Camp!

We spent this past week at camp! It was quite an experience. Just to give you a little idea about the kinds of obstacles that have become the norm for us: We left last Sunday at 8:00 in the morning, which really means 11:30. We drove into Freetown and picked up food supplies for the first day of camp, which took about 1 1/2hours. We finally got to the camp at about 2:30, and waited for the kids to arrive! And waited and waited. Because it is not common for families to have cars, the COTN bus(which is an actually school bus from the States), picked up the kids and brought them. I have never seen so many children packed into a bus, it was amazing. And they had to make a couple trips to get all the children there. Once they were there is was great seeing their excitment! I was in charge of showing the kids to their cabins, and it was great to see looks on their faces when they saw who was in their cabin. We are learning that some things are universal, such as the way excitment is shown on the face of children everywhere
The place that we stayed was actually a university. This university just happened be near the place that a lot of the fighting happened during the war. So you could still the effects. By our standards, you would think that the place was abandoned, but that is not so. Things here happen very slowly, so a lot of 'clean-up' just hasn't been done.
The camp really went great. I kept trying to remember back to my camp days. It was great to see the children interacting with eachother and just being kids!
I'd love to write more, but my ride is getting a little anxious! So good-bye for now, thank you for all your prayers.

Here We Are!!!

Hey Everyone!
We finally get to post a message! We are having a wonderful time here in Africa. Everything is so amazing and God is blessing us beyond what we ever expected. We have been very busy with Health Week and we just rapped up VBS this last week, which was the craziest VBS I've (kelsy) ever been involved in. 200 kids, ages 2-16 in 1 room the size of a living room was just nuts! We leave for camp tomorrow with all the kids from the orphanage, which we are all looking forward to. We have all been very healthy, except for Kelsy having some minor stomach problems, if you know what I mean! God is blessing us in that area! The children are so wonderful and loving. We are building so many great relationships with the nationals and can't wait to build more.
Our home is very nice and the food is much better than we all expected. Considering our surroundings, we live in a very "posh" house and the best part is, we have running water, most of the time. We have no electricity, except at night when we turn on the generator. We are living very comfortably! It might be different when we travel up country though.
We were able to read the children's files in the home last week and found out what happened to their parents and what their history is, and it was very difficult. But to be able see that and experience the love of these children is a miracle in itself. The children have the most beautiful personalities and some of them have so much spunk, or as they would say here, they are frisky! As each day goes by of getting the know the kids better, it is eveident that God is at work here and is preparing these kids for the future of his kingdom. It is so exciting to take part in that!
Kristen is getting into the flow of being here for a year and has met all the teachers at the school. The kids are on break right now, but will be back in Sep. Her official title here is a "consultant." She'll be working with the teachers to better their skills.
Julie is the resident jungle gym! All the kids just love to climb all over her and she does so well with them. She has really bonded with one of the little girls named Phoebe, who has cerebral palsey, and she does really well with her.
Kelsy, is staying busy with planning VBS and I'm loving every second with the kids. I had a chance to meet several hundred kids in the community through VBS and that was really awesome.
Our team here is great and we are all getting along. We truly are turning into a tight knit little family. It is going to be hard to say goodbye!
Some prayer requests we have right now are continued health and energy for camp. Also, please pray for our team up in Banta, they have been dealing with a lot of spiritual warfare and could really use your prayer.
Thank you for all your prayers and support, we can't wait to get home and tell all of you more. We don't know when we will next get to write, so just keep checking up. We love you all!!!
~kelsy, kristen, julie

Here We Are!!!

Hey Everyone!
We finally get to post a message! We are having a wonderful time here in Africa. Everything is so amazing and God is blessing us beyond what we ever expected. We have been very busy with Health Week and we just rapped up VBS this last week, which was the craziest VBS I've (kelsy) ever been involved in. 200 kids, ages 2-16 in 1 room the size of a living room was just nuts! We leave for camp tomorrow with all the kids from the orphanage, which we are all looking forward to. We have all been very healthy, except for Kelsy having some minor stomach problems, if you know what I mean! God is blessing us in that area! The children are so wonderful and loving. We are building so many great relationships with the nationals and can't wait to build more.
Our home is very nice and the food is much better than we all expected. Considering our surroundings, we live in a very "posh" house and the best part is, we have running water, most of the time. We have no electricity, except at night when we turn on the generator. We are living very comfortably! It might be different when we travel up country though.
We were able to read the children's files in the home last week and found out what happened to their parents and what their history is, and it was very difficult. But to be able see that and experience the love of these children is a miracle in itself. The children have the most beautiful personalities and some of them have so much spunk, or as they would say here, they are frisky! As each day goes by of getting the know the kids better, it is eveident that God is at work here and is preparing these kids for the future of his kingdom. It is so exciting to take part in that!
Kristen is getting into the flow of being here for a year and has met all the teachers at the school. The kids are on break right now, but will be back in Sep. Her official title here is a "consultant." She'll be working with the teachers to better their skills.
Julie is the resident jungle gym! All the kids just love to climb all over her and she does so well with them. She has really bonded with one of the little girls named Phoebe, who has cerebral palsey, and she does really well with her.
Kelsy, is staying busy with planning VBS and I'm loving every second with the kids. I had a chance to meet several hundred kids in the community through VBS and that was really awesome.
Our team here is great and we are all getting along. We truly are turning into a tight knit little family. It is going to be hard to say goodbye!
Some prayer requests we have right now are continued health and energy for camp. Also, please pray for our team up in Banta, they have been dealing with a lot of spiritual warfare and could really use your prayer.
Thank you for all your prayers and support, we can't wait to get home and tell all of you more. We don't know when we will next get to write, so just keep checking up. We love you all!!!
~kelsy, kristen, julie