Hallie's Amazing African Adventure

Well, I'm Back

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:32:30 GMT

I can tell I'm home because I tried to post this entry last night and the cat came and walked on my keyboard and deleted my whole entry before I could post it!!

Alright, so I'm back! My first impressions were the wonderful smells coming from the food court in the airport, the strangeness of escalators (I can't imagine how the Malians would respond to them!), and the thinness of American coins. :-) My flights were all smooth--not too long. I had to pay because one of my bags, despite all my careful weighing and repacking, was overweight. But overall everything went smoothly. I arrived back home and was greeted by my entire family! Even Ian was there, which was a surprise because he had an exam that morning and didn't know if it would be done in time for him to come to the airport. Kyle looks so strange!! He's all grown up, talkes with a low voice, and even is a bit different in his mannerisms. But I like him a lot. Before, Ian and I were friends and Kyle was kinda just a little brother. Now I feel the dynamic has changed, and we're all friends. It's strange, but I like it.

As soon as I got back, I opened all my luggage. The cat was a little skittish of me at first. He was overwhelmed, I think, because the next morning he said good morning to me in his old affectionate way and then hung out with me all day. So I think he's decided that he remembers me. :-) It was so nice to hang out with my family again! After a delicious meal of broccoli and macaroni-and-cheese, the boys said they were heading off to youth group. So I decided to go with them as a special surprise. Again, it was great to see FROG people again! In most ways, nothing has changed, except the people!

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning up my room, organizing, running errands with Dad and Mom (who took the day off just for me!), and going shopping with Mom for some new clothes. It was a really good day! I know it's just normal old stuff, but it felt wonderful to be doing these things from my "old life" again.

No real sign of culture shock too much yet, praise the Lord. I think it's mostly because everything is still new and exciting, I'm looking forward to seeing old friends, and things like that. I take amazing comfort, too, in knowing that Mom and Dad understand EXACTLY what I'm going through!

Thank you Lord, for bringing me home to my wonderful family, and thank you for an AMAZING African Adventure--in every sense of the word!!

My Last Day On My Amazing African Adventure

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:49:23 GMT

It feels so strange to type that! I really honestly can't believe my time here is over. It feels like it's gone past in a flash! How can a year move that quickly? Admittedly, during the time it ws slow at points, but overall it seems like I just arrived here. I've changed though. I remember how overwhelemed I was when I arrived in Dakar, how I didn't know anyone, how I was amazed at the quirks of the Jorgensen family, and how I was miserably homesick. And I remember not being able to imagine not wanting to leave. But here I am; I don't want to leave, I love the culture here, I've made wonderful friends...And all of these changes took place gradually when I wasn't expecting them.

This chapter in my life is over. That's such an old cliche, but I really can look at my life as being like a book. There are clearly discernable chapters in my life, and this is just another one to throw into the mix. As much as I've loved this chapter, as much as it's been a blessing and a struggle and a wonderful adventure, I have to turn the page now and start the next chapter in the great story of my life. And who knows but that the next chapter won't be even better than this one? I can't see how it will be--my life is a book that I've never read before. I can't predict what's going to happen. But I take amazing comfort from the fact that my loving Father has not only read the story of my life, but He wrote it!! And when I take in account how much He loves me, I can't doubt that each chapter will continue to get better and better.

In my mind, I think I'm as prepared as I can be for the transition home. I think I'll be overwhelmed a bit. I'm expecting that everyone else has changed as much, or almost as much, as I have this past year, and I'm sure I'll have tons of catching up to do. I can't wait to see what God has been doing in your lives. I know that the changes I've experienced will be with me for the rest of my life; no one can change that, but I don't think anyone will really truly understand. I'm prepared for that. But that doesn't mean that it won't be a hard transition.

I think being here in Dakar has been a good stepping stone for my transitional period. Dakar is called the "African Paris", and while it's laughable in some ways, in other ways I can see why it earned that nickname. It's so modern, especially when compared with Kayes. Everyone wears Western clothes, you can buy cheese and chocolate and lots of other yummy food, and there are wonderful French restaurants. You even do touristy things. But the good thing is that I'm still with the same people I've been with the whole year. So it's some stability in the midst of the mini culture shock.

I've really appreciated our entire Kayes team, but none more than Carole. She is such a wonderful friend to me. Just seeing her brings a smile to my face, and she always makes me laugh. I know just what things to point out to her that she'd find amusing, and she knows me just the same way. I am so, so grateful that she's been able to bless my life. No matter how bad my week was, or how tiring, or how much the kids disbehaved, she was always there for our Friday night movie to lift my spirits back up. Carole, if you read this, you've been "like an angel" to me (;-D), and I'm going to miss you so so so much!!

Well....I guess that's my soul-searching for the day. I just really can't believe this is the last page of this chapter. I'm going to end with a quote from Fiddler on the Roof that I think is the way I feel about leaving Africa.

"God knows when I shall see you again!"
"Then we will leave it in His hands."

A Smash Hit

Sun, 25 May 2008 19:35:22 GMT

Our play was great!

The kids did such a good job. They made me so proud! I'm downloading the video of it as I write this, so I'll always have it to look back on. They remembered everything very well, and did a stellar job. It wasn't perfect, but they did great. We had an audience that filled all 50 chairs! Afterwards the kids surprised me with a signed Senegal nightgown, flowers, and a nice African bag with a baobab on it. The parents gave me a nice card. I felt so loved! :-)

Yesterday the Bridonneaus and I went to the beach in the afternoon. Carole and I saved a poor sea slug that was washed up on the beach. It was really big--actually I thought it looked like a heart, and was about that size. It was black and slimy, but we saved it anyway. :-) We're heros! :-D But it was really nice at the beach, as always. I've really enjoyed that. Carole said that in Reunion they would go to the beach every weekend, so it really makes it feel like the weekend to her when we go to the beach. I told her I'd love to move to Reunion in that case.

This afternoon we went to a Brazillian barbeque restaurant. I've been to one before, in China. It's all you can eat, and they come around with these big spears of meat and carve you off a hunk. There was pork, chicken, and beef. It was delicious. But the best part about it is that it's a ministry. All of the workers there are former talibe boys--boys that wander the street begging during the days and go to Koranic school at night. The proceeds from the restaurant go to helping and supporting these boys. They take them off the streets, feed them, clothe them, give them a place to live, and train them to work in the restaurant. They also share the Gospel with them. It's a really neat ministry, and eating meat is a great way to support them! :-)

Today at church the pastor shared a really neat story. He said there was a ladies Bible study at a church one time and they were studying Malachi. They came across Malachi 3:3 that says that God will "sit as a refiner and purifier of silver..." They first just glossed over that, but then stopped and thought about it. Not knowing what the process of refining silver is like, one woman offered to go visit a silversmith she knew and ask him about the process. So she did, but didn't tell the smith why she was curious. The smith gave her the tour, and then she asked him nonchalantly, "So, is there a stage where you have to sit?" The man nodded. "Yes," he replied, "when I put the silver in the fire, I have to watch it intently. I can never take my eyes off it. I put it in for just the right amount of time to refine it; not too long and not too short." The woman was immediately struck by the Biblical significance of this, thanked the man, and headed out. As she was leaving, the silversmith called her back. "I forgot to tell you something important!" he told her. "The way I know when the silver is refined enough and I can take it out of the fire is when I can see my own image reflected back at me in the silver."

I really like this story. It's really encouraging in the midst of suffering, struggle, or hardship that God has His eyes fixed intently on us while we're in the "fire", and that He will take us out of it when, but not before, the suffering has made us more like Him.

Anyway, I hope that encouraged someone. It certainly encouraged me.

Tomorrow we're going to a Catholic retreat center for a week of team meetings for all the missionaries. I'm going to finish teaching in the mornings, then watch the kids all afternoon. I'll certainly need strength and patience! We come back here on Saturday, then I fly out on Tuesday!

P.S. Just to mention, I'll probably be without internet access while at this retreat center. Just a heads up! :-)

Taking Time to Smell the Roses

Fri, 23 May 2008 11:03:19 GMT

I feel like I've neglected this journal in the crazy business of life! Let's see...well, last week we had rehearsals every other day. They went very well. I now have, for the first time, a "Miss Hallie Fan Club" composed of the girls in my play. They are very sweet, and everyone has put so much work into this play! I must say, my casting is perfect! Everyone fits their parts very well, and I'm very pleased. This week has been the same. Wednesday two of the boys and I moved everything out of the room where we are doing it, then carted folding chairs over from upstairs in the administration building, down across the parking lot, and up the stairs to the room. We also hung a curtain (which I hope will stay up!). I've printed and folded all the programs, and yet, today, the day of the play, there is still a lot for me to do! Yesterday we had our dress rehearsal (though, ironically, not in costume). We did two run-throughs; one was excellent and one was horrible. So I really hope that the show tonight is like the first run-through!

The show has been pretty much my life during the past two weeks. School in the morning has been good, and we're finished with some subjects. David essentially has nothing left to do, so I invent things to keep him busy. Wednesday was Christy's 9th birthday. I was in charge of the cake. She had a beach theme, and the cake was half water and half beach, with little toy fishes in the water section and a little doll with a beach chair and cooler on the beach part. It turned out really nice, and the white cake with pineapple chunks and whipped cream frosting was delicious! Christy had 5 girls from the play over, and they played games (including the scavenger hunt I set up), ate yummy chicken tacos, and gave presents. I think Christy really liked the silver engraved mirror/comb/brush set I gave her.

Monday night I organized a little Kayes reunion. The Jorgensens, Bridonneaus, Michelsons, Bowers, and I all met at a restaurant near SIL. It was so much fun! I will really miss everyone. We had really good French food, and I had the most scrumptious mousse au chocolat for dessert!

On Sunday after church, the Bridonneaus, Jorgensens, Bowers, and I all went for a picnic at the beach. We also invited Ben Davis and Tim Brubaker to go with us--they are two guys that go to Dakar Academy. The Jorgensens have known them since they were little. We went to a different beach that wasn't as nice, but had really big waves. You could rent body boards and go out on the waves. The water was full of seaweed and plastic bags, but we had a blast anyway. I think I prefer the other beach myself, but the waves were fun. Afterwards, we went for some ice cream down the street, then drove to the "Lighthouse of Hope" down the road. What a view! All of Dakar was spread before us. Then we got to go take a tour of the lighthouse, and I even got to go up and sit inside the mirror next to the tiny halogen lightbulb that provides all the light for the entire lighthouse. It was really neat, and really pretty.

Well...break time is over and I've got to go call the kids to start school back up again. After today we have only 4 days of school left!!

It's Cold Here

Tue, 13 May 2008 11:54:14 GMT

I think I'm a true Kayesian now, because it's in the 80's here in Dakar, and I'm cold. Everyone has brought out their long sleeved shirts and sweatshirts. It makes a nice contrast to the people I saw in church on Sunday who were fanning themselves the entire service. :-)

It was a long trip to Dakar. The day started bad--my alarm didn't go off, so I had only 10 minutes to get ready and get out the door; then it had rained the night before (a very rare occurance in Kayes!) so everywhere was mud and I dropped my pillow in the mud; then the Bridonneaus were taking their water cooler out the door and it exploded everywhere; then we arrived at Jorgensens and discovered a flat tire on the car. BUT...once that all got fixed, we finally left Kayes around 7:30-8-ish. And we drove and we drove and we drove, drove, drove, drove! We finally arrived in Dakar at 12:30 AM. But once on the road, we had no problems, and everything went smoothly, so praise the Lord we all arrived here safe, sound, and tired!

Friday we all took the day off and rested up. We recovered from the journey and got all settled in here at the SIL Dakar center.

Saturday, this woman here named Sue took Carole, Sandy, Jean-Luc, and I downtown. We did some shopping, then ate lunch at this wonderful restaurant, had ice cream for dessert, then did more shopping. I really liked being downtown and seeing the city a bit. It was a really nice day. Then in the evening, we went to see Bye Bye Birdie at Dakar Academy. It was really well done, and a lot of fun. Of course, I had seen it just last spring at Darby, but no one else had seen it. They all did a very good job. But as a consequence I've had to hear "We Love You Conrad" over and over and over these past few days; it seems that everyone in the center is whistling, singing, or humming it.

On Sunday we went to DA's chapel service in the morning, then Carole, Jean-Luc, and I did a little exploring. We used Google Earth to look at Dakar, and found that there was a beach not too far away. On the satellite picture it looked pretty clean (not full of toxic industrial waste), and it was within walking distance. So we decided to try it. It turned out it was a nice private beach, and we only had to pay 1000 cfa to use it. So we spent a lovely afternoon on the beach. The water was really cold, but once you got used to it, it was very refreshing. Then we ate crepes at a beach-side restaurant and walked back. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon!

Monday brought school again, then in the afternoon we had our first play rehearsal! It was hectic trying to keep all 16 kids in line by myself, but they were all very excited, and have done a great job learning their lines. Some of the girls are so sweet, giving me hugs and telling me I'm pretty and stuff like that. I really enjoyed the rehearsal overall, and they all did a good job. Our next rehearsal is tomorrow. The negative is that during rehearsal I could tell I was starting to have a fever.

So after rehearsal I took my temperature and it was 102.2. So I'm feeling pretty lousy. I went to bed early and slept 12 hours last night. Today my temp is a little lower (101.5), but I'm still really out of it. Today began Standardized Testing for the kids, and I'm teaching whichever kid is not in testing at the moment. I'm just hoping I feel better tomorrow, since I have another rehearsal to run, and it's hard enough to keep them all in one place and focused when I feel well!

I think I'm also a little culture shocked. Dakar really doesn't feel like Africa---at all! I get to wear my Western clothes, have my hair down, and it's not hot. But in that way it's a good stepping stone for going home; I hope this will help me not feel it so strongly when I get home in a few weeks. This way I can have culture shock, but still be surrounded by the same people I've spent the whole year with. I think that helps a lot. Not everything is strange. :-)

Well, I guess that's what I've been up to. Please pray that I feel better!

This Is An End

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:12:19 GMT

Hi all!

This has been a hectic week, naturally. I've been teaching, packing, and saying goodbye to Kayes and Mali. On Saturday we had a last meeting of the remaining missionaries in Kayes. The Bowers, the Bridonneaus, the Jorgensens and I all went to the Kamankole Palace pool. We relaxed, chatted, then ate these good chicken sandwiches with fruit juice cocktails. The rest of the day I spent making tortillas for out "Mali-Mex" taco dinner.

Sunday I attended my last Malian church service at the Assemblies de Dieu church with the Bridonneaus. I thankfully had the rest of the day off, and started packing.

Monday morning was school, then helping Sandy with last minute things in the afternoon. Then in the evening, I made Malian tea for Jean-Luc and Carole. Good practice! I intend to make a lot once I get back to the States!

Yesterday was much the same, and I spent an hour or so scanning a Soninke literacy book for her. I then came home and packed more, then my English student Elisa came over. We did colors and pictures, along with kitchen objects. Then we read a bit from The Prince and Pauper. She and Carole presented me with a signed T-shirt to take home! I'm going to get other people to sign it in Senegal. :-) In the evening, I went with Carole to visit my friend Faith and say goodbye to her (and that part of the neighborhood, too). I gave her a bar of soap, my shiny green princess shirt, a red bag, and a pair of socks. She's very sweet. She repeated a Bambara saying about friends--that they have the same heart, so that when they are apart physically, they are still together in heart.

Today after school, we packed up the schoolroom and I helped put together bagged lunches for the road tomorrow. I visited Esther next door to say goodbye to her too. I love her...she is so sweet, and kind, and wonderful! I REALLY look forward to seeing her in heaven, so that we can talk without the language barrier. I'm planning to take a family picture of them tonight. I'm finished packing (as much as I can do). Faith brought over some tiga diga na (rice with peanut sauce) for me, so we'll eat that tonight. Overall, it's been a very normal day--hard to wrap my mind around the idea that's it's my last day here! I feel like I want to soak in everything I can, but while I know what is different about life here compared with the States, I feel like the differences don't seem striking, since I'm used to them completely! That doesn't really make sense, even to me. So I guess this just has to be a normal day. When things end, it seems like you have to savor them, but there really is no way to do that, you realize, when you come to the end.

And it feels like I will be coming back, just like everyone else.

Ruminations

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:51:44 GMT

It seems like it’s been forever since I’ve had the chance to sit down and write! My life has been so busy recently!

I had one normal week, then Heidi went on a bookselling trip all weekend and I was by myself. That was no big issue, since I’m used to it after living at Marian’s house alone all this time, and no one came to the door to see Heidi that I couldn’t understand. J

The week of the 20^th was when the hectic craziness started. Tuesday night I had my second ESL session. I started doing these ESL lessons with some teens from the Assemblies of God church. Carole asked me to do it, since I speak excellent English without an accent, and I was glad to help. The first time I did it, I had no idea what to talk about, so I made things up as we went along and asked them if they had any questions from their lessons in school. This time I was prepared. I talked about weather and typical American food. I also set the table and took my student (only one came that day) to the table to work on words like “plate”, “spoon”, and “napkin”, and to learn phrases like “please pass the ketchup”. It was actually a lot of fun. My student that day claims not to know much English, but she understands more than she thinks she does.

Wednesday the 23^rd was Sandy’s birthday. The team was in meetings all morning, and then Heidi invited everyone over to eat with us at the mission. It was a nice way to celebrate, and we made waffles with banana ice cream, pineapple, and chocolate sauce for dessert, which everyone loved! They were delicious. That evening, we invited Sandy, Jennifer, Carole, and the Brazilian girls over for “Swiss fast food”—aka, cheese fondue. It was a really nice evening.

The next day the Bridonneaus invited the Jorgensens and I to go to the pool with them. That was very refreshing. We even played with their “water” UNO cards—you can actually play while in the pool! Then we ate French fries by the poolside and just relaxed.

Friday after school we moved the classroom to the Jorgensen’s house, then I spend the rest of the day packing. Saturday morning I went to the Jorgensens for our ladies day at the African spa. I left at 8:30 AM and didn’t get back to the mission until 6 PM. First I got my feet henna-ed in the traditional Malian style. That in itself took five hours, and during that time you can’t get up. I’m so glad movies were invented. J Then I got my hair dyed with henna. I was going to do the whole head, but ended up deciding on highlights only. After putting the henna “mud” on my hair, I let it sit several hours under a plastic bag. I had to keep blow drying it every half hour, too, to keep it hot (not that it needed much help in this weather!!!) Carole, Sandy, and I all got our hair dyed, and Carole, Sandy, Jennifer, and Christy got Indian henna—the fancy designs that you can get sometimes in the States. They didn’t even use real henna—they use black hair dye. But at least they get to skip the step of coating your feet with ashes and lye. J That, and it took 45 minutes versus 5 hours. But I still like mine better. J

Sunday was a normal day. I said my goodbyes at church, since next week I’ll probably go with the Bridonneaus to their church. It really hit me for the first time that I am leaving really soon! I almost teared up when my friend Esther got up and sang a song for me. In the evening I moved to the Bridonneaus’ house. It is, sadly, much hotter in this house than in the mission.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to Felou with the Bowers and the Brazilians. It was a blast! They go swimming under the falls and in the giant sinkholes. It was really neat, although a bit scary at times. These sinkholes can go down several meters. Good thing I’m a strong swimmer! I had never gone over to that part of the falls, and I really enjoyed myself. We all ate a quick dinner by the river before heading back to Kayes.

Today I spent some time working on this Bambara pre-K booklet. I’m trying to digitize it, and it’s quite a challenge to work with all the pictures and stuff. But I think it’ll turn out okay. We’ll just have to see. J Then around 5, I had my third (and final most likely) ESL teaching time. I once again had only one student—the same girl as before. We made chocolate chip cookies together, and I taught her all the words to go with it. She loved the cookies, and I gave her the recipe for her to practice her English with. It was fun. I like to cook, and I like to teach, so it was all good for me. And of course, it’s a language I happen to be fluent in. J

The rest of this week looks promisingly like a chance to relax at last. It’ll be a welcome change, and a good chance to rest up before my life get crazy again. We leave for Dakar next Thursday. I’m taking these few days to say goodbye to everything—people, culture, even the city itself. I really am going to miss Mali, and I almost don’t want to leave. I definitely don’t want to go to Dakar (although it will be nice to escape the oppressive heat). I think it’s because I don’t have the fondest memories of the place. I was sick and homesick and overwhelmed last time I was there, and for some reason that’s tainting my idea of it. In all honesty, I think it’s just because I don’t want to leave Kayes. It’s home, you know?

I predicted a long time ago that when the end came, I’d feel this way, but it’s a different thing entirely to actually go through it.

Bookselling Adventures

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:51:43 GMT

Alright, so our trip was cool. We left early on Saturday morning and drove to a little Soninke village up north near the border. Heidi and I were dropped off to do selling, while Dawn and Gene went to another Fulani village nearby. We waited around a bit to get a place to set up because there was a funeral that everyone was attending, but after about half an hour we were told we could set up underneath a tree. We laid out all the books. We have Soninke books, and ones in French, Bambara, Pulaar, and a few in Arabic--all secular and Christian. It was a mainly Soninke village, so we focused on selling those, although we did sell several Pulaar books, despite the fact that both Heidi and I can't speak Pulaar. Of course, I can't speak Soninke either. But I had a little sheet with all the prices in Soninke, so I just said "tanpille" (100cfa) and "tandenme" (300cfa) a lot. After a while, I didn't need the sheet, because I had learned them and I knew what books cost what. We had steady business all day and sold a lot.

We took a quick break for lunch, then sold until about 4 PM. Dawn and Gene came by to pick us up, and we drove out towards another village, sharing stories of how it all went. We found a HUGE baobab tree a little ways off the 'road' in the middle of nowhere, stopped, and took out some mats. We had tea, then decided that this would be a pretty good campsite. So we set up camp. We made some instant soup for dinner, and I made my very first fire--all by myself, cause I was the only one who wanted one. :-) And it only took one match! I either got really lucky, or I have serious campfire-making skills. :-D

I slept under a mosquito net hung from a baobab branch. I started out on the ground, but then Dawn pulled out this cot that we use to display our books, and I ended up sleeping on that. There was a nice moon, and a nice breeze too. Towards morning the wind picked up, and today the wind blew strong and dusty all day. Anyway, I slept pretty well with my earplugs in (although the only noise was from the wind blowing on things; it was so still except for the occasional owl). The wind made it almost cold! I almost put a sheet on over me.

This morning we loaded back up and drove the rest of the way to the new village. We found the market and actually ended up getting one of these structures that they set up for market sellers. It was owned by this guy, but he let us 'rent' it for 400 cfa. It was nice because Heidi and I set up on one end, and Dawn and Gene set up on the other end. It was much more cramped, so I couldn't help as much, but it was at least shady and right in the middle of the market. I spent a lot of time "directing traffic"; I'd send the Soninke speakers over to Heidi's side and say "Def de Pulaar tot" to send the Fulani to Dawn and Gene's side. We ate some meat and bread, then ended up packing up at 1 PM, because it was hot, dusty, everyone else was packing up too, and almost everyone that was interested in the village had come to see us by that point and all we had left were curious kids with nothing better to do than stare at the toubabs.

It actually worked out very nice, because we got in to Kayes around 6. First thing, I hopped into the shower. With the wind blowing dust all day, we were all covered in grime--literally. Then we ate Swiss fast food (fondue) for dinner, and had Heidi's wonderful baobab ice cream for dessert.

So that was my weekend! It was pretty great, but I'm exhausted. Thankfully, Heidi told Sandy we'd delay school half an hour in the morning so I can get some good sleep. :-)

Take care everyone!

Dogon Country and Sevare!

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:08:11 GMT

Alright! I'm back in Kayes after a wonderful time in Bamako, and was shocked to see I have only eight weeks left in Africa!

But that's that. I really wanted to post my journal entries from my recent trip to Sevare and Dogon Country, out in the southeast of Mali. The entries aren't as detailed as I'd like, but at least they are here!

Here's the link to some pics:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003440&l=9e83e&id=1434600008

March 30

The Eenkhorns drove us to the Bani Transport gare. The bus pulled out at 8:00 exactly. I sat next to this really nice Malian who spoke fluent English and German. He is a teacher at a university in Bamako and was going to Mopti to visit his parents.

Anyway, we sat in the back of the bus. It was hot, because it was right above the engine. Bad idea. We stopped several times, but only once could we get off and go to the bathroom. The Canadians had quite an experience with their first “squatty potty”.

We arrived in Sevaré at the bus station I remember from our Timbuktu trip. Dina, the Hakkola’s helper who was traveling with us, and I went to a cabiné telephonique and used the phone, but the Hakkolas weren’t answering (they left Bamako after us). So we haggled for a taxi and went to the house.

The Hakkola’s house helper Naomi let us in. We’re staying in the house next door, where Anne-Marie, Catherine, and Nicola live. They should arrive on Wednesday. We set up beds and ate some rice with sauce that had chicken in it. Yum!

Then we rested and waited for the Hakkolas to arrive, which they did at 9 PM. During this time was when I realized my camera was gone…

March 31

This morning we visited the Hakkola’s village, Soufouroulayé, with Pauline. It’s a small Bozo village where they speak the dialect called Jennama. We visited a woman who was an old village friend of Pauline’s, N’toto, who was absolutely thrilled to meet us. It was really cool. She came running to see Pauline when we entered the compound—not at all like the reserved Soninke! I got by with my stock responses and farewells that Pauline taught us in the car—“B’ai si n’a fa!” and “Yahbway!”

We spent the morning in the village, then came back and had a Malian style meal with this Fulani missionary and a new Bozo Christian.

In the afternoon, we went to Mopti. We walked around the city a bit, and saw the grand mosque, then took a sunset covered pirogue ride. It was absolutely lovely. I really enjoyed it. Mopti is called the “Venice of Africa”—but the only similarities lie in how heavily the city depends on the pirogues for trade and transportation across the river and surrounding floodplains. I wonder if it would have been more apparent in rainy season…

April 1

This morning we left early and went to Dogon Country. We drove a few hours and finally arrived at Téli. The modern city is at the foot of the cliffs, and shadowing the mud-brick buildings is the ancient city, built into the cliff. We grabbed a guide, a Catholic named Jean-Marie, and climbed up. It was AMAZING. The Dogon moved into the cliffs in the 11^th century, driving out the pygmies (the Tellem people) who lived there previously. Many Tellem dwellings still remain as well, higher up on the cliffs, but still easily visible. It was so neat to imagine what it would have been like to live there. The view was also spectacular, looking out over the plains, and, in the distance, Burkina Faso. We stayed up there all morning (not long enough for me J) and climbed down. There is a nice hotel where we rested for a few minutes before driving back to Sevaré.

We had a very late lunch of spaghetti. In the evening, Marko took us out to a tourist shop. We also looked around at this gorgeous hotel here outside of the city, called the Ambedjelé.

April 2

This morning we went to Djenne. We drove there with Marko. It was very dusty and windy. First we visited this pastor, Frank. He was actually in Ouagadougou (capital of Burkina Faso), but we met, sang, and prayed with his wife and kids.

Then we visited the tomb of this young girl. She was sacrificed when Djenne was being built to ward off evil spirits whom people believed were responsible for many building problems—like walls falling down. So they buried her alive and then the problems stopped. While we were there, they opened it up so that a handful of men could go in it and pray and give money.

Djenne also has a curse on it. If anyone became a Christian, they would die. This is a huge deal for people in the city, and has kept many people from becoming Christians, especially because several of the converts have indeed died.

Anyway, after that, we went to the famous Grand Mosque of Djenne. It was pretty impressive. We walked all the way around it and through the streets a bit. Only women who have been on the hadj are allowed in, which I found interesting. I’ve never heard of that with other mosques, so I don’t know if it’s the same with, for example, the ones in Timbuktu.

We walked around the market for a few minutes, then headed back across the ferry to return to Sevaré. We ate dinner next door at the Hakkola’s by candle and lantern light, since their power was off (and had been the whole week, actually). Anne-Marie and Catherine came home and joined us. Three Malians came over too. We sang and had a prayer time.

We also got to visit the Hakkola’s church and the new house Anne-Marie is building.

We left Thursday morning at 8 on Gana Transport to return to Bamako. It was a really neat and exciting trip!

God Is A Better Teacher Than I Am

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:43:19 GMT

This week has been the Spiritual Retreat. And it's been excellent.

Our speaker is Peter Kingston, from Britain, and I really like him. He's very honest and open, and has wonderful examples. He's also a former Wycliffe person too, so he can totally relate to the people he is talking to. God has really spoken to me through him. He's been talking this week about unity with Christ. If we truly recognize that our sins are forgiven and that we have become one with Christ, it will change how we view our life and how we view our relationship with God. He's also focused on prayer. We've had these afternoon prayer meetings, where the whole idea is not just to pray for a specific person's requests, but to really ask God to speak through us to minister to that person. It's been a different experience for me, but I've found it very neat. It's really cool how God will reveal something to you as you're sitting there, and when you say it out loud, it will profoundly (at times) affect the person being prayed for. And not only that, but he will reveal the same thing to several people in the room.

Anyway, I've certainly been hearing God's voice this week. There are five main things He's spoken to me:

1) Many of you know how I hate to make decisions. It frustrates me endlessly, and I've never understood why it's such a huge thing for me. This is reflected in my not knowing what major to take, or what language to study, or even in the past what university to choose (among many other things!). God has revealed to me that this frustration comes from my deep desire to do God's will; I want to make the right decision, the choice that goes best with God's will for my life. In a way, this was a huge relief for me. It put a reason behind this issue I have that drives me crazy about myself. This goes into the second one--

2) I'm afraid of choosing the way that is not God's way. It all comes down to fear. I don't want to choose something that is not in his will for me, be it because I don't want to pay for my errors or whatever. This further "simplified" the problem for me. That I can label it as fear is helpful for me in a way.

3) God has my path laid out for me. He has had it laid out since before I was born! "For I know the plans I have for you...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." If I seek him with all my heart, listen to his voice, and obey his commands, he will not let me go astray! He will persue me relentlessly. Yes, I may make mistakes--in fact, I guarantee I will--but he will always be with me. I don't have to be afraid of going down a path he doesn't want me to go as long as I'm acting in his will. The key of course, is finding out what his will is for my life, and then acting on it, but his will is written all over his word!

4) I feel he wants me to trust him step-by-step; to take life little by little and have faith that He will provide everything I need. I don't need to worry about my future, worry about making a bad choice, because he will correct me, or close the door in my path. I am his precious daughter, and he cares for me so intimately.

5) This one is not really related to the previous ones, but I've realized something he's taught me this year. "My grace is sufficient for you, and my power is made perfect in weakness." I am not a teacher, but I've managed. I think I've even done a good job! None of that is from me--it's all through God's power that I can do what I'm doing!

This has been a really good week. Our God is so amazing. :-)

In light of all this, I asked for prayer in our small group time yesterday. I asked them to pray for me to make some decisions about school. Then I went back to the apartment after lunch and gave God an ultimatum :-). I said, "Okay, God. Everyone here is encouraging me to take French at OSU. So here's the deal. If OSU offers the next level of French in the autumn, I'll take it. If not, then I'll start a new language." So I went online and checked the schedule. The next level of French is offered in the autumn, and it feels soooo good to have that decision made!!! I also feel that he's not telling me to change majors, so I'll stick with linguistics.

Whew! :-)

On a totally unrelated note, a cool opportunity looks like it's come up all of a sudden! I (hopefully) will be traveling to Sevare tomorrow with the visiting team that did childcare. There they are going to do some tourist stuff in Dogon country, which is something I've really wanted to do! The Dogon people live in cliff faces. It's supposed to be really neat, and is one of the major touristy spots in Mali (besides Timbuktu!). So we'll be there until Thursday, then come back to Bamako. Then the Jorgensens and I leave for Kayes on the next Saturday. That's the plan anyway, but a lot is up in the air still, so we'll see what happens!

A Happy Easter

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:13:19 GMT

Today didn’t really feel like Easter. It was a nice day, but not too Easter-y. I don’t know why. This morning we had an early service at 7 am at the house of these people who work at the Embassy. There was a short, 45-minute service, then a potluck brunch. I didn’t know a lot of the people, but that’s normal for me. J

Then for lunch we went over to this other family’s house, the Davis family. We ate lasagna, mac-and-cheese, green beans, and carrot sticks, then for dessert there was Jello and an apple tart. After we ate, we had an Easter egg hunt for the kids, which was fun because I got to help hide the eggs. Around 5:30 we went home, and then at 6 there was an Easter service/retreat kickoff. We sang a bunch of songs I didn’t know, had a nice little talk, and then had communion.

When that was over, I hurried home and Skyped my family! It was soooo nice to hear their voices, especially Grandmom and Uncle Mike. It’s funny how nice and wonderful and familiar a voice you haven’t heard in months sounds! My appreciation for the old missionaries who never had Skype has increased! The connection here is not very good—well, pretty stinky, actually—so it was all very choppy, but at least the part that was clearer was nice.

This is my jelly-bean-free Easter, but the Jorgensen’s did get sent some Peeps, and I did get a little bit of candy. J

This has been a busy few days. Saturday we went to the American International Club. We had mouth-watering food (I had a grilled chicken leg with mashed potatoes and salad), swam in the pool, and watched Ratatouille on their big screen TV! It was very nice and relaxing. Thursday and Friday I pretty much ran around going to the store with Sandy and things like that.

This week is the Spiritual Retreat; praise the Lord because I’ll get to attend it!! He knows what I need, and even when I doubt, He takes care of it for me! I feel very humbled and ashamed of my attitude when I was coming here. I really hope He will teach me something that will let me finish off the school year strong and begin to prepare me for the transition back to the States.

TEACH ME, LORD!

I Like Using Words From Other Languages

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:04:38 GMT

So I spent all morning almost falling asleep, and now I’m just tired because it’s been another long busy day!

We arrived in Bamako on Saturday afternoon. It was a hot drive, since the air conditioning in the J’s car only works for about 20 minutes, then it has to be off and rest for 25 minutes. When the A/C was on, it was about 80 in the car, which felt nice, but when it was off I measured 121 degrees…

The trip only took us 8 ½ hours, and we only had to go off-road for 1.4 kilometers!! Only .5 km is yet to be paved. It’ll be very very nice when it’s all done; I’m hoping it will be when we drive back to Kayes.

Sunday we went to a small English Bible study group in the morning across the street at the American International School. Then we went over to this British family’s house for lunch. We had wonderful carrot soup, among other things, then swam in their pool, made craft necklaces with paper beads that the mother made herself, played DDR, and watched The Prince of Egypt. That was cool, because the J’s had never seen it before. J We also had tea, complete with traditional English Easter cake with marzipan in it called Simmel Cake. It was delicious. It was a fun afternoon.

Monday I taught school in the morning. We got done at record time and had the rest of the morning free. We ate lunch with another family who works out in another part of Mali. They have four kids, the two oldest ones being ones that David and Christy love to play with. The wife is Irish and the husband is Canadian. We had a proper Irish casserole with meat and potatoes, then for a very special treat, we had vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries for dessert! I think you appreciate strawberries so much more when you haven’t had them in months! J

Then in the evening, we went to a Ceilidh (kay-lee), an Irish square dance. It was a blast! We learned a whole bunch of Irish dances, then ate scones and drank tea before going back for more dancing! I absolutely loved it, and I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun on a St. Patrick’s Day.

Today I taught again in the morning, then helped the English woman (Ali) with informal childcare in the afternoon, as today was the first day of the meetings for the adults. We played games, had a treasure hunt, then got to swim. I think the kids really enjoyed it. Ali is so creative!

With all of this going on, I’ve barely had a moment to sit down and catch my breath! But it’s been a lot of fun, too. Tonight I’m hoping to go out to eat with the Bridonneaus, who arrived late last night, then tomorrow will probably be about the same as today. Busy, busy, busy, but I’m certainly having a good time overall! It’s nice to see people again that I met in September, and it’s nice to meet new people too!

A New House

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:55:44 GMT

This has been a busy but good week. We had school all week, which went ok. It was harder because the kids fought all week with each other. Sandy says it's because Peter has gone to Bamako, and it's thrown them off-balance. But whatever the reason, it's harder to teach when they are contstantly at each other's throats.

On Friday I moved. I packed up the whole house--the kitchen, my bedroom, my bathroom, and the classroom. It's crazy how much stuff I have! We loaded it all into the Jorgensen's car, grabbed a quick bite for lunch, then headed over to the Mission Evangelique au Sahel. Abel helped Sandy and I get it all unloaded, then I spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking everything I had just packed up and moving in. It's nice here. I have a big queen sized waterbed to sleep on. :-) Also I have much more room here. Not that I needed it, but it's still kinda nice.

Also, I get to benefit from living with Heidi. She is an excellent cook, and a fun person to be around. I hope and pray that I can be a blessing and not a hindrance to her while I'm here. The classroom is set up in the room across the way from me, and I think the kids really like it. At least, it's a change of pace and they seem much more happy this week.

Yesterday I stayed at Jorgensens a bit longer in the afternoon. Sandy and her ladies group were meeting, along with Jennifer, to watch this series of stories about Muslims who had dreams about Jesus and became Christians because of them. It's called More than Dreams. I really like it. It's very moving and well done. The English version isn't dubbed, which I like. It's in the people's native language with English subtitles. I think that makes it feel more authentic to me. :-) Anyway, it's free if you send for it, and I highly recommend it.

I guess that's it. The rest of this week is just school and getting packed up to go to Bamako on Saturday.

Thanks for all your prayers! I'll write next from the captial!

An Evening in My Life

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:21:07 GMT

I got bored yesterday and wrote this up. It's not a standard this-is-what-happened-this-week weekend update, but I liked how it turned out, so I decided to post it!

***
So "Goomba" visited me this afternoon. I knew immediately she wanted money. I let her in and welcomed her, and asked her how she was and how her work was going. Now, I know this girl doesn’t really work. Even my house helper tells me she’s bad news and always gets upset when she comes around. "Goomba" has a little boy and is not married. I daresay she’s 14 years old or so. Anyway, so when I mentioned her work, she began.

“Well, I haven’t been working, because my left breast hurts.” She took it out and showed it to me. I saw nothing. “I went to the doctor and he said I shouldn’t feed my baby on it and gave me this prescription.”

I glanced at the prescription, which said she had had a mammogram and the doctor prescribed amoxicillin and a pain killer.

“Oh, that’s too bad,” I told her. “Well, I’m sure it’ll feel better soon. It’s not serious.”

She nodded and went back to feeding her baby—on the right breast, of course. We sat in silence for a long time. Finally I knew I had to kick her out (otherwise she has been known to stay all day) and I said, “Well, I hope you get better, and I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more. Thanks for dropping by.”

“Well, do you have anything you can give me? All I need is 2000 cfa.”

“I’m sorry,” I replied, “but I’m a student and don’t make much. Besides, it’s the end of the month and I have a lot of stuff to buy.”

“It’s just 2000.”

Finally I gave in. “Alright, look. The most I can give you is 500 cfa.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes, just 500.”

“Alright.”

I went and got the coin and handed it to her. She accepted it dutifully and I herded her out of the door.

After she left, I headed out to the main road to buy bread and bananas. When I got to the bread place I went up to the counter. “I ni wula!” I started, but then the guy behind the counter bowed down and I realized he was praying. So I stood around and waited for him to finish praying, then bought my bread. “Saba,” I told him. He gave me my three loaves and my change. “I ni ce,” I thanked him.

After that I headed across the street. Thankfully I had decided to go out before the evening “running of the bulls”—every evening around six, the men take their bulls down to the slaughterhouse for the next day’s meat. These cows have huge horns and often are not very thrilled about going, especially when they get to the bridge, which they have to cross. Many blatantly refuse to cross, and if you’re on or around the bridge in the evening, you’ll see many bulls plopped down in the middle of the walkway, refusing to take another step.

Anyway, I crossed the street to a little vegetable stall I usually go to. The woman had lots of potatoes and onions, and really big manioc roots as well as cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, apples, and a few mangoes. I spotted a bunch of bananas in between the tomatoes and potatoes, and got half a kilo for 200 cfa, the normal price. The whole time I was being watched eagerly by an older beggar boy. I ignored him and continued on my way. “Ka sugu dia!” I called back to the woman, wishing her good luck at selling her vegetables.

It was a quick walk home past the young men selling coconut out of pus-pus (metal push wagons), the woman cleaning a gutter, and the mosque across the street from me. I immediately began watering the garden—good water pressure, I discovered cheerfully—and plopped my purchases on the table inside. Lighting the stove, I preceded to flame my bread to eliminate the bacteria deposited by the flies crawling all over it at the bakery, and put my bananas in the fridge.

I think I’ll take a shower while the water pressure is good and then watch a movie over dinner. J

Camping at Lake Toya, pt. 2

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:14:36 GMT

Day 2

I woke up this morning to a wonderful cacophony of birds.

For breakfast there was museli, which is a Swiss granola-like cereal with all kinds of oats and grains, and fruit. We then went hiking, after we all took time to dig ourselves some bathroom holes. The Swiss and I walked all around the area. It was gorgeous! We climbed up the valley and walked along the rim to this other little lake. Then we clambered down into the valley and followed a dry riverbed of water-worn rocks. This gave way to a beautiful dry bed of pearl-white sand lined with towering palm trees swaying in the breeze. Coming back, we walked along the valley. It really gave me a new impression of Psalm 23. This area of Mauritania is just like the land that David lived in and would have seen and known as he wrote.

"...He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul..."

My soul seems restored just by looking at this wonderful creation that God has made!

We were almost at the campsite when we saw a huge pack of baboons! There had to be almost fifty, climbing all over the rocks, screeching. Some had babies on their backs. It was awesome!

Then we had lunch--veggies with noodles, fresh sliced carrots and cucumbers, and a delicious Swiss specialty dessert with walnuts and honey... We will definately eat that in heaven!

After lunch, we relaxed a bit, then Patrik, Pierre, Cornelia, Ursi and I decided to walk around the other end of the lake. It was very nice. We were out about 30-45 minutes. Towards the end we saw more baboons. :-)

For dinner, we had a rice dish, then relaxed afterwards, watching and being watched by baboons.

Once it got dark, we had a fireside worship/prayer time. I taught everyone "How Great Is Our God", which seemed like such an appropriate song for the setting. We also read Psalm 104, which seemed like it was written right where we were sitting. It was like a little taste of heaven.

Cornelia and I shared her MP3 player into the evening afterwards, and I went to bed my heart and head full of the day's experiences.

Day 3

This morning after fruit, tea, museli, and bread, we packed up the camp. After that, we had an hour to do what we wanted. Almost everyone went swimming, but I climbed around on the rocks. I met Cornelia in a little cave and we chatted for a while, then rejoined the group at the campsite.

We loaded ourselves up and climbed back up to the cars. For having eaten all that food, there was still a surprising amount of heavy stuff to take back up!

The return trip was uneventful. Once we got back to Kayes, I ate lunch with them, then headed home. It was a wonderful trip, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go.

Camping at Lake Toya

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:04:26 GMT

Alright! I just got back from Toya yesterday,, together with Heidi, the Michelsons, and the visiting Swiss group from Heidi's home church in Zurich. Toya is located on the border of Mali and Mauritania, and it was beautiful! Here's the link to my pictures:
http://osu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003209&l=a3efd&id=1434600008

Here are my journals:

Monday, Feb. 25

I woke up early this morning because of a gecko in my room. I tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but couldn't.

So I got up and packed the remaining things, ate some bread and jam, told my house helper what was going on, and watered the plants. By then, it was time to go. I rode with the Michelsons, Patrik, Cornelia, and Ursi (Cornelia's mom).

First, we went to Diokolane. The Michelsons were selling books in the market there. Heidi, Cornelia, Brigitte and I walked around the village, visiting people Heidi knew when she lived there for six years studying Soninke. It was nice. At one of the homes, we had tea and they brought us this nice meat with onions and spices that I've had before. Offering food, or at least tea, it a sign of welcome to guests, and that they are honored.

Then we went to the market. There were Soninke, Fulani, and Moors there. I saw lots of baobab fruit, and even some of this natural chalk that the Moors find; they mix is with water and use it as a natural paint for their houses. They decorate sometimes every year after rainy season (which essentially washes all the paint off).

So then we joined Dawn and Gene at the book table. Selling was going very well. We did that for about an hour and a half. Then we packed up. As we were leaving, we saw a whole huge herd of camels going through the market! It was really neat. We drove to the eye clinic in the middle of town that was set up by some former missionaries here. As we waited for lunch, this Christian man came and talked with us. Then we had jaba ji (African onion sauce with rice), rested a bit, then headed for Toya.

We drove for about an hour and a half using GPS, although Gene really knew the area and didn't reallly have to use it. The Soninke marked the trail in spots with white paint on trees and rocks. Interestingly, they believe the place to be haunted, but like all Soninke, this doesn't stop them from letting everyone know they own the area.

We stopped and parked in a spot that looked no different than any of the rest of the surrounding countryside. You wouldn't know you were there unless you had been there before. We unpacked the cars and loaded ourselves up with baggage, managing to carry it all between the 12 of us. Then we started to hike. Suddenly a ravine appeared and we clambered down it. It took us about 10-15 minutes to reach the bottom, where the lake spread out before us, sparkling in the afternoon sun.

We set up camp in the wonderful green grass that grew by the water's edge. It was so amazing to see grass again!! I haven't seen it in months... We had two tents, but most of the people slept outside on mats with mosquito nets over them hanging from the trees. These we set a bit back from the lake under some trees.

After we were all set up, a bunch of us we swimming in the lake. It was cold! I only stayed in for a few minutes--partly because of the cold, but mostly because of the fish that would nibble at your toes.

After that I relaxed while dinner was made. We ate asparagus soup, fried plantains, and sandwiches with little pepperonis and fresh veggies. We drank tea with oranges and these neat grain bars called hinklesteins that Dawn made for dessert.

At sunset, we saw about 15 baboons up on the rocks! Then we lay back and watched the stars come out one by one. Cornelia and I had fun talking and getting to know each other. She told me that when people laugh about nothing, in Swiss German they say that they "eat giggle soup". We certainly had a big dose of it that night.

After lying on the mats for a long while, we eventually went to bed. That night, mingled with the barking of the baboons and twittering of the birds, we heard the laughing of the hyenas.

To Be Continued...

It's a Wonderful Life

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:44:49 GMT

What a great week!!!!

So Monday was a regular day at school. Everything went smoothly. Christy is reading a book about an Indian girl right now that's called Naya Nuki, and she's loving it. She just started fractions in math. David has started subtraction and is doing very well at reading. In the evening, the J's neighbor, Esther, had a little baby girl who is absolutely adorable! That was exciting.

Tuesday was my 20th birthday! We had school in the morning, then for lunch, Sandy, Carole, Jennifer, our visitor Sherry, and I went out to a restaurant down the street and ate chicken--a rare treat! :-) We each had half a chicken which was nicely spiced (rotisserie style kinda) and fries, onion, and tomatoes with an interesting but good sauce on them. Then we had brownies with frosting and sprinkles. I chilled in the afternoon (I finished reading Harry Potter 3 that I borrowed from Jennifer) and then for dinner, the Jorgensens invited me over. Sandy made my special request--Cheesy Corn Chowder, my favorite soup. :-D So that helped it feel like my birthday, since I almost always specially request that Mom makes it for me on my brithday. :-) They all really liked it, even the kids, who are notoriously picky eaters--although Sandy had to make two pots, one with cheese and one without. *rolls eyes*

Wednesday was a normal day too, even though I was now 20 and was supposed to feel different. :-)

Thursday, we had school in the morning for an hour only, then went over the mission. Heidi has a bunch of visitors from her home church in Zurich visiting, and at 9 AM we had a worship time and the pastor taught us from the Word. Most of them speak some English, especially the younger ones, but there are some of the older ones who only speak Swiss German, so everything is done in German and translated into English, or vice versa. The pastor, Pierre, talked about the Kingdom of God. One thing that really stuck out to me was something he said about how the Kingdom of God starts small, then advances and grows, even in our own single lives. It grows in you personally, not just in the world. Then we had some snacks and Peter gave a short demonstration of what it's like to do Bible translation.

For lunch, I went out to a little restaurant with Heidi and her guests and ate white zame, which is a kind of flavored, steamed rice that is popular here. Then in the evening, Sandy called me and told me that I got 2 packages in the mail! I went over and picked them up. One was a birthday package from Mom and Dad, and the other was a huge Christmas box full of presents from the Artrips and their cell group. Thanks so much guys!! Yay for late Christmas presents that act like birthday presents, and real birthday presents!

This morning we had another worship/teaching session with the Swiss(es? ians? ites?). The pastor talked about being salt in the world, and how Satan attacks us by first drying up our time with God, then our relationships, and all the time expanding our work. After our coffee break, the Michelsons talked about their ministry among the Fulani, another ethnic group here in West Africa. They go around selling books and promoting literacy.

Tonight I'm going to hang out with the Bridonneaus, and tomorrow Heidi invited me to go with her and her guests to Felou again. I'll probably go--it's nice. Then Sunday I have church, then I'm being interviewed over Skype at LCC, then we have a goodbye potluck for Rose, who is going on furlough at the end of the week. I also have a Swiss woman staying with me, and once she leaves, I'll move to the mission to live with Heidi.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I get to go camping with Heidi, her guests, and the Michelsons. We're going to this lake called Toya that is up near the Mauritanian border. Apparently, it's largely considered one of the prettiest places in Mali, so I'm looking forward to that! I'll write all about it when I get back!

This Journal Is Probably Getting Really Boring to Read...

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:09:56 GMT

This has been a pretty good week. There have been things to celebrate, so that made it go quickly.

Tuesday was the 100^th day of school, so I had the kids bring in 100 items of their choice. David brought in 100 pictures, and Christy brought in 100 red LEGOs. I tried to incorporated 100 into the things we did that day, and it was fun.

Wednesday was the “Love is the Movement” day, which was something to write on the board and talk about, so that was good. In the afternoon, we made cookies with mini M&Ms in them! Yum!

Thursday was Valentine’s Day. We had special snacks, including our cookies and stuff sent by Peter’s mom. Then for lunch, Sandy made pizza. It was delicious. She also made a cranberry almond bread that was really good.

Friday was a normal day, but still, it went quickly.

Saturday I slept in, relaxed, and then went shopping with Sandy and Jennifer. Sandy had promised Jennifer a piece of fabric of her choice for Christmas, so this was her Christmas present day. Afterwards, everyone met at the Gar for brochettes, along with a visitor, Sherry.

This morning I went to the Kayes-N’di church, where the pastor talked about gratitude. It was an easy one for me, since I am so thankful for all of you guys!

Another visitor is supposed to be arriving today. She’s going to be staying with me, since I have a free bedroom. So that’ll be nice.

I guess that’s about it…just a normal week for me!

Love is the Movement

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:10:35 GMT

I LOVE YOU!!! AND GOD LOVES YOU EVEN MORE! Thank you so much for being there for me!!

***
121 million people in the world suffer from depression, with 18 million in the US alone. On the day before Valentines' Day is when most people with depression feel the most depressed.

To Write Love On Her Arms is an organization dedicated to reaching out to teens with depression in particular. They are sponsoring today as "Love is the Movement" Day. They encourage everyone to write love on their arm with a sharpie (or other ink). When someone asks about it, tell them about TWLOHA and how much God loves them, and how they have worth. And ask them if you can write love on their arms to pass it on. Spread the love movement.

A Surprise and Seven Brides

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:24:03 GMT

This week has been pretty good. It was a normal work week. We started a new book in reading. David has been sick, and missed Friday.

Friday evening, I headed over to the Bridonneaus. When I got there, I hung out a bit since the food wasn’t ready yet, and Carole asked me to go grab a few things with her. We walked down the street and got some noodles and sugar and stuff like that and then headed back. On the way, Carole was like, “Hey, I need to stop at the Jorgensens for something real quick.” So we went in through the gate and up to the front door. As we stepped in, suddenly everyone shouted “SURPRISE!” It was a surprise party for my birthday! It was really nice. The Bowers were there, as well as the Michelsons, Rose, Siegfried, Heidi, the Jorgensens, and the Bridonneaus. It was actually a surprise party for both me and Jean-Luc, since his birthday is a few days after mine. We had food, cake, and ice cream. I got a homemade stuffed mouse from Christy, and this really pretty fabric from the others. Afterwards the Bridonneaus and I watched Monsters, Inc.

On Saturday, Heidi and I went to the market in Kayes-Ba. It was a nice morning. I found some really nice bogolan (Malian traditional mud-printed cloth). Then I hung out with Heidi the rest of the day. Her old computer that she uses to watch DVDs was broken—no sound at all, not even system sounds—so I worked on that for a while. In the end, I just wiped her hard drive and returned everything to system standards. It wasn’t a big deal since she had nothing on the computer, and it worked. So after that, we watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers together, which Heidi really liked.

Today I went to the Kayes-N’Di church, then hung out in the afternoon and Skyped my family. We also had our English prayer meeting again (for the first time since before Christmas), and watched one of the segments of this evangelistic DVD called “More Than Dreams”. It was excellent, and I really want to borrow the DVD from the J’s so that I can watch the other stories. It’s about five Muslims from around the world who all had dreams/visions about Jesus and became Christians. We watched it in the native languages with English subtitles, and it was very well done. I liked it a lot.

Yeah, so that was this week. I think my bread is de-thawed now, so I’ll go eat. Maybe I’ll break out that can of hummus I found in the closet and hope it hasn’t gone bad. J

"Ha! Your pig fiance is too late!"

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:05:26 GMT

Sorry for not writing sooner, but nothing really exciting has been going on. Just school and life. For me, it was a fairly normal week. The Jorgensens and everyone else were in meetings all week doing translation work, but that didn't affect me personally very much.

Wednesday I went to the Kayes-Ba market with Sandy and Carole. We got some fabric and I picked up a few other things. Poor Carole was invisible--everyone kept ignoring her when she was trying to tell them something. :-) I got some nice Pakistani fabric--ironic, I know.

Friday afternoon Sandy kept me all afternoon. First I helped her made dinner, which was fun. Then in the afternoons she teaches a literacy class for some ladies. She was so busy though, that she asked me to let them read to me! I was surprised, since I don't speak the language, but it's very phonetic and I didn't have much of a problem correcting their reading. It was actually fun. The ladies are so nice. They are all at different levels, but it works pretty well overall. In the evening, I went over to the Bridonneaus; they made pizza and we watched The Princess Bride. I don't know if they have ever seen it before, but I know Heidi hadn't, so that was really fun. I had to refrain myself from quoting all the good parts. "Anybody want a peanut?"

Saturday the meetings continued. I went for a few hours and sat in on it, since it's linguistics and it's interesting to me. It was similar to the sessions I sat in on in Dakar when I first arrived. They read a bit out loud, and then it's retranslated into French. They finished around 5:30--much to everyone's relief--and I went with Heidi back to the mission. I ate dinner with her, the translation checker, and Brad S., an American translator who used to live here but now works from the States. It was a really nice evening and I stayed overnight with Heidi.

Sunday, Heidi, Brad, and I stayed home and listened to an LCC sermon (the Charlie's War one). It was very fitting and both Brad and Heidi were commenting how encouraging it was. Then we ate lunch together with the Michaelsons. What a cheerful party we were! That afternoon, Heidi and I went on YouTube. We watched a whole bunch of candid camera-type things. The best one was a German one with waterbeds (do you remember that one, Dad?). You can find it by searching for "German waterbed candid camera" on YouTube, if you're interested. There were also some really interesting Egyptian ones. In one, they were in a restaurant, and they had their guy start eating off of a stranger's plate. The reactions of the patrons were so interesting! They essentially didn't react! One guy let him take his whole meal except for the sandwich that was in his hand--even his drink! It really shows so much about Egyptian culture compared with American or European culture. I would be mad if someone tried to eat my food in a restaurant!

Anyway, then we ate dinner with Brad and hung out in the evening. We put on the live internet feed from FOX of the Superbowl, but it was just the blabbing beforehand (the game didn't start until 11:30 PM our time). Heidi had never seen American football before and we wanted to enlighten her, but alas, no videos of former games were on. We also Skyped Brad's wife and family for a while. It was nice to finally see them (web cams rock!), since I've heard so much about them from the Jorgensens.

This week is more team meetings, so I have to watch the kids all afternoon. Today we played LEGOs for a while, then I did the literacy again with two of the women.

And.....that's been my week!

I Have Found Fans Crazier Than Ours

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:14:01 GMT

To say the Malians are obsessed with soccer is the understatement of the year!

Yesterday began the Africa World Cup. Last night, Mali played. All throughout the day, I saw precoursers of the coming excitement. Malian flags were hanging from every store front, adorning the front of every motorcycle, flying from the antennae of every car, and being worn as shirts. The game started at 7 PM. From then on, the streets were deserted. Only out were a few women. Occasionally, a roar would rise over the city, echoing for miles, and you'd know that Mali scored a goal.

I was walking with Carole back to my place during the final few minutes of the game. I was prepared for a strong reaction--I expected something along the lines of Columbus after the Buckeyes beat Michigan.

Nothing could have prepared me to see the reaction of these normally very reserved Malians. The moment Mali won, everyone ran out of their houses, screaming and shouting. A chant began; "Mali! Mali! Mali!" Many were waving flags. They all ran as a huge crowd out to the goudron (paved road), where they lines the streets cheering as cars and motorcycles drove by, honking their horns. In the span of two minutes, it seemed that the whole city was out running in the streets! It was the funniest, craziest thing!

Faith saw me standing outside my gate and ran over and hugged me.

"Mali! Mali!" she cheered.

"Mali!" I responded.

The parties continued all night. :-)

Bathing in Gasoline and Other Normal Things :-)

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 14:59:24 GMT

It's been a pretty good week.

Tuesday I visited Faith. She is doing well, as are her three children. Carole went with me, and the whole time, Faith was telling her how much she enjoys watching the Jesus Film. She said especially the parts with Jesus' death and resurrection really made her feel how big God is. She's interested in hearing more stories about Jesus' life. Please pray that her heart continues to be softened and that she will either have confidence enough to go to this ladies' Bible study that Sandy is holding or one of the ladies groups at the churches in the area.

Wednesday, Sandy, Christy, David and I went to Kayes-Ba for some shopping (food stuff) and then went to the little restaurant/bakery next door for a snack. I got some pretty good chocolate cake-like thing.

The Jorgensens are still redoing their house, and I went over there to help on Thursday. We ate some chili and cornbread for lunch and I mentioned that I had experience doing cement work from FROG. Because of that, Peter came up to me and said, "Guess what? We have some cement work that needs to be done!" So I spent the first hour or so filling in holes and cracks in the cement floors so that they can put down linoleum in some places. I also fixed an outside step that was crumbling. After that, I went into the main room to help Sandy sponge paint one of the walls. This time, it was oil paint, not water paint, so it was really different! The paint has to be mixed with gasoline, and it's very sticky. We put on some rubber latex gloves and got to work, ignoring the fumes as best we could. But it didn't take long for every little thing to become hilarious, and we knew we were being affected by the gas fumes. :-) Everything stuck to us--our gloves, the sponges, the paint cans. And on top of that, after a while we noticed that the paint had eaten holes in our gloves! All this for a wall that looks like "chocolate melting on a summer day with a deep blue sky and white fluffy clouds".

Once the wall was done, we got to the clean-up stage. For probably the first time in my life, I got the experience of getting down on my hands and knees with a rag, pouring water on the floor, and scrubbing to get up the paint that we had dripped/spilled. Once the floor was clean, we had to deal with ourselves. I had paint on my hands, and all over my feet. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem--but here's the catch: this kind of paint wasn't water-soluble. The only way it would come off was with gasoline. So we went out to the fire pit and poured gasoline all over ourselves. :-) Even then, I was still tinged blue at the end. The painter said he goes home and bathes himself in gasoline every night. After only a few minutes, you could feel it almost burning your skin. It was such a funny thing, though, that I didn't mind it. Afterwards I trudged home and boiled some water to soak my feet in. That essentially helped get the rest of the paint off, and now I'm not very blue at all. :-)

Saturday we had another team lunch/meeting, during which Sandy stuffed us full of delicious spaghetti and meatballs, fried eggplant, salad, bread with a garlic cheese spread, papaya, "African doughnuts" , and cake. Then in the afternoon I hung out with Heidi a bit and helped her make hummus. The Bridonneaus came over, and we ate and watched Robin Hood: Prince of Theives.

This morning I went to the Nigerian church with the Bridonneaus. Jean-Luc preached about the river of God, and there was a baby dedication of a little Togolese boy named Ezekiel. It was a good time. I always enjoy going to that church, because I feel like they are really praising the Lord. Malians are by nature a very reserved people, but the Nigerians certainly aren't. Then Rose invited me over to lunch, and that's been today! :-)

African Wedding

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:10:51 GMT

My first African wedding was certainly a fascinating experience.

When we first arrived, all of us ladies—Sandy, me, Christy, Carole, and an African lady we took with us, Mary—went to see the bride. For a week before the wedding, she is kept in her room on a mat. She can only eat a thin porridge and drink a little cold water. This is to deliberately weaken her, so that she can’t resist her husband’s advances. She will stay in there for another week after the wedding. Needless to say, she looked tired and dull. At first, she was so embarrassed that she hid herself in the white sheet she had wrapped around her. She is 16 years old, and the groom is 36. They are cousins, which is considered the best marriage. They are supposedly “designed for each other”. The age difference is very common. Christy was telling me about another wedding she remembers attending, where the bride was only 10!

Once we had seen the bride, we went back outside. A group of people from the girl’s village (which is one of the sister villages of TC and not far away) arrived with a griot—the paid musician who is widely respected and feared, because he is considered to have special powers. He essentially ran the wedding it seemed. There was lots of dancing then. A few women danced inside a large ring of everyone else, then would switch off with other women. Everyone was clapping and singing to the drum beats of the griot and his assistants.

Then the griot stopped the dancing and began with the wedding gifts. He announced every gift. It is important to be generous with your wedding gift, because everyone will know what you gave! Afterwards, a whole group of women (and we went along) went to another compound in TC to pick up all the bride’s stuff (her trousseau). She brings lots of stuff into the marriage—pots and pans, sheets, clothes, etc. We loaded 4 donkey carts full of it all! Her mother has been saving up stuff for years. Once it was all loaded (and this was again supervised by the griot), we “processed” back to the groom’s compound, singing and clapping with the drum again.

After that, the women began to cook the meal. They killed a cow for the wedding (I had the…pleasure of seeing it being cut up, along with the hoofs, tail, and disembodied head). I helped the women shell peanuts for peanut sauce. We visited the bride again during this time, where she consented to show her face and allow Sandy to take her picture. The men, by the way, hung out by themselves mostly in another corner of the compound.

During this time, we mostly just hung out, hungry. We hadn’t eaten anything for lunch, and the meal was finally ready about 5:30. It was rice with the meat and veggies, like normal. They sent the bride some gruel. After the meal, there was watermelon (their favorite “finisher”). Then we all gathered around while the bride’s trousseau was counted. The final number would be told to someone, whose job it was to remember it forever. When the bride comes out in another week, she will give gifts from her trousseau to all of her new sisters-in-law, which is part of the reason why she had so much. The local imam also visited during this time to pronounce blessings on the new couple.

And that was that. When it was time to go to sleep, the groom would go into the room with the bride. Tradition puts a slave at the door to make sure they aren’t interrupted (now it’s usually just a friend) and that the bride doesn’t escape. If the bride is a second or third wife (which in this case, she wasn’t) the other wives would throw a big party that night, mostly to distract themselves.

In the culture here, a marriage isn’t really a joining of just two people, it’s the joining of the villages they live in. It’s a big deal for everyone in the village, as these connections may be beneficial in the future, and help tie all the people together.

The whole experience was very interesting, but I must say, I certainly don’t want to be married that way! J

Journal Update: Sunday, Jan 14

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:53:57 GMT

Another week gone by.

After I got back from Timbuktu, I spent a few days just relaxing, getting back on schedule and stuff. On Sunday I tried to go to church, but it was really weird, because there was no one there. I waited a few minutes, but then just headed back and walked around (I visited the cemetery right by where I live because I had never been there before), read my Bible, and that was that. That night me, the Jorgensens, and the Bowers went out for brochettes. It was nice. The Bowers kids left the next morning to go back to Senegal.

School has gone smoothly this week. The Jorgensens are redoing their whole house, so that made things a bit more hectic, but not really that much for me! Friday night we had our movie night (at Heidi's place). It was good to see the Bridonneaus again, since it had been several weeks. We had fondue and watched Pirates of the Carribean.

I spent the night with Heidi, and the next morning went over the Jorgensens house to help them do sponge painting in Christy's room and the master bedroom. It went well. Sandy is the kind of person who needs someone else to be there and give their opinion on something, so I was that person. Plus, it would have taken her a long time to do the two walls (they were accent walls only) by herself. I like painting, and it's something I certainly have experience in, so I was glad to help.

Then I went over to the Bridonneaus for a massive team lunch/meeting. One of the pastors from Bamako is visiting for 10 days, so part of it was to greet him. We ate and then had the meeting for three hours. After that, I returned to the mission with Heidi. We played some games, and I spend another night with her.

This morning I went to the Assemblies of God church. The visiting pastor was preaching there. It was pretty good, and I like the church. The woman who translates speaks very clearly, and I could actually understand most of what was being said! :-) Then this afternoon I had lunch with Heidi--we had some boiled pumpkin and spaghetti with a pesto sauce. After that we relaxed, talked, and watched Fiddler on the Roof. Then we walked back to my place, visited Rose (who is sick) and now I'm relaxing by myself.

Tomorrow we are going to TC. One of the sons of the village chief (I think) is getting married. So it'll certainly be interesting to see what's going on, and how they celebrate the wedding and such. We're taking two carfuls of people with us, including the Bridonneaus, so that will be interesting. We're going to do school until 10, then leave around that time and spend the day in the village.

I'll be sure to write all about it!