It was a long flight from Paris to Atlanta and I hadn't actually put together that I was about to have to say goodbye to Abby. We knew that I was most likely going to miss my flight from Atlanta to Dallas, but I had to take the one they scheduled me and knew they'd put me on the next available one. But that meant that I'd have to make a run for it as soon as we hit the gate. With about 30 minutes left of the flight, Abby got out a card and said, "Well, I want to give this to you before it gets too crazy." That's the first time it hit me. Things had been so crazy up to that point that I hadn't remembered I'd have to say goodbye to her too.
I booked it to claim my bags, go through customs, re-check my bags, and sprint to my gate. One of my bags didn't make it, so I was still standing at the carousel when Abby came in. We hugged one last time and took off...her to go see her family & friends...and me to miss my flight.
I called Connie to let her know that I'd be even later...again...and sat alone, waiting for my flight. I was so, so, so tired. So, so, so sad. And so, so, so anxious to get home. And I felt so lonely! It was weird.
I had butterflies in my stomach all the way to Texas, but man was I tired! I landed and began walking to baggage claim, already dreading the hassle of explaining that one of them had never made it to Atlanta...then I remembered that they would speak English!! Yay!
I saw the revolving door that led to baggage claim and I could already see my mom, dad, and brother through the door. I walked straight through and into their arms. It felt even better than when they came to see me because now I was home. Then I saw my best friends, Kristin & Paige, and their family and thought, oh cool, the Lewises came too! Then I turned to my left and saw a whole line of people, a whole line of familiar faces that I hadn't seen in forever. I was overwhelmed with happiness and the realization that I probably looked like a train wreck. I really thought my parents and brother would be the only ones there, but there was person after person that I wanted to just hug for 10 minutes each. It was perfect.
I went and talked to the baggage people in English and my missing bag was delivered to my parents' house the next day. Crazy! When we got to my parents' house that night I just remember thinking that it was so cozy and comfortable and clean and it smelled so good. They'd left Christmas decorations up so that we could have Christmas and it was the most beautiful sight. It was a Saturday night and I knew that if I woke up in time I just wouldn't even be able to stay away from my church, Bear Creek. I didn't set an alarm, though, because I knew I needed the rest. Well I woke up bright and early at 5 am, so I decided to go. It was a good thing, too, because it had been a while since I took a shower, dried my hair, put on makeup, and got dressed to go somewhere. I got in my little Kia that I had missed so much and took off on the 45 minute drive. The roads were so smooth and I could go so fast! I had to restrain myself from honking at every little thing. And in one spot I accidentally started to pass a motorcycle on the shoulder while honking...I realized what I was doing and slowed down and got back on the road.
I finally got to church and...well, honestly, I didn't really know what to do with myself. I found out that I didn't really know how to answer questions about Mali and I definitely didn't know how to answer questions about what I was going to do next. It was a weird, awkward morning, but I kind of loved it.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Paris: 2, Michelle: 0
Abby & I planned a day-long layover in Paris so that we could see a few sights! Our flight from Mali to Paris was overnight so we tried to sleep (we did not, we were pretty riled up). We landed super early in Paris and began this absolutely insane trek through the airport with all of our crazy luggage to an adjoining hotel. Somehow we had a crazy combo of no elevators, not being able to use escalators, and awkward luggage. One of Abby's pieces didn't even have a handle...it had been shrink-wrapped! She pretty much had to kick it through the airport. It was too early to check in to our hotel, so we put our luggage in this little locker room and....well...we actually changed clothes in there too. Good thing nobody came in.
The first thing we wanted to do was go to Notre Dame. I cannot emphasize enough how cold it was. For two years, we'd lived in an extremely hot place. We didn't really have any appropriate "winter" clothes, so we pretty much just had to layer everything we had on. Kind of like Joey when he put on all of Chandler's clothes.
Paris was beautiful. We had a hard time finding the Louvre, but once we did we loved it. We saw everything we wanted to see (very quickly) and even had time for a nap (we were exhausted and our bodies hurt, especially our feet). Then we went back out for an awesome dinner and a little walking around. Great day in Paris. Maybe I don't loathe it anymore (if you don't know why Paris was a recipient of my loathing, it was basically a really really awful awful delay, seen here). I mean it's beautiful, historic, delicious, cold...what's not to love? :)
The next morning we went to the airport 3 hours before our plane was to leave. We went to check in, which was only do-able at a kiosk, and the kiosk told us that we could not be checked in and spit out a coupon for customer service. We went to the counter and were told that our type of tickets (non-profit) needed accompanying documentation. We spent the next 5 hours or so trying to get this documentation (it had to be the original, the ORIGINAL!), trying to get a hold of Mali, and trying to let our people in America know that we were delayed. We had no phones...we left our Mali ones in Mali and hadn't had American ones in 2 years...and were being told that in order to get to America we'd need to purchase new tickets. At one point I had to gently tell myself that I may be spending another night or two in a Paris airport. Finally, FINALLY the Paris Air France office was able to get a hold of the Mali Air France office who vouched for us and pretty much told Paris to quit being ridiculous. At that point we'd already missed our first flight and our next flight was in like 20 minutes. All of a sudden we were golden! Since it was AF's fault, they sent us to the front of every line and escorted us all the way to the gate! We sat down in our seats out of breath and anxious to get home.
The first thing we wanted to do was go to Notre Dame. I cannot emphasize enough how cold it was. For two years, we'd lived in an extremely hot place. We didn't really have any appropriate "winter" clothes, so we pretty much just had to layer everything we had on. Kind of like Joey when he put on all of Chandler's clothes.
Paris was beautiful. We had a hard time finding the Louvre, but once we did we loved it. We saw everything we wanted to see (very quickly) and even had time for a nap (we were exhausted and our bodies hurt, especially our feet). Then we went back out for an awesome dinner and a little walking around. Great day in Paris. Maybe I don't loathe it anymore (if you don't know why Paris was a recipient of my loathing, it was basically a really really awful awful delay, seen here). I mean it's beautiful, historic, delicious, cold...what's not to love? :)
The next morning we went to the airport 3 hours before our plane was to leave. We went to check in, which was only do-able at a kiosk, and the kiosk told us that we could not be checked in and spit out a coupon for customer service. We went to the counter and were told that our type of tickets (non-profit) needed accompanying documentation. We spent the next 5 hours or so trying to get this documentation (it had to be the original, the ORIGINAL!), trying to get a hold of Mali, and trying to let our people in America know that we were delayed. We had no phones...we left our Mali ones in Mali and hadn't had American ones in 2 years...and were being told that in order to get to America we'd need to purchase new tickets. At one point I had to gently tell myself that I may be spending another night or two in a Paris airport. Finally, FINALLY the Paris Air France office was able to get a hold of the Mali Air France office who vouched for us and pretty much told Paris to quit being ridiculous. At that point we'd already missed our first flight and our next flight was in like 20 minutes. All of a sudden we were golden! Since it was AF's fault, they sent us to the front of every line and escorted us all the way to the gate! We sat down in our seats out of breath and anxious to get home.
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| On the train. |
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| The Louvre |
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| Croque monsieur and some kind of latte thing. |
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| Arc de Triomphe |
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| Notre Dame |
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| Eiffel Tower |
Goodbye, Mali
Our last day in Mali consisted of last-minute packing, early check-in at Air France with Nafi, and hanging out at Nafi's house for a pre-flight shower and prayer time. I know it sounds cliche, but gosh, I don't know that I've ever had a more bittersweet moment. We were so excited to go to America and see friends and family that we hadn't seen in 2 years! The last few weeks had been one giant miracle and we were so in awe of God's work. We had already said our goodbyes to our Malian friends, but we hadn't said goodbye to Bryan, Nick, or our co-workers. Throughout those last couple of months our family of co-workers had been sooooo encouraging and supportive. We'd have dinner with them or stop by every so often when we had a little time and they wanted to know everything that was going on. They let us know we were being prayed for and they spurred us on to our work. We felt so rallied around. It was an achy feeling to leave them.
Bryan & Nick were our teammates. We had completed the project together and could not have done it without them. They were our best friends. We worked together, ate together, laughed together, sang together, walked together, picked mangoes together, celebrated birthdays together, sang some more together, and did God's work together. Nick wasn't able to see us that day, but Bryan came to the airport with us.
And then there was Nafi. She had taught us how to live and had cared for us like a mother. She was, and still is, our family and the thought of saying goodbye to her made my stomach hurt and my throat swell. The closer we got to airport time the quieter we were. It was finally time to load up and make the 5 minute drive to the airport. We pulled in, parked, and walked up to the front, where we stood for a while before going in. We were early and it's a tiny airport, so we had some time to stand around. Abby and I were kind of stalling, to be honest. At one point, I could tell that Nafi was getting ready to tell us to go (we've seen her send lots of folks off) so I caught her eye and slightly shook my head no. I don't know what difference I thought 2 minutes would make, but I just wasn't ready. Bryan kept telling us not to be sad, that it would be okay! Geeeez, I'm crying right now just remembering it. Finally we hugged our last hugs and walked inside, got on a plane, and said goodbye to Mali.
Bryan & Nick were our teammates. We had completed the project together and could not have done it without them. They were our best friends. We worked together, ate together, laughed together, sang together, walked together, picked mangoes together, celebrated birthdays together, sang some more together, and did God's work together. Nick wasn't able to see us that day, but Bryan came to the airport with us.
And then there was Nafi. She had taught us how to live and had cared for us like a mother. She was, and still is, our family and the thought of saying goodbye to her made my stomach hurt and my throat swell. The closer we got to airport time the quieter we were. It was finally time to load up and make the 5 minute drive to the airport. We pulled in, parked, and walked up to the front, where we stood for a while before going in. We were early and it's a tiny airport, so we had some time to stand around. Abby and I were kind of stalling, to be honest. At one point, I could tell that Nafi was getting ready to tell us to go (we've seen her send lots of folks off) so I caught her eye and slightly shook my head no. I don't know what difference I thought 2 minutes would make, but I just wasn't ready. Bryan kept telling us not to be sad, that it would be okay! Geeeez, I'm crying right now just remembering it. Finally we hugged our last hugs and walked inside, got on a plane, and said goodbye to Mali.
The Last Month, Part 13: Whirlwind Ending
Brad, Nick, & Abby were in our makeshift studio recording one Story right after the other. It seemed crazy. It was going so, so fast. We had no idea it would go that fast. I sat in the living room at our table...still feverishly updating Excel documents, sending them to Nafi, getting her approval, and telling Abby & Nick what they needed to know. They were going so fast that at one point they were recording the Story right before the one I was working on. I kind of started to freak out. I told God: This is too fast, I'm having to think too fast, it's so fast I'm afraid I'll mess something up. Annnnd He pretty much said back to me: It's not too fast for Me. I got goosebumps at that point. I mean, it's His Word...He determined the words in the first place and He CERTAINLY knows how it needs to be said in Sunny. I just did my best to stay out of His way.
Internet was going in and out and we were bracing ourselves for the event that the electricity might go off. At one point on January 25, our last chance to finish, I hadn't heard back from Nafi about the last 2 Stories. I was going nuts! Finally I texted her and she texted back: Just come open your gate. I walked outside and across our driveway to our gate. When I opened it, there were Nafi and Rita!! Standing there with root beer from America, ready to celebrate! They came in and found Nick & Abby and pretty much wanted to party. Nafi signed off on what we had left, Nick recorded the rest of the Stories, and we sat back and marveled at what the Lord had done. That whole last month was as if God had said, "Alright girls, stand back and watch what I can do."
The Last Month, Part 12: Feverish
We left Tea Village, said our goodbyes to Max's family in his village, and spent the night in Bread Town before driving back home for the last time. All of our Stories were tested and most had been approved for the final recordings.
Those last few days can only be described as feverish...literally and figuratively! We now had 32 Stories that had to be re-recorded for the final draft. We began lining up times for Nick, our story crafter and the man who actually says the Stories on the recording, to come over and record. Another American who was in Mali at the time had agreed to do the technical parts of this process. He had a nice digital recorder and knew how to edit and all that kind of stuff. He wasn't over there with our organization, but we had befriended him and his wife and they were super nice and willing to help. I'll call him Brad.
So we'd lined up Brad and Nick to meet at our house for the final recordings. Our house was a cement block with all tile floors and open windows...not exactly "sound-friendly." Abby and I had grabbed every cushion and pillow we could get our hands on and stood them up on the walls in one of the bedrooms for our little studio. We were ready. I was still updating Excel documents as fast as I possibly could and sending them off to Nafi for approval, so Abby had gone to pick up Nick. Only, Nick never came that day because he was extremely, extremely sick with malaria. So we sent Brad home and did what we could. The next day Nick came, but he was so sick that he could barely hold himself up, much less tell a Story for a final recording. This was January 23. We were to get on a plane January 26...so, you know, we were kind of sweating it. The next 2 days were a blur...
Those last few days can only be described as feverish...literally and figuratively! We now had 32 Stories that had to be re-recorded for the final draft. We began lining up times for Nick, our story crafter and the man who actually says the Stories on the recording, to come over and record. Another American who was in Mali at the time had agreed to do the technical parts of this process. He had a nice digital recorder and knew how to edit and all that kind of stuff. He wasn't over there with our organization, but we had befriended him and his wife and they were super nice and willing to help. I'll call him Brad.
So we'd lined up Brad and Nick to meet at our house for the final recordings. Our house was a cement block with all tile floors and open windows...not exactly "sound-friendly." Abby and I had grabbed every cushion and pillow we could get our hands on and stood them up on the walls in one of the bedrooms for our little studio. We were ready. I was still updating Excel documents as fast as I possibly could and sending them off to Nafi for approval, so Abby had gone to pick up Nick. Only, Nick never came that day because he was extremely, extremely sick with malaria. So we sent Brad home and did what we could. The next day Nick came, but he was so sick that he could barely hold himself up, much less tell a Story for a final recording. This was January 23. We were to get on a plane January 26...so, you know, we were kind of sweating it. The next 2 days were a blur...
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
The Last Month, Part 11: Goodbyes in Tea Village
We arrived in Max's village for a couple more days so that we could get our last Stories tested, and also make our goodbyes in Tea Village. Even though we'd only met these women for the first time about 2 weeks before, the bond was strong and we were sad. We were told that there would be a "ceremony" after we finished our last Story and that the radio station was even going to be there! We had told Max that we planned on compensating these women for their time and he said this was when that would take place.
So we sat around for a little while after giving the women's chief the compensation for their hard work. Everyone was talking and laughing and discussing how good it had been to get to know each other. Then, sure enough, the radio station showed up! The guy had some kind of battery-operated recording machine with a strap hanging off his shoulder and a microphone was plugged into it. He interviewed a few of the ladies and Abby and me! We were on Malian radio...crazy! The even crazier thing is that there's a chance that the Stories could be played on that radio station some day. After we sat around a little while longer, Max started motioning for us to get up and leave. We really didn't want to, but we did because we needed to get on the road ASAP. We were planning to drive to Bread Town so that we could spend the night working on Excel documents before heading back home.
As we were walking to the truck, I looked at Niame and realized she was crying. Then I looked around and saw that several of the women were crying. This totally shocked me! The only time you're really supposed to cry is at a funeral. Women stay completely silent during childbirth. Any time we were moved to tears we always had to dry it up so that they wouldn't see us! All I could do was pray that the truth they'd heard had taken root in their hearts.
We finished our last Story and came out into the courtyard for the ceremony. We sat around on mats with our new best friends in anticipation. As I was sitting on a mat that was across the courtyard from where we'd been testing, I looked up and saw the top of the village m-sque. I looked down and realized that we had been telling all of those Stories about the Jesus Road while we were literally sitting in the shadow of the mosque, in a village that was described by a fellow Musl-m as being extremely Musl-m, with a dozen women with whom we had no prior relationship. God's plan is so much bigger than mine...
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| Waiting for the ceremony to begin. |
In Mali, when you are ready to leave someone's home, you "ask for the road." So we stood up and began the process of asking for the road, saying the goodbye blessings, shaking hands...and in this case...hugging. All the women walked us to our truck in a huge crowd. As we began to walk away, my name twin came and grabbed my hand. In Mali, you have a special connection to your name twin so we had become fast friends. The other ladies literally called us Black Niame and White Niame. It was kind of hilarious. We held hands all the way to the truck.
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| She's kind of adorable. Also, I really had quite the side headwrap going that day. |
We climbed into the truck and started the drive back from Tea Village to Max's village. All the way, Max just kept mumbling things like, "That was so good...this has been so good...so good to those women...so, so good." This from the guy who was so apprehensive on the first drive to Tea Village! God's plan is so much better than mine...
The Last Month, Part 10: Back in the capital
I remember waking up that last morning in Max's village and getting on the road right after breakfast. Abby and I schemed all the way home about what all needed to happen next. Every few minutes we'd try to get a hold of Nick to set up a time to record that last handful of Stories. By the time we got home (obviously after a stop for gas (and bread) in Bread Town (okay, and a Coke)), we had a meeting set up with Nick and had figured out what our next steps were, how they needed to happen, when they needed to happen, when we needed to return to Tea Village to test the rest of our Stories and re-test any Stories that needed re-testing...and when we might be able to record the final drafts OF ALL 32 STORIES. I would like to point out that at this point in time we had 12 days left until we got on a plane. I want you to know that because that's how big our God is.
We got home, unloaded the truck, refilled 20 or so of our liter and a half water bottles, and took the first real showers we'd had in about 8 days. We knew we were meeting up with our teammates later on in the evening for dinner so we sat and really rested for a little while. It was the best feeling in the world. We were both completely and totally spent. Poured out. And for the first time it really started to look like we'd get to finish this project. Again, we knew, we KNEW that God had never promised us that we would get to be the ones to finish it, but we also knew that He wanted us to try with everything we had. We met our teammates at one of the restaurants in town and I wasn't even prepared for the awesomeness that followed. I was already on top of the world, but at dinner all of our teammates were so excited for us, so encouraging to us, and so supportive. And they genuinely wanted to hear any detail that we wanted to tell because they were preparing to do the same thing! I have often thought that if I could choose one day to re-live over and over and over again, it would be that one. Here's a pic of Abby and me from that night. We even put on makeup and fixed our hair! :)
The next few days were a whirlwind of updating documentation in each Story's Excel sheet, meeting with Nick, sending the documents off to Nafi for approval, and packing. Well, Abby was packing. And singlehandedly organizing all of our stuff that was being left behind so that our co-workers could have it. And greeting our friends and purchasing goodbye gifts. It was actually a pretty fantastic picture of teamwork. It never gets old to me...reflecting on the way God put Abby, Sarah, and I together. We are completely different and brought totally opposite things to the table, but when we were all able to work in our element, exciting things happened. I love how God made us each to serve Him in different ways and I love seeing those pieces working together. That's why I love my current job so much! ;)
We recorded the last 4 Stories, and Nafi approved the other 28 for final recordings except for a couple of parts of a couple of Stories (which was awesome because that meant we didn't have to re-test all of them). Our house was pretty much all packed up so we loaded up the truck and we headed back to Tea Village for one last round of testing!
We got home, unloaded the truck, refilled 20 or so of our liter and a half water bottles, and took the first real showers we'd had in about 8 days. We knew we were meeting up with our teammates later on in the evening for dinner so we sat and really rested for a little while. It was the best feeling in the world. We were both completely and totally spent. Poured out. And for the first time it really started to look like we'd get to finish this project. Again, we knew, we KNEW that God had never promised us that we would get to be the ones to finish it, but we also knew that He wanted us to try with everything we had. We met our teammates at one of the restaurants in town and I wasn't even prepared for the awesomeness that followed. I was already on top of the world, but at dinner all of our teammates were so excited for us, so encouraging to us, and so supportive. And they genuinely wanted to hear any detail that we wanted to tell because they were preparing to do the same thing! I have often thought that if I could choose one day to re-live over and over and over again, it would be that one. Here's a pic of Abby and me from that night. We even put on makeup and fixed our hair! :)
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We recorded the last 4 Stories, and Nafi approved the other 28 for final recordings except for a couple of parts of a couple of Stories (which was awesome because that meant we didn't have to re-test all of them). Our house was pretty much all packed up so we loaded up the truck and we headed back to Tea Village for one last round of testing!
Saturday, September 14, 2013
The Last Month, Part 9: What about electricity?
So basically, what you need to know, is that we spent the next few days there and finished testing the Stories that were ready to be tested. We did have to use the computer, though, and that means the computer needed to be charged. Sometimes we would just get in the truck and drive around a while with the computer plugged in. Other times we'd have to drive in to what I will call Bread Town. The girls who live in Max's village have a weekend home in Bread Town so that they can have access to running water and electricity for a couple days a week. The electricity is only turned on for about 10 hours a day, though, so we had to be strategic about when we went in. Once the electricity came on, we'd plug the computer in, and I'd sit there entering testing answers and documenting changes that needed to be made into the Excel document for as long as I could. I'd send the Excel documents off to Nafi as I finished them so that she could be looking at them and letting us know if we needed to further test anything. We'd catch a few hours of sleep, wake up, and head back to Tea Village for another round of testing.
Interesting side note: I love Bread Town. You have to drive through Bread Town when you are going back and forth from our original village to the capital, so we'd been through Bread Town a lot. It's the last place that you can get fuel for a long time so you never drive through without stopping. Incidentally, they also sell the most delicious fresh-baked bread on the street. It's my favorite. A road trip wasn't complete until I'd gotten some bread and a bottle of Coke. But the really cool thing is that my friends, Ethan & Emily, sponsor a child through World Vision. They chose her because she has my same Malian name, so she's definitely a little Sunny girl...and guess where she lives...Bread Town!!
Interesting side note: I love Bread Town. You have to drive through Bread Town when you are going back and forth from our original village to the capital, so we'd been through Bread Town a lot. It's the last place that you can get fuel for a long time so you never drive through without stopping. Incidentally, they also sell the most delicious fresh-baked bread on the street. It's my favorite. A road trip wasn't complete until I'd gotten some bread and a bottle of Coke. But the really cool thing is that my friends, Ethan & Emily, sponsor a child through World Vision. They chose her because she has my same Malian name, so she's definitely a little Sunny girl...and guess where she lives...Bread Town!!
Friday, September 13, 2013
The Last Month, Part 8: What's with the white girls?
The next day we found out that when we got to Tea Village, we really needed to go over to a different compound for a baby-naming ceremony. We've been to many of these before and knew that we could literally be there for hours, sitting on a mat...in other words: not testing Stories.
Well we got all shawled up and went. We were kind of ushered in to the room where the mother and the baby were...along with about a dozen of her closest friends & family. We were instructed to sit on the bed with them. So we did.
It turns out that the baby being named was the granddaughter of Woman 2 from the previous day. She was one of the very oldest ones there, and she was who we had already pegged as the most strict and conservative of Musl-ms. She was fully covered, all in black. She'd been very hard to read the day before...not much animation on her face or in her voice. When we told her the next Story was about Jesus, she let Woman 1 do all the talking. She stayed and listened, but she kept pretty quiet. We had even wondered how she felt about us being there. Well...we got to find out.
A few young women, about the age of the mother of the baby, entered the room and immediately spotted Abby and me. We saw the usual face that says, "What in the world are these white girls doing here?!?!" They greeted us in a super friendly manner and then looked around and asked the rest of the room who we were.
That's when Grandma piped up. She said, "These white girls are OUR white girls. They have come to us, all the way from America, to play us these Stories and they need our help. The Stories are very good to us. We really like the Stories." The young women asked what the Stories were about...and Grandma answered matter-of-factly, "Jesus. From the Bible."
Well we got all shawled up and went. We were kind of ushered in to the room where the mother and the baby were...along with about a dozen of her closest friends & family. We were instructed to sit on the bed with them. So we did.
It turns out that the baby being named was the granddaughter of Woman 2 from the previous day. She was one of the very oldest ones there, and she was who we had already pegged as the most strict and conservative of Musl-ms. She was fully covered, all in black. She'd been very hard to read the day before...not much animation on her face or in her voice. When we told her the next Story was about Jesus, she let Woman 1 do all the talking. She stayed and listened, but she kept pretty quiet. We had even wondered how she felt about us being there. Well...we got to find out.
A few young women, about the age of the mother of the baby, entered the room and immediately spotted Abby and me. We saw the usual face that says, "What in the world are these white girls doing here?!?!" They greeted us in a super friendly manner and then looked around and asked the rest of the room who we were.
That's when Grandma piped up. She said, "These white girls are OUR white girls. They have come to us, all the way from America, to play us these Stories and they need our help. The Stories are very good to us. We really like the Stories." The young women asked what the Stories were about...and Grandma answered matter-of-factly, "Jesus. From the Bible."
The Last Month, Part 7: The day it finally made sense
We prayed and prayed and prayed for this next day. We'd finally be able to spend all day over there and really knock some Stories out. We only had 5 left in the Old Testament! We ate breakfast, swung by the boutiki for tea and sugar, and arrived in Tea Village. We got to work almost immediately! This never happens...there is always buffer time of chatting and sitting before we would launch right into work.
We settled in on our little porch and were able to test FOUR Stories...just that morning! It took us the same amount of time to do 4 that had been taking us to do 2. We were floored. When we left to go back to Max's village for lunch, we knew that we only had one more Old Testament Story left...the Story of Isaiah's prophecy. During our lunch break, I started feeling really uneasy. So far the women had loved the Stories because so far they had been Stories about people who they acknowledged as great prophets. Some of the Stories...or at least a version of...are even in their holy book. So it had pretty much been smooth sailing. But I knew we were about to get into Jesus Stories. I kept thinking back to our first day...when Max felt so pressed to warn us about their loyalty to Isl-m. Abby and I talked about it briefly, but weren't really able to come up with a plan.
We went back to Tea Village and tested the Isaiah Story. That Story has Jesus all over it, but never says His name. As we were waiting for the 2 ladies to come in for the first Story that says His name, my heart was about to leap out of my chest...
They could think we're disrespectful...
They could become hostile...
They could resent Max for bringing us...
They could kick us out and we'll never finish our project...
They'll be turned off to Jesus forever...
I told Abby, we HAVE to ask Max about this. We told him that the next Story was about Jesus. We asked him if that was okay to play in this village. We told him that we wanted to respect the women. We asked him what to do. He said, "I know that the last Story was talking about Jesus. The women didn't know because they have never heard, but I knew. You'll just have to ask them. When they come in, tell them that you want to respect them and that the next Story is about Prophet Jesus. They can either say, 'Okay, I will stay,' or 'I will not listen' and leave. And you have to let them leave. You have to be okay with it if they want to leave."
Okay.
So which 2 women come in but the woman who is the obvious leader of the other women and the woman who we have pegged as being the "most" Musl-m. Whatever Woman 1 thinks or says will dictate what the rest of the women will do. And Woman 2 just seemed like she would be the most opposed to Jesus of any of them. She was fully-covered in all black and had all of the mannerisms of a staunchly Musl-m woman.
Max told them the situation as I pretty much held my breath for fear of bursting into tears...and this is what Woman 1 said:
"Yes! This is good to us and we will listen. The girls have brought these Stories to us and asked for our help. And we can tell that the man telling them is a very, very, very Sunny man and that he has a good head on his shoulders. Because he is the one saying the Stories, it is okay for us to listen to them."
Now--if you're just tuning in, you need to know that the original plan was for us to live in our village full-time for the entire 2 years telling Stories ourselves. We were forced to leave our village due to some security issues. I have to confess that for pretty much the remainder of my term--up until this very moment--I struggled with bitterness. I didn't understand having to leave my village. I didn't understand why the timing never seemed to go as planned. I didn't understand why we had been forced to re-strategize so many, many times. Our language learning was slowed drastically by the fact that we had to live in the capital, where Sunny people were few and far between...and where we had to deal in French and Bambara. Because of that, we decided to do a recorded Story set...instead of learning to tell 32 Stories ourselves. And in this moment, I got to see why. God certainly didn't have to let me see...but He did. God knew that the Stories needed to be told by Nick. God knew that our voices wouldn't have gone nearly as far as his. God knew that these little old women, in this little bitty village in the middle of nowhere wouldn't have listened to the Stories otherwise.
The Last Month, Part 6: Interrupted
We came home...well...back to Max's village at about a 7 on the shajazzed meter. We knew we'd need to pick up the pace a little, but the fact that we got FOUR Stories tested in one day was not lost on us. We had never come close to that before. We were usually pretty tickled to get more than one Story tested in a WEEK! We called Nafi...who was back home leading a training with our co-workers, including the girls who usually lived in Max's village...and told her the news. I can't tell you what an encouragement it was to hear not only her excitement, but the excitement of all of our teammates...and know they were praying for us.
We found out that the next day we wouldn't be able to go until later because it was a Friday, which is the day of prayer. We were a little rattled because we didn't have that kind of time to wait. It turned out that we missed almost the entire day and only got 2 more Stories tested. It was such a focusing moment onto the urgency of our task. We were at a mini-standstill and it was literally because they were being piously loyal to the only road they know.
We found out that the next day we wouldn't be able to go until later because it was a Friday, which is the day of prayer. We were a little rattled because we didn't have that kind of time to wait. It turned out that we missed almost the entire day and only got 2 more Stories tested. It was such a focusing moment onto the urgency of our task. We were at a mini-standstill and it was literally because they were being piously loyal to the only road they know.
The Last Month, Part 5: Tea in Tea Village
Here's the deal...Malian people are the most wonderful people you will ever meet. Even our co-workers who have worked in other places will vouch for the fact that Malian people are just genuinely kinder, more hospitable, more welcoming, more generous...all in all the most wonderful...people. I am biased, but it is true. :) So don't get me wrong. As anxious as we were, we knew they would be gracious.
But that doesn't even come close to touching what actually happened. I can't even put it all into words, but basically the connection between those women and us was both immediate and intense. I have not seen or spoken to one of these women in a year and a half and my eyes are full of tears right now just thinking about them. I know this will sound both crazy and a little arrogant...but they loved us. (What's not to love, right? :))
Shortly after we arrived, it was time for us to present the tea to the host. It didn't take long before the tea was steeping and being poured back and forth, back and forth. Little shot glasses of super sweet hot tea all around!
It was finally time for us to start. We were told to set up on an indoor porch of the main house/hut and 2 women at a time would come in. So we laid down a mat on the dirt floor and I sat behind Abby with the computer. Abby sat toward the front, closer to the 2 chairs that were facing us, where the women would sit. Max sat in a corner to watch over us.
The women began coming in and we played them a Story. We started with the Story of Abraham's calling (the Stories up to that point had already been tested). It was slow going at first and we got 2 Stories tested that morning. This was far beyond our previous pace, BUT nowhere near what the pace needed to be in order to complete testing. We had to leave at lunch time because Max's wife had prepared lunch for us in their village...even though when we got back to Tea Village we had to eat again! We were able to test 2 more Stories that evening for a total of 4 on Day 1.
This is my view: Abby has played the Story for the women and now they are re-telling it and answering questions about it.
And it's just that simple. This is the recorder that has the Stories on it, plugged into our battery-operated speakers. This is one of my favorite pictures of all time.
Abby waiting to do her thing.
The Last Month, Part 4: They Pray
I'd like to point out that this was cold season. And it was glorious. We actually wore socks under our Chacos when we all sat around the fire at night. I slept INSIDE a sleeping bag. A sleeping bag! Something that is designed to keep you warmer while you sleep! We even had to warm up the water for our bucket baths over a fire! It was crazy and unlike any village experience I'd had before that point. I kind of loved it.
So the next morning, we woke up, we washed, we helped prepare breakfast and then ate it. Then we waited for Max to tell us it was time to go. I was sitting on the little dirt porch of the little mud hut writing in my little prayer journal (which I CAN'T FIND and it is driving me crazy!). I remember once again recounting how much work needed to be done in such a teeny tiny amount of time and thinking God never promised we'd finish...He just told us to try our guts out.
We had brought 24 Stories for testing (of 32 total...4 had already been tested and 4 more still needed to be recorded with Nick). We had strategized how to eliminate steps and test Stories and document everything at one time. We had our recorders, our speakers, our computer (which we'd use until it died...then we'd have to drive ~30 minutes into a town with electricity to charge it). Max had told us that the "women's chief" had lined up about a dozen women to help us that day. We still didn't know what that meant. Would we play Stories and ask questions for all 12 women until they were ready to leave? Would a few come at a time? At this point, it was taking us a couple of hours to test one Story so we thought we'd need to be able to spend an entire day at Tea Village working straight through except for meal times.
Finally Max told us to load up the truck and head to Tea Village. We had about a 20 minute drive, so we plugged the computer in to the truck charger just so it would be max charged when we got there. On the way there, Max got pretty serious and said to me and Abby...
"You know, this village, they pray." (This is the way to say they are Musl-m).
"Yes, we know, Max."
"No, I mean, they really, really pray. Even for Sunny people, they are very strong prayers."
"Okay, we understand, Max."
"I know what you two are doing because I have traveled and I am more educated. And I am okay with it...but they really pray."
"We understand."
Needless to say we were a little anxious when we finally pulled in, and with a huge cloud of dust, turned off the truck. We got out, adjusted our extra shawls over our heads and around our shoulders, grabbed our gear, and followed Max to the compound of huts where the women were.
So the next morning, we woke up, we washed, we helped prepare breakfast and then ate it. Then we waited for Max to tell us it was time to go. I was sitting on the little dirt porch of the little mud hut writing in my little prayer journal (which I CAN'T FIND and it is driving me crazy!). I remember once again recounting how much work needed to be done in such a teeny tiny amount of time and thinking God never promised we'd finish...He just told us to try our guts out.
We had brought 24 Stories for testing (of 32 total...4 had already been tested and 4 more still needed to be recorded with Nick). We had strategized how to eliminate steps and test Stories and document everything at one time. We had our recorders, our speakers, our computer (which we'd use until it died...then we'd have to drive ~30 minutes into a town with electricity to charge it). Max had told us that the "women's chief" had lined up about a dozen women to help us that day. We still didn't know what that meant. Would we play Stories and ask questions for all 12 women until they were ready to leave? Would a few come at a time? At this point, it was taking us a couple of hours to test one Story so we thought we'd need to be able to spend an entire day at Tea Village working straight through except for meal times.
Finally Max told us to load up the truck and head to Tea Village. We had about a 20 minute drive, so we plugged the computer in to the truck charger just so it would be max charged when we got there. On the way there, Max got pretty serious and said to me and Abby...
"You know, this village, they pray." (This is the way to say they are Musl-m).
"Yes, we know, Max."
"No, I mean, they really, really pray. Even for Sunny people, they are very strong prayers."
"Okay, we understand, Max."
"I know what you two are doing because I have traveled and I am more educated. And I am okay with it...but they really pray."
"We understand."
Needless to say we were a little anxious when we finally pulled in, and with a huge cloud of dust, turned off the truck. We got out, adjusted our extra shawls over our heads and around our shoulders, grabbed our gear, and followed Max to the compound of huts where the women were.
The Last Month, Part 3: Unknown Village, Unknown Everything
By the time we arrived in Max's village, it was pretty late. Abby & I still had to set up our tents and settle into the guest hut as well as speak with Max about how exactly things would work the next day when we headed to what I will call "Tea Village." And...obviously...as always...we still had to eat!
Max told us that we'd wake up the next morning, eat breakfast, and then drive in the truck to Tea Village. We'd stop at the boutiki on our way and buy lots and lots of tea and lots and lots of sugar to give to the people...this is a common thing to do when visiting somebody. He said he didn't really know how things would go, how long we could work, how many Stories we could test, etc. Lots of unknowns.
That night we slept inside a little room that they had cleared out especially for us. Usually someone else slept in there...with some chickens. We'd find new eggs in the corner every so often. :) We still slept inside our tents because that's what we use for mosquito netting. I remember laying there, looking through my mesh tent at the grass roof and having absolutely zero idea what the next day would hold. Would they really want to listen to our Stories once they knew more about them? Did they realize how much time we were asking of them? Would they be hostile once they realized the Stories were about Jesus?
I can remember laying there, not knowing how Abby felt...maybe she was even already asleep. "Abby?"
"Yeah?"
"I can't believe we're here."
"Me neither."
"This is not where we thought we'd be sleeping tonight when we woke up this morning."
"Definitely not."
"I'm a little scared of what's going to happen tomorrow."
"Me too, but we just gotta do it and God will take care of it."
Here's an excerpt from Abby's blog describing this same night:
As I laid in the hut that first night I started to worry about how the whole process was going to work. Michelle and I knew that we needed to work all day, everyday. We also knew that we had no relationship with these women who were going to hear these stories. In Africa relationships are key. Here you earn your voice through a relationship that has been nurtured over time. We knew that for the women to let us speak and for them to listen to the stories some kind relationship would need to be forged. I couldn’t sleep at all, so I just prayed that G0d’s Word would go out among these women and their lives would never be the same because of it.
Max told us that we'd wake up the next morning, eat breakfast, and then drive in the truck to Tea Village. We'd stop at the boutiki on our way and buy lots and lots of tea and lots and lots of sugar to give to the people...this is a common thing to do when visiting somebody. He said he didn't really know how things would go, how long we could work, how many Stories we could test, etc. Lots of unknowns.
That night we slept inside a little room that they had cleared out especially for us. Usually someone else slept in there...with some chickens. We'd find new eggs in the corner every so often. :) We still slept inside our tents because that's what we use for mosquito netting. I remember laying there, looking through my mesh tent at the grass roof and having absolutely zero idea what the next day would hold. Would they really want to listen to our Stories once they knew more about them? Did they realize how much time we were asking of them? Would they be hostile once they realized the Stories were about Jesus?
I can remember laying there, not knowing how Abby felt...maybe she was even already asleep. "Abby?"
"Yeah?"
"I can't believe we're here."
"Me neither."
"This is not where we thought we'd be sleeping tonight when we woke up this morning."
"Definitely not."
"I'm a little scared of what's going to happen tomorrow."
"Me too, but we just gotta do it and God will take care of it."
Here's an excerpt from Abby's blog describing this same night:
As I laid in the hut that first night I started to worry about how the whole process was going to work. Michelle and I knew that we needed to work all day, everyday. We also knew that we had no relationship with these women who were going to hear these stories. In Africa relationships are key. Here you earn your voice through a relationship that has been nurtured over time. We knew that for the women to let us speak and for them to listen to the stories some kind relationship would need to be forged. I couldn’t sleep at all, so I just prayed that G0d’s Word would go out among these women and their lives would never be the same because of it.
The Last Month, Part 2: Testers Needed
So at New Year's, we still had several Stories that hadn't even been recorded for the first time yet. And we had even more Stories that hadn't been tested. One of our major issues was that every time we would identify a group of women who were willing to test our Stories with us, something would happen and it would fall apart. Then we found one woman who was willing...and she went out of the country for an indefinite amount of time. So before New Year's, Abby and I knew that we were going to have to do something drastic in order to test our Stories with Sunny women.
We had a conversation about pleading with Nafi to allow us to go back up to our village and test Stories there. We already knew the women, we had "earned our voice" there, we knew exactly where we could sleep, where we could eat, where we could shower, and most importantly, who we could meet with. The day after this conversation, we went over to Nafi's house where we learned that some concerning things were going on in the news that would prevent us from going up there. That was as discouraged as I'd ever been. That means we were pretty much down to Plan B (actually we were way past B at this point).
We knew that there were some Sunny villages close to the village where some of our co-workers lived. We had been involved with lining up these co-workers' housing and other needs and had gone with them to move in when they first arrived in Mali, so we had a pretty strong relationship with their host family. Abby and I figured we could just ask their host, I'll call him Max, to point us in the direction of a Sunny village and we'd roll up in there with our Stories and see if anybody would help us out. Nafi said she'd give Max a call and see what he said.
In the meantime, we're desperately trying to meet with Nick so that we can record the rest of the Stories.
We find out that Max is willing to help us out and that he has spoken with a neighboring Sunny village about allowing us to come in and test our Stories. We had offered to compensate the women for their time since we had no relationship whatsoever with them and we really needed to ensure their availability. We make arrangement with Max for a few days later so that we can meet with Nick and record some more Stories. We want to have all of our Stories recorded before we go so that we can knock out all the testing at once.
We hear from Nick that afternoon that he will not be able to meet with us that day after all...and maybe not the next day either.
That's when things went absolutely INSANE!! Abby and I looked at each other, looked at our list of what all needs to happen before we get on a plane 3.5 weeks later, looked at the calendar, and then back at each other. We literally did not have a day to spare...we didn't even have a few hours to spare, honestly. We couldn't wait for Nick. We both knew it...pretty much in unison, we yelled, "LET'S GO!" We absolutely HAD to get on the road immediately because you are absolutely, completely, totally not supposed to be on the road after dark. It is forbidden. We knew we had about a 10 minute window to pack our bags, pack our Story stuff, fill out our "on the road" paperwork, call Max, call Nafi, pack our truck and get on the road before we entered the no-leave window. And we did!
We arrived in Max's village right after the sun had set and got settled into our little "guest hut." Then we got scolded for not remembering to call Nafi and tell her we'd arrived.
We had a conversation about pleading with Nafi to allow us to go back up to our village and test Stories there. We already knew the women, we had "earned our voice" there, we knew exactly where we could sleep, where we could eat, where we could shower, and most importantly, who we could meet with. The day after this conversation, we went over to Nafi's house where we learned that some concerning things were going on in the news that would prevent us from going up there. That was as discouraged as I'd ever been. That means we were pretty much down to Plan B (actually we were way past B at this point).
We knew that there were some Sunny villages close to the village where some of our co-workers lived. We had been involved with lining up these co-workers' housing and other needs and had gone with them to move in when they first arrived in Mali, so we had a pretty strong relationship with their host family. Abby and I figured we could just ask their host, I'll call him Max, to point us in the direction of a Sunny village and we'd roll up in there with our Stories and see if anybody would help us out. Nafi said she'd give Max a call and see what he said.
In the meantime, we're desperately trying to meet with Nick so that we can record the rest of the Stories.
We find out that Max is willing to help us out and that he has spoken with a neighboring Sunny village about allowing us to come in and test our Stories. We had offered to compensate the women for their time since we had no relationship whatsoever with them and we really needed to ensure their availability. We make arrangement with Max for a few days later so that we can meet with Nick and record some more Stories. We want to have all of our Stories recorded before we go so that we can knock out all the testing at once.
We hear from Nick that afternoon that he will not be able to meet with us that day after all...and maybe not the next day either.
That's when things went absolutely INSANE!! Abby and I looked at each other, looked at our list of what all needs to happen before we get on a plane 3.5 weeks later, looked at the calendar, and then back at each other. We literally did not have a day to spare...we didn't even have a few hours to spare, honestly. We couldn't wait for Nick. We both knew it...pretty much in unison, we yelled, "LET'S GO!" We absolutely HAD to get on the road immediately because you are absolutely, completely, totally not supposed to be on the road after dark. It is forbidden. We knew we had about a 10 minute window to pack our bags, pack our Story stuff, fill out our "on the road" paperwork, call Max, call Nafi, pack our truck and get on the road before we entered the no-leave window. And we did!
We arrived in Max's village right after the sun had set and got settled into our little "guest hut." Then we got scolded for not remembering to call Nafi and tell her we'd arrived.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
The Last Month, Part 1
A (very) brief synopsis of our storying process:
1. "Craft" the Story
2. Record the Story using a Sunny man called a crafter (crafter: "Nick")
3. Have a different Sunny man, called a back-translator, listen to the Story and tell it back to us in English (back-translator: "Bryan")
4. Enter every line into an Excel document where each line has a list of information under it, including Scr!pture references, key terms, culture notes, crafting notes, and...
5. Write testing questions for each line
6. Play the Story for 2-3 Sunny people and ask them the testing questions (questions are to make sure that Sunny people are understanding the Story in the way Scripture is intended to communicate it...even if it doesn't make a ton of sense in English)
7. Record testing answers on the Excel document.
8. Make any notes/observations and provide support for why each line is worded the way it is
9. Change lines as needed
10. Re-record the final version
11. Back-translate the final version
12. Edit as needed.
1. "Craft" the Story
2. Record the Story using a Sunny man called a crafter (crafter: "Nick")
3. Have a different Sunny man, called a back-translator, listen to the Story and tell it back to us in English (back-translator: "Bryan")
4. Enter every line into an Excel document where each line has a list of information under it, including Scr!pture references, key terms, culture notes, crafting notes, and...
5. Write testing questions for each line
6. Play the Story for 2-3 Sunny people and ask them the testing questions (questions are to make sure that Sunny people are understanding the Story in the way Scripture is intended to communicate it...even if it doesn't make a ton of sense in English)
7. Record testing answers on the Excel document.
8. Make any notes/observations and provide support for why each line is worded the way it is
9. Change lines as needed
10. Re-record the final version
11. Back-translate the final version
12. Edit as needed.
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