I Bara Tunun!

Dear Friends and Family,

Hello! I bara tunun! (As they say here when you haven’t seen/talked to someone in a while.) It has been far too long since we wrote our last update to you in Conakry back in January. Our internet access this year stunk, but we’re glad we’re able to get this last update out to you before we head back home in a month.

We know it’s been awhile, but thank you for all the comments on our blog about the little one growing inside of me. My mom was able to read the blog comments to us on the phone and we’re very excited about the baby. I’m just about to begin my second trimester, which is partially a relief because I’ve spent too much time standing over a toilet and being tired. The good thing is that the nausea is finally starting to go away and I’m able to keep more food down now. Also, I’ve still been able to teach, although Shannon now teaches science for both our classes in the afternoon. He’s been super husband, having to clean, cook, and teach, which can make his days tiring, especially since he’s doing all these things here in Guinea. Please pray for him that he would have strength and that he would be able to find rest during his day, especially in the Lord. Also, please pray for continued health for me and the baby.

It’s hard to believe that we have less than a month left. The year has gone by quickly. The students are doing great and the kindergarteners are still cute as ever. It’s been fun to watch the kindergarteners go from struggling to learn their ABC’s to being able to read. Some of them have really amazed me this year by how quickly they learn. The fourth graders have improved a lot over the past two years as well, and they are such voracious readers and can’t seem to get enough of our new library. Thank you again to so many of you that donated books and supplies. We are trying to make the most out of all the things we’ve gotten. It’s still so fun to be able to teach our kids silly things that we would teach in the States, like what the word “farted” means, because how else will they learn what it is in English? We also enjoy arguing with our kids that pizza is far better than nyere (a chalky yellow fruit with seeds). They claim that nyere tastes better, although they’ve never had pizza before. Believe me, there is no comparison.

We’ve enjoyed living in the village Sambouya this year. The people are very friendly and we like sitting around helping to shell peanuts or sift cassava flour while listening to their conversations. We’ve seen so much more bush meat this year than last year. It’s funny because whenever we ask what an animal is, almost everything, regardless of what it is, is always called “subo”(meat). The different types of meat we’ve seen being sold, sliced, or eaten has ranged from monkey, wild cat, a diker (kind of looks like a tiny deer), rat, snake, to animals that we still have yet to identify. So, it’s been fun living in a larger village where you seem to see more unusual things. The villagers are also excited that I’m pregnant. They all say, “Akaning!”(good!) and one villager is convinced that I’m going to have a boy, because she says my frequent vomiting is a sure sign of it. She also wants me to name my baby after her (her name is Fatumata, which is a very common name around here) if we have a girl and after her husband (Kairfa) if we have a boy. We’ll see. :P

Most of our friends in Sambouya say that the village church is good, and that they’ll go on Sundays, but they don’t actually come. They love to sing the songs that we sing at church and will talk about Jesus with me in the village at their homes, but coming to church is a different matter. I just pray and hope that they’ll come to know the love and joy that we have in Jesus Christ. On the other hand, since we started Sunday school with the children in January, they have been coming every week. We had about thirty kids last week that were mostly boys. It can get a little rowdy at times since hitting among kids is perfectly allowed here, but still we get encouraged by the one kid who sits and pays attention even though our Maninka is still so poor. It’s funny, because we don’t give the kids candy, and we’re not really interesting people, but they still come to hear Bible stories and learn about Jesus. Please pray for the village of Sambouya as we have come to love the people very much.

As usual, please pray for continued peace here in Guinea. Things are always a little uncertain politically. The news about the president is the same as usual. He’s old, the people are tired of him, and they want things to change. That means that strikes can happen at anytime, which can make traveling, besides other things, difficult.

We’ve made the decision to stay at home for the next school year, mainly due to the fact that I won’t even be due until next school year is already in session. We’re looking forward to spending a year at home, although we’re still not yet sure what our plans for the future will be. You can pray for us in regard to these things as well. We would like to be wherever God wants us to be, because we know that His ways are the best.

That’s pretty much all the news from Guinea. We are looking forward to seeing and hearing from you soon! God bless and we miss you!

Guess What?

Shannon and Carol wanted me to tell you all that they're expecting! Carol's probably about six weeks pregnant now, so I think that means they're expecting a November baby. She's not experiencing any morning sickness so far and is feeling great. However, Carol did mention that she's had to stop taking anti-malaria pills, as it wouldn't be good for the baby, so please keep her continued good health in your prayers.

Also wanted to wish a most happy birthday to my dear sister, Carol, as well (it's today if you weren't already aware).

-Charles

And five became four

We learned this weekend that due to a persistent illness, Mira, one of the teachers at the school, left the school in Guinea to return home and recover. Please keep her in your prayers and thoughts, as well as Chris and Simon, as they'll be need to take on more responsibility in Mira's absence.

-Charles

Test Results

UPDATE: We learned yesterday that Carol tested negative for malaria, and she's in good health. Thought you all might want to know.

-Charles

Much has happened

Hello everybody!

It's only been a few weeks since our last update, but it feels much longer. So much has been happening around here that it'll be hard to remember everything to share...I'll do my best.

So the strike was narrowly averted when the leaders agreed to a midnight decision of postponing the actual decision until the end of March. We're glad that my parents were able to arrive safely. Now we'll just pray that all the potential turmoil will never occur. Please pray that the president will return the director of communications back to his post so that the strike will not occur.

Our vacation was very nice and relaxing. When we returned here to Sambouya the temperature had dropped considerably during the mornings and nights. It is now down to the low fifties when we get up in the morning, which probably seems pretty great to most of you right now although it feels cold to us. It's still about 90 degrees in the afternoons. It's been breezy which feels great, but it brings in dust and ashes into our classrooms. During this time of year the villagers tend to burn the long grass and some of their fields.

We had a great visit with my parents. They, as well as Keith and Kise who were here, brought us lots of great stuff from home! Thanks for all of the gifts! They've adapted very well to life here and the time they've been here has flown by so quickly. All the things they thought would be difficult have turned out to be not nearly as bad as they believed they would be. They were even able to eat banaku fila which, to be perfectly honest, looks like something you might find in a baby's diaper. (It tastes much better than it looks!)

We've been very busy since my parents arrived, getting lots of things done that had been sitting on the back burner. Our library, though not yet complete or fully functional, is full of books! The kids were amazed and LOVE all the new reading materials. Now we have to find a way to get them to put their books down when we want to teach:)

We also had a s'more feast with the kids, which was a lot of fun. The children are probably still dreaming of marshmallows and chocolate. Thank you, Nara! My dad has been busy teaching our carpenter, Daniel, how to use his new table saw. He and Pastor also spent a little time fixing some of the old plumbing in our house. Mom has been helping a lot in the library doing the beautifying and organization. Now we even have a check out system. They've also been helping out in the classrooms. Mira has come down with what seems like malaria again and it's been nice to have the extra hands to help out the guys in their classrooms. She took off most of the week to rest and recover. Your prayers for her recovery and strength are much appreciated.

It's been circumcision month in our area of Guinea. There's a lot of celebrating and partying going on. We learned that boys are only circumcised every three years but they do a group of girls every year. This is the year when the boys and girls coincide. The children who are going through the ceremony have to wear all black outfits for awhile. Sadly, this past week we lost a young girl from Sambouya to what we heard were complications from the ceremony. Circumcising girls is supposedly illegal in Guinea, but the village traditions are not easily let go. We knew the little girl and gave our condolences to the mother. Hopefully this terrible tradition will end soon and open up some avenues for us to share our faith with our village friends.

We had our first Children's Church service with the Sambouya kids this past Sunday. Everything went very well and we had a good time with the kids. They're not used to being spoken to in church and we're not used to speaking so it will take some getting used to, but we're excited to see what happens with our ministry! We also learned how terrible our Malinke was when we asked some of our students to help us translate our lesson. Even in the simplest language we got laughed at...but on a positive note we did learn a lot in the translation process. As always, please pray for our language learning. All the other missionaries have also started their new ministries. We are praying that these fields will be white and ready for the harvest.

>>>>>>

The rest of this I am writing from here in Conakry. I brought my parents to the airport on Friday but we had some serious brake problems on the road. Fortunately, we were all safe. We stopped in a town 30 minutes out of Conakry and got some minor repairs done to just get us to the airport. Saturday morning I took the car to a shop for repairs, but it won't be finished until Monday morning. In the meantime I spoke to Carol on the phone yesterday and it sounds like she may be coming down with malaria once again. Her symptoms seem consistent but it is not confirmed yet. She will likely test today and start medication.

We hope you enjoy the pictures. We tried to include some from our village this time. It is possible that this will be our last update until the end of our time here in May. We have no trips to Conakry planned and our e-mail situation is still not resolved. So if you don't hear from us, don't worry! We're still alive.

That's the news from Guinea. We're praying that God will bless you abundantly more than each of you has blessed us!

Click here to see a slideshow of pictures that accompanied this email from Shannon & Carol.

Love,
Shannon and Carol