Good Riddance...

So the past couple of days have been fun filled with several events and activities. On Wednesday we went on a Nigerian Safari. The place was about 2.5 hours away. The name was Yankari.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankari) The place was somewhat of a hotel and safari all in one. There were baboons sitting all around the buses. Most would come about 5 ft away from you. They wanted food and they would fight over it. But it was neat to be so close to those creatures. Some were picking out the bugs of their young ones or carry their young ones on their backs or under their bellies. We went on the safari in a typical African jeep looking vehicle. It was a blast but sadly we only saw about two animals. What we saw were ginniefouls(like a over sized turkey) and some African deer. We got to go look at some caves that people used during the slavery times to hide out. After that we had some great P & B and J sandwiches. We then went to a natural clear water spring to swim in. This was probably one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yankari.jpg) The water came straight from a large rock and poured out fresh clean clear blue water and it was warm. It was the best 2 hours spent swimming in a long time. There was a high tree branch that we climbed and jumped into the water. The past couple of days we have spent much time planning our next week for the CLAPAI children's home because we interns are teaching for a full week. There are 6 interns and we are teaching English(grammar and writing), basic math, and science. Our overall theme is the rainforest where each kid will get an animal, learn about the the layer of the rainforest where that animal lives, and present it to their fellow classmates. Should be a great week but I know have a new thankfulness for all the teachers I have had over the years who plan day after day. Thursday night we hosted some of the Nigerian B2B staff for dinner. We had spicy chicken wraps and no-bake-'em cookies. We played "Tele-Draw" and it was hilarious. It was neat to hang out with them and for them to feel at home with us Americans. Today, was a great day as well. I and two other girl interns spent time drilling holes into some pipes to build a volleyball net. We then had to make cement by hand to fill the tires so the poles would stand straight. It was great to get dirty and feel accomplished on a project. The other interns spent time fixing up our house with putting in new fans and some hanging hooks for towels. Tonight's dinner was fantastic. We went to a Chinese restaurant that is owned by a Lebanese family but the food was so great and it felt like a little bit of home cooking. Since being here I have learned how to play a lot of new games and learned the power of patience. Yesterday we didn't have power for 14 hours and had to rely on the generator every 3 to 4 hours of power. We also had a storm last night that sounded like a tornado. We have a tin-roof so when it rains it sounds louder than it really is. And since the power was out we had to have our windows open for air so with the storm there was loud wind blowing in and out and then the rain. It gave us girl interns a bit of a scare and something to laugh about in the morning about how scared we were over a storm. My home Church, St. Marks, leaves for Mexico and Kenya in the next couple of days and makes me miss those places 10 times more.Please pray for safe travels, changed hearts, and fun adventure! Hopefully, with my experience I can encourage others to come to Nigeria and see how beautiful, the change we can make for these people, and see how God works with people of different culture. If you are interested in a trip to Nigeria I would love to talk to you about it or how you can give support to the staff and their overall goals here. For now, the weekend looks pretty relaxful with tomorrow being a half work day half off day and Sunday going to church. Then Monday comes and I become a science teacher!(Or more like pretend)

James 1:27
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Have a great weekend and Happy Father's day to all Fathers and to mine you are the best father ever! I am thankful for you as my father and everything you have taught me and helped create who I am today! :)


Hakuna Matata