WEEK #1 (Nov. 28 - Dec. 6)
Dec. 6, Thursday
Karen Smith writes:
Today Judy, Ann, Cyndi and I (Karen) decorated the mission house for Christmas. It was a reminder of the celebration of Christ’s birth. Even though we have been experiencing July weather while serving in Africa in Dec., we can celebrate with our brothers and sisters in Christ during this wonderful season!
The guys got a lot of work done on the roof of the "cafeteria" at the Orphan Welcome Center (photos below).
Dec. 5, Wed.
SEE PHOTOS BELOW
Today was a very hot day. The guys "enjoyed" being out in the sun a little too much, came out a little redder than they were when they started.
Today was also another interesting day here in Bangui. After working with the orphans in morning and had lunch, the ladies enjoyed a gab fest in room #2 here in the guest house. It was great time just relaxing and interacting.
We ladies then went down to English class and enjoyed interacting w/all professional Africans learning English to be more internationally astute. Terrific people all of them and very intelligent. I really enjoyed interacting w/police commissioner Valerie, climatologist and Director of Bible Institute Sylvain and Abel, a gentleman who assists the missioners and very friendly. They all enjoy learning English and will be a great asset to the CAR. It was great for me to be in English class as I had not done this before, a very good experience.
At present it is evening time and the team is hanging out talking in the living room, taking it easy. We are seeing great progress in our assignments and missioner Tim is very thankful for all the team has accomplished thus far. God bless to all!
One of two groups doing math flash cards in the large
assembly room upstairs in the PHCC Orphan Center.
Cleaning and bandaging a headwound.
The cafeteris is really coming along! The guys put the ceiling
trusses up today.
The guys this afternoon, repairing benches of our sister church's
Christian
School. Yembi GBC is our partner church in starting this
Christian school for orphans.
Dec. 4, Tuesday
Ann writes:
I had a really good time at the Center today as we ladies on the team got to work with small groups of 10-12 students at a time. We used flash cards for a math competition. Winners received candy.
Cindy and I also continued to sort educational materials while Karen and Judy washed and treated heads for scabies.
A highlight of the day was for us to help serve lunch to the students. What a blessing it is to see so many smiling faces!
The men built trusses for the vocational center, finished the foundation for the shipping containers that are being used for storage and put the main support beams up and cut support rafters for the kitchen.
We were treated to a typical African meal for lunch. We had a salad with cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, carrots; fried plantains, gozo, rice with meat in red sauce, and ngunza -- green stuff made with the gozo leaves, peanut butter.
In the afternoon some of the ladies went to Heidi’s English class, then went swimming at the American Embassy pool. Some of the men went to Dr. Dibona’s house to put a roof on his outhouse (below) and to play football with his 17 children!
The guys putting a roof on Dr. Dibona's outhouse.
One of the special things about this trip is getting to know each other better as each night a different team member shares his/her life story during team time. Tonight everyone is tired. We are adjusting to the heat and sleeping under mosquito netting and the frequent power outages. And there is nowhere else any of us wants to be right now than here--seeing God at work for His glory.
Dec. 3, Monday
Today Ben, Doug, Norm, and Tim worked on the container again. The main thing we did today on the container was we poured 6 more holes of concrete. Then we had to move the one container over the pads we poured the other day so we could dig the other 2 holes and pour them with cement.
Bill and Kevin worked on putting a roof on the guard shack, and then they put a roof on the outhouse at the center.
The ladies passed out food for the kids at lunch. Also, the ladies did wound care today for the kids and played flash card games with them in small groups.
In the afternoon some of the group went to see the local grocery store, and the others either went shopping or took a tour with Tim around the city. In the evening we had team time. Kevin lead devotions and we had a great prayer time together, praying for one another.
Dec. 2, Sunday
Today we got to go to church at Yembi and met Pastor Livingston, the senior pastor. Pastor Norm got to preach today’s sermom. Norm preached on the condition of the heart and how we have to guard our heart. Norm’s message really seemed to connect with the people of Yembi.
During the week this place where we are sitting becomes a
Christian school for orphans. This is the school that the Ashland GBC
has partnered with Yembi GBC to start. .
After the service, Pastor Livingston graced our group with a lunch served
outside, at a beautiful point overlooking the villages near the church.
We then returned to the mission guest house and had lunch again and then took naps J After siesta Ginger gave our group a tour of the compound where we are staying, and we got to pick some fresh fruit off of the fruit trees here in the compound.
Later in the evening we had dinner, and Tim and Ginger Hock gave their testimonies. Their testimonies we very moving. After the team time we watch a movie together and just enjoyed hanging out together. We are looking forward to making it out to the center tomorrow and getting back to work J
Dec. 1 -- Independence Day!
Ben writes:
Today was Independence day, a national holiday here in C.A.R. so there was no work to be done today at the center. We took the day to tour of the city and see a lot of the city and market places. We also got to see where the “rich” people and the poorer parts of the city.
Our team inside the Castors GBC, the first GBIM in Bangui, CAR
Tim and Ginger were our tour guides and they took us to the first Grace Brethren Church in Bangui. The church has roughly 3000 members that attend weekly. It was amazing to see how God’s hand has been at work for so long here in the C.A.R.
Later on in the day we took a trip down to the river to see the boat races. This was amazing, there were approximately 40-50 men in these canoes and somehow they kept them from tipping over, we are still not sure how J The president of the C.A.R. started the races from a small rock island, he was heavily guarded with military around him.
The ladies enjoying the boat races from their "perch" above the
Oubangui River. We were at the Sofitel Hotel veranda.
Later in the evening we had dinner, and team time. Pastor Norm talked about how God is faithful and he never fails us, even when we have doubts. The team is having a great time and looking forward to making it back out to the center to starting working again.
Nov. 30, Friday
Ben writes:
Today the main task for the men was to move a huge container (one like you see on an ocean liner transport ship) about 30 feet into its new location. We had to jack it up and use steel poles/rollers under it to move it around. We pushed it with Tim Hock ’s truck and then finally got it in place. Then our next task was to then jack it up and dig holes under it so we could set it on a concrete foundation so it would set level.
The ladies sorted educational materials for the children with Ginger. They also shook at least 1000 little hands at the orphan welcome center J
Then we had dinner this evening at the guest house with some of the GBIM missionaries living on the station . We had a great time of sharing how the Lord is working in our lives here in C.A.R.
Nov. 28: En Route -- Paris
"The Lord was good to us! In Paris we got to see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral. Rob & Nichole, GBIM staff in Paris, were GREAT tour guides and were very helpful.
Digging the Parisien life -- French pastries and coffee...
Nicole, our tour guide in Paris, at the Notre Dame
BANGUI
We made it to CAR without incident, except one bag of luggage didn’t make it. The Hocks picked us up at the airport and brought us back to the mission guest house where we had a great breakfast and then took a nap to help get over the jet lag.
After our nap, we had a nice lunch and then took another nap (we were pretty tired from the long trip). After that we took a trip up to the orphan welcome center where we met Madam Zokoe, who is the director of PHC's orphan care ministry at the Center. The orphans sang a song to us -- that was very touching.
After the tour we came back to the mission guest house and had dinner and then team night with singing and devotionals led by Pastor Norm Johnson."
* The Ashland GO Team's mission is to complete construction on PHC's Orphan Welcome Center kitchen and cafeteria, and start building a vocational training classroom.
