This entry was also in my May update, but I just wanted to make sure everyone knew how faithful God has been to teach me, guide me, hold me up...and just be here.
Total dependence seems to be what God is teaching me so far in Africa. Every single day I tell Him that I can’t and every single day He reminds me that He can. It is the most comforting and reassuring thought and I am so thankful that I can rest in knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s true. Even knowing that, though, I still struggle a lot. One particularly struggly day during my time with God, I started off by telling Him all of the things that are so hard. He promptly reminded me that that’s HOW He’s teaching me total dependence on Him.
Then I read some Scripture. I don’t even remember what passage it was, but it spoke to me and I was thanking God for the truth of His Word, which got me to thinking about how amazing His Word really is. THEN I got really overwhelmed and stressed out by the fact that in just a few short months, Abby, Sarah, and I will basically BE the Bible to the Sunny people. They won’t have a copy of it in their language and even if they did, the vast majority of them wouldn’t be able to read it. God sent us here to proclaim His Truth with our mouths. It’s such an enormous privilege, but it also bears enormous responsibility! Like I said, I’d gotten pretty overwhelmed and asked God how in the WORLD we were going to do that effectively, in a crazy language, and most importantly…without compromising one single bit of His Word. And He said…that's WHY I’m teaching you total dependence on Me. And that’s why He’s God and I’m not.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Dinner Party
Our volunteer teammate is going back to America in a couple of weeks and so she wanted to prepare dinner for our tailor, Sam, and his family here in G-Vegas. The plan had been in the works for a few weeks, but it was finally decided that we would bring dinner to his family’s house this past Saturday evening. She wanted to make “American” food, so we took noodles, tomato sauce, and beef (not ground beef like you’d usually find with spaghetti, but beef tips). This involved 2 big almost-overflowing pots of sauce with meat and 1 big definitely-overflowing pot of noodles…transporting it was interesting, but I was driving so I was lucky enough not to have an insanely hot pot of tomato sauce sitting on my lap while driving down a road made entirely of sand and rocks.
Well, when you’re the only white people in town, apparently it’s a big deal when you’re coming over to dinner and bringing real, live, American food. When we arrived, Sam and his entire family (wife, mother, father, sisters, nieces…everybody) was, as always, extremely gracious and hospitable to us. Sam has a nice house and the room we were in had a tile floor and they had been burning incense. There were cushions set up against the walls on one side of the room, blankets on the floor in the middle, and plastic lawn chairs set up on the other side of the room…those were for us. They even have a TV so we sat in our lawn chairs and watched the World Cup!
The reason we realized this was a pretty big deal, though, is because Sam had invited a photographer friend over to document the evening. Seriously…we tried to offer him food…he wasn’t there to eat, only to take pictures. So throughout the evening, we would pose for pictures with the family…but especially with the food. They really wanted pictures of that food.
Also, one of the guys who works for Sam, Ian, came over and he is also our friend. A couple weeks ago, Sam had gone down to one of the little boutiques (convenience-type store) in the market and asked the clerk what the white girls always buy. The answer: Cokes. So Ian had picked up 4 Cokes on his way to dinner! Again I was lucky because I was sitting by Abby, who is allergic to caffeine. We didn’t want to turn down a gift so we worked a little system out where we both set our bottles on the floor between us and Abby pretended to drink out of one while I really drank out of both of them. I really took one for the team.
Then it was time to eat. It was a little confusing trying to figure out which platters to put everything on because there were several groups of us (remember…we sit on the floor and all eat with our hands out of the same bowl). There was a men’s circle and two women’s circles so we dished it up the best way we knew how. And we think they liked it, but they may have just been being nice.
Well, when you’re the only white people in town, apparently it’s a big deal when you’re coming over to dinner and bringing real, live, American food. When we arrived, Sam and his entire family (wife, mother, father, sisters, nieces…everybody) was, as always, extremely gracious and hospitable to us. Sam has a nice house and the room we were in had a tile floor and they had been burning incense. There were cushions set up against the walls on one side of the room, blankets on the floor in the middle, and plastic lawn chairs set up on the other side of the room…those were for us. They even have a TV so we sat in our lawn chairs and watched the World Cup!
The reason we realized this was a pretty big deal, though, is because Sam had invited a photographer friend over to document the evening. Seriously…we tried to offer him food…he wasn’t there to eat, only to take pictures. So throughout the evening, we would pose for pictures with the family…but especially with the food. They really wanted pictures of that food.
Also, one of the guys who works for Sam, Ian, came over and he is also our friend. A couple weeks ago, Sam had gone down to one of the little boutiques (convenience-type store) in the market and asked the clerk what the white girls always buy. The answer: Cokes. So Ian had picked up 4 Cokes on his way to dinner! Again I was lucky because I was sitting by Abby, who is allergic to caffeine. We didn’t want to turn down a gift so we worked a little system out where we both set our bottles on the floor between us and Abby pretended to drink out of one while I really drank out of both of them. I really took one for the team.
Then it was time to eat. It was a little confusing trying to figure out which platters to put everything on because there were several groups of us (remember…we sit on the floor and all eat with our hands out of the same bowl). There was a men’s circle and two women’s circles so we dished it up the best way we knew how. And we think they liked it, but they may have just been being nice.
The Chicken Man
There are no restaurants in G-Vegas, but in the market there is the Egg Bar and the Chicken Man. The Egg Bar is actually a table behind which a man makes egg sandwiches and sells them. The Chicken Man sets up on the corner and has a table of pre-prepared food which he sells. The girls named him the Chicken Man because he apparently makes really good chicken, but the one time I had gone to him we had beef brochettes (like a shish kebob).
Our supervisor and a volunteer team had been traveling all over the country on a vision trip to see what area their church might like to invest in and continue to come to in the future. They were taking a rest stop for the night in G-Vegas so our supervisor asked us to set it up with the Chicken Man to cater dinner for us at our house. We went down there and talked to him telling him that we’d like brochettes and fries for 11 people and what day and time and everything.
Our supervisor and the volunteer team arrived and the Chicken Man got to our house with bowls and platters of food. We set everything up on the table, paid him, he left, and we dug in. Well, when we took the cover off of the beef bowl I thought to myself that the meat didn’t look quite right. But at this point, I’m used to “meat” actually being various intestinal material and valves so it didn’t really bother me that much. Then another girl who is a Journeyman here and had been traveling with the group asked me what kind of meat it was. I told her it was beef, but asked if she thought it might be something different. She said she did think that and one of the translators that had been traveling with the group told us that it was sheep. Oh, okay, that must be why it doesn’t look so beefish.
Well, I got my plate and started eating it. It tasted a little bit different, but felt a lotta bit different. Just when I was thinking that it might be liver, my supervisor asked the other translator if it was liver. I started to confirm that that’s what I thought too, but my supervisor told me not to let the volunteers know that that’s what we thought because they seemed to be enjoying it and might freak out. Then the first translator, who told us it was sheep, told us that it was actually sheep HEART!
It really wasn’t that bad, but we couldn’t believe that we had this poor volunteer team from America come to our house in the middle of their exhausting trip all over Mali when it’s 140 degrees outside and they were probably looking forward to a somewhat normal meal…and we served them SHEEP HEART. And it was a HUGE bowl of sheep heart. A lot of sheep had to die for that meal. The fries were good, though.
Our supervisor and a volunteer team had been traveling all over the country on a vision trip to see what area their church might like to invest in and continue to come to in the future. They were taking a rest stop for the night in G-Vegas so our supervisor asked us to set it up with the Chicken Man to cater dinner for us at our house. We went down there and talked to him telling him that we’d like brochettes and fries for 11 people and what day and time and everything.
Our supervisor and the volunteer team arrived and the Chicken Man got to our house with bowls and platters of food. We set everything up on the table, paid him, he left, and we dug in. Well, when we took the cover off of the beef bowl I thought to myself that the meat didn’t look quite right. But at this point, I’m used to “meat” actually being various intestinal material and valves so it didn’t really bother me that much. Then another girl who is a Journeyman here and had been traveling with the group asked me what kind of meat it was. I told her it was beef, but asked if she thought it might be something different. She said she did think that and one of the translators that had been traveling with the group told us that it was sheep. Oh, okay, that must be why it doesn’t look so beefish.
Well, I got my plate and started eating it. It tasted a little bit different, but felt a lotta bit different. Just when I was thinking that it might be liver, my supervisor asked the other translator if it was liver. I started to confirm that that’s what I thought too, but my supervisor told me not to let the volunteers know that that’s what we thought because they seemed to be enjoying it and might freak out. Then the first translator, who told us it was sheep, told us that it was actually sheep HEART!
It really wasn’t that bad, but we couldn’t believe that we had this poor volunteer team from America come to our house in the middle of their exhausting trip all over Mali when it’s 140 degrees outside and they were probably looking forward to a somewhat normal meal…and we served them SHEEP HEART. And it was a HUGE bowl of sheep heart. A lot of sheep had to die for that meal. The fries were good, though.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Rain!
Well I do believe that we are officially transitioning into the rainy season. Last Monday night, we were in the village when a really bad dust storm kicked up, which has usually been indicative of rain. We’d seen a little bit of rain here and there, but on Monday it really poured! It was sprinkling off and on all evening, but we kind of thought it would stop by bedtime because that’s what it had always done before. I had already set up my cot and mosquito net on the porch because that’s a little bit cooler to sleep in during hot season than my tent. Our hut and our porch both have roofs made out of sticks and grass, but the porch roof is looser and lets rain through. It turns out that when the rain comes through that roof, it turns to mud because everything up there is so dirty. Well, by the time we walked from H-Mama’s to our hut, my pillow, sheet, and Thermarest were COVERED in muddy rain. I have a tent with a rain fly so Abby & Sarah helped me set that up (theirs was already set up…it just had to be moved). It was absolutely the craziest bedtime we’ve had in Africa.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but our hut is made out of mud (mixed with animal poop), including the porch floor, so the ground was all muddy and puddly, but we still had to set the tents up because that was the best option. Also, it was CRAZY windy, so the 3 of us are trying to lay down a mat on the ground to protect my tent, get out the poles which are knocking into everything, attach my tent to them, AND put on the rain fly, all while the wind is going nuts and we’re being pelted with muddy rain. AND it was completely dark outside so we’re doing all of this and trying to hold flashlights at the same time. BUT I’m not going to complain because it was pretty fantastic to sleep in a much lower temperature to the sound of rain on my tent.
All I have to say is thank GOODNESS Ethan made me practice setting up my tent…complete with the rain fly…as SOON as he, Emily, and I got back from buying it. He even timed me. I think it helped. It’s like Monday night was the moment I’d been preparing for all along, like the Olympics of tent pitching.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but our hut is made out of mud (mixed with animal poop), including the porch floor, so the ground was all muddy and puddly, but we still had to set the tents up because that was the best option. Also, it was CRAZY windy, so the 3 of us are trying to lay down a mat on the ground to protect my tent, get out the poles which are knocking into everything, attach my tent to them, AND put on the rain fly, all while the wind is going nuts and we’re being pelted with muddy rain. AND it was completely dark outside so we’re doing all of this and trying to hold flashlights at the same time. BUT I’m not going to complain because it was pretty fantastic to sleep in a much lower temperature to the sound of rain on my tent.
All I have to say is thank GOODNESS Ethan made me practice setting up my tent…complete with the rain fly…as SOON as he, Emily, and I got back from buying it. He even timed me. I think it helped. It’s like Monday night was the moment I’d been preparing for all along, like the Olympics of tent pitching.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Ram Village
There’s a village that we visit every so often called the Ram Village…named that because after taking a medical team there (before I got here), the village gave them a ram to show their appreciation. They are SO generous and hospitable and we have tried to maintain a relationship with them…especially because it is also a Sunny village. Maybe someday we will be able to tell them stories from God’s Word in Sunny or it would be really amazing if personnel could even be stationed there someday.
So, in order to continue our relationship with the Ram Village, we went out there Thursday afternoon and spent the night. Here are a few tidbits from our travels:
The last time we went there, there was a large group of us and they fed us a REALLY nice lunch. We wanted to show our appreciation to them so on our way out there we stopped at the market and picked up some noodles, mangoes, and a couple of (live) chickens. I was driving so I stayed with the truck and all of our stuff that was in the back. It was pretty hilarious to see Abby walking up out of the market carrying a rooster and a hen upside down by their tied-together feet. We had brought a cardboard box to transport them in. Most people just sling them over the handlebars of their motorbikes, but we didn’t really have that option.
We headed toward the Ram Village and when we pulled off the paved road we tried to put the truck in 4WD because the sand gets pretty deep driving out there. Well the gear shift was bogged and wouldn’t budge so we had to stay in 2WD. It was one wild ride. You can’t stop in sand or you’ll get stuck and most of the time the faster you’re moving the less chance you have of getting stuck. Of course this also means that the truck is a little more difficult to control because you’re just flying along, trying to stay on the tracks, avoid rocks that could very easily pop a tire, and keep the thorn tree contact to a scrape and not a full-blown plowing over. And then all of a sudden the sand ends and turns into giant rocks, but you’re still going pretty fast and so you’re just bumping all over the place. So we were fishtailing all the way through the desert. I’m not gonna lie, it’s actually pretty fun, but there were more than a couple of times that we were worried the chickens were gonna fly out, or get knocked out, or even die. So when we got to the village, Sarah ran around back to look in the box. Abby and I asked if they were still alive and Sarah said, “Yeah they’re alive…and one even laid an egg!” Abby thought she was joking. I thought she was being serious, but was still shocked to look in the box and see 2 live chickens and an egg. I’m pretty sure my driving has never had that effect before.
We then found the “second mayor,” I’ll call him Bach, and greeted him. We continued making our way through the village greeting the appropriate people and sitting on their mats with them. We ended up having lunch at Bach’s home. I can’t even tell you how generous and hospitable these people are. They don’t have much, but they always offer you their very best. When you are their guest your comfort, safety, and needs are their highest priority. We spent the entire day with Bach’s family, occasionally venturing out with him to greet others.
Not knowing exactly what they would want to do with us, we had brought our tents and everything for sleeping. Bach’s family ended up setting out a piece of foam and a fuzzy blanket on the ground in their inner porch for us to sleep on. Again, they offered us their very best. So even though we’re used to sleeping in our tents where we are protected from all of Africa’s favorite night creatures, we couldn’t turn down our host’s generous offering.
WELL, the night creatures were in rare form that night. We walked in and I spotted a decent-sized spider on the wall above where our heads would be. After Abby and I stared him down for a good 10 minutes, Sarah came in and tried to smush him…he was quick, though, so he escaped, but off of the porch nonetheless. Then we went to the bathroom a few huts over and came back to one of the giant scorpion spider monsters ON OUR BED! Sarah killed it, but I knew it would be a long night after that. We lay down and I heard something crawling so I shined my flashlight and it was a beetle. I’m not particularly scared of beetles or anything, but I don’t want it crawling on my face while I’m sleeping, you know? So I smashed the heck out of that with my flip-flop. We laid back down and about 2 minutes later I heard something crawling on the wall by our heads. I shined my light and it was a giant cockroach. So I smashed the heck out of that with my flip-flop, too. All 3 of us were pretty on-edge at this point. Once, Sarah’s foot accidentally touched mine and I about came out of my skin. I finally laid back down and even fell asleep for a little while, but was mostly awake for the rest of the night. And we discussed it the next morning and we’re all pretty sure that there was a bat hanging out in the little wall opening about 4 feet from our heads.
We woke up and had breakfast with Bach’s family. As usual, they offered their very best. Later in the morning, during tea, an English-speaking man had come by to visit. Through him, Bach told us that other people come to the village, but they have business to take care of or specific things to talk about and then leave. He said that we came even though we can’t talk very much…that we came just to be with them…and that was good. He knew through our broken Sunny and nonverbal behavior that we just want to show them that we care for them. Worth the spider-filled, sleep-deprived night? Absolutely.
So, in order to continue our relationship with the Ram Village, we went out there Thursday afternoon and spent the night. Here are a few tidbits from our travels:
The last time we went there, there was a large group of us and they fed us a REALLY nice lunch. We wanted to show our appreciation to them so on our way out there we stopped at the market and picked up some noodles, mangoes, and a couple of (live) chickens. I was driving so I stayed with the truck and all of our stuff that was in the back. It was pretty hilarious to see Abby walking up out of the market carrying a rooster and a hen upside down by their tied-together feet. We had brought a cardboard box to transport them in. Most people just sling them over the handlebars of their motorbikes, but we didn’t really have that option.
We headed toward the Ram Village and when we pulled off the paved road we tried to put the truck in 4WD because the sand gets pretty deep driving out there. Well the gear shift was bogged and wouldn’t budge so we had to stay in 2WD. It was one wild ride. You can’t stop in sand or you’ll get stuck and most of the time the faster you’re moving the less chance you have of getting stuck. Of course this also means that the truck is a little more difficult to control because you’re just flying along, trying to stay on the tracks, avoid rocks that could very easily pop a tire, and keep the thorn tree contact to a scrape and not a full-blown plowing over. And then all of a sudden the sand ends and turns into giant rocks, but you’re still going pretty fast and so you’re just bumping all over the place. So we were fishtailing all the way through the desert. I’m not gonna lie, it’s actually pretty fun, but there were more than a couple of times that we were worried the chickens were gonna fly out, or get knocked out, or even die. So when we got to the village, Sarah ran around back to look in the box. Abby and I asked if they were still alive and Sarah said, “Yeah they’re alive…and one even laid an egg!” Abby thought she was joking. I thought she was being serious, but was still shocked to look in the box and see 2 live chickens and an egg. I’m pretty sure my driving has never had that effect before.
We then found the “second mayor,” I’ll call him Bach, and greeted him. We continued making our way through the village greeting the appropriate people and sitting on their mats with them. We ended up having lunch at Bach’s home. I can’t even tell you how generous and hospitable these people are. They don’t have much, but they always offer you their very best. When you are their guest your comfort, safety, and needs are their highest priority. We spent the entire day with Bach’s family, occasionally venturing out with him to greet others.
Not knowing exactly what they would want to do with us, we had brought our tents and everything for sleeping. Bach’s family ended up setting out a piece of foam and a fuzzy blanket on the ground in their inner porch for us to sleep on. Again, they offered us their very best. So even though we’re used to sleeping in our tents where we are protected from all of Africa’s favorite night creatures, we couldn’t turn down our host’s generous offering.
WELL, the night creatures were in rare form that night. We walked in and I spotted a decent-sized spider on the wall above where our heads would be. After Abby and I stared him down for a good 10 minutes, Sarah came in and tried to smush him…he was quick, though, so he escaped, but off of the porch nonetheless. Then we went to the bathroom a few huts over and came back to one of the giant scorpion spider monsters ON OUR BED! Sarah killed it, but I knew it would be a long night after that. We lay down and I heard something crawling so I shined my flashlight and it was a beetle. I’m not particularly scared of beetles or anything, but I don’t want it crawling on my face while I’m sleeping, you know? So I smashed the heck out of that with my flip-flop. We laid back down and about 2 minutes later I heard something crawling on the wall by our heads. I shined my light and it was a giant cockroach. So I smashed the heck out of that with my flip-flop, too. All 3 of us were pretty on-edge at this point. Once, Sarah’s foot accidentally touched mine and I about came out of my skin. I finally laid back down and even fell asleep for a little while, but was mostly awake for the rest of the night. And we discussed it the next morning and we’re all pretty sure that there was a bat hanging out in the little wall opening about 4 feet from our heads.
We woke up and had breakfast with Bach’s family. As usual, they offered their very best. Later in the morning, during tea, an English-speaking man had come by to visit. Through him, Bach told us that other people come to the village, but they have business to take care of or specific things to talk about and then leave. He said that we came even though we can’t talk very much…that we came just to be with them…and that was good. He knew through our broken Sunny and nonverbal behavior that we just want to show them that we care for them. Worth the spider-filled, sleep-deprived night? Absolutely.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)