Life, language, learning and lots of bugs!

Here are some pictures of the kids doing school.

We have been busy with language learning, language learning and more language. We are learning so much French - our language tutors have been so helpful. The main language tutor Abdoulaye is a teacher for the Peace Corp and he is wonderful. The time flies when he is teaching us! The kids have started home school and are doing great. The curriculum we chose is very reading intensive. We read some chapters in 3 books each night. The books they have chosen are great - The Golden Goblet, Red Sails to Capri, and Island of the Blue Dolphins. The kids hate when we have to stop each night - Ron and I hate to stop too - the stories are so good. While I am doing language training in the morning, Ron works with the kids. When Ron is with Abdoulaye, I work with the kids. It is working out well so far.

We are currently experience the 11th plague :) We have about a million tiny grasshoppers all over our house - inside and out. The ones are the inside aren't as bad, but they are insane outside. We have to sweep everyday anyway, but with these grasshoppers it is even worse!

We have really settled in and are enjoying life here immensely. This Saturday we are going to downtown Bamako to the National Museum, the Artisan market, and the Grande Marche (the giant market). Our language helper for the kids is coming to help us and show us around. We hope to get lots of pictures!

I drank the sweet tea this evening at dinner…

…and I enjoyed it – then. But now, my body is not very happy with me. It is evidently not used to caffeine any more, especially late in the day. So rather than lie in bed, I decided to come share a story from today.

There were about 40 of us on the roof of the apartment. Some were seated on mats in a circle, others in chairs behind them. There was a bit of a breeze, a pleasant change from the heat of the day. Many of those we worshipped with tonight are serving by translating stories from God’s Word into the language of their people group and then sharing the stories orally. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Romans 10:17, NKJV

The format of our worship was oral like this, and it was rather informal. But it was real. It did not require a building, a hymnbook, or certain instruments. Only our hearts were needed. Some songs we sang a capella, some were accompanied by the guitar, and the prayers were interspersed throughout. We listened to a story from the Bible, retold it, and then discussed it. I was overwhelmed with the privilege I have of knowing and worshipping the One who created me. I don’t really get it – how my worship of God brings me such peace and satisfaction. But it does. It is a feeling, but it is more than that. It is true contentment, for which I am so grateful.

I cannot experience true relationship with God without desiring that others also have the opportunity to experience it. I am so thankful for the privilege to carry this message of good news to some who have never heard and are without hope. I pray that by our witness they will be moved closer to knowing Him personally. Now *there* is motivation for learning language! This is the reason we have moved – that one day the one true God would receive the glory He is due from this part of the world.

I am praying that each of you has the contentment that comes by knowing the one who made you. Be blessed! ron

Pictures

Here is our street - our house is on the right - after the car and before the white van. The little fruit stand at the end of our street where I buy my apples, potatoes and bananas.
Zach and his friend Mamah. This kids is an amazing soccer player - he has been helping Zach with his footwork. His french is also amazing.
This is our truck.
This is our backyard - courtyard area. At the very end are the clotheslines and water faucet.

We have had a busy week of french, french, french and about 15-20 kids a day playing in our courtyard. We are definitely the neighborhood attraction. Haven't met most of the parents yet, but continue to practice our french with the kids. We are really trying to have the kids speak french and they are doing better, but it is still second nature for them to speak Bambara. But they are patient and willing to help the kids. Our family language helper taught us how to play "Old Maid" in french. We brought the cards with us and then the next day taught them how to play Old Maid - it was fun to watch. Life was a little easier this week. I found a store close by that sells a lot of the staple items. They also speak French - huge bonus.

Another praise - the rest of the apprentices get here tonight. We are really looking forward to being with them. It hardly seems like we have been here 2 weeks. Time has really flown by. We are hopefully going to some tourist areas this week. We are really looking forward to that - they have a museum, zoo, markets, and other things in downtown Bamako.

Many people have asked how to pronounce our African names - here goes: Yacouba (Ron) is yah cu ba, Djeneba (Chris) is Jen eh ba, Diakaridia (Zach) is Jack a ree jah. Luca (Luke) is easy, Djiguiya (Faith) is Jiggy ya. We have since found out our last name - Coulibaly (cool i ball ee) means bean eater - (tooters). Also the name for a pesty dog. All of the last names have jokes about them - but when we tell people our last name they wave their hand in front of their nose - unless their name is Coulibaly too - There aren't many last names here - many people have the same ones and they all joke on each other!

More to come.....

Driving

I have posted a video of us driving yesterday - it was during the "rest" part of the day, so there is not as much traffic. I must warn you - it is a little jiggly - you might want to take a dramamine. This was taken on the main road - la grande rue. I know that we have mentioned before, but the driving here is a little crazy. Yesterday we went out by ourselves and I wish that I had taken a video of some of the other roads. The non paved roads have giant potholes, rocks sticking out of the ground, goats, dogs, motos, women with giant loads on their heads, men pushing carts and various other things that you have to dodge - all while driving a stick shift. Ron is doing a great job - he drove during rush hour yesterday and that was crazy. I am busy trying to look calm while Ron is busy trying not to hit anything. We were told no matter what the moto (moped) does, if you hit them or if they hit you - it is your fault. The car is bigger and the car owner richer. In the video I tried to show you some things on the side of the road and some people. I will try to get some more video of some of the side roads.

Here is a picture of one of the streets by the bank:

What do you get when you accidentally buy 3 kilos of bananas (which is 4 1/2 pounds), an amazing house helper named Djeneba (which is also my name) - You get a scrumptious homemade banana tart. It was so very tasty. It is still very difficult to have her do things for me. I asked her iron a few things and the shirts she produced have never been so smooth. I know that Ron was very appreciative.

I have been a little discouraged with my language progression. If only I had paid more attention in high school and college! I know that we have only been here 10 days, but I want to learn faster. I want to be effective. I was reading in 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 and it says that through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him - for we are the aroma of Christ....so even though I can't speak the language I can still be effective. In the land of so many smells, I can be a pleasing aroma. Our family can be a pleasing aroma - we can love them, treat them with kindness, show Christ in our actions and all of that will be the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. I have been praying that our aroma will be pleasing and not plain stinky!

Church

We attended our second service at Bethel Baptist Church, the local African church here. The entire service is spoken in both French and Bambara, alternately. We get there around 9:15-9:20 and they sing and pray. They pick songs out of their book and sing - I mean they SING. They sing with everything they have. It is awesome to see them worship. They clap, dance, sway, wave their arms and generally just praise the Lord. Best way to sum it up is that they are unashamed. These believers have chosen to be Christians out of millions and they are excited about praising Him. Even though I can't understand most of what they are saying - it is contagious. I found myself smiling and just watching them worship - they aren't the best singers, but they are loud. They had someone out of the audience today lead a song and he was awesome. By the time he was finished everyone was singing and dancing.

At one point a lady (the women's director) got up to lead a song, but first delivered a scolding to the women of the church. She said (per our supervisor translating the gist of what she was saying) that only a few of the ladies were attending the Wednesday morning Bible study and that the rest of the women were just lazy. Then the Pastor asked for someone to pray for all of the lazy women. Talk about accountability!

The church starts around 9:15 and we finished around 11:45. Kids struggle a little bit, but they are doing great.

Overall the kids are doing well here - they have taught them a game they learned at one of their trainings. It has been fun to see them relate to each other without a common language. The neighborhood kids are very patient.

Thanks again for your love and support. We are having another church service tonight with the other workers here. We are looking forward to that.

Life here in Bamako

Here are the boys washing dishes in our back courtyard.
Here is Faith and Fatima.
Here is Faith and the boys - they were busy playing cache-cache (hide and go seek).

Today we had our house helper Djeaneba - we have the same name - it is pronounced Jeniba. She is very quiet, but does speak French which is a plus. She worked very hard today. I feel guilty, but I know that it is an honorable job and she has pride in her work. She made homemade tortillas for us and cookies. Her main responsibility is to cook for us and clean. She will be here 3 days a week. I was very spoiled today - the main things that took up most of my time - washing dishes, sweeping and cleaning up the kitchen was taken care of. It helped make the day seem so much more enjoyable. I hate to say it, but I am going to enjoy having her here. She is going to make us some African dishes as well.

Our courtyard definitely seems to be the place to hang out. We had around 10-15 kids here today playing cache-cache. They are definitely testing their boundaries like kids do - asking for something to eat, drink, and one even ran through the house. It will be easier once we have a little more vocabulary. Zach, Luke and Faith are loving being the coolest things on the block. We went walking tonight and their friends saw them out and they yelled out their African names. It is neat to see them being accepted and learning some of the African games. Well - off for now. I made tacos tonight so that we can eat our homemade tortillas.

Great Day

We had a good and productive day. The day started out with our showers getting fixed - that is a praise. Our sweeper friend came and swept out or courtyard and told us when the trash goes out - another huge praise. The trash is an interesting thing - you can't put it out before the "truck" - which is a tractor pulling a wagon bin - or the kids will go through it. So you have to hear it and then put it out - but he told us when it will come so we can listen for it. We also had a language lesson until our brains were about to explode. Ron and I have separate lessons and then we have a lesson as a family with a different tutor with the kids.

The kids had a great time playing on our street in front of our house - football. The boys know French, because that is what is taught at the schools. So the boy in the white shirt is very fluent in French and some English as well. Faith played with some girls and then they colored in our courtyard on our patio. All in all we had a great day. We have another busy day of language tomorrow - pray that our brains will absorb it all.


This girl is also very good in French and very sweet - she is my favorite!!
This is on our patio in our courtyard - which is very pretty. Will take some pictures of that tomorrow.