Merry Christmas!

As you can imagine Christmas for me this year was a little different than usual.  Although I missed family, cold weather, and good food the desire to be home wasn't as bad as I expected. With no lights hanging from houses, Christmas trees with presents, or seasonal marketing around every corner the month just seemed like another month.  All that said I still had an amazing time that I'll remember the rest of my life.  

Since being with family wasn't an option we decided to spend most of our time with the boys at the orphanage.  Starting on the 22nd we planned 3 days of events, games, and movies with the boys.  It would be something similar to a youth group weekend getaway back in the states.  Here's some pictures from our adventures:

The boys performing a drama of The Christmas Story to the village

Heather (G.I. Jane) and I (Major Pain) were in charge of Christmas Boot Camp '09

ATTEND HUT!

Wheel barrow race

We had the boys at our place one night for a movie

That's 22 boys in my car

Albert had to sit in my lap for the 30 min ride back home

With a shortage in Christmas tree we had to make due with a cactus

Merry Christmas!

Join Me on an Outreach!

Below is a photo journal of the most recent outreach/church plant I went on.  While not all my trips are this adventures, this should give you a good idea of what a film outreach looks like.


Day 1: Finished packing the 4Runner with all the necessary equipment and hit the road by 10AM 

 
By 3pm we parked the car as far as the road allowed and started a 2 and 1/2 hike to the top of a small mountain were a remote church village was located

 

8pm the church pastor cooked us a village delicacy known as bushmeat (a.k.a giant rat)  

8:10pm I dined on the bushmeat 

9pm bedtime on the church floor

Day 2: 8am one of the church members gave us some sort of cross between an armadillo and possum which we ate for breakfast...forgot to take a picture eating it. 

10:30am we refueled on water before heading down the mountain

11:30am we stopped to take a photo on the way down...please notice the 3 church members who volunteered to be our sherpas. 

4pm we arrived at the next village (not on top a mountain) and played some games with the kids

8pm we showed the film More Than Dreams which is a 45 min testimony of a Muslim man that come to Christ

10pm Bedtime in the church

Day 3: 9am the pastor of the church gives us a live Chicken as we're leaving...which makes for a fun car ride.

9:30am got a flat tire on our way to the next village...not to uncommon with the rough roads we drive on

9pm another film show...this time a movie called Charms which address the issue of ideal worshipping. 

10:30pm bed time...yes once again on a church floor..this time there were no doors and we had a few spectators as we were going to sleep

Day 3: Finally got a shower....kinda

2pm arrived safely at the next village and started teaching some of the kids American football

4pm a little rest before our final film show

10pm to tired to set up tents in a small storage room

Day 5: 7am headed home

11:30am arrived safely back in Jos!