So recently the Benkadi team took a little vacation to Burkina Faso, just like last year. Our first stop was at the Nazinga wildlife park. There we saw elephants, warthogs, and lots of antelope. Even though it was my second time, I was still amazed at just how huge elephants are, especially when you're looking at them without a fence separating you!

From there our team split up, most of the group went back south to Banfora to swim at the waterfalls, while a few of us went…

These last two months, my life has just been all over the place. Every week it seems like I'm in a new place or with new people, and definitely doing something very different from the week before. But at least things aren't getting boring. I can't think of a way to describe what my last two months, I've just been doing lots of different little things.



So right after spending Christmas in Korhogo, I headed down to Bouake and met up with the whole Journey Corps team so that we could…

So this Christmas I was really lucky to go back to Korhogo and spend the week with my host family. It was actually my first time celebrating Christmas here because last year I had parasites! It had been two months since I had been able to see my friends and family there and it was soooo good to be back!

One of the best things parts of coming back was seeing my little brother Enoch who can talk now! He greeted me with a huge smile and a hug and was going around to everyone…

So how do I summarize the last month? I'm not sure, I've been busier than I've ever been here and I'm trying to remember the highlights.

Orientation for the Journey Corps 2012 team is almost over! There's only one week left before they move in with their host families! During this time, I've been doing lots of translating, as I wrote about before. I guess you could say translating seminars from French to English is my main job, along with just kind of taking care of things…

So I'll be honest, I'm not sure where to start this blog. I just looked at my calender to see how long it has been since the new team got here, and it's been a month. Seriously??? I don't believe it! Where the heck did the last four weeks go? So far we've done seminars on culture and the stress and shock that can come with living in a new one, current sicknesses and diseases, and hygiene/day-to-day life in an Ivorian home.

Again, I can't believe how fast this month has gone,…

Well the Journey Corps Fall 2012 team has arrived and we just finished week two of orientation! These two weeks have been a blur of new faces, new names, explaining culture, translating, talking, talking, and more talking. So much has changed now with a whole new group but I'm so excited to see what changes are to come during their next 11 weeks of orientation.

I'm not really sure what to tell you guys that will be of any interest to you but I would like to say thank you to…

Last week was a marathon of a week. As I had mentioned before it was the National J-AEBECI Camp. In other words, summer camp for all the youth of our church association. There were so many times during the week when I had flashbacks of summer camp at Hume Lake, but also many things that were totally opposite.

First off, youth camp here doesn't mean 11- 18 year olds like it would it the States. There were campers from around 19 to their late twenties. So transitioning from…

Where has the month of August gone? I kind of freaked out this morning when I searched for the date in my devotional book and really realized that it's already the 26th.

August has been a month of preparation. Steph and I have been spending lots of time around our dorm arranging and cleaning things, preparing rooms, and tying up loose ends. And somehow we managed not to get sick of each other after spending the majority of our time always together.

Although…

One Year.



Yeah, it's been that long. Can you believe it? I can't.

I still remember waiting for my flight at the San Jose Airport and thinking, "Is this really happening?" It definitely didn't feel real at the time, and to be honest I'm not sure if it feels real now. It doesn't feel like I've been gone that long. Or does it? I don't know.

When it comes to talking about the fact that I've been here for a year, I don't have anything to say other than…

So yes, I've already told you all that I'd like to stay in Cote d'Ivoire a second year. But where am I at exactly? Well here ya' go.

This is the last month that I'll be living with my family here in Korhogo. My first year will be finished so it would be the natural time to move out. From there I'll be moving to Bouaké, back to the campus I lived on my first few months here. So I'll get started on preparing for the new Journey Corps team coming in September and the medical…

My first year (and hopefully not the only year) in Cote d'Ivoire is coming near it's end as I've been here for ten months now. So I felt like it was time for one of those long "so what have I learned" type blogs.

So what have I learned? So many things, but for one: I am WEAK. I never expected that. I'm not sure what I expected, maybe something closer to some sort of mountain-top missionary experience and to always be happy and everything would be so easy. I tried not to have…

So it's been a little awhile and I'm not sure what to write. Things just continue as normal. And when I say normal, I mean normal. Tens months in, I don't know what to write because most stuff doesn't stand out in my mind anymore.



As much as the daily or weekly routine gets normal there are certain things that make me think, "I'm definitely not in the States anymore."



Such as being at church and hearing the guy directing the service ask the Senoufo choir to sing something…

Us four girls in Korhogo just finished a Bible study on joy. It was a really great reminder to always rejoice in the Lord and find joy in every day life. Even when things get hard or just less exciting than when I first arrived, it's so important to have joy! So I've been thinking a lot about all my favorite things here and trying to make sure I find joy even in the little things. Here's a list of my favorite things about life in Korhogo, Cote d'Ivoire.

- Frozen Tampico. It's…

So as I had mentioned before, I had the possibility of participating in the P.E. class and playing volleyball at College Don Bosco. Everything worked out and I started last week!

Monday and Tuesday mornings, I go to the school and participate in the class. I taught them how to play volleyball, which was interesting because none of them had every played before. I also just participate in whatever they're doing. To be honest, I'm not really sure what my importance there is, but…

I'm going to assume if you're reading my blog, you've been following them throughout the last nine months, so I'm going to skip the summary of the year and get straight to the point!

Now the choice has been presented to me to stay with Journey Corps for a second year. A year ago I said, "Sure God, I'll give you this year of my life and serve you in Africa. After that, I'm going straight back to America to continue with my plans and go to school, because that's…

The Bible study I talked about in an earlier blog has started. It's every Wednesday at noon at a high school in my neighborhood, College Bethlehem. It's a private Christian school but just like Christian schools in the U.S. not all the students are Christian. So it's interesting that out of the entire school maybe 10-20 students come. As you can imagine, being at lunch time, some kids would rather go home to eat than come. It reminds me a lot of my days in the Christian club at my high…

As many differences as I experience every day there are some things that never change despite the country or culture. Sure my house doesn't have running water, I eat rice every single day, everybody is always late, and if I eat in front of someone I have to be sure to invite them to eat with me. However, I still find similarities all over the place.

Such as the protective big brother. I have a neighbor who is the definition of creepy and a fetisher, he really wants to marry me…

Lately I feel like I've had so much going on but when I actually think about it, it's really not that much. In my mind it just feels like it 1) because everything takes extra thinking when you're not in your own culture or speaking English, 2) I've had a lot more to do than last month, and 3) I've just had a lot to think about.

Right now my life consists of going to church on Sunday, then visiting people and finding ways to occupy my time on Monday and Tuesday, working at a…

"For I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

So our team has been studying the book of Romans together. And although I've read it before, reading it here I get different things out of it than I did before. Like the…

My little 1 1/2 year-old brother Enoch is the my main source of entertainment at home. One night, he was just lifting up his shirt and staring at his bellybutton and walking around. He walked up to me on the couch and showed it to me and then turned around and walked away, still looking down at his bellybutton. He kept walking right smack into the wall, turned, and continued all the while just staring at his bellybutton!

As funny as he is, Enoch is a fussy little guy. But he…