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Becoming a blacksmith

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Learning the ropes of being a blacksmith

Learning the ropes of being a blacksmith

We’ve just given my mom a new reason to fear for the life of her grandchild…maybe not quite that drastic, but we’re definitely making her nervous!  Malachi is completely fascinated by all things dangerous.  To him, if there’s no element of danger to something then why bother doing it?  So, it comes as no surprise that he thinks the blacksmith in our village has the coolest job.  Burning coal, pounding out burning metal, and making it into tools and weapons…how cool is that?  Steve has taken Malachi to visit the blacksmith several times as he is always making tools for us to use around here.

Then Steve had the idea that instead of Malachi just watching the blacksmith at his shop – how about we recreate one here at our house for Malachi to use whenever he wants???  Doesn’t that sound like a completely safe idea?  So, we’ve been buying up the needed items to start his shop and we had the blacksmith make Malachi his very own set of blacksmithing tools.  He was so excited to see it all come together.  Then we had Sajo (the blacksmith) come out for the day to show Malachi how to position everything and how to get started on his own.  My boys were completely enthralled with the process.  It’s totally a boy thing as Steve says.

You start a fire and get the charcoal burning.  Then you have a fan that you turn by hand to blow air into the coals to keep it burning hot.  You put the metal into the coals until it’s flaming red.  Then pull it out and quickly start pounding into the shape you want.  After a few pounds the metal cools and back into the coals it goes.  You just keep doing this process.  My boys think it is the greatest thing that now they make their own arsenal of weapons right out back.

This definitely falls under that catagory of “only if you grow up in Africa can you do this”.  I told my mom that Children’s Services would probably be calling if we were home in the States.  As dangerous as it may be, I do love that my kids share in an important part of the culture they live in.  This is how stuff is made and I love that they are learning about it.  I love that it helps build relationships even more with the people around us.  It’s all about sharing in each others lives!

Keeping those coals nice and hot

Keeping those coals nice and hot

Getting started on his first project

Getting started on his first project

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Christmas

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Living here in Guinea, Christmas could really come and go and you wouldn’t really notice.  There are no lights on houses, no TV specials, no stores full of gift giving ideas, no signs of Christmas anywhere.  It can be difficult to think of all the traditions happening without us back home.  It can be difficult to read how everyone is celebrating the season…BUT, there are also great things about having Christmas over here.  It’s much easier to focus on the real meaning of Christmas when you take away all the hype and commercialism.  There was no mention of Santa Claus at all.

We read from the book of Luke several times and talked about how amazing it was that God would choose to send His Son as a baby in a manger.  Luke 2:10-11, “Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all the people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

When we read that I asked the boys why is it good tidings with great joy?  They knew it was because Jesus would save us all from our sins.  Then we started talking about all the people in our village.  I asked if their religion is full of good tidings and great joy?  They knew too that it is not.  All the people around us are just trying to do enough good things to make up for the bad things in the hope that their god will let them into paradise.  That can’t bring joy to a soul.  I just kept reading that passage and thinking how much I long for my friends and neighbors to know true joy.  To no longer strive to be good enough, but to rest in the fact that God already did everything for them.

Of course, with three boys, we did celebrate Christmas with a few traditions.  We made Christmas cookies (even as our frosting was melting :) And we sang Christmas carols and had some presents for them.  We asked our guard to give us a few hours as a family on Christmas morning without people needing us.  They think it is so incredibly odd that we would want to be alone for ANY reason!

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day visiting with our friends and family in the village – giving out gifts and offering our holiday greetings.  It’s a bit hard for them to offer those greetings back to us since it is rejoicing in the birth of Jesus, but we appreciate their efforts.  It was such a wonderful time giving gifts to others.  I had a great time of choosing clothes, toys, and candies for each family.  Our boys loved being a part of it and helping kids with their gifts.  I love that we could share our holiday with our friends this way.  I love that we can bring some of our world into theirs and let them know how much we care about them.  I have tons of pictures, but here are some of my favorites…

Taking gifts to Mariama and her kids

Taking gifts to friends and their kids

I loved seeing their excited littles faces as we visited different families

I loved seeing their excited littles faces as we visited different families

Having a fashion show trying on the new clothes

Having a fashion show trying on the new clothes

Visiting my namesake Casey with her parents Mohammed and Mawa.

Visiting my namesake Casey with her parents Mohammed and Mawa.

I love seeing how happy they were to get gifts for baby Casey

I love seeing how happy they were to get gifts for baby Casey

Sweet baby Casey and I

Sweet baby Casey and I

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Taking a step of faith

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
it can be about impossible to get a group of Africans to smile for the camera! Our group has grown a little since this photo, but these our guys!

it can be about impossible to get a group of Africans to smile for the camera! Our group has grown a little since this photo, but these are our guys!

A few months ago Steve and I started talking about wanting to do a Bible Study with the group of teenage guys who spend most of their afternoons at our home.  It’s a little scary at first to think about doing public Bible teaching in a group.  We never forget that Christianity goes against their religion and their beliefs.  Their religion (and I can’t use the specific title here) affects every aspect of their life…so, openly teaching about Christ is a big deal.  Of course, we share about our personal faith with people on a one-on-one basis, but a group Bible study is a much different story.  We spent a lot of time praying about it and in the end decided that we just couldn’t go on NOT teaching them.  We needed to be faithful to speak up and see where it led us.

It has been such a great experience for our entire family.  Our boys love Thursday nights when the whole group comes over to eat.  They hang out for a while when they first get here – playing foosball with Micah or coloring with Ephraim are the big hits!  Then it’s eating all together…let me tell you, those boys can eat!  One of their moms is the woman who does the cooking for us and when she first told us how much rice she would need each week I couldn’t believe it was true.  But, each week not a drop of food is left over.

Steve is going through the book, “The Lamb”, with the guys right now.  We wanted to start with something that wasn’t extremely threatening to them.  This book is one we’ve used with our own boys to clearly explain creation, sin, sacrifice and our need for a Savior.  Much of the story the teenagers are familiar with – it’s the details that have been changed to suit their religion.  We want to start at the beginning and lay the right foundation so they clearly see where the differences started and what affect it has.  After Steve goes through the chapter he asks questions to see if they are following him…yes, we are using candy as incentive for getting the answer right (hey, whatever works!).  They are asking good questions themselves and we are so thankful that we are taking these relationships deeper.

Keep praying for this group of young men.  Pray that they would see the truth of God’s Word.  Pray that they would have the courage to seek this truth.  Pray that we would communicate in a clear way that brings God glory!

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It’s important to them…

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
Getting some action shots

Getting some action shots

Soccer is a VERY important part of life over here.  Soccer is THE sport.  I’m amazed when I see boys and young men running in 120 degree heat gearing up for a big match.  Every boy dreams of becoming a famous soccer player.  The market walls are lined with uniforms from all different countries.  When you live in a pretty remote village with no means of transporation and nothing much to do – a soccer match with a rival village team is a big deal.  Notices are written down, (and then usually brought to my house for me to make photocopies) passed around to different groups, and everyone shows up at the soccer field to watch the big game.

It’s just a gravel field at the edge of the village, just homemade goals, but you’d think they are celebrities.  If it’s going to be a big match then they rent speakers and microphone so there can be announcers yelling loudly through the whole thing.  Our village just had a week long soccer match with different grades playing each afternoon.  The boys who spend their afternoons at our house were playing one afternoon, so Steve went with the boys to cheer them on.  He took a ton of pictures and then when they came over for Bible Study he played them as a slideshow.  They loved it.

It may seem like a trival thing, but we want to be involved even in the soccer games.  Whatever is important to them needs to become important to us.  We need to show our neighbors that we care about the things they care about.  It’s the only way that we can become a part of the community.  Praying for these moments of outreach…

Such serious determination

Such serious determination

Presenting the team

Presenting the team

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Gathering together

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
Our family at our Christmas dinner during conference

Our family at our Christmas dinner during conference

School is out for a few weeks…I’ve been looking forward to this little break from the busy routine.  It’s nice to have time to visit with the people coming to the house because I’m not trying to teach the kids at the same time.  Although, now that they know I’m on a break, it seems that EVERYONE needs to come and ask me something.  I had big plans that I was going to make the kids do more schoolwork during this break so it all stayed “fresh” in their minds, but it just isn’t happening – not that the boys mind too much!

We had our annual field conference all last week.  A guest speaker and his family came over from the States to encourage us during morning meetings.  It was nice to hear a hear someone new share things from a new perspective.  It was a very full week of meetings and events, but our kids loved the non-stop action of being with their friends.  Here’s a few photos from the week…

We had a kids day with games and activities...water balloons are a big hit over here.

We had a kids day with games and activities...water balloons are a big hit over here.

Trying to catch those water balloons being launched at them

Trying to catch those water balloons being launched at them

All our missionary kids!

All our missionary kids!

The kids did a Christmas play and Malachi was a woodcutter

The kids did a Christmas play and Malachi was a woodcutter

Micah in the play at a rapping Jesus - Ephraim is one of his rapping disciples.

Micah in the play at a rapping Jesus - Ephraim is one of his rapping disciples.

All our missionary kids singing Christmas carols at the end of their play

All our missionary kids singing Christmas carols at the end of their play

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Village happenings…

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Thursday, November 17th, 2011
The twins with their mom

The twins with their mom

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything…not for a lack of things to write about, but a lack of time to get it written.  These are some seriously hot days we’re in the midst of and I am plain exhausted by the time I put the boys to bed.  My brain has turned to a pile of mush after a day of homeschooling, visiting in the village, cooking, laundry and I’m find myself thinking “tomorrow I’ll get something posted”.

Just a little update on a few things…

The little twin babies that we are feeding in the village are doing so well.  They are getting little double chins and I’m so happy see it!  Their mom is so proud of how well they are doing and she is so excited to take them back to her home village to show her family.  She has learned how to prepare their bottles and she has learned how to make the special food for herself as well.  So, she is going to go back to her village for a week to see her other children and see if she can handle things all on her own.  We’re going to weigh the babies before she goes and when she comes back to see if they did okay.

We actually have another baby that we are feeding now too.  The mother had no milk as well and the baby was sick and starving.  With medicine he is getting healthy and both he and his mom are eating much better.  We have hired a women in the village to oversee the feeding and care for these women and babies during the days.  She is thankful for the extra funds for her family and it is a great comfort for me to know that they are all being well fed these days.

The rainy season has come to an end and I’m hoping that the huge amount of malaria illnesses will decline too.  So many people have been struggling with illnesses.  We have a lot of operations this month – it seemed we had an outbreak of appendixes rupturing there for a week or so…very odd.  But, these medical visits and hospital runs continue to give us opportunities to show love to the people of our community and gives a chance to gain their trust.

The people in the village are busy finishing up bringing in their crops.  They are hoping to sell it for a good price and enjoy one month of actually having money to buy things…then they go back to struggling again.  Everyone that borrowed rice or peanut seed from us at the beginning on the planting season is bringing us back double what they took.  We are going to have someone show us the best way to store the seed for the coming year and then next year – those who participated won’t need to borrow any funds from anyone for their fields.

I have another post that I want to write about the Bible teaching that Steve is involved in, but it will have to wait until the next post.  There is a lot going on these days…your partnership is vital to what we’re doing here!

Starting to fuss, but look at that double chin...yeah, she's growing.

Starting to fuss, but look at that double chin...yeah, she's growing.

I know he's dressed in pink, but it really is a boy

I know he's dressed in pink, but it really is a boy

This is Mamoussou - she is taking care of the moms and babies at her house

This is Mamoussou - she is taking care of the moms and babies at her house

This is my namesake, she is growing SO big. I don't think Guineans are used to seeing babies get so chubby!

This is my namesake, she is growing SO big. I don't think Guineans are used to seeing babies get so chubby!

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Tiny but growing

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Monday, November 7th, 2011
Little baby Alisan

Little baby Alisan

They were each just three pounds when they came to us.  Hard to believe that two little twins had made it that far and were still alive. Their mother was exhausted and unable to provide any milk for her babies.  We decided to have the mother move from her village – which is very remote – and come live here in our village to seek care.  A family offered to have the mother and the babies move in with them while we tried to get them on the road to recovery.  We worked with our local medical clinic to make a plan.

The mom began a diet of corn, fish, rice, and peanut.  She was so tired when she first came.  They babies were starving and crying all the time.  She was trying to feed them, but was unable to give them enough.  So, she desperately needed sleep and to get her strength back.

The twins were six weeks old with sunken faces and just looked so sad.  They were so hungry!

Using formula is a rare occurance here.  Guinea does not want mothers to use it unless absolutely medically necessary. Even if they can get a doctor’s clearance, the formula is completely beyond their financial means.  The formula costs would be the same as feeding an entire family.  And, culturally, women don’t nurse other women’s babies.  So, most often, these little ones who cannot get enough milk from their mother’s will eventually starve to death.

We did not want to see that happen with these two little precious ones!  The mother started her special diet of food to gain more milk and we started giving the twins formula for every other feeding.  It was a big deal to see two babies with bottles in the village. Many other ladies came and sat around to watch and I was so excited that I could be there to show them exactly how to prepare the bottles – and I showed them how to feed them.  They drank it right down!  I was so afraid it wouldn’t work, but they were really hungry.  Their mom was so visibly relieved that she couldn’t stop smiling and thanking me.

It’s been a few weeks now and they are really growing.  They’ve gained over 2 pounds each!  Their mom is so much stronger and more rested.  They were telling me that in their village, when the ladies saw how tiny these two were, that everyone told them they needed to poison the babies.  People said that they were demons.  But, the mom said that she knew she was supposed to go for help.  She says that we missionaries were brought here to show everyone in her village that these babies aren’t demons.  Some people came from her village this past week and she showed them the twins and said “see, you believed they should die, but look at how they’ve grown”.

I love that we can show Christ’s love in ways like this.  I love that God continues to bring people into our lives and gives us the opportunity to be a blessing.  Please keep praying for this family…keep praying that through all this their hearts may become open to hearing the Gospel!

So tiny

So tiny

The twins with their mom

The twins with their mom

Growing more every day

Growing more every day

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Building with a purpose

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Thursday, October 27th, 2011
Putting the trusses together

Putting the trusses together

Steve loves when his construction skills can be a part of seeing Bible teaching move forward.  He had a great opportunity to see that happen a few weeks ago.

A team of co-workers, living about 2 hours away, had just begun daily Bible teaching sessions when disaster struck.  Everyone was meeting together in a building that the village uses for community events.  Right before the teaching began, the roof fell in on everyone.  Thankfully there were only minor injuries, but looking over the damage revealed that faulty trusses were to blame. That’s where Steve was able to help.

The missionary team there talked with the village and the leaders asked to be taught how to build them correctly.  The missionary team then asked if Steve could make a trip out and see the job done.  Steve headed out with his right hand man, Mohammed, and a couple other guys from here on center.  Steve was glad to see excitement in the faces of the men as they started the project.

It was a lot of work to get everything built and set up in just over a day, but when you’ve got the huge team that Steve was working with – you can get a lot done in a short amount of time!  Steve really enjoyed his time there.  Getting to know people and teaching building skills is his favorite combination!  He’s thankful that he can use his skills to help the village move forward with their Bible teaching…

Here’s a few photos of them hard at work…

The portable command center

The portable command center

It takes a lot of people to hoist those trusses

It takes a lot of people to hoist those trusses

Working with the team

Working with the team

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Answered Prayer

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Visiting with friends

Visiting with friends

Ever have one of those times where the thing you have been praying to happen suddenly does happen and then you want to tell God “wait, I’m not quite ready”?  Yeah, that’s me this week.

Our prayer for so long has been that God would not just give us surface friendships with the people around us, but would give us the real friendships where we truly learn what is going on in peoples lives.  In the months since we’ve been back, God has been answering that prayer, but it feels like things exploded in the last couple of weeks.

We have spent more time at the hospital in the last two weeks doing “ambulance runs”, visiting the sick, getting to know doctors than we did in the two months before.  It’s given us an incredible amount of time to sit with families, show compassion, and show God’s love.  It’s a been time of everything from infected teeth to circumcisions to malaria and typhoid.  Pray that these moments would continue to draw us closer to our community.

Our son, Mohammed, has a very sick, elderly mother who lives about 10 hours away from here.  She has been getting more ill in recent weeks, so Mohammed has brought her here to our town to look after her.  He believes that she is possessed by demons because she talks to people who aren’t there.  We think that she had a stroke some time ago and may be suffering the effects of that.  It’s hard to know because the medical care is inadequate when it comes to serious problems.  It could be Alzheimer’s, it could be any number of things, we just don’t know.  Mohammed has been having chickens sacrificed and concoctions being made by people doing traditional African medicine.  While we don’t agree with it, we are thankful that he’s being honest enough to tell us about it and not hiding it.  It’s giving us opportunities to share what we believe with him.  We are encouraging him to seek the counsel of a Guinean pastor who understands this culture much better than us.  It’s an overwhelming situation for him and we pray that we can be an encouragement to him.

Our family in the village decided to circumcise their girls this past week.  It was really hard for us and we had shared with them that we didn’t agree at all with what they wanted to do.  But, while it makes me angry that they chose to do it – I am thankful that they didn’t hide it from me.  That they are willing to talk about it.  Because you can’t begin to change things if you don’t even know they are happening, right?

A while ago we wrote about a little boy that was near death when he came to us.  Since then we’ve been getting to know the family and developing a friendship with them.  They live not far from us and the father has had Steve come to visit his fields a couple of times.  He told Steve this past week that because we saved his son, he wants his entire extended family to hear the Bible teaching! How awesome is that???  So, Steve is beginning this new endeavor this week.

These are just a few of cultural insights that have come up this week.  There are many more, but this is already getting pretty long!  We are so excited to see God throwing open doors for deeper relationships…our heads are spinning with it all, but we’re thanking Him for answered prayer!

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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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