The next exciting piece of our life was a new undertaking we are calling the E2 workshop. Remember how 3 months ago we recieved 3 families and one single to our field? They are currently in a time period we call E2. This is the time period where they learn French, start adapting to life in West Africa and become part of the local church here. Since they have been here for a while growing in French they are all at a point of transition to the next phase of their program. They are transitioning to individual language sessions, getting assigned a church, being given a host family from that church, and moving to a new house as close to that family as possible. We decided to try something we haven’t done in a while which was to do a workshop with them helping them be better equipped for this new phase of ministry.
So we took them away for a week to a camp on the beach. We brought their language helpers with them, the ladies who watch their kids and my host mom came to cook. During these days we covered topics including the language program we use, tips for their host family set up, African hospitality and so many other topics. We also spent time together the word and singing together which they have had limited opportunities to do in English since their arrival 3 months ago.
Being the first time Joel and I have led this together, it was a lot of work. Yet it came together really nicely. We picked this week because it was the one window we had in our schedule, but everyone said it was the perfect timing in their program. God sure is good isn’t he?!?!
Here is a small snap shot of the week…
The camp was right on the beach
Cecile cooked amazing lunches for us
We met together for different teaching sessions in the morning
Each day we covered 3 or 4 different topics
Then they had sessions in the afternoons
I sat in and helped them with their different activities
The rest of the time was for them to hang out together as a community
The kids were loved on by so many while we were there 
I was in charge of dinner and breakfast prep
But I always recruited helpers
We even celebrated a birthday while we were there
One of the best part was seeing them all interacting together
It was a small step away from normal life for them
Our prayer is that God will continue to strengthen each of these individuals as they head into the next phase of ministry
It was actually cool enough for long sleeves around a fire?! That must have been a treat!
Thanks for the wonderful updates!