We made it! Our final African night was spent in Bamako (fittingly) without electricity for a large part of the night. We endured the 93 degree room with a kerosene lantern and Hannah suffered 54 mosquito bites.

We were able to leave the airport in Dakar for a delicious Thai dinner with Brandon's parents before the overnight flight to Washington DC where they really rolled out the red carpet for us!

We had a day of 60 degree weather in Denver that enabled us to get to Goodwill in time to buy clothes with sleeves which helped us endure the two snowstorms Denver had saved for us.

We gleaned all we could from our two weeks of training. Including some outdated prayer cards.

 It was really cool to see the call God has placed on the lives of others. There were people from Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, California, Arizona and North Carolina. There were surgeons, counselors, EMTs, midwives, community developers, insurance agents, and businessmen. These people had kids (some adopted) from 6 weeks to 22 years old. They were strong and broken. They were married and single. There was even a young guy with cerebral palsy. They will be going to Senegal, Cambodia, Tanzania, Guinea, Mozambique, Malawi, and Ecuador. God calls EVERYONE to SOMETHING. 

If you've been impressed with our sacrifice, you may need to re-align with God's vision: We have 9 months left on our commitment. Missionaries have been in Kankan since the 1920's. There were two other units at our training going for two years and everyone else is going forever. My grandparents went to Africa on a boat in the 1950's. Before that, missionaries shipped their belongings to Africa in a coffin rarely expecting to live 6 months. And they went anyways. The Apostle Paul walked/rode/sailed all over the Roman Empire. Remember what he gave? (2 Corinthians 11:23-28) We've given so little.

Needless to say we were inspired. Not everyone is called to go to another country but everyone is called to listen to God's voice. What's he calling YOU to? Think about it.

We're happy to be back in our house with Fenley. But we're not alone. Brandon's brother Lucas and his wife Bekah are sharing the house (and bills) with us as they prepare to go to Senegal for a year to do sports ministry. To find more about their journey Click Here. Also, Brandon's youngest brother, Tanner will be moving in June 2nd and working with his two older brothers (if his recent rugby-induced broken collarbone heals in time).

Brandon is already back at work in the shipping department at Global Building Products and carpools with Lucas. We are really grateful that his boss, Andrew Carpenter, an MK from Brazil, can support God's call on our life by saving Brandon a job.

Hannah is unpacking, getting the house in order, working through paperwork, arranging fundraisers and setting up meetings with local small businesses. Busy, busy, busy. 

Tele aka bo, anbe cofe

The post title (as near as we can spell it) means "hot sun, we will be together later".

Tomorrow we fly to Littleton, CO for two weeks of training. This post will include some  pictures, stories and facts that haven't really fit anywhere else in our story.

Since we left Indiana in January:

We've endured a bank strike and a bread strike...

made four currency exchanges in the back of an Indian hardware store...

survived 3 days of bedridden sickness...

suffered esophogitis and a dislocated finger...

went several days without running water in our house...

went from 0 to 2 flushing toilets in the house...

helped with middle school and high school English Classes...

spent weeks without internet...

attended a wedding...

heard 1200+ calls to prayer...

read 8242 pages of books...

went a month without watching a movie or TV...

have taken 4 showers with hot water...

played in one soccer game officiated by sardine cans instead of a whistle...

have done dishes twice without needing to heat water on the stove...

paid $4 for 2 months of cell phone service...

painted 1000+ sq. ft. with no paint tray...

Had 40 hours of private French tutoring...

bought and cooked only 4 pounds of meat...

skipped the Super Bowl, March Madness, snow shoveling, early sunsets and sirens...

haven't felt a temperature below 80 degrees since the first week of February...

 saw 98 metal detector-wielding moto drivers in a 40 mile stretch today... (photo: gold panning)

and (just this past week) taught our neighbor kids (all 20ish) to call us "Dahmmy and Anna" instead of toubabouni (the diminutive rude term for white people).

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. We hope you feel as much a part of God's work as we feel you are. We feel very blessed that you have helped us follow God's call even though it has been much more expensive (and costly) than it has been in the past! "A bientot" to our blog-readers in America and "Anbe" to everyone in Guinea!