I'm in love.

Sorry, Mom. It's not with a boy.

It's with these little guys...

 

 

We went to the orphanage last Sunday. It was my first time to be able to go because the regularly-scheduled trips are always on the weekdays when I'm teaching. Because we are nearing the end of the outreach, a friend of mine who had been going regularly decided to lead an extra trip on the weekend. I was so thankful for the opportunity to go.

These children are so joyful. The church that runs the orphanage takes good care of them, but there are just so many children that none of them get a lot of one-on-one attention. It didn't matter that none of us could speak French. They just wanted a smile, a hug, a lap to sit on, and someone to kiss them on the forehead.

So we danced.

We played the same clapping games elementary girls play in the U.S., just with words I could not understand.

We read God's Word. Rather, Corinne taught me how to read God's Word in French.
Then it was lunch time. The older kids helped prepare the food. Here, a girl is mashing the yams.

Time to eat!

Yum!

This little guy was my one of my favorites.

So many new friends...

We had so much fun that we decided to take one more trip. I can't wait to go back next Sunday!

*Thanks so much, Deb and Sarah, for sharing your pictures with me. Miss you guys! :)

Presidential Dinner

I never thought I would be invited to eat dinner with a president.  As unreal as it sounds, last Tuesday, the president of Benin invited the entire crew of Mercy Ships to a banquet at his palace!  He wanted to honor Don Stephens, the founder of Mercy Ships, and several other leaders within the organization by knighting them into the National Order of Benin.  Amazingly enough, he graciously extended the dinner invitation to all 400 crew members! 

Here we are all dressed up in our African best.  I was so upset with myself for not having an African dress made yet, but by the end of the night, I had forgotten about what I was wearing.

Kelly, me, and Jamie

the banquet hall

Don Stephens (founder of Mercy Ships) with President Yayi Boni

President Yayi Boni and his wife

the newly knighted Mercy Ship staff

Don Stephens presented the president with a gift from us as well: a picture of the ship, created with tiny pictures of people from Benin.

After dinner, we were entertained by traditional African dancers.

I guess that's a story for the grandchildren, huh!  :)

African Birthday

Last Saturday I celebrated the 4th anniversary of my 25th birthday (otherwise known as my 29th birthday, but I choose not to refer to it as such). My parents sent me a package in the mail, and it arrived two days before my actual birthday. It was so much fun to receive mail in Africa that it was all I could do not to open it until Saturday. At 12:01 A.M., I opened my package and was excited to receive cards from my parents, grandparents, brothers (actually 4 from Ryan...haha), aunts, uncles, and cousins. They also sent new earbuds for my iPod, two DVDs, a CD, and an Auburn toothbrush (hey, if that's the only way to support my tigers from Africa, then I will brush my teeth with my War Eagle toothbrush with pride). :)

My friends on the ship made the day really fun as well...

Jamie and Kelly decorated my cabin door.

Several of us went to dinner at Bangkok Terrace, a Thai restaurant in town.

Leah and Becca had a little trouble eating with chopsticks.

Not Danae and I--we couldn't get enough of our delicious Paddthai.

Christina, Julle, and me

Then we came back to the ship for cake. Julle baked a cake in the shape of a flower, with homemade buttercream frosting...yum! Needless to say, there weren't any leftovers.

I had such a great day! I'm so thankful for wonderful friends and family who made my first African birthday one of my favorites! Love you all!

God Hears

My students have been studying ancient Mesopotamia, and we started by exploring which modern countries occupy the area today. My plan was for us to learn a little about each country and pray for those countries throughout the unit. I have to be honest. My initial motive for praying for each country was more about adding some variety to our social studies lessons than it was about compassion for the people of these nations. Thankfully, God knows how to bring about His good results despite my bad motivations.

On Monday, we learned that most of ancient Mesopotamia was located in what is now Iraq. We also learned that out of a population of almost 29 million people, 97% of Iraqis are Muslim. That's 28 million people who do not understand, and may not have ever heard, the truth of the Gospel. And that’s just one country out of a world of 6.8 billion people.

It hit me that day that if I really believed what I say I believe, I would be doing something. At the very least, I would be praying (and not just as part of a lesson plan). In all honesty, those are still just numbers and statistics in my head. But they really aren't numbers and statistics; they're people. People who don't have a relationship with Christ, and who will spend an eternity apart from Him if they continue in unbelief. I know this in my head, but my actions testify that I do not believe it in my heart. Either I don't believe it, or I’m too wrapped up in my own little world to care. It’s probably the latter, and that's even worse.

So we prayed. In class, my students prayed for the Iraqi Muslims and for the believers in Iraq. By myself, I prayed that God would help me believe...really believe...and love the Iraqi people enough to at least genuinely pray for them. That was Monday.

Tuesday was back to business as usual. (How quickly I forget.)

On Wednesday, we had our weekly community meeting on the ship. Each week, we take up an offering for a different need—sometimes a need of someone in the local community, sometimes a need on the ship, and sometimes a need far away. Can you guess what our offering for this week supports? God put it on someone's heart that this week the Mercy Ships crew needs to donate to a church in Iraq! There has been a recent outbreak of attacks on churches around Baghdad and Mosul, and the donation will help one church restore its building from the devastation caused by two car bombs. (If you'd like to know more, the following news articles give details about the recent church bombings: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/07/13/iraq.church.bombings/index.html, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8146922.stm, and http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=15827.)

God's timing is so amazing. What a testimony to my students (and to me) that God hears our prayers and responds. Now not only do we have the opportunity to pray for the believers in Iraq, we have the opportunity to give too. Please join my students and me as we pray for restoration of this church, protection from future attacks, wisdom for its leaders, and a spirit of grace and forgiveness for the believers so that others may come to know Christ through their actions.

African Church

On Sunday several of us went to one of the local churches. The people were extremely friendly and hospitable. One of the pastors spoke English, so he translated the service the entire time. African church is very different from church in the U.S. For one thing, the services are much longer (averaging around 4 hours). Several different people give a message, not just one pastor. Praise and worship is much more energetic. They had all of us dancing up front during a few songs!

I really enjoyed the messages, the worship, and the people. I definitely want to go back soon!

Life in 4th and 5th Grade

I've been hesitant to share too much about my role on the ship simply because it involves the children onboard. However, I feel like I never write about what I actually do here. I decided to ask the parents if they would mind if I shared some photos from class, and they graciously granted permission. Without further ado, I'd love to introduce you to my fourth and fifth grade class!

Sharing our "My Culture" projects... From left: Noah, Nate, Jan, Jana, Elliot, Josh, and Josie

Acting out our Bible memory verse...
Vocabulary Pictionary

Examining rocks and minerals with magnifying glasses...

Writing an essay...

Sharing our writing...


After all this hard work, sometimes we need to take a silly break!

Aren't they adorable? They definitely keep me on my toes!

I can't end this post without sharing a story that makes me smile every time I think about it. Birthdays are kind of a big deal in our class. Earlier this week, one of my fourth graders began his prayer with, "Dear Lord, I wanna thank you so much for birthdays. I thank you so much that Noah is turning 10--WOW, HALLELUJAH!--and thank you that he will be able to go through the line by himself in the dining hall..."

It's always the little things--WOW, HALLELUJAH! :)