Beading and Bible Study

Last weekend, the Niakara youth girls were so happy to have their friend Jessica Willman back in town. Jess and her husband Steve were two Journeyers who lived in Niakara for 9 months last year, just before I moved there. They lived on the church property with the pastor’s family and were loved by everyone around. Still to this day I can walk through Niakara and hear kids call out “Yili!” which is Jess’ Ivorian name. After their host family time ended, the Willmans moved over to Benin where they now work with a Christian Radio Station. But we were privileged to have them come back for a visit!

Since Jess was in town the weekend of our Girls Group, we asked her to share with us about her transition to Benin and what God has been teaching her. All of us could relate to her story about the struggle of serving and loving those who are hard to love. We were reminded that God has blessed us and loves us immensely; therefore we ought to love others without expecting anything in return.

Bathing Elephants

Early on in the month, we made a looooonng road trip. I was picked up in my little town, Niakaramandougou (to give you the full name) and eventually made it as far north as Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. But along the way, we (the entire Journey Corps team) stopped at an animal game park called Nazinga. We spent a couple of days there. Aside from lots of just hanging out as a team, we took a few rides out into the park in search of elephants, antelope, warthogs, and whatever else we could find. It was very humbling to see God's handiwork in His creation. West Africa has landscaping and creatures that are completely different from North America, including one of the largest animals on our planet. To see elephants up close and personal was unbelievable. There was a small lake just behind our cabins where the elephants came to bathe in the hottest time of the day. I enjoyed observing their movements, interactions, and noises as they submerged themselves in water to cool off and play.

Family, as of late.

Oh I wish I could tell you how much I am beginning to love my family. Now, I can't say that I love every aspect of my living situations, but my family, I truly adore. Here are some pictures from the past months. You'll notice how my baby brother Ebenezer is growing like a weed. Now that he's 9 months, he has gotten to the "object permanence" stage, which means he knows mom still exists when she's not in view. That makes him less interested in me and more fussy when he's not with mom. Sad. But, I'll get over it. He's still so stinkin' adorable. 

Lovin' the hammock, at least for 5 seconds.

The two other boys, Sammy and Alfonce, are also growing and are just as sweet and goofy as ever. They loved having a visit from their older girl cousin, pictured on the left.

My sisters and I have been bonding so much more, thanks to advancements in French that have widened our conversation topics, as well as opened the door for me to be a little sassy with them once in awhile. 

I finally got up the courage to have my hair braided. I really didn't want to for so long because they girls told me it would hurt so bad. Well thankfully they were wrong. I had Lina and the other Journeyer girls who came to Niakara for a visit go first. After they made it out without a major headache, I gave Affou permission to do mine too. My sister Suzanne exclaimed, "Emily, you are beautiful! You are African now!"

This disgusting creature was killed about 20 yards from the front porch of our house. I'm thankful I only saw it after it was decapitated. However, the body was still squirming around and it's muscles responded to every touch. All of my sisters wanted me to touch it so I had to prove I could be courageous. Now, even though the thing was dead, it's movement didn't make it easy to touch! We had a young guy cook it up for us. I can wholeheartedly say that viper is very tasty.

Another yummy surprise: termites. It took more mental energy to NOT think about the fact I was eating the bugs that had swarmed our porch light the night before. But all in all, I give termites a thumbs up. They taste a lot like onion chips.

One of my favorite scenes ever. Can't remember if I've already posted a picture of baby-in-a-bucket, but here you go. It's genius. Remind me to do this with my kids someday.