Issue #56
April 30, 2000

Dear Friends and Family,
This has been a good weekend for me. Yesterday was my birthday, but I didn't have a day of celebration but three days. On Friday morning as my class was showing up I began to notice they were all wearing black. I finally said, "Is this black day or something?" They looked at me kind of funny and then I figured it out. They were "celebrating" my birthday since I was turning 30. During our morning break time, the principal and elementary teachers had snacks for me. That afternoon my class had a "surprise" party for me. By that time in the day, I had a pretty good idea it was going to happen. Friday evening was my party with the singles and a few others. It was a shared party with Rich, the bookkeeper. We had Mexican food, which was delicious. It was a picture party. During the evening we kept taking these goofy pictures. I think they are going to put them together into some kind of album.

On Saturday, the actual day of my birthday, I took it pretty easy and just got some work done around the house. I received some phone calls from the States, which was very nice. That night a group of us went out to eat at my favorite restaurant.

On Sunday morning, my Sunday school class brought me in cards that included 300 cfa. They told me it was so I could buy a cold coke. That was really nice of them. That is a big chunk of their weekly allowances. One of the kids gave me 1000 cfa. That is more than his weekly allowance. These are the kids I taught my first year and have had in Sunday school the last two years. At lunch today in the dining hall, they also sang "Happy Birthday." Presents, or prizes as we call them here have continued to trickle in throughout the weekend, which is also fun. I guess with all of this, they made turning 30 not so bad after all.

Last night one of the high school girls dorms played "Truth or Dare." Their dares took place at lunch today. As we were eating, these girls kept getting up doing goofy things, walking down the aisle singing songs, saying something goofy, or making funny noises. One girl brought an extra napkin to a guy at my table. Her face was bright red. After lunch, one of the girls was outside for several minutes hollering for someone she was looking for that doesn't exist on this campus. It was real funny. I don't think the lady who runs the dining hall appreciated it much.

I do have some prayer request for this week. Overall this year we have had a healthy year, but that would not be the case toward the end of this last week and this weekend. We have some kind of flu or something go around and people are dropping like flies. The nurses are almost continually going to visit a new sick person. My roommate is having a really bad headache. I'm not sure if it is a migraine or what. The moths (or whatever really causes it) are back. They leave burns on the skin. Please pray that health will be restored to the campus and that the nurses will have strength during this time.

Hope you all had a good weekend, too!

In Christ,
Traci Epps