"Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words" St. Francis of Assissi

The quote above sparked a change in my day when we were working at the village. It was written on one of the group members shirts and I was like hmm that is so true. We think that mostly we must preach in words but sometimes people learn more by our actions and that is so true here. Being around these children who have never had a role model that is trusted makes them watch our every move. Who we are, what we say, how we treat each other is how they will act. But more importantly, sorry for not updating sooner but the electricity has been off and on all week. For a few dinners we had candels out. Makes me laugh because you just never know when it will go out or come back on. My week here has been so great. We had our first group come and it was only 4 people. They were college aged and from the Kentucky and Cincinnati area. We spent at least two days at CLAPAI(the childrens home) doing projects like trimming bushes, doing crafts, and filling a hole so the kids could play soccer. One of the interns who was trimming bushes decided to make hers into a bird and so I helped and then we made a bet to one of the guys on staff of B2B that if he could guess what we shaped it into then we got free ice cream and funny enough we really got the bush to look like a bird and now get free ice cream :)Our house here is so nice but its great when we find little rodents running around. We have a mouse and lizards are everywhere. The Ramos family here has 3 boys under the age of 10 and they love catching the lizards. The lizards range from small to big and some from plain to wild coloring. When we went to the children's home it was so fun. The children refer to us as "Auntie and Uncle" . they tried to braid my hair but they told me it was too messy and too thin and gave up. Its neat to see these children welcome us when they have nothing and know that we have everything. We then took the children on a hiking field trip. It was a blast because for one the kids got to leave, run around, pick berries, eat a PBandJ sandwhich, eat pringles, play with us, and feel loved. With the group here one night during debriefing she said something that was just amazing to me "Its cool to see how God works on the other side of the world and makes you realize that God is the same here, africa, the USA, china, and everywhere" I feel blessed to be able to see God here in the middle of africa holding an african child who thinks the world of me. The last two days we went to the village where B2B future property is. The property in the middle of these large boulders and its beautiful. WE are trying to make relationships with the village people. These people live in huts, may eat may not, have children who run naked. The frist day at the village we just played with the kids. There were probably over 100 kids. And I would tickle one child and get chased by 10 because they just all wanted to play and run with me. We played duck duck goose and the african version of red light green light. The next day We walked around giving out beans, corn, and cooking oil. We walked into their "medical clinic" but it was no where to our standards. We prayed for complete strangers. this was probably the most scariest thing in my life asking someone if I could pray for them and that I just met them. We wlaked more, prayed for more peoplem, some people cried, some hugged, and in the end we knew that God was living. We talked to an old lady who had lost her husband and son and had no one to take care of her. she said she felt lost and that God had given up on her. we prayed and I know that when that prayer was over she had seen the light again because we gave her hope that Jesus is alive and the Lord is watching over her everyday. The village was so great and I love making relationships with these people. This week coming up looks very different because we do not have any other groups coming till july. So we are going to church in the village on sunday, going on a safari on wednesay plus swimming in hot springs, and then the next week we are teaching the kids at the childrens home. So many exciting things going on and so great to see how Jesus is shinning down on these people.
1 Thessalonians 5: 8 "But let us live in the light think clearly, protected by the body armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation"

"No matters what happens in this life, nothing or no one can snatch us of God's hands. WE have our salvation which assures us protection from the evil one and eternal punishment and assures us of entry into the presence of the father and enternal joy" -from the B2B bible study for our theme "Shelter" found in pslam 91

I love that people are reading this and I thank you for the prayers! I love you all very much!

hopefully this blog wasnt too confusing and you can follow all my thoughts! :)