Our Last Training & One More Party

This weekend was our final training in Nebbi... :-(We truly will miss our pastors a great deal. We really have grown to love them and care for them, and they will always hold a special place in our hearts.

It's hard to believe that it was our last day in Nebbi with these pastors we have grown so fond of. And I will even miss all of the same little children (pictured below with Joanna) who come and fill the windows & doorway at every pastor training, just to stare at the "mzungu's" (the white people)! They are so precious!

And we have to give props to baby Elsie Jayne Coppedge! She was such a trooper! As you can imagine, it's very hard for a 12 month old to miss her nap & be surrounded by new people in a new place ALL DAY, but she did great and eventually fell asleep in her mama's arms. I came outside of the church & saw Joanna holding Elsie Jayne as she was fast asleep with all the kids crowded around & it was precious to me, so I thought you'd like this picture! Thank you, Joanna & Elsie Jayne, for being such troopers & coming to our last day of training!

And we owe a huge "Thank You" to Billy & Joanna for the going away party they threw for us yesterday at their home! They invited all of our friends in Arua to their home & we all had a chance to say goodbye to each other. It was really sweet & special to have everyone together and just look around at their faces & think of the real friendships we have formed over these past two years, in a foreign land, where I thought it would be so hard to make real "friends..."

It still seems so surreal to us that we are leaving this country and this phase of our life. And if anyone knows us well (especially me~ Erica), you know that I LOVE America & I LOVE our family & friends there... But I can honestly say that I have also grown to love our friends & our home here. And although there are days that are difficult here, there is a big part of both of us that will miss Arua & our friends here!

PS~ Another BIG THANK YOU to Billy & Joanna for letting us use their computer these past couple weeks, since our hard dive crashed!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Billy & Jo! WE LOVE YOU!