The children of Africa

On the way home from the Monkey Village we stopped to go to the bathroom and decided to go on a boat ride. Well that didn't interest me very much instead I wanted something more exciting so me and Car went for a paddle boat ride. It was so much fun! It for sure gave me a butt work out though!

We paddled past this bridge and to an island!!

Here we go!! It took us a while to get it figured out! Two blondes in a paddle boat!!

Me and Car just paddling away

The Monkey Village

Monkey Village was so awesome!! I again felt like I was in Africa. We left again on Friday morning and arrived at the village 4 hours later. We fed the monkeys, hiked to a beautiful waterfall, slept in the village, danced, drummed, slept in a full size bed with 2 other girls under a mosquito net and played with the little kids. It was such a great weekend and such an amazing experience!!

Cute bum where ya from!!

This is the gang at the waterfall!!

We hiked up to Wallies Waterfall. It was about an hour hike through the jungle. It was so green and pretty!!

This little boy's name is Clayton. I just adore him! After dinner at the monkey village we got to experience the true culture of Africa. They started telling us stories and then they drummed and danced around the fire. We all got to dance around with them. It was so awesome!! There was ladies with babies sleeping on there back and they were just dancing away! The little kids just loved us. Clayton danced with me and then he cuddled right up in my lap and fell asleep!! I was in heaven it was the cutest thing ever!! If only I could take him home!

We passed this little boy while we were getting a tour through the monkey village.

There were so many monkeys everywhere. They were jumping from tree to tree! It was awesome!!

This was one of the coolest, most daring, scariest moments of my life!! It was so exciting I can't even begin to tell you!! A monkey came and ate a bananna right out of my hand. I just held the bananna in my hand and the monkey swung down and started peeling the bananna. It was so awesome!!

Here is my bed that I slept in with two other girls!! I took ambien but for some reason I still didn't sleep very well!!

African Villages

I finally feel like I am in Africa now!! We got to go to a remote village this last weekend. It was such an amazing experience. It was just like I pictured Africa to be. They truly have nothing, but you would never know because of how happy they truly are. This experience has taught me so much!! I am truly grateful for all of the many wonderful blessings that I have!! For the roof over my head. For the amazing family that I was born into and for the many wondeful people that have played a part in my life!

This little boy was so adorable!! He loved the camera. He would just come right up to you and smile so big and then we would show him his picture and he would just laugh and think it was so funny!! It was so dang cute!!

This is there birthing mat. Could you even begin to imagine to deliver a baby on this? The many things we take for granite.

Me and some of the cute little kids!! They all walk around bare foot and most of them don't have much on, but not a second goes by where they don't have a smile on the face. They all ran up to the bus when we arrived and didn't leave our side until we left!!

Here they wash there clothes and there dishes!!

This is their home!! They sleep on the hard dirt floor every night. They have barely anything to eat. They have hardly any clothes, but yet they never complain.

As I was leaving the village I just kept thinking why them why did they have take on such a hard life. Did they really choose this in the pre existense? How did I luck out to have a roof over my head, food on the table, clothes, all the many luxuries, and most importantly my amazing friends and family!! I just have to keep telling myself that it is part of the plan. Heavenly Father sees the big picture and everything happens for a reason!

So after our Safari we came back for breakfast and sat down and there was a cute little baboon that starting walking towards us. It kept getting closer and closer and before we knew it had jumped on the back of Anne Maries chair!! It was hilarious!! It then decided to come back except this time it ran down the table and starting drinking Ashley's juice and then it got really scared and ended up knocking most of our juices over and pretty much jumped into Elyssa's arms and scratched Anne Maries arm on the way!! It was quite the breakfast!!

We then walked to our rooms and this is what we found! An Elephant eating our flowers! I sure do love Mole. We had quite the morning!

I was pretty dang close to this elephant don't you think? When they were taking the picture it started walking towards me and I freaked!! I was so nervous!! Isn't it so cool though? We had such an awesome time getting to see all of the animals and nature. We saw wart hogs, baboons, elephants, some really pretty birds, lots of antelop, and a elk looking creature. It was quite the adventure.

African Safari

This past weekend we got to go to a small town called Mole. We left early Friday morning around 6:00 a.m. and arrived at Mole at 9:00 p.m. Yes it took us 14 hours to get there. It was the longest bus ride of my life. The last 2 1/2 hours were on a never ending bumpy road. I never thought that we were going to make it but we did!!

This is what we arrived to! Three wart hogs sitting at the front door. They scared us half to death. All we could do was laugh. Welcome to Africa everyone. So we went and got one of the Hotel workers and they came and through some rocks at them. Well then they all starting running towards us which made them scare us even more. It was quite the little adventure to the beginning of our trip!

Here is the view that we woke up to. It was so pretty and green! During the day we would watch the elephants come down to the water to drink! It was very cool and exciting!

We woke up to Kofi our tour guide yelling It's time to get up everybody!! So we woke up and got ready for our Safari! We left with our guide who was holding a gun that was loaded if I might add. We first went to a village and this is what we found! There were five elephants just hanging out! I was so close to them. It was so cool!!

This Kop our lovely guide. We are standing right infront of a huge ant hill. Check out his nice gun that is loaded!! He was very funny and so serious!! Me and dear Sara needed a little entertainment and so we decided to make a Crocidile Dundy episode of our Safari. He was getting so made at us because we were scaring the animals away!! It was quite hilarious! Especially mine and Sara's cool accents!!

Here is a wart hog praying before he eats his breakfast!!

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Me and Lynley down at the water hole

I decided to get my hair braided and become a real African Woman! It was quite the intense process. It took them four hours to braid. I had five cute girls pulling and tugging my hair in every direction. I didn't think it was going to be as painful as it really was but I survived!! I am still not used to them and think I look like a dork, but it is fun! I am in Africa right and can do crazy things like braiding your whole head! So here I am... Everyone tells me I look like Shakira!! I think I just look like a hipee!This was at the beauty salon with all of the amazing girls who helped braid our hair for 4 hours! They were so awesome!!

Monte Crovo

We went to Monte Crovo for the past two weeks to teach some Aid lessons. I am partners with Kate. We teach about how there culture practices lead them aids and also how to deal with a loved member who has aids. We teach over a two day period. Samuel is the Health director in Monte Crovo. He is truly my hero. The first week we taught a group of boys and the second week we taught a group of boys! We start with a survey and then teach them the lessons and then we finish with a final survey.

This is Ebenezar. He was our interpreter. He carried around his camera and would get in our faces and video us! It was very funny! He taught us all how to shack hands and then snap!This is a lady who I interviewed. Her name was Patience. Her english was not very well so we had an interpreter. She is married and knew a lot about Aids! This is the group of girls that we taught. When we first got there to teach they started singing for us. It was so beautiful! They were so amazing! They sang us some upbeat gospel songs. These girls have such a rough life. Most of them were orphanes or prostitutes who were rescued from Samuel who is the health director of Monte Crovo. In one of the interviews our instructor asked a girl a question which asked If what a girl has to say is as important as what a boy has to say? This girl smiled and got excited but then she got all sad and said what I have to say will never matter! This broke my heart! There voice doesn't matter! I wish I could just tell them of there great worth and how loved they truly are!

School Days!

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we get to go and teach at Grey's Memorial. I teach with Ashley. We teach sixty 1st graders who are so dang cute but full of so much energy. We have taught some math, reading, all about time, and so many songs!! I love to hear them sing. They get so into it. We also get to play games with them. We have a great teacher whose name is Vigina. She has such control over her class. She is very sweet. The other day one little boy fell asleep and so she grabbed his hand and took him outside. I was so nervous that she was going to beat him or something but she actually was having him run back and forth. It really was the cutest thing. He didn't fall asleep again.

We gave the students suckers and you would have thought it was Christmas. They were so excited! Our teacher probably wasn't to happy after we left them on a sugar high!

Here is all of the students in our class

Another day at the orphanage!!

We got to go to the orphange again. I love being there and just being able to play with kids. To let them know that they are loved and that someone truly does care for them. They all seem so happy and positive about life. There is a little boy named Damion who I just adore. He is two years old and just full of so much energy. Me and him did bubbles forever and he would just laugh and get a kick out of them. It was so cute! I wish I could take him home with me.

This is Christopher. He is such a happy little boy!

This is Damion who I just adore! I can't get enough of him!

This is Felix. I think he is such a beautiful little boy! He loved the bubbles!

We also made it to the Slave Castles. I am glad that I got the opportunity to see them but never again will I ever want to go back. When I went to the temple the other day we talked to the temple president and he told us what a dark and evil feeling you get there. He told us that the devil is there and it truly was. I have never felt the devil so strongly then I did at the slave castles. I can't imagine all that they went through. These inocent people did no wrong but went through so much pain and suffering. A little bit of history behind the castle. They were around for 570 years. They held up to 150 females and 150 males at a time. Most of the men became soldiers before they were sold. The castles started out as a trading company for goods and then it went to slaves. I hope and pray that this world will never get so dark and dreary as they did during the time of slavery!

Crocodile Farm

On our little excursion we also stopped at the crocodile farm. This totally freaked me out. We stepped out of the bus and there was like this pond that was all muddy. They told us it was filled with hundreds of crocodiles. It had been pouring all day so the water was muddy but most of the time you can just see them through the water. A lady came and brought a bunch of meat and got some of them out of the water. I thought I was going to die. I was so nervous!! Some of the people in our group thought it would be cool to touch them! I was so not that brave. At least I can say that I have been close to a crocodile!