Tuesday, December 2, 2008

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas...in my heart!

I think that today was the last day of me being Sheila. She is planning on coming back to school tomorrow. The doctor seems to think she is ready to come back, so that is great news! I will be glad to have her in the classroom again. This has been wonderful experience for me as I have been full time in and out of the classroom; however, I wish it was under different circumstances (Sheila not being sick).

Sunday I went to church with Alice and the kids. Church was wonderful as usual. After church I went with Pete and the two guys left from the team that I met last week, to Dorkus House. This is a new project that the CMA has started to help women. Here woman do not have much status. Prostitution is a way of life for many…it is survival. This facility is in the middle of a remote village, seated on a lot of property. There are currently fifteen women from the age of 15 to 35 living there. Eventually, they want to house around 60. These women learn basic skills such as cooking, cleaning, hygiene, etc. They also are educated in school and taught some type of a profession like raising goats, growing crops, sewing, and others. The hope is that the women will stay here around a year to get on their feet and then go back home being able to survive financially, emotionally, and spiritually. The fifteen year old girl was there because she had a baby a month ago, and her family disowned her. This girl was so young. I tried to let the thought of a fifteen year old taking care of this baby alone in Burkina sink in. Thank God that there is a place that she can go and find the Lord. I was touched greatly by this ministry.

Monday after school I went to the orphanage for the last time since next Monday is Tabaski, and the students are off school. It was really hard for me to leave knowing that I may not see these kids again. Even more so, wondering if they will find a family…someone to love them. I think that the orphanage has broken my heart the most since I have been here.

This evening I met up with Marie and Elizabeth at the school. We ate dinner at the school’s restaurant. As I was waiting for them to come, I did some planning and then played the guitar. The other K/1 teacher has one, so I figured that it was time to break it out. The soreness of my fingers is a good indicator of how long it has been since I’ve played! Dad, I can’t wait to have some jam sessions with you! : ) The girls came just a few minutes after seven, so we were able to have a good amount of time to talk and eat. Elizabeth asked me if I wanted to sing a song with them in church in two weeks. I told them that this Sunday would be my last Sunday, so they asked for some paper, and we quickly got writing in French and English. We are going to sing “Give Thanks” which is one of my favorites. They have studied English, so their pronunciation is great, but my French pronunciation is HORRIBLE!! So, most of the time was spent breaking up the words for me. Once we sang it once in French, they said that I was ready to sing it. Here they wanted me to sing alone in French…yeah right! I kind of just made up the words as I went along, following them. So, I explained that with the short amount of time, we should all sing together. So, who knows! I am excited to sing with them and to give thanks to God for all that He has done on my last Sunday here in Burkina.

Well, I am not far from bed. I hope that your week is off to a great start. I can imagine that it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas there...not so much here! However, I am getting in the Christmas spirit by listening to lots of Christmas music. How I love it! : )

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