Back!

We are home!!  Yahoo!  We all arrived throughout the day on Friday, tired, hungry and very dirty.  I had flies on me I was so dirty!  All of our walking was through muddy, swampy piles of dirt and pig poop. No wonder the flies liked me. I was talking to a lady the other day and she looks at me and says, "You have mud in your ear."  Haha. I had it everywhere.

What a fantastic time we had though. It was a beautiful time of showing God's love to the villagers around us.  I miss it.  The kids were my favorite part. I LOVED holding the babies and singing them songs, teaching them games, and talking to their Mommies.  Our group actually did two hikes. One the first week for two nights into Uldam and one the second week for one night into Hombuka.  Every group set up water tanks in the villages and brought them water bottles.  Good clean water is something they all need and now they have a chance to get it. 

We taught them about how HIV/AIDS are spread, we did lots of games and crafts with the kids, had a carnival, worked on fixing up the airstrip, dug trenches, painted, repaired buildings, sat with the people around the fires cooking vegetables, swam in the river and so much more. 

The last full day many of the people from the villages we hiked to came to the post in Kosarek to bring us gifts and to celebrate together. They brought us handmade nokins, (bags), and vegetables, and chickens, (live to take home). They cooked up a pig and some taro (veggie) for us to eat together. We cooked up some rice and we all feasted together outside. It was so special. They were thankful, so thankful for what we had done.  The next day many of them hiked back again to say good-bye to us and to thank us again.

I will write more about this whole experience later, but for now I wanted to send you my greetings along with some pictures. Thank you so much for the prayers. The time was so very precious and I consider it an honor that I was able to go.

Thanks for praying.

My friend, Lemina. 

This is how my feet looked most of the time.

Some of the honais in our village.

This is the village of Uldam.  That's the church in the background.
Can you see the church bell hanging?

Faith trying to learn about life in the village. 

One of the kiddos I got to play with.

Hula hoop contest.  Emma's winning.

Crossing the river with my girls.

Carrying in the water tank.

Installing the water tank on the corner of the church.
This will be the only source of clean water for this village.

Aldofa holding up a cross she just made during our kids club program.

My friend Silva invited us into her home and cooked us some
veggies over her fire.

This is a bathroom hut that the villagers built for the
girls.  Notice the banana leaf door.

To show their gratitude, the village of Hombuka gave us a chicken.

Spending time with some of the ladies in Kosarek.

Our last full day we had a carnival and a feast.

This little boy enjoyed a special treat - a pig foot.

Silva came from her village to say good-bye.

These puppies took a pounding.

Last view of the people of Kosarek.