Goodbye party with Mama's family

Sadly, it’s taken a while to get anything new posted to our site.  Traveling, adjustments, the loss of Steve’s mom, severe computer problems have all led to a lack of postings.  We’ve been home over a month now and we look back with great fondness for our last days in Guinea.

Saying goodbye to our host family

The boys are really going to miss their drum teacher, Samuel

Mama and I with Ephraim at our going away party

Steve and Ephraim with our host father and four of his boys - Mo, Seiku, Ronnie and Abu.

Less than five weeks until we head for the States!  It’s becoming more and more real everyday that soon we’ll be leaving.  People around us ask about it a lot and tell us that they would really like to see the States – no hinting around!  The past two years have been filled with more experiences that I could begin to write about and a major part of our lives has been our host family.  We wanted to do something special for them to let them know much they mean to us.  We wanted to do something that they would remember for a long time.  There is another family living in our old house now going through the same orientation that we did.  So, our host family has come to mean a great deal to them as well.  We were excited that they wanted to join us in this big splurge of a trip for the family.  So, we decided to take them all on a trip to the beach!

The kids had never been to the beach – you should have seen their faces!  It was pure excitement from the moment we arrived until we reluctantly herded them all in the car.  At first they wouldn’t go near the water and the waves were terrifying.  They hung on to us for dear life and squealed with each wave.  We took them on walks down the beach, found jellyfish, explored the rocks and they loved every minute of it.  It was wonderful when the tide went out and they could play and splash – they kept washing each other like it was bath time.  Where we went there is a great restaurant and we treated everyone to a delicious lunch – the teenagers were collecting leftovers in bags before we were even done eating!  It was a really great day together – just relaxing and enjoying each others company.

Ronnie loving those mangoes

Splashing in the shallow water - much better after the tide went out

Enjoying the beach

Maimouna and Ronnie at the hospital

My dear friend, Maimouna, has a very sick little boy.  Baby Ronnie is the little guy who was born in our car a few weeks after we arrived in country.  You can guess that this big event speeded up the bonding process!  We’ve treasured being a part of all his milestones since then.  So, we were pretty concerned when we found out he’d been steadily growing sicker and sicker over the past week.  He’d become completely lifeless, stopped eating, walking and talking.  We and our co-workers paid to have him admitted to the hospital and began his treatment.  After a week long stay filled with blood transfusions, IV’s and medicine – I’m still not sure we’ve figured out what’s wrong with him.  He is still having trouble eating, he’s still lifeless and just not himself.  Since his mom thinks he’s slowly on the mend, I told herthat we could wait a couple more days to go back to the hospital.  But, if he continues to remain so tired and sick, I want to take him back in for more tests.  Please pray for wisdom in this situation – it’s so often that parents wait until it’s too late to see doctors and I want to do whatever it takes to get Ronnie healthy.  At the same time, I don’t want to overstep my bounds in our friendship.

On a side note:  During a visit to see Ronnie and Maimouna at the hospital, I saw that every patient was outside.  Some were lying in beds, some laying on the ground, some hooked to IV’s with flies everywhere.  It was quite a sight – seriously, some people looking very close to death, wounds from fresh injuries and surgeries.  ALL people who should have been in rooms and not outside during the hottest part of the day.  I asked Maimouna why everyone was outside.  She told me that the hospital told her that there were too many mosquitos in the rooms and everyone needed to stay outside while they sprayed with poisons.  I know that I will never complain about medical care again!

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday - he looks a little overwhelmed with all the attention

Mo is like another son for me.  For our first year here, he played in our house with Ephraim just about every day.  He learned the English words for “stop, more, please, mine, and share” very quickly during these play sessions with Ephraim.  His home is a never ending flurry of chaos, screaming and people hitting on the kids.  Our house was quiet (for the most part), had toys he’d never seen and had lots of snacks sent from the states – he was in heaven!  His French is actually pretty good for a six year old and I at least had some talk to during those difficult days.
When we moved here to our mission center, it was hard to say goodbye to him.  I feel responsible for him.  I hate the thought of people abusing him and being mean to him.  I see how “hard and tough” he is becoming because it’s the only way to survive here and it makes me ache for him.  I wish I could do more for him, but I can’t swoop in and take him away.  I have to pray for him, show him love when I can and encourage his family to show kindness.
Mo’s birthday was this past week.  He had been reminding me for a month that his birthday was coming up because he knew that we would do something to celebrate with him.  There is a wonderful pool about an hour from us that has been closed for the past six months but thankfully just reopened.  We decided to head there for the day and give him a day of fun with just us.  He loved being there.  He smiled from the moment we got there until we left for the day.  He didn’t even want to get out to eat – which for him is major!
After a long and tiring day we headed back to his house.  His mom had some guys from town bring a stereo system to the house and all the neighborhood kids came over for a dance.  We cut the cake into the tiniest pieces to serve everyone – basically the kids got just a taste of chocolate cake!  You should have seen the crowd so eager for some cake.
I’m thankful that we can be a part of Mo’s life.  It’s not an easy road that he has ahead of him.  I pray that we can be a light to him – that he sees something different in us and he will be drawn to it.  I pray that we can be an influence of change in his family.  I thank God for this opportunity to make a difference in his life.

Dance party for the neighborhood

Loving that pool

After our time in the village, we headed to our old home to share in New Years Eve with our old host family.  Even though we aren’t living next door to them anymore, we have worked really hard to keep up our relationship with everyone there.  We want them to know that we care for their family very much.  We had thought we would just arrive and give out everyone’s gift and come home.  But, we arrived to a frantic household all working to prepare a feast for us.  We were honestly a bit overwhelmed by it all.  We hadn’t given them more than an hours notice and they were in the midst of preparing a feast.  How humbling for us as we saw that they had run out to purchase new glasses, silverware and plates so that we would dine in style.  We kept apologizing for all the work that they were going to for us, but they continued telling us that “this is what you do for family”.  It was a team effort with kids, nieces, nephews, aunts and everyone in the family working to give us a special dinner.  When it was ready we were ushered into the living room to eat while everyone waited on us.  We even dined by candlelight – since there is no electricity in the house.  There was crackers first, fish,salad, oranges, and my favorite – fried plantains – they had even purchased juice boxes for the kids and handing them to our boys.  I know that’s a special treat that their own kids will rarely ever experience and I kept telling the boys to be especially thankful.  After dinner, we were able to give them our gifts.  Toys and clothes for the kids, a huge sack of rice for the family and my favorite thing – I had made a book online of our first year here in Guinea with our host family.  I filled the pages with our families experiencing our “firsts” together.  I was so excited to give it to my friend.  I know that pictures are a special treasure here and not something to be taken lightly.  I wanted her to see how much her family means to me – that we are so thankful for the part they played and continue to play in making Africa home to us.  The evening touched my heart in an immense way and we are grateful.

There are a lot of times when we’re unsure how much is “too much” for our kids. There are some experiences that we have to pass on simply because with three little ones we need to choose carefully what adventures are do-able. This trip out to the baptism we knew would be a long, hot and tiring day, but we didn’t miss out on being there to encourage these new believers.
I asked my friend, Maimuna, what would be the best thing to wear and she said that I should have a new African dress made for the occassion. I had a tailor in town make me an African dress – complete with the traditional headdress. I honestly felt pretty odd wearing it, but Maimuna kept assuring me that it is better to dress African rather than American at these ceremonies. We watched the ladies prepare the traditional rice and sauce for the group meal and were amused by the kids trying to sneak a few bites when no one was looking. The believers from several villages all gathered together to sing songs of praise and to listen to a message from a pastor. It was really interesting to hear the message being translated into several tribal languages so that everyone there could understand it. Maimuna is not a believer and I was glad that there was this opportunity for her to see believers in community together and hear the message. After the church service we all ate rice and sauce together. The ladies sat together with their bowls and the men with theirs. There are so many times that I wish I could speak all the different languages around me. Listening to the ladies share in laughs and stories together was one of those times. After the meal we walked to the river to watch a group to six adults give a testimony of their faith and to be baptized. We take for granted how easy it is to express our faith in the U.S. It’s a completely different story here in Guinea. By saying that you are now a follower of Christ you are turning back on the traditions and faith of your entire family. You could be completely shunned by everyone you know, lose your job, lose the ability to buy and sell items you need for living or even possibly lose your life. So, to see these men and women publicly declaring their faith is an amazing thing. It was also really impacting to see this large group of people praying as a body for these new believers. We pray that they will be able to stay strong in the midst of the persecution to come.