Thunder-the sound of hope. At first you try to ignore it- what's the sense in getting your hopes up? But when the wind hits, anticipation. For a few minutes practicality takes over: get home, close the windows, take the laundry off the line... Five months of dust blows through window cracks and under shamefully crooked doors anyway. The wind is out of place-it belongs in the Midwest in October. "Cold". First the big drops and for thirty seconds you can hear each one individually until they quickly blend together and turn you into a 5 year old again. Dancing in the first rain with shampoo in your hair so you don't have to shower later. 

The dust is washed out of the air and the mango trees that we thought were green now actually ARE green. It's like God took off our nasty-colored sunglasses. Every roof and moto and wall and tree and sheep and dusty baby and even all the trash in the street is clean now. 

The wind blows away the heat and the earth seems to let loose a deep sigh of satisfaction. For months every shadow or splash of dirty dishwater was hope of this moment. 

It feels like God just hugged everything as far as I can see. Is there anything so deeply close to God as the first African rain of the year? 

To catch you up on our retreat week, I'll try to be light on the words and heavy on the pictures:

We rode 5 deep in the Hilux pickup from Kankan to Bamako. Brandon did all the moto-dodging and border stops since we have both (finally) received our Guinea driver's licenses. (The officials were confused by our Indiana licenses so now our Guinea ones both state that we were born in India.) Bamako is currently undergoing rolling blackouts so we were pretty disappointed to not have the ceiling fans whirring as we walked in the door. Fortunately these only lasted about 8 hours a day (never at night) since the guest house is in a pretty upscale/business neighborhood.

 We met Bella, the resident monkey at the guesthouse in Bamako.

For 2 nights we ate nems in brightly lit rooms, played Phase 10 under a fan, used toilets that flush normally, shopped in the market, took showers (our one working shower broke a few days before we left and the hoses are only available in Bamako), and did dishes without needing a stove to heat water.

Then we drove a couple hours south to a retreat center. We had our own finished hut with a toilet, shower, sink, table and chairs, ceiling fan, and...AC! Despite being located on a hydroelectric dam, the power here was only good enough to run electricity reliably by generator for 7 hours at night and 2 hours in the afternoon. This was a side-effect of Mali's political problems and the devastating effect it had on the European tourist season

We had our meals all prepared for us, hung out by the green pool, played games, read, napped, had meetings and discussions, explored and just relaxed. 

After a couple more nights in Bamako, we sent Tim, Joy and Peter (the retreat speaker) to the airport and Brandon navigated his way across the border as chauffeur with no help. 

Now it's meetings and finishing French class and emptying the fridge for another week. We'll be in touch, though.

-Brandon

A quick photo blog to let you know some of the things that have been going on during our past week... We had two short term visitors from California, Joy and Tim (you'll see more pictures of them below). They came to work with the children for our WorldVenture retreat for Mali and Guinea (more pictures and information on that soon!), but were also able to spend a week with us in Kankan, learning about everyone's ministries there. They were a huge blessing and a "joy" to be around (pun intended!). In fact, we have Tim to thank for these beautiful photos!

These are some of the multitude of kids that live and play in our neighborhood in Kankan.

These girls, who were playing across the street from our house, were very excited to have their picture taken. They spent the better part of 15 minutes striking poses and waving for the camera.

On two separate occasions last week we were able to assist Brenda Allen in her after school class she teaches. Normally the class focuses on health and better living, but this week she gave the kids a chance to practice the English they learn in school on some native English speakers... us!

The first group of students are middle schoolers and the second group (directly above) are in high school.

We also had the opportunity last week to visit The Samaritan's Children's Center, an organization that helps to feed and tutor at-risk students (children who may live with family members, instead of their own parents).

This is the building the Samaritan Children's Center works out of. There is a big area in which they feed the children after school and then multiple rooms where the kids, by age, receive teaching and help with their homework.

This is Brandon with the three Kendall kids before we headed out for our retreat

And this is (obviously) me with Becky Kendall and our newfound friend, Joy.

It was fun to be encouraged by the presence of our short term visitors and to hopefully ignite a love of Africa in a few more people!

-Hannah

Hannah's presentation on American money-handling went really well. People seemed impressed with the lengths people go to in order to keep such good records. We really pushed the idea that these policies are to protect the business from theft and the employee from accusation. We also tried to encourage record keeping for market analysis and demographics as well as using employee incentives. The presentation did spark a discussion on interest which Muslims (especially) and many Christians believe is a sin. (Do your own research- Deut. 23:20, Ez. 18:8, Matt. 25:27). Never had THAT discussion in America.

Our printer business has hit a major obstacle. It appears that the "universal" Continuous Ink Supply System we have is not universal. It leaks all over the paper. We are also suspicious that the intense heat makes the ink too fluid. So we're shelving that project until we can do some better research on printers in the US and buy a new one for which parts are available here. Discouraging but we're following God through this too.

I visited the University where I met with Daniel, another businessman from our church who has a "photocopy business". There are about 30 photocopiers set up in the main court of the University where students can photocopy the professor's notes, syllabus, readings, etc. Basically anything we receive as handouts in the US. Most of these ancient photocopiers sit under a simple shelter where they use University electricity from 8-1 and 5-10 and (the better ones) generators for the other hours (resulting in higher prices). Everyone offers the same service for the same price.

Business here is relational, just like everything else. (Having just read "The Shack" I'm reminded that the relational culture here seems pretty close to the heart of Jesus). Your friends come to you for photocopies and then they bring their friends. So making friends is the only way to run a business. Daniel told me today that he lets guys charge their cell phones for free (important in a city with no power). This helps him make friends because they hang around him while the phones charge (evangelism opportunity?).

Similarly, Alphonse, another man from our church, showed me his "phone credit business". (All phones are "pay as you go" and you only pay for outgoing calls. So like most aspects of African life, phone credit lives on the edge of survival with small refills when it can be afforded.) Alphonse buys phone charge cards in bulk directly from the 4 major phone services at a 5% discount and resells the minutes-the most common refill denominations are about 75 cents or $1.45. With a 5% profit margin, Alphonse can't really do promos or sales so he has had to build a loyal client base who moto up to his umbrella. Many of his transactions take place via text. Alphonse will get a text or a paper with a phone number (often from a 5 year old messenger) and 75 cents and he will transfer the money to that account number. 

Both these guys are making a good go of their businesses and we are trying to learn from their success as well as try to offer suggestions on how to grow their enterprises. 

We are again having to borrow the Kendall's internet since the minutes we paid for are not working-that explains the brief thinning or our blogs and emails. Our water pump also broke this week. Which meant drawing water from the well by hand for laundry (which we did by hand with a washboard since the lady that usually helps was MIA), toilet flushing and baths. As if heating water to wash dishes didn't take long enough!

-Brandon

It's getting hotter and hotter and HOTTER each day in Kankan. Every day Brandon says, "This is the HOTTEST day yet!" And everyday he is right.... it is always hotter than the day before. We spend a lot of time in front of our most prized possession: a 9 inch fan or on our second story porch trying to catch a breeze that flows over our walled property.

During these hot days I have been fighting a cold (I didn't even know you could get a cold in Africa!), without the ability to buy medicine with a decongestant. I spent a couple days resting, drinking lots and lots of water and eating vitamin-C infused oranges. 

This month I have become the honorary art teacher at the Kendall's home where they homeschool their three children. We've only had one lesson but it was a pleasure to watch the kids create drawings while learning about nouns and adjectives. There were drawings of "smart, strong monsters" and "small, blonde flowers." We learned about following directions, as I read off a set of instructions on what to draw on their paper and how even with directions, each person perceives things differently so everyone's art looked a little different. It was fun to do something creative and different... and of course have an opportunity to doodle!

On Monday I will be giving a presentation to the leadership class on money handling procedures, checks and balances, collecting market data and keeping a paper trail. Thankfully I was assured that I could give it in English and have someone translate (My French learning is going well but not THAT well!). I'm hoping that the men will find ways to relate what I present in a way that they could use in their personal or business lives. 

Please continue to pray for our time here--that doors would keep being opened for business ministry, that we stay healthy and are able to use our last few weeks here for God... to the best of our human ability!

-Hannah