Just a quick update

to let you know everything is okay with us. If you heard about the earthquake a few days ago or the bombings yesterday they were both on different islands then where we are at. Please continue to pray for the safety of all the teams here and that we'll use our remaining time, less then two weeks, to our fullest advantage in sharing the love of Christ with the people.

Not too much has been going on. We made a trip back to the village 5 hours away one day to help pass out medicine. We will be going back to that village to retrieve our team phone that was "misplaced" there. It'll be our 4th time having to tell those kids "bye". On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays we are going to the refugee camps and having Sunday school with the kids. We shared the message of Jesus and salvation in the villages on Monday and Tuesday but weren't able to in the village Wednesday. We will do it next Wednesday. The middle schoolers are back at the children's home. The rest of the kids will come back next week. We'll only have a week with all the kids back and then it'll be time for us to leave.

Just for fun. This is some of what we eat. Rice, chicken, rice, noodles, rice, potatoes, rice, fish, rice, green stuff(lots of vegetables fall under this category), rice, chicken, rice, carrots, rice, tofu, rice, chicken, rice, goat, rice.

-Emily

update

Well we are back at the children's home for the remainder of our time. We really enjoyed our time in the village and I think I can speak for all of us and say we all wil miss the children and people from the village. We did the same things there we've been doing, with the main thing being leading Sunday school each day for the kids.  

The last day that we led Sunday School in the village we were planning to teach about the death and resurrection of Christ and slavation. That same day there was a christening in the Catholic church so we were expecting significantly fewer kids to show up. We were a little late getting to where we have Sunday school and when we got there there were less then 10 kids. We waited a little longer to see if any other kids were coming. I can't describe the joy i felt when slowly but surely more kids started coming from all directions. God is so good! There were about 40 children which is about what we were having the other days and 5 parents. Many of the kids that came came for the first time that day.  I don't know if any kids accepted Christ that day but we told the most important message we could ever share with them. We were able to  plant that seed. 

-Emily

another update so soon!

The plan as of now is to leave tomorrow and to stay in the village for 8 days. We will continue to do the bible stories with the children there as well as bible studies with the adults each day and whatever else we can (such as fetching water) to help out some of the families. On the 1st Cecil along with our supervisor will be flying out to another island. Please pray for their safe travel. Please also pray for the health of our team. We are all getting sick with coughing and runny noses.

-Emily

quick update

The village was not nearly as rough as we were expecting it to be. We led a bible story and songs each day there just like we did in the other villages we visited. We also did some prayer walking through the village, visited with a few people, and had house church with some of the adults one night. In the afternoons after the story and songs we would go down to the beach with the kids and play games. We got to watch the sunset when we were at the beach. It was amazing! Watching it I am in awe and am reminded of God's great power and beauty. We will be going back to the children's home for a few days and it's still up in the air whether or not we'll be able to go back to the village. Sorry this is such a short update. We are almost halfway through, time sure flies by! Thank you so much for your prayers and comments!

-Emily

Emily says...

We have continued staying at the children's home and building relationships with the kids there. We have visited 4 refugee camps/villages. Just to give you an idea of these villages, one of them was a large building with basically cubicle like structures made of sticks which were the families' home. Going to these places really gives us a new appreciation for many things we take for granted. Monday we will leave the children's home to go stay in a village similar to the ones we have visited. We are a bit nervous because we don't know what exactly to expect, what we will be doing, or even how long we will be there! We are ready though. We'll really be putting "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength," to the test. I know we can do it, for us it will only be a few weeks at most. Some of the children we have gotten to know at the home are from this village, not to mention the many other children we haven't met yet who live in these villages. It's not just a few weeks for them, it's life.

Just a few more random tid-bits: we've been having an unwelcome visitor in our room the past few nights while we are trying to sleep. A rat!

There are some things that seem pretty universal: 1. God, 2. smiles, 3. high-fives, 4. kids with bubblewrap

To the Jefferson people, we are going through the book of Acts for our daily quiet times, this makes me think of y'all every morning.

so far...

We all got here safely. Our first four days were spent on one island for orientation. Most teams are staying on that island. Our team and one other flew out Monday to different islands. Right now we are staying at a children's home. We will be there for two weeks. In the afternoons we've been going to refugee camps and sharing stories with the children. When our two weeks with the children's home are done we will be going to the villages. We don't really know to much what to expect in the villages.

Please keep the other teams in your prayers too. Because of the island we are on we shouldn't encounter the problems one of the other teams have had but they were questioned by police and all their materials were taken.

-Emily

Soon and very soon...

but not until after about 22-23 hours in the air, we will all be at our destination. Krista is already there. I'm not sure when Ashley leaves, either tomorrow or Tuesday and I leave Tuesday. Ashley and I should be meeting up for the last leg of our flights. As of right now I'm not feeling excited or nervous anymore, though I'm sure this will change the day I'm supposed to leave. I'm not feeling much of anything except ready, ready to just go ahead and get over there and begin doing whatever it is we will be doing (vague much, about what we'll be doing?). We'll spend our first few days in orientation before heading off to where we'll be the rest of the time. Please pray for safe travel.

Departure

Ashley here. I am getting very excited about this summer. I can't wait to meet everybody and share the goodness of Jesus with these precious people! Pray for our team!

Three Weeks Until

Well Family and Friends we will be leaving in roughly three weeks. I can not believe that our time to leave is here already. I am so excited to see what is in store for Emily, Krista, and I. I know we will be blessed beyond measure. Pray that we will do God's will and that He gives us insight to do the right thing with the right words. It will be tough to leave each and every one of you. But, this is what He has planned for us and all of us will be blessed. Keep in Prayer!
God Bless.

Ashley

Here's the plan!

I'm trying to get the hang of this (using the blog that is) but I'm not sure I know what I'm doing yet. Krista, Ashley, and I (Emily) will try to keep you, our family and friends, updated throughout the summer on what we're doing.

-Emily