"I will never take _____ for granted again!" How many times do we find ourselves either thinking this or saying this when we have something that we have missed for a period of time. I can't even begin to count the number of times since being here that I have used that phrase. It usually comes at the time of a cold shower, or the blessing of a warm one, that I think or even verbalize that I will "never" take hot water for granted again. Recently it has been electricity as power outages have been more frequent and for longer periods of time. We can almost expect each night that our electricity will go out between 6-8 p.m. and not resume until sometime throughout the night, leaving us in the dark, breezeless night with the humidity settling in around us like a heavy blanket. This is more of a frustration and inconvenience than anything else, but unfortunately we do rely on electricity to keep medications cold and with temperatures like ours, our little refrigerator has trouble keeping the cold in, or even getting cold for that matter when we do have electricity.
I also tend to think about this phrase when it comes to rain, the cold, always having running water at our fingertips and having the convenience of a vehicle. But the biggest event that triggered this thought recently was the use of a washing machine!
A few days ago, we were blessed to once again to have family here in Gambia. My (Jessica's) parents came to visit for 9 days. We decided to take a couple of days in the city to enjoy some A.C., a pool, satellite tv, hot water and much to my delight: our very own washing machine! Usually if we go somewhere with a washing machine we have to pay someone to do our wash for us, but at this particular place we were able to do it ourselves. You may find yourself laughing at this, but after washing clothes by hand for 9 months, it is amazing to use a washing machine and to realize how dry clothes get when spun rather than hand rung! Elias and I actually made the 30-40 min. drive back to our house just to get the rest of our laundry so that we wouldn't have to do it by hand later in the week.
As exciting as this may be, it got me thinking about how may times we say that we won't take something for granted ever again and then in a matter of weeks, or maybe a couple of months if we're fortunate, we have forgotten and begin complaining about the very thing we were never going to take for granted! Even I have to admit that before I know it, I'll be complaining about having to take the time to put the clothes in the washer, let the machine do the work and then take the time to hang them on the line. Or I will be stepping into the hot shower, because I have to without even thinking about the hundreds of cold showers that I had to take here. When we experience the infrequent power outage at home, it will most likely be followed by surprise and possibly groans if it interferes with our daily routine.
I then began to think about how we even do this with people, especially our families. After having Elias' family and then my parents come to visit, we were reminded how nice it is to have time with family and how much we do actually miss them. Yet when we get home, we may find ourselves getting irritated with the very people that we missed so much while here. I would love to think that I will never take the blessing of family for granted, but I know that all too often that is exactly what happens. And as I thought about how quickly we take for granted our immediate family, I began to think about our church family and how this so easily happens with the body of Christ. Rather than recognize the gifts that others have to offer, we argue about our differences. Or rather than complimenting our pastors on all the work they do, we nit pick and complain about what they aren't doing.
Which then brings me to think about how often we take God himself for granted. In times of need, we cry out with all our being, and when He answers, we promise to be more faithful, make more time for Him and never take for granted how He provides for us and blesses us. Then things get better and we find that it has been days, weeks or even months since we sat down and read our Bible or prayed to the One who carried us through our time of suffering. We forget all of His blessings such as the blessings of food, shelter, clothing, work. We forget to thank Him for our families and lift them up to him, especially when we're irritated with them. We forget to thank Him for the body of Christ and how He made us each unique yet in His image so that we can show others, who our God is and bring His kingdom here to earth. This is coming from personal convictions that I know I have to work on, but I think that it is all too common in most of our lives. My prayer is that we can strive to remember all of our blessings, big and small, and truly not take things for granted rather than just saying that we won't.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Anniversary Vacation
From August 3-10 we went to the city for a week of vacation to celebrate our anniversary. Overall the week was pleasant and restful, only after following a few days of stress which God used to bless us in the end. We chose a hotel with self catering apartments on the beach so that we would still be able to cook our own meals while enjoying the ocean that we rarely see at home.
The first day that we arrived we found out that we had to supply our own cash power which is basically like phone credit but for electricity. This was a little frustrating, but we went out and bought our cash power while getting groceries with the team and all was well...until we got back to the hotel that is. Upon entering our cash power into the meter we discovered that the meter was broken and since the power can't be transferred from meter to meter our money would either go to waste or the meter had to fixed. We opted for the meter being fixed. So for the first few hours we had no electricity until they decided to wire our meter to another meter to use the left over cash power on that meter until our meter was fixed the next day. We readily agreed to this arrangement which in the end provided us with just enough cash power for the week.
The next day however we woke up and discovered that our computer cord had been fried by the power outages and flipping of breakers the previous day and throughout the night. Unfortunately, while we love our Mac laptop, finding Apple products in Gambia is like finding a needle in a haystack that may or may not even be in the haystack. We did find one man who said he could get a cord in a couple of days, but then we found another man who thought he could fix the cord. So we left the cord and agreed to come back the next day. This took about half the day which also added to our frustration, but it was turned around into a blessing considering we were in the city where we were able to easily check about power cords and return in a day where as if we had been in Brikama the travel would have been even more difficult and stressful. We were also happy to arrive back at the hotel and find that the satellite TV had been fixed and we were able to enjoy some different shows that we have never seen or at least not in about a year along with some of our favorite movies that were playing.
So once again the next day we set out and discovered that our cord could not be fixed, but it could be spliced to another power cord until my parents arrive with a new cord. We also discovered that the man that would "repair" our cord had an Apple cord but it was 24 V instead of 16 V which would have fried our computer. With this knowledge we decided that rather than wait another day for the other place to get an Apple cord which may also be 24 V we would trust these men who actually knew what they were doing to provide a temporary fix. This was a success and the rest of the week went quite smoothly!
The rest of the week we were able to enjoy swimming in the ocean, see a sea turtle be set free that had been caught in a fishing net, just relaxing and of course celebrating our two year anniversary in West Africa! We decided that the hotel we went to wouldn't be our first choice for another vacation, but it served it's purpose and God was faithful!
Here are some pictures from our time in the city:
kitchen/dining room area
living room
balcony
bedroom
View from our balcony
enjoying the ocean
Apparently every Sunday during the off season until Ramadan there is a beach party where thousands of Gambians go to swim, eat, dance and just have a big celebration. We were unaware of this initially when we went swimming on Sunday, but Sunday evening after going out for dinner we decided to walk back to our hotel along the beach and this is part of what we saw. The picture doesn't do it any justice compared with how many people were really there. It was really nice to see this though since Gambians don't get too many opportunities to enjoy the beach.
Prayer requests:
-My parents will be leaving on Monday the 16th and arriving on the 17th. We would like prayer for safe and easy travels and just a blessed time with them here.
-Our teammate Lori leave on Sunday the 15th to return to the States. Please pray for all of her travels as well
-For rain! We need a lot of rain this month or there will be problems and it is actually very dry!
Praises:
-We had a wonderful vacation overall
-We have met a new friend who is a Peace Corp worker, but lives in the Methodist Mission here as well
-We will once again be able to enjoy time with family!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Women of the Gambia
Here in Gambia women work harder than any other women I know. Every day is spent either in their gardens in the hot sun, cooking for their family along with others that happen to be there, pounding different items such as rice, cous, millet, fish, etc, washing laundry and taking care of their children among other things.
One example in particular that comes to mind is one of our youth. Her name is Miriama and she lives in Pirang at the house where we do our weekly Bible study. Each week we arrive and Miriama is busy at work until the rest of the youth come and then she sits down for our study and as soon as it is over she is back to work. Some days we arrive and she is busy hauling water from the school that is some distance away from the house. Other days she is pounding, washing clothing or doing some other work in the house or outside with others that live in the compound. While Miriama is a prime example of a hard worker, she is by far not alone in the heavy workload that women face.
Another example is the compound that we hold studies at in Kiti. Any day of the week that we come to Kiti the women are going about their various work. The only time that I have seen them rest is Sunday afternoon where they take time to braid each other's hair.
This isn't to say that men don't work here, and there are some very hard male workers here in Gambia, but while it is a fairly common sight to see men sitting under a tree in the afternoon drinking tea, the women are usually busy at work. This is an example of the oppression that women still face here in Gambia. While it may not be as extreme as in other cultures, men are still viewed more highly than women as a general rule. Women however, are beginning to stand up for their rights a bit as they become more exposed to western culture and see how other women live. This can be seen in areas such as clothing and marriage. While skirts are still the most common form of clothing for women, more and more women are choosing to wear pants or jeans, especially for special occasions. Women are also stepping out and saying that they want to be their husband's only wife rather than being one of 3 or 4 which is also still quite normal.
Unfortunately this heavy workload has not come without consequence. Many of the women here suffer from back pain and hip or leg pain from carrying water, bending over their gardens for hours at a time, washing clothes by hand, hours of pounding and pregnancies/childbirth. Each day I am thankful that I don't have to garden in the sun on days that are 110 degrees or more for a living. As I watch the women, I know that I could not physically do the work that they do and I continue to develop a whole new respect for them. I am also reminded how tremendously blessed I am to have been granted the life that I have. We wouldn't consider ourselves patriotic people, but I will admit that I am continually made more aware of how different my life would be if I had been born and raised somewhere else.
One example in particular that comes to mind is one of our youth. Her name is Miriama and she lives in Pirang at the house where we do our weekly Bible study. Each week we arrive and Miriama is busy at work until the rest of the youth come and then she sits down for our study and as soon as it is over she is back to work. Some days we arrive and she is busy hauling water from the school that is some distance away from the house. Other days she is pounding, washing clothing or doing some other work in the house or outside with others that live in the compound. While Miriama is a prime example of a hard worker, she is by far not alone in the heavy workload that women face.
Miriama pounding rice
carrying water, even the smallest children start carrying things on their heads
This isn't to say that men don't work here, and there are some very hard male workers here in Gambia, but while it is a fairly common sight to see men sitting under a tree in the afternoon drinking tea, the women are usually busy at work. This is an example of the oppression that women still face here in Gambia. While it may not be as extreme as in other cultures, men are still viewed more highly than women as a general rule. Women however, are beginning to stand up for their rights a bit as they become more exposed to western culture and see how other women live. This can be seen in areas such as clothing and marriage. While skirts are still the most common form of clothing for women, more and more women are choosing to wear pants or jeans, especially for special occasions. Women are also stepping out and saying that they want to be their husband's only wife rather than being one of 3 or 4 which is also still quite normal.
Unfortunately this heavy workload has not come without consequence. Many of the women here suffer from back pain and hip or leg pain from carrying water, bending over their gardens for hours at a time, washing clothes by hand, hours of pounding and pregnancies/childbirth. Each day I am thankful that I don't have to garden in the sun on days that are 110 degrees or more for a living. As I watch the women, I know that I could not physically do the work that they do and I continue to develop a whole new respect for them. I am also reminded how tremendously blessed I am to have been granted the life that I have. We wouldn't consider ourselves patriotic people, but I will admit that I am continually made more aware of how different my life would be if I had been born and raised somewhere else.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Family
Recently we were blessed to welcome Elias' parents and sister into a little bit of our life here in Gambia. We picked them up from the airport early on the morning of the 23rd of June and said a bitter sweet goodbye on the July 4th. During their time here we were blessed to have some peaceful days of rest along with showing them a little bit of our daily routine. We took two days at a hotel, called Hibiscus House, that Elias and I had been wanting to go to ourselves and enjoyed sun, a pool and each other's company. We returned from Hibiscus house and the following day headed out to Kiti so that they could meet the youth that we meet with their and some dear friends that we have made by going out there. While we were there, we again encountered true Gambian hospitality by receiving cashew apples and a typical Balanta dish that they cook in this compound made with rice, fish, mango and palm oil. The compound was also in the middle of the process of preparing palm oil that would be put into large jugs and then sold at the market. From this process they are also able to make their own soap, so I explained to some of the youth that in the United States many people are trying to live more naturally and make their own things where as here in Gambia they have no choice, it is just second nature. The palm oil making process would seem quite primitive for us, for lack of a better would. No fancy machinery just fire and big metal oil oil drums with hoses connecting the ones that need oil transfered from one drum to another.
Also while in Kiti, we showed Elias' family the nearly finished pig house project that Tiu Jon has been working on throughout our time here. When I say nearly finished I mean the outside is finished but the flooring still needs to put in. After lunch and time conversing, we had our lesson with the youth, took a few pictures and headed on our way, having to refuse the gift of a liter of palm oil that would be difficult for the Zehr's to take home, but choosing some homemade soap instead.
Monday we borrowed the car to go grocery shopping since the five of us filled up the car without any room for the rest of the team. We make a stop at the Brikama craft market to pick up some hand carved items then headed off to the pool that is next to the ocean so that the family could experience both at once. We then picked up our groceries and headed home, returning the car to Pirang for the rest of the team to do their shopping the next day.
The rest of the week was spent bird watching, taking trips to the Brikama market where we get some of our veggies, when their are available, fish, chicken and almost anything else you can think of other than most American foods. Joe and Malinda (Elias' parents) along with Elias all purchased Gambian clothing that they now have to remember their time by. We were also able to make it for a morning of My Sister's Company, which EMM will soon be handing over to the local women, and purchase a few fair trade items that the women make there.
Friday, Gary and Denise offered to let us use the car, so we took a trip down to Gunjur Beach so they could meet the compound we work with down there along with being able to see the local fishing boats. Unfortunately now that we are in the rainy season the car couldn't make it whole way so we had a bit of a walk down to the see the boats, with a quick stop at the compound where we do studies. We then walked down the beach, stopped to check out rooms at a hotel for future reference for Elias and I, then headed the long, hot trek back. By the time we reached the car we were hot, sweaty and tired and bordering on arriving late for our Bible study in Pirang.
Saturday was our last day with the Zehr's, and since it was "clean up the nation day" otherwise known as Set Settle, we did not return to Gunjur Beach for our morning Bible study, instead, the Zehr's packed and then we spent quality time together.
While we couldn't show them everything we do, it was a blessed time of allowing family to have a glimpse of our time here from cold showers, to hand-washing clothing, to local food thanks to our wonderful cook Agnus. We will admit, going from five down to two was a bit lonely the next day, but the blessing of family being here with us outweighed the loneliness by far.
I wrote earlier that the goodbye was bitter sweet because their coming was amazing, but it also marked a huge mile marker for us and our time left here. We are now down to less than five months which can feel long, but when we break it down and think about all we have left to do, it is actually relatively short. Also, we only have a little more than a month before we have another blessing of family as my parents will be coming to visit in August!
It's easy to get used to not having family around, but it doesn't take long to be reminded of what a God given gift family truly is. Here are some pictures of our time with the Zehr's:
Also while in Kiti, we showed Elias' family the nearly finished pig house project that Tiu Jon has been working on throughout our time here. When I say nearly finished I mean the outside is finished but the flooring still needs to put in. After lunch and time conversing, we had our lesson with the youth, took a few pictures and headed on our way, having to refuse the gift of a liter of palm oil that would be difficult for the Zehr's to take home, but choosing some homemade soap instead.
Monday we borrowed the car to go grocery shopping since the five of us filled up the car without any room for the rest of the team. We make a stop at the Brikama craft market to pick up some hand carved items then headed off to the pool that is next to the ocean so that the family could experience both at once. We then picked up our groceries and headed home, returning the car to Pirang for the rest of the team to do their shopping the next day.
The rest of the week was spent bird watching, taking trips to the Brikama market where we get some of our veggies, when their are available, fish, chicken and almost anything else you can think of other than most American foods. Joe and Malinda (Elias' parents) along with Elias all purchased Gambian clothing that they now have to remember their time by. We were also able to make it for a morning of My Sister's Company, which EMM will soon be handing over to the local women, and purchase a few fair trade items that the women make there.
Friday, Gary and Denise offered to let us use the car, so we took a trip down to Gunjur Beach so they could meet the compound we work with down there along with being able to see the local fishing boats. Unfortunately now that we are in the rainy season the car couldn't make it whole way so we had a bit of a walk down to the see the boats, with a quick stop at the compound where we do studies. We then walked down the beach, stopped to check out rooms at a hotel for future reference for Elias and I, then headed the long, hot trek back. By the time we reached the car we were hot, sweaty and tired and bordering on arriving late for our Bible study in Pirang.
Saturday was our last day with the Zehr's, and since it was "clean up the nation day" otherwise known as Set Settle, we did not return to Gunjur Beach for our morning Bible study, instead, the Zehr's packed and then we spent quality time together.
While we couldn't show them everything we do, it was a blessed time of allowing family to have a glimpse of our time here from cold showers, to hand-washing clothing, to local food thanks to our wonderful cook Agnus. We will admit, going from five down to two was a bit lonely the next day, but the blessing of family being here with us outweighed the loneliness by far.
I wrote earlier that the goodbye was bitter sweet because their coming was amazing, but it also marked a huge mile marker for us and our time left here. We are now down to less than five months which can feel long, but when we break it down and think about all we have left to do, it is actually relatively short. Also, we only have a little more than a month before we have another blessing of family as my parents will be coming to visit in August!
It's easy to get used to not having family around, but it doesn't take long to be reminded of what a God given gift family truly is. Here are some pictures of our time with the Zehr's:
Pool time at Hibiscus house
at Hibiscus house with the famous Journal and Republican
spending time in Kiti
palm oil process
again
ready for the market
with some of the Kiti crew and the journal once again
bird watching in Pirang with our friend Armstrong
standing in the roots of the big tree in Pirang (and it is really big!)
our last day in our Gambian clothing
Monday, June 21, 2010
Spiritual awareness
I know it has been awhile since we have posted. Things have just been so crazy here right now! Just a quick update before I get into what I'm really writing about. It has rained twice now and it looks as though we will be getting rain again within the next couple days, which means humidity is high, but right now we are enjoying a nice breeze. Since our last post, we have a new member to our "team" here in Gambia until July. One of the members of the Guinea Bissau YES team has joined us up here until their team heads home in July. Lori is currently traveling in Germany with her sister-in-law and will return this week, so the team leaders from the YES team came up to stay with their team-mate. In exciting news, Elais' parents and sister will be here on Wednesday until July 4, so we are looking forward to a wonderful and fruitful time with them, showing them our work and allowing them to experience part of our life here. Gary and Denise will be returning next week, so we also look forward to catching up with them on how their time has been. Overall our work with the youth is going well, but now that the rains have begun we will see some changes in participation as some will be traveling and the work load will increase.
Now onto what the post is really about. In the United States, we aren't as aware of the spiritual world as people are here in Gambia. We may or may not acknowledge the fact that their are spiritual beings present in the world other than God and Satan. Some of us are aware of the spiritual warfare going on around us every day and others of us either don't believe or are uncomfortable thinking about the spiritual realm. Here in Gambia that mentality is very different. Nearly everyone is aware of the spiritual realm no matter what their religious beliefs.
While Islam is the most common religion here, you will also find idol worship, Christianity or a combination of Islam and idols. In one of our fellowships that we meet with, in the window of one of the houses, there is an idol that one of the non-believers put up. It is not uncommon to either go to an idol for medical problems after visiting the local marabou. A marabou is a witch-doctor and are quite common throughout the country. People tend to go to the marabou for various medical issues or even to curse each other. I know that I wasn't completely convinced about curses before coming here. I didn't doubt that they could be done, but I didn't have much knowledge about them. Most pregnant women won't tell you when they are due because there may be someone who wants to hurt them or their baby by placing a curse on them. We also have friends that are involved in youth ministry through soccer and have seen their players drop in the middle of a game, or a goalie miss an easy block because they have been cursed.
The thought of spiritual warfare has always been a bit unsettling for me and in the U.S. it was somewhat easy to "ignore" or at least not deal with. Here however, the spiritual world tends to be more "in your face" and is very hard not to see, even if you don't want to see it.
Being here in Africa has definitely opened our eyes to an aspect of the spiritual world that we were not fully aware of before. We still have much to learn, but we certainly have received more exposure here than we had in the States. Thankfully we have a God who is greater than any other spiritual power on this earth. While I said before that spiritual warfare is a bit unsettling, we take comfort in the fact with the simple act of prayer, we give God full control of our lives and allow Him to fight the battle for us. Please continue to pray for the Christians of the Gambia, since while it is not illegal to be a Christian, it is not easy either under the heavy blanket of spiritual oppression.
Prayer requests:
-For the bondage of spiritual oppression to be broken and for the Christians who have bravely stepped out in the name of Christ
-For the Zehr family as they travel to see us over the next 2 days
-For Gary, Denise and Lori as they are all traveling
-For the YES team who will be returning to the States in about 3 weeks
-For our continuing youth ministry. That the youth will understand what we are sharing and the leaders will step up and beginning leading their fellow youth more.
Praises:
-Overall our ministry continues to go well and there continues to be interest
-We have had a bit a of a breakthrough with the women of Kiti as they have agreed to me, Jess, come and do church in their compound with them since they feel as though they have too much work to actually attend church at the church building
-We will soon have the blessing of sharing part of our lives here in Africa with family!
Now onto what the post is really about. In the United States, we aren't as aware of the spiritual world as people are here in Gambia. We may or may not acknowledge the fact that their are spiritual beings present in the world other than God and Satan. Some of us are aware of the spiritual warfare going on around us every day and others of us either don't believe or are uncomfortable thinking about the spiritual realm. Here in Gambia that mentality is very different. Nearly everyone is aware of the spiritual realm no matter what their religious beliefs.
While Islam is the most common religion here, you will also find idol worship, Christianity or a combination of Islam and idols. In one of our fellowships that we meet with, in the window of one of the houses, there is an idol that one of the non-believers put up. It is not uncommon to either go to an idol for medical problems after visiting the local marabou. A marabou is a witch-doctor and are quite common throughout the country. People tend to go to the marabou for various medical issues or even to curse each other. I know that I wasn't completely convinced about curses before coming here. I didn't doubt that they could be done, but I didn't have much knowledge about them. Most pregnant women won't tell you when they are due because there may be someone who wants to hurt them or their baby by placing a curse on them. We also have friends that are involved in youth ministry through soccer and have seen their players drop in the middle of a game, or a goalie miss an easy block because they have been cursed.
The thought of spiritual warfare has always been a bit unsettling for me and in the U.S. it was somewhat easy to "ignore" or at least not deal with. Here however, the spiritual world tends to be more "in your face" and is very hard not to see, even if you don't want to see it.
Being here in Africa has definitely opened our eyes to an aspect of the spiritual world that we were not fully aware of before. We still have much to learn, but we certainly have received more exposure here than we had in the States. Thankfully we have a God who is greater than any other spiritual power on this earth. While I said before that spiritual warfare is a bit unsettling, we take comfort in the fact with the simple act of prayer, we give God full control of our lives and allow Him to fight the battle for us. Please continue to pray for the Christians of the Gambia, since while it is not illegal to be a Christian, it is not easy either under the heavy blanket of spiritual oppression.
Prayer requests:
-For the bondage of spiritual oppression to be broken and for the Christians who have bravely stepped out in the name of Christ
-For the Zehr family as they travel to see us over the next 2 days
-For Gary, Denise and Lori as they are all traveling
-For the YES team who will be returning to the States in about 3 weeks
-For our continuing youth ministry. That the youth will understand what we are sharing and the leaders will step up and beginning leading their fellow youth more.
Praises:
-Overall our ministry continues to go well and there continues to be interest
-We have had a bit a of a breakthrough with the women of Kiti as they have agreed to me, Jess, come and do church in their compound with them since they feel as though they have too much work to actually attend church at the church building
-We will soon have the blessing of sharing part of our lives here in Africa with family!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Rain!
This past week has been quite eventful as will the remainder of this month. Saturday we had the blessing of seeing two friends from HDC (where we trained to come here). Jess Mengel had went to visit the team in Guinea Bissau and travelled up here with one of the team members who will be staying here for the next month and half! So on Saturday after going to Gunjur Beach, to find that no one was there for studies, we headed home, showered and headed off to Pirang. We spent the afternoon enjoying the company of Jess and Bree, Jess who we haven't seen since November and Bree who we haven't seen since January. After a supper of spaghetti we said goodbye to Jess and headed home. Sunday we had church at home and then headed off for Kiti in the extreme heat and humidity for studies. We were able to see the pig house, which is almost finished! It just needs a roof and the floor, but since no one knew when the rains would start the roof was the first priority. Tiu Jon was disappointed that we couldn't stay and eat, but it was getting late and we had to ride our bicycles home. Monday we were preparing for our cook, Agnus, to come when we hear someone at the door. We went out to see some other missionaries that we had met a couple of time from the Netherlands had stopped by. Ester and Anor stayed for a couple of hours and it was nice to have another white, young couple who is going through the same things as us to talk to. Hopefully we can continue to build this relationship and support each other until we leave.
Monday night was quite hot. We both took cold showers before bed to try and cool down enough to at least fall asleep. At around 4 or 4:30 in the morning I was half awake when Elias starting tapping me and saying "listen!". The sound we heard was, you guessed it, rain! It wasn't just a light sprinkle it was a hard rain that brought a wonderful cool breeze with it so that I was able to cover up! The only thought that crossed my mind about the rain not being good was, "what about the pig houses?". We prayed that they wouldn't be affected by the rain before the roof could go up. Tuesday morning was nice and cool as we got ready to go into the city for groceries. But once the sun came out, the humidity was higher than ever (in the 90% range). The day was sticky and hot, but we got done what we needed to get done including get a new, real, mattress!
We them came home and sat under our ceiling fans until around 6 pm when the electricity went off. This isn't uncommon, but there were other houses in Methodist Mission with their lights on. Apparently the provider for the city had an issue and the power didn't come back on until 6 pm yesterday. This made for miserable sleeping and a hot day yesterday, plus we didn't know when it would come back on and we needed to keep Elias' medications cool. Thankfully we got a cooler from Pirang some places in the city still had frozen ice. So we loaded up the cooler with medications and prayed for the electricity to come back on. Needless to say, last night was much nicer sleeping.
Also, the director of the church stopped in last evening and was asking about how our youth work was going and asked Elias if wanted to go to Kiti today to put the roof on the pig houses. We asked if they were affected by the rain and he said no! Praise Jesus! So Elias is now off to build a roof while I catch up on work here at home.
I apologize for the length of this post, but there has been so much going on, I haven't had time to update. Here are some of our latest prayer requests:
-That we will know how to best mentor the youth into leadership and how much we should or shouldn't do when it comes to leading at this point
-That God will open doors for new chances to share the gospel with other outside of the youth, I have a special heart for the women
-For travel:
-Jordan and Jeweli Ritz, team leaders for the team in GB, as they come up next week
-Elias' parents and sister as they come in 2 weeks!
-Gary and Denise as they return here in three weeks
-Lori will also be traveling next week to Germany to see her sister-in-law
Praises:
-The rains have begun!
-We have another young couple to share and fellowship with
-We will have family visiting very soon!
-Some of the youth are really flourishing and excited about what they are learning, which makes us excited to teach them
Monday night was quite hot. We both took cold showers before bed to try and cool down enough to at least fall asleep. At around 4 or 4:30 in the morning I was half awake when Elias starting tapping me and saying "listen!". The sound we heard was, you guessed it, rain! It wasn't just a light sprinkle it was a hard rain that brought a wonderful cool breeze with it so that I was able to cover up! The only thought that crossed my mind about the rain not being good was, "what about the pig houses?". We prayed that they wouldn't be affected by the rain before the roof could go up. Tuesday morning was nice and cool as we got ready to go into the city for groceries. But once the sun came out, the humidity was higher than ever (in the 90% range). The day was sticky and hot, but we got done what we needed to get done including get a new, real, mattress!
We them came home and sat under our ceiling fans until around 6 pm when the electricity went off. This isn't uncommon, but there were other houses in Methodist Mission with their lights on. Apparently the provider for the city had an issue and the power didn't come back on until 6 pm yesterday. This made for miserable sleeping and a hot day yesterday, plus we didn't know when it would come back on and we needed to keep Elias' medications cool. Thankfully we got a cooler from Pirang some places in the city still had frozen ice. So we loaded up the cooler with medications and prayed for the electricity to come back on. Needless to say, last night was much nicer sleeping.
Also, the director of the church stopped in last evening and was asking about how our youth work was going and asked Elias if wanted to go to Kiti today to put the roof on the pig houses. We asked if they were affected by the rain and he said no! Praise Jesus! So Elias is now off to build a roof while I catch up on work here at home.
I apologize for the length of this post, but there has been so much going on, I haven't had time to update. Here are some of our latest prayer requests:
-That we will know how to best mentor the youth into leadership and how much we should or shouldn't do when it comes to leading at this point
-That God will open doors for new chances to share the gospel with other outside of the youth, I have a special heart for the women
-For travel:
-Jordan and Jeweli Ritz, team leaders for the team in GB, as they come up next week
-Elias' parents and sister as they come in 2 weeks!
-Gary and Denise as they return here in three weeks
-Lori will also be traveling next week to Germany to see her sister-in-law
Praises:
-The rains have begun!
-We have another young couple to share and fellowship with
-We will have family visiting very soon!
-Some of the youth are really flourishing and excited about what they are learning, which makes us excited to teach them
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Mid-point reflection
For those of you that don't receive our newsletters, this was one of our articles from our May update:
We have reached the half-way mark! As I reflect over the last six months I see how much we have grown and changed in how we live, how we relate, how we see the world, and what we consider "normal". Six months ago we stepped off a plane into a new and unknown country and culture. We left the airport in the dark passing through towns that would look completely different come daylight, and wondering how far we would have to travel to get to the village of Pirang. As I smelled the smells and saw the small shops, memories of Bolivia flooded back to me, but I would quickly learn that even though we were in a warm climate culture once again, Gambia would be very different from Bolivia.
Our first month was spent in Pirang where we adjusted to life without electricty and the world of hand washing clothing. I began to learn to become more creative in cooking without an oven and with limited meat. Shower time was my least favorite time of the day as I dreaded stepping into the cold stream of water. I also adjusted to wearing a skirt nearly every day.
As month two rolled around, Elias and I moved to Brikama making our own new "normal". Little by little we began to find new goodies in the market that one month ago seemed so huge and scary. Our days were busy with language study and trying to move past the fear of venturing out to some of the villages, that we would be soon traveling to every day, to develop relationships.
We then went through another change of ending our time of language study and beginning our work with youth. We had to readjust our schedule once again to find what worked for us and the different groups.
With our new ministry came more use of public transportation and bicycle riding along with the challenge of preparing weekly lessons in both english and kiriol. Also throughout this time, I began experimenting more and more new recipes trying everything from my own mayonaise, which didn't turn out so well, to making homemade bagels, french bread, yogurt and granola bars.
Things that once seemed so foreign and strange have become quite normal for us now. I now find myself not thinking twice when I step into a cold shower, even though I still rather enjoy a warm one. Laundry day comes once a week, and while Elias is counting down the numbers of time we have left of hand washing, and it gets done in a couple of hours. Each day I wake up and even if I'm not going any where I put on a skirt and one of my ribbed tank tops. We both know that we are only allowed about 3 outfits per week, no matter how sweaty they get, for the sake of laundry. Three days a week we hop on our bicyles, and yes many times I do ride in a skirt which was quite strange and frustrating at first, and either ride to the bus park for public transportation or straight to the village we are working with that day. Then one day a week we walk to the bus park, hop onto public transport and ride to and from our other study. I know that grocery shopping comes once a week meaning that we need to decide if two meat meals for that week will be ground beef and chicken, ground beef and fish or fish and chicken. The rest of the week our meals consist of meatless meals that we have grown accostomed to such as cheese quesadillas or cheese and veggie pizza (cheese only makes one vegetarian meal per week since it is costly). I also have to think about what will fit into our dorm size fridge.
Each day we mix up powdered milk unless we splurged on some real milk. We drink water only from our filter and heat up water to wash our dishes. We have come to acccept that no matter how many time we sweap and mop our floor it will never be truly clean and the dust will just come back later that day or the next. We groan when the power goes out once again and praise Jesus when it comes back on. I know which fellowships have "nice" pit latrines and which ones I would prefer not to use and I no longer worry about how I smell because I just blend right in.
No matter where we go and how strange it is, life does become "normal". I put normal in quotation marks because what really is normal anyways? Everyone and every culture lives life differently, but for them that is just how life is lived. We have had to adjust to a new way of living that has challenged us, but has forced us to grow. We know what we appreciate from home, but we also know what we can live without and that God will be faithful through it all. We have learned things about ourselves and each other that we would have never known without this exeprience.
Every day God continues to form us into the people He has made us to be. We just have to be willing to let Him. We see how He is working in us as individuals and as a couple and we like what we see. However, we are exremely thankful that He's no where near finished with us. We are excited to see what else He has in store for us this second half of our journey.
Also, a quick puppy update. Unfortunately all 7 of our puppies have died due to infection and poor mothering from our young and inexperienced mother. We are saddened by this, but it may be for the better since they wouldn't have been cared for in this culture.
Praises:
-We have made it half way!
-Our ministry is going well, the youth that are involved seem quite interested
-We were able to take a short retreat to regroup and rest
Prayer requests:
-That we will have open doors for opportunities with non-believers
-That we will know how to mentor our leaders into their leadership positions
-For Elias' parents and sister who will be coming in less than three weeks! That they will not have trouble with visas, that their travel will go well and we will have a blessed time with them.
Thank you for continuing to follow us and being part of our work here in Gambia!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
