand it or accept it and ultimately killed himself.