February 10th

Today marks 1 week of being here. In many ways it seems like much longer, but not in the sense of any struggle and in other ways it’s hard to believe it’s been a week already. The people here have been so welcoming that I feel as if I belong. I am either referred to as Dr. Robin or Dad Robin. Either one is endearing and appreciated.

Today I was afraid I would oversleep to not leave myself with enough time to get ready to get to the church before the youth program started. I had a little confusion when they told me yesterday at the conclusion of the program it would start at 9:00 a.m. and then at prayer service they announced that it was to begin at 8:00. I asked about that later and they told me 8:30 is the time to arrive and all would begin at 9:00. Well I woke up in plenty of time as the power shuts off at 6:00 a.m. so that means I lose my fan at that time. You can definitely feel the difference when the fan isn’t moving the air. It is easy to be awake after 6. I got up, got ready and headed over by 8:30 or so. Emmanuel came to get me at church to come back and eat breakfast of boiled plantains and fish for a topping. It wasn’t too bad. I’m not a fish eater, but when you are hungry it’s amazing how good things taste. Needless to say I, myself, was late. After eating and taking my tea with me I was 5 minutes late and their were only 3 of us there by then so we started anyway. Before long people came in with a couple more books being handed out as we headed into the study of the New Testament. It was great to see the interest and the good questions that came up. I really enjoyed sharing how the Bible, even though it was written over thousands of years, is so reliably accurate and supports itself from one book to another. There is no doubt that God protected His Word for humanity to learn about His plan for redemption.

We finished around noon and I walked across the yard back to Emmanuel’s home and of course the girls had lunch ready for me to eat. It was fried rice with some vegetables cooked with pieces of chicken and fish. It wasn’t a normal ‘soup’ as they call it, but it was more American in that it was separated somewhat. I chose chicken this time. I had the fish for breakfast.

The afternoon was relaxing for me. I was appreciative of this. I visited with 2 leaders of the church for an hour or more and then spoke to a couple of people on the phone.

Tomorrow is still up in the air. Pastor Titus had to go to Nimba, so I am waiting to see if I will still be speaking at his church. In the event that I’m not able to speak at Titus’s church, Emmanuel already has a substitute church for me to speak at. If I do go there I will be speaking in front of a crowd of people where I’ve not met anyone before. For Jenny and Bobbi’s benefit the church is located near where we took the youth to play soccer and kickball with other churches in 2014. It’s not the same church, but near there. I did ask God to use me in whatever way he sees fit. I’ll update you on that tomorrow.

I also was able to avoid the fire ants for quite awhile. I react strongly to them so I try to watch where I’m walking and to keep my feet moving. I did fine until yesterday when the Americans visited. When I greeted them (in my flip flops) of course I stood on a hill of them. They sting pretty bad and then I react. I’m just amazed that it is over 24 hours and my foot is swelling. You’ll have to excuse the dirt. I don’t have much choice when I go around in my flip flops. Not sure if I am retaining water in my ankles or I am reacting to the ants. I’ve just taken Benadryl so hopefully it will go away now. I’ll keep an eye on it.

All in all the week has been an enjoyable week of serving and being served. Tomorrow night we plan on watching the movie, Facing Darkness, at Emmanuel’s home. I’m interested to see how they react to a movie about Ebola in their country obviously written from the American’s point of view. For anyone who hasn’t seen this back home it is available on Netflix now. I highly recommend it.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Quick update.

A picture of my supper tonight. I was served Fufu. I couldn’t eat the crayfish, not with the eye looking at me. I saved that for Blessing. You pour the broth from the soup over the Fufu and there is pepper and mustard to mix with the broth. You then use a spoon (GB you use your fingers to dip in the soup) and swallow your supper, without chewing of course. My stomach feels very full right now.

Walking around after supper I noticed the addition to the LCMI Church is about done. There was nothing there when I got here. Things can move fast. It is a counting room for their offerings and some storage. Makes me think of CBC’s desire to add on. I don’t think it will go that fast.