One of the advantages of growing up as a “bush missionary’s kid” was that I got to drive a big truck at a very young age…similar to many of you who grew up on the farm or in rural areas of the States.  I used to absolutely LOVE it when Dad would say “Hey Faith, you want to drive?”  As if I would say NO… are you kidding?

I remember being very young the first time that he did it… maybe 6 or so… I am not sure of the age. He would set me in his lap, put my hands on the steering wheel, and let me “drive” our big old 4-wheel-drive truck.  There is nothing like it…that feeling…I couldn’t get enough of it.  Do you remember that feeling?  I thought I was big stuff then.

            The reality of it was that I was not really driving at all.  Oh, my hands were on the steering wheel and I was turning it, but Dad’s knee was really steering so that I would not get myself into trouble.  His foot operated the brake, gas, and clutch…especially since mine had about 2 feet to grow before there was even contact with the pedals, much less control.

            That is how I feel being here in Sierra Leone.  God is steering.  He doesn’t really need me...but He wants me along.  Just for the fun of it, He lets me “steer” (see patients, diagnose them, and give them medications), but make no mistake, if it were really ME steering we would have crashed and burned a long time ago.  The difference is that now I am grown up enough (at least for the moment) to know that I am not really steering… I am just having a great time working with my “Dad”…my Abba.

            Here is one example.  On November 27, I had a patient named Balu come to see me.  She is family of one of our staff here at the Bible School and has been seriously sick for over a month.  There is presently no nurse available near her home 70+ miles from here, so she and her mother scraped together enough money to come here to try and get medical help.  In fact, she was so ill, that a nurse that came to their village had to give her IV fluids in order to get her well enough to travel.  Balu is about 5 foot 6 or 7 inches, and when I assessed her, she weighed 90.6 pounds.  As I listened to her history and assessed her I (as usual) found myself praying, “Please Lord, show me what to do”.  I don’t have any lab testing materials, but I thought maybe I had found the source of the problem.  Got her started on the Medications that I was able to find that were appropriate, instructed them on how to feed her so that she could rebuild, and we prayed together.

            Yesterday (December 7) after 7 days of treatment, I reweighed her.  She weighs 106 pounds.  She has gained 16 pounds in 7 days.  In fact, after just two days of treatment, she was up and walking around, and after three days, started doing little jobs around the house.  It sure seems miraculous to me, especially when you consider that one of the medicines that I had her taking was a hefty dose of Flagyl.  If you have ever taken Flagyl, you know that it is very unpleasant.  Everything tastes like aluminum foil, and your stomach is upset and queasy most of the time.  There is some debate among Flagyl takers as to whether or not it is better to just stay sick. J

            I am so blessed to have a daily front row seat, on the lap of my heavenly Dad, to the miracles that He does in the lives of the people around me.  To those of you who support us, in finances and in prayer… Thank you…from all of us here in Sierra Leone.

A MK's perspective

My 13-year-old daughter wrote this for her homework assignment.  I thought you might enjoy hearing her perspective:

          If you walk down the road going out of the Bible School, you will see mango leaves blowing in the wind, plants growing, charcoal smoking and people working.  The people you will see will have all different kinds of clothes on. They could be going to work at the farm, walking to town, going to find wood, going to make potato heaps in the swamp, or maybe going to plant rice, peanuts, or sweet potatoes.  They could be going to make charcoal.  If you kept waking, you would begin to see fewer people.  All you would see would be birds of many colors calling to each other and many different kinds of flowers, insects, plants, butterflies and sometimes animals.  All you would hear would be frogs croaking and every once in a while, the sound of an axe on dry wood.          

          This is the place where I am spending part of my life as a missionary kid, around people who act like one big family. They call each other brother or sister even if they haven’t even met before.  They live the life of hard working people, but they always make time for fun.  They have fun working as a group and are always laughing and joking around.  Most of the people here are skinny and don’t get enough food, but that’s what people look like… not WHO he or she is.  They may be the ugliest person you have ever seen but they have a happy, loving feel about them, and their hearts are the most beautiful part about them.  If the world were full of those kinds of people there would not be as many wars.

Sometimes humbleness can come to us in the most unexpected of ways, and most often it is when we were not even aware we were in need of it.  When I teach the Bible School students here about the definition of humility, I teach them that it means being aware of the reality of who we are as compared to God…

I learned that today.

I try on this blog to share some of everything… the funny, the adventurous, the spiritual lessons that I learn, the cross-cultural experiences…

… and - every once in a while, the nitty-gritty, the rubber-meets-the-road realities of life as a missionary..

You get the nitty-gritty today.

There is a Bible School employee who, by Sierra Leonean standards is very well off.  Both he and his wife have jobs, where for most, employment is very difficult to find.  He came to me today to ask for help because he said that he was unable to feed his family.  I suspected that he just wanted money, as he has exhibited that tendency in the past, but didn’t want to ignore a plea for help, so I decided to have compassion on him.  It so happened that we had about a dollar in the house at the time, so I literally had nothing to give him.  I expressed sympathy for him and let him know that I had no money but that I had some groundnuts (a staple food here) that I would give him.  He said groundnuts would not help him.  So, I offered him some sweet potatoes, which he hesitantly accepted. 

Now, here is the nitty-gritty part.  I don’t know how we are going to make it through the month, giving is down.  I am NOT complaining.  I know that December is a hard month for everyone, and we have it good compared to so many others...  I only share this in order to explain that those sweet potatoes were a part of what I was depending on in order to stretch our food supply through the month. 

 Roy helped me bag up some sweet potatoes and gave them to the man and he began to walk away….

     ….WITHOUT so much as a “thank you”.

And I got mad.

I called him back and quietly said, “We shared our food with you, you need to tell my husband thank you”.  That was all I said.

He very sheepishly went and thanked Roy.  And that was all that was said.

But….

In my heart, I was still really frustrated.

About an hour later (yes, I am ashamed to admit it) it was still on my mind as I sat on our verandah doing our hand wash.  (The clothes were getting VERY clean!)  As I washed I was venting to God and asking Him to help me let it go.

I looked up, and there came little 4-year-old Tomue (Too-mway) trit-trotting happily along on the way to our house with a little broken-handled pot on her head.  She walked right up to me, informed me she had brought me a gift, and set her pot down in front of me…

….full of sweet potatoes….

As I looked into those adorable brown eyes, I am quite sure that I saw Jesus looking back at me.  In the quiet of my heart, His voice spoke to remind me …

HE is my protector…

       HE is my defender….

                        HE is my provider…

                                    …for ALL that I need.

Somehow, I think these potatoes are going to taste a lot like humble pie…but ever SO SWEET!

Do you remember the nursery rhyme that we learned in childhood, the one that ended with "...and all in the house that Jack built." ?  One thing just lead to another in the house that Jack built. I have felt an odd sort of affinity with Jack recently.  A series of events has occurred which, had I known what was coming I would have felt quite intimidated, but God in his loving kindness, allowed me to take one step at a time. 
   It all started with one man...the chief's uncle, who had a two month old wound on his foot that would not heal.  He came to me one morning asking for help.  I was happy to help him, but felt a little nervous, him being in the paramount chief's family and all.  Since he could not walk well, I went to his house every day to assess the wound, clean it, and apply a dressing.  The wound was quite large and deep and I was sure that it would take several months for it to close.  This meant paying for a honda taxi everyday to go and come... and I wasn't sure where the money was going to come from.  I kept telling myself that after a few weeks I would be able to cut back to every other day and train family members to change the dressing.
   God is good.  Mr. Balansama's foot healed at record speeds that were amazing to me.  The wound generally shrank by 1 to 2 mm each way, every day.  AMAZING!  On top of that, I have gotten to be good friends with Mr. Balansama and his family.  In fact,he and his family have now given me a Kuranko name... they named me after his mother.  And, if I pass by that side of town and don't stop by to say hello, I get in a little bit of trouble. :)  As his foot began to heal, other patients began to appear on his front porch to be seen, usually 2 or three new ones each day;  his younger brother, with high blood pressure and kidney problems, his wife with a stomach ulcer, and many others.  When his foot was well, and I was ready to sign off on his case... he asked me to see his neighbor, the Fula Paramount Chief for Koinadugu District.  In no time, I was also seeing every one in his family who was not well.
    I did NOT see that one coming.  So now, I see two or three patients a day at the Fula Cheif's house, and two or three patients at the Koranko chief's uncle's house.  In addition to that, going into town each day (now every other day) has led me to form a friendship with my Okada driver (honda taxi) who is a Fula (fulani) by tribe also.  I have had the priveledge of getting to know his family as well and am now trying to learn a little Fula along with my Kuranko ( yes, I do mix them up some days).  A 12-year old girl in the Okada drivers house was not feeling well, so she was warming herself by the fire one morning and her lapa (skirt) caught fire, burning the full length of her outer thigh up on to her buttocks.  This poor child has allowed me to clean her burn, change her dressing each day, and even pull off the dead skin without ever crying out or even shedding a tear.  She has been so very brave.
   Had I known when I started, where this would lead me, I would have probably stayed home... after all, I am not exactly twiddling my thumbs in between homeschooling, teaching the Bible School students, preparing a clinic, and having one-on-one bible studies in addition to running the home.  However, I have gained a lot of experience in treating different illnesses, some of them a little daunting.  I have also gotten practice in trusting God through this.  He has provided every day for the honda taxi... a lot of times it was close, but He provided.  He has blessed the medicines that I have given to make them successful.  And, I have been reminded every day that "..He has prepared, in advance, good works for us to do..."  and "...He who called you is faithful and HE will do it."  It's pretty cool, because all I have to do is just be faithful to show up... and I get a front row seat to the miracles.  Is my Dad (heavenly Father) cool, or what?

It rained today…

I mean it REALLY rained today…a good heavy downpour.  As many of you know we don’t have running water….at least not in the traditional sense.  I like to say that we DO have running water… you run to the well to get it, it runs into the bucket, on the way back it runs down your back or leg (depending on how you are carrying it)… and then it runs into the sink as you pour it.  That being said… whenever it rains we take all of our buckets and put them out under the edge of the roof to catch the water as it runs off.  We don’t have any eaves troughs, but Roy recently put a cut piece of 4 inch pipe about 4 feet long along the edge of the overhang, so the water comes out of both ends of it at a pretty good rate. 

     But, I digress.  As this torrential downpour came unexpectedly, the kids and I ran to quickly put all of our buckets out. We needn’t have hurried.  In about 15 minutes we had filled all of our five gallon buckets, poured the water into our water barrels, and filled them again for a total of 10 times.  Yes, that is 50 gallons of water in less than 15 minutes.  When our water barrels were full, I lined the full buckets up in our hallway…and the rain kept coming.  I had nothing left to put water in, I was out of buckets. 

    Why am I telling you this!  As I walked down our hallway past the row of buckets….I had a lightbulb moment.  See , I have to confess that I have been a little discouraged, perhaps even lost perspective.  I have been sick with a fever and headache for the last month.  (Yes, that is not a type-o).  I have run a fever continuously for a month.  It is finally resolving, but I don’t sit still very well…and not feeling well enough to do anything started to get on my nerves.  So, I got crabby….and then I got discouraged.  The enemy really started to do a number on me.  In the middle of all of this God sent me to the same scripture multiple times.  I am telling you, I would start out turning to Paul’s writings or the gospels and yet I would still somehow end up in II Samuel.

  A woman whose husband had died had fallen on hard times… she and her sons had run out of food and had run out of money.  She came to the prophet Elisha asking for help because she had nowhere else to turn.  He told her that God wanted her to go and borrow as many jars as she could from her neighbors.  She did as she was told and then she began to pour the meager amount of oil that she had left into each jar.  God did a miraculous outpouring of His blessing for her that day… and she filled ALL the jars.  As she filled the last jar, the oil finished. 

     God spoke to me in my discouragement and pointed out that  I needed to be about getting ready for his blessing.  Never mind what is happening right now, the blessing is coming…. But here is the trick…

  What if the woman had only borrowed a few jars? 

I have often heard people talk about “according to the measure of your faith”  but was never really sure what that meant.  I think it is about having enough buckets.  His blessing, like the rain we had today, will come in HIS time and in HIS way.  Do you and I have the faith to be ready for it?  When the rain starts falling, it is a little late to run out and buy more buckets.  The widow didn’t have the chance to go borrow more jars.  She could have, in the name of practicality, borrowed just a few jars and said, “we’ll see how it goes and then if we need to we will go borrow more”.  Guess what?  She would have run out of oil.  As many jars as she had the faith to borrow… that was how many were filled. 

    I struggle with the balance between practicality and faith.  We value being realistic…. But are we prepared for the norm…. or are we prepared for an overflowing abundance…
“beyond all we ask or imagine’ (James)… of GOD’s blessing?  I have come to the realization that I am not prepared.  So, once again God is stretching me (do you hear the creaks and groans?) reshaping me into someone who will hopefully be more like him.  In the process, I am being stretched and enlarged into someone with a greater capacity for catching the outpouring of HIS blessing.  I just can’t wait to see what happens. 

For now…

 I am going to buy more buckets!

Our first use of the Clinic-in-a-Box

In Africa, at least here, things are rarely used for their originally designed purpose.  I could go on for quite some time about the unique and inventive ideas that I have seen in practice here.  One definitely learns to think outside the box.  That being said, I have discovered that I had packed a Rubbermaid stationary box in our crates.  Lately, I have noticed that I am needing a little more than a basic first aid kit when I go places.  So, I have taken my office box and turned it into a clinic box.  I am really excited about it because I had been looking for a way to go with Roy and the guys when they do evangelism in nearby towns.  I would like to offer some basic medical care as a compliment to the evangelism.
One of our students has been faithfully continuing to do evangelism in his assigned town, in spite of the fact that school is no longer in session and he is not required to go any longer.  Because of his faithfulness, a church has been established and are meeting faithfully each week.  A child of one of these families had been sick for about 2 weeks without improvement.  A medicine man approached them, saying that he could help them.  The pastor tried to encourage them not to go to th medicine man, but instead to trust God, so he came and asked me to help.  The kids and I took my clinic-in-a-box and walked with him to see the child, only to find that the family had already left to go and meet the medicine man in a nearby town.  Disappointed, we headed for home, but as we walked, we prayed that the family would be unable to meet the medicine man and would return home unsuccessful.  Sure enough, the next morning the family arrived on my front porch.  They had walked quite a ways to the village and then could not find the medicine man.  I was able to treat him and he is now doing better. That same afternoon, someone else from another town came and asked me to come and see his wife, whose leg was swollen up so that she could not walk.  I was able to take my clinic box and walk to her house, and not only treat her, but three other people as well while I was there.  I was humbled and grateful to discover today that all of the patients I attempted to treat are doing well and have almost completely improved. God is so GOOD!  And yet at the same time, I am more aware than ever that physical care is much more than just physical, especially here.  One cannot treat the physical without touching on the spiritual realm... and in that there is a battle... please pray for us whenever you can... and pray for these people who need so much... have so little... and try so hard.

Hello to all...it has been such a long time and SO much has happened since I was last able to write.  We have had several guests, which was a lot of fun... AND we got our shipment... FINALLY!  WOOHOO!  The clinic is also underway now and we have plans to open it in September.  However, it is going to be tight because, as we were about to start moving in, we discovered that the floor under the exam room was hollow... yes, our friends and constant companions, the termites, have struck again.  Sooooo, now we are breaking up the floor and digging down to where there are no termites...pouring bug-killer in the space, putting down SALT (of all things)...and then refilling the space with rocks and then cement.  Oh well... sigh.... we wouldn't want things to be BORING now would we?  :) 
Anyway, I was thinking the other day about the 12 men who spied out Cannan land.  I was teaching my kids the song I learned as a child...
     12 men spied out Cannan land, 10 were bad and 2 were good.
     And what did they see in Cannan's land, 10 were bad and 2 were good.
    Some saw giants big and strong, some saw grapes in clusters long,
    Some saw God was in it all...
    10 were bad and 2 were good.

Such a simple song...
And then it struck me...
WE are like that!  Whenever some new adventure comes along, there are generally 3 responses to it: 1 - We see the "grapes in clusters long" - the benefits that we can experience and the opportunities... not necessarily bad per se... but somewhat "self-focused".
2 - We see "giants strong" - those things that could go wrong...the dangers... the risks... the what-if's...

Now,
 I tend to be... I must confess... a "what-if-er"...
 big fan of the safe side...
 always wanting to prepare for "just-in-case"....
Yet, here I am... in the land of the giants (or termites, whichever) and I want to fall into the third category...
I want to be one of the ones who "SAW GOD WAS IN IT ALL".  There are not very many who fall into that category, but I am striving for membership in that club.  HE is in it all, we just so often fail to notice.
SO, even when my heart fails a little at the thought of spending three weeks here with just me and the kids and no one else ( Roy is in the States to see his mom, who is preparing to move to her cancer-free mansion.  Dad and Clare are back in the States as well.) and even though my heart sunk at the discovery of the termites... I CHOOSE not to be daunted.  God is in it ALL!  Blessings are hidden like buried treasure in the things that look like problems...it is all a matter of perspective!


Be a treasure hunter with me today... it is easier if you know you can work with a friend! :)


I still wonder why none of the 12 men mentioned anything about termites...

Driver's Ed

I got back from Freetown yesterday, a trip during which I experienced many different types of transportation. This, coupled with my traveling experiences over the last year and a half, have led me to my own classification system for driving styles. In order to fully understand, you have to first understand that many of the roads we travel on are either rough dirt roads, broken up pavement, or extremely congested city traffic. The classifications are as follows:
1. The "grass-is-greener" approach.
This driver begins with the very best of intentions...on his own side of the road. But then he begins to notice that while his side is full of potholes, the other side does not appear to have nearly as many. So, he switches to the other side. Logical...except that once he is there, he begins to notice that now the other side of the road has less potholes than before, so...as any good driver would do... he switches back again...and again... and again... ad nauseaum... LITERALLY.
2. The "Looney Tunes" school of thought.
This method is fairly straight forward. You just pretend that you are in a cartoon, get up a lot of speed and figure that, like the cartoon characters who run off of the edge of the cliff and just keep going, you also will just have SO much momentum, that you will fly over the top of the pothole, and not experience the inevitable drop until you have reached the other side of the pothole. The trick is to just keep going fast enough. This approach is very similar to the Evil Keneville (sp?) approach. The difference is that the Evil Keneeville driver is at least aware of the jarring jolt you get to your spine... he just doesn't care. He views it as a necessary evil in order to soar over the next 5 potholes to a new world record. After all, one bump is better than 5...right.
3. The "Secret Treasure Map" approach.
I think that this type of driver has probably seen too many pirate movies, or Indiana Jones movies. He truly believes that, if one tries hard enough, there is actually a way to pass through the maze of concrete swiss cheese... unscathed. So, he seeks to find the exact sequence of left and right turns, swerving sharply from one side to the next, seeking to prevent any discomfort to his passengers. There are two problems with this theory... the goose eggs that each passenger gets from alternately knocking his head on his window and the head of the passenger next to him... and the ONCOMING TRAFFIC!!!!
4. The "007 - Licensed to Kill" driver.
This driver is legitimately appalled at the careless and risky driving of those around him and will talk at great length ( in words I can't repeat on this blog) about their foolishness and carelessness. He, however, will take the same risks...and worse. According to him, that is okay because he is actually SO skilled in his driving that he can come within centimeters of oncoming traffic as he passes another car at a very high speed, without any problem whatsoever. The only reason that his passengers and the other driver are upset about this... is because they are just ignorant of how truly skilled he is. He is so skilled that such behavior is actually not a risk for him. So, he just informs them, in no uncertain terms (again, unrepeatable) that they are silly for being afraid and ignorant.
5. The "Tortoise and the Hare" approach.
Being the Tortoise AND the Hare is very tricky business, but it does allow the driver to slow down enough to soften impact for each pothole...He just makes up for it in between with crazy high speeds. On the upside... you have frequent brake checks... on the down side...you have frequent brake replacements....and frequent visits to your chiropractor...that is, if there WERE one.

All drivers operate on the basic understanding of a few simple unwritten rules:
1. Lanes are optional
2. It is okay to not have brakes, mirrors, headlights, or a seatbelt...but a horn is a necessity.
3. Wherever you are going, get there as fast as you can.
4. 1st and 2nd gear are to be used only in absolute emergencies.
5. All written rules are for every one else.
6. If anyone is in front of you, they should get out of the way.

All that being said... Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

P.S. on the Baby Boy

I was able to weigh Kunku's baby...at about 9 lbs! WOW! Mom and baby are both doing well.

Baby Boy

Hey all! I just had to post this real quick! I just delivered my first Sierra Leone baby. Mom (Kunku) went into labor at around midnight. She has had four other children, without any difficulties, and all of them quick deliveries. I figured this one would be a good one for my first run, since it would probably be a walk in the park...WRONG! I was really scared, even of a normal delivery, as I don't have any experience other than labor coaching and observing in nursing school... and I felt woefully inadequate as I walked to her house in the moonlight. After all, it is two lives at stake... not a good place for amateurs. Prayer was, as always... my only option...and it went something like this.
"Dear God, PLEASE don't let me kill anyone!"
As time went on, Kunku and the women with her became anxious, as she had always delivered quickly in the past. Each time I examined her, it seemed that the baby was still high, albeit progressing slowly. I had a hard time figuring the baby's position for sure, as Kunku is a large woman, her uterus was not relaxing well...AND I have very little experience. Eventually, I called my good friends, Sarah (SJRMC Pediatrics) and Ruth (SJRMC OB), who gave me good advice. I am happy to report that the assistance of these two ladies really paid off and at about 9:00 am Kunku delivered a VERY large baby boy (for Africa anyway) with his cord wrapped around his neck...and he was facing the wrong way. Thank you Sarah and Ruth... and God, without whom nothing is possible. Two of the bible school women were also present and did a fantastic job helping Kunku and helping me. I am SO grateful!

Answers to Prayer

Well, today was a little more exciting than we had expected. We began our day with bible study as usual. Roy gave the last exam to the diploma students. As the students finished their exam, we called a meeting with all the students in order to address the issue of cheating. Rev. Samson spoke strongly to them about a call to holiness, and Dad shared as well. We ended with chance to come forward for prayer and many of them did. Please pray for them as they seek to change over from something that is accepted in their culture to a life style that goes against the norm. It cannot be easy.
As I have shared with you before, this is dry season, and this is the time of year that people burn off the bush in order to make their farms. Someone had lit a fire on the far side of one of the hills on the other side of the road from the Bible School. As the wind picked up this afternoon, the fire began to come down the hill... and initially was just something of interest...until the smoke began to block out the sun... and burning ashes were falling into the grass 200 yards away. Then, the fire jumped the road and began to burn towards some of the dorms. Many of the men were able to go and control it, but we lost many banana plants, pineapple plants and a small store of potatoes that a student had. Additionally, one of the students lost over half of his garden.
We thought that we had things under control...but remember I told you that the fire had been on the far side of the hill. Well another part of the same fire came around the edge of the hill, crossed the road on another side of the bible school and began to burn away from us...and then the wind changed. That fire began to burn straight towards the Bible School... and specifically the orchard and our house. The students all worked together and were fantastic!!! Women and children were running back and forth from the well with buckets while the rest of us attempted to fight the fire by beating it with branches and clearing a break. Unfortunately, the wind was coming towards us so strongly, that we couldn't even get to the base of the flames because the flames were coming towards us at a 45 degree angle. It kept driving us back no matter what we did. Obviously, I had been praying the whole time, but at that point I stopped and just said...out loud..."Lord please help us...we can't do it".
Just then, the wind changed.
We were able to get the water to the base of the flames... AND... the water had an effect. The flames began to die down, and we were able to walk through the burned area, dousing any areas of continuing flame. PRAISE GOD!
We were definitely protected by God.
1. We had planned on being gone today. If we had, we would have never known in time to do anything about the fire.
2. Snakes come out of a burning area. In fact, as the first fire burned down, two Gabon Vipers came out of the brush at an area that I was checking on. We were able to kill them both. However, in the second fire, we were walking through the grass toward the fire, putting our hands into it to pull it up and create a break. No snakes came toward us...which was a definite possibility.
3. Not one of the Bible School students was injured in any way in fighting the fire. WOW!

All the same...
A little less excitement tomorrow will be just fine with me!

In our family, most evenings we play a game over dinner. It is called "High/Low". Each member of the family shares their lowest point of the day and their High of the day...kind of a "best and worst of..." It has served us well as a way to avoid the "how was your day...fine" scenario. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but we actually got it from a movie.
My high and low for yesterday were pretty much polar opposites. It is final exam time here at the Bible School and that is always a tough time for Roy and I for several reasons. First, it is labor intensive with the writing of the exams, administering of the exams, and of course grading of the exams. Secondly, it is the time in the year when we find out just how effective/ineffective our teaching is. It is usually the ineffective that we discover. It is not easy to teach or learn cross-culturally and one must learn to be content with small gains. While we know this in our heads, it is still difficult at times. In addition to that, we caught some students cheating, which really breaks my heart. In this culture, while it is difficult for us to understand, cheating is the norm rather than the exception. Even so, my heart is torn by the knowledge that they are missing out on the joy that comes from living a life that is above reproach.
Needless to say, that was my "Low" for the day. My "High" came from out of nowhere and I am still celebrating. On the bottom of one of the exams...incidentally it was the student who did the worst (obviously NOT one of the cheaters) was a note...
"Mommy Faith, please help me. I want to understand"
Hmmmm......???
I was not exactly sure what that meant, so I went to visit Mariatu (the student in question). As it turns out, she did not want help understanding the class... she wants help understanding the Bible!!!! WAHOO! She told me that, until she married her husband, she was a muslim and since she became a Christian, no one has taught her about the Bible. She is hungry to know more and really wants to be able to understand and be able to read and study it for herself!!! WOW! It doesn't get any better than that! We are going to start a Bible Study together Saturday morning. I can't wait.
I know that missionaries don't usually share the nitty-gritty stuff...you know the low times...
Well, tough....
here I am...
what you see is what you get...
and I left my holy-roller shoes in the States because of the weight restrictions.... SO...
I do get discouraged. It is disheartening to me that students who are training to be pastors would cheat on exams. It is appalling to me. BUT, we are all human, we are all vulnerable to temptation... and every single one of us will let someone down at some point. However, if in the middle of that...
just one person... just one...
learns to fall in love with Jesus and is hungry to know His Word...
Well...
then I am a very happy woman indeed!

Many people picture the life of a missionary as being full of jungle vines, screaming monkeys, and pith helmets; while others picture daily evangelistic services in which someone with a bone of some sort through their nose lays down their spear and converts to a life of calm biblical study while wearing khakis and a button up shirt.
My life is not like that, and I have to say that in spite of being a 3rd generation missionary, I don't know ANY missionaries who live that way. Maybe somewhere, but not here. My life is a lot more like yours...just hotter and with more bugs. Most missionaries live day to day, doing the little things faithfully and the best they can, so that others can come to know Christ...Not so different from you, eh? Granted, everything does take longer to do. For example, you want granola for breakfast, you stop in at Walmart (or wherever) and pick some up. I, on the other hand, spend one day grating and roasting coconut, another roasting groundnuts and bene seed and grinding the groundnuts into peanut butter with a hand-crank meat grinder, and then a third day mixing it all together and roasting it in a metal pot on coals. On the up side, I can literally say that I personally know where my food comes from and that it is all organic! :) Every day has it's challenges, just like yours, and every day is spent trying to live out Christ to those around us.
Yesterday we got to experience one of those moments when all that work bears fruit. Each student at the Bible School is required to do evangelistic outreach one night per week. Mr. Thuranka has really taken it seriously, and, in addition to his assigned night in the town of Boonbon, he has begun preaching there each Sunday morning as well. I am so impressed with his dedication and his vision for seeing others reached with the gospel. Sunday afternoon we were privileged to visit Boonbon for a baptism service in which 9 believers were baptized and we were taken to see the land that the chief has now given to the believers, inviting them to build a church on that land. Praise God!
These are the days to be treasured and celebrated. THIS is what it is all about...training people to reach their own people with the Gospel of Christ... and seeing them rejoice in the fruit of their labor. WOW! It doesn't get any better than this...I wouldn't trade it for anything... not even granola in a box.

Yesterday was a bit of an adventure. I woke up to a woman calling me saying that one of the pregnant women on campus, Mariama, had gone into labor. Now, I am trained as a nurse, but I have worked in Pediatrics, Oncology, and Medical/Surgical. I have only been in on 4 or 5 deliveries...and that was back in nursing school in 1994. Needless to say, I was a little nervous. I took a quick review in "Where there is No Doctor" and went up to take a look at her. Sure enough... it was the real McCoy... puddle of water on the floor and everything. Thanks to a small box of rubber gloves I had brought with me, I was able to do a quick exam and see how far along she was. If you are a labor nurse, you have probably noticed that...like drunks... some women are funny, some are weepy, but most laboring moms get out and out mean. This was one of them... which all of the rest of the women found ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. The small room she was in was filled with about 6 women all of whom were chuckling as she chewed them out in Kuranko and occasionally took a swing at one of them. It may sound a little shocking and cruel... but, I did notice that when she took a swing at someone, that individual immediately hugged her, spoke a word of encouragement and began to administer some sort of comfort...backrub, drink of water, etc. It was definitely an interesting experience.
I did not deliver the baby. With a hospital 3 miles away, there is no sense in that, but getting her there was a challenge. Her contractions were 2 to 3 minutes apart and she would not have been able to hold on to the back of a Honda for that. We have our van, but it had a flat tire. On changing the tire, Roy and Dad discovered that the spare was also flat. In order to remedy that, we had to call a Honda driver from town to come out, carry the tire and someone into town, get the tire patched and pumped up, then bring that someone and the tire back. We did just that, and once the tire was on, we took Mariama into the hospital. I am happy to say that about two hours later, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Isn't God good!
When I got back, I had to teach class, cook lunch, made chips, treated someone else for severe abdominal pain, cooked supper, and did an exam on another woman to help her know when her baby is due... (in about three weeks)...and make sure that all was going along well...(which it appears to be)! Nothing like learning on the job... but whenever I start to feel overwhelmed and inadequate... I remember that it is all just part of the adventure.

Wow! It has been a long time since I have been able to post. Internet has not been available for quite sometime, soooo...do I have a lot to tell you!!!
Roughly two weeks ago, Dad, Clare, and Roy went down to Freetown (the capitol city) to try once again to get our shipment out of the quay. For those of you who don't know, we had shipped a container full of ministry supplies last year, and since then have struggled to clear it out of the shipyard. The three of them, with the help of a wonderful man in Freetown, were finally able to clear it on February 29th. We are so pleased! One of the most crucial items we needed was our homeschool curriculum for both the present year and the oncoming year. I am so happy to have the books, because, needless to say it is a challenge coming up with a way to teach a 7th grader, a fourth grader, and a third grader without books or curriculum... all the while teaching two levels of pastoral students a total of 6 different classes without any books or curriculum either. I have never been so happy to see a box of books in my life!!!
Shortly before Roy, Dad, and Clare left, we adopted a pair of Red River Hogs... who of course had to be fed with a syringe, since I have NOTHING else to do. ;) (There are no baby bottles to be found any where in the town of Kabala) I am happy to report that one of them is doing just fine, sadly the other didn't make it. During the time when we were trying to nurse them along, however, they had to be kept in our bathroom, which was just a WHOLE LOT of fun! In fact, one night as I was trying to shower, I had two genets, two red river hogs, and a cat ( he was badly wounded in a fight with something) in the bathroom with me! ARGHHH!
Within a day or two of the others going to Freetown, someone brought me a VERY new baby monkey to feed, again with a syringe. Needless to say, for the 10 days they were gone, I wasn't bored AT ALL! :) To top it off, we had a bush fire right behind the campus just a few days before they returned. The men (students) went to fight it and were able to get it stopped, but there were some tense moments as you may see from the picture. This picture was taken from our verandah. Abby, Caleb, and Seth were especially nervous as I took tools and drinking water to the men who were fighting the fire, and was gone for about an hour. If you have never witnessed a brush fire or forest fire first hand, you may not understand this, but if you have, you will understand their nervousness. However, as one of the students here told me, "your children are like rubber, they are strong and they can handle anything without complaining... you aren't like other white men" I was SO PROUD of my kids when she said that...and I praise God that He blessed my children with the ability to handle things...and the sense to know that the only reason they can is because He helps them.

The day before yesterday, I got back from a five-day trip to Yiffin. I went in order to attend the annual Women's Institute...which is like a Women's retreat. Each year, the women from the churches of the entire area come together to worship and to attend special services. The woman in the photo started the Women's Institute in 1968 and has attended every year since. She has such a neat spirit and her joy in serving God just shines through her face. She is also a traditional birth attendant for the area and has helped deliver many babies in her lifetime.
Wednesday, I traveled the 6 hour trip in a four-wheel drive with one of the Bible School students who is from the area. God blessed us with a safe journey and a good driver, which is a real blessing since there were 13 adults, two children, an infant and a lamb in our Land Rover. (The apprentice and the two adult sheep rode on the roof rack with the luggage.) I spent Thursday visiting with several friends from last year until about mid-afternoon. Then, Namissa and I, with our luggage, (with the driver, a total of three adults) got on a motorcycle and drove to the village of Komontambaya, where the meeting was to take place. Our driver tried very hard, but it is not easy to balance two women and their baggage while driving off-road conditions. At one point, we did have a mild wipe-out, but God helped us and none of us were injured other than some small scrapes.
I wish you could have been with me. As each group of women walked in to Komontambaya, they would begin to sing and dance to the steady beat of the african drums. All of the women who had already arrived would go out singing and dancing to meet them and welcome them. What an atmosphere of jubilation! Many of these women walked anywhere from 3 to 18 miles, carrying their belongings on their heads and their babies on their backs, just to come attend the meeting. In fact, one of the women shared with me that even while Sierra Leone was in civil war and everyone was in hiding in the forest, the women still continued to meet to study God's Word! WOW! (And to think of all the times I skipped prayer meeting just because I was tired, or too busy!) We had such a good time of testimonies, prayer, and studying God's word. Many of these women deal with some really difficult issues, especially since most of them are in polygamous marriages, have had children die, struggle with untreated health issues, and are first generation Christians in a Islamic/Animist culture. In spite of all this, they sing praise to God with total abandon, and hungrily seek biblical truths to answer their questions. What testimonies they shared of God's hand in their lives and of the answers to their prayers. I was truly inspired.
Sunday morning, when the services were over, we all left for our respective homes. Us "Yiffin women" walked the 9 miles back together, talking and laughing the whole way. However, when I got to Yiffin, we found out that no vehicles had come in all the days that we had been gone. The only way to get a ride from Yiffin to Kabala, is to hitch a ride with a truck that has come the day before...No truck... No ride. It was looking like I could be stuck for a while. But once again, God provided. An area pastor offered to take me to Kabala on his Honda for no other price than just the cost of gas! What a praise. He was such a blessing! I appreciated the ride so much, but I am here to tell you, I discovered that I was lacking muscles in places that I didn't even know muscles were needed! If any of you have ever ridden an off-road bike as a passenger, you will understand what I am talking about. Four hours later, we arrived in Kabala, safe and sound... and very dusty! All of you who are paying good money to get a "Core Workout", should just ride a motorcycle for an hour or so per day on these roads! WOW!
Anyway, here I am...back in my life of ease... indoor toilet...bucket shower...cellphone coverage...bed...
And...most importantly...equipped with a renewed vision for what God has called us here to do. To each of you who pray for us... to each of you who invest what little you have in our ministry... THANK YOU!
These women thank you! They specifically prayed for you and thanked God for you, because you encouraged their hearts by sending me and they asked me to tell you not to forget them. They asked me to tell you to keep on praying for them as they keep trying to walk faithfully with God and to tell other women about God.

Okay, so here is a funny thing. Did you know that here in Sierra Leone, if you want to get a kitten, they will NOT sell it to you. Sierra Leonean cats are NOT for sale. So, how does one go about getting a kitten...you have to MARRY it...yes, it is true. Marriages here are arranged. A young man will see a lady that he likes, then he has to go to her family and arrange to marry her. In order to make these arrangements, he has to "pull kola" or take a gift to the family. This is usually money, chickens, sheep, goats, rice...anything of value. The family will then negotiate for the dowry, which is paid out over time... after the first child is weaned (if he is still pleased with her)... when her father dies... etc. A cat, fortunately, is not spread out over time...perhaps because their lifespan is not that long. However, one has to visit the cat several times, showing how interested you are in caring for the cat...and THEN you negotiate with the family how much of a "kola" you are willing to pay for the cat. Once you pay the agreed price, you go home with the cat and you have formed a relationship now with the cat's first home... or mother and father. Interesting isn't it... how hard it is to catch mice around here. :)

Yesterday I did something that impacted me very deeply. I had the honor of accompanying Uncle Garreth Wiederkher to the grave of his oldest son, who died in Sierra Leone in 1975, the same year, incidentally, that my family and I came to Sierra Leone. "Uncle" Garreth is not really my uncle, but as missionary kids (MKs) we called all adults either Uncle or Aunt. This was for two reasons. One, it was more respectful than calling an adult by his or her first name, and is less formal than Mr. or Mrs. Secondly, when you have left all of your family half way around the world in an age in which there are no phones or internet and letters take months to arrive...if they come at all...well, the other missionaries become your family.
Uncle Garreth and Aunt Treeva were dorm parents at the MK school that I later attended. In fact, Uncle Garreth was the one who came up with the famous "Persuader". The "Persuader" was a wooden paddle with holes in it that was used for punishing those who truly deserved it. Now, please don't worry...I am NOT talking about child abuse here. However, when you are parenting 30 + children... especially MKs... well, let's just say that being able to "Persuade" is absolutely essential. The "Persuader" was rarely used...but OFTEN talked of in hushed and reverent tones...so reverent in fact, that the dorm parents, whomever they may be at the time, had to do very little. See, the big kids would tell all the new, incoming, first graders that the holes were to let the blood out...and well, we were all scared enough at the sight of it that it was almost never needed.
BUT, I digress...what I witnessed first-hand today was sacrifice. This precious man of God...and I do NOT use that term for very many people...has been talking to me about the power of prayer, and the fact that very few people understand the burden, the vision, and the sacrifice required of an intercessor. Uncle Gareth has not been in Sierra Leone for more than 30 years, and yet he has never forgotten the people of Sierra Leone and their need to hear of the gospel. He carries that burden as an intercessor to the throne of God... and even more than that...he has a vision to reignite the American church with a passion for prayer and an understanding of the cost of being an intercessor. I wish that you could talk to him and hear story after story of his upbringing with praying parents, of the way that God protected him in WWII, and of the power of God in his life as he served as a missionary and an intercessor.
I cannot express to you in words...they fail me...the humble awe that I felt...standing in the African sun...surrounded by 15 foot high elephant grass...and watching as this man... this intercessor who understands the incredible cost...knelt at his own sons grave. A grave with no name...as the rebels took off the engraved plate during the war...a grave lost in the bush and surrounded by overgrowth...a grave that he had not been able to visit in over 30 years...the grave of his son who died while he served God wholeheartedly...half a world away from family and friends. And yet...no word of complaint or regret ever came from his lips. WOW! Could you do that?
God did... His only Son died...
for YOU!
And THAT folks, is why we are here.