July 29, 2006

• Update on K, missionary to Africa

  [Michael
  here.  I am sorry I have not had time to blog lately.  Life
  goes on here.  Rafael, Chris, Benji, Sergio, Valerie and her
  little ones and Jorgito are all here in Stephenville, and I haven't
  even gotten to see them yet.  Sometimes busy is better,
  though.  Anyway, I wanted to pass along this update on K.]
  

  Prayers
  I’ve prayed since coming to Africa:

  Lord,
  help me to eat this and may it not make me sick.

  Lord, why
  did you make mosquitoes?

  Lord,
  part the waters and get our truck to the other side.

  Thank
  you, Lord, for fish (meat).

  Lord,
  help me make it back to our compound before I pee on myself.

  Lord,
  thank you for the rain (and cool breeze).

   

  Things
  I now say on a regular basis:

  No,
  I’m not married. No, I’m not getting married now/here.

  No,
  I can’t teach you to drive our truck.

  May
  God give you blessings.

  Can
  you say that again?

  I’m
  sorry I don’t speak French.

  No,
  I don’t understand./Yes, I understand.

  What
  are you doing?

  No,
  I don’t know how to … (cook African food, pound grain, dance, etc.)

  What
  does that mean? Can you give me an example?

  Huh?

  Yes,
  I eat rice/to/mangoes/peanuts.

  They
  are the same?/ They are not the same.

  I’m
  full. Yes, very. Thanks be to God.

  African
  men make a daily ritual of drinking their tea. Most afternoons and evenings
  they can be found slurping the boiling hot liquid in groups of three or four.
  Tea here is made in tiny little pots (making it HIGHLY concentrated), is packed
  with sugar (ya, even more than we use), and sometimes has a mint-like leaf
  added to it. It is drunk in rounds of three, with the first round being the
  strongest and the third being the sweetest. Each round everyone drinks about a
  swallow’s worth from a tiny little glass.

  I
  had gotten used to the difference in the tea here and accepted that it just
  wasn’t like Momma makes it when our sister gave us a cup of what they call
  “lipton” the other day. This is made more by the women and tasted just like
  some good ‘ole Southern sweet tea. Reaiah is from the north, but after a few
  months of African tea, both of us agreed that THAT is what tea is supposed to
  taste like...

  
  
  

   

  
  
  

  Answers to
  prayer:

  ~ The Lord
  continues to bless my friendship with Reaiah; we get along so well and keep
  each other laughing all the time

  ~ we have spent a
  lot more time with the women in our compound and our relationships with them
  are growing slowly as our language progresses

  ~ our family is
  beginning to see that we aren’t like the Americans they have seen in movies or
  heard about; we have had several chances to talk to friends about God, prayer,
  and modesty

  ~I’m developing a
  taste for rice three times a day and don’t even mind the slime so much anymore

               ******

  Continue to
  pray for…

  ~ language
  learning and more friends to talk with

  ~ our
  relationship with our village family: that we will be a blessing to them as
  they have generously taken us in and that we will show them with our lives that
  we serve and honor God

  ~ our
  relationship with God while in the village: that we will be listening for all
  He wants to show us

  • 6:01 pm
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