Enjoying lunch with the guys

One of my favorite reasons for having my parents come visit us a couple years ago was that they could now REALLY know what our life was like over here.  I can try to paint a picture in an email or on this blog, but to truly understand – well, it’s just something you have to experience.

So, we were pretty excited when our friend Chris wrote to us and wondered what we would think of him coming for a visit.  We were a bit skeptical at first that it could really happen because coming here for a visit is no small feat.  There are shots needed, passports needed, entry visas needed, expensive plane tickets needed…and the list goes on.  I honestly waited for an email that said it was just all too much to go through for a short visit.  BUT, he persevered through it all and endured the very long flight to join us here in Guinea.

Since Chris is a builder in the States, we thought it would be great for him to get involved with one of Steve’s building projects he has going on.  One of our missionary co-workers is moving to a new village and Steve is busy building her a new home.  So, Chris was able to spend quite a bit of time with Steve out in this other village building a house brick by brick.  He slept out in that village, ate rice and sauce like everyone else, joined in the camaraderie with the other guys (even without really being able to speak to them!) and caught a glimpse of how Steve spends his days.

Steve cutting through the brick walls to put in windows

The house that they are in the process of building

His days were also filled with meeting endless amounts of people who were so eager to shake his hand.  We took him to so many homes to greet our friends here.  We kept explaining to him that it wasn’t so much that WE thought he needed to greet all those people, but that THEY would be very offended if we didn’t introduce Chris to them.  He heard how all of those people had come into our lives and how God continues to grow those friendships.  He held some of the babies that we are providing food for and heard how God has blessed their growth.  He went on medical runs with Steve and listened as we tried to help those who were hurting.  We went to church in town and he was able to see believers standing up for their faith in this difficult setting.

Chris getting in on a soccer game with kids in the village

Chris with Steve and the teens who meet here on Thursdays

He was also able to see the realities of life as a missionary…people at the house ALL the time, no privacy, the heat, the stresses of so many depending on us, missing family and the familiar…he is able to pray for us in a new way now that he has spent some time here with us.

So, in light of all these things he has seen and the people he met, I’m sure it’s not the brick work that he will remember most from his trip.  I wish he could write to you of his experiences himself…he’s been gone a few weeks now and it almost feels unreal that he was even here.  His trip was especially encouraging to Steve who truly appreciated the long talks and thoughts Chris had to share.

We praise God for allowing Chris to come and see our lives here firsthand and we thank God for how he used the trip in each of our lives.  Continue praying for wisdom and clarity for us in the days ahead.

Visiting our neighbors

Being a foreigner in a small village is not easy.  It’s not easy to always feel like you are on the outside of an inside joke.  Or to wonder what happens you walk away.  I’ll admit that it can make you feel a bit paranoid.

I have to keep reminding myself that with moving into a small village where everyone is related to one another and has known each other their whole lives, acceptance will take time.  There is a lot of mystery and skepticism about foreigners.

So, I find great joy in the little milestones.  I am encouraged with every bit of progress.  I tell Steve with much excitement about every interaction where I don’t feel like the outsider.  I’m so thankful to see how much has changed since we first moved here.  Several times recently someone has said to me “how do you know about that?” and several times someone has said “you really know what’s happening.”  That’s exciting stuff for me!

It takes a long time to get the place where you get told what REALLY happened.  It takes a while to get to the place where you know how so and so is related to so and so and how that affects the situation.  I am so thankful that people are finally telling me the whole story (or more of the story anyway).

Like I said, this doesn’t happen overnight.  We’ve been trying so hard to BE out with our neighbors – spending time with them and being a part of what is going on in their lives.  Sometimes it’s just sitting around talking – other times it’s joining in on work that needs done.

The Compo family has become pretty special to us.  We spend quite a bit of time with them in lots of different ways.  Titi, is one of the teens who is always here.  He and his brother have a small little room next to their parents home that they live in.  Like pretty much every other house in the village, it is made of mud bricks.  It needed to be taken apart because it was crumbling and put back together with new mud and many new bricks.  We decided to go out one day while Chris was visiting so we could all help take it down.

Let’s just say that a mud brick house is easier to take apart than our American style ones!  Our group of guys had that thing down to the foundation in just over an hour…pretty impressive.  Everyone got in on the action and I was happy to let the men work while I snapped pictures.  We pray that these times of joining our neighbors in the daily grind of life continues to show them how much we care about them.  We want true friendships that lead to people accepting Christ as their Savior.  Small steps moving forward in everything…

One by one the bricks are pulled from the mud that surrounds it

Micah using those muscles to haul lots of bricks

Malachi and Ephraim breaking apart the mud holding the bricks

The hard working crew

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

It takes a lot of people to hoist those trusses

Working with the team

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.

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.

Hand cutting the beams for the roof

Steve’s brother in the village has been working hard to build a new house.  It’s quite the project when you make the mud bricks yourself, stack them yourself, carve out wood for the roof yourself…you get the idea.  Most of the house was finished when we got back from our time in the States, but a key part was still missing.  A few weeks ago, Y, came to ask if his big brother Steve would be able to give him the money to purchase tin for the roof.  He already bought half and just needed to come up with the other half.  It’s a huge amount of money “village speaking” so we decided to take a few days to pray about it and seek some guidance about what was the best thing to do.  We had another missionary tell us that helping the family that has adopted you is a normal thing to do and helping in a big way for a project like house building is also normal.  We prayed about it and decided to go ahead with the gift.  Y was, of course, very happy with the answer.  We wanted to be involved with the project as well, so Steve was out there with the other guys – mostly watching because how many guys can really be up on those beams?  But, it takes lots of guys to make sure it’s getting done the right way  I was able to help out with making some lunch for the work crew one day.  I went with the easy choice of spaghetti, garlic bread, and cookies.  We are thankful for the opportunities to be involved with what’s happening around us.  Steve really enjoys his times with the guys and being able to joke together.  Just keep praying for these friendships to continue to grow.

Nailing down the tin

I told you it takes a lot of guys to make sure it's done right!

Enjoying some spaghetti

Our friends house before the new grass roof was put on

Our idea and the Guinean idea of “fixing up the house” are two vastly different things.  I have never heard of anyone in the States mentioning the layer of mud they need to apply to the walls or the grass they need to cut from the fields to put on as the roof.  There is a serious rush to get these home improvement projects finished up before rainy season begins.
Everyone KNOWS that rainy season begins May 15th, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is prepared for it.  It’s not until people are panicked by the huge storm that came through that people get serious about things.  We can tell they are getting serious because suddenly everyone needs help RIGHT NOW.
We are thankful for these opportunities to get involved and help with projects.  They give us a chance to be a part of the community and show our care and compassion.  Here’s some pictures of various projects going on right now.

The older men just get to sit and watch and pass out advice for how to do things.

Steve helping the guys throw the piles of dried grass up to the guys on the top who put it in the right place - there is definitely an artform to the toss.

Our family in the village just built a new house made from mud bricks made months ago - now they put a mud covering over it.

Steve and all his helpers building the new playground

I put some pictures on my facebook page the other day with some of the projects that we have been working on around the mission center.  Most of my posts on here are of things that are happening in the village and our time there.  But, we do work very hard here on the mission center and we are excited about the things that we’ve been able to be a part of since we moved here.  One of our ministries is running the Guest Home and we’ve been enjoying making some landscaping changes and creating a seating area off the back.  We’ve been installing solar panels, ceiling fans, additional lighting – all things to make everyone’s stay more comfortable.  We’re working on giving the entire Guest Home a makeover before our annual field meeting.  There’s still a lot more to be done, but we’re excited to see progress already.  Steve has also been working very hard on building a new playground here on the center.  It will be a great place for kids to play.  Our kids have loved rushing there after school to “help” Dad with the project.  There have been a few other construction projects on Steve’s plate and if you know Steve at all – you know that he is happiest with a tool in his hand. We’ve also been settling into our roles as the area business managers – we had no idea how much work this would entail for us.  But, we’re enjoying the relationships with people in town as a result.  Spending time at the hospital for visits, paperwork and billing; the tax collector who helps us with all the government paperwork; the labor officials who help with questions on our employees – there are so many others that we are getting to know well through this new ministry.  One of the great things is that Steve is able to work one on one with a young man here building all these projects on the center.  We just pray that through all these times together, time spent with our family and the talks together – that he will have a desire to know Christ.