Steve and Casey Cretsinger Experiencing Tribal Missions in Guinea, W. Africa A twist to the school year…
First day of school - 5th grade, 4th grade, and 1st grade!
This week “facebook” has been filled with everyone’s posts and photos about the first day of school. It’s hard to believe that we are finishing up our 5th week over here. It’s definitely turning out to be a different kind of year for us.
We were so lacking in teachers for our missionary kids this year that all the mothers came together and are sharing in home schooling responsibilities. So, as a mom who never imagined herself homeschooling, I’m now teaching the 4th grade. Thankfully, Malachi has enough excitement over this turn of events to cover both of us. He is thrilled to have his mom as his teacher – he just wishes that we could have school in our pajamas while still in bed. Instead, we are doing school together with his friend, Aidan, out on our front porch. For the most part I think things are going well. The constant interruptions can be hard to handle from folks in the village who have no idea why school shouldn’t be interrupted. It can make for some very long days without any “mommy time”, but we’re surviving. Who of you is ready to make the move to Guinea and take over schooling our kids?
There is one teacher available and she took on the 5th and 6th grades for the year and so Micah is still leaving the house and heading a real classroom. He would not be so excited to have his mom as his teacher! He is Mr. Social and with only me to entertain, he would be devastated. He is enjoying being a part of a class of six (I know, big numbers over here!). He is still completely obsessed with football and recites all the players and team stats for me on a continual basis. He reminds us frequently that he is missing out on the football season in America and he would make the sacrifice of going back to live with Gramma and Grampa if we wanted him to 
Ephraim is doing first grade with our co-workers who are also teaching their daughter in the same grade. He is always ready and excited to head out the door in the morning. He is so excited to come home and show us his papers at the end of the morning. He is picking up on reading and getting better everyday. It’s hard to believe that my little boy is in First grade already!
5 weeks down – many, many more to go! I’m sure that this year will be filled challenges, changes and some really great times. We’d appreciate your prayers as we make these adjustments to our ministry and already busy schedule.
This isn’t a story you’d hear in the States
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!
Tags: friends, relationships, village life
Picture of the week…
Seriously, is that not the cutest thing?
It’s been a long month…
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.
Tags: Africa, faith, relationships, religion, village life
This week…
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.
My afternoon visits are mostly watching the women and girls prepare the nightly dinners.
I absolutely love this photo of Ami.
Tags: Africa, relationships, village life
Quite the celebration
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
Mawa sitting with her mother waiting to her if the bride price has been accepted
Ephraim and Mohammed
That's my boy
All dressed up Guinean style
Tags: Africa, friends, relationships, village life
This week…
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.
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!
Micah hits the double digits
You can tell he wasn't quite feeling himself even though he's smiling
I know it’s been over a month since Micah’s birthday, but what kind of mother would I be if I didn’t post a few pictures of his big day. It’s a pretty big milestone to reach the double digits. There’s a rule here on the center that you have to be 10 years old to open the sports equipment shed at the playground…believe me, my boys eagerly anticipate turning 10. It’s quite the rite of passage over here.
The day before Micah’s birthday he woke up with a high fever and complained of a terrible headache. He spent the day laying around and sleeping. We hoped he would feel better after a good nights sleep, but he still woke up with the high fever, stomachache and headache. We started him on a malaria treatment just to be safe. Not the greatest way to spend your birthday, but he had a good attitude about it.
We made the next day the one to be celebrated. We spent the day with friends and our usual trip to the pool. (I know it may seem like we are there a lot, but it is seriously the ONLY place we have to go every few weeks) I was so glad he made such a quick recovery and could enjoy the milestone of turning 10.
Singing Happy Birthday at the pool
Opening the presents from us, Gramma and Grampa that had been sent long ago and hidden away
At the rivers edge
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
Being congratulated by members of the church
People from the church there to encourage the new believers
The whole group together afterwards
Tags: church, friends, prayers, relationships
Working with the team
Setting up shop in another village
One of Steve’s goals for this term was that he would be able to use his abilities in building to build deeper relationships with the men around us. Since we’ve come back it seems there have been a million opportunities to see this happen.
I think everyone had been secretly writing lists of things they hoped Steve would take care of when he got back because those lists were ready within a day or two of arriving! It’s a great thing that there are so many men looking for work because Steve just puts the word out that there is a job to be done and he’s got workers lined up ready to go. He’s been staying in other villages working with other missionaries to do everything from their roofs to adding on to what they have. He’s created his own little team of guys that travel with him…working, eating and even sleeping under the stars together. It’s given him great opportunities to share his life with these guys.
We’d like to ask you to especially pray for Steve’s right hand man, Mohammed. He is such a great guy who spends quite a bit time with us. We pray that God would continue to give him curiosity about the things of God and that we will be an example to him of a loving and godly family.
Tags: relationships, village life, work project
