Safari in Pendjari

We went on a Safari right before Christmas, we had a wonderful time. While on the safari we saw many kinds of Antelope and many different kinds of birds, one of my favorite was the saddle billed stork. We also saw some Hippos and Crocodiles, and Baboons. While driving we saw a large group of Elephants and they started to walk toward the road, they were walking close to our truck it was an amazing feeling, it was a group of 10-12 elephants. One was so big it was about 15 feet high. We had so much fun, it was a great experience. One of the greatest thing we saw was 2 lions, one was walking on the road in front of us, I must admit I freaked out when we saw the large groups of elephants and lions, I was so excited to see them. We were so blessed to see all of those animals.

Update on Fernard

Fernard is doing 100% better he is crazy as ever, his mom told me that his life was saved, I am very thankful that God has given us the money to help others. His family is very thankful and has said so many times. Thank you all for your prayers.

Little Fernard

This morning some ridiculous birds woke me up around 6:15, but I am very thankful for them because I was awake to hear the door bell ring. At first I thought I am not going to get that it is 6:20, but I decided other wise. As I opened the door to tell whoever it was that us Americans sleep in so please do not come before 7:00, I saw it was my next door neighbor, she had a panic look on her face, she asked if she could talk to me. She began to explain that Fernard has been sick since Sunday and has been having diarrhea and vomiting since Sunday, she said he has not been eating and did not sleep all night last night. When I looked at little Fenard who is 1 1/2 I could not believe how lethargic he was, he could hardly keep his head up and his breathing was very irregular.
I told her I would take her to the hospital, we left about 5 min later.
When we arrived at the hospital it was to early, not everyone had arrived, no one knew what to do, so we found our self going up and down 5 flights of stairs about 5 times, what fun in a very hot hospital. Finally once we told them that he had been sick since Sunday they started to do something. They brought us to a room where we sat for about 45 min until some men came to take his blood. Little Fernard was so dehydrated that they could not get any blood out of him, they continued to prick him and squeeze his arm, the third time they went right into his vein and took the blood. I had to step out side I could not stand it, he was screaming, I could hear it in the hallway. When I was able to go back in the room they had taken enough blood for the analysis. After all of that Fernard just went to sleep and slept for a few hours. They will be receiving the response from the analysis around 2:00. Please be praying for this little ones body to recover quickly.

The Best granola ever.

Coconut and Cashew Granola

*Makes about 7 cups of granola
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup cashews
3/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut and brown sugar. In a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine maple syrup, oil and salt. Combine both mixtures by slowly pouring the liquid over the oatmeal mixture and stirring well. Divide in half and pour onto two 11X17-inch rimmed baking sheets, spreading out into an even layer on each sheet. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and transfer into a large bowl, slightly breaking up the clumps. Add the raisins and gently mix until even distributed.

The hug of a muslim friend

When we first arrived in Kara I met a special woman in the market and quickly became friends with her. Since then I have been trying to cultivate this friendship. I make a point to go talk with her each time I am in the market.
Today when I made a trip to the market she was not at her table. This saddened me because I have not been able to see her for two weeks. I had many things to do so I had to leave. While walking down the road, just next to me were speakers blaring out the daily Muslim prayers. To my right was a Muslim store with many Muslim people standing around. Suddenly I spotted her; my friend was walking down the road with her arms open wide, ready to give me a hug. Do you still have the mental picture I just drew for you? All of those people standing around and here is a Christan walking down the street toward a Muslim lady with her arms open wide ready for a hug. At that moment I thanked the Lord for this opportunity to serve Him and thanked Him for this relationship, and maybe someday I will have the opportunity to show her the true way.

Things I love about my life.

I love that God is my Savior
I love that God gave me the opportunity to serve Him in Togo
I love that God gave me a wonderful husband
I love that God gave me a wonderful son
I love having the opportunity to praise the Lord
I love that I get to live in Africa
I love having Bible Hour every Saturday
I love teaching school to Joshua, okay sometimes
I love having the opportunity to raise Joshua in Africa
I love having wonderful friends in Africa and in America
I love being able to scrapbook
I love being able to cook for my family
I love my life that God has given me.
Thank you Lord.

A very special lady has passed away this week

I think one of the hardest things being in Africa is, when something happens in the States and I can not be their to comfort or help or give a hug. Today, I have just learned of the death of a very special friend in Oregon. I have known this lady for many many years and she is like a grandmother to me. She is the one person I would always seak out when I went to church to make sure she got a hug, and see how she was doing. She has been such a help and encouragement to me and I will miss her dearly. Mrs Spady was a wonderful woman and she will be missed.

Making FUFU

Joshua has been asking me for about 2 months to prepare fufu for him, the only problem is I have no idea how to prepare it. This past Saturday I asked my friend Yvette if she would help me make fufu and sauce. Of course Joshua wanted to help with this process, so last night we made fufu together. We all had a wonderful time.

FUFU: Is a staple in Togo. They always eat it with a sauce. It comes from a root called manioc. To prepare it, they will peel the manioc and cut it up like you do when making mashed potatoes. It's then cooked like you would for mashed potatoes, then they pound them like you see in the picture.

This is a video of Joshua making and eating fufu. http://www.vimeo.com/7940011

Very sick with Malaria

After arriving home from Accra Jesse said he was not feeling well. When Monday arrived he had a fever and the chills, welcome malaria. He started taking some medicine, but was not able to keep it down. His fever continued to go up and down and he really was not doing well. On Wed he stood up quickly and was starting to walk back to bed, I asked him how he was doing and he said he was very dizzy, at that point he passed out in my arms. It took everything in me to get him to the bed. I don't think I have ever been so scared. After that episode I gave him some new medicine and he began to feel better soon after he started the medicine, by Thursday night he was about 80% better. I had so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
He is 100% better now and I am so thankful, I praise the Lord for his health. Thank you all for your prayers.

Traveling to Ghana from Togo

We left Togo at 4:00 am on our way to Ghana. Because of the roads and the border crossing it took us 12 hours. While on the road we saw many funny things. We saw two cows laying down in a small bed of a pickup truck, they were laying down tied in by a rope. We all thought they were dead but, this is the way they transfer cattle lol. We also saw a van driving down a road with a goat on top of it standing, I wish I got a picture it was so funny.
We made it to Accra safely. I enjoyed a latte last night that was so yummy, and I ate broccoli for the second time since we have been in Africa it was delicious. What a treat.

Movie night with Bible Hour kids

This past Saturday I decided to have a movie night for the kids in the neighborhood. We decided to show Jungle Book. It was so great seeing the reactions of the kids and even the adults. When they saw the snake in the movie they all gasped and began to make noises that are impossible to describe. It was a great night, and the kids and parents loved it.

Spiderman was at our house yesterday

Yesterday we had a fall festival for all of the missionary kids in the area. All of the parents took on the responsibility of producing a fun activity for the kids, like little carnival booths. Jesse and I did bobbing for water balloons, and the children loved it. Other parents did a ring toss, and orange throw, flour sac races, a cup cake walk, and an obstacle coarse. All of the children loved it. Joshua was very excited because the lady who was doing the face painting said she could paint a spiderman mask. Joshua turned into spiderman for a day and loved it. When we walked outside their gate to leave we saw some Togolese kids that were passing by. They started shouting and laughing since they had never seen spiderman up close before! It was a great response. When we arrived home one of our friends looked at him, and in broken English said "Spiderman". Yvette, my friend, looked at him and said "you should keep your face like this always; this is who you are, 'SPIDERMAN'". Joshua loved being Spiderman for a day.
It is so wonderful to have friends hear in Africa. We are blessed, and I am blessed to have Spiderman in my home.

My two favorite men

Treat others as you would want to be treated

Yesterday at Bible Hour I noticed something that is very common with children here in Togo is that they hit each other all the time. Even a young child will hit an older child. As I was sitting in the middle of these children I was very bothered by this. After Bible hour I talked to the children about treating others as you want them to treat you. It was almost as if the children did not understand the concept. I pray they will soon understand as will be talking about it, "for the next few weeks".

Does white skin feel different.

Yesterday during Bible Time a little girl was sitting next to me, she was looking at my toes and my feet. After looking at my feet she started touching my legs pinching my skin and rubbing it, then she touched her skin, at this point realizing that my skin felt very different then hers. After doing this she looked up at me and smiled.

Raining sweet potatoes

This past Thursday, I was walking to the market and I saw a lady that I know from a church so I sat down to talk with her. She asked how I was and my family, and after a few minutes she asked me if I wanted to buy some food that she was selling. The only problem was that I did not like what she was selling. I told her on my way back from the market that I would buy some of her food for a friend at our house.

While there at the market I bought a few things and I wanted some sweet potatoes, but without thinking I used all my money buying the sweet potatoes. The lady that sold me the potatoes gave some extra. While I was walking back from the market I realized what I had done; I had no money to buy the food from my friend, so I immediately thought of the sweet potatoes. I explained to my friend the situation and told her that I wanted to give her a gift and gave her some sweet potatoes. She was so happy to receive them, she was so thankful, and I was happy to give them.

On Saturday I met a girl walking down our street I found out she lives next to us and that she sells sweet potatoes. I was able to buy a very large amount of potatoes for less than a dollar. We had a guy working for us that day who's family does not have a lot of money, so we gave him some sweet potatoes. He also was so thankful and I was very glad to give them to him.

Then on Sunday at church the pastor's son gave gave us a bag of sweet potatoes for a gift. What a blessing! Then when we got home one of our night guards came with a big bag. Jesse told me that his family gave us sweet potatoes and peanuts.

As I was walking into the house I realized what was happening, I stopped and thanked the Lord for what He was doing. He was providing food for our family, and using us to provide food for other people. I want to praise the Lord for everything even down to the last sweet potato, I felt like it was raining sweet potatoes today.

I have so much to be thankful for.

Suffer the little children........

This is a little girl that lives on our street, if I walk around to see our neighbors she
is with me in my arms, we do not understand what each other are saying, but we do
undertand one thing LOVE.

I am trying something out

I am trying to figure something out on my blog I am sorry.

Going to church with Bubble Gum.

This is Bubble Gum, I have given him this name.
This past Sunday I walked to church with some kids and a new friend of mine. While we were walking Bubble Gum and another little boy were holding my hand, now you must understand Bubble Gum does not speak French yet only Kabiye. As we were walking he was saying something but no one was listening to him, I asked my friend what he was saying, she started to laugh she said that he was wondering if I get tired when I walk because I take so many steps. If you know me you know why he has said this, I have short legs and small feet. He thought if I took bigger steps I would not be as tired. I thought this was so funny I started laughing because of this cute comment but also because he is only 3 and he noticed this.

At church all of the other children went to a childrens class but not Bubble Gum, he would not leave my side, my friend told me that he said he wanted to stay with his friend, all through church he was tucked up under my arm playing with my fingers, after a while he crawled up on my lap and went to sleep. I pray that I will always have a little friend like Bubble Gum. I thank the Lord for my little Bubble Gum.

By the way I call him Bubble Gum, because he loves bubble gum. One day I taught him the word bubble gum, so every time he would see me he would say that, and so we started to sing a song about it and that is how he became Bubble Gum.

Wonderful Friends

Friends in Africa make life easier. I am very thankful for the people that God has put in our life. Just this week we have celebrated some birthdays, and have had some parties, it was so nice to talk to people that are going through and doing the same things that I am going through and doing. I thank the Lord for the wonderful friends in my life.

My sweet little friend Chris

This is Chris, he is the one with the infection on his leg, I checked his leg yesterday and it does not look any better, he has liquid coming out of it. I put him on a antibiotic I am beginning to think I should have been a nurse and a school teacher. I am continuing to put medicine on the wound, and am praying that it will get better. It is starting to look like a staff infection, this is very common hear, because it is so dirty. Yesterday when I checked his wound it had flies all over the bandage, and when I took it off I felt sick to my stomach. To answer the question about what Chris said about it moving, I think what he was saying was that it was throbbing, because of the infection.

A new page for David's book.

This is some of Joshua's friends having fun acting like they are Spiderman, they thought they were so cool.

The Slave Castle in Ghana.

To much love?

Yesterday I saw a girl that had been burnt just recently, it was her shoulder. Her mom had put some kind of medicine on it and it looked horrible, it made me sick to my stomach to look at it. She had 4 different spots that were burned. Also, I talked to one of my neighbors that has had diarrhea for days and has blood mixed with it, she has an amoeba, she has had it for a while. Another neighbor has spots all over her body she has a fungus. So yesterday I had a really busy day taking care of the people I care about with the help of my friend Lisa she is a nurse.
This morning we had some children come to church with us, one of the boys said that his leg hurt, he pulled up his pant leg and he had a sore about the size of a nickle that is raised and I could tell it was infected. When we arrived home I sprayed some hydrogen peroxide on it 4 times it would not stop bubbling, he said it hurts and it feels like it is moving, he has a infected leg I am praying that it does not turn into a staff infection, we will see tomorrow how it is doing.
When I arrived home today after taking care of the little boys leg I thought to myself why are these parents not taking care of there children? these children are precious to me I love them dearly, the children are hurting and the parents seem to not care WHY, do I have to much love? impossible, I than realized God loves them more and maybe this is an opportunity to show the parents that I care about them and that they will see the Love of God through me. Please pray with me that the Lord will give me many opportunities to talk with them. The lady that has the amoeba is Muslim please pray that the Lord will show me what to do to help her and also to give me the opportunity to share with her the TRUTH. Thank you in advance for all of your prayers.

Some beautiful faces.

New flip flops, and a new friend

Today I was outside our gate talking to a neighbor, and I saw some children coming down the road, I knew the children and were excited to talk to them. One little boy I saw was carrying his shoes, but he only had one in his hands so I went to look for the other one on the path and found it. I was helping him put them on and noticed they would nor could not fit on his feet, I felt so bad I thought of how many pairs of flip flops and shoes I have in my house. My friend asked him if he has any other shoes at his house he said no. I thought to my self what am I going to do now, I then remembered that a lady next door to us sells things outside of her door, I asked her if she had children's flip flops and she did. For just a few cents I was able to put shoes on this little boys feet and gain a new friend my next door neighbor. We have spoken to her before but I believe this has opened a new door, I believe she is Catholic. I will get her name soon to put it on the blog so you can be praying for her.

Canopy walk in Ghana.

Two boys who love Spiderman

Lizard page.

The front page of the scrapbook for David.

This is the front page of the book. They were playing with darts this day having lots of fun, they love it when I take pictures.

Joshua and David

David gave Joshua a chicken as a gift, we just ate it the other day it was wonderful. Joshua thought it was great, he watched Honoré take care of the chicken and loved it.

A wonderful welcome and a prayer request.

While driving home last night Jesse and I saw our neighbor, we stopped and I was able to talk to her, she was on her way to sell eggs on the street. While walking home I saw some of the children on our road that have been gone to another village during the school break. I suddenly heard loud screaming and three boys running toward me through the corn field and the mother telling me to come come, what a wonderful welcome, the children want me to stay they never want me to leave, they are precious children especially my Bubble gum boy. 

Please be praying for Momma Romeo she has had malaria for 1 week, I have given her some medicine, but she is very week.  She told me that she can not keep food or water down. Please pray that her body will recover quickly. 

Little girl with the infected ears

Her name is Ange, we took her to the doctors this past Monday and the doctor said it was not serious, and they gave her some medicine and sent her home, they want her to come back on Friday for a checkup. Please continue to pray for her. We are going on three months now since she first became sick. 

Best Friends

I am making a scrapbook for David for Christmas, and I am having lots of fun doing it. 

A new scrapbook page.

School with Joshua

The honest truth about school with Joshua. I am having a little bit of a hard time, he does not want to be in school, he has to many distractions and he would rather be playing, me too I would rather be out talking with people or doing scrapbooking, something besides sitting in the school room. But, his schooling is very important to me and Jesse and I take it seriously. He is doing well in school, he is reading wonderfully and he is doing very well in Math also, he loves Science it is his favorite subject, he looks forward to that everyday.
Does anyone have any ideas for memorizing addition tables, not for me heee for Joshua, I would greatly appreciate it.

Update on the seriously infected ears

The little girl that I was helping has gone through two kinds of antibiotics and she still has the infection, I mean she still has green stuff coming out of her ears. I have been trying to take her to the hospital but it just has not worked out. Hopefully she will go today with Honoré, or tomorrow depending on if the mom is available. Please pray that the doctors can find the problem, hopefully this infection has not damaged her eardrum. I will keep you up to date on the situation.

Update on Rebekah

She is doing fantastic, the doctor gave her medicine and she is doing great. The momma is doing fine now also. Thank you so much for all of your prayers.

Shucking corn, lots of it.

My egg lady the one I gave the bowl to is harvesting her corn, so I decided I was going to go over and help her. Well Saturday I heard a knock on the door and it was Ester, she told me she was going to start shucking the corn, and wanted to know if I was ready. Off I went to shuck corn with the best of them. Ohhhh I had a grand ol time my toenails were black from mud and I had insects crawling up my skirt, but I had so much fun sitting shucking corn with them, they are wonderful people and I am so honored to be in Togo with them. I thank God for them and the opportunity that I have to work along side of them. Please continue to pray for her and her husband, as far as I know they are unsaved.
Also another prayer request his brother's little child of 2 years just died, the child fell down a well that was not covered. Please pray for the family as they morn for this child, the family lives in a village, so please pray for the opportunity to share with them the gospel.

Please pray for little Rebekah

Little Rebekah has malaria, she is a little over a month old. I have a picture of her on the blog her daddy is Honoré, the mom also has malaria and a infection in her stomach. I will keep you posted on what is going on with the little one.

Bubble Gum

I have this little boy that comes every Sat to the Bible hour, he loves getting bubble gum and singing not so much the story, he is only three, he tries but to no avail he becomes distracted. Well he has attached himself to me and we sing a song about bubble gum. The word for Bubble gum in French is Chewing gum but they pronounce it different. So this little boy who I call Bubble gum sing this song together "Bubble gum bubble gum bubble gum, bubble gum pour moi (for me) bubble gum bubble gum bubble gum bubble gum (pour moi)" it is so cute. Every Sat he sits and tells me in Kabeya to come to his house and cries when I say I can not. I think I will try and go this week to visit Bubble gum.

Mr Honoré's new baby Rebekah

This is Rebekah our gardener's little girl. They are a wonderful couple.

Bubble Gum

I have this little boy that comes every Sat to the Bible hour, he loves getting bubble gum and singing not so much the story, he is only three, he tries but to no avail he becomes distracted. Well he has attached himself to me and we sing a song about bubble gum. The word for Bubble gum in French is Chewing gum but they pronounce it different. So this little boy who I call Bubble gum sing this song together "Bubble gum bubble gum bubble gum, bubble gum pour moi (for me) bubble gum bubble gum bubble gum bubble gum (pour moi)" it is so cute. Every Sat he sits and tells me in Kabeya to come to his house and cries when I say I can not. I think I will try and go this week to visit Bubble gum. I will try and get a picture of him up on the blog soon.

VERY VERY BUSY

I just started school with Joshua about 6 weeks ago so you can understand why the title of this blog is "VERY VERY BUSY". Also we have had a wonderful family staying with us, the Huffs for about a month and half. They are a new missionary couple in Togo we know them from college and we were in Québec together also. A few weeks ago Heidi found out she is pregnant, she has been sick a dizzy and just feeling really bad, I completely understand. So my life has been on speed for a while now. It has been a wonderful time having them stay at our house, and we have really enjoyed the company.
So my life right now is very busy, but I will tell you a few things that have been going on lately in my life. Right now I am teaching the book of Daniel to the kids in French, last Sunday was my first day teaching the whole lesson, I loved it. I am excited about next week. Ester my next door neighbor is going to teach me how to take the corn off the cob this week, if the rain stops long enough.
In my quiet time I have been reading through Daniel, and have been amazed how much glory God received from the life of Daniel. I just pray that the Lord will receive the glory for everything I do, it really makes me question what I do and why I do it, He will receive the glory.

On a funny note, today I came back from the market with Yvette to find Joshua and his friend soaking wet, and they had different clothes on, I asked them whey they were so wet, they said Mr Honoré got us wet, it was are gardener/guard during the day, he was working in the yard and the boys started getting him wet with squirt guns, so he got the hose, well you can imagine what happened next. After I went inside I saw Honré running for his life with David and Joshua behind him with the hose. I love all of the people we work with they are such a blessing.

Seriously infected ears.

One week from this past Sat, at Bible time with the neighborhood kids I saw a little girl that I thought was a boy, because she only had shorts on. As I was sitting with the children I saw this little girl, as I was looking at her she turned her head I saw something coming out of her ear, it was slim coming out of her ear, her ear was so infected that the infection was seeping out of her ear. Through a translator I was able to ask her to bring her mom to our house. She did not come that day or the rest of the week I was so worried about this little girl. A whole week went by and she did not come, finally the door bell rang Sat morning early, it was her with her mom, I was so happy to see her, I was able to speak to her and find out a little more about the situation. I looked into her ear and saw all of the infection coming out of her ear. I cleaned her ear out with some q-tips, I had a glove on, just to let you know. I am very careful. The infection coming out of her ear was like glue, it continued to come out of her ear. She said she can hardly hear right now, no wonder. We got some medicine for her and she has taken it two days now and I am already starting to see a difference. Praise the Lord she came to our Bible hour, it did not seem to me that her mom was going to buy her any medicine. Please pray that maybe through this we will see her family become children of God. I need to get her name, I will get it tonight when she comes to take her medicine. Thank you for your prayers. I will give a update at the end of her medicine.

The biggest moth I have ever seen.

We saw this moth outside in our yard, it is like we live in Africa or something heeee. We had lots of fun looking at it and talking about how amazing it is, and how God made it the way He did.

Joshua's first real cut.

Today I came home and found Joshua sitting on the recliner looking like he was guilty, I asked him what was wrong, he told me he cut his hand. Today he was trying to make a gun with some wood and he cut his hand. Jesse told me the story and how it happened, I am sure glad I was not at home. Jesse said he came into the kitchen with blood all over his two hands, Jesse said he even freaked out for about 3 seconds I know I would have for about 10 min.
He is doing fine he is a real trouper, he even tolerated hydrogen peroxide, he told me he was brave. We are keeping it very clean and well bandaged because cuts in Togo become infected very quickly. Please pray that it heals fast and no infection sets in.

Water at our house is better.

As I was trying to prepare dinner, I heard a knock on the door, it was our gardener he was asking if it was okay to give someone some water that asking for water, I said of coarse give him some water. I asked him before I gave him the bottle who it was that was asking he said it is the man from across the street, okay let me stop right now and give you some history.

I met this man a few months ago he lives across the street in a little one room house, it is very similar to a duplex. He asked me why we hired other people to be our guards, when we have people right across the street that could guard for you, at that moment I smelled the alcohol on his breath, okay no point in talking to this man he is drunk. Since our greeting he has asked just me for work 5 times, he has asked our gardener Honoré many many times, matter fact every time he sees Honoré he asks for work.
Okay now you know the history of this little friend of ours.
Back to the story, I found out this is the man who was asking for water, the only problem is he has access to a well, I told Honoré I do not understand why he needs our water, I know his well is not dry we are in the rainy season. Honoré started laughing, I told him to find out why he wants our water. I found out later he wanted our water because it will make him stronger, because he has bad water, Honoré and I had a great laugh on this one, what is this man thinking, I told Honoré this is the last time if he wants clean water he needs to boil his water for ten min before he drinks it, that will clean his water. I asked Honoré if he smelled alcohol on him, he said yes, so our little drunk friend across the street thinks we have the greatest water in town. So I wanted everyone to know we have water that will make you strong. Haaaaaaa come to Togo and get strong.

Update on Etienne the twins daddy

Etienne is the father who has the twins, his wife died 3 months ago, the Lord made our paths cross a few weeks ago.
I gave Pastor Mousa a pastor in Kara Etienne's phone number and he contacted him and they have been meeting every Monday night, I have not received a update this week, but please continue to pray for him and the family.

A simple mixing bowl.

About a month ago I was buying some eggs from a lady named Ester across the street. While I was talking to her she said she really liked my mixing bowl, it was just a simple medal mixing bowl, I said thank you and left. A few weeks ago I started looking around at all of the mixing bowls that I have, and I came to the realization that I do not need all of these, so I decided to give one to her today. I could hardly wait, now I am not telling you this to make me look good I wanted to tell you this because of her reaction.
When I went to her house today to buy some eggs, I told her I had a surprise for her, I handed her the bowl, it looked like I handed her $500, her face lit up and she hugged me repeatedly 4 times each time saying thank you, thank you, thank you. She said over and over how pretty it is. It was just a medal mixing bowl, I received such a blessing from that single bowl, I wish I had 500 of them to give away. She said she could not wait to use it.
Please pray for Ester she is not saved to my knowledge, she is catholic, we have started to speak of religion a little but please pray that our friendship will grow and that I will have the opportunity to talk with her, I am a little nervous about giving the gospel in French, it is one thing to hand out a track it is a little different telling them about Christ. I am praying she will see Him in my life, and know that I am different because of Him.

Lunch with our neighbors.

A few weeks back, I went to say hi to some neighbors, it was not the first time that I had talked with them, but they asked me to eat with them, I accepted and ate pot and sauce and beans, it was wonderful, I enjoyed my time spent with the ladies. The two ladies that I am speaking of are Mama Romeo and Mama Christian, Mama Christian is Catholic and Mama Romeo says she is Baptist, but I am not sure if she is saved or not. Please be praying for them both and families.

About a week ago I invited the two families to come and eat with us during the noon meal, yesterday at 1:00 they came all dressed up, it was wonderful, we ate spaghetti under our gazebo and had a great time. They ate tons of food and tons of bread, after lunch I served the ladies some hot tea because it was a cool day, they loved the sugar and milk that I gave them for the tea, they never buy liquid milk so they were really excited when they saw that.

Please pray for these ladies to see Christ in my life and that they would be willing to hear the gospel and become children of God. Also please pray that the Lord will give me more opportunities to share the Love of Christ with these wonderful people around me.

A funny story: after we finished our lunch everyone left accept the two ladies and some children. The ladies and I were talking when I saw one of the little girls start descending the stairs of the gazebo pulling her panties down, I know what that means she is going to go pee-pee in our yard, I could not stop her, neither could the ladies, they had a frantic look on their faces and I just told them ça va (no problem do not worry about it) I just laughed it off, it is not everyday that you have a little girl pee-pee right by the steps of your house. Life in Africa is great. I did clean it up just to let you know, thank you Lord it was just pee-pee.

Twin babies with out a mommy.

While in the pharmacy the other day I saw a older lady with a baby on her back, only the lady was to old to have a baby, I was talking to her and she told me the mommy died after she gave birth to the baby, and that they are staying at sos the hospital in Kara, I said good bye and left, I thought of the baby a few times during the week.
When Jesse had Malaria we went to have him tested to see if he had it and I saw the same lady at sos hospital, I asked her how the baby was doing and she said come with me and you can see her, but to my amazement when I arrived I saw two babies laying on the bed, the mom had twins one boy and one girl, my heart dropped I could not believe two babies have lost there momma.
I returned to the hospital yesterday to hold the babies, I was able to hold the little boy and Heidi a missionary friend was able to hold the little girl, Beni the boy was smiling at me every time I talked to him, I was loving it. I was able to meet the father of the little twins, he also has a little boy who is 5 years old, I asked the father how he was doing and he said he continues to ask about his mother, and he tells him she went to the village, I am not sure if that is what they tell children if a parent dies, the little boy snuggled right up to Heidi, you could tell he needed some loving on. Please be praying for the father and the twins and this little boy who does not have his mother anymore. The fathers name is Etienne.

Malaria in the Shanks house

Yesterday Jesse said he was not feeling well, by the time he went to bed last night he had a temp of 102, this morning he was down to 100, he is feeling better now but we are waiting it out. He is taking some med. but we are not sure how well it works, because it is the first time we have personally used it for malaria. Please be praying for Jesse, and wisdom in what we should do.

Bible Hour pictures

Coconut grove pictures