Full of Celebration!

Another wonderful church service this morning - THIS one only 3 hours long and in Dabou (Temple Bethel) - but again what joy the congregation has in worship, praising...and giving. FYI the "giving" at both of these services lasted at least 30 minutes, while everyone is singing and dancing as they come to the front twice to provide their offerings. The choirs - both youth and adult were glorious as they sang familiar hymns and other praise chorus in french...and we sang along in English. The church was packed - and we were the only attendees to arrive in a car - everyone here walks....with the streets packed with all ages of the people of Dabou. We were mobbed by all of the children of the church as we left the service, all so loving, smiling, and loved getting their picture taken and shown what they looked like. We arrived at the hotel to a lovely lunch of tilapia (uh...yep...the entire fish...although they were kind enough to remove the eyes :)....rice, and LOVELY green beans!! One of our team has succombed to a stomach ailment - but is doing much better now. We are all attempting to follow the eating rules - but have lots of medicines for any such challenges. The funny thing is that for all of the mosquito preparation that we had - I think collectively we have only seen two! Very sure that this will change rapidly! The hotel that we are staying in Dabou (Akparo Hotel - means "Welcome") is amazingly new, modern, and an extreme departure from really everything else around us in Dabou. We are grateful for their hospitality - even though the "internet cafe" has yet to have internet :( So for those that were expecting news via email - we are trying to work with the hotel to reset modems....troubleshoot as well. SO....keep an eye on the blog for updates. We have one laptop here, that we have been able to connect through - but connection is very slow....thus the lack of pictures to date. This area of the world has incredible lighting strikes, and both nights the power has gone off several times - one of the challenges even at the hospital - they have four computers - three of which no longer operate due to lightning strikes....the basics of surge protection, and advanced networking, etc. is very limited. So Sunday, being the "day of rest" we are doing exactly what the bible commands....resting - after the long plane rides, and extremely full day yesterday - we are getting ready for a strenuous work week. We can use your prayers - Houston has nothing on Dabou regarding heat AND humidity....needless to say, women are "glistening" in pictures - supposed to be a good thing!! All for now - more late tonight as we strategize for our work week :)