Saturday the 9th = animals & a wedding

Friends,

We slept like the dead, rose at 9, breakfasted on pain and nutella, and hit the road for the Bandia reserve. Karen feels well; but Melinda is not 100% - but she is coming.

The reserve proved to be a fun visit, with the animals cooperative in their wild surroundings. I will leave the details to photographic proofs. The weather was fine and a lunch of pizza prepared us for the return.

By agreement, we stopped at a village during the return. Since six of the eight had not previously been here - and our health mission focuses on local issues such as water purity, food preparation and sanitation - we felt that first-hand observation would be helpful. We stopped at Ponti, a village where we had held a clinic in 2008, and were escorted by a church member through two family compounds. It was very helpful for Jane and Janet to see this first-hand. During the tour, we found that a marriage was taking place and shortly thereafter we witnessed the procession of the bride through the village. What a colorful and festive celebration! We spent much more time in the village than originally planned, and got back to dinner around 7:30. Shortly thereafter we hit the road to our rooms and now - 10pm - everyone is settled in for the night. Our mosquito bed nets were installed today, too.

Tomorrow is church, then some will go to Goree Island and others shop and others just rest. I'm sure that we will have an instructor meeting in the evening to prepare for the start of our work on Monday. Thank you for your continued prayers.

-- Tom