We've been in Guinea for a week and a half now. It definitely feels like much longer! Life in Africa is a lot of things...but one thing is for sure... although life is "simpler" it is also much more complicated in many ways. Take cooking for example: we've had to learn to cook with only the produce that is available in this region and very little pre-prepared products: that means no canned soups, no box mixes, no microwaves. This means our first attempt at meal making was a huge fail! And the unfortunate part was that when we realized dinner wasn't working, we couldn't just go grab Subway or quick warm up something. We were just out of luck! We've had successful meals since then, which means that even if a meal is nothing special it feels like we just climbed Mt. Everest... It's such a huge accomplishment!

Brandon was able to play soccer with some of the neighborhood kids, that is until the mosque's call to prayer rang out and all the kids had to stop playing soccer to go home and pray. I've heard of halftimes, but...

And I have some friends in the neighborhood... a little boy across the street, about 2 or 3, runs to greet me whenever he sees me. He stands and looks at me until I shake his hand and say "bonjour" and then he runs away smiling. Almost every time I leave the house, without fail, this happens.

I start French lessons this week, hopefully tomorrow. They'll be taught by one of the English professors from the university in town. I'm so thankful to have a chance to learn the language--knowing more French will be a huge help as we continue to live here. Please pray for me as I try to learn. I'm not anticipating it being easy!

Thank you for your continued diligent prayers. We hope our blog posts don't bore you!

-Hannah

Our life continues at what seems like a breakneck pace. We're very thankful that, up to this point, all our meals have been provided for us! Over this past weekend we attended a Spiritual Life Conference for all the missionaries here in Kankan, led by a team from California. We're very glad we got here in time and were able to meet so many of our colleagues all at once and several days in a row so start remembering names. 

We've started to adjust to our house and now know where most of the light switches are, how to monitor that solar battery, how long it takes to heat enough water for a bucket bath, how much water flushes a toilet, etc. Life here is noisy, seemingly all the time. We live in a city with 250k-330k people, 85% of whom are Muslim...that means a LOT of mosques. For those unfamiliar with Muslim practices, 5 times a day a muezzin calls people to prayer over a loudspeaker...from each mosque. It's actually a very inspiring practice that is a great testament of devotion. So, for about 90 minutes, 5 times a day, the various muezzins are calling people to prayer and leading people in prayer. Did I mention that the first call is at 4am? Closing windows stifles the airflow a bit (but we've kept it under 80 degrees inside-which is low humidity feels downright chilly) but becomes necessary. We were also given earplugs which helps some. As we get over the jetlag and learn these new sounds, I'm sure our sleep will improve. 

Most Africans live life outside so there is always the noise of life as well: babies crying, dogs barking (for hours on end-it's actually almost unbelievable), goats, chickens, hammers (a metal working shop not far away), motorcycles (it seems there are 2 motos for each person here), etc.

Monday night we attended a leadership class for young Christian professors at the university (of 10,000+). These men teach chemistry, English, linguistics, physics, etc. Some of these are men we will be helping start side-businesses to supplement their $0.75 per hour college professor jobs. Some have already started businesses: a photo print business, an after hours learning center type school with 400 students, a computer lab with classes, etc. We'll learn more at a meeting today about what we'll be doing with these projects.

Well, there's one of the afternoon prayer calls. I may not be Muslim, but this might be a good practice to get into. 

Brandon

 Well, the whirlwind of the past month has ended with success in our ultimate goal: we made it to Kankan! Here's how.

Before leaving Dakar we had some tasty Vietnamese nems. A few of you may have been lucky enough to try these...

We took a walk down to the beach on our last day in Dakar...It wasn't quite the stroll you usually imagine when you hear that phrase...

That bald guy IS Brandon, for all you doubters...

We spent our last night in the "Congo" guest room at the Dakar guest house before a bumpy 90 minute flight to Bamako. All our bags arrived safely, free of charge including the ministry projectors we brought. We did some grocery shopping in Bamako before the uncharacteristically smooth, 5 hour drive across the Guinea border to Kankan...

We spent a couple days cleaning, sorting and organizing our house so these pictures are better than what we walked in to. The kitchen-manual light gas stove, running water, no microwave or any other electronics. Dishwater is heated on the stove...

Our bathroom-no hot water or shower, no shower curtain, toilet is flushed with a bucket, no outlets, no hair dryer or straightener allowed...

Our bedroom- The cabinets are all broken, but the bed is huge and pretty comfy. we have a light bulb, but no outlets...

Our solar powered fridge. Seems to work pretty well and we're very thankful for it!...

The living room- very large but sparse. There is an outlet in this room that does not run off 12v power so we can charge our computer and camera batteries, etc...

Beautiful dining room...

We have a large dry courtyard where our guards grow onions. Soon the mangoes trees will begin to bear...

The house came that pretty girl in the skirt- she's been a real trooper and good sport, really holding her own!...

We have so much more to share about things we've been up to and have planned but we want you all to see where we are so you can imagine our daily life a little better. Even though it's a far cry from our small house in Indiana, we feel extremely fortunate to have such a luxurious house-most of the people we see everyday have so much less.

More soon!

Brandon

Tomorrow is the day!

Tomorrow we should be in Guinea. We fly out of Dakar early tomorrow morning for a short hour and forty minute flight to Mali. While in Mali we will buy groceries and whatever other items we will need that won't be available in Guinea. We're not quite sure what to buy as we don't really know what cooking in Africa will be like. I, at least, am looking forward to learning how to cook over here using new ingredients and new methods. 

Today we went down to the beach. We have some beautiful pictures of cliffs and waves (and some of our trash covered pathway down to the beach), but it seems we discovered the first thing we forgot to pack: our camera cord! Hopefully we will find a way to post pictures soon. 

We looked at buying cheese today, as there won't be any available in Guinea, but it was $13 for a pound of Gouda... so needless to say, we decided to forgo cheese for the next few months! And chicken breasts are $7.50 a pound and deli ham $10! I think our diet may change. :) 

But... there are some things we get much cheaper... Brandon's new pair of Ray Ban sunglasses were $2! A loaf of french bread is 25 cents! And you can take a taxi 50 miles for $3! And of course you are curious about gas prices... roughly $7.75 a gallon. And you guys thought you had it bad!

The low part of the day was when I saw a dog on the side of the road who had been hit by a vehicle. None of the Africans seemed quite as concerned as I was... probably because dogs roam the streets here in the way stray cats meander around neighborhoods back home.

-Hannah

We've been in Senegal for a few days now. It's been great to be in the warmer weather and to be with family. We've done quite a lot since we have been here. Not long after landing in Dakar on Saturday morning, Brandon went to a medical clinic and got his meningitis and yellow fever vaccines for $40 and $13! What a steal!

Today we were able to go to the beach. It was wonderful weather; much cooler by the ocean and a very good breeze. On one of our walks on the beach, a few young boys followed us and helped us to kick our soccer ball back to our house. They seemed to want to kick it to me more than Brandon... I think they enjoyed watching what an excellent soccer player I am. :)

Brandon is in the middle of filling out our paperwork for our Mali and Guinea visas, which Bill (Brandon's Dad) will take downtown tomorrow. Please be in prayer that we are granted these visas, because without, we will be unable to go to Guinea where we are to do our work.

That's all for now. Our guess is that we will have the best internet of our whole stay while we are here at Brandon's parent's house. It's likely our updates will be less frequent when we go to Guinea on Thursday, although we can't be sure until we are actually there.

It's almost time!

We're in a flurry of packing, cleaning up our house and finishing last minute errands. We have a few more people to say goodbye to before we leave tomorrow morning and of course a few more of our favorite foods to eat before we go! We have a whole suitcase full of projectors and ink cartridges for  one of the ministries we will be working with to bring out.

We were both sick with some kind of stomach bug yesterday, and are really grateful that we both better now. It would have been a very unpleasant flight if we were sick!

We've felt truly blessed that we have found people to take care of things while we are gone... someone to live in our house, drive our cars and watch our dog. God has definitely provied for us and we are so grateful that all our loose ends have been tied up. And although you may not notice it from the picture, Brandon donated ten inches of his hair to Locks of Love, and is now sporting the buzzed look!

We leave Mishawaka at 7am tomorrow for Ohare and by Saturday morning we should be in Dakar, Senegal having breakfast and getting vaccines with Brandon's parents and two youngest brothers! 

Some good news to write about!

Our launch date has been moved up! Two weeks ago we were asked if we could be ready to go to Guinea by January 18th and we decided it was doable! It's been a flurry of activity as we have rushed around to get all our affairs in order, but we are so thrilled to be leaving sooner than we thought! We will leave Indiana around the 10th, see Brandon's parents in Senegal for a few days while we obtain visas and shots and then head down to Guinea for a conference and the launch of the BAM (Business as Missions) program there.

This earlier departure date will allow us to overlap with the missionaries who are already there preparing this program before they come back to the states for a years furlough in June. It will also allow us to be there for the launch date and be in on the "ground floor," so to speak, of the program.

We will return to the States for a training session the first two weeks of April in Colorado. From there we will return back to Indiana where we will stay until we have finished raising enough funds to go back to Guinea for another 9 or 10 months to finish up the year term we committed to.

We are very excited about this new timetable and have seen all the benefits it has to offer. It has definitely made the holiday time all the more hectic, but we feel it will be well worth it.

Please keep us in your prayers as we have a few weeks left before we fly out. Please pray:

1. For all the details of travel to be worked out (visas, shots, airline tickets, safety, etc.)
2. For Hannah's health while we travel and live overseas
3. For the ministry we will be a part of: that we will bless those we work with
4. For the transition from US culture to African culture

Thank you for your continued support toward our trip. And hopefully the next post will be from Guinea!

We really hate having to write this post. On October 22 we lost our son at almost 17 weeks pregnant (a little over four months). After having a high fever for a few days we went to the ER Saturday night and was told that everything was fine with the baby, that Hannah had an infection that could be treated with antibiotics and were told we would be having a son. On Monday at 3:30 Hannah followed up with her OB/GYN, had a doppler done, in which they heard the baby's heartbeat which reassured us the baby was fine. But things took a turn and at about 7:30 that night after a few hours of labor at home we lost our son. We took an ambulance ride to the ER, where the very kind staff members took care of Hannah and helped us through our loss. 

It's been a very difficult time in our household. We've been blessed beyond measure to have kind friends and family who have showered love and flowers and prayers upon us. But the grief is intense. We thank you all for your continued prayers for us. These circumstances make it is easy to feel like God is not merciful or compassionate, but we know without a doubt that our God is loving and kind. We know He keeps our best interest in mind and we know He understands the grief of losing a child.

We are still heading to Guinea. We still know God has called us there. We will attend a training session in Colorado in April (unfortunately over what would have been our son's due date). Following the training session in April and the continued acquisition of our funds we will be able to head to the missions field.

Please continue to pray for us as we figure out what it means to live life without our son; as we readjust. Pray for us as we grieve together. A second trimester miscarriage is pretty rare, so there will be a lot of questions to be answered and test to be done. Please pray for us as we look toward to a hopeful future.

Thank you everyone for your love and support.

A huge thank you to everyone that has been continually praying for us; God is working through you! One of our big dilemmas was the timing of our leaving, especially with a child now in the mix. It seems that God has cleared a path for the time table he wants us to follow.

Because of the pregnancy, Hannah is not able to obtain a yellow fever vaccine, which is required for entrance into Guinea. A yellow fever vaccine can increase the risk of miscarriage 30-70%, as well as sometimes will not even work on a pregnant woman. With a handful of yellow fever outbreaks nearby, and the fatality rate for a non-vaccinated person who contracts yellow fever at 88%, it is obvious we will now be staying here in the states for the birth of our child.

While we are saddened that we will not be in Guinea by the goal we had originally placed we are more than  happy with waiting and even thankful that God has used this yellow fever obstacle as a way to direct us there in His perfect timing.We prayed for an answer about when to go and He graciously answered us!

The time delay will be an immense blessing as it gives us more time to continue to raise the funds needed to travel as well as develop a clearer picture of what our Business as Missions program will look like when we arrive.

We were also able to share with our church, during all three services, what we are doing and how the call to move first came to be. It was a good time and everyone seemed very excited for us. A handful of people even felt called to partner with us financially and now we have a whole congregation behind us in prayer!

We're nearing the halfway point, friends!

We have currently raised all of our one time funds that are needed for things like airfare to Guinea, visas, training and travel within the country. Whoo hoo! This is very encouraging news for us!

If we could have 23 people pledge $100 a month for the year we are gone we would be able to leave for Guinea! This seems like a very doable figure for us and we think that even in the next few months we may be able to find people to pledge. We continue to see God behind us in this and are very encouraged!

Continue to pray for us and tell your friends about our mission!

Now seems like as good a time as ever to share this news:

That's right... we are expecting our first child!

Due in April, and we are infinitely excited. Of course like any new parents-to-be we are also more than nervous and anxious. With this news we have begun to encounter an added aspect into our fundraising: timing.

We cannot head to Guinea until we have ample funds raised to go [we currently reside at about 35% of funds raised], but with our new addition timing has become of the uptmost importance. We are asking for all of you to please keep us in your prayers as it is now vitally important that we raise our funds by February. If we are not gone by Spring, it would be better, timing-wise, to stay here and have the baby.

A lot of our life is in limbo right now; there are a lot of questions that continued to be asked [many times, as life often does, without sound answers!], concerns and worries that have arisen. We still believe 100% that we are called to minister to the people of Guinea and are anxious to see how God's plan will continue to unfold with this new chapter.

Please, please keep us in your constant prayer as we work through the details of what it means to give birth to or raise a child overseas. There will be a lot of details to work out in the upcoming months and we need your support!

Our weight-lift-a-thon fundraiser was a huge success! We had close to 50 people come out, eat food and pledge money toward their favorite contestant. There were four main events: pullups, wall sits, pushups and a tire flip. And... because of everyone's generous support we raised over $2000!

If you have the time, there are a handful of videos here of each event.

Thank you again to everyone who came out and for the unbelievable support and love we felt. We are continually blessed!

Another exciting day! We are now just under 25% committed! Although, every single donation is an exciting moment. We've been immensely blessed with all the people who have given money toward our move. It's truly blown us away! We are amazed at the generosity of those we know and even some we don't! God has given us such wonderful people in our lives, and it's evident by the fact that after only a few short months we are now at this point of having a quarter of our funds given.

This leaves us about 20 weeks to raise the remainder of the funds if we want to leave by our goal date of the first of the year. That's about $1,800 a week we have to raise until the end of the year! A pretty daunting task, indeed! Your continued prayer is appreciated and badly needed if we are to meet this goal. We believe that God wants us to minister to his people in Guinea and therefore we believe he will gladly provide for us.

We will be having a fundraiser in 2 weeks. We would love it if any of you who lived locally would come, enjoy food, and some entertainment. And we do think it'll be entertaining.

Why?

Well, because we are having a Weight-lift-a-thon! A handful of brave participants will be featured in events that will test their physical strength [and hopefully raise us some money!] We'll be looking for people to pledge money toward a contestant that they think can outlift, out push up and out perform the others; such as $1 a push up or $1 a pound! There will also be events open for people to try their strength at just for fun. We're pretty "pumped" about this idea!

The event will take place at 55907 East Avenue, Mishawaka, IN at 6:30. With a donation, food and beverages will be provided. We're hoping for a good turnout and are positive of a good, entertaining time! If you're in the area, please stop by. If you have questions you can contact Hannah at hannahgrudda@gmail.com

God Bless!

We've hit our first mile marker... we are at 10% committed/donated! And all this has happened in just a few short weeks since we began our fundraising campaign.

This is for us, even more confirmation that we are headed in the right direction. We are thankful that God has placed such generous, wonderful people in our lives. Thank you for believing in our cause!

It seems many of you have already been on here and checked out our story! That makes us very excited! We're full swing into our fundraising now. Letters have been sent, and fundraising event ideas are in motion!

We wanted to include a link to WorldVenture's website, which enables online donation. If that is an easier method for you, you may go here for Monthly Commitment or here for a One Time Gift.

Again, thank you for being involved in our lives, and being willing and eager to partner with us. It makes our hearts smile!

If you need to contact us for any reason, any questions, or words of encouragement, feel free to send us an email.

Hi! We are Brandon and Hannah Grudda (And that cute furry thing is Fenley, our dog). We are getting ready to embark on one of the biggest journeys for us so far: moving to Guinea, Africa. Where?

Hopefully that helps! Anyway... We're excited to join WorldVenture's Business as Missions program (or BAM for short). You can check out more about what they do here. The plan is to spend one year in Guinea, helping Africans to start businesses. This not only improves the economic climate in Africa, it also opens up doors to build relationships, share the Gospel and minister. We believe that everyone has been blessed with specific talents and ambitions, but how frustrating it must be to have to no way to use those talents or no resources to put into fruition the dreams you have. Business as Missions is a great way to help those without these resources. We like the idea of giving people an opportunity to live up the potential that is boiling up within them.

So how did we get to this point? Well, back in 2011 our church preached a series on Luke 19, detailing the parable of the minas: a story about a master and his ten servants. Each servant was given a mina, a form of currency, to work with. Some of the servants invested the minas and their investment multiplied; others hid them, out of fear of the master's response. To those that hid their mina, it was taken away. We have begun to view our skills and education as such: we must use and invest what God has so richly blessed us with. We don't want to hide it away, or worse yet, have them taken!

Check back often to the blog for updates on how our fundraising is going and other progress we are making toward our adventure. Then... stay tuned for updates from Africa!