The past few weeks have gone by very quickly! Last week the dental team went to the prison to do dental work. We packed all of our equipment up on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday transported it all to the prison(which is fortunately right next door). The day was extremely hot and we were inside a small building with no air circulating..So yes.. Hottest day of my life right there. I thought it was a few weeks ago when the ac broke at the dental clinic. I was wrong. :) So yes, we were working in the heat and were still able to see 98 patients total on Thursday! All this was done without electricity,air/water, suction.. We were truly roughing it! The patients seemed to be grateful to us.. Sometimes you really wonder though because NO ONE likes to go to the dentist.  

On Friday we were able to see 58 patients. The weather was dramatically different! It RAINED!! For the first time since I've been here. It was crazy rain too! Poured for maybe 1 hour then just drizzled. It was so nice because it cooled everything down. The day was so much more bearable because we were not feeling so worn out from the heat!

The prison was very interesting and not what I expected. When they told me we were going to the prison for the extreme outreach I was a little nervous. Maybe I was thinking of some prison stories from the states where the criminals are creepy and dangerous. The conditions were pretty sad at the prison. Not sure how many men shared a bunk room but I heard is about 18 to each room. Very uncomfortable. Also the prisoners only get one meal a day. So if you don't have any friends or family to bring you your other meals then you go without. There were also rooms with woman and  children. I'm very sure  most of the people in prison were there for petty crimes.

We never felt threatened by anyone. They were very respectful and kind. A few spoke English so it was always nice to be able to speak with them. :) Of course our two pastors were working right alongside us. They do the post op instructions and talk to the patients about Jesus.

This weekend I was very blessed  to have my friend Leona from Canada drop by to visit! We couch surfed together at a woman's house here  in Lome. The woman was kind enough to take us in on a last  minute couch surf request. She was from France and has been living here in Lome teaching French for the past 3 years.

The first day we got a nice tour from two of my friends from the dental clinic. They walked us through the market in Lome and we tried different fruits and street food.. It was TOO yummy! Worried about getting sick for a little bit. But nothing has happened and we ate more! Last night as well.. :) I may be picking up some spices from here to try making some of the food myself once I get home.

 Eating street food:)

 Our tour guides. Mawuli and Sam

The ship!

That night we made our way to meet our host at the French school. Then she took us to a ballet! It was a modern ballet.. Very interesting. Yep! After that we went to a local restaurant for fresh fish!  They brought the fish out on a plate and we were able to choose  which fish we wanted to eat.

Sunday morning we met  up with a friend from the clinic again and we went to his house to make fufu! His cousin had prepared most of it already.  Fufu is pretty much yams, boiled till they are soft and then mashed up into a playdough like consistancy. After we "helped" smoosh the boiled yams. We were served the fufu with a delicious soup with chicken. So good!!  I now don't mind fufu. With the right soup it tastes very good!
After eating lots of fufu, Leona was able to come back to the ship with me for visiting hours.

 I gave her a tour of the ship and we had supper. Then for Palm Sunday there was a special service on board the  ship. We dressed up in our African dresses! Since this week there are 32 nations represented on board the ship they had several people from the different nations say something or sing. :) It was very nice!

Monday, Leona was able to come to the dental clinic with me! I got her some scrubs from the ship and we rode in to work together on motor bikes. :) It was a long day.. But I think she enjoyed it! It was great to have her there!