Calaba Town

What are so thankful to experience Africa together!

A few girls from our team, along with our local friends.

All week, we drank water from this little bags!

One of the last nights, we had a dance party with some of the locals. So fun!!

John and I, along with a team of seven others from the ship, spent June 21 - 27 in the community of Calaba Town. Our task was to build a church for the local community. There was a "church" in the town, but it was just four sticks with material around it, providing just a little shelter. Over the week, we build a really solid foundation and begin the construction of the church. What a week! We stayed at the home of the pastor, which was quite a tight fit for nine of us, plus him! We certainly had a interesting time as there was no running water and electricity only came on for a few hours twice during the week. We were so thankful for the opportunity to stay among the locals for the week though. We found it fascinating to observe how they do their daily tasks -- washing, cooking, ironing, and bathing. What a eye-opening experience for us. Wow.

We built incredible friendships with the locals. A group of the church members helped us each day in building the church. They were so strong and such an incredible help. They were so warm, kind and open with us. We also loved meeting all of the children of the village. They LOVED playing with us and we loved playing with them too! :) Two very special friends we made were Mustapha and Patrick, whom both dedicated their lives to the Lord. Praise God! This week will certainly be a week we'll remember for the rest of our lives. God truly broke our hearts for the things that break His.