October 3rd

     Yesterday was the grand 54^th Anniversary of Independence Day  of Guinea.  Cees invited Jen, Andres, and I to join him and his landlord to go into town to see the celebrations.  After dropping the kids off with Diana and her kids, we drove through Correrah to the river.  There we embarked on a “pirogue” (dug-out canoe) to cross to the other side.  After a temporary delay by some soldiers (apparently it’s illegal to photograph the military) we hiked up the hill past the local garbage dump into the center of town.  We then followed our guide (Cees’ landlord) to try to find a good viewpoint where we could watch the parade.  Unfortunately there didn’t seem to be any good point to view it from.  The place was jam-packed.  Guinea’s idea of a parade, at least one in Boke, is to demolish a string of buildings therefore creating enough space for a plaza, to set up a grand stand to seat all the dignitaries, and then to have the parade pass by the grandstand, make a quick loop through the plaza and end.  This means literally hundreds of thousands of people were all crowded around the perimeter of the plaza trying to get a glimpse what was happening in the center. 

     So finally we thought we had found a good spot to watch from, aided by the fact that our guide found a rock that Jen could stand on.  This spot also happened to be right on the edge of a main walk way where old widows came by carrying handheld megaphones.  Their fundraising strategy is to yell at you through the megaphone until you give in to peer pressure and give them money.  Apparently it’s more effective if they travel in groups too.  So you have five or six women all yelling at you from their megaphones until you give in.  Thankfully Cees was apparently in a generous mood and had a stash of cash in his pocket just for the occasion.  But these weren’t the only people stopping by to ask for money.  We also had some clowns, musicians, and kids.  And of course, more groups of widows.  Cees appeased them all with a joke and some cash.

     Eventually, some activity other than the beggars caught our attention.  The president arrived.  I didn’t exactly see him through the crowd, but we could tell it was him by the cars, the choppers, and everyone craning their necks, standing on each other’s shoulders, and employing any and all means to get a glimpse of him.  I think Jen spotted him from her rock.  This was also about the time that some bright young man decided to climb onto the roof of the nearby store.  After about twenty or so other bright young men decided to join him, the roof collapsed and nearly smashed the crowd below.  The good news from this was that there was now more rubble for people to stand on. 

     Then the parade began, not just once, however, but three or four times.  The reason we could tell was that the people in the grandstand stood up and cheered three or four times but then nothing else would happen.  Finally, after a few false starts the parade did begin in earnest.  I got some good glimpses of it by holding the digital camera up above the crowd, but that’s when the crowd began to push against the military so they could get a better view.  The soldiers tried pushing them back, literally shoving them off the edges of the plaza and beating them with their belts.  Things started to get rough (and hot) so we decided to move on to try to find a better view.  The view we eventually found wasn’t much better and indeed the crowd there was getting more restless too.  Suddenly, a gang of celebrants decided to form a parade of their own, pushing their way through the crowd going nowhere in particular, like a conga line only five or six people wide.  The crowd pushed back.  Things got intense.  We left.

     All in all it was definitely a learning experience.  Jennifer especially was able to make lots of interesting observations, including taking notes on some really interesting make-up and hair styles—many of the women here choose to wear wigs, and no one has a problem painting on eyebrows.  I didn’t quite have the courage to take any close up pictures of these, but it’s the first time I’ve seen blondes, brunettes and red heads with such dark skin.  Actually, now that I think about, the hairdos and outfits were probably the most interesting things I saw in all of this.  Even the bits and pieces of the parade seemed to be pretty plain, mostly schools and companies walking by in their official uniforms.  And to top it all off, on our way back to the boats Cees stopped a bit to talk to some acquaintances.  When he caught up with us, he told us he had just seen the President.  Sure enough he had a picture to prove it.  There was the President of Guinea, special guest to the little tiny town of Boke, walking out of the building we had just passed by only two minutes earlier.

  Later that night I spoke with one of the other missionaries who had gone down town to see the celebrations.  “How did it go?” I asked.  “Great,” he said.  “I definitely wouldn’t want to do that every week, or maybe even ever again, but I just had to do it.”  That pretty much sums it up for me too.  I probably don’t ever want to do that again, but I was glad I did it.

 P.S.  (can I write a post script at the end of a blog?) the best part of having the President visit your district, more than the freshly painted rocks on the side of the road, is that the water is turned on 24/7.   Today at 5 o’clock, Jen announced, “the President is gone!”  Indeed, the water was off.  It was nice while it lasted, though.

P.P.S.  I haven’t posted anything on the blog for a while because we haven’t had good internet lately, probably due to the increased visitors in Boke.  Andres has been talking with a guy from the cell company; they are supposed to install a new internet service and give us special routers that will enable us to have wireless in our home.  We’re praying this happens soon, but so far we’re afraid to get our hopes up too high.  The guy also seems to be ignoring Andres’ phone calls.  Thanks for your patience.  Please pray that God would increase ours, and pray that this dream would become reality.  Thanks!

Money and More Important Matters

     We have a saying in English, “when you gotta go, you gotta go.”  In Guinea apparently the motto is, “when you gotta go, just go.” 

     Last week I was surprised when one of the young girls going to get water suddenly dropped her skirt and urinated right on the main path to the faucet.  We’ve seen plenty of guys peeing on the side of the road (this is common both in Panama and Africa, though apparently in Africa you don’t even have to move off the side of the road), but never girls and never right in our backyard on the main trail that people walk on every day to get their drinking water, cooking water, bathing water, laundry water, etc…  I was even more shocked, however, when one of the grown women did it the next day.  She was nice enough to move behind the nearest tree, but apparently, “when you gotta go, just go.”  I’m thinking this is a principle we need to teach our family.  I’m pretty sure Abi wouldn’t have a problem with it.  Already she runs into the school bathroom, takes care of business, and runs out without her pants on.  For Nathanael too, this isn’t too far from his roots.  There was a time in Panama when he would actually choose to walk out the front door, pee off the patio and then come back inside.   I’m not sure how Jen will handle it though…

   On to money matters:  one of the big adjustments to daily life in Guinea has been the money.  Little did I know, but I am now a millionaire.  The reason is that the exchange rate here is about 7,000 Guinean Francs to every dollar.  If this isn’t enough, the banks here prefer to hold onto the big bills and usually dole out their cash in 5,000 increments—the largest bill I’ve seen so far is a 10,000. Imagine paying for your groceries using only ones or quarters.  But it’s like that for every purchase you make.  This means when we walk out the door to run errands, our pockets are bulging.  In fact, I no longer carry a wallet; I just carry my backpack around.  And since we’re still new, every time I make a purchase I’m constantly counting out each bill, trying to figure out if I’ve got it right.  I feel like such a snob pulling out these huge wads of cash just to buy a few boxes of cereal. Yet somehow I always feel like I’m being taken advantage of cause I usually have to ask the vendor to make sure I’ve counted the right amount.   And the worst part of it is that most wads of bills are incredibly dirty and old; definitely not a good place to be germaphobic.  And if you’re saying, ‘why doesn’t the guy just use his credit or debit card’, the simple answer is that credit card machines are non-existent here.  I haven’t seen one place yet that accepts a credit card, not even when we were in Conakry.  Paying for it on your visa is indeed, priceless.  And Master Card is not truly everywhere I want to be (or is that American Express?). 

    The other part to the money system is that some places you can bargain with the vendors, some places you can’t.  I’m still figuring out where it’s acceptable to negotiate and where I need to just let it drop.  For example, when paying for general groceries in the store, prices are fixed.  But when I go next door to buy a bath rug, bargaining is accepted.  Sodas bought on the street, the price is fixed.  Vegetables in the market you can negotiate for.  For the most part I’m pretty good at the bargaining and enjoy the process.  In some ways bargaining is a test of a person’s intelligence and will.  Someone who is too soft and gives in too easily can lose respect as they’re considered bad businessmen and too easy to push around.  On the other hand, someone who drives a hard bargain and can bring a vendor close to their bottom line price earns respect and is considered savy and strong. 

     For example, today I went out shopping for soccer equipment.  I wrestled with the vendor for about 20 minutes, trying to buy a larger quantity of balls for a nice low price.  We went back and forth for some time, he trying to tell me that long term it was better for him to hold out for higher prices, me trying to convince him that a larger amount from me today was more secure than waiting for hypothetical business later on.  In the end he gave in and gave me the deal I was wanting, but he concluded by declaring that we were now friends.  The implication of course is that I’ll return to his store next time I need something, but I earned his friendship by driving him down to a “friend’s” price.  I’m sure most times this is still the white friend’s price, but I think I’m getting better at this and developing relationships in the process. 

     So the moral to the story is, if you gotta go, just go, but don’t forget to take a wad of paper with you.

     On another note, the Snetselaars arrived back this week from Holland.  It will be interesting to see how our school dynamics change with Jesse in the mix.  I’m a little worried that Nathanael will get left out now that Pablo’s best friend is back.  Diana and Andres have also told us they’ve had talks with Pablo, reminding him not to leave Nathanael out, but this was in fact the case when we had our luncheon on Friday.  While the kids were all playing, Nat came and told me that the other boys weren’t playing with him.  It’s hard cause the other boys are used to each other, they are older, and Nathanael is often more reserved.  He also tends to do better with just one friend, not always knowing how to play with bigger groups. 

     Finally, this week is the country’s independence day, on October 2nd.  As part of a political move to gain favor with this district, the President has chosen Boke as the site where he will spend the celebrations.  The town has been working fervently to get everything ready for his arrival, putting in new street lights (solar powered), clearing out space for a town plaza, and building new guest hotels for all the visitors.  This weekend the military also moved in and have blocked off the main road through town.  Unfortunately all of the expats and missionaries seem to be more fearful of these events.  Part of it is due to the protests last week in Conakry.  The two main political parties have been fighting again, and two people were killed, so people are worried that some of this will spill over here.  The other part is that there are so many “strangers” in town.  Boke is usually a small, quiet town, but with all this attention and activity lots of people also means lots of thieves, vandals, etc…  And the military doesn’t seem to offer much comfort as they have a reputation for bullying people into giving things. We’re told they are more interested in seeing what they can get for themselves than in actually protecting the interests of the people.  So we’ve been instructed to sit tight and try not to go through town too much.  This is a shame as we would love to be able to see how Guineans celebrate their 4^th of July.  I think there’s a possibility that we might still go into town and check things out early on Tuesday.  Andres and I might go see if it is safe and then bring our families later if things look ok.  Either way we have a day off to rest and relax. 

     “Thank you, Lord for your provision for our family.  Thank you that we have always had everything we need and more.  I pray God that you would help our school to transition well with the addition of Jesse.  Help us to be able to teach him and help him, and help him to adapt well to our routines.  Please help Nathanael not to feel left out.  Help him to be able to mix in well with the older boys and make friends with Jesse too.  Lord, please bless and protect this country as they celebrate their independence.  Please give the leaders of this country wisdom and humility to continue to lead and direct this nation.  Continue to protect the freedom of religion that exists here, so that your people might worship in freedom and continue to spread your truth to all peoples.  And, Lord, please protect us and this city during these celebrations.  Deliver us from all evil and any plans the devil may have to cause chaos, harm, and fear.  May you be glorified in these events.  Amen!”

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.”