upcountry

I apologize for not posting this sooner, but I have been sick lately and have not really had the chance to do so until now. But I am feeling much better today for those of you who may be concerned :) Anyways, this past week we took a trip upcountry into Bo, Sierra Leone's "second city." We went to visit Abdulaman, one of our neighbors, who was at the hospital there awaiting surgery. He broke his leg when hit by a motorcycle taxi back in September, and the doctors here had told him to just let it heal on it's own, but since it never did, he now needs surgery on it, and the hospital in Bo is better than the one here in Freetown, or I think maybe it was cheaper there. Anyways, we went to visit him. Along the way, we got to drive through some villages!!! I was so excited to once again be seeing mud huts all over the place! It was a long drive, on roads that aren't exactly the same quality as those we'd find in America, but it was well worth the trip.

Lately, we have been spending more time with the kids who live around our compound. They like to have us help to go fetch water and sometimes they get us to help in preparing their meals. I'm sure watching the white girls trying to pound rice into flour is probably the highlight of their day! But I think we're getting better at it.

Please be in prayer for Megan, the other girl who is doing an internship here, along with her family. Her grandmother had a heart attack last week, and the doctors weren't expecting her to make it, although it appears that now she is recovering. But it is obviously hard to be on the other side of the globe when something like that happens at home, so I would ask you to pray for that situation. I also ask that you would pray for me to continue to get well, as I am still recovering from sickness. Thanks again for keeping up with everything going on here, and your continued prayers!

the harvest is plentiful!

We had a wonderful blessing at our youth group today! To start things off, one of the boys came early to talk about salvation. he has been in church for awhile, and knew alot of verses, but it seems like none of the churches here ever explain salvation to anyone, or do any kind of discipleship. he was very eager, and ready to accept the Lord. Once we got started, we were a little disappointed because our attendance was down significantly from last week. But it is Valentine's day, and everyone here has a habit of going to the beach on holidays, and so we were thankful for those who were there. There was one older guy (most of the people who come are in their early teens, but he seemed at least 20), who came in late. the whole time i was trying to figure out where i had seen him before because he looked kind of familiar. He stayed through the whole service, even playing the goofy game we had planned. After it was over, he came up to talk to Mr. Owens. It turns out, he had been one of the guys on the beach when we had the baptism! We had explained briefly why we were there at the time, and handed out some tracts, inviting them to come to church at our house. Well, he tracked us down today! He said he had been reading the tract all week, and he wanted to have what it was talking about! Mr. Owens talked with him for a long time, wanting to make sure he really understood it, and he became a Christian! It is amazing the way the Lord is blessing and allowing us to see so many people turn to him, especially in the midst of all the darkness that is here! And lately, we have been seeing a lot of darkness. The other day, we went to a craft market. One of the most prized objects for sale was a strange looking doll, with straw sticking out of its arms and just a blank oval for a face. They told us it was a "traditional welcome devil." why anyone would want a devil as a welcomer is beyond me, but they say it has nothing to do with religion, it's just tradition. but the more we learn, the more i feel like that is half of the problem here. There is such a tradition of animism here that people don't even realize what it is anymore! they just figure because it's tradition, it's ok. well, today we had to drive into town (actually, to pick up my computer, which had to have a new hard drive put in because my old one crashed, which is a whole nother story that i won't bother getting into right now). But on our way there, we passed a huge procession going on in the middle of the road. It was like a parade of men dressed in blue and white chekered clothes, beating sticks on the ground. There were also three of them in costume. One looked exactly like the "welcome devil," one resembled it, but his face was covered in seashells instead of cloth, and the other was wearing another red and white costume that also covered his face. We asked Moses, our driver, what was going on, and he said it was a celebration of one of the societies here. apparantly there are many different "societies" here, but no one can really tell us exactly what they are all about. But there was an article in the paper a few weeks ago about a girl who was mutilated as part of an initiation for one of the societies, and that none of the policemen would go to help her because the society threatened to put a curse on them. So it seems as if there is more to it than what everyone is letting on. Moses told us that they really don't have any purpose, but that it was nothing religious or bad, that it was just tradition, but then he also told us that he wouldn't have anything to do with any of the societies, which makes us think there might be something he isn't saying.

I forget who said it, but a quote we heard all the time in missions classes was, "the darker the night, the brighter the light." and praise the Lord how true that is! Surrounded by darkness and spiritual oppression, God's light is shining into the hearts of the people. Please continue to pray for myself and the other missionaries here. We need it now more than ever. Whenever the Lord's work starts to grow, especially in a place where satan has such a stronghold, you can expect the battle to rage, and we are already starting to see evidence of that. Please pray for the discipleship of the new believers, and for continued growth in the body.

"with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for wich i am an ambassador.....that in proclaiming it i may speak boldly, as i ought to speak." ~Ephesians 6:18-20~

baptism at the beach

yesterday, we had the incredible privilege of taking four of our neighbors out to the beach to be baptized! i cannot even begin to describe what a blessing it was to see the look of sheer joy on the faces of the men and children who have become a part of the family! I have to admit that there have been days here when things have been extremely rough....even to the point that i have started to question whether i should have ever come....but being out there on the beach, listening to the waves crash against the shore, and witnessing God's incredible grace on the lives of the people here (and mine!), reminds me why i am here, and makes even the hardest of days well worth it. this has definitely been the highlight of my time here thusfar. if you have ever seen the music video for that audio adrenaline song "ocean floor," then maybe you can have a little glimpse of what it was like, although certainly being in africa makes it a bit different. we also had the opportunity to speak a little bit with some inquiring minds who saw the baptism and wanted to know what it was all about, which was also a huge blessing.

well, our internet didn't come on until very late tonight, and we have to be up early tomorrow morning, so i should be getting to sleep soon. i am going to try and post some pictures i have taken in an album on here, so if it works, then feel free to check them out! as always, i am extremely grateful for your prayers, as they are much needed.

*clarification: for those of you who were worrying, the foods i mentioned in my last post are NOT my usual diet here. (don't worry dad, the missionaries keep me well fed with normal, healthy food :) the neighbors just like us to try some of their food on occasion whenever we are out visiting.

home sweet home....well, sort of....

I'm sorry it's taken me awhile to put another update on here. I've found this past week to be incredibly busy! But i guess that's really a good thing. Our activities including our usual ministries, teaching at the school, where I taught a class by myself for the first time, our sunday and wednesday church services, krio lessons, and the saturday teen group, as well as visiting an orphanage, spending an afternoon on the beach and learning about the fishing techniques, visiting a chimpanzee rescue center, which was similar to a zoo, and spending countless hours talking with the neighbors. While i have started to get into the rhythm of things here, i find that every day brings something new. I have now tasted cassava, raw and cooked, cola nut (which they insisted was very sweet, even though it was the most bitter tasting food i've ever eaten!), and some kind of fish ball that i hope was cooked, although i have my doubts. The neighbors are constantly offering us food because they like to see our reactions when we eat it. Their latest offer is a beetle type bug that they claim is the second stage of a maggot, but I'm gonna have to work my way up to that one! but they all seem to love it, so maybe it's not that bad :) I feel like i am really starting to at least break the surface of building a relationship with some of them. For the most part, the people here are very hard and closed off, which makes perfect sense considering everything they went through with the war, so forging true relationships will take a lot of time, maybe even more time than i'll have here, but i pray that the Lord will still be able to use me here, despite that fact. The children, though, are really starting to open up to me, which is such a joy! they love to test me on the few krio phrases that i have down already. I can't go a single day without hearing "wae tin na u naem?" (what is your name), at least 3 or 4 times. Of course, they all know the answer, they just love to hear my reply. Last night we were able to spend a long time outside playing with the kids, and they taught me several of their games, which was so much fun! I wish i had a video camera to record some of them!

Please continue to pray that the hearts of the people would be open, and that they would be able to fully understand the message of the gospel. We did have one of the neighbor boys, Abraham, accept Christ as his savior two days ago, which of course is great news! However, here you always wonder whether they really understand and mean it, or if they are just saying whatever they think you want to hear, but only God sees their hearts and knows for sure, so I will leave it in His hands. Our church attendance this week was exceptionally low, but those who were there seemed very involved in the lesson, even asking questions about the Bible study, which was very encouraging, because it shows that they are understanding it. Also, please pray for myself as well as the other missionaries here, as some days can be very tough. Pray that even on tough days we would remember that the Lord has brought us here for a reason, and take encouragement from that fact. I am continually grateful for all of your support, and i will try to write updates more often from now on.

A week in the life of....

Well, I am starting to get into a sort of routine now, which is nice. I’m sure many of you would like to know what a typical day here looks like. However, there really is no such thing as a typical day here! While we have some set things that happen regularly, inevitably something unexpected comes up nearly every day, but I thank the Lord for it! But I will try to give a brief overview of what a week here looks like, and go over everything that has happened this past week. Last Saturday, the 24th, we had our very first teen outreach program. We were slightly disappointed, as we had only 4 teenagers show up, we had a good time with them and were able to have a short devotional time. Sunday, of course, was church. The Owens have a church plant that they have started here in their compound. We have the children’s service first, which includes a Bible story, some time of board game with questions over the story, snack time, an object lesson, and a big group game. Last Sunday, I was in charge of the object lesson, and was able to use Brandon’s “Bill and Bob.” If you are unfamiliar with them, you can learn more at http://brandonwaggoner.com/aboutbillbob.htm. The kids were all fascinated! After the children’s service, we have the adult service, which includes a Bible study, similar to an adult Sunday school class, singing, and then a time of preaching. The attendance at this service tends to fluctuate, although last week we had a fairly good turnout, and this week was even larger. On Monday mornings, we volunteer teaching math with the younger kids at Malama Kaningo Primary School. Then in the afternoons we have our Krio lessons. Tuesday is usually a sort of free day for us, which is nice to have a day of rest :) Usually, it is a good day to do any grocery shopping we may need, or catch up on laundry, and we normally spend a lot of the day outside visiting with the neighbors, practicing our Krio, and trying to build relationships. This Tuesday, we also had a meeting at the Embassy for American citizens. On Wednesday, we went downtown to the immigration office to try and get my visa extended. For some reason, at the airport, they only stamped me in for one month instead of four like I needed. However, once we got there they told us they can’t extend it until my current one expires. This doesn’t make much sense to us, seeing as it’s illegal to be in the country once it expires, but they said we could try coming in the day before it does. So definitely be praying that I can get that taken care of without any problems. Wednesday evening we had our children’s service, where I continued my Bible storying with the story of the Fall. While most of the kids had heard the story before, they had some very strange views on it, but I think we got most of it straightened out at least :) The post-story dialogue questions definitely help me to gauge how much they understand. On Thursday, Megan and I walked to school with our neighbor, Jacob, so that we could invite his fellow students to come to the teen program on Saturday. It was a 45 minute trek, through very dusty roads, but the trip was well worth it. We met many students who were interested in the program, and had some good conversations with them. As an added bonus, his school is located right on the beach! So Megan and I were able to spend a little time there. It was absolutely gorgeous, and almost completely empty! It was by far the most amazing beach I’ve ever seen, although I suppose Galveston (which is the only beach I’ve ever seen) isn’t really that tough to beat. On Fridays, we go to the afternoon session at the Kaningo Primary School, to work with the older kids on English, and on Saturday, we had our second meeting for the teen program. This week we had 11 teens show up, which is nearly triple what we had the first week, so that was very encouraging! We were able to have some good discussions and get to know them, as well as find out what topics they would be most interested in studying. We had our devotional time, prayer, an object lesson, and a game. Many of the teens also came back for church this morning, and have told us they are inviting their friends to come next Saturday. It is wonderful to see the way that God is already blessing this new ministry! Pray that He would continue to work and grow our different outreach programs, and that He would use us to really make a difference in the lives of these people. Also, please continue to pray for our relationships with the neighbors and other members of the community. Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, my mosquito bites are getting much better :) Thanks again for all of your prayers!