Oh yeah

The other day I was riding home from my Pulaar class and on the other side of the street I saw something that I've never seen before. It was two white people each on their own motorcycle . The motorcycle was loaded down with stuff like they have been riding for a long distance. When I saw them I kinda tilted my head and stared at them, you know like a dog does when he is confused. It was a sight because they looked out of place. So when they passed me they both gave me a nod. That same nod that people give in those small Texas towns when you pass each other. And that’s when it hit me - I wasn’t any different. I may not have had my motorcycle loaded down with things on my trip across Africa, but I was a white guy wearing a bright orange African outfit riding down the road on a motorcycle. I guess sometimes I forget how out of place I look when I'm traveling down the streets in West Africa.

For a final update on my health, I'm now back to 100%!! After the last blog it took about 3 more days for the swelling to go down in my neck but now I'm fine and have no sign of the sickness reappearing. Thanks again for your prayers.

MMMMMM.....Penicillin!!!!! (part 2)

I know that yall are all very worried, so I will first say that I'm a lot better! I woke up on Sunday morning without the fever and in a whole lot less pain. I still had swollen glands in my neck, but the fever was gone along with about 80% of the pain, and that made me really happy. As Sunday went on, I felt a lot of my strength coming back and I was even able to go next door to watch a soccer game on TV, but other than the 2 hours for the game I stayed inside my house and tried to keep my strength. Because I knew the next day was Monday.

Today when I woke up, I felt even better. My headaches were gone. I still feel and see that my glands are swollen but a noticeable amount less from the past two days. I went through my regular morning schedule and then went off to my language class. Had a very nice and smooth class, after class I had lunch at a restaurant in town and I returned home, in which I will stay in the neighbor the rest of the day.

The next couple of days I try to keep very calm and peaceful, sometimes that is very hard to do some times when you in Africa, but I will try. The next couple of days are also very important because on Thursday, the 12th, the whole Fulakunda team (4 adults and 3 children) are going to The Gambia. There we will have some team meetings, do so much needed shopping and relaxation, and get to speak some English (Gambia is a English colony). Please pray for the next couple of days so that I will be able to regain my health back to normal so I will be able to enjoy our time in The Gambia. Also pray for our travels and the many new faces and people that we will meet on this new adventure.

Thanks again, for your prayers, I have really felt them the past two days.

MMMMMM.....Penicillin!!!!!

Over the past 5 months, my health has been a lot better than I thought it was going to be. But as we all know, things don’t stay perfect for ever. Over a week ago I started having some pain in my neck, mostly when I swallowed. I didn't think much of it and just took some flu medicine and some immune busters. The pain that I would experience would be strong one day and then the next day it would feel almost gone. This went off and on for almost a week. I starting asking around and many people have had the same thing and they all told me to get this medicine called "Anjil." So I went to the pharmacy and asked the dude there and he confirmed and gave me the medicine. He told me the dosage and that it will take a day or two for it to start working. So after that, I went to go have lunch at a local restaurant and by the time I got home the pain had worked its way over to one side of my neck and it was starting to get really swollen. So I went home, read the information, (the papers inside the box are in French and English which helped out alot) found out that I got some penicillin. I was just about a day too late on going to the pharmacy because that night my neck got real swollen, I had a real bad fewer (102.5), and lost all my energy.

As I'm typing this its now, it’s the next day, and I woke up with the same pain. As the day is going on I'm starting to feel relief from the medicine but still in the back of mind is the thought that there was a miss communication somewhere down the line and I have the wrong medicine. Please pray for my body as I'm trying to recover from this illness, and please pray for my mind, that I can still be aware of my surroundings and continue to keep my testimony. I don’t know how but everybody in the neighborhood knows that I don't feel well and if I step outside for a second I get three or four people asking if I’m OK.

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!!!!

Homesickness and my home

As I told y'all on my last blog I went to the capital city of Senegal, Dakar, to hang out with a friend and spend some of my vacation days. It was really fun and a nice time that I had in Dakar. The thing that I enjoyed the most had to be the food. Since the city is a little more developed I was able to eat some food that I can’t find in Kolda. The pizza, bacon, huge hamburgers, and even apples gave me a huge smile. But over this trip I learned a lot about myself. It’s hard to explain why but I had many experiences that let me know I’m where I'm supposed to be right now. First example would have to be how I got to Dakar. I took a set-plas (that’s seven people in French, 7 people one driver). I drove for 12 hours in a station wagon and I was hump seat in the back row, and for some reason that didn’t bother me??? Also the other big thing that surprised me was that I got home sick. Three months ago I had some of the same feelings about the things that were missing. I was missing speaking Pulaar, sitting under the shade tree and talking, and yes I was even missing the heat. I don’t know why but all I can pull from it is that I’m in the right place. If you would have told me two years ago I that I would be homesick from a small town in West Africa I wouldn’t have believed you, I might not have even believed it 3 months ago.
Now that I have internet at my house I’m able to spend a little more time uploading pictures and stuff like that and I thought that this blog would be a great time to show y'all a few pictures of my house. So….here you go, my home in West Africa

Here is a view from my front door. It’s also where I play soccer right out in the middle of the street. The big tree in the background is the one that I sit under and hang out with the Sheriff.

This is my kitchen I don’t use it a lot, but I do
cook in it!!!








This is my bed room, perty simple. Got a bed, dresser and that door in the back it to my bathroom.

And this is my living room. I got some nice couches and as you can see it is where I have my computer. I also use it as my desk. I have a guest room and another room that you are welcome to come visit anytime. I store my bike, washing machine, and my drying rack in them but when you've seen one room, you've seen the others. Thanks for taking the time to look at my house.

THIS BOOK MAKES ME SO HAPPY!

If ya’ll remember, I have asked for prayer for me and my language teacher as communicating with each other has been such a challenge. I am pleased that the rocky start we had was the beginning of what I see to be a long relationship. The last 30 minutes of class every day we spend reading the book of John. I have it written in Pulaar before hand and then we read what I wrote. Next, I rewrite in English, just above what I wrote before in Pulaar. As we read, sometimes I have a language question and we stop and look it up in one of my dictionaries or he would explain it to me. I’ve told ya’ll before that his best friend became a believer a couple of months ago. I remember asking the new believer if he talks with my language teacher about the Bible and he gave me a response that I never will forget, “He’s my best friend. We have known each other since we were young. I talk about it every time I see him.” That really inspired me. My teacher always tells me that he is very happy when his is reading the Bible. I decided to be very direct and ask him if he believed the Bible and he answered a very direct and quick, “Yes.” So then I asked him, “So, you’re not a Muslim, you’re a Christian?” He had a short pause like he never thought about it before and then he pointed to the Bible and told me that it’s the truth and the only way to get to heaven. I was very happy to hear those words but I was also saw that with this new decision there are a lot of circumstances that will greatly change his life now. So, I did the only thing I know to do; I continue to be his friend and continue to pray for him.
The other day he surprised me greatly and told me something that I will never forget. He was very excited and was telling me about “the last days” and how Jesus was going to be the Judge on that day. I told him about another story that talks about that and opened up the bible to Matthew 25. I told him to read the parable of the sheep and goats and that we would talk about it the next day. Being African I knew he knew a lot more than me the differences between goats and sheep and he seemed to understand the parable very clearly and sounded very proud. He said, “I am a Sheep owned my Jesus.” Beautiful, huh?!
On a lighter side I will be spending the next couple of days on vacation. I will be taking a bus to the capital city and will be spending about 5 days with my friend Roy from training I had back in November and December. On the way back, instead of the 12 hr drive, I will be taking a overnight boat and a 3 hr drive. I’m super excited to be able to talk with my friend Roy again and can’t wait to see what God has in store for me over the next couple of days.

I'VE BEEN ORANGED!

If ya’ll remember, back in February I told the story on how I got a bill to get my phone line set up. Over the past two months there have been many tries to get everything fixed so I could get internet at my house. And if you wondering, the phone company here is called Orange, that’s why I’ve been “Oranged”.
I just want to share with you the African experience that I’ve just been through. In the middle of March I got the phone line installed. They came out and connected it to my house. The company told me everything should work and left, but I had no dial tone! I made a trip to the phone company, and after waiting an hour, I was able to tell them that my phone was not completely set up. A couple of days later my phone rings!! I pick it up and the guy tried to speak French. That didn’t work so I tried to speak Pular. Eventually I figured out that my phone was working and that I needed to go back to the phone company to get stuff set up for the Internet. I went, waited, and then was told they will call me when they “get everything worked out”. After some time, I realize that I can receive calls on my phone, but I’m not able to make calls. So I go back to the phone company, wait, and then tell them what’s going on with my phone. (Let me remind you this is going on in either my broken Pulaar or the worker’s broken English) They tell me they will check on it and let me know. Six more weeks pass and I get a call from the phone company telling me that there’s a problem somewhere in the city and they can’t find it. As soon as they find the problem, they will be able to fix it.
Finally, I got a call that they fixed it and soon after that I was able to call out on my phone. Now it was my boss’s turn. And after about a week of trying to contact people here and in the capital city, Scott got what we needed. I still wasn’t there yet since their program didn’t have the updates for Windows Vista yet. I don’t know what Scott did, but he got whatever was needed and shortly after that I was able to get the Internet set up in my home. It only took four and a half months, but now I am happy!
So now I have Internet and I don’t have to go to the cyber café. I’m able to take my time and get a lot more things organized. Now that I have Internet I will be able to do more things, but as of right now, I don’t know where I should start. If you have any ideas please let me know. What do you want to know about Senegal, the Fulakunda, and what pictures would you like me to get so I can show y’all? You can let me know by leaving a comment on this blog or emailing me at erk2p@hotmail.com Thanks again for all your prayers and support.
If you want to know, the coolest thing about having the internet at my house is being able to listen to some American radio. And yes, that means that I have been waking up at 2 in the morning and listening to the Spurs games on the radio. GO SPURS GO.