Brenda

This is my friend Brenda.  Isn't she sweet?

Wish I'd Had My Camera

Yesterday, Dietra and I ended up driving some of the cleaning ladies over to a nearby "neighborhood" to get a key from another staff member.  While we were waiting for the ladies to come back, 2 little children came up to us in the truck.  One boy (age 3) and one girl (age 2).  These kids were so cute.  The boy (I have forgotten his name, so we'll call him Fokasa) was hilarious.  When they approached, we said hello and introduced ourselves.   The boy introduced himself and his little friend, then proceeded to ask "what have you brought me?"
We said, "Sorry, we didn't bring you anything.  We didn't know you were going to be here."  He didn't believe us, so he tried climbing up the truck to see if there was anything in there, but he was too small to make it up to the window.  I opened the door for him to see that there was really nothing in the truck, and when he looked in, he exclaimed "Oh!  There is nothing in here but tools!" and proceeded to pull out all the tools that were under the front seat.  "What's this? What does this do?  Is this a knife?  I can't make this fit.  Fit it for me!"  At one point, I was talking to Dietra and said her name.  Fokasa said "Her name is Teacha?"  "No, her name is Dietra.  It just sounds like teacha," I replied.  "Ha!" he laughed.  "You're funny!"
What??
Anyway, I decided that I will have to go back there again to play with this kid some more, and get a picture of him.  He entertained D and me for a solid 10 minutes.  Too cute.

Blessing a National

As interns, we were given the challenge/assignment/opportunity to bless a national.  The one stipulation was that it had to be someone that we didn't already know.  We thought about who we wanted to bless for about a week, when all of a sudden it dawned on me.  There is a lady who goes to our church, works at our school, and had been to prison ministry once before.  Why not use this as a chance to get to know her?
We invited her and her family to come over for dinner this week.  She has 3 children and brought her friend that works with her.  I can't remember his full name, but his nickname is god.  When I looked at him in surprise, he smiled, pointed to the sky and said "not that God.  Little g."

So Monica, god, and the kids came to our place Wednesday night.  We decided to serve tacos, because we knew that was something they had never eaten before.  It was cute to watch the kids eat them; they didn't seem to believe us at first when we told them that they were supposed to pick them up and eat with their hands.  Once they did it, though, they just loved it.  I think they ate 3-5 tacos each (and they were from the ages of 4-9).  We had a blast with Monica and god; we played Uno for a good 90 mins I would say.
I just loved that day.  I look forward to getting to know Monica better and to serve along side her in ministry over these next few months.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone and Happy Holidays!

I had a very tiring but absolutely fantastic week.  I survived my first major holiday away from friends and family and fully loved it.  I spent the day over at the Lackey's house, putting up their Christmas tree (which, I must say, is quite a different experience when you're working in 90 something degree heat and downing lemonade).  I had some help from a couple of the little ones around here.  Two year old Andrew loved helping to put up the ornaments.

Around 5:00 all the missionaries gathered at the Lackey's for the Thanksgiving feast.  It really was a feast, too!  We were blessed with such amazing food; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberries, corn, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, homemade rolls, salads galore, etc.  It was just like Thanksgiving back home.  It was such a fun night; I would say that there were probably close to 30 people all together.  Lots of laughter, lots of eating, and in my case, lots of warding off a feisty Mmapula.

Excerpt from Ngami Times

I'm sorry, but this story just cracked me up too much not to share (from the local paper):

Santa on a donkey cart!
Forget the traditional sleigh and the reindeer.  Here it is different to Lapland!  In Nata last weekend Father Christmas arrived by donkey cart at the annual orphans and needy children Christmas party but his arrival caused such a commotion that dozens of children up to the age of 10 dashed into the bush as they had never before seen a real live Father Christmas in his red suit!  It turned out they believed he was there to kidnap them and take them away from their caretakers, but as Santa walked around shaking hands and giving high fives to all the students, the youngsters carefully walked out of the bush to shake his hand.  After everyone finally got acquainted, he started to pass out gifts donated by businesses and individuals to make this a Christmas to be remembered.


Poor kids!

Blessing a Missionary

The interns were recently given two assignments: bless a national, and bless a missionary. This past weekend we completed the mission of blessing a missionary. We chose to bless Ms Pat, who is basically our plot grandma. She's Jerry Lackey's mother and has been living in Botswana for the past 18 years. I just love her so much. She is this tiny little woman who has so much spunk and personality. She came out here to start the Ngamiland Christian Academy, which has now turned into the Okavango International School, where I work. She is very hands on with children's ministry at the church, and spends every Saturday morning running puppet practice and special music practice. She is busy now with bells; the kids are going to do some caroling and bell ringing in town on December 19th. I volunteered Dietra and myself to help her the day of, but we knew she would need some help with practices prior to it.

So on Saturday, we went to her house at 9:30am to pick her up and head over to church. We spent 2 hours rehearsing with the children that came to practice (which was so fun!) and then spent some time in town helping her run a few errands. She is just so sweet- she was so excited to have the help, and was so thankful for every little thing that we did. It really felt like we weren't doing much at all, but I am glad that whatever we did made a difference for her.

That night we had her over to our house for dinner. We did our best to set it up as nicely as possible, but we don't have much to work with. I was giggling at our hodge podge of "china" and our tablecloth made out of a bed sheet that has been acting as a curtain for the past 2 months. We had a candle lit on the table and Christmas music playing as she walked in the house; she just loved it. It was such a wonderful time of fellowship. Ms Pat stayed over until almost 9:30 that night, just chatting with us. The guys had to leave at 8pm for boarding duties, so Dietra and I were able to get some good "girl time" in with her. She is such a dear. When we were walking her home that night, she said twice "I will never forget this night." That put a smile on my face :)

The next day she stopped over with her tape player and some Christmas tapes for us to enjoy; how cute is that? She gave me a hug and called me her friend for life.

It was a good weekend.

Week In Review

So, it's been another fairly busy week out here in Maun, Botswana. We've spent time in our placements, had ministry opportunities, participated in Setswana class, done construction on the new intern house, and have had several "family meetings" as an intern group (i.e., the events that cause the demise of Ashley Maldonado).  It's been a great week, but the exhaustion level that my body is at tells me that it's a good thing we are hitting the weekend.  Then I remember that weekends are actually usually busier than weekdays...so, no rest for the weary!  That's ok, though...it's why I am out here.

We are nearing the end of the school year for the students in Botswana.  I am actually really quite sad about this; not only does this mean that Suhail is leaving for Gabs, but the rest of the kids are all moving up a year.  I'll miss them.  Actually, I don't even know how I will get through the month of December.  I miss the kids after a weekend apart from them!

We have apparently entered the rainy season in Maun.  We've had some wonderful thunderstorms this week, and that has really brought the temps down to a much more comfortable level.  It's so funny; when the temps drop to the seventies, everyone starts wearing fleece jackets, wool hats, etc.  I must admit, though...I pulled out a sweater and jeans today.  It made me feel like I was back home for a little while!  There are a couple of downfalls to the rain, though.  First of all, it brings out the termites, ants, dung beetles, etc in droves.  Seriously, it can be quite disgusting.  Secondly, the thatch roof leaks.  Dietra and I were woken up two nights this week (around 3am both times) to water dripping on our faces.  We covered our beds (which are wonderfully protected by bug nets) with sheets, but the rain was coming down so hard that it leaked through the sheets.  Poor Dietra had to actually get a bowl to catch the water and do some other stuff to keep from getting soaked...I got up long enough to fix my sheet and crawl back into bed, mumbling something about getting a towel (I do not function normally after be woken up in the middle of the night).

So some other highlights of the week:

• Our mystery ministry this week consisted of washing cars for the missionaries and teachers (and at the last minute, decided to wash some of the dogs, too).  Had a blast doing it, but of course that was the first night it rained in weeks.  That always happens, doesn't it?
• I received a wonderful care package from home that not only had a travel mug (hallelujah!), but also a copy of The Beginner's Bible, which was one of my favorite childhood things (memories? experiences? books?  none of these words seem to fit what it actually is).  I have been bringing it to class every day and reading different Bible stories to the kids.  They love it.  Today I read about Jesus' birth and then the kids all drew a picture of the story- they then gave the pictures to me to take home, but the Miss Susanna wanted to put them up on the bulletin board.  I almost came home with 22 pictures of the manger scene.
• I did some substitute teaching again this week.  I loved it one day, and was ready to pull my hair out the next.  Today, I received apology cards from every kid in Standard 2.  Cute :)  I am won over so easily.
• An overall highlight is the crazy amount of love I get from the kids here.  I have been really blessed in my placement to be able to get to know almost all of the primary school children, and they are all so wonderful to me.  I get more hugs and kisses than I thought possible; whenever I am walking on campus I can hear at least one kid screaming out "Hi Miss Ashleeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!" from across the yard.  Today we had to use the phrase "No more fighting over Miss Ashley" several times in class. 
• We are planning our Thanksgiving celebration for next week.  Turkey!  Stuffing!  Mashed potatoes!  Pumpkin pie!  It's all gonna be here, and it's gonna be zoppity :)

Updated Pictures with the Kids!

Suhail :)  He asked me for a piggyback ride today, so I let him hop on my back and then we ran around the playground.  When we paused to take the picture, he yelled "Miss!  I asked for a piggyback ride, not a stopped piggyback!  Run!! Run!!"

The kids were really cracking me up this week.  I remembered some good ones and some great ones:

• One morning, several of the boys were playing with toy horses.  I asked Thobo what his horse's name was, and he just gave me a blank stare.  All of a sudden Prince jumps in, saying "Benny!" and cracking up hysterically.  What??
• One of the boys in class is...shall I say...sadistic?  I have caught him on so many occasions pulling the legs off of ants one by one.  Well, today when we were in chapel I noticed that he was going after some bugs.  I whispered to him to stop, and so of course he decides to stomp all the ants he can see.  Poor Kent, who was sitting right next to him, looked horrified.  "Those are God's creatures!!!!"
• The other day I wore a knee-length dress and my anti-snake bite boots to school, and when I walked in to class, Thobo (age 4) looked me up and down with a mischievous grin on his face.  "Oh, Miss!" in a way that led me to believe he approved of my outfit.  Flirt.
• On Wednesday, I read the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den to the students who didn't go swimming that day.  After reading it, I had them draw pictures of the story. The kids wanted an example of how to draw a lion, so I drew one on the chalkboard for them.  It actually turned out to be quite a cute lion, so I was kind of proud of it.  When the other kids returned from swimming, I pointed the picture out to a couple of them and asked if they liked it (I am teaching them to give compliments...right?)  Later on, Suhail was sitting on my lap, so I pointed to the board and said, "do you see that lion?"  He looked at me with a sly grin and replied, "You mean that big ugly shape?"  I laughed so hard.  What a little punk.

Well, it's about that time...gotta hit the sack.  We get to sleep in until 8:30am tomorrow!  Love to all of my family and friends.  Special shout out to Uncle Bud!  Love ya :)

Girls Weekend!

I am a little shaky...a bat just flew in the house and flew right by my leg.  Ewwwwwww.  You better believe that I was under that bug net in less than 6 seconds.  Luckily the guys were here to kill it (although I blame them for the bat getting in our house in the first place).

So, Josiah and Brad were out of town this weekend; they went back to do more ministry in Etsa (the village we went to a couple of weeks ago).  Dietra and I plan on heading back out there when our internship is over.  So this weekend was girls weekend through and through.  So nice!  One of the boarders that I have gotten close with (Chao) finished up her exams on Friday, and is moving home this week.  We had a little slumber party Friday night to say goodbye.  So fun :)

Saturday, Dietra and I went out for prison ministry.  Oh, the weather was so wonderful that morning!  Cool and cloudy, with a slight breeze.  Since we have prison ministry outside, that is a huge deal.  I think the prisoners were very thankful for it too.  It's been so beastly hot lately that it's been very difficult to be outside for more than 5 minutes.  Oh, I must tell you something that disturbed me.  We had asked Mma Adjei if we could ever do communion with the men, and she said she would have to ask the workers at the prison.  The only times they do communion for the prisoners is if they are set to be executed the next day.  So morbid; so sad.  I didn't even realize that they executed prisoners here- the men seem to roam the area so freely that I thought this was just a low security prison.  Who knew?  

After the great ministry time, Dietra and I spent a few hours in town, enjoying coffee and shopping.  It was so pleasant!  I bought a big floppy hat and quickly discovered that it's one of the best purchases I have ever made.  It made such a huge difference with the sun!  I also bought cute and fun yellow shoes for less than $5 US.  Good deals all around!  When we got back to the plot, we went swimming for a couple hours, then took naps. 

We woke up at 6 and panicked, because we only had an hour before we had to be at boarding duties.  We still needed to make dinner (which takes a while out here!) and shower.  It all worked out- we just skipped the showers this time around.  When we showed up at 7pm, though, we were told that the boarders all had to study until 8pm.  Exams are quite a huge deal out here; the government pays for college out here, but you have to do well on these exams. The test scores will also determine what you study at the University.  If the government pays for your school, you don't choose what to study.  Needless to say, this is a stressful time for the students.  We came back at 8pm (after stopping at Kevin and Sarah's and getting treated to frozen coffee drinks!) and hung out with the boarders until about 10:30pm.  I really, really enjoyed it!  Honestly, I really haven't spent much time with many of the boarders.  There are some wonderful kids there.  D and I stayed up until almost 3am last night.  Such a bad idea.

Today was very chill.  After church we just did the normal grocery shopping, then came back and slept for four hours.  Whoops!  Hope I can sleep tonight.  In fact, that's where I am headed right now.  Love and blessings to you all! 

Life in Bots This Week

So today is already November 12th.  I want to say "where did the time go?!" but in all honesty, it definitely feels like I have been out here that long.  I can't believe how much we have been able to fit into 9 weeks here.  Lately we have still been staying as busy, but we aren't doing as many "new" things as we had been (for what I am hoping are obvious reasons). 

This week has flown by.  On Monday we were at our placements as usual, followed by Bible Study (really, check out Heart Ablaze by John Bevere. It is getting better and better).  That night we made brownies and watched While You Were Sleeping (thanks for letting us borrow that, Andrea!).  It is sick how quickly we ate that pan of brownies.  An entire pan was devoured by the 4 of us (ok, mainly me) in roughly 15 minutes.  I cannot wait to get another mixture for more.  So delicious.  Oh, I have a request for any care packages- Funfetti cake mix.  Sarah made us some funfetti cupcakes last week, and I was on cloud 9.  Ooooohhhhhh, what I would give for some cookies or cake right now...

Tuesday.  What happened Tuesday?  Placement with the kids in the morning (I like Tuesdays- I spend a good chunk of time one-on-one with kids from standard 3.  They are so sweet), then we had our second Mystery Ministry!  I love these!  This week we filled 5 5-liter jugs with cold water, then went to town to just hand some out to people.  This was a ridiculously hot day- easily way over 100 degrees.  We had an hour to do this, and were out of water in less than 10 minutes.  If we have time, we're going to do that again, but next time with about 12 of those jugs.  Tuesday night Dietra and I babysat Oli.  She is getting so big!  Highlight of the day though?  Getting a surprise care package from my cousin Justin and his wife Ashley.  I was over the moon excited- the food and coffee treats were things that I have been craving but hadn't told anyone about!  I was completely surprised by this gift, and I still feel so blessed.  Thanks again, you guys!

Wednesday- seriously, why can't I remember what I did yesterday? I went swimming with my kids like we do every Wednesday, but this time the water was blue!!  The pumps are working and it looked clean. So amazing.  Quote of the day came from Amita, after all the kids were sitting at the side of the pool: "Miss Ashley, do you get to stay in the pool because you are a teacher?  I can't wait to be a grown up."  Yep, definitely took advantage and stayed in until we absolutely had to go back to the classroom.  I really wish I had brought my camera to school that day.  One of the students was wearing a speedo.  What made it hilarious is that he is a chunky little guy.   Four years old, and his cute little stomach is so big that I doubt he can see his toes.  He was loving it.  Probably even funnier was that he couldn't figure out why the towel wouldn't tie around his waist.  Too good.  Later that day we had a couple of afternoon meetings, then had the night off.  I enjoyed spending time with some of the missionaries on site, just hanging out and laughing.  There are some wonderful people serving out here.

Today was a long day.  I spent the morning subbing again for the standard 4 class (like I did last month).  I love doing this; it changes up my daily routine and gives me a chance to get to know more of the students in the school.  They were a bit of a handful this morning, and I may or may not have told two boys who were arguing over who was more annoying that they were both equally annoying.  Oops?  Or is that ok?  Not sure.  They cracked up, but I felt bad a couple of hours later.  We'll see how they are tomorrow!  I am looking forward to it though; Friday is their swimming day.  Back to the pool for me!  This afternoon we spent a couple of hours working on screens for the new intern house, then I made spicy chicken chili for dinner (which I cannot wait to make for people back home!).  Tonight we had church (it was so windy that the tent was getting whipped around pretty severely- and it's not a small tent) and then I had a Skype date with the hubby.  That maybe was my highlight today; we are rarely able to actually talk, and it finally happened!  I am so thankful to have internet back at the house.

Some fun things around the house/plot:

•  Bats.  We have bats in our house. 
• Locusts are out.  Have you ever seen or heard these?  So gross and so loud.
• Spitting cobra babies.  They're here.  In my neighbor's yard.  Fabulous.
• I had a cockroach in my hair the other day, and was way too freaked out to get it out myself.  The only other person home was my roommate Dietra, who is terrified of bugs.  She finally found a DVD to swat it out with.  I am still shuddering....ewwwwwww. 

by the way, this is Winston, one of the loveable lugs here.  stinky little bugger, but I love the puppy

Ok, it's almost 1am, and my day starts in 5 hours.  I better hit the sack, since I just realized that I will only have about 2 hours off between 7am and 10pm tomorrow.  Whoops.

Christmas Music and Demolition

Ok, so this is the blog post that I was working on this week, but my battery died before I could post it.  So, enjoy it as is, and I'll post another blog when I get back from games at Brenda's.

Hello!  Well, internet is down again at the plot.  It has been a month since we've had working internet at our house, and the internet at the office is pretty hit or miss these days.  So, I am back in town, sitting at Barcelo's, eating chicken and checking internet.  Glad to be able to do this, at least :)

We have had a couple of really good days.  Friday morning was spent in our placements as usual, and Friday afternoon we had work projects.  We usually hate this because they consist of us cutting ourselves up while making screens or putting in insulation in 100 degree weather with no air conditioning, but Friday's project was awesome.  I got to do demolition!  First time that I have ever done it, and I loved it!  I took out a shower in the new intern house.

Friday night we found ourselves listening to Christmas music for 2 hours, making hot chocolate, and watching Home Alone.  I think my system went into shock the next morning when I went outside at 8am and it was already 85 degrees out.  I miss MN weather!  Who would have thunk it?  I must say, I sure do love getting in the holiday spirit, but it isn't the wisest thing to do when you're in Africa alone.  It made me a bit homesick.  Oh well!  Power through!

Saturday morning we had prison ministry again.  We decided to use one of the lessons from our discipleship packet and had a lesson on prayer.  It seemed to go really well, and we hope that the men were able to really grasp what we were saying.  I look forward to going back every week; the men are so great to work with!  I strongly urge people back in the states to look into getting involved with some local prison ministry.  You wouldn't regret it!

Well, my battery is about to die, so I better wrap this up.  Have a great day!

Back Online

Well, after a month of no internet at the house, we are back on.  There has been so much that has happened since my last post that I am slightly overwhelmed by trying to take on an update for this blog.  I have one in the works, so I hope to post that sometime tomorrow.

Just know that things are going well and we are staying very, very busy!  It's been good, though.  Very good.

Blessings!

Oofta!

Well, Roseau relatives and fellow Minnesotans, you would be pleased.  Oofta is officially a catch phrase in my class now. 
All day long I heard "Miss Ashley, oofta.  Guess which way I am using it now."  (they use is when they're hot, full, or tired.)

I have also noticed that the kids in general are starting to call me "Miss Ash" or simply just "Ashley."  Now, I don't mind that in the least, but it is very culturally important that they address all adults by Miss or Mr.  I think I have to start enforcing that in order to prevent any future problems they could have.

We also had a really good Bible study session today for A Heart Ablaze.  It really, in my opinion, was one of the "meatiest" teachings that I have heard in quite a while.  It was about God's grace...if you want to know more, shoot me an email :)

Oh, and jai ho!  Guess who got to watch Slumdog Millionare last night??? 

Have a wonderful day/night.  Blessings!

Devastating News Today...

I just found out that my favorite kid from school is moving to the capitol in January.  Suhail, how I will miss you so...

Please take a moment of silence to pay respect.

Day Off and Pictures Updates

Today was such an amazingly relaxing day.  Thankfully, we were given the day off to recuperate from the busy weekend, and boy, did we take advantage of that.  I didn't even get out of my pajamas until 3:00pm, then went swimming for a couple of hours.  Oh, it was a very good day.  Bring on the rest of the week, world!  Bring it on!

I have updated a couple of my photo albums and created one for my Etsa 6 trip.  Hope you enjoy :)

Etsa 6

The Kids!

Etsa 6 and Bonus Suhail Quote

Hi everyone!  I am back in Maun after the weekend in Etsa 6, which is the location of one of our branch churches.  This was an incredible weekend; I would have to say that if you took skydiving out of the equation, this beats the Namibia trip.  This village is much more in line with what I think most people expected Botswana to be like; it is a small, traditional village. 

When we arrived Friday night, it was already dark.  We had been planning on taking the church tent down and setting it back up, since it was originally put up inside out, but due to the lack of light, we had to skip that part of our trip.  We arrived at the house of one of the church member's; this family has some property that they set aside for visitors to the church.  The guys slept in one room (on the cement floor in sleeping bags), while Dietra and I were fortunate enough to sleep in the girls' room on a bed.  If you had seen the the bugs that out this weekend, you would understand why this was such a huge blessing for us :)

Around 9:30p, we set off for the church to take part in all night prayer.  When you think of all night prayer services in the states, you picture about 5-10 people showing up.  We were shocked to pull up and see about 50 people (of all ages- from 4 years old to 80 years old) already singing and dancing in the tent.  This was one of the most amazing nights of my life.  It was more of a "praise and prayer" night than just a prayer night- and thank goodness, too, because, let me tell you...there is nothing more powerful that singing accapella praise and worship in the middle of a small African village all night long.  Now, I have to tell you this.  I was completely blown away by the children here.  There were kids between the ages of 5-10 that were with us all night, and they were worshipping God with such a passion that I have never in my life seen in a child before.  I was in awe, and had to stop myself from staring.  I finally learned some dance moves, too, that I can whip out in church now :).  The women in this church have absolutely beautiful voices; I want to go back to the village and record them someday.  There are two songs that have been running through my head all day and I just want to get up and dance.  I wish that you could hear them!  That night we made it until 4:30am, and then I hit my wall.  I was told that I looked like I was sleeping with my eyes open; lovely.  We went back to the house and immediately crashed.

Now, the original plan was to go out and do evangelism from 8am-12pm.  However, because the night of prayer (and praise) went until close to 7am for the church members, we didn't have a translator available until 3pm.  So, we got to sleep in and take the morning off, instead of following the Siesta schedule.  From 3:30-6pm we went throughout a section of the village that is close to the church and invited them to come and watch the Jesus Film that night; we also spent time sharing the gospel and praying with the villagers.  Now, evangelism is not my gifting, nor my calling, but I sure do appreciate and value the time that we spend doing it.  That afternoon we were chatting with 2 young women who were quite shy and didn't have much to say.  After the rest of the group left, I stayed to talk with them a little bit longer.  I asked them if they have any children, and one of the girls said "Yes, two.  Wait one.  I lost one last year."  It turns out that her one year old daughter died.  Of course that kicked the compassionate side of me into high gear, and I was able to talk and pray with her for a while.  If you think of it, pray for this girl named Unti.

Saturday night we showed the Jesus Film.  Now this was a highlight for me; I have wanted to be a part of showing the Jesus Film for as long as I can remember.  Everything for this event went so smoothly; there are dozens of things that can go wrong when you're dealing with this film, and absolutely nothing went wrong.  There were about 500 people that showed up for the movie; considering the fact that we didn't even start announcing that the movie would be showing that night until 4pm, and we only told 15 households about it, this was a great turnout.  There were 4 reels for the film, so while we were switching those out, the interns took turns sharing their testimonies.  I am finally getting used to working with a translator.  We had a fantastic woman from the church, Elizabeth, working with us all weekend.  What a might woman!  After the movie, we did and alter call and prayer for the sick, then took the equipment down and went home.  We were home and in bed by around 11pm.

Today we had church from 8-10am.  This was quite possibly my favorite church service off all time.  When we arrived, they had already started the praise and worship portion of the service- again, accapella.  There were about 12 people up at the front of the tent leading the praise; as soon as one song would end, someone would just break into another song.  It definitely isn't planned out prior to the service, either.  It's just that whatever is in their hearts gets sung.  After that was over, they opened it up for testimony and sharing time, and several congregants went up to share with us.  Then Kevin preached the sermon, then we sang one or two more songs, and then the service ended.  Afterwards, we led discipleship training for about 25 church members. 

I loved the people from this church.  They are so kind, so joyful, so friendly.  Between all night prayer, the Jesus Film, and church this morning, we spend quite a bit of time there!  I truly cannot wait to go back there sometime.  This weekend is something I wish that you could experience for yourself.  This has the potential to be a life-changing experience.

I also just want to share that we were incredibly blessed by the weather this weekend.  It was storming Friday night, but we were covered in the tent, and the cool air from the rain probably heloped to keep us awake.  It rained all of Saturday morning, when we were resting, then the rain stopped and it was a cool, cloudy day for evangelism.  The sky was completely clear, with a full moon, Saturday night.  Today is was cool and cloudy for church and when we were packing up, then the sun came out for our drive home.

Now we are home and resting.  It was a wonderful weekend, but pretty tiring!  We get take to tomorrow off to recuperate, so I will probably spend it laying by or in the pool :)

Ok, finally, what I know you are all waiting for.  The bonus Suhail quote from Friday.  I was sitting with him and another one of my faves (Kent) while they were doing their worksheets, and these boys were acting so hyper and giggly.  Since I am a kid at heart and a complete pushover, I let them goof for a while- all of a sudden I hear Suhail ask Kent, "Are you kissing Miss?  Are you kissing my girlfriend?!"

When I have some more time tomorrow, I will post more pictures from the trip, as well as more from my placement with the kids at school.  Love to all!