October 1st

Who has a plan and a schedule? I am one who loves to have a plan and a schedule however often over the past two years I have had to function either without or one that is put together at the last minutes.

My coming home has fallen into this category. There was never a set date for me to leave JCCM and head back to the states though there seemed to be a lose plan set for sometime the end of July. As ALL of you know July has come and gone and August is soon to follow. I am not home. Though I now have a schedule- the plan I am still working on. October 1st I will leave Sierra Leone and start my journey home. I say journey because even though it is only really a couple days of travel it feels like a whole lot more- especially with all the emotions on both sides. Sometime October 2nd I will be home. Plan and schedule after that- once again up in the air. However I always have a job at Mark's Country Market :). I cannot tell you the number of times I tried to get fired from this job, but I am really grateful for it now. Thanks Dad.

We have gone through a lot of changes here at JCCM the main one being the hiring of a new Program Coordinator. This has been a long time coming as we have been functioning without a head person for 2 years now. A team of us have filled this position but it is a much better fit to have one person in this role. Mr. Muana was hired the 1st of July and I was asked to stay to work with him his first few months. I have been asked to stay longer many times but didn't give it a lot of thought until this came about. I was actually told by a few board members that I simply could not go- whatever they needed to do to help me to stay they would do. After praying about it I do feel this is where I am to be at this time and my family was kind enough to let me stay (not without a few comments and threats though huh Amers?!?!) It is not easy to step into a new position- nor is it always easy to help someone do this, but we are working together and I pray to leave with JCCM in a better place.

I do not know what the future holds and this is often a difficult thing for many of us. This time it feels a bit heavier as I have no clue what comes next or what to do next. These are my children. I have another family and group of friends here and yet I have the same at home. I have no doubt that God placed me at JCCM during a difficult time for the organization in order to help them through. He allowed me to be an integral part in not only keeping JCCM going but in making some positive changes for the kids and the future of JCCM. I have absolutely cherished being a part of these children and staff members lives and I know it will continue- only in what manner I am not certain.

If I am to walk away now, I will know that I was able to be HIS hands and feet at a time and in a place I never expected, but was also blessed in ways I couldn't have imagine. I will also walk away knowing JCCM will continue to move forward, these children will continue to be loved and nurtured, and an impact for Christ will be made for ever.

If I am to go home and come back- I will be grateful to be with my kids and family here again. I would love to see my friends and the community that has welcomed me in as one of their own. Finding out what my position would be, my purpose here... that is what needs to happen in order for me to come back.

Where does he want me? At this point I am really not sure- which makes leaving all that more difficult. Is this a HUGE goodbye- or just a short goodbye? What happens to me in the next 6 months- 1 year... Please pray with me. Pray that not only will I see where he is leading me, but also that I will have his peace and patience as I wait.

Thank you more than I can say for you love, prayers, and support through my time here. I have not left yet- I still have 5 weeks I am going to make the best of. It seems crazy even as I type that. I am fighting between wanting to see everyone at home and not wanting to even think about leaving so soon. I would like to say I will try to update more- I want to- but it is just not easy and I am usually exhausted when there is a chance. Maybe that will be something to fill my time when I first come home as there is so much more I have wanted to share with you all.

Pray for my kids- this is not easy for them and we talk about it EVERYDAY as it is often on their mind. Pray for my friends and "family" here as well. Pray for my heart.

Rutile, Mattru, and Kpangbama - posted by Amy

The weekend after we got to Sierra Leone we traveled to Rutile, Mattru, and Kpangbama. The farthest village was about 50 miles away and took about 3 1/2 - 4 hours to get there. It was a very bumpy ride and we were all ready to get out when we got to Kpangbama. We are pretty sure that our logging roads here are better than some of the roads there.

On our way we stopped at the JCC farm to visit Harry and his family. Haja, Harry's wife had just had a baby girl 3 days before we got there. She was very cute and did not have a name yet, they normally do not name the children for a couple weeks while the father thinks of a name.

Haja made bene seed for us which is a small seed stuck together with caramelized sugar and tastes super good plus they gave us fresh pineapple before we left.

When I went to Sierra Leone in December Christie and I visited Kpangbama. Madam Hawa, the paramount chief, gave me my Mende name Luba which means blessing. She was very kind to us and let us stay in one of her guest houses and fed us wonderful food, when we left she asked us to please come back sometime. Christie and I decided this would be a great village to visit while our family was with. Again Madam Hawa took great care of us.

Jk's father, Festus, also lives in Kpangbama and runs the clinic there. Here is Christie, JK, and Festus.

This is one of the huts, it is made of clay with a thatch roof.

Here Christie and Jk are giving Madam Hawa a gift we brought for her generosity. She would not let us pay her for staying in her guest house or any of our food. We also brought clothes, toys, and medical supplies for the clinic.

When we first got there many of the children came to greet us. They sang some songs for us, then we sang "Father Abraham" with them. It was a lot of fun to see them enjoying singing.

We walked around the village for awhile and many of the kids came with us. They would all grab our hands and just want to touch us. Each of us had at least 2 kids on each hand as we walked.

One of Lorie's friends made little hats to give away to infants. As we walked around Kpangbama Lorie would give out the hats and take a picture with the mother and baby.

Here we are walking to visit the clinic which was just down the road. Festus was telling us that people from many villages came to their clinic since it was the closest. I am pretty sure he said that they serve people in over 30 villages.

This is the front of the clinic, it is not very big but has what they need.

We brought equipment so we would be able to show "The Chronicles of Narnia" to the village. They seemed to really like it and were even cheering at different points throughout the movie. At the end of the movie our friends JK and Rainny explained the similarities of the movie to what God has done for us and then we all prayed together. It was really nice we were able to share this with them.

They gave us some of the best seating and of course grandma loved being right next to the fan :)

The next morning they had breakfast all ready for us when we came out. It was a delicious meal and even had coffee which was great for mom.

When we left Kpangbama on our way to Mattru mom decided she wanted to take a turn on the honda. She had a great time and even ended up riding in the rain. We asked if she wanted to come in the jeep when it started raining and she said no, she was enjoying the cooler ride.

In Mattru we had to cross the river and this is the ferry they have there. It is a wooden platform on floats that the workers pull across on a pulley system. Christie's jeep is pretty little and more narrow than other vehicles so it takes a little to make sure it is all lined up. Christie is able to get that jeep pretty much anywhere she wants.

Grandma just stayed in the jeep until we got to the other side, then we all got back in to continue on our way. We went and met a few people Christie knows. One of the people who left an impact on me was Pa French. I had met him when I was there in December and he was very kind to us. Christie said that he works at a clinic and has not been paid for the past few months but keeps going to work and helping people.

We were all ready to get back to JCC after the long traveling and were very happy to see the kids and staff again. They came running to the jeep as soon as we pulled in. It was fun to be greeted like that every time. That night we decided we were going to treat ourselves so we turned on the generator and watched a movie and got some chicken, french fries, and pop for the night.

Reign Ministries' Royal Servants

I received an email while my family was here letting me know that there was a group of 27 people arriving in Salone July 7th. They had plans for the first few weeks but then were not sure of what they would be doing their last week here (last week of July). Well with me being so busy and their getting ready to go we didn't connect up again until a few days before they wanted to come. With less than one week we through together some plans, got the big house ready for a large number of guests, assigned my kids to specific jobs as well as the staff and we were ready for them when they arrived Sunday afternoon on the 25th.

For being a last minute trip and probably the largest team we ever had- the week was GREAT. We packed it with activities-

1. VBS Mon-Friday early afternoon for the middle and small children.
2. Youth Club late afternoons Mon.-Fri. for the teens.
3. Visits two mornings to nearby villages Towama and Gbongoma to walk around the village meeting people, witnessing to them, and inviting them to the church for a small program with dramas, dance, and puppets.
4. A visit to the prison here in Bo to do a couple dramas and speak to the inmates
5. A visit to the Government hospital here in Bo to talk with and pray with some of the patients.
6. A quick visit to the farm with a small group of us that turned into our own "safari".
7. Eating two African meals all together.
8. Having an awesome party with great entertainment, food, soft drinks, and dancing.
9. Lots of time laughing and hanging out together.

• oh and so much more.
  There is so much to say about the teams time here but with the Internet the way it is and my time schedule today I will just hit on a couple areas that really blessed me. The first is how much we connected with this team. We always love having teams come, but honestly there are times when we are ready to get back to our routine. This team blended so well- even with the large number- it truly felt like we were one family. I also was amazed at how well I meshed with the leaders. It felt like connecting with old friends. I needed a week like this.

  Laura (LB- or Mama B as the kids called her) and I

• All the different ministries that the team took part in were great but there was one that gave me chills and left an impact I won't soon forget. Wednesday morning we visited the prison here in Bo. That morning it was cold and raining. The prison is small and very over crowded and has no large place where the kids could do their dramas. That meant that the kids needed to perform in the courtyard- in the rain and in the mud. The two dramas they did were called "Sticks" and "Chains". Both dramas are set to just music playing in the background so they cross all language barriers. Both dramas in different ways show how our sins hold us down- keep us away from Christ. They demonstrated how demons are battling for us everyday- and Christ is the one who saved us from this battle- IF we choose to accept him. With the rain coming down- the kids having to get down in the dirt and mud- seeing the battle between Christ and the demons- inside the girl herself, fighting her sins, temptations, SHAMES. The kids gave it there all and the backdrop of the prison, the rain, and the mud- I had chills and was able to see again in a new way just how much I am loved by Christ- but even more than that just how much I have to turn to him.

• The last quick point I want to share is how impressed I was with my kids. I assigned many of them to jobs during the week and they did them well and showed how they too can be servants. We were also able to take the older kids into the village to be translators for the team- they amazed me. It is not easy to translate. It is one thing to be able to speak both languages but to be able to listen to our American slang and turn it into Mende- our kids are good. It was the perfect way to see that we are all part of one body in Christ. One family together.

Yes there was so much more and I always say I will try to write more later- but that is just not easy to do. At least you can get a glimpse of the week we spent together. Unfortunately my camera was on the fritz so I only have these two photos Laura sent me. I'll have to ask her for the large group one with all JCCM family and Royal Servants family- now one family.

The party the last night was the perfect ending to an unexpected blessing for all of us. Our JCC kids got up and sang, acted, read poems, and danced for our friends. The aunties cooked a ton of amazing African treats and we danced into the night together laughing and celebrating this gift we found together. I was tired before this week started- looking forward to meeting everyone but not sure what to expect and wanting the end to come- I ended the week uplifted and refreshed, encouraged by new friends and blessed and reminded how loved I am by my Papa God.

(by the way the connection happened when the team's plans fell through- my mom's freshman year roommate's niece was on the trip so my email was passed on to them)

Beginning of our Trip- Posted by Amy

Sorry it has taken awhile to get any posts up about our trip. We all had a great time and loved hanging out with Christie. The first few days after we got to Bo, we just relaxed and took some time to get to know the kids and staff at JCC and see how things work in Sierra Leone.
Here is mom and me with a few kids they day we got there. They were all so welcoming

Living in Sierra Leone is like being on a long camping trip. There is no electricity or running water, we were able to turn a generator on a couple times for some light though which was nice. The kids were still in school for the first few days we were there. They would go to school until about 1pm or 2pm so that was our time to go into town and see what Bo was like, cook some food, wash dishes and get some laundry done. Of course when they kids were finished with school they were more than willing to help us with any of those.

Every school day all the kids line up according to grade and have devotions and sing their national anthem, then they start class. The JCC school is open to kids outside the orphanage also.

Willie, the bus driver, goes out into town to pick up students. They fit as many kids on that bus as possible and Willie has to go out 2 times before school and after school so he can pick up and drop off everyone.

All of the kids just loved grandma!

Every morning at 8:30 we went to staff devotions. It was a great time to sing songs and worship God with everyone that works at JCC. Then after devotions everyone would go about their jobs and we were able to walk around and visit with them and see what they do.

One of the projects we helped out with at JCC was painting one of the houses. They are breaking the big building into 3 different houses so there is more of a family feel to the orphanage. They will have 5 houses in all, each house with 1 house mom and about 10 kids and a house auntie will come in every day to help take care of the kids. They already have 2 houses finished and it seems to be working great. The house we painted was the yellow house, my mom's favorite color. It was a fun time and we really enjoyed spending that time with the carpenters and getting to know them better.

This is the kitchen for the big house still, in time each house will have their own kitchen.

Here we are helping Auntie Fatty and Jenae cut potato leaf, they make it look alot easier than it is. Small Christie and Jeffta are also helping us. Potato leaf is a sauce they make to put on rice.

I don't know how they go so fast and don't cut their hands but they are good. Christie and I took our time and did not cut ourselve but we did shave a little skin off our hands.

Sometimes we ate what everyone else was eating and sometimes we decided to do our own cooking. Christie has really figured things out there. She has a small coal pot that works great for cooking everything.

Auntie Kudie is washing dishes, it wasn't too bad hand washing all of our dishes and letting them sit out to dry on the jeep but I think we are all thankful we have dishwashers.

Everynight things are pretty relaxed so we were able to just hang out with the kids. This was one of my favorite times. They are all so much fun.

Christie doing some more cooking with Lorie and grams helping. She has decided she might need the carpenters to make her ledge a little wider so it is easier to cook, we did manage to fit everything we needed on that little ledge though.

There were a few times when Christie and I did the cooking so mom, grams and Lorie washed the dishes.

Around 8:30 at night there is evening prayer/devotions which is lead by the kids. It is a lot of fun to go worship with them and hear the lesson one of the kids has prepared. Then they take prayer requests and pray out loud at the same time. There really is nothing like it, it is amazing to hear. They pray for their sponsors and our families back here and each other its just amazing.

They are all pretty helpfull at JCC so here are some of the older girls helping Lorie with our laundry.

We did a lot of traveling so we were not at JCC as much as we would have liked but we really enjoyed the time we had there and each time we came back from a different trip they all came running to the jeep to greet us. We all felt very loved and cared for.