Thoughts from team member, Sheela...

Highlights for me:
- Watching the kids play on the finished play set was like watching a kids sports film - the Home Team just won the Championship Game, there's a celebration, and your trying to hold back the tears of joy. But in this case we were all playing for God's team.
- I'm not a morning person, but I loved waking up early in the morning here. We were in the middle of the "bush" of Africa, but sunrises were gorgeous from the distant forest. I found it peaceful even with the frogs rib-bit and dogs barking at night. We woke up to the roosters crowing and kids singing praise songs. Mornings were filled with kids doing their chores, heading to school, and greetings of "Auntie!"
- Dancing and learning some of the games and songs the children sing.
- Greeting the little kids during their recess time and all of them running after us just to be held and hugged. It were as if they have known us forever.

Funny moments:
- Dan's face covered in red dirt from the road trip over because he was looking out the window.
- Hearing Kelly and Tammy scream to finding large spiders and insects in the bathroom and bed, and come to find out they were fake plastic bugs planted by the boys on our team. (It was funny because it didn't happen to me.)
- Hearing about Payton trying to hug the security guard in London because he thought verbal cues of arms held out was a culture norm for a hug.
- Watching the girls braid Uncle Mahda's (Nich) hair like they braid little girls, and me - teaching the girls to call him "Auntie Mahda" instead.

Re-entry thoughts and quotes from the book Un-earth by Vidrine and Rogers:
- We have so much here in the US. The kids there were content with so little. Their hope and joy in the Lord is more apparent. I saw kids walk to school and play with no shoes and kick a rock for a toy. There is no electricity, no refrigerator to open when you are hungry, and no running water. I feel grateful for all that I have here in the US. Water will never be the same for me and I will always remember Quami's quote, "Water is life," and do not waste. The book says, "This invites us to explore our culture's struggle with materialism....There is a balance between humility of scarcity and the peace within excess." I am grateful that I was able to see both worlds as I now search for a new way to live and be a steward with what I am given.

-"My insecurities, doubts, and fears were quited as I turned my attention to others. Perspective is different here in the Western world; all I see and all I feel is me. When I was overseas, my map was larger. I could see nothing but their faces, feel nothing but their faces, feel nothing but their need. I loved it. We were made to live somewhere in between these two worlds. This glorious struggle teaches us about His grace and how to encounter more healing and wholeness." These sentences hit home to me.