Guinea, A Beautiful Place

So I've been here for three weeks and I realized that I haven't told you guys what Guinea is really like. So I will list some things at random as they come to mind...

It is GORGEOUS! I never knew Africa could be this pretty! It's SO green. There are trees and grass everywhere on the rolling hills. There are lots of huge waterfalls which I've only seen from about three miles away. I don't know how to describe how pretty it is. I love it.

Cows, goats, chickens, ducks, and sheep roam the streets. They're everywhere. A lot of the time, cows and sheep stand right in the middle of the road and don't bother to move as you drive by.

There are no paved streets in Timbi Madina which is the village I'm staying in. The dirt roads are this reddish color with huge potholes. Driving is quite an adventure between the animals and the road conditions. Oh, and lanes don't really exist and there are some crazy drivers, so it's a little scary at times.

The people here are so friendly! And they're very funny. You can walk up to anyone and start a conversation. I don't get much past the greetings, but it's fun. Their clothing is very colorful. All of the women wear longs skirts and married women wear a head covering. The women and all of the children carry things on their heads. Their balance and strength is pretty amazing.

It is hugely Muslim. There is one Fulbhe believer in Timbi Madina. The rest of the church consists of about seven men from the forest region in southern Guinea who are here as teachers.

The staple food here is rice and sauce. That's really what it is. You get a big bowl of rice and on top there is different sauces. Suppo and hacko are the two main sauces. Suppo is like a stew and hacko is a leaf sauce with fish oil and stuff. I don't especially enjoy rice and sauce, but it's not too bad. But I definitely couldn't eat it everyday for all three meals. I would puke.

Gas is $5 a gallon.

I really like wearing skirts. That may suprise a lot of you, but they are much more comfortable than wearing pants. So if I come home and wear lots of skirts don't be surprised.

There are lots of bugs...spiders, termites (did I tell you I ate some?), ants, cockroaches, mosquitoes, beetles, crickets, grasshoppers...ok, I can't name them all. There are also snakes, but I haven't seen any yet. I've gotten bit by bugs quite a lot. As I write, I am surrounded by these gross flying bug things, but you learn to ignore it.

I was sick last Sunday. It was bad. I will save you the gross details, but I had a temp of 103 at one point and felt all around horrible. We thought I might have malaria, but it turned out to be a 24 hour bug. The next day, I was pretty much back to normal.

This past week, we were counselors at a missionary kid camp. There were about 50 junior highers and high schoolers. It was a lot of fun. Those kids amaze me. They are more spiritually mature than most college students from the states in my opinion. Being at the mk camp was almost like being back in America for a week. I'm glad to be back in the village! Is that weird? I caught a cold on Wednesday which I'm still trying to get over.

It rains quite a bit. Not as much as I expected. But when it rains, it pours. It usually rains for about 20 minutes or so.

I really like it here. But I don't know that being a missionary is my place. I think I want to focus on kids more. I've told a lot of people about Invisible Children here and I would still love to work with them.

I love all of you guys! Please continue to pray for me...

Pray for health, safe travels, the English camp that starts Monday (that we would be able to teach well and get a chance to tell them about Jesus), and pray for God to continue showing me who I am in Him and what His plan is for me.

On jaraama, nani!