Hilary's Braids, Monkey Business

This is Hilary getting her hair braided this week.
We asked Aminata's daughter if she would come by to do the braiding.
She is 13, too. They spent the afternoon braiding Hilary's hair Wednesday.
It is still in, so Hilary is okay with it. If you keep the braids too
long, they begin to break. So she'll have to part with her braids before too long.



Monkey for Sale!
This guy has come by before, hoping to sell us animals he found
in the wilderness. This time it is a young orange monkey. They get very big,
and get mean. We didn't want him. But we did pay the guy enough for him to buy lunch, in order to thank him, and to encourage him to bring other exotic animals by when he finds them...



Praise the Lord! Youth ministry season starts next week. Youth are coming back to Kadiolo from their villages to start school. School starts now because September is rainy season, and good for planting. So they're needed at home.
So now they're coming, and the high schoolers are boarding at different places all over town. So we'll start small groups different week nights, and Sunday nights will be youth meetings. Singing, preaching, and in Africa, dancing are all part of that.
We're excited about small groups, it is a new phase of ministry here. We expected to start slowly with them, but the leadership was so excited about starting, that we can start now. I've also contacted Youth Specialties about using some of their materials.
They've given us permission to remake some in Bambara. One being a training video, "How not to lead a small group." That will take a while to do, hopefully by Christmas? It is a skit based training, and we have the Bambara drama team here as a resource to help make it... We'll be able to produce vcd's that church leaders will be able to show & discuss with their youth leaders....

So we're excited about being able to work on these projects..

Joannie will be coming at the end of the month. She will play an important role in leading a girls' small group. We are so excited to have her join us, and especially as with her french she will be able to communicate right away with students.
Pray for her as she gets her support together, and is finalizing details like buying air tickets, etc...

The kids are adjusting well to life in Kadiolo. There are good things about being here like any other place, pluses and minuses. You have to enjoy the strengths...

God Bless,
Tom