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

It will be difficult to sum up my weekend in Siby, Mali into something short enough that you may be willing to read but here goes:

Our 10 person Leadership Class left Kankan at 6AM bound for Bamako where we met with the Intervarsity Club. 

Though Mali is little more than 120 miles away, several of the guys had never been there. They were very impressed with the big city, lights, cars, gas stations, electricity, etc. Honestly, after only 5 weeks in Kankan, though I've been to Bamako before, I was caught off guard by ceiling fans and cars and monuments. 

I was also able to spend an hour or so with my parents who were passing through on their way back to Senegal from Cote d'Ivoire. 

We arrived in Siby (near a natural arch and "waterfall" some of you may know) Friday evening and met Pastor Samuel. 

We spent some time in prayer (which is often an exciting time of everyone praying out loud together at the same time), ate dinner and the 10 of us spent the night on the floor of a 90 degree 10'x10' room which turned out to be full of mosquitoes. I also learned that our group has a 30% Extremely Loud Snore Rate. 

After a very unrestful night during which I took my doxy without water (resulting in drug-induced esophogitis: a punch-in-the-chest sensation everytime you swallow) the pastor took us to meet some dignitaries of the village. He also took us on a hike during which I irresponsibly fell about 50 feet down a steep hill. Miraculously, my life was spared and my scrapes, bruises and dislocated finger are on the mend.

Pastor Samuel has been doing ministry in Siby since 1995 on a (recently given) salary of $50/month and is still trying to have a church building constructed. They meet under a mango tree in his garden while they fundraise. (Their last 18 month campaign produced about $80). Five of Samuel's 6 children are still in school and their school fees eat about $35 a month, but he considers education worth the investment.

Samuel has had his life threatened, been tied up to be beaten with sticks, poisoned by his family, turned away from his mother's funeral and received numerous delegations of people discouraging and cursing him all because of his faith. Despite all this, the village has entrusted him with some key financial projects because they know that he is an honest man of character. He has evangelized all 18 of the Imams (Muslim pastors) in the village and given them all copies of the Bible in Arabic. Periodically some of them call him with questions about the Bible and how it relates to the Qu'aran. Every dignitary we met told us that they respected this man and he gave Jesus a good name in this community. 

By living a life of integrity, Samuel has earned the respect of those who disagree with him (and yet the persecution continues) and he estimates there are about 100 Christians in the village. Besides his family, only 3 come to church services for fear of what will happen to them. 

Our delegation is trying to develop ways to support this man's remarkable ministry. I was struck with the courage of the Christians who come to church under the mango tree. 

Embarrassed at how easy church is for me. Inspired by the effect this man's character has had. Challenged to be willing to suffer for Jesus. And humbled by the faith this family has to do God's work with so little.

-Brandon

While Brandon was gone all weekend on a trip to Mali with the men from our leadership class... (Of course, I'll let him share what his weekend was like with you all later!) I spent my first time in Guinea by myself!

I caught up on some reading, did some baking and just relaxed. I also was able to spend some time with some Becky Kendall and her children (her husband was also gone on the trip), eating, baking, talking and playing games. 

On Sunday I had the chance to go to do a different church than the one I normally go to. This was a much smaller church, maybe thirty. The pastor gave a wonderful sermon (in French of course!) about what it means to be a parent as a Christian--what your responsibilities are, how you are to treat your children and provide for them. It was a very rousing sermon for a culture that seems to not take much heed of their children when they are young. I was also able to witness a baby dedication during that service. During the dedication they revealed the name of the baby (what a fun way to announce to you friends!)--and that they had named the new child after the pastor there--Moses. It was very touching to see a congregation obviously very impacted by their leader!

We then went back to the pastor's home to visit with him and his family. Although I only understood a portion of what they were conversing about (I'm just thankful my French lessons have allowed me to understand that much!) it was obvious he and his wife had deep love for their children and a multitude of joy about their ministry. It was a pleasure to be with people who were consumed with Christ and made Him a part of every aspect of their lives! A lesson for all of us!

-Hannah

Big, Audacious Prayers

Recently a missionary here in Kankan challenged me to have, what she calls "big, audacious prayers"; that is, prayers that seem too big to be possible, seemingly too big to even bother praying for. 

One of her outrageously big prayers was that when the imams (muslim leaders) went to speak curses toward Christians that God would cause only blessings to come out of their mouths. She also shared that she has been praying for God to turn the mosque in their neighborhood into a church--in a country that is 85% muslim. If those are not "big, audacious prayers", I don't know what is!

Well it got me to thinking that I need to have faith that can "move mountains"; that I need my own big audacious prayers! If you would join with us in praying for these things, we know we can eagerly await for God to act:

1. That twenty computers would be donated for the GBU center (inter-varsity center) to use in ministering to the university students through computer literacy programs. There is an endless market of students desiring to learn to use computers, and a serious shortage of computers to learn on. It could be a very big tool in developing relationships and ministering to Muslim students.

2. That the photo printing company we started, Image Africa, would produce enough profit to provide for the investor's families as well as generate five new businesses, so that the business as missions goal can continue to be carried out on multiple levels.

3. That the Maninka people (the main people group of Kankan, and ironically, the people group with the fewest number of Christians--they seem quite resistant to the message of Christ. Most of the Christians in Kankan are not native to the city, but are from other areas of Guinea) would spring forth a group of strong believers to reach out to their Maninka friends and families. Many Christians in Kankan say that "a Maninka cannot become a Christian" because after 90 years of focus on them, you can still count on one hand the Maninka believers in Kankan.

Thank you for your continued commitment to pray for us personally (which we find can always use in this part of the world!) and your desire to love on the Kankan people through prayer. Please join with us in praying for these three things. We know that God listens when his children ask! 

-Hannah

Valentine's Day in Africa

We'll keep this one short but wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day and give you some pics to look at. 

Valentine's day has passed: turns out Hallmark hasn't reached Guinea yet. But Rihanna, Psy and Akon have- a big outdoor party was running until 3:30 AM. The party ended just in time for everyone to get home before the 4AM call to prayer.

We celebrated Valentine's Day with the Kendalls at Brenda's house. 

Brenda cooked us up a meal, and the three Kendall kids (Philip, Marie, and Talie) served us a tasty meal. 

They decorated the whole dining area and everything. Pretty minor compared to most Valentine's Day celebrations but we enjoyed it.

                                                   

 We exchanged homemade cards and chocolate that I biked into town to splurge on.

During the dry season, the solar panels have to be washed regularly which means hauling water and a squeegie up onto the tin roof.

The Kendalls recently purchased some land to develop a small school on. While Hannah is in French class, I have been helping clear the land and haul bricks across town (Kankan has a large brick making industry-it used to be much larger before they stopped maintaining the railroad and now the factory lies empty and bricks are fired on the riverbanks. Maybe we'll have pictures in the future.)

I also spent all of yesterday sick in bed. I seem to be doing better today and I haven't thrown up in about 12 hours. Plus I ate some of Hannah's banana bread which is more than can be said of yesterday.

We had to grind our own meat, as they don't sell ground beef. For this we a hand meat grinder and added bread to the meat to supplement. It was messy work! The meat here is so lean that they sell fat separately to supplement it. We even had to add oil to the pan to fry our taco meat--in the US we DRAIN our 97% lean beef after it's cooked.

-Brandon

Great news: Image Africa (the photo print business) is up and running! We found a way to make the photo paper work with the printer and we're off and running (Thanks for your prayers about that). In fact, we had our first client this morning: One of the University professors who is also an investor in the business needed a type of certificate of completion.

Let me try to explain what sounds like a strange business idea: 

People want color photos to hang in their homes commemorating graduations, weddings, parties, pilgrimages to Mecca. Some men like to have an 8x10 of each of their wives in their living rooms. No one has a printer but EVERYONE has cell phones and the city has many aspiring photographers-our target clientele.  

Furthermore, the 10,000 University students need a new ID photo taken each year (cha-ching). People need passport and visa photos, government ID, driver's license photos-so just ID photos is great. Professors (we have several invested in the business) need diplomas, certificates, calendars and offices need color documents as well.

Our ace in the hole is that we can print photo quality 8x10s (I think we're the only ones in town) and thanks to a Continuous Ink Supply System we can do it for next to nothing. Guinea's main military base is also in Kankan. When school is not in session we hope to give away a few free 8x10 shots (pun intended) of soldiers faces in front of a Guinean flag and hope the trend catches on. Every American soldier (or their grandma or mom) has that picture in front of the Stars and Stripes right ? 

Hannah is working on designing some business cards and a logo to help advertise the new business. We have purchased a second hand camera from Brenda (A colleague of ours, Brandon's childhood nurse and HS Health teacher). Based on the business model we wrote, all our debt will be paid off, we'll have our own laptop (we're borrowing one) and camera (done) once we've sold 600 units! 10% of our profits go towards the InterVarsity Center (where we're located) to possibly go towards laptops for their computer proficiency classes. More on THAT business later

I doubt it's news in the US but 11 very highly ranked Guinean military officials were killed in a plane crash yesterday over Liberia. There is some speculation and tension relating to who the primary officer angered and the tribal ethnicity of some of those he fired and appointed. Lots of conspiracy theories floating around. As Guinea's most ethnically diverse city AND the big military town, Kankan could use some precautionary prayer.

Also, today we bought the local "Grocery Store" out of their imported Chinese toilet paper-all 10 rolls.

-Brandon

Here's a chance to learn a little about Guinea-things we've learned already:

*One day while Brandon was in the market, he was asked where he was from. After answering "America" the response was, "Oh. Gold or diamonds?" That's what white people are here for. There's a gold belt not far from Kankan and MANY people are hoping a rich vein or big nugget is their ticket out of poverty. Sometimes there are as many as 30 motos in line at gas stations waiting to head into the bush. A driver with the metal detector and two diggers (all on one moto, usually). Someone in our neighborhood has found 65 pounds worth.

*Today we received a promo-text on our cell phone promoting today's mosque service with a guest imam. You could reply and get the message straight to your phone. Can you imagine Verizon doing something like that? Islam is DEEP here.

*You may remember the (semi-recent) TIME magazine cover with the breast-feeding picture and the stir that caused. Public breast-feeding is widely accepted here. Not awkward for them at all (and it's getting less so for us) to shake hands while breast-feeding or finalize a business transaction at the same time. Meal times too. 

*With the vice-like grip of Islam on this part of the world, spiritual warfare is much more pervasive than in America. Demons have been seen in our house (not recently). Our colleagues have had children carry on conversations with demons. We've both noticed more vivid and strange dreams since being here (Last night I killed 2 people and was sentenced to 10 months in jail). Why don't you add that to your prayer list?

*Right hand-the only hand to do anything with here. Paying, accepting a product, waving, obviously shaking hands, pointing to a loaf of bread...the left hand is "the dirty hand" (sorry lefties). In an area that historically (and currently) has no running water, you can imagine why they designate a "dirty hand".

*We haven't yet been to a bank. We change cash with an Indian guy in his hardware store. We included a picture of what this is like. The largest bill denomination is 10,000 Guinea Francs (about $1.40) so $100 really fills the pockets. 

*Also wanted to include a picture of our trip to visit a nearby village. It was a fun experience getting to meet the village chief and be followed around by swarms of children. Yes, Hannah is wearing a headscarf. 

-Brandon

Our apologies for bombarding you with our last post so many times! More proof of the unfaithful and questionable internet we have to deal with here!

Our presentation on our photo business proposal went well. All of the men seemed very interested and seemed to believe this was a great idea. We were looking for them to collectively invest $215 and they actually invested $315! We are very thankful that they obviously believe in our idea enough to really commit. 

After our presentation everyone gathered around the printer and prayed God's blessings on our endeavor and that the Lord would be in our business project. It was such an honor to see Christians asking God to participate in EVERY aspect of their lives--to realize that if God is not in it, it will not work or be an effective ministry tool. 

There has been one obstacle we have run into, unfortunately. The photo paper that is available in Guinea/Mali does not work with the Cannon photo printer we have--only Cannon brand photo paper will work apparently. We are currently searching for alternative papers and options and have a few on the horizon.

Please pray that God provides a solution to this obstacle. 

We are very excited about the project and when the issue with the appropriate paper gets sorted out we hope to actually launch the business. In the next few weeks we could have a thriving photo business to run! 

-Hannah

According to what I read this week about the history of supermarkets, Kankan has almost caught up with the late 1800's. Hopefully this will help you understand not only what we go through to feed ourselves (ease of food preparation is at an all-time high here) but what the 20-odd career missionaries here have been doing for years.

Chili: it was about the easiest thing I could think of. I'm pretty sure our cookbook at home has it in the 20 minutes or less section. Here, not so much...

To get the meat for your chili you'll need to walk the half hour to the market in town (or catch a ride with another missionary, or say a prayer and ride on the back of a taxi moto- it's exactly what it sounds like). Beef will be hacked up while you wait, but you need to be there before 10 am when the meat begins to...ripen. Your meat will go in a plastic bag and you'll still have to trim and dress it at home. Borrow a hand-crank meat grinder and you've got ground beef.

While you were in town, you remembered to buy fresh tomatoes to bleach, rinse, cut and mash because canned tomatoes are not really available. Tomato paste, however, is everywhere-make sure the can is not dented or it will probably break your can-opener. You also would have bought fresh onions. We're assuming you grabbed some chili powder on your way through Bamako because we haven't seen it here yet.

Beans (Doug, you can skip this): You would have bought dried beans last week (or at least the day before) so you could soak them overnight. There are usually black beans, after that you're free to experiment. Again, canned beans are a thing of the future here. Since your beans were soaked, now you just need to pressure cook them and you can start combining ingredients. 

Preparation is normal from this point assuming you're good with matches, can light the stove and haven't run out of propane otherwise you may have to scrounge-

Subway is no longer your backup plan.

As far as serving the food, you won't have cheese unless you had a cooler when leaving Bamako and brought it with you. You'll still need to shred it yourself. At $10 a pound (a little less than a day's salary-for one of us, not Guineans), you may want to pass on that anyways. If you wanted sour cream, you'll have to substitute homemade yogurt which you would need to start about 9 hours in advance. It's pretty good, we made our first batch today. Corn chips are also not available.

After you've finished eating, you'll light the stove and heat water for dishwashing, and put the leftover chili in a tupperware to cool to room temperature before putting it in the solar fridge. If this was lunch, you'll need to start dinner pretty soon, don't sit down.

Bon appetit.

-Brandon

Finally, an update on our whole point of coming to Guinea! So excited!!

We finally got a chance to meet the men we will be helping to launch a business. They are mostly Christian university professors who are interested in a way to minister to the city of Kankan as well as supplement their teaching salary (Which is not very much. They only get paid once every three months!) We were able to revise and update a rough business proposal that was written last year. The proposal entails how to start a photo printing business.

There are a handful of small photo printing businesses already in Kankan, but none of them to photos larger than 4 x 6 or offer the option to print full page color Word documents. For anything larger than a 4 x 6, people would have to drive at least 5 hours away to another country to have them printed! We believe we can generate quite a bit of interest in our business and still be able to offer competitive pricing.

We are excited to be able to present our business proposal to the group of young men on Monday. During this presentation we will have the task of explaining what "shares" are and how you can use them to buy into a business, how percentage payouts work, how to budget for unexpected expenditures, why repaying loans is important, why the business should tithe and how to invest in equipment that would increase business for the future.

The goal is for this business to eventually generate enough revenue to create a "business incubator," which is more or less a fund that is available for new investors to use to start new businesses. There are already some ideas in the works for the next business--a driver's education school, an online real-estate company.

All of these businesses have the potential to not only increase income for these men, thus improving their families lives, but to hire employees, creating jobs, and share the news of Christ with the employees and the customers they will come in contact with.

This business could have deep reaching results!

Please pray for us as we prepare to present the proposal and seek investors to join us in this business venture. Pray for those listening to our proposal, that'd they would understand and be able to make an informed decision. And for the future of this business--that it would be profitable and Christ-centered.

-Hannah

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.