Life is never what you expect...

Especially here in Congo...The month of December was filled with lots of...let's call them adventures! From teaching three weeks at the Bible school, with 46 students, each week had a schedule of it's own. As a teacher, who likes to be organized and have a routine, this doesn't jive with me, but I am learning! You roll with the punches here, whatever they may be. These weeks were filled with an unexpected funeral for the Bible school director on Thanksgiving day, a holiday announced the night before and school was cancelled 15 minutes before walking out the door, and a water heater that decided to explode at 4am on a Sat. morning bringing an 1.5 inches of water in my bedroom and for each of three evenings thereafter, it would steam out of control. Plumber after plumber... Needless to say, I am learning to deal with events like these and still keep my sanity. 

Chapel at the Bible school

I met this man, Jim, in 2005 when he came to help interpret for our missions team. He was not sure what he wanted to do with his life. He is in his 3rd and last year of Bible school. A requirement for this 3rd year is to preach in chapel.  It was great to see how far he has come.

Not one day in Africa looks like another! After three weeks of teaching, I scheduled 6 days of training for 4 schools, 150 teachers, which were incredibly rewarding! (Ok...maybe I wasn't thinking correctly when I scheduled all this...)  Not only did I get to meet different groups of teachers, but schools that were very different in size and attitude.  Please continue to pray for these schools and teachers, as they deal with many real issues, not just at school, but also their home lives.  Many of them hope for a better future and a better way of living.

You don't have a compass to make a circle, so you ask a friend for their shoelace....

 Et voila...A perfect circle!

 Group work on a first grade lesson plan

How to teach 8 different ways.

Active learning taking place...Finding partners for their "Partner Clock"

Christmas week was nice and sunny! It was great to spend time with missionary friends that are like family. We had a great time sharing gifts and food!  Of course nothing can replace your own family, but God has blessed me with some great friends to spend the holidays with, especially when your family is so far away!  Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas wherever you were in the world!