11/12/2008 6:19:21 PM

Well, many things have changed since I last updated this website. First of all Jody and I are no longer living in the Konyagui town. Instead we have moved back to the mission center. Jody’s Sister and Brother in law, Sherri and Brian Hofer and their two children arrived in our Konyagui town last month. They are now living in our house and are going to spend a year improving their French and learning the local culture. You can visit the Hofer’s website at www.ntm.org/brian_hofer.

I am excited to be living back at the missions center again, I have a lot of friends in the village here and there is a lot of work for me to do around the missions center. The main reason Jody and I are staying in Guinea until January, instead of moving to the Tribal Tech Center sooner, is to allow me to finish the generator project at the mission center. For the past year or so we have been working on trying to buy a larger generator for the mission center so we can wire all of the houses to it, and share the expense between the missionaries living at the mission center. As things are right now, some nights there are five small generators running around the mission center to charge batteries and run lights. We have been planning and developing the distribution system in conjunction with missionaries here in Guinea and with the Tribal Tech Center in the US. Once we settled on a design the Tribal Tech Center ordered all of the parts and wire and assembled the breaker boxes and shipped them to us. The breaker boxes built by the Tribal Tech Center incorporate custom built lighting protection not found in your typical breaker box. This is necessary due to the large number of lighting strikes we receive. Just two weeks ago lighting hit just a few hundred feet from our house on the mission center. It woke me up out of a dead sleep, and it took some time for me to settle down enough to go back to sleep.

Jody and I are planning on leaving Guinea in January and changing ministries within New Tribes Missions. We will be moving to the Missionary Training Center in Camdenton, MO, USA, and start new ministries with the Tribal Tech Center. The Tribal Tech Center’s goal is to train missionaries to manage the physical aspects of living in remote locations. Missionaries are taught about water filtration, lightning protection, solar power systems, batteries, generators, hydrodynamics, and many other topics. The Tribal Tech Center also custom designs and assembles the equipment used in these unique living conditions. And when a missionary has technical problems, the Tech Center gives advice. They are continually looking for the best products and researching the latest technology to help missionaries on the foreign fields. The Tribal Tech Center in essence saves many missionaries the hours it would take them to research and order their own equipment. Plus the Tribal Tech Center is able to find the best prices and ship things directly to the fields. Jody and I are both excited about this move and are looking forward to where God will guide and direct.

Another reason we are moving to the Tribal Tech Center, is because my Associate Missionary term is almost up. New Tribes Missions only allows Associate Missionary’s to serve in support rolls for up to four years, then the missionary must attend the Missionary Training Center. So Lord willing in Fall of 2009 I will begin to take classes at the Missionary Training Center while congruently working at the Tribal Tech Center. Confused??? Please email me. :)

I am uploading new pictures so check them out Here.

God Bless!



Some signs are meant to be broken!!! :)

8/31/2008 10:18:56 PM

Jody and I are doing well, and are keeping busy, although not as busy as I would like to be. We are enjoying the rains, they have been coming almost every day for the past week, it helps to keep the temperature under 90 F. But because of the rains our solar panels are not providing much power. We have to run the generator almost everyday to keep our batteries charged up.

We had the Pastor and his family of the small Pentecostal church in town over for dinner last week. It was nice to get to know them better, life is often very difficult for them in here. The church is very small and many of the believers are struggling, but the pastor is trying to be faithful and encourage the believers. It is tough for a Guinean to be a Christian here with the strong Muslim and Catholic influence.

A few weeks ago Jody and I made a three hour drive to a village in Senegal where other New Tribes Mission missionaries are working. They had, had a lighting strike a few days before and their solar panels, refrigerators and lights had stopped working. Jody and I were able to repair the missionaries solar panels and regenerators, but the lighting had destroyed the electronic control unit in their freezers, so they will have to order new ECU’s. I was also able to repair their house to house phones, but not before Jody had electrocuted me... The road between our town and the Senegal border is one of the worst roads I have found in the whole country, and Guinea has more then its fair share of bad roads. Often times our whole car is swallowed by the holes. On our return trip it was raining very heavily, but this seemed to make the roads better, as it softened the hard dirt into mud. I was able to drive much faster, but I had to be careful not to get stuck in the 2 foot deep puddles of water, and watch out for the trenches the runoff was creating. In order to travel to Senegal and return to Guinea we have to stop at 21 check points, this seems a little excessive to me, since it is only about a 50 mile drive...

Next week we are making a trip to the mission center and to Conakry, as we need to buy supplies, repair the car, get the cat fixed, use the internet, go out to eat (this will be my first time in about two months), and get back in touch with civilization.

7/26/2008 12:37:05 PM

Well tomorrow I will be traveling to the mission center by taxi… The last time I traveled this route by taxi it took over 24 hours, and three taxies. Hopefully this time I can get a direct taxi to the mission center and I might be able to catch a ride back with some other missionaries. Jody is staying at home so she can keep working.

The reason I am going to the mission center is to help with our VSAT switch over. About two years ago I was able to help install a VSAT (satellite internet) system at the mission center. It has been very helpful to have a reliable and fast (relatively) internet connection at the mission center. The nearest cyber café is about a 45 minute drive into a mining town, but often the cyber café does not work due to network problems or no power. The company we were using for our VSAT is discontinuing service on the particular satellite we are using, and in order to connect with their new satellite we would have to buy a larger dish. Instead, we are switching to a different satellite internet company using the same satellite. Any ways that is why I am traveling to the mission center…

Not too much new going on in our Konyagui town, it is still raining a few times a week, this helps to keep it under 100 deg F, and it waters the fields of our neighbors. It seems that everyone has a field and is growing rice, mullet, corm, or peanuts. It sure takes a lot of hard work to grow food, first you have to plow the ground, then plant the seeds, then pray for rain, then weed. The weeds have no problem growing, and even in Jody’s little garden we have to pick weeds all of the time. It really is a curse. (Gen 3:17)

7/23/2008 4:28:11 PM

Hello All,

Well we are back in our Konyagui town after spending a week at the mission center. I was very busy with all kinds of projects, I tried to repair a table saw, and install an air compressor, but it turns out that the generator we have is too small to start the table saw and air compressor, therefore the start capacitors are blowing and leaking. We are unable to buy new capacitors in Guinea. (Or at least properly sized ones) So I had to order them from the U.S. and wait a one to three months for them to arrive.

I have been sick for a week now, and it is very discouraging. It seems like I get sick every month or so, somehow Jody is almost never sick. I think her immune system is used to this part of Africa, since she grew up here.

Our neighbors are very busy this time of year, they are plowing their fields and planting. It seems that everyone has at least one field. Our guard told us that we need to ask around and see if some one will let us use their field so we can plan a Hectare of peanuts. (One Hectare is about 2.5 Acres!!!) He said it is very important!!! Well not this year, instead we planted a small garden and are trying to grow vegetables that we can’t buy in town. We have planted carrots, lettuce, green peppers, jalapeños and some others. So far we have been discouraged with our results.

Two weeks ago, I went out at about 6:00 a.m. and rode about 6km with my neighbor to his field. He had gotten two cows the week before and he showed me how to plow a field. I must tell you it is hard work, for both the person operating the plow and for the cows. By 11:00 a.m. the cows were very tired and had to be whipped to finish the field. I would say we plowed between 1/3 and 1/2 of an Acre, not to bad… There are a few tractors in town, but they charge 400,000 GNF, and you can pay someone to plow your field with cattle for 25,000 GNF a day.

God Bless you all,

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,

2/9/2008 5:42:41 PM

We have been up in our Konyagui town for over two weeks now and are doing ok. We have been busy finishing and cleaning the house. It gets so dusty and dirty, and because they did not seal the walls very well bat droppings are constantly falling from between the ceiling and the wall. I plan on buying some spray foam and filling in the cracks, in hopes of stopping the falling poop! ļ But I will have to wait until we go to Conakry at the end of the month, as the market in our town does not have any spray foam of anything like that.

Jody and I spent the morning at the market today, we were able to buy some nice fresh fruits and vegetables. We have been pleasantly surprised to find lettuce in the market for the past few weeks, in the past they never had any.

We were given two ducks by of our Konyagui friends, in celebration of our marriage. I had to kill, de-feather, and remove the insides, while Jody had to cook them up. They tasted good, but stunk very badly while cooking.

We were able to attend a Konyagui dance of sorts, a few days ago, one of the villages close by was celebrating the excision of their daughters. It was nice to get out among the people. I danced a little, but it was too hot for me to dance too much, but the people had been dancing all day. The men enjoyed the chance to indulge in the Konyagui¡¦s drink of choice, palm tree wine. I seen them harvest the wine before, it involves climbing to the top of a palm tree, cutting a small hole in the core of the palm tree, mashing things around inside, then inserting a hollow stick in to the hole and attaching a bucket to collect the wine that comes out of the hollow stick. It tastes very nasty, I bet they make better tasting wine in prison, but the people here enjoy it. (They probably enjoy it a little too much.)

We will be returning to the mission center in a few weeks and I will be able to answer my emails, and add some more pictures. God Bless you all,

1/23/2008 7:25:53 PM

Jody and I arrived in Guinea on the 26th of January, with out any problems. We had a three day stopover in Paris, which was nice and allowed us to adapt to the time change. We were able to see some of the major tourist attractions, such as the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, and had a restful time.

After spending two days in Conakry we drove to the Mission Center, and have been preparing to travel to our Konyagui town. Jody wanted a dish cabinet so I have been trying to build one. She said something about not wanting to have dishes piled on tables and bookshelf’s… I am still new to this married thing so I figure it is easer to built one than try and figure out why she thinks this so important. ;) I am not very good at wood work, so it has taken me three days to finish cutting and sanding all of the wood. Because the road is so bad and rough, I am going to wait until we get to our house before I try and assemble the dish cabinet. So you will have to wait until later, for pictures to make fun of my lack of woodworking skills (or lack there of).

Last night the village and the missionaries at the mission center, had a celebration for our wedding, with live drummers and a African style dance. It was a lot of fun and very different, I added some Pictures to the website.



We plan on traveling to our Konyagui town tomorrow morning and hope to spend the next month, trying to get started working with the Konyagui people. We will have VERY limited access to email, we would love to hear from you but please use text only, and no pictures. All emails with pictures and large text emails will not be read until we return to the mission center at the end of February.

Please pray for safe travels at it can take upwards of 10 hours to drive there from the mission center. Please pray that God will work in the people’s hearts here in Guinea..

God Bless you…

1/10/2008 5:32:22 PM

We have made a new prayer card with both of us in it. If you would like one let us know. Please remember to pray for us, God bless.

1/10/2008 11:30:44 AM

Early Thursday morning, the unions retracted their call for a nation wide strike in Guinea, suspending the strike for three months. During these three months the union leaders will meet with the government to define parameters of the President's and the Prime Minister's powers. Also, negotiations will continue until the end of January to decide who should be finally named as Minister of Information, an issue that was central in the union's call for the strike.

Jody and I are still planning on arriving in Guinea on the 16th of January, we are looking forward to continuing the work God has set before us. Thank you for your prayers, and please keep praying for Guinea.

1/7/2008 12:34:43 PM

On Friday, January 4th, there were demonstrations in Guinea's capital in reaction to a decree in which the nation’s president exercised a power that was delegated to the prime minister after the strikes last year. Union leaders have called for a nationwide strike to begin on Thursday, January 10th if the president does not meet their demands. Union leaders, religious leaders, and government officials will be in negotiations between now and January 10th to try and resolve this situation. Please pray for a peaceful resolution and that the work of the Lord can continue here in Guinea."

This could delay our return to Guinea, please continue to pray for the well being of the country, and for a peaceful resolution.

I Timothy 2:1-4

1/3/2008 9:56:57 PM

I have finally gotten around to updating this page… These past two months have been so busy, but God has blessed us so much!!! Yes, Jody and I were married on December 15th, 2007, on the beach in Corona Del Mar, God blessed us with a beautiful day.

We are leaving California tomorrow morning at 6:50 a.m., we will spend a week in Canada with Jody's sister, then continue on to Paris, and finial arrive in Guinea on January, 16th.

Please keep us in prayer as we are traveling, I will try and write more about what we will be doing in Guinea next week… God Bless You All.

10/13/2007 3:32:34 PM

Wow I am so sorry; it has been over a month since I have updated this webpage. And so much has happened… Lets see, Jody and I are leaving tomorrow (October, 14th) for Canada, to meet Jody sister’s and brothers in-law. Then on October 25th we will be returning to California to for Jody to meet my family. We will begin marriage counseling, and hope to be married on December 15th, in a very small wedding on the beach. Mid January we will be returning to Guinea to help start the ministry among the Konyagui people.

I hope to be able to talk to all of you when we return, and I am sure Jody would like to get to know you as well. But I am afraid that the three months we have will fly by very quickly.

My Fiancé Jody, and her partner Chantal, had and attempted robbery in September. They had returned to the Konyagui town alone, to begin their study of the Konyagui language and culture. After three days of arriving, late in the night they heard the sounds of a fight and someone getting beaten. They were very scared and activated there alarm, alerting their neighbors. Apparently their guard was able to fight off the robbers, and frighten them away. However, he was badly injured and did not tell Jody and Chantal that the robbers had fled, for four hours. Until that time the were under the impression that the robbers were still trying to get into the house. They were unable to call anyone due to the poor cell phone service, until after 6:0 a.m.. I left that morning trying to take bush taxies, and arrive at the Konyagui town before night fall; however I did not arrive until 7:00 a.m. the next morning. Jody and Chantal were shaken up but they tryst that God was there for them. Praise the Lord their guard has recovered.

While I was up in the Konyagui town after the attempted robbery, I was able to work on Chantal’s house. We built kitchen cabinets out of mud brick and cement, tiled the counters, installed a kitchen sink, dug a septic pit inside the bathroom, covered it with cement, ran the rough plumbing, built the shower with mud brick and cement, tiled the bathroom, removed the ceiling from the whole house as it was covered with bat droppings, (I estimate we removed over 4 wheelbarrow’s full of bat droppings.) cleaned the rafters, prepared to install the new ceiling, patched the holes the bats entered through, patched the tin where the rain was leaking through, and many other odd jobs.

In preparations for leaving I have been trying to finish up many of my projects, I have started or committed to start around the missions base. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish all of them. I plan on being available to assist with various technical projects when I return to Guinea.

Today is the end of Ramadan, or the month of fasting for all Muslims everywhere. For the month of Ramadan the Muslims fast from eating or drinking, or even swallowing their own salvia during day light hours. This makes things very difficult for everyone, as people are much more tired and irritable. I am almost as glad as they are that it is over. While I was working up in the Konyagui town I refused to hire any workers who were fasting, because they are in no condition to work. This was possible because there is a large Catholic and animistic population in this area. However, at the mission center there are only a few believers, and almost everyone fasts. Ramadan made me think though, how much fasting do I do my self??? It is sculptural, numerous places in the bible we are encouraged to fast and pray. I am in the capital city today and they have power all day in celebration of the end of Ramadan, most of the time they only have power every other night or so. It is much louder than normally, it seems everyone who own a radio is running it at full volume.

Got to get going, pray that our flights go well, can’t wait to see you all.

9/9/2007 11:56:23 PM

Today is a red letter day! I asked Jody Abram to marry me and she said YES!!!! Praise the Lord!

Jody is a missionary serving with NTM in Guinea as well. We have known each other for over two years now and have been dating for a few months. God has blessed our relationship and we want to honor him with our lives. Please continue to pray that Gods will would be done. Our plans are not firm at this time but hopefully in a few weeks I will be able to share more.

In the mean time I will continue to serving at the missions center, and she will be returning to her ministry with the Konyagui people. Please pray for blessings and that Gods will, will become clear.

8/8/2007 1:59:52 PM

On Saturday we left the Konyagui town for Dakar, Senegal. The two missionaries working with the Konyagui people needed to meet with another missionary in Dakar who is working on the Konyagui translation of the bible. I wanted to come along because I have never been to Dakar and it is well past time I took a break! It takes two days to get to Dakar from the Konyagui town, the first night we stayed at a nice hotel it was the first time in almost a year I sleep with an Air conditioner, and hot water!!! It was so nice!

The city of Dakar is very large and has running water and electricity most of the time. Senegal tries to encourage tourism so there are lots of western style restaurants and western style shopping. As my clothes are wearing out I needed to buy some jeans. The western style stores I looked in wanted over 18,000 CFA or $34.00 per pair. I was able to find a guy selling jeans on the street. However I needed to try them on, he took me behind his display and I tried on over 15 pars of jeans in the dirt on the side of a major street, in partial view of anyone who cared to look… I figured, well I need to get jeans, and it was much cheaper from this guy, and well I guess I did not care too much if people say my underwear….. Originally he wanted 25,000 CFA per pair, but after much bartering I paid 15,000 CFA for two pair, not the greatest price but ok none the less…

Tomorrow we are going to stay two days at a nice hotel on the beach, for a little break. Then we will be heading up country to visit with another missionaries parents, who are missionaries in Senegal, them we will be returning to the Konyagui town I have been working in. I hope to finish my work up there in a few days then return to the mission center.

My original plans we to leave Guinea in September, this is still my tentative plan, but I may be delayed some, so I can finish up some projects.

8/5/2007 6:23:57 PM

I have GOOD NEWS, well actually the best news, my friend Iburahima Ba, has began to attend the believers meeting services again. Two years ago he made a commitment to Christ and was attending the believers meeting faithfully and standing strong against percussion. But about six mounts ago he returned to Islam, it was very disheartening for the missionaries and the believers. He just yielded to the persecution that his family was pressuring with him. I have not had the opportunity to talk to him yet, but one of the other missionaries wrote this:

”This past Sunday Iburahima returned to the fellowship. He admitted that he was wrong, and wanted to be received back. Of course we did receive him back joyfully! Two of the Guinean believers, had really helped him see where he had gone wrong, and his need to be back in fellowship.

Masalu was especially joyful, and gave a wonderful exhortation. He recalled the story in Luke 15 of the “prodigal son,” and how joyful the father was at his return.

Iburahima needs your Prayer now as much as ever. The pressure will no doubt mount again. Pray that he remains strong, and that the other believers around him care for and shepherd him faithfully. Iburahima needs more foundational Bible teaching in order to have stronger roots in what he believes. Pray that he pursues this faithfully. And Pray for us missionaries, that we could find ways to encourage and build up Iburahima in his faith.”

God bless ya all…

8/4/2007 5:45:23 PM

Well looking back on my last update I realize a lot has happened since I last wrote… I had been working in the Konyagui town for about two weeks and am very close to finishing the work on the house. Things have been going smoothly if not slowly, but that is to be expected. It has not been as hot as it was the last two times I was working in the Konyagui town. It is almost bearable during the day and the nights are very comfortable, almost cold at about 75 deg F.

We were able to attend our first Konyagui cultural event, a funeral. The mother of a Roman Catholic archbishop had died and the archbishop flew all the way from Rome to attend the funeral. We attended the mass and other services, (I am not to sure what all was going on since the service was in French, Pulu, and Konyagui.) we were able to attend with some Konyagui friends we have made. The catholic service seemed so dead, people were just repeating what they knew to repeat, it seemed very odd to me, but I have not attended many catholic service’s in the US either. After the service one of the there missionaries told me what had been said during the service. So many times they had said that the woman was going to heaven because of her faith in Christ, but right after that they said that they needed to pray that God would let her in heaven and even offer sacrifices so that she would go straight to heaven. They are so close to the truth, but so far. The bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” There is nothing you, or anyone can Do to get to heaven, only God’s gift allows anyone to go to heaven.

7/8/2007 10:33:54 PM

I have been back at the mission center for over a week now; it is really nice to be home. I have been very busy trying to catch up on all of my responsibilities. It took three days to get the mission center supply store, stocked up. It is still hard to purchase many items for a reasonable price, with the raging deflation, and now inflation, many of the merchants refuse to lower their prices. $12 is not a reasonable price to pay for a ½ gallon of Wal-Mart ice cream, pasta sauce is over $4 a can, and a box of American cereal is over $10. With some work I was able to find semi-reasonable prices on most of the essential goods unfortunately ice cream is not an essential. Tomorrow, I am planning on trying to repair a generator we use to pump water, wash clothes and charge batteries with. It is going to take some time to rewire it but I don’t think it should be too much of a problem. I plan on returning to the Konyagui town in a week or so, I suspect it will take another week or two to finish off the work that I need to get done up there.

This evening Howa, a lady who lives right out side the gate of the mission center died. It was expected, she had been sick for a long time, I had taken her in to the hospital a few months ago and she simply had not recovered. The hospital said she died from liver cancer, but we suspect it was more likely AIDS. Another man had died from AIDS a few months back in the village. Howa was not a believer and passed in to eternity with out Christ. However, her son Abraham is one of the believers, he was very upset, as would be expected. Please keep him and his family in prayer; he is only about 15 years old.

6/13/2007 10:11:50 PM

I am leaving tomorrow for the Konyagui town I have been helping two missionaries move into for the past two months. This will be my fourth trip, in 9 months and I am not really looking forward to it! It can take between 6 and 18 hours to accomplish the trip. The road is very bad and there are very few towns along the way. This time some of the believers from a Tanda village offered to help us. They are driving a large truck from the mission center to the Konyagui town. This evening we tried to load the truck with all of the missionaries stuff. But it got dark and started raining, hope fully we will get on the road at a good time tomorrow. We will be working on the house for the next two to three weeks, before returning to the mission center. So I will be unable to receive any emails!! Please pray for safety, God's blessing on the trucks, a timely arrival, Gods Blessing in our work, and that we would be good witnesses to all who we encounter!

6/3/2007 7:28:15 PM

I have just uploaded New Pictures and Videos from the Ferry Project and from the house I have been helping to repair in a Konyagui Town for some new missionaries.

The work on the house in the Konyagui Town went well, thanks to Gods help. There were many trials, including broken cars, intense heat, unrelenting insects, sicknesses, and many other things. Through it all God was faithful to provide the strength we needed to continue. It can take between 6.5 hours and 18 hours to get to the Konyagui Town we are working in from the Mission Center. The road is very rough and is very tough on vehicles. On the trip up we had to proceed very slowly as not to damage the furniture we were hauling up, even so, many pieces of furniture were damaged and some even fell off the trailer.

We arrived in the Konyagui Town late in the night and we were able to take a quick shower in the dripping faucet, eat a small dinner, then setup our air mattresses outside and get some sleep. We were awakened every night at various times by chickens, goats, what sounded like dyeing donkeys, fighting cows and many other strange sounds. Some of the work that we were able to get accomplished includes installing sit down toilets, (Have you ever tried to use a squat style toilet? It is not a fun thing to do…) installing 12v lights and wires, installing 120v plugs, installing the battery system, adding large windows, (For some reason the Guineans do not like windows, their houses have only a very few small windows, this limits the amount of breeze.), installing fans, panting, building cupboards, repairing chipped tile, adding insect screen, repairing the leaky plumbing, and many other things. There is still a lot more work that needs to be done up there, but we had to return to buy more supplies and get rested, I had been sick for a few days and was very weak, but am feeling much better now.

The return trip to the Mission Center was very eventful, in the morning I took the truck to a local mechanic and had him repair the master break cylinder. I would have been able to do it myself, but I had never done it before and did not know where to buy repair parts. I was sure to closely supervise him, and had to insist on dumping out the old break fluid and buying new fluid. (Something that would always be done in the US, but is never done in Guinea.) He was able to get the breaks working up to a tolerable level. After that I took the truck to a local welder and had him repair the rack on the truck as it was very badly damaged from the rough road. After we packed up all of our stuff we were on the road by 2:00 p.m., with hopes of being to the Mission Center by 10:00 p.m., we made it Mission Center at about 8:00 a.m. the next day! The leaf spring broke on one of the axels on the trailer, shoving the front two tires into sharp metal on the underside of the trailer, completely shredding them. After removing the tires and tying the broken axel up we were back on the road, for a few more hours. Next another leaf spring broke on the working axle. We had to completely remove the front axel, remove the good leaf spring, and replace it with the broken leaf spring on the real axle. This took about three hours in the dark and rain. But praise the Lord we had all of the tools. At about 3:00 a.m. the truck over heated, and unfortunately we only had about 3 gallons of water, in reserve. I opened the hood of the truck and decided that we would wait a five minutes for the truck to cool down before we tried to fix the problem. I woke up two hours later at 6:00 a.m. (Opus)!! But with the morning light and the very cool truck I was able to quickly discover the problem. The bottom radiator hose had completely come off the radiator, I was able to quickly reattach it, but did not have near enough water to fill it back up. However since God had allowed us to stop in that particular place and allowed me to sleep long enough for it to become light, I was able to see a place in the rocks where the previous nights rain had gathered!! (Amazing how all of those things worked together.) After about 8 trips we had the radiator filled with nasty green cow poop water, and we were ready to get back on the road.

Jody’s brother in law Brain was a lot of help this whole trip, he will be returning to the U.S. later this week, he was such a blessing. He and his wife with their 8th month old daughter hope to come to Guinea in a year to serve as tribal missionaries among the Konyagui people. Please keep them in prayer as they have a lot to accomplish in a year.

I have been trying to rest and catch up on some work around the mission center these past few days, and hope to go to Conakry early this week to help move another missionaries stuff to the Mission Center. We are planning on retuning to the Konyagui Town in a week or two; there is still a lot of work that needs to be accomplished. Please pray that Jody and Chantal’s car will get out of customs with out problems, as they will need it to live and work in the Konyagui Town.

God Bless you all.

6/3/2007 7:26:00 PM

While I was in Conakry three weeks ago I was able to attend a combined service of many of the Guinean evangelical churches in Conakry. It was held at a public theater hall or event center. To my surprise the entire event center was overflowing, there were people sitting on the stairs, and standing in the aisles, there must have been over 2,000 people there. The worship music had a very Guinea style to it, and was very energetic, but very respectful. The message was spoken in French and Susu, so I was unable to understand very much. But my friend said that it was good message. It was very encouraging to see Guinean believers meeting together to praise the Lord. I believe there was a March for Jesus planed for the following week.

Praise God for the work he is doing in peoples lives here!!!

5/9/2007 11:20:45 PM

It has been a sad week, on Monday and Tuesday most of the teachers left for the summer. They were excited to return to the US, Canada, and UK, but they will be missed, most of them will be returning in late July. For those of us who are left behind, there are now even fewer people to talk to and fewer people to accomplish the work that needs to be done. Please pray for more teachers and dorm parents, the need is great, and we are trusting God to provide.

My French is still very poor, so unfortunately I have a very few Guinean friends who I can have a conversation with and my ministry to the villager is very limited. However, they know that I try to help them in any way I can, and I try to show them Gods love. It is kind of funny almost all of the kids in the two villages near by know, my name and are always practicing their four words of French they know on me. ;) I am still unsure how they know my name, they don’t seem to know some of the other missionaries names???

I have read some news stories from Guinea about the army rebelling because they have not gotten there agreed upon pay raise in 10 years. Apparently there has been some people killed, I do not live in the areas where this is occurring, and things have calmed down, for now at least. Please pray for the peace of Guinea.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L04671437.htm

Well yesterday we had the first official rain of the year in my village. Unfortunately it only sprinkled for a few minutes then it was hot and very very humid… In Boké (the near by town) it apparently rained really hard! One of my friends got soaked. It is really nice when the rains come and cool everything down, but unfortunately when it is not raining it is excessively humid and there is mud everywhere. Even so I am welcoming the coming rainy season….

Tonight I moved in to a new apartment on the mission center. One of the teachers who left on Monday will not be returning to Guinea, and her house is fully furnished and ready to live in. So today after I was finished with my supply buying responsibilities, my friend Jody and I moved most of my stuff over. I will most likely not be fully moved out of my house for a month or two, but there is no hurry, as it needs to be repaired and expanded before anyone else can move in. This will not be accomplished until the construction team returns from in July.

I am planning on leaving Guinea in September 2007, but that date is not set in stone, and I am trying to be flexible and follow Gods leading. I desire to be home in California with my family for Christmas 2007, so hopefully I will see you then. ;) I have no idea what I will be doing after that, the way I see it there are four possibilities.
1) Return to Guinea and continue serving for up to two more years. (NTM requires missionaries to attend Bible College and NTM Mission Institute if they are going to serve over four years.)
2) Attend Bible College and NTM Mission Institute, in preparation of becoming a long term missionary. This will take between 2 to 4 years.
3) Get a job and reintegrate in to the Californian Culture, hopefully changed for the better.
4) Go back to College, I am very interested in getting my masters degree in Applied Physics, Cal Tech has a very good program. But I am not sure I am smart enough to be accepted, and it is very expensive.
It feels odd not knowing what is next, but I am comfortable trusting God, knowing that his plans are better that I could ever have imagined.

I am leaving for the capital city on Friday, to pick up Chantal a returning missionary, from the airport, and to pick up Brian hopefully a future missionary to Guinea. We will be buying some supplies and preparing to return to a Konyagui Town. Chantal, Jody and hopefully Brain and his wife, will be moving to a Konyagui Town area to begin a work among an un-reached tribal group. Chantal and Jody are renting a house in the town so they can begin the process of learning the language and culture. I am going up there to assist the repair and retrofit of the house they have rented. There is a lot of work which needs to be done, I expect it will take a month or two to complete…. So you might not hear much from me for a while….

Pray for revival in Guinea!

5/5/2007 12:33:45 PM

The inflation rate in Guinea was insane; when I arrived in July 2005 the exchange rate was $1 to 3200 GF. Three months ago the exchange rate was $1 to 6800 GF. Over a 100% increase in two years! For a reference the inflation rate in the US is regulated to be about 3% a year.

However, recently Guinea has been experiencing rapid deflation, from a high of over $1 to 6800 GF three months ago, to $1 to 2500 GF where it is now. While deflation would normally be good for the Guinea people this rapid and apparently uncontrolled deflation is kind of scary. It almost appears that the deflation is fuelled by the merchants holding on to their GF hoping to get a better rate the following week. Last week they were getting $1 to 4200 GF, this week they are getting $1 to 2500 GF that is a profit of almost 100% in just a week. It is extremely difficult for the mission to get any new GF, almost all of the missionaries are out of money, well we still have dollars, but no one will take them or exchange them… Extreme measures are being taken, I.E. don’t spend any money on non essentials! We anticipate things to normalize in a few weeks. However, there is a dangerous possibility of very rapid inflation. If a few of the large merchants decide to sell off all of their GF’s this could cause a glut on the exchange market and send the exchange rate to well over $1 to 10,000. If this happens the results could be disastrous.

The lack of money is putting a hold on a lot of my construction and improvement projects, I was hoping to accomplish in the next few weeks. I am not to sure how I am going to do supply buying next week, I have a good relationship with the store owners and I anticipate them to allow me to buy on credit, but I am not to sure the wisdom of doing this… However it may be a necessity.

Some of the villagers are asking me for loans to finish their houses before the rain comes. The villagers make their houses out of mud bricks and if they get wet they will fall over. Most of the houses are covered with a grass roof, but this needs to be replaced every year or two. I spent last Saturday hauling grass and sticks to help them get ready for the rains. The villagers would love to be able to roof their houses with tin instead of grass. Some of the villagers have done this, however the people here do not plan for the future and quite a few of them have ran out of money and are not able to finish their houses. I have tried to tell them about Luke 14:28

"For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? "Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'

But this is so different than their culture and mid set that they just don’t understand what I am trying to say. I was planning of helping by loaning some money, but now there is no way I can. Right now I owe one of the villagers 200,000 GF, and I just don’t have the money. This is a reversal, normally the villagers owe me money, not the other way around.

Please pray that God will accomplish his work among the Guinea people.

4/26/2007 11:25:31 PM

Tonight Soulaman Condou died, I am not too sure how (I could not get much information with my very limited French and Landuma), but I think he just fell over and died. He was a very old man and had a stroke a year ago, and almost lost his leg to an infection last year. The missionaries took him to the hospital in Kamsar and paid for his medical bills.

He was my friend, in fact I addressed him as Papa Condou. (A sign of respect in this culture) He worked as a replacement guard here on the mission center, and he was often at my door while he was working. After his stroke I had a lot of difficulty understanding what he was saying. He seemed like a kind old man.

It is so sad to see people die without Christ, he seemed like he did not oppose the Christians, but rather he just was not interested in the Gospel...

On a side note, what is a year of life worth??? I think the missionaries paid a few hundred thousand FG (about $100) for the hospital stay. It seems like even an extra day of life would be worth almost any price. But how little people in America spend to help the people who really need it around the world..... Life doesn't make sense, I have to keep trusting that God is in control and know what is best.

Pray that God would use this for his glory!

4/16/2007 5:27:00 PM

Good evening,

Well it has been a while since I have updated this site, for the simple reason that I really did not want to have to remember my trip to try and repair the ferry, bad memories are best forgotten. But for your sake here it goes.

John (another missionary) and I had been planning on making the trip to repair the ferry on the 18th of March. The week before we left we were trying to buy all of the materials we might need and gather any tool that might come in handy. The ferry is located in a small village called Kandiafara close to the Guinea-Bissau border and if we forgot anything it would take a 6 hour drive to get it.

We left on night Sunday March the 18th, because we were caring a lot of tools, fuel, an acetylene cutting torch and a trailer mounted welder and the condition of the road was very poor, we were driving very slowly. After about an hour in to the trip John noticed that the welder was riding a little low. It turned out that the weld had broken on his bumper and trailer hitch. (If only we had a welder handy. ;) Instead of trying to repair it right there, we simply connected the welder to the truck I was driving. After about another two hours my truck died, all the lights turned off, and nothing would work. After some time John and I were able to find a wire that had come disconnected from the battery. We finally arrived at a village where some missionaries are living, at about 11:00 p.m..

The next day we left for Kandiafara, we arrived at about 11:00 a.m. and got right to work pumping all of the water out of the ferry. Because John and I do not speak much French, we waited to be introduced to the village elders until another missionary from could meet us out there. Because the river is a tidal river, we waited until high tide then we floated the ferry to higher ground and put palm tree logs and some large metal spools underneath the ferry and waited for the tide to go out. After the tide went out, we got our first good look at the bottom of the ferry. Originally ferry was constructed out of 3/8” steel sheets with a steel I-beam skeleton. Unfortunately due to lack of maintenance and sheer disrespect, the bottom of the ferry has completely been destroyed. It appears that the ferry was carelessly allowed to rest on top of logs when the tide went out, this caused severe damage to welds and the edges of the metal. We began the process of cleaning out the water from the inside of the ferry, we were able to use a gasoline pump for most of the water, but there was a lot of bailing needed to remove the rest of the water. I got right to work and began to try and weld patches to the underside of the ferry. I am not a professional welder, but I am able to weld moderately well. However, I have never welded upside down; I quickly learned that it is very difficult to weld upside down. Because the ferry weights upwards of 20 tons, we were not going to be able to flip it over. In addition to the difficulties of welding upside down, the bottom of the ferry was not flat it had many indentions and bumps, in addition there was a layer of rust that I had to remove before I could weld. In order to weld to the uneven surface of the ferry, we used a floor jack and a 3”x3” board, to press the metal patch up to the bottom of the ferry, after I welded one side of the patch I would move the jack and bend another side of the metal patch to match the ferry. As I was finishing the last weld on the first patch, the board supporting the patch caught on fire. I opened my welding mask and tried to blow out the fire, at that exact time the board slipped due to the tremendous pressure the jack was exerting on it in order to bend the metal patch. The flaming board slipped and hit me right in the face!! Initially I though the ferry was falling off its supports, but as soon as the Guineans who were working with me saw my face they ran over and grabbed my face?!? I started yelling and flaying to get them off of me, I am unsure why they thought it appropriate to grab me!?!? I crawled out from underneath the ferry and turned off the welder then tried to look at my face in the mirror of the truck. I though for sure that I had lost a few teeth! Fortunately I only had a large “T” shaped cut on my upper lip. John thought I might need stitches, but as we thought about it, it would take over 10 hours to get to a hospital and it would be closed at 2:00 a.m. when we got there. So instead I tried to clean it with bottled water, because it was on my lip band-aids would not stick to my lip, so I used Duck Tape and gauze instead. This seemed to work ok, but I looked really funny, (or at least a little more funny than I normally look.) The cut is healing up nicely there will not doubt be a scar. There is still some black ash under the healed skin from the flaming board, I am hoping that it will eventually be absorbed, by my body. They say the difference between tattoos and scars is that scars have cool stories to go with them. I can tell you I have learned my lesson I will never try kissing flaming boards again!!! ;) That during the time we were out there I sleep in the crew seat of the old F-350 Ford truck the mission uses for construction projects. This would have worked out better if the truck was 18” wider or I was 18” shorter. And I am sure I would have gotten more sleep if the villagers had not listened to music until 1:00 a.m. every night.

For the next few days we continued trying to repair the holes in the ferry, this often seemed like a futile effort to me. I probity spent about 8 hours a day behind a welder, it seemed like every time I tried to weld a patch on the bottom of the ferry it would create four new wholes around the edge of the patch where I had blown through the metal because the welder was set to hot, but every time I turned the welder down it was not hot enough to correctly melt the metal. After all this welding I have a nice tan from intense light created by the welding. I also have quite a few places where glowing hot specks of metal have burned through my skin.

After spending a few days trying to weld from the bottom of the ferry I decided to try and patch the remanding holes from the inside of the ferry, this involved climbing down a 1 ½' X 1 ½' hole and crawling in the inside of the ferry trying to locate the holes with a small flash light, once I was able to locate a hole, I tried to weld it. However, it was impossible to weld for very long because the inside of the ferry quickly became full of poisonous fumes, steam and temperatures rose well above 150 deg F. In addition to these difficulties, because I was soaking wet, (mainly with sweet and mud) every time I had to change a welding rod I was electrocuted. I must have been shocked over 50 times while we were there.

Before we had left John and I had decided that we would leave on a specific date, because we needed to return to the capital city to pick up a returning missionary in addition to trying to buy new supplies. I was able to weld all of the holes we could discover, but I am sure that there are a few small holes remaining that we did not discover. On the return trip the trailer mounted welder hit a bump, became disconnected from the truck and completely rolled. After some work we were able to flip the welder up right, praise God that it had only a little damage. A little further down the road a tree had fallen and was blocking the road. We were able to chop it in two pieces and tow it out of the way with John’s truck. When we were almost home the brakes failed in my truck and I almost hit a taxi as I was going down a hill. Thank God for his protection. I was able to continue driving home using a combination of the emergency brake and the transmission.

We had planed on painting the bottom of the ferry with marine paint. However as we examined the bottom of the boat it became evident that the simple act of cleaning the rust off the bottom would severely weaken the bottom of the ferry and no doubt cause more holes. After much thought and discussion John and I concluded that in order to repair the ferry only one of two options would work. The first option would be to remove the entire bottom of the ferry and repair the I-beam skeleton, then re-weld an entire new bottom. This would take a minimum of two months of work and the costs would be enormous. The second option would be to fill the inside of the ferry with expanding foam. This option would take only a few days to complete and would be probably cost less. We are now in the process of trying to get a hold of about 120 m^3 of Polyurethane foam. So far I have located a few suppliers in but have not had the time to contact them. If you know of anyone who would be willing to donate Polyurethane to this project please contact me.

I have to confess I had a very negative attitude during most of the trip, fortunately John had a very upbeat and positive attitude. God is working on my attitude, and changing me to be more like Christ…

3/18/2007 9:22:38 AM

Today, I will be traveling up to the border area and repairing a ferry crossing. The government officials were very excited that we are willing to assist the Guinea people in this way. Prayerfully this will open doors for the gospel to the villagers around the area, and also allow the missionaries in this area to cross the river all year round. But it is going to be a lot of work, the ferry is huge, we have a plan on how to lift it off the ground, but I am not to sure how well it is going to work. I will try and post some pictures on my web site…. I will be incommunicado for at least a week, possibly two.

Please pray for safety and wisdom!!!

3/13/2007 9:57:40 PM

Wow, it has been along time since I have updated this site with what I have been doing here in Guinea.

Well yesterday, I went with John (another missionary) up to the Guinea and Guinea-Bissau border. We are hoping to assist the Guinea people by repairing a ferry crossing. It was a very long day, we left the missions center at about 7:30 a.m. and arrived back home 11:30 p.m. We surveyed four possible places to build/repair a river crossing, but settled on repairing an older ferry crossing. I ended up crossing the river in a dug out canoe. If everything is approved we are hoping to begin work next Monday.

On Friday March 9th, I ended up in a Guinean police station. It was very frustrating, I went to town to buy some supplies, and I parked the truck about1/4 mile from the market and walked to the shops. I purchased all of my supplies, and told the shop keepers that I would drive my truck down the main road and asked them to bring my purchases to the truck. I parked my truck on the side of the road allowing for one car to pass on the road, and waved for the shop keepers to bring my purchases. (This is completely normal in Guinea.) As soon as I got out a man came up behind me and demanded that I move my truck, I said I would in one minute. He continued to yell at me while I was loading up my supplies, and even hit me in the head with the truck shell tail gate. After I had finished loading up my truck (about 3 minutes maximum), I started to make my way back to the main street where I was stopped by the police. I had to go talk to the director of the police at the police station. Thankfully, the director of police was very polite and kind, and after some time he allowed me to leave. He was kind enough to allow me to park my truck in the police station in the future.

My birthday was on March 3rd, Ana one of the other missionaries had her birthday on March 5th, our friends here gave us a big party on Sunday the 4th, we had a BBQ and played volleyball. It was a lot of fun...

Tomorrow I am trying to finish a few projects around the mission center; I will be supervising some Guinean workers who are digging a trench, supervising the butchering of a cow, and trying to repair a solar powered refrigerator.

3/6/2007 9:44:40 PM

Sorry I have not updated this blog in a while…. I have a few things I want to write about, I will try to write it all up in a few days… But I wanted to just say, yes I am alive and doing well, just really busy.

God Bless you all,

2/26/2007 2:13:58 PM

On Sunday, February 25 representatives from the Guinean Government, Unions, West African peace mission, civic and religious organizations met and came to an agreement on how to end the stalemate over the nomination of a new Prime Minister. The President agreed to select by March 2 one of 5 new candidates fielded by the Unions and civic/religious representatives. The Union has agreed to end the nationwide strike today or tomorrow.

Please continue to pray for the peace of Guinea and an open door to the gospel.

2/15/2007 10:11:09 PM

Because of the martial law, things in Guinea have calmed down, in most of the cities. However, the meeting between the Government and the unions has failed to yield any positive results. NTM missionaries in Conakry were able relocated to Dakar. Please keep a family of believers from Ivory Coast, who work for the mission in Conakry, as they have elected to stay in Conakry.

2/13/2007 10:00:57 PM

The Government of Guinea has issued a decree imposing martial law until February 23. The decree imposes a curfew from 6:00 am to 4:00 pm and from 8:00 pm to 6:00 am. The implications of the decree are as yet unclear.

All personnel from village stations have been relocated to our mission center in keeping with our contingency strategy. They are all safe.

The NTM personnel in Conakry are safe in their homes and will remain in Conakry until it is safe for them to travel by road to the mission center or to fly out to Dakar.

Please keep Guinea in prayer!!!

2/10/2007 9:57:53 PM

President Conte’s choice for a new Prime Minister has been met with widespread disapproval from the unions, civil society, and the general population. Protests today have affected all areas of Guinea, including most regional capitals. In Conakry, tire burning, rock throwing, and other protests have led to looting. These follow serious disturbances Friday in the interior in Guinea.

All personnel from village stations are being relocated to our mission center today, in keeping with our contingency strategy.

The NTM personnel in Conakry are safe in their homes and will remain in Conakry until it is safe for them to travel by road to the Mission Center.

Please continue to pray for the well being of the country, and for a peaceful resolution.

2/10/2007 10:47:23 AM

We had our annual Valentines Day dinner last night, the High Schoolers put it on to help raise money for their annual beach trip over spring break.. As I refuse to participate in the "devils" holiday, as I like to call it. (Or at least that is what I call it when I don’t have a girlfriend.) It went very well, at least that is what I heard. I volunteered to help watch the children so the parents could have a relaxing evening without children. We ate macaroni pizza, and watched the movie Cars. I had a good time, I hope the children and parents did as well.

As some of the missionaries were trying to return to their tribial villages after the dinner. They came across a road block, and burning tires. It turned out that the students from the University of Mining, located a few miles from the mission center, were protesting the President choice for a new Prime Minister.

All of the missionaries had to return and stay the night at the mission center.

I was planning on taking a trip to Conakry today, but because of the unrest, I will be staying in my village.

Please keep Guinea in Prayer.

1/29/2007 8:46:53 AM

The tensions in the capital city of Conakry have eased as the President has agreed to name a consensus prime minister. The union leaders have sat down with government and judicial officials along with some Guinean citizens and drafted an agreement. The document has been presented to the President and awaits his approval along with the official appointment of a prime minister. The strike is said to be suspended today, however if the President goes back on his agreement, things will get much worse.

Please keep Guinea in prayer.

1/23/2007 12:25:48 PM

The Strike has now reached its 14th day in Guinea.

The protesting in the streets has erupted in Conakry. Yesterday there were reports of at least 17 people who were killed in the protests. The protesting has spread to the interior of the country; however it is not as aggressive as it is in Conakry. Most the missionaries in Guinea have been relocated to the mission center. The rest of the missionaries that aren't at the mission center are in safe locations in their village works. The major town near the mission center has not seen any protesting.

There are strong demands by union leaders and the Guinean people to see the president replaced.

Please continue to pray for the well being of the country, and for a peaceful resolution.

1/19/2007 7:43:23 AM

The Strike has now reached it’s 9th day in Guinea.

There has been protesting and clashing with police throughout the streets of Conakry, and spreading to more places in the interior of the country. In addition to the Conakry personnel who were relocated to the mission center on Sunday, the two most sensitive tribal locations were relocated to the mission center Thursday evening, as a precaution.

There are demands for major reforms in the government.

Please continue to pray for the well being of the country, and for a peaceful resolution.

1/17/2007 9:03:46 PM

The Strike has now reached it’s 7th day in Guinea.

There has been protesting and clashing with police throughout the streets of Conakry, and some in the interior of the country. All of the NTM-Guinea missionaries who were in Conakry have been relocated to the mission center on Sunday, before the protests.

The strike is not yet over, and may continue a few more days before an agreement is reached.

Please continue to pray for the well being of the country, and for a peaceful resolution.

1/9/2007 2:43:18 PM

Please keep the very volatile situation in Guinea in prayer.

The unions in Guinea have called a nation wide strike for an undetermined period of time, to begin on the 10th of January. This will restrict the missionaries in their ministries, and life will be even more difficult for many people in Guinea, especially if it continues for a long period of time.

Please pray for the people in Guinea, for all that are in authority, and for the missionaries serving in Guinea.

1 Timothy 2:1-4

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1/9/2007 2:23:34 PM

Well a lot has happened since I wrote last; my brother Brenton and Ryan were delayed in Las Vegas due to the first snow storm in 10 years. They spent two days in New York and two days in Morocco. They finally arrived in Guinea on December 24th at about 4:00 a.m., but they were missing three of their four bags. We spent Christmas in a village called Doucki, and hiked for about three days. We spent a few days in my village, and Brenton and Ryan helped me with a few projects. Then we spent a few days out on the island of Casa, but we had to leave early because of a very painful infection I had in my thumb. Brenton and Ryan left Guinea on the 4th of January, and arrived back in California with out problems.

By January 5th my thumb was swollen to three times the normal size and I was in so much pain that no amount of Vicodin, and ibuprofen could stop the pain. On January 6th I went in to a clinic and had surgery to remove the infection in my thumb. The doctor was Lebanese and spoke very little English, thankfully other missionaries Caleb and Dolton came with me to the clinic and helped. I was given a shot of Antibiotic, an IV, a shot of Valium, and three shots of local anesthetics. The doctor cut three separate cuts and removed a large portion of skin, he also scraped the bone to try and clean the infected flesh out of my thumb. I was unable to think clearly enough to do math for almost a week.

I am healing well, but I suspect I will have a slightly deformed thumb and will have trouble fully bending my thumb. It will most likely take over a month to heal, enough to no longer need a bandage. I have no idea how my thumb got infected, and I was unable to ask the doctor.

So for the next month I will not be able to do as much work as I would like. But I know God has a plan.

Benjamin Baum

12/20/2006 11:25:54 AM

As I write this (I will have to type it up later and correct the spelling). I am in a taxi on my way to the capital city of Conakry. My brother and friend Ryan are flying in to Guinea tomorrow morning. I had to wait two hours for the taxi to fill up with people. Some of the people in the taxi are bringing goats and chickens with them, to Conakry. So all of our baggage is strapped to the roof of the taxi, at least my bag is not getting goat droppings all over it.

While in Guinea Brenton, Ryan and I are planning on traveling around Guinea, hiking, visiting the some of the villages NTM works in and helping me with some projects.

Today I am trying to buy a water pump for my village; the common village pump was stolen a month ago. Now that it is dry season, the village pump is very important.

Last week was the mission’s annual field conference, it went very well. We had bible studies, times of prayer, meetings, fellowship, good food, sports, and I even had time to conduct a computer class.

As I have mentioned before we still have a great need for teacher and dorm parents next year. I would ask you to keep this in prayer.

12/7/2006 11:41:30 PM

I was able to upload some of the pictures I took of the Boké Church construction, from last weekend. I was involved in was the pouring of the concrete for the second floor. My tasks included using the tractor to haul water from the river and bringing the cement mixer. They had hired about 40 workers to mix the cement by hand, basically they pile sand, cement and gravel on the ground add water, then mix it with a short handled hoe. It seemed to be very impractical to me, but they were not that much slower than the cement mixer. However, I think that was mainly because we could not get a routine down with the cement mixer. Some of the ladies from the church came out and prepared lunch for all of the workers, rice and leaf sauce. If you look in some of the pictures you will see the dome of a new mosque under construction as well. Pray that the new church will be a light to those who are lost. The Boké church is not a New Tribes Mission’s project, it is instead a church that was planted by Guineans and has a Guinean missionary pastor. We are pleased that they have allowed us to assist them in a small way.

Next week is our annual Field Conference, all New Tribes missionaries in Guinea will be coming to the mission center for a week long time of fellowship, teachings, prayer, planning, and hopefully just an over all good time. Please pray that it would go well and that God would be glorified.

12/3/2006 7:56:45 PM

Well the construction on the Boké church went ok yesterday. It was a lot of work, I left my house when it was still dark and got back when it was dark. But we were able to finish the second story concrete floor. I am all tired out, and quite sore, it has been a while since I operated a shovel. ;) If I was working at a job back home in the U.S., I would take tomorrow off. I was working on the VSAT installation all last week, and was unable to make a trip to Kamsar to buy supplies for the missionaries. So now our supplies are low, so of I go tomorrow. Please pray that God gives me the strength.

12/1/2006 8:15:56 PM

For the past few weeks I have been working on setting up a VSAT satellite internet connection at the mission center. It has taken a lot of work and still more to go, but late Wednesday night we were able to access the internet using the VSAT. Praise the Lord!!! I tried using Skype to call a friend back home in California yesterday, and it was amazing, there was no delay. Normally when I call home there is a three second delay, it takes a while to get used to... I still have a lot of work to do to finish this project, including providing power for the library and multipurpose buildings, and distributing the internet connection around the campus. But at least it is up and running.

Tomorrow I am helping to build a church in Boké, they are pouring the second floor, and need to use the mission’s cement mixer and want me to haul water from the river. I will try to get some pictures and upload them in the next few days….

11/23/2006 1:43:41 PM

Happy Thanksgiving, I hope you all are enjoying spending time with family and friends, and of course the Thanksgiving meal. I am not going to a thanksgiving meal this year, as turkeys cost around $40. Instead some of us are going to spend a few days at the beach. I am cooking “shiskabobs” tonight. (Sorry I can’t spell that word, you know put meat and veggies on a stick and put it over a fire) What are you thankful for this year?

11/16/2006 11:41:21 AM

Hey you guys, hope things are going well back home, or wherever you are… I have been very busy here with lots of projects, the past few weeks. The main project I am working on right now is installing a VSAT (Satellite Internet) system including a new power system, at our mission center. It will take weeks to finish it, but hopefully we will be able to get it semi operational in a week or two….

Last week I had a relapse of boils/bites, this time they were on my leg, I could not walk last Wednesday and Thursday with out extreme pain. I have a new respect for Job, and all that he went through.

Last night at about 1:00 a.m. the ants came back!!! This time they came in my house through my toilet. I spayed bug spray inside and outside my house and killed a lot of them, but not without getting a lot of bites. They are amazing creatures, even though they are dead they still would not let go of my skin, I had to pry them off.

Miss you all, God bless,

Benjamin Baum

10/30/2006 9:01:25 AM

Last weekend I went with another missionary to the town of Koundara, to investigate the possibility of starting a new missions work there. Missionaries have been hoping to start a new work in Koundara for many years. Koundara is located in the upper part of Guinea close to the Senegal border. We were able to locate two houses for rent, they were both in OK condition, but they will still need a lot of work to make them livable. Koundara is only 300 km from my house, but because of the poor roads it was over a 10 hour drive. We stayed at the nicest hotel in town which costs 10,000 GF (About $1.60) per night. You definitely get what you pay for. ;) I must have over 30 new bug bites from my stay at the hotel. On the road to Koundara we saw four troops of monkeys and three troupes of baboons, it was an interesting trip, but very exhausting.

God Bless you all.

10/26/2006 5:10:53 PM

I got stuck in the city of mining city of Kamsar yesterday. Apparently the wives of the Mining workers were upset and blocked the roads. They were upset because the mining company decided to stop giving bags of rice as a fringe benefit for it's workers, and instead just give out cash. The workers approved this, but their wives were very upset because they know that their husbands will spend the money on other things instead of a sack of rice, then they will have nothing to eat....

10/19/2006 12:07:46 PM

God answers prayers!!! I asked you guys to pray for my health yesterday, and today I woke up feeling much better!!! My boil is still infected and revolting, but I feel better and have more energy.

Ok now pray that God would heal my camera! I had to buy a new camera while I was at home last month, because my old camera was stolen at the airport. But now my new camera will not turn on. I am going to take it apart soon, and try to fix it if, but it would be nice if God could just fix it for me. ;)

God Bless you all.

10/18/2006 9:21:07 AM

Good Morning from Guinea, things have been going ok for the past few weeks here. I have been quite busy here with all kinds of projects, some of which I can’t seem to finish!!! It has been raining almost every day still, and I kind of like the rain. The rainy season will end soon and it will just be hot an humid for a month or so, then the humidity should be reduced.

For the past few weeks I have been helping to finish building a house in a village where a missionary will be living. Unfortunately with my other responsibilities, I have not been able to spend as much time over there as I would have liked.

Please pray for my health, I have some kind of infected sore on my elbow. It hurts if I touch any part of my elbow, and it is very swollen. Some of the missionaries think it is a boil, or a worm living in side my arm. All I know is it hurts, it is spreading and it is not getting better. I have been very tired and feeling run down, I think it might be related….

I miss you all, God Bless.

9/25/2006 11:37:40 AM

Well I am home in my village, it is nice to be in familiar surroundings, even if the heat and the humidity is going to take getting used to again. I am still sick, but I have stayed awake all morning, but I think I might have to take a nap this afternoon. I was able to teach my math class, this morning, but I was quite groggy and my students made fun of me… I will have to repay them with extra homework, once I feel better. :) I am trying to kill the hundreds of spiders which have decided to make my house their own while I was away, so far I have only had the energy to clean one corner of my room. (Well it is a start at the least.) I really miss being back home in California with my family and friends, please keep me in prayer.

I miss you all God Bless.

9/21/2006 4:27:31 PM

I arrived back in Guinea on Tuesday night, after what seemed like an eternity of traveling. I have been sick for the past few days and have been spending most of the day in bed. :( I hope to travel to my home tomorrow if I feel well enough.

I was so nice to be home in the U.S. for the past month, I have really enjoyed spending time with my family and friends. Thank you all for being so kind and for continuing to pray for the work God is doing in Guinea and for me.

God Bless all of you

9/1/2006 2:24:34 PM

I will be doing a slide show displaying the work God is doing in Guinea, at Calvary Chapel of the High Desert on the 17th of September at 6:00 p.m.. Calvary Chapel of the High Desert is located at:

14740 Eucalyptus
Hesperia, CA 92345

I hope to see you there.

8/22/2006 11:39:15 AM

I am home!!! It took over 36 hours of traveling to get from Guinea to my parents home in Hesperia, California, but it is well worth it. I am really enjoying spending time with my family and friends. I will be in California to attend my sisters wedding, until September 18th then I fly back to Guinea to continue my work with the Guinean people.

I am really looking forward to seeing all of you. Please call me or email me I would love to share with you the work God is doing in Guinea.

God Bless,

7/31/2006 7:26:04 PM

Some weeks are better than others… For the past two weeks I have been doing odd construction / maintenance jobs. Last week I installed running water for the mission school’s bathroom, and the lab classroom. I had a lot of problems, even the new plumbing parts, leak right out of the box! It was very frustrating to have a job which should have taken two days takes over a week to complete. I really do not like construction, but there is no one here available to complete the jobs which need to be completed. So I am trying my best to accomplish them, but I am not enjoying it and am looking more and more forward to coming home for a month in August… This morning I prayed to God and said that I wanted to accomplish what ever good work he had planned for me today.

Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Well it seemed that God had very little for me to accomplish today, as I spent most of the day walking in circles and accomplishing very little. I admit that I was very frustrated but I know that God has it under control…

God is growing my patients, I get about 5 to 10 Guineans a day coming to my door asking for help repairing anything thing from watches to radios to motorcycles. Or they ask me to recharge their car batteries, they use for their radios. Or I am asked for work, the list goes on and on… While most of these things are fine and good and I try to help when I can. But eventually it becomes too much and is frustrating. Not to mention it takes a lot of work for me to understand their French. I pray God helps me with my attitude.

Miss ya all, see ya in a few weeks!!!

7/20/2006 10:28:02 AM

Hello all, sorry I have not updated this in some time. Our satellite modem has been down for a few days, I finally got one from another tribal location up and running. Things have been busy here, I have traveled to four of our tribal locations in the past two weeks. I was glad that I was able to help out on the front line, but I am also glad to be home! It is always nice to sleep in your own bed. For the past few days I have been trying to catch up on projects that I have fallen behind on. The mission school and dorm are opening up on August 7th and there is a lot of work that needs to be done.

Please keep the dorm parents in prayer, they are trying to get the dorm livable before school starts. Also please keep Rodger in prayer, he is a tribal missionary who has been really sick and has no energy. He is treating for a potentially life threatening disease. But through it all he is still translating the bible and disciplining the young Tanda church. His attitude was very encouraging to me.

Benjamin Baum

7/9/2006 7:55:39 PM

Hello, I hope all is well with you all. Things are going well for me in Guinea. I have been traveling a lot the past few weeks.

I spent a few days at the beach and was able to relax and not have to worry about anything. It was nice and a needed rest.

I then spent a week in the capital city of Conakry. I was able to help some of the missionaries with some electronic and computer problems. I also was able purchase some equipment needed for various projects that are in the works. It is tough trying to buy supplies in Guinea. First you have to find what you are looking for, that means walking through the mazes of the open air markets. Once you find what you are looking for the real fun begins. I was never very good at bartering in the US in English, so I am just short of horrible bartering in Guinea in broken French. I am finding that the trick is to try and become friends with the guy before you even start discussing the price. Then it becomes a waiting game, I spent over an hour bartering with a guy over one item and was able to get it for 2,000,000 FG where the original starting price was 2,800,000. But I still wonder if I was taken… There is also a problem with the color of my skin, lots of the time when a Guinea sees a white person, they assume they have money and increase the price, it is often easer and cheaper to pay a Guinean to go and buy something for you. But that takes the fun out of it!! (But it also reduces the stress…)

The next few weeks I plan on traveling to a few more of the tribes and doing some work. I also need to get some work done here on the mission center before the school starts in August. Oh while I was in Conakry I was able to buy my airline tickets so I can attend my sisters Candie’s wedding in September. I will be home from mid August to mid September, I hope I will be able to see you during this time.

God Bless You!

6/25/2006 6:36:53 PM

Today was an exciting morning for me, I got electrocuted during church trying to setup a projector. I had rewired the building a few weeks earlier and I must have forgotten to rewire this plug. The other missionaries thought it was amusing to see me jump!

Then after church I was walking to turn off the generator, and I almost stepped on a Black Cobra!! Black Cobra's are very poisonous and can spit poison. It was only about 18" long, but it had it's hood up and was ready to strike at me. I jumped and ran, I tried to follow it while someone else got a stick. But, it went in to a hole in the ground. After some digging we were able to kill it with a shovel.

6/25/2006 6:35:14 PM

Last Monday, the 19th of June, the Guinea national strike was officially over. It has taken a few days for things to get back to normal. I am unsure of exactly what agreement the unions got from the strike. But I believe the government is going to lower the price of rice.

Please continue to keep Guinea in prayer, many of the Guineans I talked to are very concerned with the situation in Guinea, they feel that their country is not always ruled by laws. Pray that God would intervene in the hearts of the Guinea people.

6/13/2006 6:43:58 AM

I shot my first snake today!!!

I was working on repairing the table saw, when one of the Guinean gardeners came and told me that they had found a snake. As I was twisted back behind and under the table saw, I would have told them to kill it themselves, but I had no idea how to say that in French. ;)

The snake was about 20 feet up in a tree, one of the guards handed me a shotgun. I was a little concerned about shooting in because most of the shotguns in Guinea are handmade! However after asking one of the other missionaries if it was ok, I shot the snake right out of the tree. It was about 5 feet long and apparently a very poisons snake. I took some pictures and will post them soon.

The strike in Guinea is continuing, some reports have the reported up to 18 people killed in clashes with the police. Please continue to pray that God would have his hand on the situation!

6/5/2006 7:48:19 PM

Please keep Guinea in prayer, there is another general strike planned for today June 5th, June 8th or June 12th. With inflation at over 30% a year the Guinean economy is struggling despite Guinea’s numerous natural recourses. Gas and Diesel prices have increased by over 30% in May, causing the prices of other goods to increase as well. Price increases have made it even more difficult for the average Guinean to afford their daily needs.

Also please keep my friend Ibrahima in prayer he is a young believer who is struggling with his family opposing his conversion to Christianity. He is no longer eating at his aunt’s home in fear that she may poison him.

6/3/2006 5:38:29 PM

My brother recently emailed me and asked if I had been eaten by monkeys or was lost in the jungle. No I am fine, I just have not had much to update on this website, and I have been lazy in replying to my emails.

It is not that I am not doing anything, as I have been very busy with lots of odd jobs. But who wants to read about my day rewiring the chapel building, or cleaning the fuel pump on one of the generators? Not exactly headline news…

It started raining last week, this is a mixed blessing. When it is raining it is much cooler, but when it is not raining it is hot AND humid!! :( Soon it should begin to rain every day and hopefully it will be cooler. (Below 95 deg F.)

So yes I am alive and doing well. And of course God is still good!

5/10/2006 7:31:58 AM

We have not had any significant rain at our mission center since November. We are in the middle of Africa’s “Dry Season”. Our old water well is only providing 20 gallons of water an hour, even with our pump operating 24 hours a day we can not keep up with the water demand. When school is in session there will be over 50 people on the mission center, and some times many more when tribal missionaries come to the mission center for a break. There is not nearly enough water for everyone to drink, shower, flush, wash dishes, clean, and wash clothes in. For the past 6 months, I have been spending two full afternoons a week hauling water from the river 2.5 miles away. The river water is used for washing clothes with, it is much to dirty to drink or even shower in. The river which in “Rainy Season” is over 200 feet across and 10 feet deep, is now not much more than a trickle.

After much prayer and discussion, the Guinean Field leadership decided to step out in faith and pay to have a water well drilled, right now, in the peak of the dry season. Praise the Lord that the new water well seems to have an abundance of water. It was drilled to a depth of 61 meters, and after pumping for over 6 hours the water level only drops to 13 meters below ground level.

I have been in the capital city of Conakry buying piping, wire and other supplies to complete the water well and connect it to our existing piping. I was able to find all of the supplies I needed and hope to be able to finish connecting the new water well to our existing system in a few days.

One of the reasons that there was a step of faith involved with the drilling of the new well is because of the very large expense of drilling a new well. There is no money available for the cost of drilling the well, so the decision was made to trust that God would provide the finances. If you would like more information on how you could help to cover the cost of the new water well I have included a link to a letter prepared by the Guinean field here.

God Bless you all,

Benjamin Baum

4/23/2006 10:59:30 PM

Tonight we had a Super Bowl party at the mission center. Yep while the rest of you were able to watch it months ago, we just got a video copy this week. We had Pepsi sodas ($1 per can), Fritos chips ($3.50 per can), Pace salsa ($3.50 per jar), imitation Pringles ($1.80 per can), and popcorn (cheep). It was a lot of fun. I had forgotten who had played not to mention who won... Some of the other missionaries had avoided hearing who had won all this time so it would be a surprise. Some of the commercials brought back memories form home. But since when did Carl’s Jr change its name to Harrdes? Do they still have the Double Western Cheese Burger?

I must say that the Settle Sea Hawks were robbed by poor officiating. But that is just my opinion….

Benjamin Baum

4/20/2006 7:20:46 PM

Over Easter break I went to Doucki, with Everett and Muffy Hallstead, Jody and Chantal, some of the other missionaries working with NTM here in Guinea. Doucki is a village in the mountainous part of Guinea, where a Peace Corps Volunteer has helped a Guinean set up a tourist hiking area. I had a lot of fun hiking and observing Gods beautiful creation!

However, every time I leave my house I have some kind of adventure. It should have taken us about 10 hours to get to Doucki instead it took over 30 hours. We had some mechanical trouble which I was able to help fix. (Have I told you that Mac Gyver is my hero?) Because the roads are mostly unmarked dirt paths, we took the wrong road and lost some time. When it became dark we looked for a hotel in a city of over 30,000 people. There was only one hotel and it smelled like urine, had no A/C, no running water, the beds were grouse, and the night club only 100 ft way opened at 9:00 p.m. and closed at 3:00 a.m.. So we decided to keep on traveling, however it soon became to dark to clearly see the road and we could easily make a wrong turn and gotten lost, or drove off the road. So we pulled off the road and camped on the side of the road by a stream. It was a blast!

After we finally arrived in Doucki, Muffy had a grandma seizure. This was very scary for us because the nearest decent hospital was over 12 hours of driving on rough dirt road. However, she had recovered enough by the evening to be able to talk, but Evert had to help her walk. The next day she was able to accompany us on a hike, thought the jungle, and waterfalls and rock caverns. After the hike, she was very tired out. The next day Jody, Chantal and I went on a 14 km hike, with a Guinean guide. Thought the course of the hike we descended over 1000 meters then we had to climb back up the 1000 meters. Some of the time we were climbing straight up on ladders made out of bunches of branches tied together. I drank water that was leaking out of a rock. (I probably have all kinds of strange diseases now…) We also went swimming in mountain streams. We were all very tired out after the hike, but it was incredible!

Over all the trip was a blast, it was not very relaxing, but loads of fun. I really enjoyed getting to know Evert, Muffy, Jody and Chantal better. God has called some very extraordinary people to serve him here in Guinea.

God Bless you,

Benjamin Baum

4/17/2006 4:20:12 PM

Early in the morning on Thursday, April 13th the Sheffield’s my fellow co-workers here in Guinea were robbed at gun point at the mission center. The Sheffield’s have recently moved to the mission center from a tribal ministry to serve as dorm parents for the 2006-2007 school year. The robbers were able to gain access to the dorm without waking, the Sheffield’s or disturbing the night guards who were on the other side of the mission center at the time. The Sheffield’s were forced at gun point to give the robbers all of their cash, cameras, and wedding rings.

God protected the Sheffield’s through the whole experience, and nobody was hurt. When the robbers wanted, Jim Sheffield to take them to the other missionaries house, he was able to convince them that other missionaries had guns and the guards were close by, at this the robbers left. The Sheffield’s are coping well thought the traumatic experience. Praise the Lord for his Protection.

There have been plans to upgrade the security at the dorm and other buildings on with the mission for quite some time. In fact the week before the robbery the Guinea field construction team (which I am apart of) came up with a list of security upgrades that need to be accomplished. A major security upgrade was planed to be accomplished the day of the robbery. Since the robbery, many security upgrades have been pushed forward. I may even get metal doors on my house, the door’s I have now could be kicked open very easily....

There must be a balance between trusting in security measures and trusting in God. After all God allowed the robbery to occur, it was in his plan. But at the same time we need to use the wisdom God gave us.

Pro 22:3 The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, But the naive go on, and are punished for it.

4/5/2006 10:14:11 PM

My friend Alex recently asked me in an email “Have you been able to witness any Acts like things happening there, anything we would consider supernatural or just out of our norm, let me know.”

Well I have seen some very weird and odd things, and I have seen God’s supernatural power working behind the scene. However, yesterday (Tuesday April 4th) I saw some really weird “out of the norm” demonic stuff.

On Sunday night someone broke in to the health clinic in the village, and stole the radio, solar panel, and the “Heath Workers” government issued motorcycle. The clinic is only a 100 yards away from my house, and I do not remember hearing anything that night. On Tuesday, the village got together and hired a “Diviner” with his “Diving Board” to determine who stole the stuff from the clinic. I had said that a “Diviner” had come to my village on 10/4/2005, to help determine who stole from the Peace Core volunteer. Some of you asked me what a “Diving Board” was. Well this time I went in to the village when I heard the screaming/cheering, and I took my camera. :) I was able to get a somewhat mild video of the “Diving Board” in action. The “Diving Board” is a rectangular wood writing tablet, they are commonly used to write verses of the Koran on. However, this one apparently had “Special Powers”.

I was the only foreigner in the whole crowd of about 200 people watching the happenings. The whole event was spoken in Landuma, so I had no clue what they were saying. But from what I gathered, they “ask” the “Diving Board” something and it “Guides” them to the answer. I am sorry I am not being very clear, but I truly do not understand the whole process.

When they finally set the “Diving Board” loose it took off!!! The crowd ran away so quickly that I was almost trampled. I saw the two guys holding the “Diving Board” being “Led/Dragged” away. After they had run about 60 feet, the “Diving Board” and the two guys holding the board, began beating the ground, and returned to the spot they had originated from. The two guys looked like they were in some kind of trance. I was able to get a picture of the two guys being dragged around by the “Diving Board”. I was also able to get a video of the “Diving Board” and the two guys holding the board, beating the ground. I will not be able to upload the pictures and video for a few weeks, if you would like me to email you after I upload them let me know.

The whole thing was very confusing for me, and actually very amusing. I almost began laughing. I believe that there was demonic power controlling the board, but the way that the demonic power was manifesting itself was a joke! Dragging two men around by a piece of wood on a hunt for a thief, was this the best display of demonic power?

However, when I looked around at the Guineans, I did not see amusement in their faces, instead I saw fear. They were fully taken in by this “show”, they saw something “real” and if it was real it must be true? In my understanding of Islam a “Diving Board” is contrary to the teaching of the Koran. However, Satan does not care if the people don’t follow Islam to the letter, all he is concerned with is that they don’t put their trust in Christ. If people die in their sin they are on their way to hell, but with Christ all people can see God face to face.

For those of you who do not believe or respect demonic power, I have this to say to you. It is real, and far more powerful than you will ever be (without Christ that is). Do not dabble in things of the occult, if you ask Satan or demonic forces to enter you they will!

Leviticus 19:31 "Don't dabble in the occult or traffic with mediums; you'll pollute your souls. I am GOD, your God. (MSG)

The good news is that God has more real power then all of the demonic forces combined. And God desires to give this power to you.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. (NASB)

But you must ask for it.

(Jesus Speaking) Revelations 3:20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. (NASB)

3/25/2006 7:01:34 PM

Meet Cheep, or as he likes to be called “Jimmy Carter”. (I don’t know why he likes to be called that.) He has been working on the mission center as a painter for the past few months off and on. I have been told me that his French is worse than mine. I do not know about that, but I certainly cannot understand him. He comes from the Jahango tribe and lives about 10 km from the mission center. He has been riding his bike (if you could call it a bike) to work daily. He is a chain smoker, and always stinks of cheep cigarettes, B.O., paint, and kerosene. He is always asking people for things, he routinely bluntly and rudely asked any one, who is unlucky enough to be spotted by him, for things like, a new bike, water, a coke, food, money, a gun, or just a gift. When he asks for things he is be very intimidating, especially to the women. When he asks me for things he needs to paint, he approaches me and demands (in his very poor French) that I get it for him right away, no matter if I am in the middle of my own work. I usually look at him with a look that sort of says “And who do you think you are?” this usually brings a laugh from him, as he probably remembers “Oh ya I forgot he is the boss (called “patronné” in Guinea)”. I try to be patient and tell him I will get him what he needs in a minute when I can stop what I am doing and attend to his needs. He is being paid well over the average wage, even though his work is well below what would be considered the minimum quality in the states. He would have been done weeks ago if he spent more time painting than taking smoking breaks, talking to the other Guineans, daydreaming, gawking at any poor women who happen to walk by, and just plain sleeping on the job. I have been very aggravated to find him sleeping, when I have been working hard all day. When I wake him up he gives some lame excuse like “I am waiting for the paint to dry” when I point out 10 other things he could be doing, he gives some other excuse in incomprehensible French (Incomprehensible even to the other missionaries who speak French.) I have been supervising him for the past few days while Pete (who is in charge of construction) was attending to other business in Conakry. Well this afternoon, he asked me for another can of varnish. I was very interested as to what happened to the other two I gave him this morning. After we looked around I demanded to know where the two cans were. He pretended to look around and said that he could not find them. I asked one of my coworkers about it, (thinking maybe he had taken the cans.) When we asked Cheep to open his bag, we found the two cans of varnish. He immediately denied having taken them. I do not know how he thought he could get away with it after being caught red handed....

While Cheep can be very frustrating and even angering, he is the reason I am in Guinea. God loves Cheep, even in his sin. I pray that some day he will come to the realization that he is a sinner and bound for Hell without God’s forgiveness.

New Tribes Mission has a team of six people who are learning the Jahango language and culture. They hope to soon begin to translate the Bible into the Jahango language, and begin teaching in the next few years. Please keep the Snetselaar’s, the Gumbs’s, Danielle Graves, and Ana Lucia da Silva in your prayers as they are working hard to learn the language and culture, and build friendships. And of course please keep the Jahango’s in your prayers.

Benjamin Baum

3/17/2006 8:02:45 PM

I am very sad and confused today. A Guinean friend and Christian came to visit me today. I already had another Guinean friend over but I invited him in. He took a seat on my couch and we began to talk. Since he speaks English fairly well, we were able to communicate. He politely explained to me that he had not eaten in a few days and was asking me for some food. He explained that he had been unable to find work all this week and could not even come up with 1,000 FG ($0.25) I realized that from where he was sitting he could see my food cupboard, full of food. (My house is very small and I do not have doors on my cupboard.) I offered him an 8 kg sack of rice and he was pleased to take it.

But the whole experience left me feeling sick. Here I am, with more food that I need, and money to spend on sodas, and here he is starving. The difference between us? I was born in America, and he was born in Guinea. I should have offered him more food and some money… What does it say in James 2:15-16?

“If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?”

I want to help the people here, but where do I start? And where do I stop? Once people find that I will give them rice anytime they ask, they will take advantage of it. And what happens once I leave? Pray that God would give me wisdom.

Benjamin Baum

3/16/2006 6:52:29 PM

Today I witnessed a miracle of sorts.

The missionaries to the Tanda people live in the village which is very difficult to get to, and in the past it was impossible to get to in the rainy season. Overflowing rivers blocked all roads into and out of this Tanda village. But a few years ago the Tanda missionaries began praying about the prospects of building bridge over the main rives into this Tanda village. They contacted “Friends in Action International” http://www.FIAintl.org. Friends in Action International is a organization which helps missionaries get to the mission field and assists with community development projects.

After years of planning, and countless hours of hard work, the bridge it finished. I was standing right there, on the bridge, as the first car crossed over. It is amazing what God can accomplish through his people. The bridge itself was donated to the people of Guinea by an Irish company. For the past six weeks teams of volunteers have been coming from all over the world to help with the construction of the bridge. And this was not a popsicle stick bridge. It is a few hundred feet long and can carry vehicles of up to 10 tones! To think less than six weeks ago there was nothing there and now there is a bridge.

But in addition to building steal bridges, this whole process has built relationship bridges. The Guineans are amazed that these missionaries and their friends are willing to go to such extortionately measures. This is the type of relationship bridges which allow the Gospel of Jesus Christ to cross. The volunteers who helped built the bridge have also had their lives impacted by their experiences.

All to God’s Glory!

3/8/2006 8:55:36 AM

Praise the Lord the strike in Guinea has been resolved. The strike was peaceful for the most part and I believe that the unions were able to secure raises. However, with my limited understanding of economics, it looks like this will only be a short-term solution. Please continue to pray for the Guinean people.

Benjamin Baum

3/2/2006 6:58:04 PM

Things in Guinea are very volatile right now. Since I arrived in Guinea the exchange rate has gone from $1 = 3,200 FG to $1 = 5,000 FG. This out of control inflation is crippling to the economy and to the Guinean peoples ability to buy food.

All of the taxi drivers, teachers, and some other workers are on strike. This is causing many other businesses to close as well. In the capital city of Conakry, there has been some rioting and gunfire, mostly form the police/military trying to disperse the crowds.

- Please pray for the safety of our team members who live and work in Conakry.

- Please pray that God would be glorified though the resolution of this strike. Pray that through the resolution, the Guinean people would better be able to feed their families.

- Please pray for the stability of Guinea, so we can continue to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the Guinean people.

Benjamin Baum

3/1/2006 9:04:14 AM

I thought this news story was very interesting. The boat left from the same area as I was. I can attest to the fact that it is very dangers out there.

CONAKRY, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Twenty-nine people are feared to have drowned after a Guinean fishing boat illegally carrying passengers sank in the Atlantic Ocean, local government officials said on Friday.
The pirogue, a low, narrow craft often used for fishing or transport, foundered on Thursday just offshore, they said.
"We are still looking for bodies. This morning we found two corpses. Of the 52 people on board, there are only 23 survivors according to a provisional assessment," rural community council leader Fautin Bangoura told Reuters by telephone.
"It was a pirogue belonging to a local fishing company which, unbeknown to the owner, had illegally taken on passengers. Only those who managed to jump onto the sand were able to escape," he said.
Fishing boats in the area are banned from taking passengers. Large numbers of people die every year in boating accidents on Africa's lakes and inshore waters, many because they can not swim.
Rough waves broke up the boat and when the tide went out, local people found the badly damaged hull lying on the seabed, Bangoura said.
"We often hear of incidents like this, but this is the first time the death toll has been so high," Bangoura said.

2/23/2006 9:06:55 PM

Hello All!!! I have not updated this in a while so I thought I would let you know how things are going with me in Guinea.

Praise the Lord, this past week has been much slower than the past few months. I am still teaching my math class, repairing computers and electronics, and helping Pete with the new duplex. However, things have been much more laid back!

I made a salad for dinner tonight, you might be saying “So what”. Well let me tell you what is necessary to prepare a salad. I first had to go to Boké, the nearest city to purchase the necessary ingredients. The Rodger’s a missionary family who are back in the U.S. for home assignment for the next year, have loaned me a ATV. I was able to get my Guinean drivers license, and I can take the ATV for short trips. It seems that a “fotay” (White in Susu) on a ATV draws more attention then five guys riding on the roof of a car, or a sheep strapped on the roof. So wherever I go, I get people yelling hey “fotay”. It seems that little kids find white people fascinating, but they are sure not to get too close. On the boar ride back to Kamsar a little girl cried every time she looked at me…. Anyways, once I was able to get to Boké, I had to search through all of the ladies selling vegetables, on the side of the road. For some fresh and good looking vegetables. I was able to find a good tomate (tomato), a concombre (cucumber) and some good laitue or salade (lettuce). The carotte (carrots) were very small and brown so I decided to go with out. I paid 1,500 FG (about $0.30) for all of my vegetables. After I finished the rest of my shopping, I returned home. The first thing I did was to put the lettuce and tomato in a bowl of bleach water, for a half hour. All vegetables that we buy have to be bleached, to help prevent sickness. One of the other missionaries was really sick last week because he had eaten some lettuce that had not been cleaned properly. I did not need to bleach the cucumber, because I pealed it before I cut it up. After the lettuce and tomato had finished with their bleach bath, I cut them up and added them to my salad. And for a special treat I made Italian dressing, from a packet, salad dressing in a bottle is usually very expensive, and hard to find. In all it took three hours from the time I left my house until I was able to eat my salad. But at least I was able to find most of the ingredients!!!

Until Next Time,

Benjamin Baum

2/14/2006 11:08:06 PM

I am back from the island of where we work with the Nalu people,

I arrived back home on Sunday night much more tired than when I left, so much for reading some good books and getting some rest and relaxation.

We left the Kamsar port on Friday morning at 9:30 a.m., and took a wooden boat out to the island, the boat is operated by two guys, one drives, and one bails water the whole time! We arrived at the island at 3:30 p.m. Then we had to walk 45 minutes into the village where the missionaries' houses are located. We had to bring all of our water in with us, so between the three of us we had 36 liters of water in addition to our food, clothes and bedding. Praise the Lord that one of the believers Sana and his children were with us and helped us a lot. Sana's son, who is only about 11 years old was able to carry 18 liters of water on his head!!! It is amazing what the Guineans can carry on their head. They often carry big bunches of branches, water buckets, 90 kg bags of cement, or bricks on their head. Some of the missionaries have said that they have seen a Guinean carrying a washing machine on their head. They fell more comfortable caring things on their head then carrying them in their hands. I will try to get more pictures of this, but I fell awkward asking to take pictures of them when they are caring things on their head....

After the long boat trip and the hot walk, we were very tired. Sana's wife cooked a traditional Guinean meal of Rice and red palm oil sauce with fish. It was good but very hot, the Guineans use a lot of red peppers in all of their dishes.

On Saturday, we inspected the houses and cleaned up a lot of termite damage. We were able to visit the village and talk with the village elders. We were also able to spend some time with the two believers Sana and Papa.

Sana had said that there would be a boat leaving from port near the village on Sunday, but on Saturday he told us that the boat would not be leaving on Sunday but it might be leaving on Monday. We were unsure about how likely it was that a boat would be leaving on Monday. Sana said that every day a boat leaves at 8:00 a.m. from a village down the shore. So we decided to go there on Sunday morning and take the boat to Kamsar. However, we were getting conflicting reports as to how long it takes to walk to the other village. So we decided to leave at 4:30 a.m., we arrived in the village at 7:30 a.m.. It was quite a walk, I never walk 8 miles with a bag full of water, clothes and bedding! If I was going to go that far I would take a car, but it is unlikely that there was a car on the whole island!

We finally left the island at 9:30 a.m. in a much smaller wooden boat, full of dried fish, I had to sit on top of the fish for some of the trip. This boat leaked much more then the boat we took to the island, the bailer had to work non stop. I was very concerned that this boat was not going to make the trip. I had decided that, there was nothing in my bag that I really needed, I could get a new passport and other important documents at the embassy. If the boat went down all I really wanted to save was a key that has sentimental value to me. About an hour and a half in to the trip the wind had began to generate waves of over six feet crest to crest!!! I almost fell out of the boat, it was very exciting. I have been through some big waves on our family vacations it is a lot of fun. If God wanted me to drown in Guinea that was his responsibility, I was going to enjoy the ride! ;)

The Guinea lady passengers were very scared, and I don’t think they appreciated my laid back and playful attitude. The other passengers convinced the boat driver to transfer them into a bigger fishing boat a few miles away. The driver did not tell us this plan. So, when he pulls along side the fishing boat the last thing on my mind is to jump in to the bigger boat, especially with out my bag. It is very dangerous to try to dock two boats in rough water. Because as one boat is on the crest of the wave the other is in the trough, the boats keep going up and down in reference to each other. In addition they are constantly pulling apart and coming together with each wave. If you fall in between two boats in rough water you could easily be killed! The boat driver yelled at me to get in to the bigger boat, and I asked why in French, he failed to respond, I don’t think he spoke much French. After some of the ladies had gotten in to the bigger boat, we had to pull away because of the waves. But after a few minutes they decided to try again. This time we decided we would transfer into the bigger boat. However, we would take all of our bags with us.

Once all of the passengers had transferred to the bigger fishing boat, the smaller boat anchored, and was going to wait out the wind and waves. I spent the next three hours fishing for shark, sting rays, sea turtles and other large sea creatures. I originally thought that they were fishing for fish (poisson), but after some work the captain explained to me that they were fishing for shark (requin). It was kind of fun, it had never entered my mind that morning that I was going to go shark fishing that day! I think the captain said that they were from Senegal and were going to be fishing for the next 25 days. They set out their nets at night and pick them up in the morning. They sell the shark fins to Hong Kong and sell the meat to Gambia. Apparently, it is quite profitable. As they had to sail all the way from Senegal to Guinea.

It was very amusing to see how these fishermen lived. When we first got on the fishing boat, they had to anchor and change the spark plugs and clean the fuel filter on the boat motor. (The motor was only about a 30 HP, and the boat was well over 30 feet long!) The gas and spark plugs they sell in Africa are very low quality and have to be changed constantly! For lunch, the fishermen started a BBQ (A tire rim with some welded rebar.) and put some freshly caught fish in a pot, with some mantiok. (A root similar to potatoes, but with much more fiber) I was somewhat concerned about the BBQ, because it was set upon a railing and a large wave would have knocked it over, onto the wooden deck!

We were unsure as to how we were going to get to Kamsar, the fishing boat offered to take us to Kamsar if we would buy 55 gallons of gas for them! It would be a six hour round trip for them. But as the wind and waves calmed down our original boat came along side the fishing boat and we were able to get back in to it. Apparently, this was the plan the whole time; it would have been a lot easer if the boat captain had only explained it to us in the beginning!

Because we had lost so much time the tide had gone out and exposed massive sand bars and we had to drive miles out of the way to go around them. When we finally arrived in the Kamsar port at 5:00 p.m. we were very tired and sun burnt. Because the tide was way out, and the dock was over 300 feet from the water. I jumped into the water to see if we could walk up there, only to find that I sunk up to my knees in grey, sticky, smelly mud! As I was getting back into the boat, about six Guinean young men were walking to the boat in mud up to their waist. They were going to carry the 100 lb baskets of fish on their heads, in mud up to their waists! We convinced the boat driver to drop us off at the concrete dock a quarter mile away. Why he did not go there in the first place was beyond me. After he dropped us off he when back to the muddy dock to drop off the fish?!? We finally arrived back home at 7:00 p.m., very tired and not looking forward to Monday. ;{

c’est la vie! (That's life!)

Praise God that we had a safe trip and that the believers seemed to be continuing in the Lord. Please keep Sana and Papa in your prayers.

Benjamin Baum

2/9/2006 9:41:08 PM

Hello all I pray all is well, and God is working in and through your life.

Well things have been busy as usual this past week, but they have slowed down as compared to when the team was here! Praise the Lord, I don’t think I could have worked that hard for very much longer. But we were able to accomplish so much!

The past two weeks Ken Martin and his brother Leon have been here helping us with construction and welding. Leon is very good at welding and he has been busy welding not stop. There are a lot of welding projects that have been building up. None of the missionaries here are very good at welding, some of us can wield but not very well. Ken used to be a missionary here in Guinea and him and Pete work very well together, I can't keep up with them but I try to help when and where I can.

Tomorrow I am leaving for NTM's work on an island. The missionaries who are working with the Nalu people, on the island, are all out of the country right now. One family has returned to the U.S. because the father is dieing of cancer, the other family is back in the U.S. for their normal home assignment, the single guy who works there has gotten married and his wife is currently attending NTM's training, and he is assisting at the training institute. We are going out to the island to encourage the few believers there, Dan and Hans both speak Susu fluently, and most Nalu people can speak Susu as well.

We will also check and make sure the house are still intact, inspect the battery systems, and inspect the houses for termite damage. Termites are a big problem in Guinea. I put a untreated wood stake in the ground while we pouring concrete and two days later they had eaten three quarters of the stake!!!

We are taking public boat transportation, and will be stuck on the island for three days. But, from what the other missionaries tell me, the island has 14 miles of white sandy beach. I am planning on bringing a few good books and trying to get some rest and relaxation in. But, please pray for the boat ride over, every year people die because of overloaded boats. I will let you know how it was, and I will upload pictures next time I go to the cyber café.

God bless you,

Benjamin Baum

1/29/2006 2:39:08 PM

Sorry I have not updated this site is some time. I have been very busy, in Guinea.

I spent Christmas week in Conakry with some of the missionaries who are serving there. I was able to get a lot of things done, I was able to help setup a solar panel rack, look into an inverter problem, and do lots of research for various problems on the internet. I ended up spending over two days at the cyber cafes. It was very relaxing, for only 10,000 FG (about $2.10) an hour I could sit in A/C and surf the internet. A/C is very important when it is 90 deg F with 70% humidity. Yes this is winter in Guinea!!! For Christmas Day I got together with the other missionaries who live in Conakry and we had a big Christmas Breakfast and Dinner. It was a really fun and good time. But I still missed not celebrating Christmas with my family.

For New Years I went out to a Tanda tribal village, and visited with the missionaries who are working with the Tanda people. While there, I was able to help rework a solar power system. For New Years Eve, we had a BBQ then played games. It was a lot of fun.

When I returned home I resumed my work around the mission center.

The week of Jan 1 thru the 7th: The first Monday of every month reserved for the day of prayer, it is a good time to get my focus back on God, why I am here, and pray for the missionaries here in Guinea and around the world. The rest of the week, I helped with maintenance, and gathered supplies for the coming weeks. To get water for construction I have to drive our tractor and water tank to the river and pump the water into the tank then haul it back to the work site and put it in barrels. We are able to order sand and cement from a local hardware store in Boké. But the sand must be sifted, before it can be used in concrete. Gravel is bought from the villagers here in the village, who sift through the dirt and collect the gravel. Once they have a pile of sufficient size I drive the tractor with the wagon over to the pile and they load it up. But for the past few times they have not had enough guys to shovel, so I have had to help shovel, trust me this is not my favorite past time. I have begun to demand for times the standard hourly rate for my services 4,000 FG or about a $0.80 and hour. I have yet to be paid! :( The villagers mush have known that I was only joking....

The week of Jan 8 thru the 14th: We were able to pour three concrete slabs consecutively. We started at 7:00 a.m. and finished at 10:00 p.m. each day. After a week of this, I was more than worn out. We were also able to work some on the school building remodel in preparation of the short-term work coning the following week. I was also able to go in to the village and help the villagers build a bathroom for the village school. They had dug a septic pit about 10' deep, and wanted to pour concrete over it then begin building on top of it. The only problem was they had no concept of how much concrete weighs!!! They wanted to cover a 5' X 10' pit with 5" thick of concrete using a piece of 1/8" plywood and four branches as support for the concrete. I tried to tell them, in my very limited broken French, that this was not going to work. Nevertheless, they insisted that the concrete was very strong and the rebar they were putting in would help to hold it. I agreed that once the concrete had dried it would be very strong but while it was wet it could hold no weight and would collapse and fall into the pit. Finally, after much work I was able to convince them that we should add a lot more supports, use some 1" X 12" cross members and only pour 2" thick today, then in two days we could pour the rest over the top of the dried concrete. Never the less they still tried pouring the concrete 5" thick. When it began to collapse they had to stop pouring the concrete and add more braces. For the rest we only poured 2" thick and it did not collapse. I was able to come back the next week and help them finish the slab.

The weeks of Jan 15 thru the 28th: The short-term work team arrived and we were able to get lots of work done. We were able to pour three concrete slabs, build four brick walls, build six sets of concrete steps, put the ceiling in the school, do the rough electrical in the school, plaster the walls at the school, put the ceiling runners up in the duplex, build the roof for the village school bathroom, repair four generators, and accomplish numerous other projects. I just want to say thanks to all of them Ken, Rosemary, Philip, Paula, Ken, Megan, Grant, Dave, Marty, Sheri, Jason, and Terry. You all were a blessing, thank you so much.

Next week there are two guys coming from the states who are going to help out with construction. It should be a busy but productive week.

God Bless all of you!

Benjamin Baum

12/29/2005 9:31:21 PM

I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I miss you all, and am praying for you guys.

Benjamin Baum

12/16/2005 8:47:22 PM

Yesterday, Ibrahima (one of the village believers) asked me to come with him and pick up "hunt" (pronounced "Wheat") 8 sacks of rice, in what I though was the next village. I thought I would hook up a small trailer to the ATV (four wheeler) and go get them. All went well until we got to the next village about 3 km away. I looked and saw that I was low on gas. I asked how far it was to where we were going. He said it was really close. So we went on, I gave a ride to about 8 other people who were walking. Well the village we were going to was another 3-4 km further!!! And the road to the village was more of an off road trail, it was up and down two steep hills and thought a river. When we finally got to the village the sacks of rice were not there. Ibrahima was mad at the people who were supposed to have the sacks ready. So after some time we began to leave. It was starting to get dark and I wanted to get back. I really did not want to be in the middle of nowhere in Africa with out any gas, in the dark, unable to speak the language. Well the ATV ran out of gas right in the middle of a hill. And we could not push it up.... However some Guineans who were cutting wood, also got stuck a little further up the road. After they got themselves unstuck they offered to tow us. This did not go so well, because they tried to tow us with cable TV coax cable... Of course it immediately broke. Then they tied a thick steel cable to the ATV using the cable TV coax cable, this of course broke again. Finally they figured it out and connected the cable directly to the ATV. I was not allowed to offer any assistance, aside from the inability to speak the language, it seemed to me that they thought I did not understand how cables work and the proper way to connect vehicles together. After a few more false starts we were finally able to get a system down. At each hill I had to disconnect and coast down, because the breaks on the ATV need some adjustment, and I could not prevent it from coming in contact with the wood cutters trailer. I finally arrived back at the mission center at around 9:00 p.m., I gave the wood cutters some cans of coke and they were very pleased. I was pleased to be home, with one more adventure under my belt. Ibrahima felt very bad and keep saying "pardon" which means sorry, and I keep saying "sa bon" that means "it is good". But I am unsure if he understood that it was really not that big of a deal.... Remember to keep Ibrahima and the other believers in your prayers.

Benjamin Baum

12/11/2005 6:22:59 PM

Please keep the Landuma believers in your prayers. They are experiencing persecution for their belief in Christ. Pray that God would strengthen their faith. God is working miracles in and through their lives.

Benjamin Baum

11/27/2005 11:54:22 PM

Cabinet Camara has been released from jail! Praise the Lord. He had to pay a reduced fine, but God was able to assist him in paying the fine through some of the missionaries. Please continue to pray that God would grow and bless his church in Guinea even through the persecution.

Benjamin Baum

11/27/2005 4:06:12 PM

Their back!!!

Last night I returned to my house after playing cards with some of the other missionaries, to find that I could not get in to my house! My Axis ant enemies were back by the hundreds of thousands!!! I could not get to my door with out walking over them. I initially feared the worst, that they had fully taken over the inside of my house. But as I opened the door I was pleased to find that they had not yet entered my house, in force!

I have heard that ants don’t like to walk across powders, the only power I had handy was baking soda. I quickly spread it across my door ways, this slowed their relentless onslaught.

I then turned to chemical warfare. (Bug spray) This turned out to be very effective and I was able to kill thousands of the enemy within minutes. Apparently the ants were not equipped with gas masks. HA HA! That is what they get for coming ill-equipped to the battle.

Don’t think that there were no injuries on the Allied side. I suffered numerous bites and lost an hour of sleep. But no lives were lost on the Allied side. However, the Axis side suffered a devastating defeat and an unnumbered number of lives were lost!

Until the next battle! ;)

Benjamin Baum

11/27/2005 1:34:43 PM

Wow I am so glad it is Sunday, I am very tired. The past two weeks we have had the Guinea Field Yearly Conference here at the mission center. Once a year all of the New Tribes Mission missionaries who are in Guinea gather for a time of teaching, preaching, worshiping, sharing and just plan fellowship.

The teaching was very encouraging, Barry and Chris Challinor came from NTM's Bible School in Canada to share with us. He shared about God grace and our position in Christ.

A team came from Deerwood Bible Church to help with child care, and have youth group every night for the teens. Thanks to them none of the parents had to miss a single session, they were a big blessing to all of the parents. It was encouraging to see the teen's meeting, just like a youth group in the states would.

The worship was great, each day a different group of the missionaries led in worship.

Every tribal team shared what God is doing in their tribe. It was really cool to see how God is working through the missionaries lives to reach the un-reached people in Guinea.

The time of fellowship was great, most of the missionaries don’t spend much time with other missionaries, because they are often deep in the brush. One night we had a BBQ/potluck, the food was really good! On the last night we had a fair for the kids, it was a lot of fun. My group had a game where the kids tired to hit a "Rat" (sock full of rice) with a hammer as it slid by. It was really hard for even the adults to hit the rat.

After all of this I am exhausted. But school starts up tomorrow so I have to prepare for my math class.

Pray that God gives me strength.

Benjamin Baum

11/24/2005 3:31:54 PM

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope you are enjoying this time of year where we celebrate what we are thankful for. God is too good to us, he has given us not what we deserve but what we don’t deserve, Heaven!

I am very thankful this year, even thought I can’t be with the ones I love. I miss you all, well most of you. Just Kidding.

Benjamin Baum

11/22/2005 11:23:18 PM

Cabinet Camara has been arrested!!! Cabinet was baptized at the mission center last Sunday. He had been working with a wood cutter near Boké. When Cabinet's uncle learned of Cabinet's baptism he was very displeased. Cabinet's uncle works for the Forestry Department in Guinea, and was able to get Cabinet arrested for illegally cutting wood. (We are not sure if he was cutting wood illegally or not.) New Tribes Mission missionaries, the Boké church, my village's believers, and another mission in Boké are working to get Cabinet out of jail. Please pray for Cabinet that he would be strengthened and God would work this situation out, to his glory.

Masalu who was baptized in a Landuma village two weeks ago had his in-laws sent a messenger to say that they were coming to take his wife back. Praise the lord that they didn't show up at the appointed time. In this culture the parents still retain a large amount of control over their children even after they have left home. Please keep this situation in prayers as they could still come and try to take his wife back. Also pray for Masalu's wife, she is not a believer, but is open to the gospel.

Benjamin Baum

11/20/2005 6:58:49 PM

God is working in Guinea! Last Sunday I watched the first two Landuma believers get baptized in a Landuma village. Today I watched four more Landuma believers and one Sousou believer get baptized at the mission center. Each one of the believers gave their testimonies before they were baptized in the rivers near their villages. All of the believers said that they would endure anything for the sake of Christ. The entire villages were invited to attend the baptism, but very few of the other villagers came. However, a delegation of believers, Guinean pastors, and missionaries from other missions came to support the believers. The Landuma believers know that they will be persecuted for their public profession of Jesus Christ.

I will upload some pictures and videos to my website in a few weeks. It is really encouraging to watch and listen to the believers confession of faith.

Keep Masalu, Abdulay, Alseni Jasi, Mamadu Jasi, Salu Kamara, Ibrahima Bah and Cabinet Camara in your prayers!

Benjamin Baum

11/18/2005 8:05:36 PM

Last night at 3:00 A.M. (my time) I was half awakened by being bitten. This is not very unusual, so in the dark I slapped at the bug and tried to ignore it. But I was very quickly bitten twice more, at this I got up and went in to the bathroom with my flashlight. When I returned I noticed the floor was moving. After turning on the light I was surprised to see thousands of ants!!! I thought "Now don’t panic Benjamin!!! Remember your training... What would MacGyver do?" Now as I am sure you all well know that MacGyver used fire and water to defeat ants in an episode. ;) Well it is a good thing that I did not have anything flammable easily accessible as I was still half asleep! So I flooded my house with water, this killed some of the ants but they keep coming in from under the door and from the screened windows! I walked out side to better assess the situation. Again to my surprise there were hundreds of thousands of ants!!! The other missionaries called this type of ants "driver ants", there are hundreds of different types of ants here, and apparently the villagers have names for each type. These ants are called "driver ants" because there are two sizes of ants, the most common is the smaller ones, the larger ones are responsible for direction or driving the smaller ones. They usually setup little roads about 10 ants across with the larger ants keeping the boundaries. What I did was to begin flooding the ant roads that were coming towards my house. The larger ants adapted and directed the roads away from the flooded area. After two hours of being repeatedly bit, flooding, and sweeping I had removed 90% of the ants from my house. But they would not come off my blanket, so I had to set it aside and sleep on the sheet. :( Even though I was very tired I had trouble getting back to sleep. I can't imagine why!!! ;) This afternoon I found that the ants had made a nest in my computer bag. Nice!!! I hope that the ants don’t return, but you better believe that I'll be ready!

Benjamin Baum

11/13/2005 12:16:23 PM

I got some questions from Judi, a friend from at Calvary Chapel of the High Desert, and I thought that I would answer them here for all of your enjoyment and benefit.

"Can you really see crocodiles and hippos????"
Yes other missionaries have seen both. I hope to see some soon, I’ll try to get some pictures for you guys.

"So you are building dorms for the ladies? Where are they sleeping now? I hope you are not going to tell me that they are in a tent."
No they are not sleeping in a tent ;). They are/were living in the house of some missionary on "Home Assignment". New Tribes Missions missionaries spend 4 years on the field then 1 year at home visiting supporting churches, visiting family and helping out with New Tribes Missions activities in the missionaries’ home country. It makes sense, and keeps everybody fresh...

"Are the mosquitoes big there?"
I don't really know, I am not very good at determining what size or type of bug is biting me... But I have been told that there are a few different types of mosquitoes here. The type that likes the way I taste best, bites at my ankles. I have at least 10 red bites per ankle at all times.

"Do you have lions in Guinea?"
I don't think there are any lions, if there were I think the Guinean hunters would have shot them by now. The Guineans are good hunters. But there is some medium sized cat that I hear wandering around here at about midnight or so. I want to get a picture of it...

"Do you get to interact with many children?"
No I don't get to interact with many Guinean children, most of them don't speak any French and my tribal language ability is limited to "Hello", "Thank you", and "Good Bye". But a lot of the kids in the village some how know my name and are always saying "hello" (in Landuma). They are very cute and often come to my door asking for biscuits. (Cookies)

“Do the Guineans celebrate Christmas?”
I don't think so, as this is a majority Muslim country, but I will let you know in a month and a half.

“Do the Guineans celebrate Thanksgiving?”
No actually Thanksgiving is an American holiday. The Canadians have Thanksgiving a month earlier then the U.S.. When I worked for Halliburton some of my friends from were from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Egypt, Indonesia, and Columbia and none of them had even heard of Thanksgiving, until I cooked a Thanksgiving meal for them in 2003. :)

“Are they Christians?”
Only about 1% of the Guinean population could be considered to be Evangelical Christian. There are about 5 believers in my village. But about 10 of the villagers are lessening to the evangelical message in Landuma, which were recorded in another Landuma village where missionaries work. Please keep them in prayer.

What's been going on with you?
Starting to get in to a schedule, always busy, but busy doing different things... This week, after school, I have been helping get ready for our yearly conference...

God Bless you all.

Benjamin Baum

10/23/2005 6:55:38 PM

I have been busy here in Guinea, this last week we put the finishing touches on the duplex building I have been helping with. I will probably help move the ladies in to the duplexes next week. We are having a yearly Field Conference here in a few weeks. Next week I will probably help to prepare for it. All of the New Tribe Missions missionaries in Guinea will be attending, and we will have well over a hundred people here.

Last Saturday three of the missionaries' boys and I borrowed a missionaries home made wood row boat and took it on the nearby river. We launched up about 20km up river from the mission center. At first we tried to row up river, but we could only hold the boat even, despite our best rowing efforts. We were having a good time until we came across some rapids! Despite our best navigating efforts we hit some of the rocks. :{ Luckily the boat was well built and only suffered superficial damage. We landed the boat on a small shore connected by a narrow trail to the missions mission center. From there we put the boat on a trailer and struggled for over two and a half hours to get the boat back up to the mission center. :( I don’t think we will be taking that trip again! And I did not even get to see any Crocodiles or Hippos, but I was finally able to see some monkeys...

Benjamin Baum

10/13/2005 8:30:02 PM

On Wednesday October 12 the president of Venezuela has decreed that New Tribes Mission must leave Venezuela!!! In Pre Field Orientation in Florida, I met a young couple who are in Venezuela, they sent me an email and are asking for prayer. Please pray that God will work miraculously and that he would get the glory whatever the outcome.

Benjamin Baum

10/11/2005 10:16:11 PM

This is the month of Ramadan, or the month of fasting for all Muslims everywhere. They are not allowed to eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. They are not even allowed to sallow their own saliva. Everywhere I go, people are spiting, it is kind of grouse. This is a very tough time for the sick, old and nursing mothers. Today one of the ladies who cleans one of the missionaries house, fell sick. It is even tough for the average Guinean, as this is harvest time and they have to work in the fields. Try not eating or drinking for 12 hours and still putting in a full day's work of manual labor, in 90 deg heat.

Please keep the believers in your prayers during Ramadan, if they do not participate in the fast they will be persecuted. But if they do participate they will be compromising, signifying that they still need to perform these "works", in order to gain Gods favor.

Benjamin Baum

10/6/2005 9:27:39 PM

I got some questions from Joshua Gaus, a Jr Higher at Calvary Chapel of the High Desert, and I thought that I would answer them here for all of your enjoyment and benefit. ;)

"When will you be coming back?"
If it is Gods will, I will be coming back in early summer 2007.

"How are people reacting to the Word of God?"
It is very hard to preach the gospel here, first a missionary has to learn the tribal language from scratch. This could take 10 years. If the tribal language does not have a written form, the missionary must invent a written language for the tribal language. Then the missionary must teach the villagers to read and write in their own language. Then the missionary has to translate portions of the bible into the tribal language. The missionary then can begin to teach lessons that explain many of the important doctrines of the bible, starting from creation. How could a villager understand sin if they don’t even have a word for it, or if their concept of God is the man who lives up the river? By starting from creation and teaching the whole council of God's word. The missionary is laying a firm foundation on which a villager can begin to build their life with Christ. After the missionary has taught through the first lesson, their will most likely be converts, and with these first few converts a church is born. The missionaries continue translating the bible, teaching, and directing the newly formed church away from false doctrines. A missionary could spend over 25 years in the village before the church is established enough for them to leave.
So as to your question, some of the villagers are committing their lives to Christ, while others reject God's love outright! :{ But about half of the missionaries are still learning the tribal languages. And have not had the opportunity to share the gospel.

Benjamin Baum

10/4/2005 11:06:09 PM

On Sunday I was awaken to the sound of cheering coming from the village. I was not to sure what it was; I thought it might be a football (soccer) game. But, on Monday I learned that a Diviner was going through the village with a Diviners Board in an attempt to determine who stole 700,000 GF from the Peace Core Volunteer. Apparently it was a good show as they keep cheering every so often. I would have liked to see it, if I had know what was going on. I need to spend more time in the village, but I am often very busy with other work on the mission center. Anyways, they determined that my friend Mohaqmed Camara and another boy stole the money. I was very sorry to hear that Mohaqmed is being accused of being a thief. While it is most likely true, it is very sad. We are not to sure what is going to be done to Mohaqmed. The village is very ashamed, as it was an honor to host the Peace Core Worker in their village. In addition, she worked with the villagers on various projects that assisted the village. The money that was stolen was slated to be used for a village development project. Please keep Mohaqmed in your prayers, as no one is to far gone for Jesus!

Ok here is kind of a funny story, I am bleaching my hair. But it was not intentional. There were worms growing in my water basin, and I did not like the idea of live worms being used for showering, filtering water, cooking, and washing dishes. So I decided to add some bleach, because bleach kills almost everything, and you can drink small quantities of bleach without many problems. So I added some bleach to my water basin. Well I added way too much, the worms are now dead.... But now my water has a strong scent of bleach. :{ I can't dump out the water because it is not raining very often, and we have not setup the well yet. The other day one of the missionaries asked me if I had bleached my hair. I responded no, but then I thought about it, and looked in my 3" X 5" mirror. Yep my hair is much lighter then it used to be. Oh well now I look more like a beach bum from good old So Cal!!!!

I miss you all, God bless!

Benjamin Baum

10/2/2005 1:56:59 PM

On Friday I went to a Baga-Fore village and helped the Rolim's run the electrical wire in their house. The Rolim's are a Brazilian missionary family working with Baga-Fore people. They are building a very small house in the middle of the village to help in their language studies. When the missionaries arrived years ago, the tribe gave them some land quite far from the village. Because of the distance between their house and the village, has been difficult for them to learn the language and culture. They plan on living in this small house three days a week, this will greatly increase their contact with the villagers. And by still living in their house outside of the village four days a week, they will be able to relax.

It may seem odd to the average westerner that living in a village would be stressful. Try to consider living with two small children under five, without running water, electricity by generator intermittently, no refrigeration, no stores, and all of you neighbors speak a foreign language and have a very different culture.

When I finished wiring the house up it was too late to catch a taxi back to the mission center, so I stayed the night at the Rolim's house. Two other Brazilian families were also staying with them and helping to build the house. As some of the Brazilians did not know English and I don’t know Portuguese, or French, many diverse languages were spoken during the evening. Another missionary from Haiti and Washington also joined us. It was kind of fun, all of us from diverse places all around the world, all in a foreign country, all with the common purpose of glorifying God.

On Saturday I caught taxi back to the mission center, while I was loading up my bags, I noticed the taxi driver's dinner. I asked him if I could take a picture of it for your benefit. Yummy, it looks like they are having Goat hooves for diner. Just like Betty Crocker makes. :} I will upload the picture in a week or two...

Benjamin Baum

9/17/2005 9:45:21 PM

Hello All,
This past week I have been in the Guinean capital city of Conakry, helping Caleb and Sandi Nicholson setup their power system. We had to run wires, setup an inverter, batteries, and charger. It took us over a week to accomplish everything, which was fairly quick, for Africa. In Africa, things just take longer to do.

When I was in Conakry I went to the Midina marsha (market), the medina marsha in insane!!! It goes on for what seems to be miles, I dare not enter it with out a Guinean guide! While I was there, I was robed of 400,000 GF! There were three guys working together, two of them would distract me and the third reached in to my pocket and took my money. I realized that something was up, fairly quickly, and I noticed my money was gone with in a second or two. I thought I knew who did it so I grabbed him. He dropped my money and I was able to retrieve it. I was unable to tell the police officer, not 20 feet away, what had happened, because of my lack of French. So the robbers got away! :{ But thank the Lord that I was able to get my money back.

While in Conakry I was able to upload some pictures and videos to the website. Check out the pictures link to the right to see all of the pictures. They are organized by village, I hope to add captions in a week or two. I hope to also add a video page in a week or two. The videos are kind of dumb, but you might be amused.

God Bless you all.

Benjamin Baum

9/7/2005 10:34:31 PM

I just got done "talking" (communicating through a French/English dictionary) with Mohaqmed Lamine Camara and his frère (brother). I need to learn more French. He and his brother came over for a visit, they are about 16 and 12 years old. I am not to sure about them. I have been warned about them by the other missionaries and even some Guineans, that they steal things... I don’t want to be taken advantage of. I have thought a lot about this recently, and God gave me a passage that said something about "...despitefully use you..." I looked up the verse.

Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Even if Mohaqmed is trying to despitefully use me I am called to still pray for him. I figure I will try to be a good witness to him and perhaps learn some French in the process. :)

Another Guinean/African culture characteristic I am try and get used to is the freedom people have in asking others for things. In Guinea if you have anything I want and I ask for it you are culturally required to give it to me. This creates all kinds of problems for people in Guinea. This is one reason there are lots of unfinished houses here. If a person gets money, they spend it as quickly as possibly on something someone can't ask for. So if they spend all of their money on starting to build a house they won't have anything to give away if asked. Another example of this is with spices. In the marché (market) spices are sold in very small quantities, only enough for one meal. That way if their neighbor asks for some spices they can say they don’t have enough. But if they bought spices in larger quantities they would pay much less... The culture drags those who succeed down to the level of everyone else.

So when Mohaqmed and his brother bluntly ask me for things like batteries, toothpaste, flashlights, water bottles, and anything else they fancy. It is hard for me to respond in a culturally appropriate manner. At the same time I try not to get offended, because in my western culture, it is rude to ask people for their stuff...

Pray for Mohaqmed and the Camara family. They live in the house right next door to mine and the children often come and visit me. I was told that their father is a Catholic and their mother is a Muslim. Apparently Mohaqmed became a Muslim when he was offered 5,000 Guinean Franks ($1.30).

Benjamin Baum

9/5/2005 12:06:17 AM

I am moved in!!! On Friday I moved in to my little house. It feels nice to have a place to call home, even if it has its little problems. :} My house has been used as an office, store, storage, a home, and a generator room. With such a tough life my house was in very poor shape when I arrived. As I have been very busy helping with other projects I have not been able to dedicate much time to repairing my house.

Some things that I still need to do around my house include: 1) Build install shelving. (All of my stuff is on the floor now) 2) Build and install curtain holders and curtains. (At the moment I have to stand in a very small spot in my shower so I can't be seen outside.) 3) Clean all of my dishes (I have been given a complete set of dishes and pots and pans). 4) Fix the rain collection gutter. (So I have water to drink and bathe with) 5) Setup my work bench so I will be better equipped to repair computers and electronics. 6) Rewire my refrigerator so it will keep my food colder. 7) Finish the electrical wiring. 8) Unpack my suitcases. (I have been living out of my suitcases for the past two mouths) 9) Fix the toilet, so it will flush without major intervention. 10) Find a stove, right now I just eat cold food. :} 11) That is all I can think of now. But I am sure there is more...

Tomorrow is our day of prayer. The first Monday of every month we meet together at the mission center and lift up all of the field's prayer requests. I really enjoyed it last month, it puts what we are doing here back in to prospective. While I may not be translating the bible in to a new language or teaching a people group who have never heard of God love for them. All that I do helps to ease the burden of those who are reaching people in these ways. Praise God for allowing me to have a small part in reaching the unreached!

God Bless you all, and have a good night.

Benjamin Baum

9/1/2005 9:48:43 PM

Sorry I have not updated my website in some time. I have been extraordinarily busy recently. Most of my time is spent helping to build the duplexes. We are within a month or two of completing them. This week I helped with the rough electrical and we put up the ceiling. I have also been working on preparing my house. It was very run down when I arrived, but it is now almost livable. I hope to move in tomorrow. :) I will upload pictures of my house when I go to a cyber café in a few weeks. I have also been trying to repair electronics and computers in the evenings. This has not been working out very well. :{ I hope that I will be better able to repair electronics and computers in my new house as I will be able to fully unpack and setup my workbench.

On Monday I started taking a French class being taught on the missions mission center to some of the newer missionaries. I am not doing very well, I find it is extremely difficult for me to learn languages. For some reason languages just don’t make sense to me. I cannot even spell correctly in English, each sentence I type I have to go back and correct at least three misspelled words. Please pray that God would show me grace and help me to learn French.

I have been asked to teach a math class when the school starts up on the 5th of September. I am very excited at this opportunity, I have always loved corrupting small children. :)

Everett is felling much better, thank you for your prayers.

Have a good night, and may God bless you.

8/17/2005 10:09:07 PM

Hello all,
There are new Pictures, and Videos!!! I was able to upload some of my pictures; they are divided up by village names. I have pictures from all of the villages, I have been in this far. But because the internet connection is so slow I was only able to upload some of them. :{

The pictures can be accessed by clicking on the “Pictures” button on the left. If you would like to see the picture larger, simply click on the picture. I will try to add captions soon, but it will take some reprogramming and I don’t have the time right now. The videos can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

How to make Peanut Butter! This was taken in the Tanda village, on July 30th. It is a lot of hard work but the peanut butter tastes good.

How to make smashed Fish! Yummy! This was also taken in the Tanda village, on July 30th. They put a whole fish in the pounder and smash it to make fish meatballs. I tried some of the fish meatballs the next day. Not to good… Lots of bones. Mom don’t get any ideas! :)

I am sorry about the quality and the jerkiness of the videos. I had to reduce the quality in order finish uploading them before Christmas! I hope to add a video button soon, but that will take more reprogramming. I also need to update some of the information on this site. I will try to get to it in the next few weeks.

Please let me know what you think about the pictures and videos!

I was able to go to an internet café in the city of Kamsar today. (That is why I have new pictures and videos.) Kamsar is about a one and a half hour drive from the mission center. All this week I have been looking in to computer and electronic problems. Now I need to do some research to solve some of these problems. It is too expensive to do internet research on the satellite modem. We are charged over $6.00 per MB, and I will probably download over 100 MB today. But I am only charged 5,000 GF per hour at the internet café. (Oh by the way the exchange rate is approximately $1 U.S. Dollar to 3,600 Guinean Franks.)

I had hoped to send out a newsletter by the end of July, I will try to send it out before the end of August. But most likely you will not receive it until mid September. :(

Please pray for Everett, he is a missionary here in Guinea and he has been sick for three weeks!!!

Benjamin Baum

8/13/2005 7:23:15 PM

Praise the Lord!!! We were able to restore our satellite internet connection yesterday. What happened was the company we use to connect to the internet launched there own satellite, and ended their contract with the owner of the old satellite. The problem is the new satellite is not supposed to reach us here. However, by Tuesday the 2nt some of the missionaries in other tribes reported that they were able to connect, if they stood on top of their water towers. I tried to connect here at the mission center on Wednesday the 3rd or Thursday the 4th, but was only able to dedicate a half hour before having to go. I retried to connect on Sunday the 7th and found that if I stood on the school house roof with the modem lifted above my head I was able to get a weak signal! (One of the other missionaries suggested that I just schedule 2 hours a day in where I would be available to stand on the roof and hold the modem up over my head… ;) ) Almost right after I was able to connect, I had to leave for my trip to a Nalu village. I returned to the mission center late on the 11th and on Friday the 12th we were able to connect 30 feet of pipe together and put the satellite modem's antenna on the top. The result is, now we can send and receive email. :}

I hope to be able to respond to all of my emails soon, but it is going to take some time. :{ There are so many things to keep me busy here. Before arriving here in Guinea I had prayed that I would be busy and useful. Well God has certainly answered that prayer! :}

God bless you all, as he has certainly blessed me!

Benjamin Baum

8/11/2005 9:54:51 PM

Well this past week I have been out in a Nalu village. After church on Sunday I packed up my stuff, grabbed some tools, loaded the rest of Susan's furniture in her truck and headed off to a Nalu village. (Susan Howarth is a middle aged lady from England, who is teaching some of the missionaries children in this Nalu village, until the school stars up in 2006. She and her late husband were missionaries to Thailand for many years.)

On Monday, Benton and I helped Susan get her house in better order. (Benton and Lorna Willard are some of the other missionaries in this Nalu village.) In my previously trip out to this Nalu village we had moved most of Susan's stuff, set up a water tower and set up her solar system. This time we had to fix leaky pipes, fix broken lights and set up a pump in her well, so she could have running water.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we set the Willard's solar system. The Willard's returned to Guinea about the same time as I arrived in Guinea. They were on furrow in the states to have a new baby. (There are 7 children in the Willard family, from oldest to youngest, Chloe, Silas, Isaac, Gideon, Simeon, Phoebe, and Malachi. Little Malachi is only three months old.) The Willard's have not had a refrigerator or running water since they returned to Guinea. Their old solar power system was inadequate to power the refrigerator, and there new system just arrived last week. Benton, his boys and I were able to rewire the whole house, add four large batteries, and setup his new solar panels, in just two days. (Trust me there was a lot of work that had to be done, and things take so much longer to do in Guinea than in the States)

The missionaries have been in this Nalu village for over 10 years, they have shared the chronological gospel message to this village and surrounding villages. There have been only a few believers thus far. A lot of seeds have been planted and the some of the villagers concede that the gospel is true, but they refuse to believe with their heart because of the social pressures in the village.

I am finding throughout all of the villages I have been to that the social pressure is always against the Gospel. If a villager decides to become a "Christian" and follows Christ, they could face any number of challenges including:

Having their wife or husband leave them. - In this culture families and fellow villagers have tremendous power over each other. If a wife's family tells her to leave her husband, she will often obey, her family even if she does not want to leave her husband. While this seems very strange to us the logic goes like this. If you are alienated from your family you have nothing to fall back on. If her husband divorces her and she can't go back to her family she has nowhere to go.

Having the village turn against you. - Gossip is rampant in a village; everybody knows everything about everybody, there are no secrets. (Even when I returned to the mission center the some of the villages, not missionaries, asked me how the village was? I had not told them I was leaving and yet they knew.) If a village turns against you, you will be in trouble. The villagers depend upon each other heavily. If someone runs out of food they can ask their neighbor for some, but if the village is against them, they will not be able to borrow food.

Having death threats. - I have met a man in a Landuma village who's brothers were going to kill him because of his belief in Christ.

These social pressures and others weight heavily on the minds of the villagers who hear the gospel. Please remember to pray for the people of Guinea, especially the villagers who have heard the gospel and think it is true, but will not go against the social norm.

Also, please pray for the Willard's as they still don't have running water. Pray also that they would be encouraged!

Benjamin Baum

7/31/2005 5:18:26 PM

Contrary to popular belief I am not eating bugs here. But the longer I go without American food, the better a good restaurant in the states sounds! :} Today I had my first "Traditional Guinean" meal. After the church service here in the Tanda village (the village where I am staying for a couple of days.), we had a potluck. It was very different from a western meal, the guys and the ladies divided up. All of the guys were given a spoon and we gathered around a pot of rice. One of the guys poured in some "sauces", the sauces are made out of palm oil, crushed fish, or peanuts. Then we all ate out of the same pot. :? Well it was not so bad, actually. The food tasted good, except for the fish meat balls. :> I have movie of me crushing fish for the meatballs, I will upload it to the website soon...

We will most likely be losing our satellite connection tonight at midnight. So, I will be unable to update this website as often. But when I do update it I will update it with a lot of information.

May you be a blessing to God and may God bless you all.

Benjamin Baum

7/29/2005 9:50:12 PM

Yesterday I was able to help move a missionary lady in to the a Nalu village. We were able to do it in a day instead of the two days we thought it was going to take! So today I had free, which is really nice as this is the first day I have been able to sleep in since I arrived at the mission center. :) But one of the guys I have been working with, (Pete) has come down with Malaria! Please keep him in prayers as Malaria is much like the flu but much, much, much worse!!!

Today I decided to take a "taxi" in to the town of Boké, about 20 miles away. This was actually quite difficult because of my lack of French. :{ A taxi in Guinea, is a small car that looks like it was set on fire, thrown of a cliff, used as a urinal. Then they pour some water in the oil and start selling rides! They put 7 adults in a small 4 seater car, not including children. On the taxi ride back I think there were 10 people in the taxi. It was crowded! They charge 1500 Guinean Franks per adult (about 35 cents), so I guess you get what you pay for. I wanted to go to Boké so I could buy some fresh fruit. I bought bananas, coconuts, limes, a potato, some avocados, and some peppers. I paid less than $1.50 for everything I bought! We will see how well I can cook. :}

I stuck out like a circus clown at a Monk's convention in the market. Everywhere I went I herd "Fotay", which basically means "White Guy" in Susu (one of the popular languages).

I saw some of the weirdest things, at the open air market. They make all kinds of things out of old tires, including ropes, bags, and sandals made completely of old tires! I all ready have a good pair of sandals so I decided to pass on them. :] I took a picture of that shop I will try to upload it to the website when I go to the cybercafé next.

Most of the people were very kind; a group of people helped me get a ride on the taxi to Boké. It took some work to communicate, that the taxi driver wanted me to buy two seats so we could leave sooner. I did not really want to buy two seats, but after waiting for 15 minutes I relented and bought two seats. A lady in the market was trying to teach me how to say "Thank You" in what I think was "Fulbé" (another language here).

I was kind of concerned when a young boy keep following me around the market for about 10 minutes. He had a knife in his hand, I thought he might try to cut my backpack and take my stuff. So I keep turning around and switching directions. I think he was just a street kid looking for a hand out. I did not give him anything because if I had I would have been mobbed by children... It was very sad... What can I do?

Oh I almost forgot, last night as I was tucking in my mosquito net to the bed. I looked between the bed and wall and saw a big spider. It was about 3 inches across!!! I took a picture of it before I killed it. :} This afternoon some of the missionary kids found a, 4 to 5 foot, Black Cobra. This is a very poisons snake! Some of the guys cut off its head then the missionary kids amused themselves by playing with the body! Ok... I guess... ;$

Benjamin Baum

7/27/2005 9:31:38 PM

Today's update is on trash. Yes trash. What is trash? What we in the states would consider trash has value here in Guinea. Today we poured cement for the duplexes we are building here on the mission center. Some of the guys from the village helped because the cement has to be mixed in a gas powered mixer and wheel barrowed into place. It worked out well for us because we were able to pour much more cement and it worked out well for the villagers as they were able to earn some extra money. Anyways, after we were done mixing the cement the guys went thought the process of dividing up the empty cement bags. There was a small disagreement about how to fairly divide up the bags. I asked one of the villagers who speaks a little English, why they wanted the bags. He said that if they filled up the bags with gravel, they could sell ten of them for about 1000 Guinean Franks. (about 26 cents) One of the other missionaries said that they also use empty cement bags to wrap up bread in the "marsha" (market). I am sure that that adds a pleasant taste to the bread!

Another missionary said that she does not allow her house cleaner to take out the trash, because they would go throw it and take out all of the "valuable things". This made her very uncomfortable; I guess I can understand why. We have so much in comparison to them, how is that right, or fair? It makes me more thankful for what I have been given; food in abundance, access to clean water, more than adequate housing, electricity, name brand clothing, cars (well I used to have one :}) running water (sometimes hot and cold), advanced health care, and oh so many other things. But most importantly, salvation!!! God chose to love me, and chose me to live with him in heaven. I can never do anything to earn or deserve what God has done for me! I pray that the small part I play here will contribute to the salvation on one or more Guinean.

Benjamin Baum

7/26/2005 8:23:12 PM

I have been very, very busy, all last week I worked construction. :~ We are building two new duplexes to house more missionaries, and we need to be done by the first of the year. On Friday night after work, I went in to a Landuma village, where the missionaries are working in. I stayed with one of the families, and all of the missionary families their feed me. :} On Saturday I worked on computers all day. :|

On Saturday night while I was eating with one of the missionary families, like 10 people came during dinner asking for medical help. Scratches, cuts, boils, and malaria were all treated. I felt bad for the missionaries, they were unable to enjoy or even finish their dinner because of all these interruptions. Apparently this happens every day. I admire the missionaries wiliness to help, but I could see that it was taking a lot out of them.

Later in the night the villagers came and asked the missionaries to take a lady to the hospital. She was supposedly ok in the afternoon then she was unconscious in the evening. We went to where she was lying unresponsive on a blanket, with labored breathing, and the entire village gathered around (about a 150 people). I was able to help load her up in to the car when I realized that she was wet, ewew... Yes, she had lost her blather control!!! That made me think, here she was possibly dieing and I was concerned because I had just soaked my arms in her urine...

We took her 10 minutes up the road to the local "doctor" (more of an EMT or less, he has almost no supplies aside from a blood pressure cuff and a IV bag), who said that her blood pressure was twice that of a normal person. So we took her to the "hospital" (not really a hospital, more of beds and some more blood pressure cuffs and IV bags. Apparently the "doctors don’t work on weekends either). While on the hour trip to the hospital we had a flat tire. :{ Of course it had to be on the way to the hospital not on the way back. We were finally able to get her to the hospital, but when we arrived, the woman's family had no money to pay for the bill. She would not be admitted without money up front. The missionary gave the family 20,000 Guinean Franks about $6.00 U.S. this was enough to pay for the hospital bill...

On Sunday we went in to the village and had church with the believers. The believers are often persecuted for their faith. The service was going good we sang worship song in Landuma (the villages native language). Prayed for prayer requests, I was humbled when one of the young men prayed for me, that God would bless me. Here he was dirt poor, disowned by his family, and he was praying for me... We were just about to start the teaching when a loud continuous crying / yelling came out of a nearby house. Apparently the lady who we had taken to the hospital had died. The sound that the family made was unbelievably sad / empty. There was no hope, when a Christian dies, us believers know that there is hope. But these people had no hope. They are so entrenched in their Islamic believes, mixed with Animalism. We ended the service early, with out getting in to the study. The missionaries gave their condolences to the family. I did not as I only know hello, (Musigo... Antosigo... Uuhua) in Landuma.

Apparently they were going to have a funeral for the lady later on in the night, where they would make sacrifices for the dead. (In direct contradiction to Islam, however the Islamic leader would officiate...) I was unable to attend the funeral as I had to go back to the mission center.

Please pray for the missionaries as it is very slow work. They have been in the village for 15 years with only a small handful of converts, and only a fraction of the bible translated. But you can see God working there, be it very slowly...

Oh by the way, I should have the satellite modem until the end of July, then I will only be able to check my emails once every other week or so. Unless, we are able to connect to a different satellite, but it is very unlikely... I would still love to read your emails though... Sorry I have been slow in responding to your emails. I have two weeks worth that I need to reply to. Hopefully this weekend will be slower and I can reply to you all. :} I am doing well, keeping very busy, doing construction during the day and trying to fix computers in the night. :) God has blessed me so much; I have not gotten sick, besides one day. Although I must have 30 bug bites on my legs. I hope my body will become used to the bugs and I will not get such big bumps. :^) I miss you all and am praying for you.

Benjamin Baum

7/18/2005 9:32:00 PM

Things are still going well. Today I helped with construction. We are building two duplexes for some single missionaries to live in. However we have been delayed by the local "su prefay" or mayor. He said we have to have permits to build, however this has never been the case before. Hopefully by tomorrow we can resume building.

Because of the delay we were able to clean up my future house, it was a mess. There were four wasps' nests and hundreds of spiders. I don’t like spiders much, especially when they crawl on me in the middle of the night. In fact I don’t like any bugs that crawl on me in the middle of the night. There is one bug called a "Scorpion Spider", I am going to get a picture of it soon. It is very ugly and has two long "Claws on the front of its limbs, and two long antenna looking things. It is black and very intimating, they say its bite is not lethal but it hurts a lot. I hope not to find out. We also took the paint off the walls in my future house. It came off in big strips. :? It is starting to look better, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Hopefully I will be able to move in, in a month or two or three. :}

Benjamin Baum

7/17/2005 9:40:32 PM

Well today is Sunday and we had a church service, it was good. After lunch I went with some MK's (Missionary Kids) to the local river. I was a little concerned to begin with, because they had killed three deadly snakes the day I arrived, and I saw a "Racer" snake on my jog last night. Anyways we went to the river and they all jumped in I followed thinking "When in Rome do as the Romans do". They decided to swim across the river, now this was not a stream it was 4 to 8 feet deep and 300 to 600 feet across. (I later learned that Crocodiles live in this river.) I followed, until we realized that we were being sweep down stream towards the rapids. :| Well it took a lot of work but everybody was able to get out of the river about a mile down stream. So much for following blindly, from now on I am going to ask all kinds of questions and be a big pain before we do something new. :} When we were walking back we came upon some bathers, eke! We decided it would be best to wait to proceed on. :~. After this we played volleyball and floor hockey. Tomorrow I am going to help with construction. Things are going well, God has blessed me…

Benjamin Baum

7/15/2005 8:14:14 PM

Things are going well I have arrived in the village of where I will be living. (Yay) It is nice here, but it will be awhile until I have a place of my own, for now I am staying in the dorms. The dorms are nice, but very quiet. Except at night when the bugs and frogs make more racket then a freeway. :% We found two mice in the dorms today and were able to get them outside, but I still hear one in the back room. The missionary houses here are made out of bricks with tin roofs and concrete Floors. They have running water (cold at least) and some electricity from the solar panels.

In the rainy season (May to October) water is collected in big cisterns outside of each house, from the roof run off. In the dry season water is pumped from a well into the cisterns. The water is then pumped up into elevated tanks. This water is directly used in the sinks and showers. Drinking water is put through a filter, made out of two stacked buckets with a filter in between them and a faucet on the bottom bucket. The water tastes different at each house depending on how clean the roof and cistern are and upon how well the filter works. :}

The other missionaries in both Conakry and my village have been too kind to me. They have invited me to dine with a different family each night, until I am better situated. This is good as it will allow me not to starve for at least the next week. After that I have to figure out how to cook. In the states my idea of cooking was ordering food at a drive-thru. Sorry no drive-thru here, not even a restaurant. :{

There are about 25 people who live here the mission center. About 15 more people are going to join us in a few months. When the school starts up in fall of 2006 there will probably be around 50 people living on the mission center. It should be very busy around here. :} The school is for the missionaries children. Right now the missionaries are home schooling their children, this is often very difficult and time consuming. The school will allow the missionaries to accelerate their work in the villages.

New Tribes Missions has ministries in about 6 different villages within 75 miles of the mission center. Next week the missionaries are going to go out to new villages to see if there are any opportunities to begin working in these new villages. Pray that it goes well as this can be dangerous work. Also pray that God would also provide more missionaries to go and minister in these tribes.

We are going to lose our satellite modem as soon as tomorrow. The satellite modem enables people to connect to the internet and send and receive emails. Emails can mean so much to the missionaries, as it provides a means to connect to home and the outside word. We will now have to drive at least a half hour to the internet café, to send and receive email. Unless an alternative solution can be found. Therefore, I will only be able to send and receive emails, and update the website every week or two. :{ Please pray that God will provide a better solution, to enable us to communicate with the outside world. And of course communicate with you. :}

Better go now please email me if you have any questions... Or even just want to say hi.

Benjamin Baum

7/13/2005 10:49:29 PM

Hello all,
I thought I would give my impressions of my travels so far, as I have been to Florida, New York, Morocco, and Guinea (thus far). This is more of a journal entry than an update, so please read or don’t read it as such. :}

Sanford Florida:
While I was there it was very hot and humid, it rained almost every day. The people were very friendly. In fact, when I went jogging, a guy just decided to run with me. He was trying to cheer me on saying "Come on lets go". The culture was very similar to the High Desert except more friendly. There were churches on every corner, but bars on every other corner. It seemed to me that Sanford is an example of typical America, lukewarm! Rev 3:15.

New York, New York:
Wow, there are a lot of people and big buildings in New York. I was able to walk around downtown Manhattan, and my impression of New York is summed up in a statement I heard while touring the Empire State Building. "Some cities were founded on religious motives, but New York was founded on business." The people there appeared to be living their lives after the pursuit of money. People seemed to know that there is something more out there, but nobody wanted to spend the time to listen or search for the truth. The people were very rude on the surface, until you were able to communicate one on one with them. Almost no one talked to each other on the subway. I was given a scolding look when I attempted to start a conversation. I am beginning to understand what it means to be lonely but surrounded by people.

Casablanca, Morocco:
Casablanca is a great contrast from New York. We had to walk off the plane and take a bus to the terminal. Customs took forever, and in a display of true leadership an Islamic Religious Leader was allowed to cut in front of all of us "regular" people. :{ Phi 2:7 While on the way to my hotel, there was a guard at every intersection for miles. Apparently the King was going to the airport. I was able to visit the market in Casablanca, now I was warned that Morocco is a dangerous place so I was careful to stay in busy areas. It was still very scary; I was easily recognizable as a westerner, and so every shop vender was trying to sell me something. The people were very friendly but they all wanted money. One young man was from the Ivory Coast and was trying to get my phone number so we could "help each other out". Another man gave me directions then asked for "some Oil". The culture in Casablanca is very interesting, while most people are poor; there are lots of advertisements for all of the modern electronics we use in America, some of the advertisements were even racy. While Morocco is a Muslim country only 25% of the people were wearing traditional Muslim clothing. Morocco is a country desperately in need of the gospel.

Conakry, Guinea:
Conakry is a very poor city; it reminds me a lot of the very poor parts of Mexico. There is very little industry in Conakry, a lot of the Guineans homes double as stores and restraints. People cook, eat, bathe, and relax right on the side of the street in the dirt and grime. I saw one lady cleaning out her cooking pan in a dirt gully on the side of the road. An older child was taking a bath in a bucket right on the side of the road. It is hard for me to understand the poverty here, as the richer Guineans live, work and shop right next to the poorest Guineans. For example, in the neighborhood the mission apartments are located; there are some very nice three and four story houses with a tall walls and guards. However, right next to then and even in front of them are lean-to shacks. It is very dangerous in some areas of Conakry now. In the past week three murders have taken place within a half mile of the mission apartments. Please pray for the safety of the missionaries who are living in Conakry. I am still unable to come to an understanding of the Guinean culture. It seems so foreign and illogical to me.

Benjamin Baum

7/11/2005 3:25:36 PM

Hello from Conakry, Guinea, West Africa!

I have had a good trip; God has blessed the whole experience. I was not mugged, my luggage was not lost or stolen , I am not sick, perhaps a little tired after trying to sleep on the airplane for two nights.

I am in the city of Conakry, until Thursday, when I will be traveling to the village of where I will be living, for the foreseeable future. I am excited with the opportunities to serve the Lord in this new capacity.

I was able to explore a little of Casablanca, Morocco, New York and even Florida in my travels so far. I will write more about my impressions of them later. I you are all in my prayers daily.

Benjamin Baum

6/29/2005 5:21:36 PM

I am have made it to Stanford, Florida for my Pre Field Training with New Tribes Mission. The NTM headquarters is really nice, it was a old hotel in the 1920’s right on a lake. I will not be swimming in the lake thought, it has alligators! Bummer!!! I saw a 8' to 10' alligator today. :}

The other NTM missionaries are very friendly and each has a heart for there respective fields. We are learning a lot, there are classes on all kinds of subjects from “Keeping Safe Overseas” to “What is the Gospel”.

I have been able to talk to other missioners here, who have been to Guinea. With each conversation I become more excited about Guinea. I miss you all, God Bless you!

Benjamin Baum

6/27/2005 2:46:32 PM

Yikes, this is my last day in the High Desert, for two years. I am not handling this as well as I would have hoped :{. But I am ready to go. I just wanted to say Goodbye to all of you, I will miss you all so very much, and I am sorry if I did not get to say goodbye to you in person. Thank you all for all the gifts; CDs, spoons, cards, a key, words of wisdom, words of encouragement, but most importantly your prayers. Please don’t forget me, as I will not forget you!!!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Benjamin Baum

6/17/2005 8:40:35 AM

Wow yesterday was a busy and exciting day! I am going on vacation with my family, one last time and had to spend most of the day helping to fix the boat and jet skis. Then someone called and wanted to look at my Jeep. He came up and bought the Jeep, which took a long time. Mean while, Chris Mathis is calling me asking me why I am not at the Thursday night college bible study. After I finished selling the Jeep, I arrived at the college bible study an hour and a half late. Only to find out that it was a goodbye party. :} Thanks you guys, I will miss you all!!!

After the goodbye party, and selling my Jeep it is starting to hit me that I am actually leaving. Yikes, I am not worried but it is definitely a big change in life. I pray that God will help me to adjust!

Good news, I received my Guinea visa. This is an answered prayer!!! I have also received my last vaccinations and my anti-malaria prescription. Almost every thing is ready for me to leave on the 27th.

Benjamin Baum

6/14/2005 9:36:10 AM

Good Morning,

Not much new to report, I am still waiting on my Guinea visa. I was able to call the Guinea Embassy, and get a hold of someone who said that they would mail out my visa this week. Pray that I get it in time. :}

My last day at my job was Wednesday June 8th. Thanks for the great party and gifts; I will miss all of you! It is amazing how quickly I can fill the time that my job took. I am trying to be diligent and continue to prepare for Guinea. By reading the books NTM sent me, collecting the things I am bringing to Guinea and by practicing my French. :{

Benjamin Baum

6/3/2005 2:14:23 PM

I thought I should take some time and answer some of the common questions I have been asked, so here it goes:

Q. When are you leaving?
A. My flight to Florida leaves on the 27th of June. I will be in Florida for 10 days of Pre Field Orientation, I will then make my way to Guinea by way of New York and Morocco.

Q. Are you nervous?
A. Yes and No. Everything is coming together, but at the same time I have never done anything like this before and I have no idea what to expect. I try to hold on to Philippians 4:6.

Q. What will you be doing?
A. I will be assisting other missionaries in any area they have need. Some of these areas are electronic and computer repair and maintenance, construction, and any local outreaches.

Q. What city will you be in?
A. I will be traveling throughout the country to the various tribal missionaries assisting then in the villages. When not in a tribal village I think I will be stationed in the mission center located in a small village. Q. Are you getting paid?
A. No, my reward is in heaven. My living expenses are being supplied by people like you who want to partner with me in this endeavor. Their reward is in heaven as well. :}

6/1/2005 11:25:49 AM

Welcome to my website, I am still in the process of building this site and will add more features soon. Please have a look around and let me know what you think.

If you would like to receive my newsletter, when I start sending it out in July. Please email me your email address and/or mailing address.

Thank You
Benjamin Baum