And so We All Say Good Bye....

So we woke up to our last full day in Goma. We finally had a day to sleep in and didnt have to be ready to go anywhere unril 8:30, so it was a nice morning of sitting around enjoying the morning with Esther and Nicole. We had a very busy planned out day. We started with a visit to Healing Arts to purchase a few more things handcrafted by the ladies of Heal Africa, which in turn, gave us a chance to say goob-bye to some of the women one more time. We spent about a good 45 minutes there going through all the beautiful things and trying to make decisions. If it was my choice, and affordable, I would have walked out with everything they had on display.

After we finshed at Healing Arts we headed over to the hospital at Heal Africa. We then distributed two suitcases of medical supplies that they were overwhelmingly blessed to recieve. They were thankful because there is a huge need for most of the supplies that were given. After Heal Africa, we headed to another medical center in town. There we were able to distribute the last two suitcases of medical supplies. We had a chance at this hospital to visit with some more victims of sexual violence. A few of the women shared their stories with us and there were many tears shared among us all. We sweetened it up with them by giving them each a piece of fabric, some jolly ranchers and some prays. By the time we left you could feel the joy of the Lord a;; the way around and everyone was smiling and looking absolutley beautiful!

I got to expericence two first that I've never done before. One, I got to drive in Goma.....Esther hates to drive and asked if any of us had our license with us and being that I was the only one, I got put in the hot seat. The second thing, the driver's seat is on the right side of the car here. It was the weirdest thing in the world to drive on what we would consider the wrong side. After a little while it became a little easier. But I'll tell you, I would take sitting in traffic on a smooth freeway then trying to share a lova rock, pothole, huge dips and bumps road with a million motorcycles that dont like to share the road, any day!

So after we took care of business this morning we had a little time to go shopping before having to be at the Learning Center at 2. Nicole laughed as she watched us shop and called us "pros" at being able to negoiate prices. Not long after shopping we made it back to house for some time to pack and a quick feast....i mean lunch. We had our last lunch with Priscilla, who could not wait to see the work we had been doing at the center. She is one of the few that works with the children at the center, so our project is a blessing to both her and all the kids. We headed over to the center where we got a chance to see her reaction as well as the children. They were all so happy!! After the excitment we sat down as a team and shared to story of Noah and the Ark with all the kids. They all were active particpants in the discussion which made us all so happy! They are so happy to learn its amazing.

After the center, we took a drive over to the Lucy's house. We all stood there and said.... "Were not in Goma anymore". It was absolutly breathtaking! We walked around the property and enjoyed to views of the lake.

We are now back at the house, just enjoying each others company and spending our last evening with Esther and Nicole. We are almost all finished up packng but none of us our ready to leave. We all are leaving a piece of ourselves here in Goma, and taking a piece of Goma with each one of us. This has been an amazing journey. We came here hoping to bless the lives of many and are leaving with an adundance of blessings from all of them! We will never forget those we have come in contact with and those we have spent lots of time with. Everyone will be missed by us all! Thank you to all of our families and friends for all their support for this trip. None of it would have been possible without you all and the Lord! We are all soooooooo extremely grateful!!

See you all soon!! Many stories and pictures to share when we all get home. So for the last time from Goma, good night!!

Jess, Jen, Terry and Nona

(and Michael and Patrick from Kinshasa!)