The best week in Africa??

I've had a lot of really good weeks here.  It's hard to say that this particular week was the BEST but it's very close.  We had an English camp for our University students mid-January.  The theme was "Running the Race" - and we talked about how life can be described as a race with it's ups and downs.  We used the TobyMac song "Eye On It" and talked about those lyrics.  A sub-theme was the Olympics.  We looked at different bloopers of things gone wrong in the Olympics and then talked about what do we do when life doesn't go the way we like?  And we finished off the week looking at the Hebrews 12 passage.  We also watched and discussed Chariots of Fire and Eric Liddell.

We had different discussion groups that were mixed levels to talk about these things.  They were the colors of the Olympic flags.  It got to be a pretty heated race :)  And we always take a trip to Goree Island which is known for its importance in the slave trade.  In order to make it a fun learning experience, our Canadian colleague, Geoff, last camp started a scavenger hunt type race in order to explore the island.  We decided we would continue that every time but change it up slightly.  The winning team would be displayed proudly at the center.  And whose team was the winning one???  THE GREEN TEAM! 

A volunteer team from J. Piper's area came to assist us and serve alongside us this week.  There were three people in their 80s.  When we found this out, we were all a little concerned.  But those three people, I want to be like them one day.  They were WITH it.  This was the BEST volunteer team I have ever worked with.  They were sooo loving toward the students and we all bonded immediately.  Their time had definitely been bathed in pryer.  I have never seen an African cry.  But there were definitely tears shed at the end of this week which is a HUGE testament to these volunteers that they loved.  

Here is the camp video for the week:




Each morning the ERC did Olympic parody skits. I tried to make them one long video but it took too long to upload so I had to make them four separate videos. They are meant to be silly and with the theme that the "last shall be first."  It was so much fun planning these and the students loved them!  You must listen carefully to the commentary made by our token Brit - Andrew - as he has some very funny sarcastic lines.




In the next one, since Andrew is the only non-American, we as a team have fun going back and forth with him.  So he decides to be funny and introduce me saying, "American by birth but has adopted a British nationality... "  We really do work with the BEST people here - both our coworkers and the students are phenomenal.



The next video is the weightlifting skit:



And last, the 3000 meter hurdle.



Also, MY DAD CAME TO VISIT!  He came halfway through the camp so he got to experience the camp and then a few days around town.  I think he loved the people but had mixed feelings about the place... haha!  Some days I feel the same exact way.

Dad's first of MANY taxi rides... which was definitely his favorite thing.

Dad with a student on the ferry to Goree Island:

And one of us at a new cafe that just opened up downtown.  Notice he's wearing an African shirt - this was a gift to him from the ladies that meet at our house on Sunday evenings:

So you can clearly see why I think this was one of the best weeks here!  It's weeks like these that just make you so incredibly thankful for what we are doing here!