Fun times at the Beach

So, they tell me beach vendors kept trying to get me to buy something...Hate to tell them I was asleep! That's Emily asleep next to me. This is how we have fun!



This is my birthday cake! My supervisor made an angle food cake and I loved it...

Yes, this is my cheesy...Don't want my picture taken, smile.

We had grilled chicken and baked potatoes. The best dinner I have had in a while.










Niger

Tomorrow I leave with Emily to go to Niger. I am really looking forward to seeing new friends and learning about their lives. One group of guys lives about a rough 10 hour drive from the capital city. Then a group of three girls who live together, but work in different villages. Also, two girls, one whom has been very sick for almost her whole time on the field, but they are doing amazing work.

Peanuts and Cotton

Back row:Carrie, Me, Mary Beth, Emily
Front row: Danielle, Daren, Aaron
These are cool workers in West Africa. It was fun to hang out with them again at the West Africa regional Meeting last month. Emily, Mary Beth and her husband Daren live with me in Abidjan. I had not seen the couple since May. So it was really nice to see them again. We worked hard at the conference, learning how to be better workers and advance His Kingdom.



This is a picture I took in Senegal. Bailey is resting while looking over her row of peanut plants in Southern Senegal. I was playing around with different angles and a different focus.










Some of you have asked if I really do work, because all the pictures I show are of me having fun. Well, for one my work is fun and second most of it is observing all that goes on around me.


But here is an example of me with a notepad in my hand and writing down an interview with a fellow worker in West Africa.

Oh and it is the first time in 8 months that I have been allowed to wear JEANS!


Don't freak out...This is called "Hena." It is NOT permanent and has already washed off my hands. Though I also have it on my fingernails, which will last for several months! This is something the African women do to show beauty and for celebrations. I had it done with several summer volunteers who worked in Senegal and we were celebrating a job well done.


I went to a village two days after getting this done and all the women loved it! It did take me a while to get use to it...But now I forget I have it on. Don't you love it mom?!




This is also another example of me working...This is a different kind of work. Africans do not realize my job is to take pictures and ask questions.

If the team is out working in the fields, I am part of the team and should be working in the fields!

So, here I am weeding a peanut field. I also weeded a cotton field too. If I do say so my self...I got pretty good at and pretty sore!

This is the awesome group of singles working in West Africa! It was great fun hanging out with them in Togo. Emily found some great stories in this group and will be going to hang out with them soon!








This is the Atlantic Ocean from Senegal. This is were I spent the 4th of July and if you look hard you can see Lebou fishing boats in the back.
This is me, Carrie and a missionary kid, Maggie. Don't we look so cute!