Hope House and Ndjole

I have about a week to catch up on so hopefully I'll remember everything! Last week we worked on the house for a couple of days. We're trying to get it ready for when teams start coming out at the end of June. I used a drill and a chop saw! I love power tools (just like my mother:])! Last Thursday afternoon we went to the Hope House in Libreville. It's basically like an orphanage. We sang a few songs and did a skit for them. Then we just hung out and played. They were the sweetest kids.
















Friday, we left to go to Ndjole for the weekend. It's a village about 3 hours away that we are partnering with this summer. We went to scout out places to sleep and shower for the teams when they come out. We stayed at Pastor Phillip's house that was attached to the church. Friday we went to church as soon as we arrived...funny story: we were seated on the stage and after the preacher finished, a lady stood by the stairs and told me to come down. I was the first in line. I started to go out the door but she pointed near the offering plate up front by the band. I had no idea what to do, so I just walked up there and starting dancing with the singers. They looked at me like I was a MORON! Tim quickly informed us that we were supposed to walk around the plate and go sit back down. Talk about embarrassing moment...After church, we ate ANTELOPE! It was pretty weird...like beef I guess. The pastor and his wife were very hospitable and gave us their room to stay in. We slept in mosquito nets which was very strange. When I asked to go to the "toilet" they showed me a little wooden shack in the back (see picture below). Little did I know that it was just a hole in the ground haha! The next morning I went to take a "shower" (which, by the way, was in the same shack that the "toilet" was in, only separated by a wall)and there was 3 buckets with water. It was intense haha. By the way-the Pastor's son Arnold was the cutest little kid EVER...he is the little boy in the pictures. Saturday we toured the village with the pastor and saw the different places to get food and supplies. Meredith bought some fresh grapefruit which were DELICIOUS! (I basically ate that for every meal after:]). We went to the Ogooue River that runs near Ndjole and found a place for teams to wash off. When we got back, we watched the women prepare for dinner. We each got to help crush the manioc leaves that they cook and eat. Saturday night they had another church service...which might I add lasted for FOUR HOURS. We did some "special music" (Mighty to Save by Hillsong)..Zach played guitar and the girls sang. Sunday we had another church service and did special music again. I played guitar and sang along with Hannah and Torey(Sing to the King by David Crowder Band). They liked our special music a lot. Zach gave his testimony, too. After eating lunch, we made the long journey home and FINALLY got a good shower! I have never been so happy to see a shower and a real toilet in my life...Oh, Africa:)

Church, Beach again, and Crazy Markets!

Hello again! Here are some pics of the house:





Sunday we went to church and it was pretty fun...very long though! It was kind of an outside church. We were guests of honor and got to sit up front. It was all in French so I didn't understand very much, but the music was really good! Sunday after church we went to the beach. Monday we got up and went grocery shopping at a place called Mbolo. This means welcome in one of the native languages. It's basically like a Wal-Mart but SO expensive! I bought a small container of conditioner for 5 dollars! It was crazy. Most of the Gabonese don't actually shop here. It's mainly for richer French and Europeans that leave here. After, we drove to a cape and had a prayer retreat. We fasted and prayed about the summer. One of Tim's friends who is a pastor here talked to us about prayer. It was a really good time.




Today was an interesting day. The interns got up this morning and worked on the house. We are trying to get it ready for when teams come out starting in the middle of June. We boarded up some spaces so we can tack on netting to keep bugs out. We also hauled off some desks and a table to a local missions school. We organized the wood and other stuff behind the house. Then we took a shower, ate lunch, and went to the market. The market was...INSANE. If anyone has ever been to a market in Mexico like Tiajuana...it's like 100x crazier than this. There were people EVERYWHERE and in the middle of the road was a huge pile of trash and mud. I bought a pair of pants and a skirt for pretty cheap. I also got a soccer jersey for Aaron. People would call out "American!" or "White Woman!" or "Blonde!"..it was pretty funny. They were very insistent and aggresive, which was kind of scary. It was still a fun experience though:). Now all the interns are just chilling out and playing games.

More Pictures

Here's the pics I didn't get to load last night..

From the beach to the jungle...

Here's what has been going on the past few days...
The first day we were here we had an "orientation" in the morning with Tim. He told us basically what the schedule would be this summer. He also gave us an idea of what we'd be doing. After, we went to another missionary family's house-The Straws. We hung out there for a while and then went to the BEACH!! It was beautiful...




The last two days we have gone to villages for medical caravans. Anyone who is sick in the village comes and a nurse gives them a consultation. They also write prescriptinos for meds that we have. Then we give them medicine. We also have an eye clinic where they receive glasses. I helped with the meds-I was a pharmacist! (like Father like daughter!!:D) We gave out medicine for malaria, high blood pressure, infections, and pain. We also gave them lots of vitamins. The first day we got stuck in the mud and it took us an hour to get out..





Bonsoir! (Good Evening)In case you haven't figured out, the Gabonese speak French:]. I'm in the capital city of Libreville. A few things I've learned about the city so far: It's really hot and humid here, but the dry season is coming so it will cool off. There are around 800,000 people living here. They have most technology that we do-cars, t.v., internet, cell phones. The city is pretty modern looking except all the cars are 1980-90's. Also, the streets are filled with lots of small shops and venders where the people work. There are tons of dogs, cats, and chickens in the street. People drive like MANIACS here! There are driving laws but the police don't really enforce them. Everyone drives literally 70-80mph all the time, they honk constantly, and they swerve in and out of lanes (when there are actually lines painted). In the villages outside of Libreville, there is still electricity lines (sometimes help up by trees). Other than that, things are really rural! Here are a few pics of the town of Libreville:




Today we did another medical caravan. We also went to another village that we will be going to next Thursday and told them we were coming. On the way, we stopped at a family's house. The pastor with us preached to them in French and most of them prayed to receive salvation. It was great! We went to a Catholic church and school that was BEAUTIFUL! We got to meet the chief (pronounce chef haha) and also walked down to the water. On the way home, we stopped at a lady's house. Tim told us that earlier she had talked with the pastor and decided to stop selling stuff to witch doctors (potions and such). She wanted us to come and pray for her family. There were 13 kids there (7 were hers) and her husband. The preacher talked to them and prayed with them. Almost all the kids (the ones who were old enough) received salvation. Then we sang songs in French. The only word I knew was Allelujah-yet it was the most beautiful thing I've seen in a while.





That's all for now...gonna post this while the net is still up:)