"I've never seen a racoon eat a hotdog"

I was bringing Josie Kate upstairs last night to get her ready for bed and we walked past the dog's bowl with a few onions in it. Josie pointed out the onions and I said I had never seen a dog eat onions. Her response was, "well...I've never seen a racoon eat a hotdog". It turns out, I haven't either. If any of you have let me know so I can tell Josie!

We have had a great weekend. I was up at 5:30 this morning getting pancakes and bacon going for everyone on the compound. The staff does not cook on Sunday so me and Joy will be doing that. We ate breakfast and then went to church. We used to be late for church because we had to get our four little ones ready. Today we had to get our four, and the ten boys, and walk to church by 8:30 and we made it on time. Church was good. The little bit we could understand.

When we got home I grilled hamburgers for everyone- it's American Day at the compound on Sunday- and Joy cooked some corn and we had a good time. Now we are trying to get everyone down for a rest time- especially us!

I went to PAP yesterday to work at AGAPE- our mail service. It is a ministry that delivers mail to missionaries. Each missionary has to work in their office every quarter to help out. Yesterday I went to fill in for Jim and Gayle since they were gone. I left home early so we could get some things done before I had to get to the office but everything was closed. It was a day of Fet for the Catholic church so many of the big businesses were closed. I needed to look for a little refrigerator for our apartment so we can keep snacks for the kids and cold water.We spent about 45 minutes at the beach late one afternoon this week. It was after we visited the family we want to build the house for. Robens, a young man who has been a friend of ours since our first trip here, and his mother take in children that need help or need a home long term or short term. They want to build a small house so they can move out of the grandmothers little house and have a bed for the boys to sleep in every night. We will be giving more details about that opportunity as it unfolds in the next few days. Many of you that have been here before know Robens and know how good a young man he is. We took the family some rice, beans, melons, zaboka and cooking oil...it's a huge blessing to know that family will eat this week and they will feed children around them.

At the beach you could easily pick out our kids. They were the ones with clothes on. Robens was surprised when we told him we were ready to leave because we had not bathed the kids yet. They could not understand why we would go down to the beach and not bathe while we were there.

It was a good outing. The kids got to drink their first coconut and I drove for the first time here. We made it back home without hitting anyone or anyone's pig so I was happy!

Last week was very busy with 2 trips to PAP and a trip to Desarmes along with our normal ministry duties but it was great. We all really had a chance to work on developing some relationships that will allow us to minister and be a part of the community here. God is really opening doors and giving us favor. We are so grateful and full of anticipation as we continue to seek the opportunities He has in store for us.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. We feel safe and secure in the presence of your prayers and we know God has great things in store for our family.

You can call us on our cell phones anytime if you need to reach us. You can get a calling card or if you have an international plan you can just call us directly. Joy had a chance to talk to Shelly Benfield for a while the other night and it was a huge blessing.

My cell number is 011-509-3-638-7138
Joys cell number is 011-509-3-687-9458
We are still trying to sell our house and close out a few more things on that front. We look forward to seeing everyone in October. Thanks again for all your prayers!