We're all back!

Half of us landed in Toronto on Tuesday and saturday, HK and Simon arrived=) We'd like to thank all of you for praying for us all this time. Our last update was Aug 23 (that's two weeks ago!). It's be super hard reaching the internet cafe. So now we'd like to update you on what we've been doing since then.

The last week of August consisted of completing the water filtration project, participating in church activities and debriefing.

It had been a long and tedious process in building the biosand filtration. There was a lot of sand to sift and wash. There were times in which I had questioned whether we'd finish! But God's been good to us. He provided us with little helpers (local kids and men) who were so friendly in assisting us! This is perfect because if this filter does work, in the future, we would need the assistance of the Monkole people to build their own filters! On Giselle's and my last day there (the guys left Pede a day after us), we were determined to finish the filter - even if that meant skipping siesta;). All was well until we found out the bottom of the pot broke! I must say at that point, I thought that was it... we should stop working. But after much prayer and seeing how my team members wouldn't give up, I realized that we NEED to do our best - whatever that may be. It so happened that Grace had another pot. In the end we altered the design a bit and voila, there's prototype 2! The guys spent their last day finishing the filter and I'm extremely excited to hear that the well water we poured into the filter came out A LOT clearer! It's so encouraging to see already that our work and time spent in Pede was not in vain=D Of course this isn't to say that the water is now drinkable. We still need to test it and the efficiency of the filter itself. Hopefully the team that goes next year will continue our work.

Something else that I found particularly encouraging was the fact that the locals, young and old, attend all the church activities together. I was surprised to see children at our bible studies, prayer meetings, and then I saw adults coming out to the youth fellowship! It showed how family oriented they are and how much the parents want their children to know about Christ! One of my most memorable events was the night of the youth fellowship. Everyone gathered outside the church. We had two worship teams - the Benin team and the church worship team. We took turns singing worship songs. We sang in English, French and Monkole for two hours. We also showed them actions (eg. Father Abraham). Everyone followed and had a great time. It was so good to know that despite our language, skin and cultural differences, there's one HUGE body that unites us all - our Heavenly Father. We're worshipping the same God.

We headed back down to Parakou for our last few days to debrief and rest. SIM had a Day of Prayer where all the missionaries from Benin, Togo and Nigeria gathered to pray and share. We had some pretty interesting conversations with them! Our journey back to Cotonou was also an event to remember. There had been a car accident resulting in three deaths in a village on our way to Cotonou. This blocked the road for more than 8hours! (due to the village protesting) Hence we spent 12hours on the road when it could've been 6! God's taught us to be flexible and patient from beginning to the very end of our trip;)

We hope to post our photos and video blogs up soon. So stay tunnnned!

Janet