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.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Friday, November 02, 2007
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
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
Monday, October 15, 2007
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
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
Monday, October 01, 2007
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
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
Sunday, September 16, 2007
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
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
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