7/6/2008 9:22:02 AM

Hello all,

Wow it has been a few months since I have updated this website. Sorry for the delay, but since we have moved to the Konyagui town we do not have a good internet connection. Once in a while I am able to access the internet via our cell phone but it is very rare. Whenever we return to the mission center, I am so busy will repairing things there that I do not have time to write an update for the website. So I need to write these updates and save them for when we go to the mission center.

Well let’s see lots of things have happened since I last updated this website, hopefully you have been receiving Jody’s email updates. If not, email me and I will add you to the email list.

A month ago we were able to drive to Senegal and attend a Konyagui culture day. The Konyagui’s discussed how they were going to keep their culture in changing times. I understood none of what was spoken, as my Konyagui is limited to the greetings, but I was able to visit with a lot of people and helped sell/give away some biblical literature which has been translated in to Konyagui. A missionary couple with SIL / Wycliffe have been working with the Konyagui people for many years, they have developed an alphabet and are in the process of translating the bible in to the Konyagui language. A few books of the New Testament, have been translated and they are starting to translate the other portions of the bible that will be needed when the gospel is taught to the Konyagui people. New Tribes Mission desires people to hear the whole counsel of God, therefore whenever missionaries share the gospel with a new people group, they start with God’s creation and try to teach all of the important stories in the Old Treatment, then they teach the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. It can often take months to teach all of this, however by the time the teaching is done anyone who was listing has a clear view of their sinfulness and God’s plan of salvation.

Life here in Guinea is so different then in the US, very few people have the money for a TV, much less the generator and gas to run it. So evening time consists of talking and visiting with people. It is hard to explain, I mean people are often very board, especially the youths. They have few if any reading materials (if they can read). They often listen to short wave radio but the stations come and go and there is a lot of static. Some of the people will go to their favorite bar and drink their money away, a liter of palm wine costs 1,000 fg ($ 0.25). The other night two women at the bar were screaming at one another for over two hours… My friend had a game that is very similar to checkers and I see him playing it almost every night. I am sure he is board of it, but what else is there to do??? I suppose people are the same every where, in the US we watch TV because, well what else is there to do???

We attend a Guinean church in our Konyagui town, it is small but they are trying and are teaching God’s work, as best they know how. I can only understand about 25% of what is said, but we try to go and support the church. I was able to help the pastor install a solar panel and light at his house this week. It was only a small solar panel, so he will probably only get about three hours a night of light, but it is better than nothing. I the pastor (who also speaks good English) was talking to me about setting up a some kind of business that the young men, who come from the village to learn more about the bible, can earn some money with. We are praying about some ideas…

God bless you all,

3/23/2008 4:28:24 PM

Happy Easter!!!

I hope you all are enjoying the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am having a great day, we decided to take a short break over Easter weekend and make the trip to a town in Senegal that has a hotel with A/C, hot water, internet, 24 hr electricity, a pool, an a restaurant. We were surprised to find it was only a 3 ½ drive with an extra hour at the border crossing. To find a comparable hotel in Guinea we would have to have driven over 12 hours on worse road and we would have paid almost double. It is so nice to get a good night sleep, of late it has been hard to sleep because it is often over 90 degrees in our room when we try go to sleep at 10:00 p.m. It will continue to get hotter until the rains come in late June or July.

Things are going very well, we are meeting many of our neighbors, and trying to find out which compounds speak Konyagui. I am still practicing my French, as well as trying to work on various projects for the mission center as well as things around the house. Jody is busy with taking care of many things around the house; it takes so much time just to live here!!! She is also working with the “Phonemic Analysis” for the Konyagui language. I am not to sure what is involved with that, but I am glad she knows what she is doing!!! Just the other day Samuel, our Konyagui mentor, was trying to teach us something in Konyagui, and I was saying “well it sounds like there is a “c” in the word, Jody and Chantal both ridiculed me saying no it was possibly a “k” but not a “c”. So from now on I will leave all of that stuff to the “Experts”. :)

Last week I was working on one of my most frustrating projects in Guinea last week. Plumbing!!!! Forget everything you know about plumbing in the USA, plumbing in Guinea is a different species of beast. Two of Chantal’s faucets would not turn off fully and her toilet was leaking out the bottom. I was hoping that the problem would just go away, but after a few days I had to come to realization that I was going to have to try and fix it…. I made a trip into town and bought a bunch of plumbing parts. I have always hated having to make 10 trips to the hardware store because you keep forgetting parts, so if the hardware boutique had the part I bought it. It was probably cheaper this way then paying for the gas on numerous return trips, and I am sure I will eventually use the parts any ways…. Every part I touched had to be replaced, they sell such cheap junky parts that they just fall apart in your hand! After three days of trying, and lots of silicone, Chantal reports that the leaks have stopped, for now at least…

I was talking to one of the English teachers at the “college” (high school) near our house, and I offered to help teach English, he sounded interested, but we will see what happens… I am looking in to what if any community development projects I might be able to start, but it seems so overwhelming; pray that God would guide me….

The Konyagui have some interesting beliefs, for example the other day we saw a one week old baby. It was incredibly skinny with its ribs sadly protruding and its hands and feet seeming grossly gigantic next to the emaciated body. We were informed that the reason that the baby was so skinny is because its mother had seen a turtle while she was pregnant (not that she remembered seeing a turtle, but she must have seen one since the baby was so skinny). The way to counteract the effects of such an unfortunate incident is to find a turtle, kill it, put some of its blood on the baby’s lips, break up the turtle’s shell and put it in water and bathe the baby with that water. The baby will then gain weight properly. The story-teller concluded his story by saying that is why they don’t need vitamins.

The Konyagui also have their own beliefs about death. They believe that when a person dies, his spirit does not leave immediately. Therefore, at the grave site, they provide small bowls of food and water for the deceased’s spirit each day. After forty days, a chicken is sacrificed in the forest, which releases the spirit to enter paradise. They also believe that everyone, even if the person was bad, will be allowed into paradise.

Please pray that God will work in the Konyagui people’s lives.

3/11/2008 5:57:28 PM

Hello all, I hope all is well. We are back in our Konyagui town, after our trip to Conakry and the mission center. It was nice to get back to civilization, it is hard to think of Conakry and the mission center as “Civilization” but in comparison it seems like it. We were able to buy lots of supplies and food, I am excited about new food. It is hard getting used to shopping only once a month.

Things are going ok here, we are meeting lots of people, and I am improving my French. Jody is taking good care of me; I am still having trouble losing the 10 lbs I gained when we were back in the US. Jody has started working over the grammar write up for the Konyagui language. Our team partner Chantal, is spending lost of time learning the language, and is progressing, but it is hard work. Hopefully, soon we will begin our visits to the different Konyagui villages.

God bless ya all,