Snapshots: Christmas and Korhogo

The last week has been jammed packed with so many experiences.
In an effort to share... I'm going to do it through snapshots.

CHRISTMAS!

We were blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas Eve with the local church! Our team arrived at the church around 9 pm. and sang, listened to teaching, watched skits, and danced under the stars with the believers here until 2 in the morning! It was such a joyful night, dedicated to celebrating the birth of Christ and redemption!

Getting ready to dance the night away in our new African outfits!

The guys doing the Senefo plow dance.

The ladies tried showing us how it's done.

Leaving the church for home at 2 am!

Christmas morning

We exchanged handmade/found gifts in a Secret Santa gift exchange.

Some gifts were pretty strange. These guys were found in the old Biology classroom.

Jamie wrote CJ a poem!

Jason was my secret santa!

Mac 'n cheese!

Chazz and his snack basket of awesomeness (made by me)

Devin!

KORHOGO

The Journey Corps girls decided to take a trip up to Korhogo after Christmas to visit the churches and see what ministry opportunities there were for us. We also had a bit of fun visiting a weaver's village, where they make cloth and jewelry, and climbing little mountains. Five of us jumped on the bus with our Ivoirian sister, Nema, and started the journey with a six hour bus adventure!

Bus rides to Korhogo.
Safety note: sticking your head out a bus window is not a good idea. 

The little girl who sat next to us for the 6 hour drive.

bunches of banana's: our favorite road-side snack

The Koko church being built. The roof is being held up by tree trunks!

Out one side of the church you get this great view of
Mt. Korhogo- I know, it's more of a hill.

Out the other side, you see the lagoon!

Warrenyerra- the weaver's village

Holly, seeing what it means to spin cotton by hand.

Seeing the bead making process

This guy spins the beads on a stick and uses a bird feather to paint them.

Driving around put Holly to sleep.

The girls, making our way up the hillside.

On top of Mt. Korhogo

African Tulip trees

All the girls after our hike.

Photos lovingly taken by Heidi Kogler

We had such a fun break from classes this last week. Tomorrow morning, we head right back into it. It's hard to believe that there are 3 weeks of training left before we head out into full time ministry!

Please be praying for peace in Cote d'Ivoire and the political situation. Things remain calm in the north, but our prayers are with our friends in Abidjan. You can find pretty accurate news through BBC's coverage of the crisis.