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.
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