Hey everyone!!

So much has happened since I last wrote... It's almost overwhelming!

Let's start with last weekend.... Kelsey and I spent the 12th through the 16th living in a village called Zamaka with a wonderful family... it's about 22 km outside of Abengourou. We've been there before; on Fridays we usually go out to the same village with Andy to do a bible story telling group. This experience... It was... beyond words. I can't even begin to tell you how much I learned about African people, life, and the world in general.
Before I left for Africa, I had a chance to eat with my dad's friend, Sherman. Sherman is Ghanaian; Ghana is the country that's right next door to Ivory Coast (we're only like 30 minutes away from the border in Abengourou). His parents are from Ghana, he visits Ghana often, and he even has a son that lives in the capitol of Ghana. So we met with him because he knew more about West African culture than anyone else my family knows. When I explained to Sherman what I'd be doing this summer and where I'd be going, I think he had in mind that I'd be living in a village very similar to Zamaka the whole summer (he wasn't as familiar with Ivorian cities, so understandably he didn't know for sure whether Abengourou was a town or a village [it's a town])... he had described village culture to me, trying to get me to understand what it'd be like. I listened, but honestly, I didn't really absorb what he was talking about until I was thrown into the middle of it last weekend. Sherman had said that there was no greater experience in the entire world that a young American girl like me could have than living in a west African village... he was 100% right. I could go on forever about what I learned and saw and how I grew as a person last weekend, but I have so much more to blog about! I REALLY encourage you all to go read Kelsey's blog post about our stay in Zamaka... she's a fantastic writer, and gave some great insights to village life. Check it out here. Seriously, go read it! And when you see me in person next, please please please ask me about Zamaka -- it was a life changing weekend.

OKAY. Next topic of blogging -- the festival!

Last week after we got back from the village, Kelsey and I had a bunch of stuff to do! We had been planning on having a kind of festival/field day/party for the kids in the school children program. All those families we had been visiting 3 times a week for the past month were coming to the clinic! We had a lot to do to get ready, so we spent the week running around buying stuff, making gift bags, filling water balloons, ordering snacks, and other various party-planning activities. It was a lot to do, but Saturday finally came and the festival was a complete success! We played lots of games, had relay races, took a bunch of pictures, and gave each child a snack and a gift bag with candies and some school supplies. I think everyone had a really great time, and we're super glad everything worked out really well!

On Sunday, we went to a village church that was about 20 or so minutes outside of town. This was a really interesting church service because the focus was on implementing a CHE (or Community Health Evangelism) program. They gave a CHE lesson about how God doesn't really want us to live in poverty, and so many of the problems that the communities faces can be addressed with the resources they have on hand. They really encouraged the church to take leadership in their community and identify resources that the community has, using them to solve community health problems. The coolest thing about the CHE lesson was how interactive the teaching was. People were encouraged to get up and participate in a small activity, and afterwards were encouraged to discuss what they learned and how these lessons can be applied towards CHE. It was really great to see how effective CHE was at teaching these lessons in an engaging way and to see the community really learning about how they can fix many of their problems together.

Today, we got to work with the chicken farm program a little! Kelsey and I actually went up to the farm and collected eggs... I even picked up a chicken! It was kind of scary because I'd never actually touched a live chicken.... but I did it! These chickens lay SO many eggs. It's kind of out of control. Calm down, chickens!!! But in all seriousness, this program is really awesome... it's completely self-sustainable and has a 100% profit margin. Furthermore, it encourages better nutrition in the community, and it can give many families a way to earn money by selling eggs in the market for the chicken farm, thus turning into a kind of micro enterprise program for many families. Really great program!

Okay, I think that's all I have right now. And I know what you're thinking right now... where are all your pictures?? I have been taking pictures still; I promise. I just presently don't know where the computer adapter is for my memory card right now and haven't had a chance to look for my spare one. I promise I'll write again before I go home next week and add pictures (can you believe I leave next week???).

Love you all SO much, thanks for your relentless prayers and undying support... keep praying for the Gables, Kelsey and I, and this awesome ministry out here in Ivory Coast!