Ill Again

Earlier today, we learned that Carol contracted malaria again. Unfortunately, Sarah, Pastor Joshua's wife was diagnosed with malaria as well this week.

Please keep them both in your prayers folks.

-Charles

Christmas Tidings

Spoke with Shannon & Carol on Christmas day and they asked me to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year on their behalf. They'll finally have a chance to access the internet next week, so we'll hopefully have some images and a new post coming shortly.

Feel free to send them your holiday greetings via email (shannonandcarol@gmail.com), I'm sure they'd appreciate the shout-outs and messages from loved ones back here in the States.

Charles

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, Merry Early Christmas

Hey everyone!

We’re back in Conakry to get the container. This time we will be bringing it home! We’re tired of waiting, so we met with some people today and worked out the details on the final price. The people were friendly and helpful. We’re glad that it’s going to be over with. We kept telling the kids all the great things we have in the container, so the wait is hard on everyone. (It makes them pray harder knowing a lot of the stuff is for them!) Praise God for this answered prayer!

Carol had a bout with malaria these past couple of weeks. Her symptoms were so low (probably due to the doxycyclin) that we did not think she had malaria. The body aches and fatigue didn’t go away for almost a week though, so we tested her and it came back positive. She took a three-day treatment and on the third day was back at school again. She’s well rested and fully recovered now. I got to teach all 35 kids for a couple of days and poor Carol, who was already sick enough, had to eat my cooking. We made it through though and we’ll be more prepared next time if she has similar symptoms.

TMICA had a guest stop by from the US Embassy last weekend. He came with a large entourage and toured the school. Most of Sambouya also came out and they put on a traditional Malinke dance and song that was quite entertaining. He couldn’t stay long, but we had a nice visit with him. We’re looking forward to whoever comes next in our stream of visitors this year.

Carol and I are starting to make some friends in Sambouya and our Malinka is starting to improve. It’s very exciting to start understanding what people are saying to us! My favorite reaction though, is when I speak Malinka to someone in the city and they just become dumbfounded. Tobabos (white people) are supposed to speak French, so they often call their friends over just to show us off. We would love continued prayer, as would our fellow missionaries, for language development. We really enjoy spending time in the village, but sometimes find it hard to make time after a long and busy day. It’s difficult to see funerals in the villages, know that these people are lost and dying and not be able to really share with them.

Thanksgiving was very good here. Fried chicken again this year, mashed potatoes, salad, curry and a few other things too. We ate, we enjoyed and we played Rummikub. Plus, I won twice which meant I didn’t have to do the dishes! We got to speak to our families briefly, but not long enough. For those we didn’t get a chance to talk to; we love you and miss you and remember you in our prayers often. We hope you all had a wonderful and thankful holiday!

This will also probably be the last emails we get to send until after the new year, we wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a great start to the new year! We truly do not miss the gifts, traditions or food (maybe the food just a little bit) this time of year. We really just miss each of you. So come visit Guinea for Christmas and make our holidays great! Just kidding. Though you are welcome to visit anytime. The King was born, and we work on the task to hasten His return. Thank you for supporting and helping us to finish the work.

Lots of love from Guinea,

Shannon and Carol

From an Internet Cafe in Conakry

Hello everyone,

Just a quick update. I'm actually writing this in an internet cafe in Conakry. We (me and all the men) are here to pick up the container which is finally coming out! Nothing is easy in Guinea though. They're telling us the taxes and fees amount to about $10,000, about twice what we expected to pay (besides the fact that we're a NGO and technically tax exempt). We're working on all the details today and hopefully the container will come out tonight or tomorrow morning at a more reasonable rate.

We got some gas tanks from Conakry so we're running the refrigerator half days now. It's good to have cold water again. We will not travel to Conakry to pick up more gas tanks though, so please continue to pray that Faranah will get some.

Another student went home this past week. Nearly every student from the Labe region has left now. The only reason we can see is that the school is Christian. A couple of moms came and visited thinking of taking their students back home but decided to let them stay in the end. The families of these students must be feeling a lot of pressure from the Muslim communities or leaders. We rarely consider what the parents and families of our students must face when they send their children to us. Please pray for the families of our students who seem to be facing more persecution than even we are!

Dry season is here. 2 weeks without rain now. The grass is slowly turning brown and the dust is starting to pick up. The nights are still cool though, so we have nothing to complain about!

The governor of the Faranah region came to visit the school this past week. There are only 7 regions of Guinea so only 8 governors if you include the one from the capital. He was very friendly and even knew one of our students who is the son of an official from the ministry of finance. We also had a film crew stop by who are doing a documentary on the education system of Guinea. I think we're officially famous now!

I'm not sure when our next e-mail will come. The bill we got for our usage last month was outrageous, so we're not using it again until we figure out why it was so high.

No other news here. We're all healthy and well and thinking of you all often.

God bless you all for your thoughts and prayers!

Love,
Shannon and Carol

Everyone is healthy and doing well.

Moving Into the New House

Hey family and friends,

The satellite is being quirky so hopefully the e-mails will go out today...

We have gotten all moved into our house! We've actually been sleeping there for an entire week now. It's somewhat difficult to take someone else's house you've been in before and turn it into your own, but I think we've made enough changes to make it really 'ours.' The best part of the whole thing is that we finally got to unpack! There were many things that we had completely forgotten about that we were surprised to find. The only downside to the move is that we still have no gas in Faranah so we're unable to cook in our home. We've also had to turn off the refrigerator to save the gas for cooking. We have enough gas to cook for a few more weeks, but we're hoping that Faranah will get some new tanks soon. I'll try to send some pictures of the place when we go to get the container...

Speaking of the container, it's here! (sort of) The container is at the port in Conakry, but until the paper work all goes through we can't go get it. It's actually been there for a couple of weeks so there's really no telling when we'll get the call. We're praying that the call will come sooner rather than later. When it does arrive all of the men here will be going to help with the process for a few days. We'll all need prayer for strength, the men for moving all of the things in the container and the women for running the school for a few days on their own.

Dry season is on our doorstep so we're enjoying the greenness of everything and any last drops of rain that God grants us. Everyone's health has been good. Mira got a little run down this past week and took 2 days off of teaching, which the two guys graciously took over. She is back in action and refreshed from her rest though. Fatigue is always a concern here, but especially so after the cooling rains leave us and the heat intensifies. Prayer over this is always appreciated.

After a snail pace start to our village ministry this year Carol and I have rededicated ourselves to meeting with villagers and studying the language. Carol claims she's not good at languages and if that's true then I'm just plain terrible. Please pray that God will use our weaknesses for His strength and glory. We really do love these people and hate to see them bowing down to an unlistening, uncaring god. Please pray for fertile hearts to plant the seeds in.

You're in our thoughts and prayers.

Love,
Shannon and Carol

Settling Into a Routine

Hello Everybody!

We hope and pray that all is well with you. It doesn't seem possible that we've already finished our 4th week of school, but the calendar doesn't lie. I guess that is one good thing about all the business; the time really does go by quickly.

Things have finally settled down since the teams left and we are all starting to find our routine. It seems likely though that it will soon be interrupted by the arrival of the container. In the last update I wrote that the container was still in New York and we were told it was scheduled to arrive on the 10th of October. Then on about the 5th we were told the ship was in Belgium and may not arrive until November. Finally, earlier this week, we heard that it was arriving on the 12th. If the container arrives intact before Christmas I think we'll all be relieved. It's something to pray about.

Pastor and his family have officially moved into their new house in Manya. So far they've gotten a very warm reception from their neighbors. Also, the kids enjoy having their own rooms now. That also means that we can move into their old house. It needs some fresh paint first so we'll probably do that this week and begin moving in next weekend. It will be nice to finally have our own space and be able to unpack all the luggage we brought. Plus we can spend more time with the people of Sambouya.

School has been going very well. The new students are starting to catch on and some of the behavior problems have died down as a result. Our students still need prayer though. Two of the students have returned home because of homesickness and another probably for religious reasons. His parents gave an outlandish excuse for taking him back home, but it's likely that they were pressured by other family or community members to not let him attend a Christian school. Many of the students that we accepted from that region of Guinea never even showed up. Though most areas of Guinea seem at least open to Christianity, some are still strongly opposed.

We also have a prayer request for gas. The gas tanks that we use for cooking and refrigeration are running low and for some reason Farannah does not have any this year. Refrigeration is not essential of course, and we can always just cook outside on an open fire if we have to, but we'd rather not.

Everyone is well and healthy at the moment. The rain is still falling nearly every day so the temperatures are staying cooler. When it stops, probably at the end of this month, the temperature rises and stays high. That's when we really need prayer for strength and energy, but if you start praying now we would really appreciate it!!!

That's the news from Guinea.

Love,
Shannon and Carol

A Busy Start to the School Year

It has been busy these first two weeks of school! With the start of the school year, new students, the returning ones, and the teams from L.A. and New York that have just come and gone, it seems like there hasn't been a moment when something hasn't been going on. It has been a little hectic, but there hasn't been a dull moment yet.

During the first week of school, it was hard to have the little ones pay attention and keep their hands to themselves, but already this week some of them are starting to tell the other students how to behave. We've paired up the older children with the younger ones, so the younger ones don't feel so homesick or scared being away from home. Some of them have been crying and have expressed a desire to go home, but we're going to give them more time to see if they adjust. Some of the older kids acted the same way when they first came to the school too. It's been very interesting because already two of our students have tried walking to the nearest town when the teacher's backs have been turned. So, we have a buddy system going on. Please pray that the younger children will see TMICA as a safe place to learn and become their home.

The older kids have been doing well in school and most of them are really enjoying being older brothers and sisters to the little ones. We've gone into the kindergarten classrooms to help the younger kids do hands on center activities and it has been a lot of fun working with them. Mira says that this group of kindergarteners is picking up things faster than the first year they had the school, and already some of her students are reading three letter words!

Last week a team of four people came from L.A. for a week and they spent some time in the villages and on campus at school. They taught the children new songs and taught art and music. It was nice to have a little time off with the help that they provided. This week a team of thirteen came from New York. They were an older group of people and mostly observed the villages and school, although they preached during chapel time, played soccer with the children, and brought essential supplies for our school. The container from America is currently scheduled to come in October, so we were missing some supplies for the beginning of the school year before the New York team came. Not only were we thankful, but our students were very excited to receive new shirts and other school supplies. Our happiest student was probably Siaffa, one of our students from a village who had only one outfit and an oversized sweater. He twirled three times and was beaming with joy when he received his new clothes.

This past week we stayed with Mira in Bilingkoro, the village we lived in last year. We had been staying in the guesthouse, but with the team of thirteen there wasn't enough room for us. It was really nice though to see our friends again and to spend time chatting and catching up with the villagers. We've missed the Bilingkoro people and living in the village. This week one of the villagers in Bilingkoro, Hawa, gave birth to a boy and he is so tiny and adorable. They haven't named him yet because the villagers don't name their children until a naming ceremony a couple days later. Shannon spent some time sitting with Secuba, a villager friend, at night, and they drank tea that was very sweet with some bread. It's always amazing to watch the way the men make tea because the whole ordeal is so elaborate. After they heat a tiny teapot, they pour the tea very high several times back and forth from one teapot to another. We don't know why they do this except perhaps to cool down the tea.

Next week should bring things back to normal as the team leaves and we go into our third week of school. Sarah's mom is recovering and not in the ICU anymore. Please continue to pray for her. Everyone's health is good here and we're trying to stay well rested despite the chaos. Thank you for taking the time to read our long update. We hope you are all doing well and we would really appreciate your prayers. We miss
you!

Love,
Shannon and Carol

Back in Guinea

Hello friends and family!

Here we are again. We are back in Guinea one week and counting. It's amazing how much the landscape can change in just a few short months. We had gotten so used to dry season with all its browns and rusts that it's like seeing green for the first time again. Everything is so beautiful, lush and thick.

Rainy season is delivering on its name. It's raining about twice a day, though most of it is coming after dark. We're happy about our water tanks being full, but drying laundry is risky business. You can never wander too far from the clothes lines or the clothes may end up wetter than you wanted. We had clothes draped over chairs and couches when the sunny afternoon turned into a wet evening the other day. Our trip here was much more uneventful than last year. We got all of our baggage (though we are missing one of our fellow missionaries bags), there are no passports missing, and nobody got car sick on the way here! I even got to try my hand at the stick shift again and managed not to hurt anyone. Praise the Lord for delivering us here safely and all in good health!

Mira and the two guys, Chris and Simon, have already gotten settled into their villages, Bilingkoro and Cabaya. We helped Mira do her cleaning and moving and got to see a lot of our friends again. They asked how you all are doing (I'm transliterating "I dunyo ayea?"). We told them you were all doing fine. We're still waiting for Pastor and his family to move to Manya before we can move into their house, and that should happen in the next week sometime. A lot of the Malinke we forgot over the summer is coming back to us so we're excited to start building on where we left off.

The students arrive on the 15th and we start school on the 16th so we're very busy getting lesson plans ready and our rooms all cleaned up. We also get to set the schedule and calendar for the year which really beats working in the public schools.

A small team from LA is visiting this week to see the school, experience the M4 life and help us get the school year started. In a couple of weeks we have a very large team (13) coming from New York. It should be a very busy and exciting month.

We have two big prayer requests for now. First of all the container is still in New York. We're all doing fine without it, but a lot of our school supplies that we need to start the year are in there. The teams will bring the essentials, but the sooner we can get it the better. Right now they're estimating that it will arrive on October 10.

The second request is for Sarah Saumenim's mother in Korea who is in the hospital. She has some problems and some internal bleeding but the doctors cannot figure out exactly what the problem is.

All is well as we prepare to get settled in and ready for school to start. We hope and pray that all is well for you too. Feel free to send us an e-mail occasionally (plain text only please!) to shannonandcarol@gmail.com.

Love,
Shannon and Carol

Last Update for 2006-07 School Year

Hello everyone!

This will be our last e-mail from Guinea this year. A big thank you to all of you who check up on us and keep us in your prayers. And a special big thanks to Charles who has operated this whole blog thing for us. God truly has watched over us here and has answered so many of our prayer requests throughout. We may post a couple of times during the summer so keep checking in every once in awhile!

Thank you for your prayers for my health. I feel 100% again. Hopefully we'll all remain that way these last couple of weeks!

This weekend we're doing selection in Boke and next weekend we'll finish up in Faranah. We'll have our students taking their final tests this week. Everyone seems anxious to get home and see family so we're all doing our best to take it one day at a time.

That early rainy season that was predicted did not happen. We've still only had 2 rains and the last one was 2 weeks ago. We have occasional lightning and distant thunder, but it never gets here somehow. No rain means fewer bugs though so theirs pros and cons to both sides.

We thought it would be nice to leave you with something humorous and very honest. So here it is...

Top 13 (We couldn't narrow it down any more) ways to tell you've been living in a West African Village too long...

13. You get cravings for Spam.
12. 2 grown men holding hands doesn't phase you anymore
11. You've survived home invasions by swarms of bees, lots of lizards, huge spiders, mice, bats, roaches, ants and other assorted bugs.
10. You try to communicate with the cows...in their language.
9. You've transported live chickens (9 actually) in your car. (And eaten them the next day)
8. You like eating usang fila (sweet potato leaves mashed like baby food).
7. You can open combination locks in the dark.
6. The thief outside your window turns out to be a cow.
5. You've seen cows in a car, chickens tied to windshield wipers, and 7 people fit inside compact vehicle (even with the center shifting console).
4. People offer you their children to take to America.
3. You appreciate road construction.
2. You blow by stop signs going 80 and don't even blink.
1. You can get dinner for a quarter but a Coke still costs 50 cents.

Also there are some pictures from our village to look at. We don't get to spend as much time there as we like, but these are our neighbors and friends. They put up with our poor and sloppy Malinke and don't laugh at us too much, so we like them!

Lots of love and see you soon!
Shannon and Carol

Ma, Luma and Ousmane - 3 brothers

Going to Muslim prayer & to get water

Everyday life

Eating dinner with Grandma

Bilingkoro boys

Bancuma, our village chief going out to work in the fields

Tene, her baby Abu, and other kids

Shy camera smiles

Our walk to school (those are mango trees on the right)

Our neighbor Sayo and her son Sinuba

bitten by a bug

Dear friends and family,

Three more weeks to go, and we’ll be able to see all those faces we’ve missed. Well, just when we thought we’d made it through the school year without getting malaria, Shannon decided to get sick. While he was in Kankan last week doing student selections, he accidentally missed taking his malaria medicine for three days. (That’s what happens when your wife isn’t around.) He found out the hard way that skipping out on your medicine is not good.

The good news is that we found out he had malaria early on, so he was able to be treated quickly. The first couple days were really hard with fever, vomiting, chills, and diarrhea, but everyday he gets a little better. His fever, chills, and vomiting are gone. Now he’s just sluggish and weak, but he’s starting to eat more. Mira’s mostly been teaching in his place, although he keeps insisting that he can teach more than he should. We’re making sure that he’s getting lots of rest. Please pray that he would continue to heal quickly and regain his strength. I’ve told him that I don’t want to be a porky wife standing next to husband with all bones on him when we get back to the States, so he suggested that I skip my medicine so that doesn’t happen. At least he hasn’t lost his sense of humor.

Pastor will be in Labe and Daloba this weekend continuing the student selections. He wanted Shannon to fully recover, so he will be going alone. Please pray for him that he would have a safe journey, the selections would go smoothly, and he would have the energy to see all those kids!

Besides that, all is well here. Some nights it’s been windy like it’s going to rain, so it’s brought the temperature down a bit by the time we wake up in the morning.

Hope all is well at home and see you all soon!

Love,
Shannon and Carol

Recruiting tour continues

Dear everyone,

All's still well in Africa. We just thought it would be good to share with you how student selection is going and about my travels.

So last weekend Pastor and I went to Nzerekore (silent 'N') and Masanta to test students. You might want to look at a map to see where those are in comparison to Faranah. Driving a manual 4x4 was not as bad as I anticipated. Pastor was a pretty good teacher so we split the driving time and nobody died (including the car itself).

As you already know, driving in this country is slightly dangerous, but Pastor and I both prefer driving without laws or police so it actually worked out well for us. The road was pretty good, except for a 3 hour stretch between Kissidougou and Masanta. For those three hours it was a winding, one lane, dirt path through the mountains. It's hard to explain, but if you could imagine a road construction crew getting angry and tearing up the road instead of fixing it you'd about have the conditions of this road. We never got over 30 mph and spent most of the time riding on the brakes. We survived though!

In both locations the local EPE (protestant church) was kind enough to let us use their facilities for our testing. Pastor sent a couple of university students from Faranah ahead of us earlier in the week to spread the word, do early registration and find places for us to stay and do the testing. We left Thursday after lunch time and drove the eight hours to Nzerekore.

We stopped for dinner on the road and because a communication breakdown we ended up getting two different sauces mixed together (instead of half and half). It was a mix of peanut sauce and sweet potato leaves (spinach like). A strange combination and interestingly not that bad, although appearance was grotesque.

We started registering and testing both Friday and Saturday mornings at 8. We gave each child a simple IQ test where they were supposed to recognize similar shapes. The hardest part was trying to explain to the kids how to take the test. The language barrier made it difficult, but it really helped to separate the kids quickly. We tested about 120 kids the first day and were able to narrow the field down to about 12 potential students. Masanta was more difficult because we interviewed over twice the number of students.

It was a long morning. We worked nonstop from 8-2pm testing children and then retesting some of the best students. We took photos of almost 40 potential students from Masanta. All in all it was a good trip, but we were glad to get home when it was all over.

The real difficulty will come when we try to narrow down the students to 5 or 6 from each city. We are praying a lot and will send out the decisions on May 14th. This weekend we will visit Kankan and Dabolah. Fortunately they're not as far away and we hear the road is decent. Plus, they have internet so I can send this to you! Next weekend we'll be in Labea and Dalobah and then the grand finale will be in Faranah.

We had a very nice Easter! Everyone wore their Sunday best to celebrate the Savior's resurrection. And of course, what's Easter without a big feast to celebrate? We had chicken and rice, plus mangoes, bananas, and oranges. As an added treat the volunteers made some cato, which is kind of like a donut hole. The after lunch picture doesn't quite show all the carnage. These kids really know how to eat, often to the point where they have belly aches on Monday. It tastes so good though!

The rain has finally come. We were starting to wonder if it was really going to happen. It had become a joke to hear Mira say daily, "Today it's going to rain," because each day she said it she got more desperate and unsure. Her statements became more of a question, but we were hopeful too.

It actually sprinkled in our village about 10 drops of rain a couple of days ago, which we thought was funny. Finally, the big rain came. All of our water tanks were filled, so no more hauling buckets from the pump!

Well we have so much to do and so little time to get it all done in. Please pray that God would give us strength and endurance to finish the school year well.

See you all very soon! God bless.

Love,
Shannon and Carol

Open Wide!

Pastor delivering the test

Helpers Nestor and David

Masanta kids waiting

Easter Best

Before lunch

After lunch

'Batman' sent to recruit students

Hello everybody!

We're all alive and well. I am out around Guinea helping Pastor recruit new students for next year so we're near some internet cafes that we can e-mail from. We may be getting our internet access in Sambouya back soon too. Although with only 5 weeks left it's a little late. Better late than never though.

Not much has changed since we last wrote. The weather has grown incredibly hot. It feels like you're walking through an oven in the afternoons and at night we just lay there and sweat. Using a wet bandana cools you off a little bit, but only temporarily. The rain is starting to come though and those nights are a little bit cooler.

So far we've had one rain storm, which came a couple of weeks earlier than usual, and a couple of times when it's teased but only sprinkled or passed over. It was a real dust storm before the first rain came when the wind picked up. We felt like real Okies (or Arkies). The first rain washed the dust and dirt off of the roofs (our water collection system) so the next rain we'll get our water tanks filled!

We now officially live in the bat cave. One day last week we saw about 10 different bats in the house. Fortunately, most of them went back up into the ceiling when we tried to capture them, but 4 of them were flying around the house in the evening. Jeje and I are getting better at broombat though. I think Jeje even enjoys it (maybe a little too much).

The kids say we should just kill them so they don't come back, but none of us are killers so we just wack them and they play dead until we can throw them outside. None of us enjoy it too much, but at least it's entertaining!!! And since I'm the only guy here it also gives me the unofficial title of Bat Man:) (Though I don't recall him ever using a broom to defeat his enemies.)

The mangoes are here. We still can't figure how they grow after 5 months of no rain, but it's all just a part of God's plan I guess. It's nice to have some different fruit.

The next 4 weekends we'll be doing student selection for next year. Pastor and I will be seeing probably thousands of kids from all over Guinea and we'll have to sort through and find the 50 or so that we're looking for. A lot of prayer has gone into it here and if you could pray as well we would be grateful. If you could pray for our safety as we travel a lot (and me as I attempt to drive a manual which I haven't done since I was 16).

Also pray that God would lead us to the right students for this school. We've sent some native university students ahead of us to spread the word and do early sign ups, but still people will bring kids anywhere from toddlers to teenagers and try to pass them as 5-7 years old. For a small amount of money it's even possible for them to obtain false birth certificates, so we'll be relying mostly on appearance and teeth to judge ages. It should be a really fascinating experience. I'm very excited to see some other parts of Guinea too!

We've sent a list of items that the school will be needing over the next 3 years to most of our teacher/school contacts, but anybody who's interested can donate. TM is shipping a container of supplies to here in early August. If you want to see the list of items we're looking for and possibly donate something(s), click on this link, thanks! Also, please use this blog to coordinate if you are donating things. The space in the container is somewhat limited and don't want to get thousands of pencils and no paper to write on. :)

So that's the news from Africa. We don't have a clue about what's going on in the political scene now, but everything seems peaceful. Looking forward to being with you all again soon.


Love,
Shannon and Carol

lack of connectivity

Our internet and email is down and out. We're not sure when it will be up again or even if it will be before we come back. So, we probably won't be replying if you send us emails. Skype is also out since it's internet dependent.

Two in a row!

Hey everyone!

Two good updates in a row! This time the strike is officially over. We're still holding our breath a bit until we see what this new government is like, but we are relieved to know that people are back in school and back to work.

Pastor returned from a great trip to the U.S. the day before the strike officially ended. He waited in line for gas for 3 hours in Conakry before he could return. Most gas stations were completely looted and stripped of everything, including their doors. But he was able to get all of our passports so we praise God for that answered prayer. Now that the strike is over we finally have the documents we need to flee:)

We moved back to our village this week just in time to wish one of our villagers goodbye. Hawa, a young woman who has been getting our water for us was getting married the same night we moved back. The wedding was late at night in Sambouya so we only got to see the pre-wedding stuff but it was still interesting. We all sat around while some of the elder men and women gave their advice to her. Then when the drummers showed up the girls all went to her hut to get her things and put on some perfume. Some of the villagers then left in a procession following the drummers to Sambouya for the actual ceremony. We were sorry to see her go, but glad that we got to see her before she went.

They also started building a house in Bilingkoro. It will be the first non-hut in the village and it's actually a little bit bigger than our own house. It's been interesting to see them make bricks, mix mortar and do construction.

Over the weekend we had a campfire with the kids. We made a huge fire and they tasted marshmallows for the first time that my family sent in a package. We attached some pics so you could see how much they enjoyed them.

This past week was also Carol's birthday. It was the day after Pastor returned so we had a nice time of celebrating and fellowship. Carol got some nice things and many cards. Some of the students even gave her their own lollipops that they had earned and saved. Lollipops, or bong-bongs, are about the only candy you can get here so they're as good as gold to a kid. It was touching to see our kids being so generous even though they have so little. Sarah also baked a delicious cake! Mmmm...

On a final note, we have decided to return here again next year. God led us to this place and is working in this place, but there's still so much to do and we want to remain a part of it. That makes 4 teachers for next year so far since two men from the LA team have also committed to come. We're still hoping and praying for more teachers as we welcome TMICA's second class of students in the fall! If you're interested, check out teachusmission.org.

Thanks again for all of your prayers. No doubt they have sustained us throughout our time here in Guinea.

Love you and miss you!
Shannon and Carol




Artsy wrapping



Carol's cake



Big fire



Carol's group



Shannon's group



Enoch eating



Rachel eating

Good News

Dear Family and Friends,

First and foremost, thank you for all your thoughts and prayers! We have a good update to send you! Praise God, because peace seems to be coming back to Guinea. The strike is still on, but the martial law curfew has ended. The president wanted to extend it, but his legislature unanimously voted him down. Benjamin also told us this past week that it was safe to go to Faranah, so we went to the market today and things seemed to be as normal. Please continue to pray that the strikes would end and the president and union leaders would come to an agreement. Please also pray for Pastor Joshua, who will be flying back and arriving in Conakry this Sunday. He will be there for the day to run errands and pick up my passport, and will return to Sambouya by Monday. We hope all is well back home too. God bless!

Love,
Shannon and Carol

Peace amongst turmoil

Hey everyone!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers. I'm sure without them we would just be overwhelmed right now. U.S. Embassy officials have pulled out, Peace Corps workers have left and it seems like a lot of missionaries have also fled the country. Meanwhile we just keep on living as usual.

The stuff that happens in the cities doesn't seem to have much impact on the lives of villagers. The demonstrations in Faranah have quieted since the curfew was imposed and Benjamin has been able to go in a few times to pick up some supplies. We're not planning on moving back to Bilingkoro until everything has been settled, but we feel very safe here and still visit our village whenever our schedule allows. Everyone here at TMICA is healthy, strong, and not feeling the effects of the turmoil very much.

Yesterday the president and the union officials were set to have a negotiation meeting in the morning. However, the union leaders refused to come until the president lifts the nationwide curfew. Please pray that both the president and union leaders would both have wisdom and humility to bring peace back to the land. Thank you for your prayers and we'll continue to keep you updated as much as we can.

To answer a question completely unrelated to the strikes that came from my brother, "Why aren't you guys tan?", we don't like to stay in the African sun. I wear sunblock, we both wear hats whenever we're outside, and we stay in the shade whenever possible if we're outside. Although I know people love to have a nice tan, it's not worth it when it's 90 degrees and you can feel the sun scorching you whenever you're outside.

Thank you so much for your prayers. We are so thankful for you and miss you all!

Love,
Shannon and Carol

Strikes in Faranah

Dear Family and Friends,

We have an urgent prayer request. The strikes have started again, earlier than scheduled. The President named a new Prime Minister, but it was not the man the people wanted and was instead someone President Conte is very close to. The people are outraged at the President's conduct. The strikes started yesterday in the major cities and so far 9 demonstrators have been killed. Looting has also started in the cities, somewhat in part to food shortages due to the strikes.

Our biggest concern is that they started striking in Faranah today. Benjamin drove in today to get supplies and turned around and came back immediately. We're stocked with food and supplies for ourselves but we don't know when the strikes will end. On Benjamin's suggestion we are moving from Bilingkoro into the guest house with Mira and Jeje.

We hate to leave our village but it seems like the safest thing to do at this point. Please pray that peace may be restored and that the President will do the right thing. Many of our students' families live in these cities, so please pray for them as well. Please pray for our continued safety. So far we're all well and healthy and the kids had their usual Saturday soccer match today. Thank you so much for your prayers! We'll do our best to keep you updated on our situation.

God Bless!
Shannon and Carol

Pictures from the recent trip to Conakry

The drive to Conakry begins



It becomes increasingly tropical



Moving roadblocks



A typical small town we pass along the way



Driving "Guinean" style



Are you surprised?



View from the Conakry apartment



Drive-thru shopping



Outskirts of a Conakry market



Ice Cream Shop



Fishing boat



Casa Island



Islander gathering food



The beautiful beach



Sunset

Another strike?

Hey everyone,

This is just a quick update and prayer request. Everything is still going fine. We're all healthy and starting to count down the days until we get to see all of you again (it's just under 100). We just got news this week that Guinea could go on strike again. The President was supposed to name a new Prime Minister last week and apparently he didn't do it happen. So now the people are angry but giving him until Monday to hold up his end of the agreement. If he doesn't though, they are threatening to have even bigger strikes than before. Again, check out BBC news or Yahoo news for reports.

We're stocking up on the things that we can this week just in case. Please just pray for peace and protection for TMICA. Life goes on as usual for us. We hope that all is well at home and that those of you in the colder regions are staying warm!!!

God bless you!

Love,
Shannon and Carol

Phew

18 long days, but the strike is over. Peace has been restored and the people are finally going back to work. Schools officially started back up yesterday. We’re still waiting for Faranah to get gas, but it should come with time. Thanks for all of your prayers and praise God for answering them!

I wanted to write about my experience in the village. Carol, Jeje and Mira all did SME(Summer mission exposure) in the past and were living in villages for about a month. Though Carol and I live in Bilingkoro, I really felt like I could gain something by living like a villager for the whole day since we teach during the day and don't get home until after dinner. So while the team was here from LA, I decided to go to one of the villages with them for three days.

Pastor divided us up into pairs and Benjamin (our native pastor) scouted out some nearby villages that would host us. Mr. Irrondelle, a retired journalist from here in Sambouya (also about the only person who can read and write fluently), played a key part many years ago in getting TM our land and he still likes to be helpful when he can. Everyone in the villages listens to the radio at night so he made a radio announcement the day before to let the three villages know that we were coming. We packed light and the 9 of us (Pastor, Benjamin, Mr. Irrondelle, the team of 5 and myself) and all our stuff piled into the 4Runner. It was a very tight squeeze, but we all fit.

Simon, my fellow villager, and I were the last drop off so we got to experience all three welcomes from the villages. They each had us come and sit down with the elders and other men of the village. Mr. Irrondelle would speak for a few minutes about what a good man Pastor was, get the people excited and then let Pastor introduce us. About that time all of the women of the village would march in a procession towards us with 2 or 3 tambourine-ish players in the front. One woman would sing a short line and then all the other women would respond. After just a little bit of that they showed us to where we’d be sleeping.

After Pastor and everyone left us in our village the women actually performed 6-7 more songs and dances for us. It was a welcome even the SME people never got to experience so we were pretty fortunate to see a real village celebration. They even got Simon and I involved in a song where we pretended to hoe the ground to the rhythm of the song. They really enjoyed seeing toobabos dance!

After the welcome most of the crowd dispersed except for our host and the children, who never fail to be intrigued by white people. They brought us a tray of oranges and bananas and we rested just a little bit to recover from the excitement. We each had an orange, but Simon discovered a worm in his and mine looked a little rotten so we ended up not eating those two. But the other 30-40 oranges that we ate in those three days (not kidding) were all good. For the rest of our time there we really got to see day to day village life.

The name of our village was Mantuma or Bantuma, I couldn’t really tell. The population was probably around 500 though it’s really hard to tell with villages. As in most villages there were a lot of farmers, so Simon and I spent some time checking out nearby fields and tagging along while they went to work. Three months into dry season there really isn’t much going on in the fields, but it is time for the banakoo harvest (cassava in French). It’s a very starchy root that they like to snack on and use to make a couple of different dishes.

Simon watched them cut down grass with sickles one morning, but other than that there wasn’t much going on. Our host was actually a tailor formerly of Sierra Leone and Liberia so he spoke a little English. He had a very old Singer sewing machine, but it was fascinating to watch him make things without using patterns or measuring anything. He did wear a measuring tape around his neck, but simply as decoration. I sat for an entire afternoon and watched him work and he only took it off to go pray. I never figured out how to pronounce his name because it was so unusual, but he never knew mine either so I didn't feel too bad.

I think our village was pretty wealthy because there was a lot of cows around (a sign of wealth around these parts). They provided the most entertainment for us...always walking around, sticking their heads into the huts, pooping everywhere and sometimes butting heads.

The food was okay. Rice, rice and more rice, but they did give us chicken for a couple meals and some 'nono' for a treat. We didn't eat the nono though. It was basically their form of yogurt. We were actually given a bowl of spoiled milk and a small baggie with sugar in it. We tried, but just couldn't eat it. If it was cold I probably could have stomached it, but room temp was just not very appetizing. But the oranges...

Oranges are eaten differently here. They actually slice off the outer peel in small pieces, cut a little bit off the top and then squeeze and suck the juice until it's dry. It's very different from American style, but pretty good. That first day they brought the tray and our host would peel them and hand them to us as fast as we could eat them. We both had 6 in one sitting. The next two mornings men brought us a bag full of oranges.

Both afternoons we went through the same routine. He sliced and we ate. Most of the time he cut them faster than we could eat them so we would both be eating one and holding another one. I haven't had an orange since.

We got to play a soccer game with some other boys our age. It was great to play with people not 9 and 10. I was really out of shape though so I was grateful when the game finally ended.

That's the news from the village. Everyone had a great experience, but it was nice to come back and bathe in a bathroom and not just a fenced off half circle outside. For some of the team who neglected to shower for 3 days, it was just good to shower:)

Since the team left the cold has ended. The afternoon heat has really increased and we're back to sleeping on top of our sheets, praying for it to cool down. It's supposed to be this way until March though, so I suppose we'll get used to it. This morning it seemed like it might rain.

Dark clouds, some moisture in the air, cool breeze, but it passed over and so we've officially finished our third consecutive month with no precipitation. I haven't read "The Grapes of Wrath" since 8th grade, but I still remember his description of the heat and dust, and now I can finally relate.

Pastor is in Chicago this week and then heading out to San Francisco and LA to finish the mobilizing. We heard DC was a big success and that lots of people wanted to be a part of finishing the task with TM. We're excited to hear how things go in the other cities. Please pray for Pastor Joshua as he is doing a lot of speaking engagements.

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. You're all often in ours. God bless!

Love,
Shannon and Carol

Update on the strike

Hey everyone,

Thank you so much for your prayers! PJoshua and the L.A. team left for Conakry early this morning and arrived safely in Conakry this afternoon. They will be leaving by plane tonight for the States. Pastor will be in the States for about a month mobilizing for TM. Please keep him in your prayers as he was recovering from a cold and malaria when they left. Pray also for us as Shannon's taken over chapel time and we're more on our own. We are so glad to have Mira here and Jeje seems pretty happy to have a fellow sister around the guesthouse.

The latest news about the strike from what we heard is that the president finally agreed to meet some of the people's demands. We heard that he will cut down gas prices and possibly appoint a transition prime minister. Place continue to pray for the country that the president would have wisdom to do the right thing and that peace would remain on this land.

As for us, we haven't felt the effects of the strike except for the shortage of gas. Thankfully, through one of our students' parents, who's an official in Faranah, he was able to sign a document allowing to get gas. So, we are thankful that we can use the gas stove and cook for ourselves! If you want to keep updated on the strike, yahoo news has some articles and pictures as well if you type in Conakry and/or Guinea. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and God bless!

Love,

Shannon and Carol

Conflict in Guinea

Hey everyone!

This will just be a short update, but an important one. A team came from LA to help out at the school and live in the villages for a couple days. They also helped out with Jubilee Day (Sports Day) and we were even able to do a small slide show showing pictures of limbo, long jump, relay races, hula hooping, etc for our kids using our computer. The team also taught the children new songs, helped us out at school, played soccer with the kids, and encouraged us.

However, they were scheduled to leave Tuesday back to LA but were unable to do so. Due to the current conflict in Guinea, they felt and were urged by the embassy and our native contacts not to be traveling in the country. The demonstrations have gotten larger and the death toll has risen as well. Peace keeping negotiators have been called in from the Western African Union and they actually did not demonstrate in the capital today, but the streets are littered with rocks and garbage from the strikers. Food shortages have hit the larger cities since no one has worked for 2 weeks now. The team stayed up late last night to decide how to handle the situation. Heading to Sierra Leone to catch a plane was an option, but Air France told us they wouldn’t honor the tickets they had already bought. As it stands now the team is staying for a few extra days. They pushed back the plane reservations until the 25th, so we are hoping and praying with them that the situation will improve by then.

In Sambouya we still have not felt the impact. Life goes on as usual here at TMICA even though we’re the only school open in the country. We’re planning on staying since the village is probably the safest place to be right now. If the situation should really start to get out of control we are only about 30-40km from the Sierra Leone border and we have a contact in the capital with a place where we could stay if necessary. We still have cell phone contact and internet access so we’re getting news updates daily through the bbcnews.com website. They have the best coverage of everything. Plus, our contacts in Conakry, which include the US embassy and an American worker who gave us his cell phone number, keep us posted on the latest.

We all feel safe here, but your prayers will be appreciated. Please also lift up our students’ families, many of who live in Conakry and the other large cities where the worst of the conflict is taking place. Pray also for the team. We’re glad to keep them for as long as they need to stay, but they have families and jobs that are awaiting them. Pray for Guinea and its people. The government is unstable with an ailing president and the people who are calling for his resignation. Pray that peace may be restored and the conflict resolved.

We’ll keep you posted on any changes that effect us or TM. If you go to the Prayer section of Teachusmission.org, there are prayer updates and links to news articles. On a positive note, while talking to the US Embassy the other day, we found out that Carol’s passport arrived in Conakry! So thank you for your prayers! We’re healthy, happy and still praising God. We hope that you’re all doing well in the States! God bless!

Love,
Shannon and Carol

Bonjour from Conakry!

Being in the capital city of Guinea these past two weeks has been exciting. The majority, if not all, of the people here speak French since it is the national language of the country. The city offers its perks, but also makes us wish we were back in our little village in Sambouya too. Here many people actually dress like Americans and wouldn’t stick out if you saw them in America. Many women wear jeans with a form fitting t-shirt and heels. We’re used to seeing many people with braided hair in Sambouya, while here many women either have extensions and wear their hair long. There are still many women though that wear the traditional attire, with a loose fitting shirt, matching skirt and headwrap.

In some ways we feel like country bumpkins here since we’re used to living in our village now. The air here is heavily polluted because many taxis and other cars frequently travel on the street. Usually there is traffic and/or people out at all times of the day and night. Since the electricity here is so unpredictable, you’ll hear people banging and using torches at midnight since they use electricity whenever they can. Crossing the street is like playing the game Frogger since there aren’t any traffic lights or signs, and people would probably ignore them if there were any. PJoshua says that before they actually used to be able to see the ocean on both sides from the apartment, but now all you seem to see is smog. There are no trash cans outside, so the ground is littered with trash. We miss the fresh air and nature we’re used to seeing outside. It’s funny to see how foreign we actually feel here.

We’ve been traveling some by taxi here, because it’s the most popular form of transportation. It seems like almost everyone is a taxi driver here. The cars themselves hold some personality to them, as it’s rare to see one without busted side mirrors or a cracked windshield. To get a cab, the number of fingers you hold out shows the taxi driver how many people need a ride. A compact car taxi usually holds seven people. Four adults sit in the back, two sit in the front passenger seat, and the driver gets his own seat. It’s almost always a cramped ride, although it’s an experience that we’ve already become accustomed to. It’s still funny to see two grown men who don’t know each other squeezing together in the passenger seat. At least they know how to carpool here.

The police here are known to be corrupt and they like to accept bribes. They often pull people over for mundane reasons or for no reason at all, just so they can pocket some cash. We actually got to experience this first hand one afternoon downtown. Pastor Joshua was driving and an officer knocked with a stick on the window. Usually, you can honk at them or wave at them and they will move out of the way, but the policeman was adamant that we stop in the middle of a busy street. He wanted to see our papers, and then decided not to give them back. Pastor, who had been through this kind of ordeal numerous times, told us all to get out of the car and all sit around the policeman. We actually found out that they were pretty nice guys, but really just wanted to pull you over so we would fork over some money to them. Since we refused, we sat for a bit. The policeman refused to believe that we were here in Conakry visiting and were actually teachers in Faranah. So, Pastor called one of our students’ parents and had him talk to the policeman, explaining that we were missionaries here. Only after that phone call did the policeman let us go. We never worried about our safety, it was just an annoyance to sit for doing nothing. Even if the policeman would have let us go if we gave him the money he wanted, we didn’t because it would just be perpetuating the problem; besides the fact that it’s not Biblical. It was a good learning experience.

There are some things we have seen that are interesting while in the taxi. The other day we saw a car on fire in a roundpoint intersection, and men were frantically throwing dirt into the open hood of the car to stop the fire. We saw a monkey tied up on a street corner but no one seemed to be watching it. Lots of times people hold up things to sell either on the side of the road or right in the middle of it. Here are some things we’ve seen people hold up: rabbits, candles, puppies, Areeba phonecards, African brooms, etc. You name whatever random thing, and it’s probably being held up in the air right now.

We’ve been able to visit a couple of places while we’ve been here. They do have some nice places to eat if you can find them and you know where they are. We’ve eaten at a restaurant which is supposed to be a fast food place. The service is not so fast, but you can get a burger, small pizza, and sometimes a chicken sandwich if they have chicken that day. We actually went there twice, and the second time they went they didn’t have half the things on their menu because they said there was no chicken. So even here, you never know what you’re going to get.

We have even been able to eat at a Korean restaurant here. Supposedly, there are many Korean fisherman that eat here. Out best meal was at Mouna, an internet café downtown. We happened to be downtown to get my passport picture and Mouna was closeby. They had a restaurant downstairs that seemed pretty typical to a café/restaurant you would see in the States. The food was good, the service was good, and there was even a large tv that showed European news. Conakry ’s downtown area is mostly made up of some small shops and stands.

Near TM’s apartment is a busy intersection/roundpoint called Enco Sainc (5). There’s a gas station on one side and outdoor markets of food, clothes, and accessories on the other side of the street. One night when Jeje, Shannon, and I went to take a walk to the gas station, we noticed some interesting things. We were standing outside of the gas station as Shannon finished his bottle of Fanta. (When you buy a bottle here, you usually have to finish it on the spot and then give the glass bottle back to the person you bought it from.) We looked around at the chaos of the intersection.

Usually at a roundpoint the person coming from the right has the right of way, but if you can push your way through, then that rule doesn’t apply to you. Cars are constantly honking or swerving around each other, although people don’t necessarily drive fast here. While all of this was going on, we saw to the right of us about five Muslim worshippers doing their daily ritual of bowing and praying to Mecca. Next to them, a soldier with an AK47 and a man were arguing about a fender bender that just occurred. We looked at each other, finished the Fanta, and walked home.

The best part of being in Conakry was when we were able to take a trip to Casa Island. The island was about a 30 minute boat ride away from the Conakry. It was very tropical and relatively untainted by the city. We saw a man illegally trying to climb a palm tree, but he was stopped by a soldier guarding the grounds belonging to a hotel. We were able to collect some seashells for our kids and swim in the clean and refreshing water. It was great to sleep without village or city sounds, although we still woke up to a rooster crowing. There’s just no such thing as sleeping in here!

All in all, Conakry ’s been exciting but we’re excited to go back to Sambouya. We’ve had enough excitement for the past two weeks. On a last note, please keep Guinea in your prayers. The morning we left, a nationwide strike was supposed to start. The Guinean people are not happy with their president and they say they are striking until the president steps down. Thankfully, we didn’t see any signs of trouble as we left, and Conakry was eerily quiet the day the strike began. We haven’t seen effects of the strike here, except that the Sambouya kids don’t have school because the teachers aren’t working. Out here in the country you don’t feel the effects of what may go on closer to the capital. (Update: the strike is now in day 10. There’s no gas anywhere, but we have enough to get out of the country if it came to that. Although we’ve been here through a few strikes already and unlike most other undeveloped African nations it’s been very peaceful.) It’s something to pray for though. We’re just praying for a peaceful end to it all.

The drive to and from Conakry is about 8 hours of winding, up and down, ginormous pot holes. Shannon got to drive the Camry there and back. You really need a 4X4 to navigate the roads, but the little Toyota survived (although at times it felt like the entire under carriage of the car would fall off). Some of the holes were so big you could practically put an entire cow in. Cows, goats, dogs and people were also obstacles to avoid on the way. Everything roams free so we frequently turned a corner and were staring into the front or back end of a cow or 3 cows. The scenery is at times beautiful, but the trip itself is a nail biting and somewhat nauseating experience.

That’s the news from Conakry. We were glad to go and glad to come back. There’s plenty more to write about, but this is beginning to seem a bit novel-ish. Please pray for the strike and for the team that is currently with us. We’ll probably send another update in a week about their time here. We’re doing great. Shannon was a little ill for one day, but he bounced back the next. Pray for Sarah who is working through another bout of malaria and Pastor who is battling a nasty cold that just won’t go away. Pastor will be heading state side for a month of mobilizing in L.A., Chicago and D.C. So we’ll be leading chapel and Sunday church services. Shannon skipped over the whole seminary thing so he’s a little nervous about that much preaching, but he says that he likes to talk so much he’ll be fine. If you could pray for Pastor and for us while he’s away it would be much appreciated. Only 4 months left so we’ll see you all soon!