Hello friends and family!
We are now in Conakry and enjoying our winter break/retreat before school begins again in a week. We have been here for a couple of days and have taken advantage of hot showers, cold water, an oven!, some American food, internet, and ice cream. This year we're staying at the CMA (Christian Mission Alliance) guesthouse which has been really wonderful because they're located away from the main roads so it's more peaceful here.
I no longer have malaria (thank you for your prayers!) although I have to say that at this rate, I may get it again before we leave. Thankfully, the symptoms I had were relatively mild, and the second time around I was able to get treated the day I started to feel sick. The great thing about getting malaria twice is that you know what your symptoms will be the second time around!
We are so thankful that the whole ordeal with the container is over. Most of the trouble getting the container out was the ridiculous amount of money they wanted, but it was expected because we had two cars in the container. For me, the frustration came from having to be flexible with our school schedules each time the guys had to go down to Conakry. I am just very thankful that all the supplies are finally in Sambouya. Somehow along the way, a few of our boxes in the container just walked away, but as we say here, "Se la Guinee!"
School has been going along well. At the beginning of the year I was worried about some of the first graders that had a hard time being away from home and did not seem happy at our school. But they all enjoy the school now and it's so cute to see their smiling faces and hear them say, "Good morning, Mrs. Carol" at all times of the day to me. The older kids seem to be growing so quickly, in height and academically too. You judge yourself often as a teacher and wonder if the kids have really learned, but when we look at where we started last year we realize that the children have really grown a lot. We even have the older kids tutor some of the kindergarteners that are struggling with their ABC's. The first graders this year though have been catching on quickly, and some of them are already starting to read simple books. My favorite part of the week is when the older kids do center activities with the first graders because we get to see them interact and learn from each other.
As for life outside of school, we finally feel like Sambouya is now home to us. It took us a couple of months to get there and become adjusted to our new home, but we have started to make good friends. One of our friends, Fatumata, told us that she would be so sad when we were gone on our break because she would miss us. We're grateful for people like her that have welcomed us into Sambouya and made us feel at home. We also feel like we're slowly but surely starting to get better at the language. We're able to catch a lot more of what people say, although saying sentences ourselves is still a continual process.
There are some other perks to living in Sambouya too. We are only a minute's walk from school and Benjamin and his family are now our neighbors. A couple days before we left for break, I went outside and saw a white owl stuck inside the outdoor office structure above the well. After watching it struggle to get out, I told Benjamin about it so that he could possibly help to get it out. Right when I told him, the owl found an open window and flew away. Benjamin's reaction was, "Ooh, I could have eaten that!" He claimed that it tastes similar to chicken but the next time I see one trapped I don't think I'll go to him for help.
We do have an immediate prayer request. It seems that just around this time of year whenever we come to Conakry, something exciting has to happen. Apparently, the president of Guinea recently fired the Communications director and put one of his friends in his place. This has really upset the people and they are giving the president until this Thursday to rescind his decision. So far one person has died here in Conakry due to rocks being thrown. The man was just getting out of a taxi when the rock hit him on the head. There have been some tire burnings, but thankfully we haven't seen any of these things even though we've been in Conakry.
Yesterday evening we tried to go to church with a few other missionaries but had to turn around because the traffic was horrendous. People usually fill up on gas at these times, and the gas shortages cause lots of traffic jams. So we've been staying inside and hoping and praying for the best.
Please pray that the president would make good decisions, that the people (especially the youth) would be patient waiting for the president's decision, and for safety as we travel. Pastor Joshua, Keith, and Kise will be arriving to Conakry today, and the guys will be departing tonight. Shannon's parents will be arriving tonight in Conakry and we all hope to leave Conakry tomorrow morning. We are very exciting about them coming to Guinea but we want their stay here to be an enjoyable one!
Pray also for our ministries. Pray for the kids and for us that we would teach the children well and be patient and loving. Pray for the teachers that we would work together well as a team and support and encourage each other. Also, we will all be starting different ministries in our villages soon. The other missionaries here will be starting church services in their villages. Simon and Chris are in Kabaya, Mira is in Bilingkoro (where we were last year), and the Kim family is in Manya. We are praying about whether to start a children's ministry (kind of like Sunday school) with the Sambouya kids since Benjamin already leads the church service on Sundays in our village. Please pray for guidance, wisdom, and language acquisition as we share the love of Christ.
We miss and love you all very much. Happy New Year everyone!
Click here to see a slideshow of some of our latest pictures.
-Shannon and Carol
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