Entering Week Four

It's Monday of week four and I'm feeling it. I'm tired, a little stressed, easily frustrated, and getting homesick. But I know that now is when I have to rely on God even more. I know that He is and will continue to help me through all of this.

We started an English camp today. We have it in the courtyard of the Duecks' house because they are now on home assignment. There are supposed to be nine students, but only four showed. They are all men; one is 21 and the rest are in their 40's I think. This is the advanced camp and next week we will do a beginner's one with a new group. Dee has been working with this advanced group for about three years. It's neat because this is a cool way that we can share Christ with these men. In the beginning of class, we had them memorize Luke 15:24 "For this son of mine was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found." Then we drew water and had them describe in English what they were doing. We interviewed each other about our families. One man whose name is Mamadou (he was our tutor for Pular), asked me if I want to marry a man from Africa. People ask us that a lot here. I just told him that I would if God wills it. "Si Alla jabi" in Pular. Then Stacy told the Prodigal Son story which is where that verse is from. We had them retell the story in their own words and then act it out. Then we sang nursery rhymes. We had regraw for lunch. It's rice with the sauce already mixed in and potatoes, fish, squash, hot pepper, and hockatu (a bitter vegetable). And we had chocolate chip cookies that I made! After lunch, we played badmitton. Oh man! It was funny! They were not very good...but then again, neither were we! Mr. Jalo and I won 20 to 18. It was fun!

Then we came home to watch the World Cup. They LOVE the World Cup here. The electricity schedule pretty much revolves around game times. When a game is on, the power is on. It's not on too much besides that. But the house is hooked up to run on 12 volt power, so we don't have to live in the dark. There's a game on right now and there are about five men in the living room watching it. I think the games are fun to watch, but most of the time I read or take a nap.

Last weekend, we spent three days in a village. Now, this is a real village. We lived in mud huts, drew water from the well, farmed (I never knew it was so much work!), pounded with those big sticks (I tried, but spilt the dried sweet potatoes that we were pounding), and helped cook (all I really did was pick the gravel out of the rice). They cook all of their meals over the fire. There is no electricity. The bathroom is called a "squattie". In a small, brick building with tin roofing, there is a hole in the ground and two spots to put your feet. And you squat. The building is divided in half and on the other side is there you take a shower. The shower is really just a bucket of water and a cup. The mud huts were interesting. They gave us two huts. One had a twin size bed and the other was about the size of a queen size. Four of us slept on the queen and two on the twin. It was a tight squeeze on the queen size bed. We layed horizontally so my feet dangled off. The beds are filled with straw so they're not the most comfortable things to sleep on. But it was a great experience. The people were so nice. Like they all are here in Guinea.

I've been thinking about all of you guys a lot lately. And praying for all of you. I trust that all is well.

Please pray that I will quickly get over this cold, that God would give us opportunities to share the gospel and that we would preach with boldness, and that God would soften these mens' hearts and give them open ears, open eyes and open minds. Also pray that I will be a continuous testimony to Christ's love.

I hope that there are people reading this. I really want you guys to know what's going on here and how things are going. If you know of anyone who would want to read this, please tell them. And leave me comments because I miss all of you! Lori is putting all of these blogs up for me because all we have is email and no Internet, but she will email me the comments you guys leave. Lori, thank you for doing this. I love you!

With lots of love,
Sarah (Your favorite girl in Guinea!)