The next 2 weeks I get to go back to Kolda! There is a group coming from Arkansas and I get to go back and help them out. They are actually on their 2nd visit to work with the Fulakunda. This church has made a commitment to work with the Fulakunda and while they are here they will be gathering information to take back. There are two different towns that we have decided are strategic locations and we hope that this church from Arkansas can adopt and start a ministry. I will be walking alongside teaching them so they can become more self-sufficient here in Senegal since their desire is to start their ministry with the Fulakunda people. Please pray for this church and this team from Arkansas as they are looking for God’s direction.
The day that they fly back to America, there will be a 2nd re-visitor. On September 10th, my father is coming again!!! I have tons of fun things that I have planned with him I will be sure to keep ya’ll posted!
One more thing... it is currently Ramadan, a fasting and prayer time for Muslim people. Please keep the Muslim people in your prayers as they will spend a month searching for the truth.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
the round house
I thought that I would share with y'all a picture of my new living arrangements. As you can see, it’s called the round house. I can’t believe that I have been in this place for almost a month now. I call it my home, but I am also very aware that my time here in very limited. As I’m getting closer and closer to the end of my African adventure I can also see the end of my research with the Fulakunda. These last months I have and will be doing a lot of research, but what do I do when I’m not going from village to village asking questions? Well I have found that I spend my time much different than I did in the past.
I don’t live in a neighborhood like before. I live on a compound with other missionaries. There is one family that lives here along with many people that come and go for short stays, and there’s me. I haven’t decided if I’m here for a longer short stay, or a short long term stay. Because I don’t living in a neighborhood, I don’t know my neighbors. I never thought I would have said this, but at times, I miss all the little kids in my old neighborhood that would bug me every time I pulled my bike out of my garage.
One thing that I do enjoy is that my house is much closer to a restaurant. The way it works here is I walk in with a big bowl, give my greetings and tell the cook that I want one plate. She fills up my bowl and uses a cloth and ties a sack so you can carry the bowl filled with hot rice home. I give the cook a dollar and make the 3 minute walk back home. Most of the time, I don’t even know what’s in the bowl until I get home, but it’s always a yummy African dish which I know that I will miss when I come back to the states.
Before I know it, December will come and I’ll be looking back and thinking of all the things that I miss about my little round house.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
A FIVE DAY TRIP IN TWELVE DAYS!
A little detour has kept me from updating you lately, but sometimes when you're in Africa, you just have to roll with the punches!
I got settled into my new home in Kedougou and then decided that I needed to make a trip to Dakar, the capital city. I was having a toothache, I had some problems with my computer and I needed a VISA for a future visit to a country to the south. The trip was supposed to take about five days. I planned to get some supplies I needed and enjoy some good food. But sometimes things don't turn out like we plan and the five days turned into twelve. Turns out the computer spent a full week in the shop and the guy said he spent thirty hours on my computer! Good thing I didn't have to pay that with the American hourly wage rate. The dentist didn't charge me (turned out to be a sinus problem!) and the rest of the trip was great.
This evening I will take an all night drive to get back home and then more fun begins! I have four months left here in Senegal and at least six months of research to do. I have a group coming later in August and my dad is actually coming back to visit in September. December will be here before I know it.
I got settled into my new home in Kedougou and then decided that I needed to make a trip to Dakar, the capital city. I was having a toothache, I had some problems with my computer and I needed a VISA for a future visit to a country to the south. The trip was supposed to take about five days. I planned to get some supplies I needed and enjoy some good food. But sometimes things don't turn out like we plan and the five days turned into twelve. Turns out the computer spent a full week in the shop and the guy said he spent thirty hours on my computer! Good thing I didn't have to pay that with the American hourly wage rate. The dentist didn't charge me (turned out to be a sinus problem!) and the rest of the trip was great.
This evening I will take an all night drive to get back home and then more fun begins! I have four months left here in Senegal and at least six months of research to do. I have a group coming later in August and my dad is actually coming back to visit in September. December will be here before I know it.
Friday, July 10, 2009
MY NEW HOME
As you know I have been in the process of moving. This past week I said my goodbyes to my friends in Kolda and said hello to a new city, new friends and new team mates. Early Monday morning I put all my stuff on a small bus (including my motorcycle) and made an 8 hour trip to my new home. No sooner did I arrive than I learned my sister had also had a big day in Texas delivering my new niece. Welcome baby Ruth!
Things have gone very smoothly here. Communication is a bit different than I'm used to but I'm being shown taranga "hospitality" everywhere I go. This new home has many more tourists and the Peace Corps has a strong presence. I'm staying at a hotel and should be able to move to my home within a week.
I'm keeping this short because I have much to do. It's cool to have the opportunity to see if I'm smart enough to have learned from my prior mistakes as I settle in a new place and meet new people.
Thanks for the prayers. I have definitely felt them.
Things have gone very smoothly here. Communication is a bit different than I'm used to but I'm being shown taranga "hospitality" everywhere I go. This new home has many more tourists and the Peace Corps has a strong presence. I'm staying at a hotel and should be able to move to my home within a week.
I'm keeping this short because I have much to do. It's cool to have the opportunity to see if I'm smart enough to have learned from my prior mistakes as I settle in a new place and meet new people.
Thanks for the prayers. I have definitely felt them.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Over the river and threw the woods?!?
I was on a research trip to the East, lost as normal! The good thing about being lost is that the Fulakunda people are always willing to help. Also because they’re cattle herders they know the area better than my GPS. I was hoping that I could get to a certain town by lunch time. Everyone I talked to mentioned that I would have to cross a river, but they acted like it would be no problem to get across. So what happens when I get to the river?
I remember seeing some high school kids about 300 yards back so I decide to turn around and ask them about the river. They tell me that the river isn’t that deep and that I could easily pass, just as they did. So I got back to the river to so see if it’s possible to cross. And there is only one way to do that! I leave my ride on the bank and I go in to check how deep it is.
After the exploratory mission of seeing the depth of the river, I decide the water is few inches too deep and didn’t want to take the risk or push the bike threw. If I was on a bicycle, I would have crossed in a second. But as you can see in the picture, it’s a little bigger than a bicycle. So I turn around to find another way around!
I remember seeing some high school kids about 300 yards back so I decide to turn around and ask them about the river. They tell me that the river isn’t that deep and that I could easily pass, just as they did. So I got back to the river to so see if it’s possible to cross. And there is only one way to do that! I leave my ride on the bank and I go in to check how deep it is.
After the exploratory mission of seeing the depth of the river, I decide the water is few inches too deep and didn’t want to take the risk or push the bike threw. If I was on a bicycle, I would have crossed in a second. But as you can see in the picture, it’s a little bigger than a bicycle. So I turn around to find another way around!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
A BIG CHANGE!
If you keep up with all the convention news you know that there are some major changes coming. In the month of June will be re-organizing with the intention of better reaching the lost and facilitating missionaries better. This change is affecting me as well as people all over the world.
My direct supervisor, the leader of the Fulakunda team, has been called to oversee a much larger area and multiple people groups. Since my supervisor will be moving in the middle of July, I will need to make somes changes as well.
It's been a while trying to figure out what I can and can't do. I have many things that I enjoy about my job and where I am right now. It didn't take long for me to realize this change means letting go of some of those things. I was initially given some options to work with two other people groups where I could still use my Pulaar to communicate or I could choose a different research job. If you have spent time with me, you know that I don't listen well, so I chose my own option. I really wanted to continue my research while still still respecting the guidelines of my organization. Are you wondering what that means?
In the first week of July, I will be moving to a town about 400 km (250 miles) to the east. Pulaar speakers are not the majority in this town, but they do live in surrounding areas. I will be able to use this town as a base to cover a new area of the Fulakunda and continue the research I've been doing. There are two other families that live and work in this town. I will be a memeber of their team and help them out anyway that's needed, but I will still get to have the Fulakunda research as my main focus. For this, I am thankful!
Please pray for my last month in Kolda. Saying good-bye will be difficult since this has been my family for the past eighteen months. Pray for the transitions of my new and old supervisors and for me. Change is never easy. Also, please pray for the entire orgnaization as we begin making these changes. Pray that we ALL remember that no matter where or when, we still need to keep Jesus as our number one priority.
My direct supervisor, the leader of the Fulakunda team, has been called to oversee a much larger area and multiple people groups. Since my supervisor will be moving in the middle of July, I will need to make somes changes as well.
It's been a while trying to figure out what I can and can't do. I have many things that I enjoy about my job and where I am right now. It didn't take long for me to realize this change means letting go of some of those things. I was initially given some options to work with two other people groups where I could still use my Pulaar to communicate or I could choose a different research job. If you have spent time with me, you know that I don't listen well, so I chose my own option. I really wanted to continue my research while still still respecting the guidelines of my organization. Are you wondering what that means?
In the first week of July, I will be moving to a town about 400 km (250 miles) to the east. Pulaar speakers are not the majority in this town, but they do live in surrounding areas. I will be able to use this town as a base to cover a new area of the Fulakunda and continue the research I've been doing. There are two other families that live and work in this town. I will be a memeber of their team and help them out anyway that's needed, but I will still get to have the Fulakunda research as my main focus. For this, I am thankful!
Please pray for my last month in Kolda. Saying good-bye will be difficult since this has been my family for the past eighteen months. Pray for the transitions of my new and old supervisors and for me. Change is never easy. Also, please pray for the entire orgnaization as we begin making these changes. Pray that we ALL remember that no matter where or when, we still need to keep Jesus as our number one priority.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
No GAS!!!!!
The other day I planned to go on a small trip to the east. I had a small route planned out and I knew it would be about 150 kms round trip. Because of the lack of hotels and or larger towns in this area, I had to take my tent and other supplies because I knew I would be spending the night in a village. I strapped all my stuff to my motorcycle or into my backpack and I started to take off. Going down the road I went through the check list in my head to make sure I had everything. That’s when I realized that I’m not certain of the amount of gas that’s in my motorcycle. So I stop, look, and then I make a small detour to stop by the gas station on my way out of town.
I get to the gas station and there’s no GAS!!!! Because I was in the process of switching and had two motorcycles in my possession, I didn’t have enough gas in my container at home. I really wasn’t paying a lot of attention because they told me that the gas had been out for almost 3 days, and since it’s been so long, gas was almost triple the price if I wanted to buy some from someone who was prepared. So what do I do? I go home and I look for something else to do.
The next day I called one of my friends around 2 in the afternoon to see if the gas truck arrived and he told me that it just came in. Iwaited till bout 5 and then went to the gas station. I had to wait in line almost an hour to fill up, and then I went home and got an early night’s sleep. The next day I woke up early and started the packing process all over again!!!
I get to the gas station and there’s no GAS!!!! Because I was in the process of switching and had two motorcycles in my possession, I didn’t have enough gas in my container at home. I really wasn’t paying a lot of attention because they told me that the gas had been out for almost 3 days, and since it’s been so long, gas was almost triple the price if I wanted to buy some from someone who was prepared. So what do I do? I go home and I look for something else to do.
The next day I called one of my friends around 2 in the afternoon to see if the gas truck arrived and he told me that it just came in. Iwaited till bout 5 and then went to the gas station. I had to wait in line almost an hour to fill up, and then I went home and got an early night’s sleep. The next day I woke up early and started the packing process all over again!!!
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