....And then there was a Canadian

Well hello there everyone! It's been a over a week since my last post, so I guess that means there should be lots to talk about! (and there is, of course.)  Our first week with the new volunteers was a success!  The amazing thing about our CFL team is the fact that we all get along soooooo well.  Seriously, we work hard and have fun!  All the americans (which they all are), just love the Canadian.  So, hows the weather there in Canada?........eh? ----hey what do you call a beanie in Canada? haha it's a toque......you get the picture I'm sure.  I seriously love being from Canada and am grateful that I can joke with people about my country because I feel that Canadians are chill and we are a happy people!

This past weekend, we got to go to Gorongosa National Park, home of true african animals! Although we didn't see lots of animals, it was nonetheless, beautiful to witness these animals in their natural habitat and to witness Gods creations.  The park itself wasn't too far away, probably about 150 km or so, horrible roads though, seriously every 30 seconds we were dodging ginormous potholes in the middle of the road!  But, the trip was well worth it!

Here was the beautiful sunset the friday night we arrived there!

My new bestie Nate! This guy is great.  Let me tell ya, we get along great and it's been nice having another dude around.  Girls are good.  Dudes are good too.  This picture caught us right as we were scoping the scenes for some wildlife!

Look it's Pumba! haha.  This park was FULL of warthogs.  We counted all of the warthogs that we saw in the park while we were there and we counted 193! Don't worry, these guys won't be going extinct anytime soon!

Talk about a sweet hotel gig! I mean, this may seem simple to most people, but when you go from sleeping on a thin tiny little mattress, with not much cushioning and waking up as if you are the weiner in the hot dog bun, this bed was incredible!

We crossed one of the major rivers on the way to the park called Rio Pongue.  I know the picture isn't too detailed but behind me there are ginormous rocks with a nice stream running through it before filtering into a larger basin on the other side.  It was a great place to take some pics!

Now switching gears a little bit! This week we have started to teaching the village Promoters how to sew backpacks, make little baskets out of yarn as well as small money wallets made out of yarn.  The reason that we are teaching these adult promoters how to make these things is so that they can teach the children (ages 9-14) how to make them.  With past volunteers who have come with Care For Life we have just arrived and taught the children.  We thought it would be more effective for the promoters to learn how to teach the children, since after all teaching self-preservation is one of CFL's goals!

I also mentioned that we had gone to a childrens orphanage in a place called Nhamatanda.  We sewed backpacks with the kids, played soccer and the girls painted nails for whoever wanted too! (and some their teeth too!) As you can tell in the pic below, this young boy decided painting his teeth was the new in! haha, maybe not in canada at least.  This orphanage is ran by Pastor Domingos and his wife.  There are 72 kids in the orphanage and it was seriously the most humble place.  They sang for us, thanked us for coming and really showed their appreciation for us!  It was a great experience!

I'm grateful for the time I have here! It's crazy I've almost been here a month (I knew it was going to go by fast!)  Hopefully things are going well in Canada!

Miss you all! Love ya