I can see the change!

When you’re an American living in West Africa you experience change and/or something different every day. But over the past couple of days I have experienced this change to a whole new level. About 3 months ago I started playing soccer (or football) with some of the kids my age in my neighborhood. I have a very fun time playing and the other kids all seem love playing with the white guy!!! I know it wasn’t a good picture but from that last blog you can see that the area that we play is just an open space, no grass, just dirt! I never played soccer before on the dirt so quickly filled the stereotype that American’s don’t play soccer, but over time I gain accustomed to the dirt, was able to bring but my soccer skills from my pee-wee days, and slowly I began to regain my confidence. My confidence was the easy thing; the next thing that I had to do was gain the confidence of the other kids. And over time I have seen the change in the eyes and by what they tell me. I am no longer token white guy that has to play because he bought the ball, I’m still not to the point where I think they truly accept me as one of them but I’m gaining respect. Which brings me to real topic, the friendships that I had made because if it. Once it gets dark, for the Africans, it’s the time to go home, wash up, answer the call of prayer, and then get ready for dinner. The last few time that I’ve played, I stayed after sat on a log and discussed religion with one of the other guys. He knew a good amount of English so the conversation would be about 75% Pulaar and 25% English and we are able to communicate very well. He is a very smart kid; I believe that he is in line for being a leader in the local mosque. I was surprised when talking to him seemed to have been educated about Missionaries. He was the first person that herd use the word missionary and after that he quickly asked about my family and I was able to talk about how hard it was to be away for my family and the choices that I had to make to do so. He seemed very eager to tell me what the Koran said and he was very excited when I accepted the question of “When you speak Pulaar really good, if you teach me the Bible, can I teach you the Koran?” I pray that the relationship that I have will continue to grow and I will be able to share with them what I believe. I pray that over time, my relationship and trust with the people that I play soccer with will grow. And that it will give me the opportunity to share with them about God’s son.

Also on another note, with the first day on June came the rainy season. And believe it or not, the first heavy rain of the season was on June 1st. The change that is happening because of this is also a whole new experience. I smell the rain in the air, the wind is much stronger, and even the dirt has changed. It used to be very sandy and very close to the color of sand on a beach and now the water has made it to be almost like the dirt on a baseball field, the orange tone, the getting stuck to the bottom of your shoes, I love it!!!!