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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Week 7

Washington DC is where these shoes took me this week. We went hoping to meet and witness to people from our people group. And we did!! We met a guy from our country who owned a little shop (where I promptly bought a purse and some earrings!) and Brock was able to talk to him about Christ. Musa (the owner) didn't really want to talk, so Brock just talked to him about what we were going to do and about sports. Then we met a guy from Eygpt, Ghana, and Mali. We ate at an Ethiopian restaurant which was great! All in all it was a good trip and a great way to spend the day!!

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Week 6

Contingency training is where my shoes took me this week. Scared to death!!! But it was actually really great. We talked for 3 days about what to do if you were taken hostage, kidnapped, or detained. So now we are prepared to "Stay in our box!" (I can explain if anyone wants to know)

We also learned this week about our personalities and I'm an ISTJ which means I'm an introvert (go figure) who is a practical organized thinker. Brock on the other hand was an ENPF which means he's an extrovert who is a theoritical spontaneous feeler. Talk about opposite's attract!!!

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