I want to thank you all for your support. I'm not just saying that. I really can't express my thanks for all of you. Without your prayers, it wouldn't have been what it was. Without your financial support, I would have sat home all Christmas break pondering what could have been.
I will pick this blog back up again when in the days leading up to the walk across Michigan, so be looking for that. In the meantime I am going back to posting my thoughts in my normal blog. You are all welcome to check it out and read what I have to say.
Buhcaw.blogspot.com
See you there.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Life after Africa
So here I am, sitting in a coffee shop in Grand Rapids. It's the coldest day of the year (not that such a thing would be hard, being only 16 days into it).
It's been a week since I got back, and I've been busier than ever. My classes started on Monday and it's been a solid amount of work. I have to say, it would have been pretty nice to have a week or so to debrief upon our return. Alas, life moves on and I was thrown back into it at full pace. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to just sit down and ponder/think/pray about my experiences. I think, finally, I will be able to set aside some time for that this weekend.
While I was over in Mali, I saw a need that couldn't wait around for help. If you've been keeping up with my posts, you already know what I'm talking about. As soon as I got back I jumped on it. I really can't explain how amazing the last week has been, even within the busyness. The feedback that I have gotten for my efforts has been so incredibly encouraging.
You can find everything in better detail (along with pictures) on the website that I set up:
www.JessicasHouse.info
On the website, it details the ministry that I am referring to, as well as the need.
So here is what's happening:
On either the 6th or 7th of February (more specifics to come) we are holding a benefit concert to raise support for this ministry. The concert will have a few local bands to enjoy, and a great opportunity to fellowship (hang out) with each other.
Later in February, we are having an event called "Walking to a Brighter Future". The walk will be roughly 2 and a half weeks and will be from the east coast of Michigan to the west coast (Marine City to Holland). I will be walking the entire distance (Lord willing), and I am strongly encouraging anyone to join me for segments of the journey. I also encourage anyone walking with me to raise support from their church/friends/family to be donated to Jessica's House.
I am asking anyone to help support me by pledging $10/mile for however miles you wish to sponsor (the entire walk is 200 miles). All the proceeds will go directly to Jessica's House ministry.
Yes... it is February... and yes, it will be cold! The need is urgent and I want to show everyone my 100% devotion to this cause. I will do whatever it takes to raise this money.
God moves in incredible ways when we begin to take care of his children. I have seen this at camp and I have seen this in Bamako. He is doing incredible things, and I find pure joy in helping Him... whatever the cost!
More info to come...
Side rant (for what it's worth):
People ask me "what is the spiritual aspect of this ministry?". I assure you that there is a spiritual aspect to the ministry, as I talk about on the website. I am also excited to see what God will lead the ministry to do once these initial needs have been met! Never-the-less I am often discouraged when this is the first thing that people ask. There was a guy named Maslow that said something about the importance of meeting one's physical needs BEFORE it is even possible to meet any of their other needs (Maslow's hierarchy of needs). Jesus said something about feeding the hungry too. He even acted on it (His ministry wasn't all about feeding hungry people, but as evident in feeding the 5000, He knew quite well that meeting their physical needs was a must before trying to meet their spiritual needs!). Don't you think that if we meet people's physical needs, God will do amazing things?
Maybe we ought to step back, and refocus on loving people by meeting their physical needs, rather than only worrying about cramming Bible jargon into their ears. I mean... I'm all about preaching the Gospel, but people aren't going to be receptive to it if you haven't shown them that you care.
I apologize if you disagree, let's still be brothers and sisters and carry on.
More deep thoughts on my experiences to come (maybe once i get the chance to sit down and think about it myself!).
It's been a week since I got back, and I've been busier than ever. My classes started on Monday and it's been a solid amount of work. I have to say, it would have been pretty nice to have a week or so to debrief upon our return. Alas, life moves on and I was thrown back into it at full pace. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to just sit down and ponder/think/pray about my experiences. I think, finally, I will be able to set aside some time for that this weekend.
While I was over in Mali, I saw a need that couldn't wait around for help. If you've been keeping up with my posts, you already know what I'm talking about. As soon as I got back I jumped on it. I really can't explain how amazing the last week has been, even within the busyness. The feedback that I have gotten for my efforts has been so incredibly encouraging.
You can find everything in better detail (along with pictures) on the website that I set up:
www.JessicasHouse.info
On the website, it details the ministry that I am referring to, as well as the need.
So here is what's happening:
On either the 6th or 7th of February (more specifics to come) we are holding a benefit concert to raise support for this ministry. The concert will have a few local bands to enjoy, and a great opportunity to fellowship (hang out) with each other.
Later in February, we are having an event called "Walking to a Brighter Future". The walk will be roughly 2 and a half weeks and will be from the east coast of Michigan to the west coast (Marine City to Holland). I will be walking the entire distance (Lord willing), and I am strongly encouraging anyone to join me for segments of the journey. I also encourage anyone walking with me to raise support from their church/friends/family to be donated to Jessica's House.
I am asking anyone to help support me by pledging $10/mile for however miles you wish to sponsor (the entire walk is 200 miles). All the proceeds will go directly to Jessica's House ministry.
Yes... it is February... and yes, it will be cold! The need is urgent and I want to show everyone my 100% devotion to this cause. I will do whatever it takes to raise this money.
God moves in incredible ways when we begin to take care of his children. I have seen this at camp and I have seen this in Bamako. He is doing incredible things, and I find pure joy in helping Him... whatever the cost!
More info to come...
Side rant (for what it's worth):
People ask me "what is the spiritual aspect of this ministry?". I assure you that there is a spiritual aspect to the ministry, as I talk about on the website. I am also excited to see what God will lead the ministry to do once these initial needs have been met! Never-the-less I am often discouraged when this is the first thing that people ask. There was a guy named Maslow that said something about the importance of meeting one's physical needs BEFORE it is even possible to meet any of their other needs (Maslow's hierarchy of needs). Jesus said something about feeding the hungry too. He even acted on it (His ministry wasn't all about feeding hungry people, but as evident in feeding the 5000, He knew quite well that meeting their physical needs was a must before trying to meet their spiritual needs!). Don't you think that if we meet people's physical needs, God will do amazing things?
Maybe we ought to step back, and refocus on loving people by meeting their physical needs, rather than only worrying about cramming Bible jargon into their ears. I mean... I'm all about preaching the Gospel, but people aren't going to be receptive to it if you haven't shown them that you care.
I apologize if you disagree, let's still be brothers and sisters and carry on.
More deep thoughts on my experiences to come (maybe once i get the chance to sit down and think about it myself!).
Friday, January 9, 2009
Back safely... and bored already
Well, Here I am, safe and sound in Grand Rapids Michigan.
The trip back was fine, no real problems to speak of.
The last few days in Bamako were great. we spent a lot of time with the street kids, and we fell in love with them. It's amazing how close you can get to people that don't even speak your language. They had such an impact on my life. This is what seems to happen everytime: I do something to try and make an impact on someone's life, and then they are the ones that impact my life.
I'm not gunna lie, I really wanted to take them back with me.
maybe someday I will
or maybe I'll go there
Where do I go from here though? what do I do now?
I've witnessed the discards of society, and I've fallen in love with them.
Every time I see another luxury that I have I get more sick.
How many movies do I see in a year? How long would that feed these boys? How long would it educate these boys?
These are the type of questions I have to deal with now.
Did you know that instead of going to the theater to entertain myself for 2 hours, I could feed one of my new friends for several days?
I got an email from Jan saying that Jessica called her the morning after we left hoping that we had missed our plane. She said she really misses us.
right now, I'm sitting on my couch, cold, bored, and wondering why I left Africa.
For now my mission field is Grand Rapids, but that doesn't mean I won't go back.
That concludes the storyline for now. Jet-lag is in full swing, so later, I will post some thoughts on the trip, so prepare yourself for some things that may be hard to hear, and harder to take to heart.
The trip back was fine, no real problems to speak of.
The last few days in Bamako were great. we spent a lot of time with the street kids, and we fell in love with them. It's amazing how close you can get to people that don't even speak your language. They had such an impact on my life. This is what seems to happen everytime: I do something to try and make an impact on someone's life, and then they are the ones that impact my life.
I'm not gunna lie, I really wanted to take them back with me.
maybe someday I will
or maybe I'll go there
Where do I go from here though? what do I do now?
I've witnessed the discards of society, and I've fallen in love with them.
Every time I see another luxury that I have I get more sick.
How many movies do I see in a year? How long would that feed these boys? How long would it educate these boys?
These are the type of questions I have to deal with now.
Did you know that instead of going to the theater to entertain myself for 2 hours, I could feed one of my new friends for several days?
I got an email from Jan saying that Jessica called her the morning after we left hoping that we had missed our plane. She said she really misses us.
right now, I'm sitting on my couch, cold, bored, and wondering why I left Africa.
For now my mission field is Grand Rapids, but that doesn't mean I won't go back.
That concludes the storyline for now. Jet-lag is in full swing, so later, I will post some thoughts on the trip, so prepare yourself for some things that may be hard to hear, and harder to take to heart.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Back to Bamako... Finding a Holy Fool
Well it has been quite a few days since I've posted, so I guess I have a lot of ground to make up.
Christmas was good. After going to bed late Christmas Eve, we had to wake up early Christmas morning. At the church there was a long Christmas service and then a potluck... which of course was delicious; and some of the food items were unidentifiable, but ya just have to close your eyes and eat it. Afterwords, we retreated back to our house and opened presents. I got a book about Mali, some bowls, and a prayer rug.
In the evening I worked on the network some more with Ernie.
Friday was a full day. In the morning we journeyed over to the campground. Basically, its a rustic retreat center. The pastor leads literacy camps and things of the like. I asked if they ever do youth camps (kinda my specialty) and they said that there used to be some a long time ago, but it would just take someone to run with it and motivate people, otherwise it wouldn't happen.
later in the morning, our friend Eddy came over and taught us some more Bambara. We learned the numbers associated with their money system. confusingly, they have a different number sequence when dealing with money than they do with counting other objects and such. everything in the money system is based off of the number five instead of 10 like ours. so, in order to say 25 you would pronounce it 5 5's.
In the afternoon I gave another lesson to Eddy on the guitar.
Saturday was kind of the calm before the storm. In the afternoon I gave another lesson to Eddy, his final lesson. He came along very well and I bet he'll make a great guitar player. The rest of the day was spent packing, saying goodbye to people, and going to the market.
Sunday, we got up very early (5:30), packed up the car, and headed off to Bamako (about a 7 hour drive). Along the way we stopped and looked at a nice waterfall.
Once we got to Bamako, we spent the rest of the evening getting settled in.
Monday we took a taxi (something I'm getting used to, but it's still weird to me) over to Jessica's warehouse (the street kids ministry) in the afternoon. For Monday, we were just going to check it out and look around. Jessica is this lovely nigerian woman who has given up her whole life to take care of these children. It's literally all she does. She doesn't have another job, she just takes care of the boys. She survives on some money that her sister sends her. She doesn't even speak their language. With all of this despair around her she still has hope and dreams. At the moment, these kids hang out and sleep in this warehouse (think of one of those rental storage garage's. its about 20x20 feet). There are anywhere between 30-50 boys that inhabit this place. Jessica took us over to a house that she hopes to rent out for the boys. I was shocked when we walked around in it. This house has at least 8-10 bedrooms, several bathrooms, and lots of living space. Jessica has plans of providing sleeping space for up to 200 boys in this house! Some of the kids would stay there all the time and be enrolled in her program where they will be tutored by teachers until they reach an appropriate grade level for their age. Unicef has said it would provide beds, school supplies, and teachers even, but not until they get the house (and they wont provide any money for the house). The landlord was touched by the ministry and is offering the house to Jessica and the boys for $800 a month... for a 10 bedroom house!! are you kidding me? what landlord in their right mind would ever consider letting 200 boys live in one of their houses, let alone lower the rent for such a cause. God is truly working here. Sadly, they have no one to provide for any of the rent.
Jessica is a trained nurse who could be making a nice amount of money, but instead she has given up everything for these boys.
I have finally seen a holy fool in person and in action; someone who takes Jesus seriously; someone who cares more about the cause of Jesus than her own well-being.
This forces me to ask myself, how can I be like this?
Tuesday we went to a missionaries house. She had a shop in her house that she stocks with Malian craft items. so we did a little Christmas shopping.
In the evening we took off for Jessica's warehouse again. This time we passed out the notebooks we had prepared and began teaching the boys how to read and write their numbers. There is something strange and rewarding about teaching 15 year old's and 8 year old's how to write the number 1.. and at the same time awfully depressing that a 15 year old has never written a 1 before.
Our taxi driver is pretty much the coolest guy. His name is Ousman. He waits for us while we work with the kids, and even comes in and helps us teach. He knows just a little bit of English (maybe as much as the spanish I knew by the end of highschool). So Ousman talks to the boys in their language (Bambara) and translates it to english and made up sign language for us.
Wednesday we went back to the warehouse in the afternoon and interviewed some of the boys so that we could better understand where they come from and why they are there. Ousman, our taxi driver, translated for us again. We also worked on some of their numbers.
In the evening we relaxed a bit and enjoyed the sounds coming from the street. At midnight it sounded like someone was bombing us. apparently, the people here love fireworks :-)
------------
Thoughts:
Bamako has been really exciting so far, but at the same time I really miss Kadiolo. It was nice there because we got to know some locals really well and we saw them everyday. There was kind of a sense community... what I've been longing for... and then I left.
Christmas was good. After going to bed late Christmas Eve, we had to wake up early Christmas morning. At the church there was a long Christmas service and then a potluck... which of course was delicious; and some of the food items were unidentifiable, but ya just have to close your eyes and eat it. Afterwords, we retreated back to our house and opened presents. I got a book about Mali, some bowls, and a prayer rug.
In the evening I worked on the network some more with Ernie.
Friday was a full day. In the morning we journeyed over to the campground. Basically, its a rustic retreat center. The pastor leads literacy camps and things of the like. I asked if they ever do youth camps (kinda my specialty) and they said that there used to be some a long time ago, but it would just take someone to run with it and motivate people, otherwise it wouldn't happen.
later in the morning, our friend Eddy came over and taught us some more Bambara. We learned the numbers associated with their money system. confusingly, they have a different number sequence when dealing with money than they do with counting other objects and such. everything in the money system is based off of the number five instead of 10 like ours. so, in order to say 25 you would pronounce it 5 5's.
In the afternoon I gave another lesson to Eddy on the guitar.
Saturday was kind of the calm before the storm. In the afternoon I gave another lesson to Eddy, his final lesson. He came along very well and I bet he'll make a great guitar player. The rest of the day was spent packing, saying goodbye to people, and going to the market.
Sunday, we got up very early (5:30), packed up the car, and headed off to Bamako (about a 7 hour drive). Along the way we stopped and looked at a nice waterfall.
Once we got to Bamako, we spent the rest of the evening getting settled in.
Monday we took a taxi (something I'm getting used to, but it's still weird to me) over to Jessica's warehouse (the street kids ministry) in the afternoon. For Monday, we were just going to check it out and look around. Jessica is this lovely nigerian woman who has given up her whole life to take care of these children. It's literally all she does. She doesn't have another job, she just takes care of the boys. She survives on some money that her sister sends her. She doesn't even speak their language. With all of this despair around her she still has hope and dreams. At the moment, these kids hang out and sleep in this warehouse (think of one of those rental storage garage's. its about 20x20 feet). There are anywhere between 30-50 boys that inhabit this place. Jessica took us over to a house that she hopes to rent out for the boys. I was shocked when we walked around in it. This house has at least 8-10 bedrooms, several bathrooms, and lots of living space. Jessica has plans of providing sleeping space for up to 200 boys in this house! Some of the kids would stay there all the time and be enrolled in her program where they will be tutored by teachers until they reach an appropriate grade level for their age. Unicef has said it would provide beds, school supplies, and teachers even, but not until they get the house (and they wont provide any money for the house). The landlord was touched by the ministry and is offering the house to Jessica and the boys for $800 a month... for a 10 bedroom house!! are you kidding me? what landlord in their right mind would ever consider letting 200 boys live in one of their houses, let alone lower the rent for such a cause. God is truly working here. Sadly, they have no one to provide for any of the rent.
Jessica is a trained nurse who could be making a nice amount of money, but instead she has given up everything for these boys.
I have finally seen a holy fool in person and in action; someone who takes Jesus seriously; someone who cares more about the cause of Jesus than her own well-being.
This forces me to ask myself, how can I be like this?
Tuesday we went to a missionaries house. She had a shop in her house that she stocks with Malian craft items. so we did a little Christmas shopping.
In the evening we took off for Jessica's warehouse again. This time we passed out the notebooks we had prepared and began teaching the boys how to read and write their numbers. There is something strange and rewarding about teaching 15 year old's and 8 year old's how to write the number 1.. and at the same time awfully depressing that a 15 year old has never written a 1 before.
Our taxi driver is pretty much the coolest guy. His name is Ousman. He waits for us while we work with the kids, and even comes in and helps us teach. He knows just a little bit of English (maybe as much as the spanish I knew by the end of highschool). So Ousman talks to the boys in their language (Bambara) and translates it to english and made up sign language for us.
Wednesday we went back to the warehouse in the afternoon and interviewed some of the boys so that we could better understand where they come from and why they are there. Ousman, our taxi driver, translated for us again. We also worked on some of their numbers.
In the evening we relaxed a bit and enjoyed the sounds coming from the street. At midnight it sounded like someone was bombing us. apparently, the people here love fireworks :-)
------------
Thoughts:
Bamako has been really exciting so far, but at the same time I really miss Kadiolo. It was nice there because we got to know some locals really well and we saw them everyday. There was kind of a sense community... what I've been longing for... and then I left.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Some pictures
Hello all! I am trying to post some pictures, so we'll see if it works.
the post after this one is from today too, so read that as well.
the post after this one is from today too, so read that as well.
Joyeux Noel!!
Greetings from Africa!
Sadly, the internet was out for the last days and a half. I am not too saddened when the internet goes out, since, after-all, it is Africa. The sad part of this story is that I wrote my whole blog post offline, and just as i had finished, the computer froze up.. and it's all gone. So now I am writing for you the second edition of my blog post.
Sunday (21st)
Sunday morning was my first African church service experience. It was organized quite like most of ours in America... you know... singing, then an offering, then the sermon. On the other hand, it was so different. There singing is so much different than ours. I like it a lot. They say that when Americans sing it sounds like we're crying. I have some video of their singing, so you can see it when I get back. often, it is just the voices and percussion. They go all out with the percussion though. They have djembe's, a goat skin box (for lack of a better name), marimbas, and shakers of various kinds. Also on sunday morning, we had the delight of listening to special music by a very famous West African singer. Jan told me that she often sings at weddings, but for each wedding she writes a new song... just for that wedding. It tells of the brides life story and then the grooms life story, and is often about 20 minutes long.
The sermon was in Bambara, with a French translation. Ernie translated it again for me in English. So the message had to go through 2 other people to get to me (kind of like the game telephone... except in this case sometimes things don't translate correctly no matter how good your translation skills are).
Since it was the sabbath, we just relaxed for the afternoon.
In the evening, I gave another guitar lesson to Eddy (he is the son of pastor Ibrahim). If you've never tried, I would encourage you to try and teach someone something when you don't understand each others language.. Its a riot.
Monday (22nd)
In the morning we worked on these notebooks that we will give to the kids in the street kids ministry in Bamako. Hopefully, we will be teaching them to read and write their numbers in Bambara, so we wrote them down in each of the notebooks.
In the afternoon we walked over to observe a literacy class that the pastor's wife teaches. Jan said that the women that come are not allowed to come to church on Sunday because of their Muslim family, so it is a great ministry.
In the evening I gave another lesson to Eddy. We told him that he could have the guitar in exchange for teaching us Bambara, which he was very excited about.
Tuesday (23rd)
One of the guys who works with the drama team came by to take us on an adventure. We walked across town and met an old lady who had just returned from her pilgrimage to Mecca. There were a lot of people there and a lot of children. Once we took our cameras out the children swarmed us trying to get their picture taken. Then we went across the street and met her son who had also gone to Mecca. Often, when they come back from Mecca, they will wear white for the rest of their lives, just to show that they have been there. We also visited another church across town and then went to the market.
In the afternoon I went over to the radio station and helped the news guy. I showed him a website that had news in french for West Africa, and I showed him how to use Google so that he could find more sites like it.
After this, we went to get our clothes from the tailor.
Tuesday evening I gave another lesson to Eddy.
Wednesday (24th)
I'm not sure what day it started, but I'm going to stick it in the Wednesday post. Rachel has these children stalkers and it's hilarious. They come over all the time and ask to speak to just her. Then today (Thursday) they wanted a picture with her and a picture of just her. okay, so... she doesn't think it's as funny as I do.
Wednesday evening was the big party at the church, and they really know how to celebrate. We were there from 8:30pm until midnight, but it kept going after we left. There was a lot of dancing and singing. I think that pictures would justify it better than me explaining it, so just wait and see.
______
It is interesting to experience the children here. some of them run away as if we are evil (we have been told that when the little kids are bad their parents tell them that the white people will come and take them away... hence the negative reaction to seeing one); Most, however, come running from all directions, hoping we will shake their hand or take their picture. It's a very strange thing. One of my favorite kids is Daniel, who was very shy at first, until I made him a paper airplane. It's the little things in life... so cool.
Prayer requests:
-I seem to have caught myself an African cold. I've had it since Sunday and it seems to be leaving, but I would appreciate your prayers for my health.
-Pastor Ibrahim is traveling to Bamako tonight, so pray for safety on the roads.
-We are traveling to Bamako on Sunday, so pray for safety on the roads for us. It's about a 7 hour drive.
Sadly, the internet was out for the last days and a half. I am not too saddened when the internet goes out, since, after-all, it is Africa. The sad part of this story is that I wrote my whole blog post offline, and just as i had finished, the computer froze up.. and it's all gone. So now I am writing for you the second edition of my blog post.
Sunday (21st)
Sunday morning was my first African church service experience. It was organized quite like most of ours in America... you know... singing, then an offering, then the sermon. On the other hand, it was so different. There singing is so much different than ours. I like it a lot. They say that when Americans sing it sounds like we're crying. I have some video of their singing, so you can see it when I get back. often, it is just the voices and percussion. They go all out with the percussion though. They have djembe's, a goat skin box (for lack of a better name), marimbas, and shakers of various kinds. Also on sunday morning, we had the delight of listening to special music by a very famous West African singer. Jan told me that she often sings at weddings, but for each wedding she writes a new song... just for that wedding. It tells of the brides life story and then the grooms life story, and is often about 20 minutes long.
The sermon was in Bambara, with a French translation. Ernie translated it again for me in English. So the message had to go through 2 other people to get to me (kind of like the game telephone... except in this case sometimes things don't translate correctly no matter how good your translation skills are).
Since it was the sabbath, we just relaxed for the afternoon.
In the evening, I gave another guitar lesson to Eddy (he is the son of pastor Ibrahim). If you've never tried, I would encourage you to try and teach someone something when you don't understand each others language.. Its a riot.
Monday (22nd)
In the morning we worked on these notebooks that we will give to the kids in the street kids ministry in Bamako. Hopefully, we will be teaching them to read and write their numbers in Bambara, so we wrote them down in each of the notebooks.
In the afternoon we walked over to observe a literacy class that the pastor's wife teaches. Jan said that the women that come are not allowed to come to church on Sunday because of their Muslim family, so it is a great ministry.
In the evening I gave another lesson to Eddy. We told him that he could have the guitar in exchange for teaching us Bambara, which he was very excited about.
Tuesday (23rd)
One of the guys who works with the drama team came by to take us on an adventure. We walked across town and met an old lady who had just returned from her pilgrimage to Mecca. There were a lot of people there and a lot of children. Once we took our cameras out the children swarmed us trying to get their picture taken. Then we went across the street and met her son who had also gone to Mecca. Often, when they come back from Mecca, they will wear white for the rest of their lives, just to show that they have been there. We also visited another church across town and then went to the market.
In the afternoon I went over to the radio station and helped the news guy. I showed him a website that had news in french for West Africa, and I showed him how to use Google so that he could find more sites like it.
After this, we went to get our clothes from the tailor.
Tuesday evening I gave another lesson to Eddy.
Wednesday (24th)
I'm not sure what day it started, but I'm going to stick it in the Wednesday post. Rachel has these children stalkers and it's hilarious. They come over all the time and ask to speak to just her. Then today (Thursday) they wanted a picture with her and a picture of just her. okay, so... she doesn't think it's as funny as I do.
Wednesday evening was the big party at the church, and they really know how to celebrate. We were there from 8:30pm until midnight, but it kept going after we left. There was a lot of dancing and singing. I think that pictures would justify it better than me explaining it, so just wait and see.
______
It is interesting to experience the children here. some of them run away as if we are evil (we have been told that when the little kids are bad their parents tell them that the white people will come and take them away... hence the negative reaction to seeing one); Most, however, come running from all directions, hoping we will shake their hand or take their picture. It's a very strange thing. One of my favorite kids is Daniel, who was very shy at first, until I made him a paper airplane. It's the little things in life... so cool.
Prayer requests:
-I seem to have caught myself an African cold. I've had it since Sunday and it seems to be leaving, but I would appreciate your prayers for my health.
-Pastor Ibrahim is traveling to Bamako tonight, so pray for safety on the roads.
-We are traveling to Bamako on Sunday, so pray for safety on the roads for us. It's about a 7 hour drive.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Experience of a lifetime
I have been keeping an eye on the Michigan news sites and finding some entertainment in the current weather situation there. Here, it is the other extreme. Today was probably around 95 degrees.
Thursday was market day, and also the first full day we were in Kadiolo. We went to the market in the morning to buy some food. We also bought some cool fabric and took it to the tailor to have it made especially for us. They should be ready on Tuesday. For the fabric plus the tailor expense it will come to $16 (US) for a shirt and pants. Then in the afternoon we went back to the market to buy each other Christmas presents.
Also on Thursday, we got a tour of the ministries in this village. There is a Christian radio station in town, which is also in the same building as the church. The radio station is very important as it reaches 3 countries. It has won several excellence awards in categories not specific to Christian radio. Another ministry, which is closely related to the radio station, is the drama team. The drama team writes and records radio dramas that are very entertaining and Bible based. This country is 90% Muslim, but people all over gather around radios to hear these stories. The impact that this ministry is having is immeasurable. We couldn't meet most of the drama team because they were selected by the region (region is like a state) to represent them in the national arts competition and that is where they are now. This is by no means a Christian oriented competition, and it is very exciting that the team is getting national recognition.
Some of the languages around here are very tonal languages. So Jan was telling me that some of the early missionaries had tried to translate some of our hymns, but they didn't work because the meanings of words are based on pitch. This is the case so much so that sometimes when a musical instrument is being played it is actually saying words. The instrument is actually talking! When they had translated the Jesus film into one of these languages, they made intro music for the video that was just for that culture. When they were playing it on the marimba, loads of people started walking down the street towards them. Jan asked why and the lady there said that the music was saying "come, come and hear the story of Jesus". That is pretty cool.
Friday morning I did some work on the computer network system with Ernie. They really have quite the setup here. Ironically, my parents can't get internet at their house near Ludington, but we have broadband out here in the bush.
In the afternoon we went into town to buy some notebooks for the packets of stuff we will be giving the kids at the street kids ministry in Bamako. Then later we got a lesson in Bambara, one of the local languages. We had to learn the numbers because we will be teaching the kids at the street kids ministry how to read and write the numbers in Bambara.
In the evening, I gave a guitar lesson to a boy from the church.
Saturday was a very exciting day. We got up at 5 in the morning so that we could leave by 6am and drive 2.5 hours to another village. Here we attended a New Testament Bible dedication. since 1949 these people have been working on translating the New Testament into this language called supyire. It is finally done and the first books have been printed. There were hundreds of people there including the mayor and other figure heads of the local and regional government. To see the joy that these people had now that they had a Bible in their own language made me so much more appreciative of my own Bible. The entire ceremony was in French and Supyire, but I was able to understand what was happening. Few people get to have the experience that I had today, I really can't express how grateful I am for having it. Ernie said that in all his time spent over in this part of the world, he also had never experienced a Bible dedication. There are now 4 out of 40 Malian languages with at least a New Testament. That means that 90% of the languages here in Mali do not have a Bible. That makes me want to read mine a little more often.
The whole ceremony was about 4 hours long.
Thursday was market day, and also the first full day we were in Kadiolo. We went to the market in the morning to buy some food. We also bought some cool fabric and took it to the tailor to have it made especially for us. They should be ready on Tuesday. For the fabric plus the tailor expense it will come to $16 (US) for a shirt and pants. Then in the afternoon we went back to the market to buy each other Christmas presents.
Also on Thursday, we got a tour of the ministries in this village. There is a Christian radio station in town, which is also in the same building as the church. The radio station is very important as it reaches 3 countries. It has won several excellence awards in categories not specific to Christian radio. Another ministry, which is closely related to the radio station, is the drama team. The drama team writes and records radio dramas that are very entertaining and Bible based. This country is 90% Muslim, but people all over gather around radios to hear these stories. The impact that this ministry is having is immeasurable. We couldn't meet most of the drama team because they were selected by the region (region is like a state) to represent them in the national arts competition and that is where they are now. This is by no means a Christian oriented competition, and it is very exciting that the team is getting national recognition.
Some of the languages around here are very tonal languages. So Jan was telling me that some of the early missionaries had tried to translate some of our hymns, but they didn't work because the meanings of words are based on pitch. This is the case so much so that sometimes when a musical instrument is being played it is actually saying words. The instrument is actually talking! When they had translated the Jesus film into one of these languages, they made intro music for the video that was just for that culture. When they were playing it on the marimba, loads of people started walking down the street towards them. Jan asked why and the lady there said that the music was saying "come, come and hear the story of Jesus". That is pretty cool.
Friday morning I did some work on the computer network system with Ernie. They really have quite the setup here. Ironically, my parents can't get internet at their house near Ludington, but we have broadband out here in the bush.
In the afternoon we went into town to buy some notebooks for the packets of stuff we will be giving the kids at the street kids ministry in Bamako. Then later we got a lesson in Bambara, one of the local languages. We had to learn the numbers because we will be teaching the kids at the street kids ministry how to read and write the numbers in Bambara.
In the evening, I gave a guitar lesson to a boy from the church.
Saturday was a very exciting day. We got up at 5 in the morning so that we could leave by 6am and drive 2.5 hours to another village. Here we attended a New Testament Bible dedication. since 1949 these people have been working on translating the New Testament into this language called supyire. It is finally done and the first books have been printed. There were hundreds of people there including the mayor and other figure heads of the local and regional government. To see the joy that these people had now that they had a Bible in their own language made me so much more appreciative of my own Bible. The entire ceremony was in French and Supyire, but I was able to understand what was happening. Few people get to have the experience that I had today, I really can't express how grateful I am for having it. Ernie said that in all his time spent over in this part of the world, he also had never experienced a Bible dedication. There are now 4 out of 40 Malian languages with at least a New Testament. That means that 90% of the languages here in Mali do not have a Bible. That makes me want to read mine a little more often.
The whole ceremony was about 4 hours long.
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