Bring on the cold!!

Since we arrived here in January we've been told that the rainy season end in September and then it's the beginning of the dry season and cooler weather. Needless to say that when the heat and humidity of the hot season began in April and then the humidity stayed through the rainy season of August, we were really looking forward to the start of the dry season and cooler temps.

But no one told us about October. October is hot, humid and just plain miserable. It's exactly like April and May. Only I wasn't prepared for October because everyone said the rain ends and then it's cold. Now mind you cold here means like 70 degrees, but compared to 100 degrees that's frigid! But no one told me about October! So I've been praying for the weather to change, trying to be patient and complaining to my hubby about the heat.

Last night after the women's study we started for our team, we were standing outside talking about how there should be one last rain and then the cooler temps. We were saying "Wouldn't it be nice if it would just get here, just rain and then be cool?". As I drove home, it started sprinkling. Within 10 minutes there was lightning, thunder, wind and lots of rain.

Sometimes I forget how fast God answers prayer. I get lost in the waiting and forget to praise him when He is quick (in my mind) to respond to what I ask of Him. So I just wanted to take the time to thank Him today for the rain, for the cooler, cloudy, windy day today and for always answering my prayers.

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The wail

"Someone just died," B said as he came into the house after class. Of course my immediate sarcastic response was "What you're psychic now?"

But as I stepped outside I could hear wailing, the intense cry when someone dies. There is no other way to describe it. It is a wail. Deep pain, sorrow, tears and sobbing all coming out in a single sound. It's intense, surreal and heart-wrenching. A lady came out of a compound literally 20 yards away. She was being held up by another lady as her body was racked with sobs. They walked down to the corner, both wailing.

B and I immediately got dressed and went with a friend to greet and pray for the family. As soon as we walked in and heard the wailing we both started crying. Crying for the deceased woman and her family that we didn't know. Crying because this family was in such visible pain. Crying because we knew where this woman would spend eternity. Crying because we never knew her, never shared Christ with her. Crying because we'd never have the chance.

We sat and prayed for the family. I hugged and held hands with some of the ladies as they sobbed. I didn't stop crying until I got home.

This brings a new sense of urgency to why I'm here. We hear all the time that there are people dying every second without ever hearing or knowing Christ, but that's never really really really impacted me. Not like this. Now I've seen it, seen the pain that is caused from losing someone and not knowing where they will go. I feel a greater pressure to know the language better, so much better so that I can share Christ every chance I get. To not worry so much about cultural norms and boundaries and boldly share Him who brought me here. To not let another person who lives near me die without hearing about who Jesus Christ is. Please pray with me for these families..for the families who do not yet know Jesus...for the families who I will tell...and for the families I might not get a chance to tell, that somehow they will hear it and believe.

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Why?

I've been reading the Psalms lately..mostly because I have felt attacked, discouraged, and just plain icky (yes that is a real feeling).

Spiritual warfare is not something that most of us recognize because in the states most of the time it's just little stuff Satan uses, like too many commitments, impatience, or sickness to pull us away from God. But since I started this journey to follow God to Africa I've been attacked. I'm not talking about little things. I'm talking about mentally ill roommates that try to get you kicked out of school, an apartment complex that robs you, paperwork being lost so that we can't be over here sooner, more paperwork being lost, being stalled because someone was too lazy to look at his desk, more mentally ill people, and now a man who is coming out here in June. It's a long story but basically this "Christian" man was here before alone for three or so months, did some things that were not good, spent too much time in the wrong places and left a very very bad image. We found out what was going on and since he was coming back tried to correct the situation via our leadership, but now he is mad (although we have been assured by many around us that we handled the situation correctly and maturely) and is sending us threatening emails and is probably going to come here and not be very nice.

All this to say that I have been reading Psalms a lot lately, especially chapters 54-62. The psalmist writes about how men attack him and do evil and seek to drag him down into the depths. He cries out to God asking Him to deliver him and destroy the enemy. Asking God for faith and proclaiming his trust in the Lord. This has been my source of comfort these last few days....knowing that God is my Savior and He has great things planned for our town, great things planned for our people. Crying out to God to deliver me from the hands of men, from evil things that men do to destroy His name and trusting that God is faithful as He always has been in the past.

I think God has great plans for me, for my husband, for the people here and for this town. I think this because Satan is trying desperately to make me defeated, to make me give up and go home. Why? Because God is working here, moving fast and hard and Satan is losing his foothold in this area. Because we are called to proclaim His name and His saving grace and do great things for God's kingdom. Please pray for me, for us...to be faithful even when we don't feel like it... to be obedient even if we are hurting....to shake off this fear, hurt and anger and boldly proclaim Jesus' name...and to not let Satan win this battle when this man comes in June.

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Shoes....how I miss you!

I know this is completely superficial...and you probably will think I'm a very bad missionary....but I have comes to terms with this so you must also.

I miss my shoes....

I had so many at one time....now I have six...3 flip flops, 2 Keen sandals, and tennis shoes. Boring I know...

Do you remember these?? I do...

I miss the way they feel on my feet...I miss the smell of new leather...I miss my feet hurting from wearing heels all day.

These are waiting on me when we come back to the states in 2014...a long time from now...


This is all www.thepioneerwoman.com/confessions fault....she blogs about her shoes all the time... I must stop reading!!

I tried to prepare myself for not being able to shop, by bringing extra new clothes and leaving them packed away so I could "shop" and pull out new clothes when I got tired of my current ones. But I didn't do that for my shoes! What was I thinking??!!

So if you are out shopping today, go try on a pair of the cutest heels you can find, the most expensive nicest shoes and think of me in Africa with my $2.50 flip flops from Old Navy. Just don't tell me about it...because I might cry. Well not really cry...ok yes I would cry so just keep it to yourself ok?

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First Times

I've had many first in my life. Some were exciting and I looked forward to, but others were things that I never wanted to experience. Last weekend was a weekend of firsts and a combination of things I've dreaded and things I've been looking forward to. But all the same, it was the best weekend I've had since we arrived at our new home!!

Friday night...no power for the 4th time that day (on for a little while, off for a longer while). I was trying to figure out what to cook in the dark when B came in and said "Hey we HAVE to go eat at our neighbor's house". Instead of putting up a fight (like I would have normally me being an introvert) I said "OK". So we went...ate in the light of the stars...and talked with our neighbors that we were just meeting for the first time. I still have no idea what I ate, but it was good! First number 1!


Saturday we went to G's adopted village (G is our night guard and another first). We left late morning and drove down one of the paved roads thinking that it was right off the road. Then G said "Turn here" and we said "Where? There's no road.". To which he replied "Right here. See that little path..that's the road." So we obeyed and turned down a goat path and drove on it for about 45 minutes. We had to put our car in 4 wheel drive for the first time to get through the sand and even came home with some pretty new scratches on all sides (including the top) of our truck!!


When we finally arrived at the village we were greeted by tons of kids, some smiling some scared of the white people, but all curious! So we got out, met the chief and the maribou (witch doctor/Muslim teacher) and sat around for a bit. Then I got my first spouse swapping offer. An old man told B that he could have his wife and that he would take me. HA! It was so funny and the old man was so cute! We went into our first hut and had attaya (tea) with the promise that we would learn how to make it soon. Then we went to sit under a HUGE mango tree and just chat with the people from the village using our limited language skills.

After a while I realized that I needed to use the restroom (a first I was dreading). So we asked where we could go and my wonderful husband went with me. Now I don't want to be too graphic, but I have NEVER used anything but an American toilet. Never a bush, a tree or a hole. So after finally finding the hole (we almost confused the place where they wash with the toilet) and looking down into it (just a bit of advice....Don't do this...trust me) and wondering if what was moving down there was going to fly up at me and my hubby telling me everything was fine, I can now say that I have experienced this and while I hope I don't have to do it a lot...I did it and it was fine!

After that wonderful experience it was time to eat lunch and rest for a bit more. The kids sang to us in Pulaar (after much coaxing) and then we sang to them in English. Back and forth until they were singing the whole time! Finally the chief took us on a tour of the village and held hands with B almost the entire time! It was too cute!!! The village has a ton of cashew trees and some Italians and Spaniards pay village for the cashew nut. The village keeps the fruit and sells it at the market. After we got back we noticed it was getting late and we needed to get back. So we loaded up our guard, the chief's son and his mother and took everyone back to our city. On the way home, the chief's son's mom kept telling us that we had made her very happy and that we now had a home in that village. That we were all family now and that we needed to come back soon. After driving down a different goat path (this one was better though) we finally made it back to our house. Then for a final first we tried making attaya with our guard. To make attaya, you boil the tea, but then you pour the tea back and forth so that you get this creamy foam on the top. Needless to say, we spilled more attaya than we ended up drinking, but it was fun!!

So that was my adventure last weekend. I'm sorry it took me a while to write about, but it was such a wonderful experience that putting it into words has been really hard. I talked to my parents the next day and my dad wrote me and said I had a sparkle in my eyes and a glow on my face talking about our trip. I love my neighbors here in our city, but more and more I feel lead to go out to these villages and share. This is where the Fulakunda people are and these are the people we were lead to. Please pray for us as we continue to build a relationship with this village and more to come. So that we can share God's saving grace with them.

This is my favorite picture!! Thanks C for the great equipment!!!

Oh did I mention that I drove here for the first time and didn't run over anyone, ate from a bowl with an entire cooked rooster in it (no joke the entire thing), saw my first dust tornado, let the neighborhood kids brush and braid my hair while I painted their fingernails and toenails, and that I wore my tika ALL DAY!!! I love it here!!

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It's a GIRL!!!

Ok so it's a baby girl and we've named her Zelle. She is adorable and funny and quite loving. She was abandoned at a teammate's house and she knew that we'd been looking so she brought her by and we fell in love!! Ok here she is...



But in all seriousness, some did abadon this adorable puppy and she's not like most of the African dogs. She is super friendly, playful and really likes people. So we didn't have a choice...we had to give her a good home. Our night guard, G, is really excited to have a dog to keep him company. He is smitten with Ani, so we knew that he would love Zelle. Oh and if you are wondering about the name...her legs are so very long and she jumps around like a gazelle...hence zelle (zel lee).

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Being flexible

So we’ve been in our city for a little over a month now and I had my first really bad week. It was one of those “Ugg I live in Africa” weeks not “Yay I live in Africa!”. I started to wonder if I would ever get used to all these little things that have not been normal for me in the past and all the things that are just done differently here.

It’s been hard for me to get used to the color of the bottoms of my feet…black. My feet are always dirty. Not just dusty…dirty. Will my feet ever be the same color again?

It’s been hard for me to get used to the pace of things here. Slow. Slow. Slow. Things are just slow. Internet is slow, people are slow, eating is slow, animals are slow. The only thing that moves fast here are the taxis and they move too fast!

It’s been hard for me to get used to not being able to fix my hair. Those of you who know me know that I like my hair. I’m used to straightening irons, hair dryers and wearing my hair down as much as possible. That’s just not possible here. My hair has to be curly and pulled up off my neck and off my face. Which means no pretty hair for P!

It’s been hard for me to get used to how things are handled here. The car breaks and it gets repaired with crappy parts so that it will run for a little while. The washing machine breaks and no one can fix it. The fans don’t work…just deal with it until an electrician might be able to come out and look at it. Oh did I mention that it took 4 days for the car to be fixed and then it broke down 1.5 days later away from home?

But when I look at the faces of my neighbors, the kids, and my teacher I feel such sorrow. Because they don’t know the Father that I know, they don’t have hope, unconditional love, and forgiveness (Eph 2:12-13). They live fearful of death because they don’t have a promise of where they will end up. Then I know that I will get used to all these little things that don’t matter. Like constantly dirty feet, sweaty armpits, frizzy hair and washing food with bleach water. These things evaporate into nothingness when I start thinking about my neighbors who I’ve come to cherish going to hell because I can’t yet speak the love of Christ in their language. Then “Yay I live in Africa!” seems like a much better way of looking at things (Col 1:27).

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Charades

Charades…this is a game that I have resorted to playing with people here.

At orientation in VA, a guy came to talk to us about how best to learn a language. He said that we’d get frustrated and start pulling out words and phrases from any other language we might know in order to communicate. I had hoped this would mean I would pull out from the depths of my brain the French I so earnestly learned in high school. Unfortunately it has meant speaking Spanish (which I only know three words), charades and even….wait for it…..sign language….yes you read that correctly…. Last night I tried to spell something for someone in sign language who wasn’t deaf and who only speaks Pulaar.

Fortunately I have started language school so hopefully this won’t last forever. Otherwise this will be the longest game of charades in history…maybe I could get into the Guinness Book of World Records? Food for thought!

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African life

We have been in our city for a little over a week now and I must apologize for not getting to this sooner. We have had a little difficulty getting internet in our house and have been busy with orientation and getting acquainted with the city. But I am determined to not let another week go by without updating my blog so keep checking!!

It’s kinda surreal being here and I’m not sure I am fully grasping the extent of how long we will be here. B described it yesterday as still being in the honeymoon phase. Everything is hunky dory for now, but I’m sure the day will come when we are frustrated at our town.

So now for the good stuff….People in Africa have never seen a dog on a leash let alone a small dog on a leash! The first couple of days when we’d take our dog out to the bathroom (our yard is concrete for the moment!) they’d swarm her and watch her do her business. It’s hilarious!! Then they’d stare at her business after she left!! So we left her with a teammate and their children while we went to a nearby town (well 3 hours away) to get some things we can’t get here. The kids took her for two walks on her leash and then later that night they noticed that the neighborhood kids had caught a stray dog, tied a rope around it’s neck and then another rope to that one and were walking it down the street! For everything we are trying to do to be more like them, they are doing the same to be more like us!

Lesson learned: Be very careful at all times to imitate the One who created and loves us because that is whom we represent. The people here are always watching us and if they will imitate us walking a dog on a leash, then they might also imitate a hateful, disrespectful, or bad attitude. So we must try to walk in Him every day, every moment so that if they see and imitate anything it’s nothing but Him.

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