1. What is African Air Conditioning?
2. There are several items we never see in West Africa. Try to think what some of them might be.
3. This event happens multiple times a day, no matter where you are - school, store, restaurant, etc. We rarely see it in the US.
4. All the hotel staff continually take everything in stride, no matter what the situation or problem or request. There are several phrases they use repeatedly, which you would be familiar with. Can you guess?
An Amazing Group of People
We did not understand the Fulah language, although there were occasional phrases in English that we understood. But the worship time was beautiful - I swear every single African, male or female, can sing! Our student Timothy is sitting in pink shirt with child on his lap across the room.
This body of Christian believers is so intentional about supporting their body. There were several prayer requests, so they brought those people into the center of the mats and had church leaders come to pray for them. Pastor Steven, from the SOW Bible college, is on the right, standing praying.
One young man was supporting his mother, farming at their family land. He left her in the care of other family members to come to Gambia to receive Bible teaching and training. Because he became a Christian, his other family members refuse to care for her. The pastor advises, this is a bad testimony for Christianity, you must go back. He must go back and help restore the family and make a good testimony before the family before he returns to be trained. Such wisdom!
Another man asks for prayer for his family, as he and his wife feel they must go back to their country to be with their family for 5 months. The church supports his decision, but will miss them, and they pray for the family.
A woman physician, due to circumstances, she and her family were homeless last year and the church rescued them. Now she has a job as head of a medical clinic. Praises to God!
A young woman university student from Houston, TX has run into several "arguers" this past week. She is not good at arguing, but gave them gospels to read. The pastor steps in - "We are here to help you. Ask if you may bring a friend, and we will come with you to meet with them and talk with them. You are not alone." What wonderful support!
One man thanks God for healing him. He was ill for a long time, finally is able to be here today. Jesus gave him hope and he knew God would never leave him.
And the most precious ceremony: an engagement. Ruby has remained faithful to the Lord and refused offers of marriage from Muslim men (some with much money, but then her whole family would have to become Muslim) because she wanted to marry a believer. She is 22 and has had to withstand much persecution because of her beliefs. Zechariah, from Banjul, is 28 and was being trained to become a radical Muslim. He was high in Islam but now is on the side of Jesus and wants a Christian wife. He has found her in Ruby! They are to be married in 2 months. The stipulations: they can only be together in the church, or under the mango tree, but not in a house together with closed doors. This is for their protection. They are both shy and won't look at each other when they come forward for prayer. The entire church body is now supporting them and holding them accountable.
During all this, the little children sometimes are up running around, maybe from mother to dad, sitting in laps, sometimes quietly, but just being kids. No one is disturbed. Occasionally a parent rises to care for a child or to take them out. Even the pastors have little ones on their laps.
The pastor recognizes the visitors and Dick brings greetings from our church in America. David is invited to preach. He tells how he grew up with Fulani, and would never in his wildest dreams have ever imagined a Fulani ever becoming a Christian. He realizes that God is the God of all nations, of every tribe. Every knee will bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord! His encouragement for them comes from I Peter 3:8-17 and I Corinthians 5:14-21. The pastor comments afterward that his heart was crying for joy when he heard David's preaching!
After the service there is a meal. We have our first common-dish meal in Africa. Most eat with fingers, but we are offered spoons. It is fundi (a grain similar to couscous, but smaller) pieces of chicken and some vegetables. Ben Michael wants to be sure I am taking accurate notes! :)
We are offered spoons, although most use their hands. Modou repeatedly cuts mangoes and offers us pieces. SO good!
The grain is fundi (funday?) - similar to couscous. Pretty good Sunday brunch, and even better conversation! What a great day.
1. Breezes blowing through the trees or across the land [Dick used this opportunity to educate about "60/4" air conditioning in the car when we were growing up back East - 60 mph with 4 windows down. :) ]
2. Tissues in hotels or guest houses (Kleenex, basically); laundromats or coin-operated washers and dryers in hotels or in a city; green vegetables: green beans, zucchini, broccoli, spinach, even yellow squash would be nice; fire trucks are not completely absent, but so far we have seen just one fire station in West Africa; business stations in hotels or guest houses - ring the Jeopardy buzzer - None! David had to go to another hotel across the street (much more expensive) and pay 200 Dalasi (he bargained from 250) to get some copies he needed for his class. No copier here in our hotel. Cannot print boarding passes or use a computer; in fact, we pay extra for internet in our room, but much of the time it does not function. Free swim towels - we got two to begin with in mid-July, but every time we need fresh ones we must pay; working phones in hotel rooms - so far we have not had any that work, but they are bolted to the desk and occupy a lot of space, so from our perspective it would be better to have none!
3. Electricity goes off! Most decent restaurants & hotels have back-up generators so power is normally resumed fairly quickly. Saturday night we took Steven and Helen to dinner, and I believe it went off 3 times - pitch black. At SOW, immediately one of the more senior students jumps up and heads to get the keys to the generator block. It takes a bit of time, but they get it working. We are so thankful that an electrician came a couple of weeks ago and did some work on their system; Dick was praying constantly when he would see Steven head to the generator (here everything is 220 - not Dick's favorite!) with a huge screwdriver and a large thick stick ... God protected him ...
4. "No problem!" "No worries in The Gambia!" "No stress in The Gambia!" Everyone always laughs. :)
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