A great adventure in the bush....

Okay...another great story for you!! We decided one day, since we didn't have our truck, that we would try walking to our village. We were sure we knew the way and figured it couldn't take us too long. So, we left the house bright and early at 7:00 am - stocked with water and other necessities. After about an hour and a half of walking, we began to realize that we were not anywhere that looked familiar! We were definitely lost!!



After another half and hour later of walking, we come upon a huge group of sheep. We moved to the side to watched and were amazed at what we saw.

We felt like we were watching the great Exodus unfolding before our eyes!! There were hundreds of sheep, cattle, and donkeys moving along with a caravan of camels carrying many people and things. It was like an entire village had picked up and moved! It was really a beautiful sight...kind of made our getting lost worth it!



Then, we turned around as they were fading out of sight and were met with an amazing, and rather scary, sight! The sky was turning almost black as a storm approached us! We had no intention of sticking around any longer and decided to head back - quickly!!

Here is a picture of the clouds we saw as we were going - fortunately, aside from a few sprinkles, we missed the storm!




We were actually a little worried for a little while that we might have to camp out in the bush by ourselves if we couldn't get back before it began to get dark...but fortunately our Father is great and we found our way back!!


Here is a view of some of the desert paths. It's no wonder one can get lost so easily out here!! Which way should we go?!?

The ride home....

Wow!! What an unbelievable few weeks we’ve had!! There are so many crazy things to share with you through pictures and stories!! I’ll start with our trip back to Guidan Roumdji after our visit to Togo.

As you probably know by now, we are getting a truck that will help us to get out to our villages. So, we headed out from the capital driving. There were three vehicles headed out together. About an hour and a half down the road, our vehicle begins making a strange sound. It was a scraping sound coming from the hood of the truck. We pulled over and everyone stared in at the motor. Of course, no one really knew what to do so we called the office and they said to continue on to the next city and find a mechanic. Well, we never made it there. A few more feet down the road, the truck died. After some more phone calls and bringing out a mechanic from the nearest town, it was decided that we should sit and wait for someone from the capital to come out and tow it back into town. We waited there for two hours….imagine the site!! A group of nine white people and three vehicles on the side of the road in the middle of Africa!! LOL…we got many stares. Finally the guys came and they towed away our truck. That is, of course, after we stopped traffic by turning the car around in the middle of the road by pushing it!! Ahhh...only in Africa!!!

We continued on with the others, squishing all of our stuff into the remaining two vehicles. We went on down the road and ended up stopping at about 9:30 that night. After spending a night with some of our teammates there, the four of us – Jessica, Sarah, Melissa and myself – headed on home the next morning.

About twenty minutes down the road, it began to look like rain. We pulled over and got everything out of the back of the truck that couldn’t get wet and squished inside the cab. It’s a good thing too because it soon began to pour!! It was so much that we got stuck behind a slow truck and couldn’t see well enough to pass him. Finally it let up and we were able to go around him. After the first large town, we saw many cars parked ahead on the road. We slowed down and look in amazement at the river of water flowing over the road! It was rushing…pretty quickly…and the cars were all parked and people were wading out into it. We stopped behind the other cars and were about to get out to walk through to see how deep it was when the other cars began going. A bush taxi and a car started on through the river. We watched as they got safely across and figured that if they could make it, so could we. So, we slowly inched forward through the rushing water – I was praying out loud the whole time. Finally, we made it through!! Praise the Father for His protection and mercy!!! We came upon two more spots with water on the road but neither of them were near as bad as the first.

Finally, we made it home!!! What an adventure that was!!!

Here is a picture of some of the water we passed on the way home! There aren't just streams in the desert here...there are rivers!!! We thought it might be cool to start a rafting ministry out here - LOL...just kidding!!

Here is a view of us in our truck driving through the water. You can kind of see the people ahead of us helping to guide the cars along. Yep...we really did drive through all that water!!! But, as always, the Father is awesome and we made it through!!

A trip to the beach....

Hey everyone!! Here are some pictures from our recent trip to the beach!! I know what you're thinking...I don't have beaches where I am! You're right...but we were in meetings in another country and we had an opportunity to visit the beach.

I didn't realize how much I missed water!!

This is a picture of the little huts we rented to sit under. The weather was actually very cool and there was a GREAT breeze!!!






Here's a view of the water...isn't it beautiful!!! There wasn't much swimming too far out because the current was pretty strong. But I was completely content just watching the waves. And they were HUGE!!!









Another picture of the water...can you see the huge waves?!?!













And last...here is a message for my little sisters...If you can't read it, it says "Hi Kayla and Lanae" I love you girls!!!



Hope you all enjoyed the beach pictures!!!