October 28, 2012

     I just spent most of the afternoon and part of this evening trying to download another post to the blog.  The internet connection has been getting worse and worse.  I need at least 30 bps (bites per second) to upload a post to the blog, and lately the numbers have been hovering around 10 bps.  Andres also has indicated he’s having trouble getting online.  It’s gotten so bad he doesn’t even try anymore and gave Cees his internet stick.  Now the only method they have of communicating with the outside world is through Diana’s blackberry.  Thankfully we have blackberry service too which allows us at least to receive and reply to emails, and also text using BBM and What’sApp.  But since I don’t have many people’s contact info on my phone, I can’t just send an email whenever I feel like it.  And updating the blog is near impossible, especially if I want to include pictures.

    For the past month Andres has been trying very hard to get one of the wi-fi boxes from the cell phone company.  After getting the run around with the company guy, it finally looked like he had a solid lead through the grocery store owner.  But when we tested a signal stick we found out there isn’t a strong enough signal in all of Boke to get data.  The only place you can get any kind of signal is right next to the towers, and even then it’s still slow.  Then there’s still the problem of getting electricity to the box.  Part of the culture here is that people do not want to admit when they make a mistake.  So it’s not surprising that the cell phone guy kept telling Andres the box was coming when he knew very well the signal wasn’t strong enough to serve our needs.  One weekend Andres even spent over two hours in the restaurant in Kamsar, waiting for the guy to show up and give him the box.  The guy assured him he was on his way, but never showed up. 

     So it looks like we’re just going to have to deal with really slow internet and/or waiting for the weekends to go to Kamsar.  This has probably been the hardest adjustment to life in Guinea.  Please pray for us in this respect, and send us emails as often as you think of us, and be patient when the blog isn’t updated regularly.  Thank you.

Lord, please grant us patience as we learn to live without “regular” means of communication.  Please keep us close to family and friends despite the lack of regular contact.  And please help our supporters to remember to lift us up in prayer even when we aren’t able to keep them up to date on our developments.  Thank you Lord for those times we are able to connect.  Thank you for the technology that does allow us to stay in contact with our loved ones.  We pray for a better solution and more regular means of contact, Lord.  Nothing is impossible with God.  Amen.

p.s.  I just prayed this post into existence.  As I was waiting for the site to download, I started praying fervently (the prayer of a desperate man) for the signal to go up.  As I prayed, I watched the signal numbers jump and down.  Then suddenly they started rising higher, little by little.  I prayed even more.  The numbers increased more.  Whenever I grew lax in my prayers, the numbers dropped.  Whenever I increased my prayers, the numbers rose.  It was quite an odd feeling to be able to measure the fervency and effectiveness of my prayers, but I believe God was answering and teaching me a lesson on the power of prayer at the same time.  Strangely enough last week, I gave a measure on “importunate prayer.”  Praying like the widow before the sinful judge, persistently bugging the judge until she got what she wanted. 

Thank you, Lord for allowing me to make these posts.  Thank you for the power of prayer.