Hey... can I buy your soda?!

Diane came baring gifts! Actually the entire team did! It seems like some of my friends from the first team had the FANTASTIC idea to send chocolate! Man! I love having friends. You guys rock!

But the best gift of all was seeing the kids enjoy opening gifts from Diane. Diane and I were both in tears when Hope opened a gift from Miranda. It was a little white stuffed dog. Hope opened her bag and screaming, “Oh Fluffy!” She misses her little white bishon dog SO much. Hope hugged the little dog to her chest and began to weep. It is so amazing how something so small can bring comfort here. It was an interesting part of missionary work I hadn’t experienced yet… Being separated from everything you know and love and then having a piece of it sent or brought to you. It is SO vital for maintaining morale. And the kids definitely needed the morale boost. Nate got an Inyuasha Video, Mike got donuts, and Amber got a book. They were all so happy.

Everyone was tired when they got to the house. We did everything to try to keep them awake for the full day. Uno, sorting gifts from the donors, drinking Coke, playing volleyball, talking politics (DID NOT HELP AT ALL!), and then learning some Kinyarwandan words from Uwimana (our security guard). They were counting the hours they had before they could go to sleep.

Tim Campbell was horrified at our house rule of only 1 pop a day. He is still trying to buy them off the other team members. That was worth a good laugh today. Also, Sue Blackburn was immediately loved by the staff here. She just sat right down with them and started trying to communicate. She is so fun!

The only bad part of today was learning that Amber now has pneumonia. Her lower right long is pretty full and she also developed a sinus infection. She is back on antibiotics. The poor thing is still in excellent spirits. But I feel really sad for her.

Ok… I am tired! Tomorrow is a big day… Tim S is preaching in a mountain church. I am really looking forward to it. I have missed his sermons! He actually visited his family today because he is leaving on Monday morning. *sigh* I guess I will have to get my next Tim sermon fix online – of course I can’t get live streaming video like you can thanks to our DIAL UP… but I can at least listen to the audio. If you haven’t heard a sermon from Community Christian… you have to check it out!

(http://www.communitychristian.org/play/playcurr.html)