We have been busy with getting the dorm and our apartment finished before the boys return to school on August 10th. It has been stressful, but it is moving along. The kitchen in the dorm is still not finished. We are closer with the counters starting to be installed. The stove will hopefully get fixed as well as so many other small details. The staff here has been working so many long hours, so pray that it all comes together. Our apartment should be finished being painted this week. It looks so beautiful. We will post pictures when it is done.
We continue to be excited for school to start and look forward to getting to know the boys better. Pray that the transition for them will be a smooth one! Our national workers return to work on August 3rd. We have made some changes, so pray that we will be able to communicate effectively with them and that they will have a smooth transition to new leadership. We want to have a rally the troops meeting when they get here, so we hope that our language communicates that and not something entirely else! It should be interesting!
Well we hope that you have had a good summer. We have missed spending time with our family and friends this summer! But enjoyed seeing and experiencing things here for our first summer away from the States! Love and miss you very much!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
An amazing day
Our supervisors have a team visiting from Alabama. We have been busy helping them and serving with them this past week. Yesterday the ladies from the team went to a compound of one of our believers. They have not been open at all and at times hostile against our believer. We went out to eat and share stories with them. They were very warm and hospitable. We set up a canopy and mats as it was going to rain. While some of the team was helping keep the kids entertained, others of us helped prepare lunch. Was I in for a rude awakening of what it takes to feed a whole compound, plus 10 visitors. We started by pounding the spices, cutting 15 or so onions and carrots, and many other kind of vegetables, and rolling ground fish. This dish we were preparing was called Ceebu Jagga which consists of rice with a red sauce with fish and fish balls and vegetables. In between the cooking there were dishes to wash – hunched over a bucket. Unfortunately it started to rain so the cookers went inside one of the bedrooms to finish cooking. The lady who was cooking was very patient. I did my best to translate to help all of the other ladies take direction from her. It was the most language that I have heard and spoken since being in Senegal. It was a great opportunity to see what I have learned and be able to practice and use the language that I have acquired.
When the meal was served we ate on the mats while the families all ate in their rooms. We ate from a common bowl with our hands. This is the first time that I have not had the pleasure of eating with a spoon. I wasn’t very good at the scoop and scrape into the mouth action, but I get better as the meal progressed. It was hard to believe how much work it was to get this meal together and I was so exhausted.
During the preparations, I was cutting onions. I was cutting out the brown spots and rotten spots and putting them in the sand next to me. After the onions were cut I got the African hand broom and brushed them all into a pile to throw away. Shortly thereafter one of the elderly woman proceeded to get the sifter (it is what they use to do their flour in, but this one was used to collect the trash while letting the sand fall through) and take all of the onions and wash them off and take them into her room. It was humbling to see what was not good enough for my standards are still edible and valuable to them. Another thing that happened was that at the end of the meal, the lady who cooked was washing the dishes. Another woman and I were helping her – I told her to go and listen to the stories that were being shared. I wanted her to hear the gospel! She went and listened to 1 story and then came back to help. When we finished washing, she washed our hands and our feet for us. It was very humbling and hard to let her do – I was supposed to be serving her, but yet here she was serving me. Amazing.
While I was sweating and slaving away at the compound, the men of the team went fishing with some of our supervisors African friends. Although Ron took a Dramamine, he stilled proceeded to feed the fish! The waters weren’t rough, but being out in this African boat (which is like a really long canoe) Ron still felt the motion of the ocean. The other men were able to catch a few fish to give to this African for his family.
After being out all day, the team came back and helped Ron and I organize things in the dorm. They moved furniture, sorted linens and cleaned. It was a huge help to us! Thanks Mulberry Baptist church for your willingness to serve our family. We ended the day with eating fish and shrimp skewers and mango. It was a tiring, but rewarding day. One that I won’t forget!
P.S. I will post pictures this weekend!
When the meal was served we ate on the mats while the families all ate in their rooms. We ate from a common bowl with our hands. This is the first time that I have not had the pleasure of eating with a spoon. I wasn’t very good at the scoop and scrape into the mouth action, but I get better as the meal progressed. It was hard to believe how much work it was to get this meal together and I was so exhausted.
During the preparations, I was cutting onions. I was cutting out the brown spots and rotten spots and putting them in the sand next to me. After the onions were cut I got the African hand broom and brushed them all into a pile to throw away. Shortly thereafter one of the elderly woman proceeded to get the sifter (it is what they use to do their flour in, but this one was used to collect the trash while letting the sand fall through) and take all of the onions and wash them off and take them into her room. It was humbling to see what was not good enough for my standards are still edible and valuable to them. Another thing that happened was that at the end of the meal, the lady who cooked was washing the dishes. Another woman and I were helping her – I told her to go and listen to the stories that were being shared. I wanted her to hear the gospel! She went and listened to 1 story and then came back to help. When we finished washing, she washed our hands and our feet for us. It was very humbling and hard to let her do – I was supposed to be serving her, but yet here she was serving me. Amazing.
While I was sweating and slaving away at the compound, the men of the team went fishing with some of our supervisors African friends. Although Ron took a Dramamine, he stilled proceeded to feed the fish! The waters weren’t rough, but being out in this African boat (which is like a really long canoe) Ron still felt the motion of the ocean. The other men were able to catch a few fish to give to this African for his family.
After being out all day, the team came back and helped Ron and I organize things in the dorm. They moved furniture, sorted linens and cleaned. It was a huge help to us! Thanks Mulberry Baptist church for your willingness to serve our family. We ended the day with eating fish and shrimp skewers and mango. It was a tiring, but rewarding day. One that I won’t forget!
P.S. I will post pictures this weekend!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Updates
Faith's ear is doing much better. After going back to the doctor, she determined that she just had a nasty outer ear infection. It is still gross, but it is getting better everyday and she isn't in pain any more. Thank you for your prayers.
We are completely moved out of our other house and are still organizing and unpacking in the new apartment. The school has torn out the dorm kitchen, so the dorm is a mess. Our allergies are a mess because of the dust. We are praying that they finish soon. Once our apartment is finished getting the final touches on it, we will upload some pictures.
We are battling with roaches!! We have had ants before, but never roaches. We are determined to win this battle, so any tips are greatly appreciated. There will be some work done in the apartment in a week, so we will move out for a few days and we are going to do a bomb. We are praying that it helps. Ugh!
We all had our first de-worming treatment (not the first for Luke and Zach). Some of us picked up a little souvenir from the Gambia. But since some of us had them, we decided to make it a family affair! It worked!
All in all, life in Africa continues to go along smoothly. We have a volunteer team that we are going to be helping with - we are excited about that. We will be in some of the villages helping the team. Pray for our time and that we would be able to share the message of the Cross!
We are continuing to get ready for the dorm to open August 10th. We will be busy helping getting the campus ready and the dorm cleaned and set up. Pray that we will be efficient and thorough in all of our planning.
Continue to pray for our language. It is so frustrating to see the lostness of the people of Senegal and not be able to share the good news. We are going to start memorizing stories this week. Pray that we will have an opportunity to practice what we have learned.
We continue to thank you for your prayers and support of our family. While we miss being with our friends and family, we love life here in Senegal.
We are completely moved out of our other house and are still organizing and unpacking in the new apartment. The school has torn out the dorm kitchen, so the dorm is a mess. Our allergies are a mess because of the dust. We are praying that they finish soon. Once our apartment is finished getting the final touches on it, we will upload some pictures.
We are battling with roaches!! We have had ants before, but never roaches. We are determined to win this battle, so any tips are greatly appreciated. There will be some work done in the apartment in a week, so we will move out for a few days and we are going to do a bomb. We are praying that it helps. Ugh!
We all had our first de-worming treatment (not the first for Luke and Zach). Some of us picked up a little souvenir from the Gambia. But since some of us had them, we decided to make it a family affair! It worked!
All in all, life in Africa continues to go along smoothly. We have a volunteer team that we are going to be helping with - we are excited about that. We will be in some of the villages helping the team. Pray for our time and that we would be able to share the message of the Cross!
We are continuing to get ready for the dorm to open August 10th. We will be busy helping getting the campus ready and the dorm cleaned and set up. Pray that we will be efficient and thorough in all of our planning.
Continue to pray for our language. It is so frustrating to see the lostness of the people of Senegal and not be able to share the good news. We are going to start memorizing stories this week. Pray that we will have an opportunity to practice what we have learned.
We continue to thank you for your prayers and support of our family. While we miss being with our friends and family, we love life here in Senegal.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Random Pictures
Here is us driving off of the ferry - it was crazy, there were so many people.
This is a picture from the ferry.
Faith and Melodie on the ferry - they were inseparable while in the Gambia!
Don't see this in the States do you?
A guy named Siddie - we shared stories with him many times. Pray for his eyes to be opened and that he would read the Bible we left with him. Praise the Lord for the 8 people that were baptized while we were in the Gambia. Pray that all of those that were shared with will continue to search and find the true God!
A cat strolling around the restaurant we ate in.
The trip home was much smoother than the trip to the Gambia. When we got to the ferry there was nobody in line, so we only had to wait an hour. The border stops were a little interesting - a funny thing that happened was that while we were at the second of 3 buildings where Ron had to get something signed. The kids and I were in the car and there were a group of kids asking for everything they saw in the car. A lady walks up and a girl asks for the bibiron - I didn't know what that was - so after clarifying it was a baby bottle I said no, it was a toy for Faith's baby. They couldn't understand that Faith had a baby. I said to the lady that she didn't need a bottle to feed and she then proceeded to lift up her shirt and squirt me with breast milk, and then she fell out laughing. After I picked up my jaw, I told her she still couldn't have the bottle. She asked if she could "look" at it - stupid me - said sure. She then told me sorry and walked away. She did throw back some "free" cashews. I didn't want to cause a scene at the border crossing, crazy white woman trying to enter the country might not go over to well. We survived, but it might be a while before we go back.
We are now home in our new apartment. We are about 90% moved. We slept here for the first time since moving. Faith has a bad infection in her ear, face and eye. She is on major antibiotics and will go back to the dr. on Thursday. She is miserable and on 24 hour pain meds. We are praying that the antibiotics kick in today. She has had 1 day of them and so hopefully she will turn the corner today.
We have jumped back into language - we weren't ready after speaking english for 3 weeks. We want to be able to communicate better so we will continue to do 2-3 days a week for the summer before school starts. Pray that our language will stick.
Off for now - thanks for all of your prayers. Pray that we will get everything done in this next month before the boys arrive!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Quick Update
We arrived home safe from our crazy travels on Wednesday and began the arduous task of moving and packing. Ugh! We will post some pictures from our trip soon - our internet is not cooperating to load pictures.
We haven't been able to move into the dorm yet. They have ripped up the kitchen and in the process turned off the cold water. Hopefully they will finish up this week. So in the meantime we have moved, cleaned, and organized during the day and then come home and shower and fall in the bed!
We hope everyone had a happy 4th of July. We missed celebrating in the US! We did have hot dogs, hamburgers, beans and mac and cheese and we heard some fireworks!
We haven't been able to move into the dorm yet. They have ripped up the kitchen and in the process turned off the cold water. Hopefully they will finish up this week. So in the meantime we have moved, cleaned, and organized during the day and then come home and shower and fall in the bed!
We hope everyone had a happy 4th of July. We missed celebrating in the US! We did have hot dogs, hamburgers, beans and mac and cheese and we heard some fireworks!
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