My weekend was great, thanks!

(Do people actually play the songs while they read these posts? I'm curious.)

Hello everyone.

     Have I mentioned that I love my job? Well I do. When a day feels just a little too long and taxing, it's possible that this important detail can get momentarily lost under a wave of stress.

     But last Sunday, March 1st, was a great reminder of just how much I really, really love my job.

     And it all started with me skidding into my office at 2:30pm, totally frantic because I thought I was running 15 minutes behind and our video wasn't even ready to present at the event that started in one hour. 45 minutes prior, while lingering with my host family after church, I had received a text from my multimedia colleague, Paulin, saying that we had been asked to make a tiny change in our video, which could easily take an hour or two to re-export, and then we had to get there with the video and our filming equipment to shoot the event, which started at 3:30. Translation: there was literally not enough time.

     As quickly as I could, I excused myself from the after-church social conglomerate, caught a zem back to my apartment, changed clothes, grabbed the camera bag and some gaff tape (because I was so flustered that I honestly didn't know what else to grab, but you can never go wrong with gaff tape), was lent 500 francs by the store keepers on the corner who know me (I love them) because I was completely out of small change to pay the zem driver, and caught another zem to the Wycliffe office.

     Although I thought we were running horribly late, Paulin, to his credit, was totally un-phased and remained cool as a cucumber, which helped a lot by reminding me that my perception of this time crunch was 10% real-life and 90% my cultural upbringing that prioritizes punctuality right up there next to eyesight. I credit Paulin's calm, and some helpful advice from the director Daniel, and literally none of my own coping strategies, with helping me to see this clearly and let go of that burden of stress on the spot. :)

     (I'm reminded of a quote I saw being passed around on Facebook a few weeks ago, that says, "Not once does the bible say 'worry about it,' 'stress over it,' or 'figure it out.' But over and over it clearly says, 'trust God.'" Maybe by the time I leave Africa this truth will finally find its way through my stubborn skull)

     Long story short, we didn't end up finishing the small adjustment, and took off for the event location with the video as-is, but it was fine--Wycliffe Benin had a fundraiser to put on! The job at hand for Paulin and I was filming and photographing the event, so we zoomed over to the conference center to get all set up. When we got there, the place was buzzing with our Wycliffe co-workers preparing reception snacks, organizing the merchandise table, putting out name plates for special guests, and setting up the projector.

     "And then what happened, Kate??" Yeah, we totally started on time (No thanks to my worrying. Funny how that works...). Once everyone had arrived, there must have been 250 people!

     Wycliffe Benin had invited a group of special guests to sit in front and offer wonderful testimonies of the work they have seen Wycliffe doing in their country through the development of local languages and Bible translation. We have video of each of them speaking, and in a subsequent blog post, I hope to write down some highlights from their comments to share with you! In the meantime, here are some photo highlights, courtesy of the Wycliffe Benin Multimedia Department.

One of the very entertaining MCs at the fundraiser

Pauline and Mariette selling Wycliffe Benin merchandise

Paulin (in the photo above) and I tag-teamed the filming/photos as usual--but
for the first time, we have official Wycliffe Benin Multimedia Service vests!

A group played some fantastic traditional music on the stage

Papa Tebe and Mathieu

And the worship team was wonderful :)

I have a new game.
It's called "Spot the Baby Who's Spotted the Yovo Taking His Picture"!
There are actually 2 in this one. ;)

Do you want to know how much we were able to raise? From this night alone, in donations and pledges combined, we raised approximately 8,000,000 Francs, which is the equivalent of...

$13,504 USD!

Whoa! That's awesome! GLOOOIIIRE A DIEU! (That's something that people often shout in church. It is French for "GLOOOOORY TO GOD!")

I asked our friend Igor for an update on how fundraising is going so I could give you an idea of where we're at. Here's what I got:

• For the construction of the outer wall last year, we raised $18,490. That part is finished.
• For 2015, Wycliffe Benin is trying to raise a total of $207,627 to finish the administrative block and training room, of which we now have over $14,000, but Igor said they are getting new donations every day.
• I also learned in the course of preparing for this event that the land itself on which we are building the headquarters was given to Wycliffe Benin as a gift by friends of the organization. People are also able to donate cement to help with construction.
• God is blessing this project in so many ways!

Please continue to keep this project in your prayers. Here are some specific ways you can pray for us:

• For the Spirit to continue to inspire our fundraising team with new ideas to continue this process.
• For strength and safety for the construction team.
• For all personnel involved to rely continually on God's providence to take care of each need as it arises.

And finally, if you were interested in donating to support this project, you still can. Here is the link to the donation page again. If you have any questions, always feel free to ask.

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This is a totally unrelated but fun tidbit: For those who don't follow me on Facebook or Instagram (if you don't have Instagram, you couldn't see my photos before, but you can now), my oldest host sister offered to braid my hair! Unfortunately I can't keep them in for much longer, because it's already been a few weeks (T_T), but I really enjoyed trying something totally new, and I'm glad I did it! Here's a couple photos:

Me and the hair expert :) (It's not all my real hair)