Finally an update!!

Hi everyone!

I apologize for the huge delay in updates!! The connection has been awful here!! I am using Dr Martin’s cell phone to connect today!

I am going to post all the updates that I have written since last week- its super long so don’t read all of it if you don’t want to!! I am leaving N’Dali Thursday morning so I will try to make one last post on Wednesday before I go! I will be traveling to the city of Cotonou all day Thursday and doing some sight-seeing on the way! My plane leaves Friday evening so I will get to spend all day Friday hanging out in Cotonou! Should be fun! My plane gets to the states Saturday afternoon. Please be praying for safe travels for me!

Here is my weekend update:

This weekend has been pretty good and has gone by quickly! Saturday morning I spent some quality time with Mama Ben at the market and then I went with her to the hair salon and watched her get her hair done for over 2 hours! It was long but it was fun to chat with all the ladies in the salon! Saturday afternoon I washed clothes that I’ll need for the trip to Cotonou and for the way home and then I walked around Dr Martin’s neighborhood with Mama Ben and the kids! It was a nice Saturday!
Sunday has also been good! Dr Martin told me a few days ago that he wanted me to sing for everyone in church but I am thankful that I didn’t have to! We never prepared a song in time for church today so instead I gave a little thank you talk at the end of the service! At this church, before anyone starts giving announcements or does a sermon they always yell, “Alleluia!” and everyone yells back “Amen!” So I decided to do the same before I started talking! It was funny to watch the reactions on peoples’ faces! It must have been funny for the congregation to watch a white girl yell “Alleluia!” I could tell by the look on their faces afterwards that they weren’t expecting it! Ha! Everyone laughed and yelled “Amen” back so it was all good!

Sunday afternoon I spent with Sonsona; we hung out at her place for a bit and then drove around N’Dali on the motorbike! It’s really cool how God has changed my heart about her…I used to be so mad at her everyday because she was one of the nurses who was not always kind to the patients, but now I am getting to know her and am learning that she actually works very hard and she has become one of my closest friends here! Amazing!! I never would have guessed that during the first few weeks of June!

Que Dieu vous bénisse! (God bless!)

Update for Friday:
Hey,

Today has been busy at the clinic! This morning after devotions we took the group photo of all the staff at the clinic! We got almost everyone in it and had to teach a patient how to use my camera so everyone could be in the picture! It was pretty funny but the sick guy figured it out and the picture turned out well!
I got to teach pregnant women today using the pamphlets I made! The morning ended up being a little more disorganized than I thought…I wasn’t planning on the midwife wanting to help but she decided that she wanted to help translate so we taught in one big group instead of little ones. It was frustrating because I knew that not all the women understood, but I went around and spoke with the women afterwards to make sure they understood and they did. I got a picture with all the women holding their pamphlets and that was definitely a special moment today- all my hard work paid off! All in all it turned out ok and hopefully the women will remember what they’ve learned!

The rest of the morning was alright- I helped the midwife with prenatal consultations which is a tiring task! The midwife had a bad attitude all morning so it just made the morning difficult! I really like working with pregnant moms though so I enjoyed helping where I could!

I’m not sure what this weekend will look like…I found out yesterday that I might be singing in front of the entire church Sunday as a final farewell! Ah! Other than that probably just chilling with the Osse family and getting ready to go!!
Take care and have a good weekend!

Updates from last Wednesday and Thursday

Hi everyone,
Yesterday and today have been pretty good! It seems that the days have become a little longer…probably because I know I will be coming home soon!
Yesterday was a busy day! I went to a village in the morning with Philippe to watch him give a health and Bible lesson. It is always fun to visit villages and go around and greet people knowing only the word for “hi!” and “I’m fine!” Ha it was a great visit though and at the end of the lessons the women and children danced for me! Philippe told me I should dance with them so I jumped in and Philippe got a video of the whole thing. It was pretty funny!!

After we got back I finally printed off all my pamphlets for the pregnant women and went to the copy place to make copies for tomorrow! (Dad I kept thinking about you and thinking that I was in the “DigiCopy of Africa” ha!) I then had a nice long lunch break that included a nap and came back to help with a delivery! A baby boy was born feet first so it was tough to get him out…Dr Martin helped though and the baby was just fine! I was definitely tired afterwards though! I took the nurse Sonsona home so she could shower and change before she had to work all night. While I was with her she gave me the gift that her friend, Ymoru, gave me. This was by far the most bizarre gift I have ever received! It was a big statue of a village woman with a plate on her head with 4 people in it. So strange! The best and weirdest part is that my name is on the bottom by the woman’s feet! I laughed so hard when I saw it because it is just so strange! I am excited to bring it home and show everyone!

Today has been a bit of a slower day. I helped out in the clinic this morning and then worked on a Powerpoint presentation a bit for Dr Martin. This afternoon after I ate lunch and chilled for a bit I went back to his house to lay in the sun! I spent about a half hour in the sun and Mama Ben kept telling me it was too hot and too sunny! Ha! It was funny though and I sure didn’t mind relaxing in the sun! This afternoon there isn’t much to do at the clinic…I have finished most of my little projects for Dr Martin and there aren’t many sick people today. I know tomorrow will be busy though so I don’t mind a break in the action!