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There’s a new Casey in town

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Sunday, October 16th, 2011
Just hours after baby Casey was born

Just hours after baby Casey was born

Our “son” Mohammed and his wife just had a baby girl! We praise God that everything went smoothly and that she and Mawa are healthy. This is not something to be taken lightly in this culture by any means.

We were so honored when he came to tell us that they decided to name her Casey after me. It’s a very big deal in this culture to have a baby named after you. The family is in essence saying that I get to parent her along with them. She is just as much my child as she is theirs.

The name is supposed to be a secret until the religious leader says it aloud during the naming ceremony, but Mohammed needed to practice saying Casey with us a few times beforehand! She had her naming ceremony on the 8th day, her head was shaved and prayers were said according to their religion. Then everyone practiced saying Casey over and over again :)

Right after her naming ceremony we headed into town to have her first vaccination done. We went to what is considered the pediatric clinic and waited in a room with a bunch of other parents for the nurses to give the shot. They just go down the row and prick them all one by one. Not quite the bedside manner that Americans are used to! They were pretty surprised to see the white lady in the crowd. Mohammed and Mawa explained that baby Casey is my namesake and everyone agreed that it was a good thing. I love getting community approval on things :) . As soon as the vaccination was finished, the nurse said the price and everyone looked at me to pay up. Having a namesake also means you get to pay for lots and lots of things, but I think it will be worth all the cost!

How exciting to be able to play such a role in the life of a child here. We pray that this is the opportunity God uses to see her entire family come to know Him. Thanks for standing behind us in prayer and support!

The proud parents

The proud parents

Steve and I at the baby naming ceremony

Steve and I at the baby naming ceremony

baby Casey getting her head shaved during the ceremony

baby Casey getting her head shaved during the ceremony

Malachi and baby Casey

Malachi and baby Casey

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Guinea is back in school

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
Proudly showing off their purchases

Proudly showing off their purchases

School officially started this week here in Guinea and I’m not sure who’s more ready – the kids or Steve and I.  The last month has been a constant whirlwind of activity as students have tried to earn the money needed to go back to school.

Although to actually go to school is free – you have to pay for a uniform, shoes, notebooks, chalk, a little chalkboard, and you have to pay for every exam that you take.  So, for most families in our village, these costs add up to just too much.  When you are just trying to keep everyone fed, there isn’t the extra to send eight kids to school.  To get even four kids outfitted with everything that’s required it would be two months salary or more.  There are no bank loans, layaway or credit cards.  So, most families just choose the one or two that will get to go.

All that to say that the summer break can get crazy for us as everyone wants to earn enough to go to school.  Kids even as young as eight were here asking for whatever work we could come up with.  Steve got creative with some different projects and we had quite the summer work crew.  It’s great to see the teenagers and young adults working hard to earn their school money.  They kept envelopes here with us and we added to their savings.  They were all very excited to come and show us their supplies and let us know that they were set to go.

We have a couple of students who need to village this year to go on with their education.  They have had to find a room to rent with someone and are trying to adjust to living more on their own.  We told them that we would help them with an “allowance” each week so that they could concentrate on their studies and not have to worry about how to pay for that room or what to eat.  The stipulation is that they have to bring home a note from their teacher on Saturdays that tell us that they are working hard and doing well in school.  I feel a bit parental about it, but they all said it was a good idea and would make them work harder.  If you’d like to “sponsor” any of these boys, just let us know.

Of course, not everyone can work for their school fees.  We have quite a few single moms that are just unable to come up with the money to send their kids to school.  Actually, it’s not just the single moms.  Any mother – married or not – is responsible for what her kids need for school.  We sent them to town to make a list of what they would need and how much everything would cost.  We are so thankful for the generosity from people back in the States that made it possible for us to sponsor so many kids to go to school.

We were more than ready for the work projects to come to an end, the lists come to an end, and the kids to head to school.  But, again, we thank God for these opportunities to show Christ to our neighbors and be a part of our community.

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My afternoons…

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
Just a little smile

Just a little smile

Being a missionary isn’t usually a whirlwind of excitement.  Sure there are exciting days and those are the moments we all love to write home about.  But, for the most part, it’s just those quiet moments of sharing life together.  I love my afternoons in the village.  I love being in their houses, around their cooking fires and hearing all about their days.

It’s those times when I find out how everyone is doing, who is sick and needs medicine, and the latest news of what’s happening in the village.  I love being just one of the ladies as toddlers crawl all over my lap and kids dig for candy in my bag.  I love talking about the important things in their life.  It’s in those moments when I remember why it’s so important to be here.

We’re here to share in the day to day.  We’re here to know their joys and heartaches.  We’re here to have the friendships that allow us to share our faith.  For me, it all begins in my afternoons…

Mothers and daughters preparing the meal together

Mothers and daughters preparing the meal together

Girls go around selling just a woman needs for that evenings meal...one onion, a little smoked fish, one square of seasoning, a few peppers...only buying for one meal at a time.

Girls go around selling just what a woman needs for that evenings meal...one onion, a little smoked fish, one square of seasoning, a few peppers...only buying for one meal at a time.

Sweet little Daouda - I love cuddling this little cutie!

Sweet little Daouda - I love cuddling this little cutie!

All in an afternoon - dinner, babies, kids running everywhere, just the usual craziness

All in an afternoon - dinner, babies, kids running everywhere, just the usual craziness

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Grilling out

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
New experiences

New experiences

Yeah, I’m not sure why we feel the need to create a fire and roast hot dogs when it’s SO unbelievably hot.  Maybe because we’re from Michigan and this is just what you do in the Fall.  Maybe because I’m really sick of cooking and this was a super easy meal for a group of boys.  Whatever the reason, we created a little sensation with this “meat on a stick” thing.  As is usually the case, our family really can’t do anything just as a family.  This is good in the sense that we have lots of opportunities for building friendships and bad in the sense that it drives us a little crazy – but that’s a whole other post :)

Anyways, we made our little fire and soon we had very curious boys wondering what we were going to do with this fire.  Yes, they are used to their moms cooking over a fire, but it’s rice and sauce in pots – and there were no pots to be found.  They wondered why Monsieur Steve would be collecting small sticks and sharpening the ends – are we going hunting???  But, then I pulled out the packs of hotdogs and showed them how to put them on the stick.  This whole process of roasting the hot dogs was honestly quite hilarious.  They didn’t like the idea of patiently waiting for the whole hot dog to be ready, so they would heat it up a minute – take a bite and put it back in the fire for another minute.  I have never seen packs of hot dogs be eaten so fast.

For the most part, I love sharing our lives with the people around us.  Yes, there are the moments where I just want to hide when they are calling at the door.  But, we have such an opportunity to get to know people, to show them we care, and live life with them.  That’s what we’re here for!  The next day, people were telling me all about this new food everyone wants to try…but, I’m not sure I’m up for village wide hot dog roasts quite yet!

He's just too funny

He's just too funny

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This isn’t a story you’d hear in the States

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
Bummed he can't go running around with his friends

Bummed he can't go running around with his friends

Do any of you remember the Little House on the Prairie episode where one of the kids falls down a well? Or the news story about the little girl who fell down a hole in her backyard and the whole country watched as she was being rescued? These memories stick in our minds (or maybe just mine) because it’s so out of the ordinary for us. We don’t say “oh yeah, he fell down a well last week” in passing conversation. But, shockingly it happens way too often over here and a few weeks ago we had a huge scare with Moustapha.

Everyone here gets their water from a hand dug well – lowering a bucket down to the bottom and pulling up the water. There are many wells in the process of being dug, or ones that are waiting for the cement walls to be built up around the outside. A group of kids were running through someone’s courtyard and they all ran over a rotting piece of plywood that was covering a well that had been dug, but wasn’t finished. The plywood broke, sending Moustapha down to the bottom of the well. That’s a 60 foot fall…. and into the water at the bottom…and the boy can’t swim…and the bottom is filled with natural gas in the air…yeah, pretty scary. One of the village men was quickly tied to a rope and lowered into the hole to go down and get him. (by the way, he needed to be tied to the rope because the gases in the bottom of the wells make people pass out quickly and they needed to be able to haul them up in case that happened)

They came running in to get us telling us that they had just pulled Moustapha out of the well. This is where our American minds say “WHAT??? You pulled him out of what???” People were starting to gather at the house the way they do when someone is dying! Steve quickly decided that he needed to get him to the hospital for x-rays. His mom was crying so hard that the Father decided she couldn’t go and sent his 2nd wife to the hospital instead. (Imagine that one in the states!)

So, of course, we get to the hospital and find out that there is no power for the x-ray machine, so he’ll have to wait for the next day. God was definitely protecting this little guy. We really expected a lot worse news than just a sprained ankle. They put him in a cast anyways on the back of his foot/leg to keep him from walking on it. But, just a few days later, the cast was off because they said “it needed to be washed”. I laugh even as I write that.

The good news is that Moustapha is again chasing after all the bigger kids (with a little limp that gets better each day). We went to the family that owns the well that he fell in and asked what they were going to go about it since a kid had fallen in it. They looked at us a little funny and said “he was the 4th kid that’s fallen in and no one’s died yet.”

…Let’s see if you count all the cultural differences between us in that story!

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It’s been a long month…

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Thursday, September 1st, 2011
Praying at certain times of the day

Praying at certain times of the day

This week brought the end of Ramadan for everyone in our village.  It’s been a month of fasting, special prayers, and feasting at night.  A month more dedicated to pleasing their god than any other month.  It’s been a very long month for me, so I can’t imagine how long it was for all of them.  It was filled with frustrating conversations with moms who won’t drink all day and so have sick, starving babies.  It’s filled with days of watching people work in their fields – sweating terribly – and they won’t even swallow their spit.  It’s filled with special, more fervent praying.  It’s hard for us to sit back and watch all this – watching how hard they are all trying to make their god happy.  To make themselves worthy of his favor.

We’re thankful for the opportunities to learn more about their religion, however, and to learn how we can challenge those beliefs.  We’re thankful that even though we don’t share those beliefs, we are able to still care immensely for each of them.

This month came to an end with a day of feasting, which turned out to be a tough day for us.  In past years we have been a part of the feasting that we were invited to and gave out candy to kids as part of their customs.  But we have been talking with someone who left this religion and became a believer and his thoughts have really challenged us.  He advised us not to share in the feasts by visiting with people and to not follow the culture on this day especially.  He said that we have to stand firm on this or the people will think that we are in fact being won over to their religion.  He shared a lot from his heart and since he knows so much more than us, we decided to follow his lead.

We’re glad for the opportunities to learn from the wisdom of those around us.  We pray that we can continue to use this guidance so that we may make a greater impact here.  Pray for the people here.  Pray for their hearts and minds to see that everything they try in vain to do is really worthless.  Pray that they will seek after Jesus who already did all the work for them.

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This week…

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
I try so hard to get candid photos of people, but as soon as moms see the camera they want to pose their kids for me.

I try so hard to get candid photos of people, but as soon as moms see the camera they want to pose their kids for me.

He is completely adorable. He was just so happy that I had start taking pictures.

He is completely adorable. He was just so happy that I had start taking pictures.

My afternoon visits are mostly watching the women and girls prepare the nightly dinners.

My afternoon visits are mostly watching the women and girls prepare the nightly dinners.

I absolutely love this photo of Ami.

I absolutely love this photo of Ami.

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Quite the celebration

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Thursday, August 11th, 2011
He's got some amazing moves

He's got some amazing moves

I have a strict rule about dancing in public…I don’t do it.  No, it’s not because I’m against dancing.  I’m just against people watching me.  I was quite pleased that I’d managed to avoid being the center of attention at the various weddings and ceremonies that I’ve gone to over here.  Steve just gives in to the requests and does a little dance to satisfy the crowd.  Well, my luck had to run out sometime, right?

Steve’s very good friend, Mohammed, who works with him every day on every project just got “married”.  Little background here…he came to us months ago to let us know that his girlfriend was expecting a baby and he needed to begin the marriage process.  He gave kola nut to her family as an offering and to let them know that he was serious about marrying her.  Since then, we have been following this marriage journey with him as he seeks to fulfill his obligations to her family.

This is no one step process.  It means talking to a lot of people who each have to give their blessing, giving gifts to all those people and several ceremonies to actually be considered married.  We are learning a lot of culture through this process!  Since Mohammed’s family lives in another village about 10 hours away and Steve is his boss – we are seen as his parents and are responsible for him.  While we are thankful that we can be a part of his life this way – it also means that we get to pay for a lot of things!

Mohammed came to us and told us that Mawa’s family had given him 10 days to put together the wedding ceremony.  He also needed Steve to come and speak as his representative.  Yeah, that’s a new one for us.  Steve sat with Mohammed, the religious leaders of the village, the men of Mawa’s family and the leaders of the neighborhood as they discussed the price that Mohammed would need to pay to marry Mawa.  There’s a crazy amount of things that he needed to buy for the family – rice, bowls, fabric, soap, a suitcase…the list went on and on.  But, he agreed to it (and looked to us with hopeful eyes!).

Which brings us to the ceremony…after days of getting things together (speakers, sound system, gifts, food, fish, chairs…you get the idea) we were ready.  We knew it was going to be a long day and we also knew that there is only so much that Ephraim can handle.  You can be given a time when things will start, but it could be hours after that time that things actually begin.  We had Mohammed call us when it looked close to starting.  We arrived to a yard full of people and were given our usual seats right in the middle of everything (this way everyone can watch us at all times!)

Steve was taken to the “big man” meeting where they finished discussing the bride price.  He said he really didn’t know what was going on since they were speaking in a language other than French.  After a while, they all came back and the head religious leader sat in the center of the circle to begin prayers.  They said prayers, gave out the gifts – all the while Mawa is sitting there waiting to find out if the men in her family will give the final okay for her to be married.

…SO, all this leads us back to the dancing!  Then they start the party…Steve had brought along a dance mix CD that he’d compiled himself for the occasion :)  They start playing the American music and calling out our names.  Normally this is where I just smile politely and stay in my seat, but they weren’t having it at this party.  The next thing I know I find myself in the middle of a huge circle trying not to completely humiliate myself.  What a huge relief it was when my sons decided to steal the show and dance like they were in some kind of competition!  Ephraim went all out with it.  He was HILARIOUS.  He had the entire group laughing their heads off.  I don’t even know where he got all those moves – I just know I was glad that everyone had their eyes on him and not me!

Everyone sitting around as prayers are said

Everyone sitting around as prayers are said

Mawa sitting with her mother waiting to her if the bride price has been accepted

Mawa sitting with her mother waiting to her if the bride price has been accepted

Ephraim and Mohammed

Ephraim and Mohammed

That's my boy

That's my boy

All dressed up Guinean style

All dressed up Guinean style

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This week…

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
A baby from the village. I asked her mom why she put eyeliner on her six week old baby and she said "that's just we do" - like it was the most normal thing in the world.

A baby from the village. I asked her mom why she put eyeliner on her six week old baby and she said "that's just we do" - like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Steve, Malachi and our "guard dog" Tongo. He doesn't really leave the back porch, but I do feel safer with him around at night.

Steve, Malachi and our "guard dog" Tongo. He doesn't really leave the back porch, but I do feel safer with him around at night.

Just a photo I liked of one of the kids in the village that I see a lot of.

Just a photo I liked of one of the kids in the village that I see a lot of.

Yup, it was as bad as it looked. Ephraim got stung by a bee and his eye was completely swollen shut for three days!

Yup, it was as bad as it looked. Ephraim got stung by a bee and his eye was completely swollen shut for three days!

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At the rivers edge

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

Getting ready to take the plunge

Getting ready to take the plunge

A few weeks ago we were able to be a part of something really great.  The local church in town had 15 people who were ready to be baptized.  This is a very big deal in Guinea.  I know, it’s a big deal everywhere – but here, being so public about your life puts you at great risk and can have severe consequences.  For most of us, we’re familiar with baptisms within the safety of our own church walls.  Here, it’s a trip to the river and you stand before everyone and tell them that you’ve put your faith in Christ.  Not an easy thing to do in a country like this.  And we sure made a lot of noise as we went in a caravan of vehicles from the church to the river.  In pure Guinea style, all the teens packed into the back of pick-up trucks and sang, clapped and yes, even danced as we drove down the road.  Everyone gathered at the rivers edge as the pastor shared from the Bible and prayed for each one being baptized.  Micah’s drum teacher, Samuel, was the first one to go and had asked us to take lots of pictures.  Each one came into the water, shared a brief testimony (which was being translated into a few languages for everyone else) and then they were baptized.  Every one on shore sang, clapped and ran to hug each one as they came out of the water.  It was a really great thing to be a part of.  Sometimes I get bogged down in the thoughts of how things aren’t moving fast enough, but then there these moments that remind me that God is in control and at work here…even when it’s not on in our time frame!

The pastor praying before the baptisms

The pastor praying before the baptisms

Being congratulated by members of the church

Being congratulated by members of the church

People from the church there to encourage the new believers

People from the church there to encourage the new believers

The whole group together afterwards

The whole group together afterwards

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