"who in the world gave you a machete"

Why hello again...Hope your day is starting off well or finishing well, which ever applies to you :). My day was wonderful. I am still having a hard time adjusting to the eight hour time difference that we came from, so B Holler and I were up until 3 last night again. I napped today for a good two hours so that was so nice! Any whoo, we woke up, ate peanut butter and nutella that'ss what we have for breakfast every day) and we went to our work site. Today we were cutting down the jungle parts around the church plant building the pastor was working on. We load into the vans and we had to stop and buy machetes first so that we would be able to do that. That was no problem, then we stopped a little while after and had to get them sharpened. Our driver, Jon Roman comes to the side grabs the machetes and says “give me the money”. It was hilarious, but he didn't intend it to be but we thought it was funny. So we are all waiting in the car, some sleeping, some chatting. Then a little while goes by and we all start talking and waking up, and we start wondering where the heck Jon Roman was. We were in this van in the middle of a city village and Jon Roman was no where to be found. Just a disclaimer before I finish the story, we were safe the entire time and were in absolutely no danger. It was just funny how it seemed like we were being abandoned in the middle of Africa. So anyway, we are waiting and waiting and then finally a half an hour later (that doesn't sound like a lot now, but it sure was then when he was just getting the machetes sharpened!) he comes back. He takes off at 100 mph and we finally get to the church plant. We start hacking away at the jungle to clear the way, taking turns because it was intense and hot. Then kids started coming through, which was so awesome to see. Our main goal today was to clear the area, so we did. On our breaks we would play with the kids or just simple sit, take pictures or love on them. After I got done hacking away at this tree thing, I went to sit with the kids. I picked up a little boy who was wearing overalls and no undies and was about 3 years old. The way he moved when I touched him you could tell something had happened. He did whatever I “made” him do. I picked him up and place him on his feet sat down, put him in my lap, and during all of this, no emotion. No words. No expression, just stoned with fear as I rocked him in my arms. He was very limp and all I could do was rock him until he was almost asleep. I was talking to B Holler about this and we thought it could be two things. Either abuse, or a parasite, because when the kids gets parasites and are not fed properly, they get very week and act like drones. We decided to go with the parasite one for our hearts sake. So I rocked him in my arms, prayed over him and told him that he was loved by Jesus and by me. The rest of the kids wanted to play a little soccer pass game and so my little man and I joined in. He started to open up a little more but only if the ball was right in front of him, and he would only kick it if encouraged. His friends started passing it to him so then he started getting into it more and more as time went on. Jon Roman went and got us lunch from one of the stands in town. He brought back...you will never guess this but...chicken wings! He brought back legit chicken wings. Granted they had a different kind of sauce on them, but B Holler and I got a kick out it saying that we would have taken those over Duffs ANYDAY. B Holler responds with, “good answer”. :) They also had white sweet potatoes which were delicious! So we ate and then prayed over the property and headed home. We got home and were able to rest for the rest of the afternoon until the weekly Thursday soccer game over at the bible school up the road. At 5 we walked to the field and watched some incredible soccer. I knew I was in Africa when a bicycle kick was the most common move on the field. It was pretty intense and our dear intern Kelsey whopped their butts and scored a goal! B Holler, Jon Marc, Morgan, Britney and I all stayed on the side lines to cheer...or talk. Haha. After a while so many people came to watch and play it was getting pretty intense. So then after we prayed over the field and the players then went home to eat a delicious meal cooked by our mom here, or her majesty aka Meredith. The Brokopps are seriously some of my favorite people and I love working alongside their ministries here in Gabon. We just got done playing five crowns, like we do every night, and now I am writing to you lovely people reading this :). I am not sure when this will be posted because the internet isnt getting to my computer right night, but maybe in an hour or so...hopefully :). Ok love you guys and please let me know how I can be praying!!!