Quick Soccer Story

 This week we had our first soccer game.  The guys from my neighborhood (the ones I play soccer with occasionally) were feeling a little jealous that I was coaching the team from Correrah, so I invited them to play against us on Friday (yesterday).  After the game I gathered both teams around and told them I had a message I wanted to share (and some Capri Sonnes).  In the message I simply told them God loves them.  I quoted John 3:16 and explained that we have good news:  that God is not angry with us, but that He loves us and wants to save us if we’ll believe in Him and in His Son.  The message was simple and a little awkward, but I wondered if they had ever heard before that God actually loves them.  A few older men standing around then incited the players to give a big round of applause, and we closed in prayer. 

     I don’t know what kind of impact this message may have had, but I’ve been reminded this week that the gospel message is really quite simple:  God is love.  More than anything what we are asking God to do is pour out His love on these people, to reveal this love to them in the message of the gospel, and to bring them to faith in Jesus, who is the embodiment of His love.  Jesus said, “I have not come to condemn the world, but to save it.”  As we’ve seen in the news this week, the Muslim religion is not usually one that is typified by much love.  Families here are not generally very loving, fathers being very distant from their children and their multiple wives, mothers generally treating their kids more like slaves than actual children, and friends and neighbors often yelling and shouting at each other as the means to resolve their problems.  Yet God’s design is so different.  He is our loving Father.  He invites us into loving relationship with Him.  He blesses us with parents and family as a means of sharing and reflecting His love.  And He brings us into Christian community and fellowship where His love can continue to minister and bless us.

  I pray that God will reveal these truths to the people around us.  And I hope that through our actions and our words, a little love will go a long ways.

September 22, 2012

     This week was definitely a little rougher.  The newness of school has worn off.  We had a few tears as our students are realizing that we do expect them to push themselves and work hard, that we aren’t just there to be their friends and have fun.  Abi also (who has been stellar up till now, happy to play with the centers and go back and forth between the classrooms) was more obnoxious, feeling more comfortable to be a nuisance and distract the students from their work.  She’s also attempted to run away from school a couple times—while we’re in the middle of our teaching she’ll make a break for it and can usually get half-way to the house before one of us sees her out of the window.  Finally I was feeling a little sick this week.  I think my tiredness finally caught up with me.  Mostly this is due to the kids coming in to our room during the middle of the night.  Since our yard is the main thoroughfare to our neighbor’s house, many people come and go right outside the kids’ windows, sometimes even until late at night, talking and shining their flashlights as they go.  Jen and I’s room is on the opposite side, right next to their patio, so it often sounds like they’re having conversations right in our bedroom. 

    And if it isn’t the neighbors or the kids waking us up, then it’s often the thunder storms.  We get hit with a good storm about two or three nights a week.  The rain drums on our roof, the wind howls through our curtains, and the thunder sends waves of fear through the water beds.  And if it isn’t the weather, the neighbors, or the kids, then it’s the little bats that fly around right outside our bedroom window.  We know they’re outside, but it sounds like they’re flying right over our heads with little squeaks that sound like mice.  All that to say that I haven’t been sleeping very well.

     This week we also had several emails warning us about various possible protests.  First it was the Muslims vs. Americans thing.  Then it was the political parties of Guinea protesting and fighting against each other.  We never saw any problems though and most of the action was based in the capital, about five hours away. 

     So that’s been our week.  I don’t want to sound pessimistic though, because so far we have been so blessed being here.  School has gone remarkably well.  As I mentioned, Abi for the most part has behaved really well, which is a huge answer to prayer, and everyone enjoys having her around. Nico and Isa particularly get a kick out of it when she runs out of the bathroom without any pants on, asking for mom and dad to help.  Also, despite some minor illnesses, God has protected our family and we’ve stayed very healthy.  I expected more stomach issues, adjusting to different foods and what not, but so far we have only had really mild problems.  And we’ve hardly seen any mosquitoes, though we continue to apply repellent as a precaution.

     Diana and Andres have also been super helpful and generous.  They keep expressing to us how grateful they are to have us, what a blessing it is to be able to have their language sessions in our house, etc…  We’ve tried encouraging them to let us know if they have any issues or problems with us, but so far they have only given us positive feedback.  They’ve also gone out of their way over and over again to show us around, take us shopping in the markets, make calls to people on our behalf, set up things in the house, and take charge of the house help while we’re at school. 

     Finally, we are super grateful for all the support we’ve received from friends and family.  We regularly get emails and notes indicating people are praying for us and miss us, and we’ve been very well provided for financially.

     We praise God for being with us here in Africa, and we continue to pray that He would open up the doors of opportunity to share and minister to the people around us, asking that He would do big things in our midst.  Amen!

     Yesterday we completed week 2 of school.  I’m settling into the routine now and able to get my prep work done faster each night.  It’s fun being back in teaching, though I definitely miss having the evenings just to relax.  While Jen is a great teacher, she’s not enjoying it as much as I am.  It reminds her of why she decided not to pursue the teaching credential before we got married; it’s just not her passion.  Still, I’m hopeful it will grow on her as she gets used to the work load and starts to see the progress in her students. 

     This week Nico also asked me to coach his little soccer team from Correrah.  We had our first practice yesterday.  Half of the team doesn’t speak French which makes it hard to communicate.  Also most of them play in plastic sandals, and a couple of them didn’t have any shoes at all despite the rocky terrain.  At one point Andres delivered water and the boys stormed the cooler, all desperate for a cool drink.  We also had about ten kids not on our team suddenly appear looking for a drink of water.  I can’t imagine what this will be like when the rainy season is over and it gets even hotter. 

     I’m excited about this opportunity as I’ve been thinking about a way to share Bible stories with the soccer guys from our neighborhood.  I can easily envision bringing a pack of Capri Suns (they’re spelled Capri Sonnes here) and sitting down under the shade with one of the gospel cloths I brought.  Now I’m thinking maybe I can do this with our soccer team, or I could even do something like this as part of a game day, challenging the Baralande team to play against us.

      I’ve also been thinking and praying about asking the neighbors if they would let me teach their girls, the ones that come over and get water all the time.  Perhaps if I offer to teach them some English they would let me teach them some Bible stories too.  We’ve stopped by a couple times to talk with them.  They have a house full of women (the mom, four or five sisters, and a handful of little girls—I’m presuming illegitimate daughters because the women told me they're not married, something unusual for women their age).  The dad died, and the brothers apparently all moved to Conakry for work.  I’m not sure how they get income but it seems like the little girls work for the people we share a property with as a way for them to make money.  So I’m praying about these ideas and asking God to open up the way for us to be able to minister and share Christ with them.

     Finally, a quick story from this afternoon’s trip to the market:  the marche (mar-shay) is a hot, crowded, and smelly place, not at all like the markets in France.  Here all the little booths are packed in tight with barely enough room for one person to pass, though lines of people are pushing past each other all the time.  You can buy everything from plastic sandals to cloth for clothes, to dried peppers, dried fish, vegetables, tomato paste (out of the can), individual cubes of bouillon, soap, red palm oil, fresh made peanut butter, etc…  All the smells of the produce and body sweat blend in together and are trapped under the tin roofs and umbrellas of the stands.  And the vendors are constantly calling to get your attention or comment on the “fote” (white folk).  Abi and Nathanael especially draw a lot of attention as the women tease them about their blue eyes and blonde hair.  Nathanael has had several marriage proposals already, though he’s not been too pleased with any of them.

     So after our time at the market today, we returned to the car and Jen and the kids were sitting inside, waiting for me to complete a final purchase.  A strange man then approached the car, dressed in rags and talking kinda crazy.  He proceeded to put trash in the back window where the kids were sitting and then approached Jen’s window, talking and gesturing at her.  As he got closer and closer, putting his fingers through the open crack and his face against the glass (you can imagine how Jen was feeling), Jen had the impulse to pray in tongues.  Immediately the man put his hands up in the air and backed away.  He then left and we didn’t see him again.  It’s nice to serve a God who has authority over everything.

Please pray for God to continue to demonstrate His power and protection over us.

Pray for God to open up the opportunities for us to minister to the local kids.

Pray for wisdom and discernment in how and when we share Christ with others.

Pray for Christ to be at work within us, to shine His light through us to those around us.

Pray for continued grace and strength with each week of teaching.

September 6, 2012

First Day of School

The Crazy Boys' Class

The big kids' class

Journal Time

     Well, we completed our first week of school.  So far it’s going really well.  My favorite moment was when the kids came into the classroom on the first day, wide-eyed and bushy tailed, exclaiming, “Wow, our class never looked like this before.”  On our last day the kids also went around and shared their highs and lows.  Nico’s favorite:  having a P.E. every day.  Isa’s favorite:  doing an earthquake drill in science, and when Mrs. Edmonds made a mistake in English and the students had to correct her.  Pablo’s favorite:  everything.  Nathanael’s favorite:  coloring and playing on the ipad.  And by unanimous vote, everyone’s least favorite (including Jen) is French class (I’m not teaching that one).  So far everyone is having fun and enjoying the classes.  It’s a lot of work for Jen and I, and we’re nice and tired by the end of the day but we’re hanging in there and getting used to it.

Also, during our time at school Andres and Diana have decided to have their language sessions at our house.  They say it's revolutionized their lessons as they can do two lessons back to back without interruption.  Half-jokingly Diana said, "I've learned as much this week as we usually learn in a whole month."  We're excited our house can be used as a blessing to them as well as to us.  We hope and pray God continues to use us to bless and support the team as that's the reason we came.  

    Speaking of, this weekend we also had our first sleep over.  It’s Diana and Andres’ anniversary so we offered to watch the kids so they could spend a night out in Kamsar.  This is their first "date night" since they were on furlough in Panama.  Later on we’ll be going over to join them for lunch and some pool time if the weather is nice.

     Our prayers continue to be the following:

1.       Safety and health.

2.       Energy and wisdom for running the school.

3.       Growing relationships with neighborhood people.

4.       Continued grace as things start to become routine and aren’t so new and exciting anymore.

     “Thanks Lord for watching over us and blessing us.  Thanks for giving us a good first week in school.  Please help the rest of the year to go well and for the kids to learn and grow.  Continue to reveal yourself to us and work in and through us to establish your kingdom.  Amen!”

August 30, 2012

     The past couple weeks we’ve spent most of our time getting ready for school.  Last week we set up and decorated our two classrooms.  They are actually two small bedrooms with a bathroom and a utility closet.  They’re small and cozy, quite warm in the afternoon, but they’ll do.  We’re just excited to be able to present our students with actual classrooms instead of having to have school in our living room.  Still, if it gets too hot we might just have switch things up and have class outside or something.  One of the big bummers is that these rooms, as well as the living room and master bedroom, have ceiling fans but they’re not functional yet.  They have yet to be hooked up to the electricity, and apparently we have to wait for Cees to get back from Holland to do it.  So for now they just hang around, laughing at us as we slowly melt.  Still the temps haven’t been too hot yet.  We’re told it’s been unusually cool for this time of year and temperatures will get much hotter in April and May.

   This week, we’ve mostly been going over curriculum and textbooks.  Jen and I will be splitting up the teaching, rotating between age groups and teaching multiple grades at the same time.  The schedule will go something like this:

7:45-10 a.m.         Language Arts (Jen teaches 6^th and 7^th grade, I teach K5 + 2^nd grade)

10:30-12               Math (Jen teaches K5+2^nd, I teach 6^th+ 7^th)

1-3                          French Class (taught by a local) / Science or History (Jen teaches K5-2^nd, I teach 6^th-7^th)

     It will be a weird balancing act with Abi to top it all off, tagging along with our activities or doing her own thing.  At this point she’s the wild card; we’re praying she goes with the flow and isn’t too demanding or distracting. 

     We’ve also been spending time with the Galvez children.  They’ve come over a couple times to help watch the kids while we work in the school.  At first they were very excited to do this, but their enthusiasm wore off pretty quickly as they discovered how tiring little kids can be.  It will be very difficult replacing Hannah Gunn, our favorite  babysitter.  I’m thinking the church needs to fly her out here to be our permanent nanny.  I’m sure she can put her college career on hold for a while…

     Other than school work, we’re still adjusting to life in Africa.  I went out and played soccer with the local kids last night for the first time.  It seems though that it’s just the younger generation that plays; all of the teenagers and young men stand around and watch or ref the games.  Also, this morning I was shocked again at the sight of a woman washing her laundry in our backyard.  And when I say washing her laundry, I mean washing everything including the shirt off her back.  It’s a little awkward; I don’t know if I should make eye contact and say hello, ignore her, or just turn around and go back inside. Still it’s a good reminder that we have a long ways yet until we fully adjust to our new home environment.

     Finally here’s a rundown of what I like and dislike about being here so far:

                What we’re enjoying most:

Ø  Fresh baked French bread (I even talked a motorcycle guy into delivering it straight to our door every morning).  

Ø  Nutella on fresh baked French bread, delivered every morning…

Ø  Fanta tropical (really yummy) and other coke products sold in glass bottles.

Ø  Pretty much all of the old French products I remember from my childhood:  Le Petit Ecolier, syrop de Grenadine, croissant, etc…

Ø  Cool breezes in the mornings and evenings—it even gets chilly sometimes.

Ø  Exploring the many trail systems on my daily run or bike ride.

Ø  The big smiles and daily “Bonjours” from the neighbor girls every time they walk by.

Ø  The view from our backyard looking out over the valley.

What I miss the most:

Ø  A/C (as in cold, air blowing machines, not the “ac” electricity converters we were told about…)

Ø  Microwave and any kind of prepackaged convenience foods.  Funny story:  Andres and Diana had a huge box of microwave popcorn (literally hundreds of them), saved up from all the care packages people sent them.  Diana finally tried to cook one over a stove top, having asked Jen if she thought it would work.  Turns out it does.  Andres’ final diagnosis:  “Keep sending us popcorn!”

Ø  24/7 running water and hot showers, though cold water from a bucket does help cool one down before bed time. 

Ø  24/7 electricity.  We have to conserve electricity at night and during cloudy days, and we can only watch movies in the daytime (which makes it rather hard for Jen and I to watch anything rated over G.  Last night we got half a movie in on Jen’s computer before the batteries ran out.  I don’t think there’s much chance we’ll be going out to the movies either.)

“Lord, please help us to continue to transition well.  Give us peace and patience as we make the adjustments to a different life style.  Thank you Lord for all the blessings you’ve given us, and for how abundantly you’ve provided for us.  Please help us also, God, to be ready for school to start next week.  May you bless this school year in a really special way.  May the kids all learn and grow, and may they experience your presence and love in a very real and personal way.  Please help Abi, too, to adjust to our new demands and schedule.  Help her to be relaxed and easy going; help her to have fun with the other kids and know when to leave them alone; help her to respect mommy and daddy’s teaching positions and not feel left out.  Help Jen and I also to have grace and patience with her, I pray. 

     And God, I continue to ask for great things this year for our neighbors and the Jahango.  May you pour out your spirit on this city, this country, and its people.  We pray for radical transformation in this place.  Perform miracles and signs and wonders, Lord.  Send forth your word with power and authority.  Draw these people into your heart and into your kingdom, we pray.  As Moses prayed, ‘Show me your glory!’  Amen.”