richmond & washington dc

last week and this week i have had the opportunity to venture off MLC lane. woo hoo. last wednesday we went into richmond to do some stuff and then had lunch with some of West Africa's regional leadership team. then this past tuesday, all of us here at orientation went to washington dc for the day. it was a tiring day as we walked all over the city as quickly as possible. we had several "assignments" to complete throughout the day, yet it was still much fun.
















reaiah and i in front of the white house















pointing to (about) where i am going

i will expect for all of you to correctly identify Niger on the African map when others ask..."where is she again?" so don't forget!

it snowed!

in less than a month i will be in the middle of Africa, but today I am surrounded by snow. kinda funny to me. i have wanted it to snow since i have been in virginia and it began last night. very exciting.
















the beginning of the snow last night















the snow covered barn that i woke up to this morning

i jumped for joy when i peeked through my blinds this morning and saw that the snow had stuck to the ground and was covering everything.















the pond is much prettier with the snow all around















me and kacy sliding down the hill

it didn't take long for the sun to peak through the clouds. slowly but surely the snow is turning into nastiness. i am thankful for the fun and beautiful morning that i was able to have though. one good snow before i begin my journey through the desert of Niger. tomorrow i will be longing for heat and in three months i will want snow. if i had to choose though: Heat! brrr...i don't like being cold.

week #4

well week #4 has come and gone. though the days are long, the weeks are flying by. orientation is half way over! this past week we focused church planting movements, health issues, and a few other things. On Monday night I got to go to a fellowship to meet some of the senior leadership of the IMB and have some delicious ice cream. You know me and my ice cream!

So not only will I have to learn Fulfulde (full-full-day) but also a bit of some other languages. What fun! I need to start brushing up on my French as well. Boy do I have a lot to do before March 9!

Our regional office has us reading quite a bit of books while here at MLC. This week we decided to begin reading together and multi-tasking. One afternoon we decided to go on a little walk along the river through the woods. Reaiah read to us from a language learning book as we walked. We got a lot done and had fun at the same time.

















melissa and reaiah (ree-a)





















me trying to climb a fat tree over the river