Thunderstorms…

It’s 4:30 on Friday afternoon. I’m sitting out listening to the rain and enjoying the cool breeze that accompanies it. It’s a wonder how simple things like a thunderstorm become enjoyable. The coolness the comes with the rain is as close to air conditioning as it gets over here. :) I feel like I should write something though provoking, but I’m not sure that I have much to say so I’ll just type and we’ll see.

The rain here in Guinea comes so suddenly, and when it comes its always big and boisterous. Never meek and calm. I don’t think its ever sprinkled or drizzled since I’ve been here. It’s always a big thunderstorm or heavy rain,  comes and passes on, but other times the rain just goes on for what seems like forever….never  trailing off. Like this storm that’s going on right now, I think it’ll last for a while.

Another interesting thing about the rain is that it always seems to slow time down. The raining has been falling for maybe 15 minutes or so but it feels like it’s gonna fall forever. –Commercial: just now there was a HUGE crack of thunder and flash of lightening…nothing like at home. It scared the mess outta me. My heart jumped and I almost threw the computer from my lap! The thunder and lightening here are amazingly beautiful but also dangerous. – Anyway back to my thoughts…So sometimes it feels like it’s going to rain forever, but the sun always comes back out again; at least it does here. Once the sun is out for a few minutes it doesn’t even seem like it was storming. The sun is out bright and hot as ever and we go back to our daily duties; happy for the rain to water and cool things down but glad it’s over.

I feel an analogy coming on… It’s kinda like life. A problem comes on all of a sudden; it’s strong and unrelenting. The problem feels like it’s never gonna go away and seems to last forever. Until one day the sun shines again, the problem is gone and our lives can go back to normal. While the problem is around we worry, pray, and wonder when it’ll go away. We get scared or do all we can to protect ourselves. Then once the problem goes away we get back to life as it once was, forgetting all about the problem we had. Why is it while we’re dealing with a problem we’re so concerned with it that we forget that trouble doesn’t last always. How quickly we forget that God won’t give us more than we can handle. Or that He allows problems to draw us closer to Him and refine our characters. Weeping may endure for a night but JOY comes in the morning. God doesn’t promise that problems won’t come or that they’ll be easy to deal with, but He does promise to provide a way of escape and to make us conquerors through Jesus.

Many times in the past I’ve been so engrossed in my problems that I can’t see beyond on them to the beautiful sun that’s coming. I’m learning little by little to deal with my problems and maybe one day I’ll learn to enjoy my problems, just as I’ve learned to enjoy the rainstorms here. If I look at my problems as an opportunity to grow, refine my character and draw closer to God maybe I won’t fret so much. If I’ve learned to enjoy the rain as a time of peace, reflection, and cool air :) then I can learn to at least deal with my problems. So thank you God for the problems and for the hard, unrelenting rain in Guinea!

~Alex~ aka Flematu (that’s my Susu name, but I’m not sure how you spell it. I’ll have to ask)

 

I meant to upload this pic a few posts back….these are Guinean Francs, the currency here. 1 USD = 5,100 GF approx. So I think this is like $100 dollars so that makes me like 1/2 millionaire in GF lol It was kinda hard getting used to thinking in huge amounts. Like a jar of jelly is 8,000 GF, which is like a dollar and some change. I bought a cell phone here…very basic phone… for 120,000 GF which is 24 dollars. Things seem cheap when you convert is to USD but I had to start thinking in Guinean Francs since cost of living is cheaper here I guess.

Yes we have a stove and oven! No we don’t HAVE to cook on coals. We’re technology savvy over here :) the only annoying thing is that orange regulator in the corner, that controls the flame and how high it is. Took me a while to get good at using it and controlling it well

 

Don’t laugh! that’s me walking to the village with Auntie Cathy. This picture is meant to show you how tall the grass is, it’s probably a lot taller by now. But by November/December it’ll all be gone because dry season will be coming and they’ll burn it all down for planting and stuff.                                

Talks, taxis, and trees…

It’s been almost a month since I’ve been here. I’m starting to get used to the heat, wearing skirts ALL the time, walking the rocky/dirt roads, walking everywhere, the languages-even though I don’t understand or speak much Susu or French. I’ve quickly developed a love for rain/thunder storms. :) When it gets ready to rain or when it’s raining it feels wonderful outside…almost like air conditioner. I could care less about getting wet anymore because usually its raining so hard it doesn’t matter, I’m too busy enjoying the coolness, or I don’t wanna run, fall and break my ankles on the rocks.

So this past Sabbath I gave my first health talk at church. It was interesting, I felt like no one cared what I said but I have to remember the majority of the members are new Adventists, new Christians even. The topic was just a health overview, basically it was about why health is important and why God has given us health laws. Just a precursor of all that is to come. Next time I’ll talk about sunlight and the benefits of it. We’ll go through the 8 laws of health (nutrition, exercise, water, sunlight, temperance, air, rest, and trust in God) and eventually we’ll get to diseases, hygiene and whatever else there’s time for. Uncle Marc assured me that it’ll get better and there will be so many questions I won’t know what to do. They’re still getting used to me just like I’m getting used to them. I really wish I could speak French so I could talk without a translator, having a translator makes it feel like there’s another barrier between me and them. That’s exactly how I felt when I was in Dominican Republic 2 years ago. I think I eventually go through to the people during those 2 weeks, but there was always that language barrier that seemed to keep me from getting that much closer. Hopefully I’ll be able to get through the barriers here even if I can’t give the health talks in French eventually. I’d really like to give at least one talk in French, like one of the last ones I do. But I guess that really depends on how much and how fast I learn. We shall see about that.

After Sabbath lunch, Auntie Cathy and I (everyone here is either Auntie or Uncle, its a cultural thing and also for the kids on the team..kinda like calling people Miss Pauline or Mr. George…respect). So anyway after lunch we took a trip to the village because someone called her saying they were sick. So we walk to the main road in Fria, about 15-20 mins I think, here we take a taxi car to the village.Let me explain how taxis are here in Guinea… So we walk to where the taxis are, they’re near the market, its basically just a street where all the taxi people park and wait. So we get there and the guy says he’ll take us to where we need to go and there are other people going there too so we all go together….all 8 or 9 of us, and no we’re not in a minivan. It was a regular car, a 5 seater I believe. The drivers here don’t like to waste money or gas so they wait to go to a destination until they have a full load…very full. So we get into the taxi, Auntie Cathy gets in the back seat with like 3 or 4 other people. She tells me to get in the front with this other lady, plus the driver, and there’s a guy who climbs into the trunk….I think it was a station wagon or hatch back type car. So all 8 of us get in the car and someone outside the car give us a push start and we head down the road. Now this car is very umm….rickety. Window is all cracked in the front, I’m surprised he could see through it since it looked like someone bashed every part of the window with a bat. The odometer didn’t work, there were all kinds of smells coming from the car-under the hood and in the car, and who knows what else. BUT..remember how I said they’re pretty thrifty here? So, Fria is a kinda hilly place. So when the cars are going down a slope or hill they coast down, not just take their foot off the gas but the car is off and in neutral. I’m not sure how they manage all this because most cars here are manual but they do it. It was amusing to see them turning the car back on in the middle of the trip when we were going back uphill. So that’s taxis here in Guinea..kinda funny. And Auntie Cathy told me the one we rode in that day was a nice one….hmmm

So anyway back to the village, we go and visit and see the sick people; take some blood pressures and just kinda talk…well I just sit and listen since I can’t speak Susu. I took notice of this little boy; he’s very malnourished and sick. He’s about a year and a half old I think but he looks more like a 6 or 7 month old. It broke my heart to see him looking so thin, nose running, and helpless. Auntie Cathy gave his mother some medicine because he’d been having diarrhea for a week. Keep him in your prayers, he’s pretty sickly for a baby. Village life is so different from where I am. Electricity is basically nonexistent, houses are small and dark, everything is done outside because houses are just for sleeping and storing belongings. We couldn’t stay long because it was going to be dark soon and we needed to get home. Sunday we went out again but to another village, Otamasuria (not sure about the spelling). This village is basically one big family. One man had like 4 wives and like 30 kids, he died about 2 years ago. So this village is made up mostly of his offspring and their families. We stayed for a while and visited. We went there because a set of twins were sick, not sure with what…possibly malaria, but we gave them medicine for their fevers and malaria. Malaria is the first thing you treat for here whenever someone has a fever and other flu-like symptoms, so treat for malaria and rule it out if possible before going onto something else. While we were in this village we walked down to the stream…it was SOOOOOO beautiful. Raw nature, like something you’d only see in a magazine or on exhibit somewhere. I’ll try to attach some pictures below. The water was so cool and refreshing. I also saw part of the process of how charcoal is made…it’s a very long and drawn out process of stacking wood, covering it with leaves and dirt then burning it. I really like this village, I may go spend a few days there before I leave. The people are really nice, they’re poor but they give what they have. They didn’t let us leave without taking a bag of peanuts. But the beauty there is amazing, just pure God-given natural beauty. Once the seasons change, all kinds of fruit will be in abundance, and they grow a lot of things there. Just beautiful and simple. Anyway I believe this is a long enough post. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for all your prayers, I like it here. I’m starting to get busy, but not really. That’ll all change once I start shadowing at the hospital and the stop smoking clinic gets closer. Lots to do but I’ll be sure to keep you posted when I can.

~lots of love coming all the way from Guinea

Alex…p.s. I climbed my first tree here…shocking huh. I felt like such a city girl, but I’m not a city girl

Week 1 done...

Again, I'm going into my 3rd week and I'm just getting a chance to post... enjoy...

It’s about 5 pm here in Guinea as I write, which means its about 1 pm at home in Georgia. So this time last week I was making sure my bags were packed and that I hadn’t left anything I might need. Spending my last moments in my house with my family until reunite with them in May. Making phone calls and sending messages to people to let them know I’m on my way out of the country.
It’s been almost a full week since I arrived in Guinea. What a week its been!! Landing in Conakry on Monday evening and just making it out of the airport was a big deal almost. Tuesday we made the 2.5 hr journey to Fria, met the rest of the Coleman family and the Guinea Team, and had our first African meal in Guinea…I think we had rice and cassava leaf sauce or maybe it was beans and rice…either way it was really good. The rest of the week was kinda a blur, just trying to get used to the temperature, its SOOOOO HOT- its like Florida during the hottest part of the summer in a non-A/C house! Also getting used to the money and time difference, even though I don’t think I’ve had much of an issue with that. The biggest difference is transportation and language. My two feet are my transportation, only a few people have cars in Fria or you can take a moto-taxi, but things are pretty close so there’s no need to waste money on that unless you’re going far. Then the language, very few people speak English outside of the Guinea Team. Most people speak French and/or Susu, the few who speak English know greetings and that’s it…about the amount of French I know :) I can greet people in French and that’s about it, when people say more than Bonjour or Savee bien (I have no idea how to spell these things) I just put on my confused/I don’t speak French look.
On Friday we went to vespers which is like a 30 minute walk from where we live, at the old church. Sabbath we walk to church. Church is one whole hour away from where we live and another whole hour back. Most people walk because they don’t have cars and can’t afford to take a moto-taxi both ways. It’s not too bad, its just really hot; the walk home is easier because the whole church walks together basically. Patricia and I walked home together on Sabbath; she’s a cute 4 yr old daughter of one of the other team members. She kept me entertained so I didn’t focus on the passing minutes and miles. At least I’ll have strong calves and be in really good shape when I get back! Sabbath lunch was so good, the walk probably increased the value of lunch too! Auntie Cathy made coconut ice cream that was ate for desert, from scratch. Thursday I watched her as she prepared it straight from the coconut. It doesn’t seem to difficult to make. Plus its amazing! Sabbath afternoon we went to bible study, after I woke up from my heat/exhaustion/food induced coma, I didn’t even realize I was asleep until Rebecca and Chelcie knocked on my door.
Bible study was good, we had a discussion about the state of the dead. There’s a young man who’s here in Fria on vacation from school and he started coming to the church during the summer. He has so many questions and wants to know the church. Its refreshing to see young people wanting to know about God and the truth. It’s kinda funny because he’s in school studying to be a priest and now he’s intrigued and curious about the advent message. Saturday night we watched Amazing Grace, the movie about the abolition of slave trade in Great Britain….pretty powerful. Today (Sunday) Auntie Baby took us to the market and bought all the things we’ll need to cook. Big sack of rice and all sorts of things. We learned to make potato leaf sauce today. The market can be a pretty confusing place. All kinds of smells, sights, sounds…everything! Eventually I’ll get the hang of it. Tomorrow we’ll go back and pick up a few more little things and we’ll make a new sauce or food everyday this week. Basically I’ll be eating a lot of rice and sauces, which is good since I’ll be busy running around I’ll need those carbs for energy.
Anyway, Fria is a nice place. I have a lot to learn about language, people, and getting around but I’m excited. I hope and pray I can give as much as I’ll get. Still trying to wrap my mind around 8 months here, it hasn’t hit me yet. I’ve had small bouts of homesickness but I don’t think the real deal has hit me yet. I guess this is still the honeymoon/vacation phase, but I’m sure it’ll hit soon enough. I really do like it here though, even though some things seem inconvenient, life is simple here. I mean it’s busy here, but different…the things that we think are ‘necessities’ really aren’t; it’s sad that I hade to travel here to realize it.
I’m not doing a good job of taking pictures, but I’m gonna try to do better since I’ve had a week to get settled. Also I’m gonna try to be better about updating my blog. This is the second entry I’ve written since arriving but I haven’t uploaded either of them. No DSL over here! lol Internet can be sketchy sometimes and they said its no so great right now because people are stealing oil from somewhere that powers the connection I think, because Ramadan just passed (the biggest Muslim holiday). It’s like our Christmas, lots of gifts are bought. So I guess people are broke and they steal to get money. Did I mention how corrupt this place is? Oh man! oh and FYI just in case anyone plans to send me a package, make sure its as plain as possible and put valuable stuff at the bottom. It’s not uncommon for them to open the packages at the post office and take stuff out before it gets to us. So like if you send a letter don’t put anything extremely important in it or any candy or stuff because they will take it out and all I’ll get is the letter. If you send stuff to the AFM address, they send letters and stuff to the Colemans like once or twice a month, but it does cost the Colemans because it comes by DHL. So yea….if its just a letter send it to Guinea. For packages it can only be sent to Guinea I believe, so just make sure boring stuff is at the top of the package. If it even looks moderately interesting or good, they’ll take it and I’ll never get it! Yea…that’s Guinea!! BUT….the people here are very loyal and good friends once that bond is formed. Basically their mentality is that relationships are of primary importance, which is why they’ll steal if it’s to support their family. So yea…
This has been a super long post, hopefully it doesn’t take too long to upload. And I’ll try to get better. Thanks for reading. Much love from Guinea!!!
~Alex
I’m like a millionaire in Guinea! 1 USD = 5100 Guinean Francs I think.

The Beauty of Fria!

Finally here...

I've been here for about 2 weeks but I'm just geting a chance to post this....

I’m in Africa, in Guinea…it’s still kinda like a dream to me. We left Atlanta Sunday evening, arrived in Paris, France Monday morning and Monday evening we were in Guinea. But let me start from the beginning.

Sunday evening my family dropped me at the Atlanta airport and I tried my hardest not to cry…but I did tear up. While standing in the line to go through security and drying my eyes trying not to look back at my family, a lady asked where I was going because she noticed my family was there waving and my eyes and nose were turning a shade of red. I told her I was going to serve as a missionary for 8 months and she told me she’s done mission work before also. Before I left the security area this lady I’ve never met gave me money for my trip…a complete stranger.That was an encouragement and kinda like reassurance from God that this is where I’m supposed to be because He allowed me to meet this lady who’s also done missions and softened her heart for me. I thank God that I met that lady, who I never even introduced myself to. I FINALLY made it to my gate, it must have been the furthest gate in the whole airport. Sitting and waiting to board I did a lot of last minute texts and phone calls to friends and family telling them I love them and so on…again trying to contain my emotion so people in the airport don’t think I’m crazy. Getting on the plane and waiting to go was difficult. Sending my bon voyage texts to family started the tears again.

Aside from trying to control myself while waiting to take off, I was praying that my partner, Christopher, would make it on time. His flight from Kansas was delayed and he wouldn’t arrive in Atlanta until 10 or 15 minutes before the flight to Paris took off. So I was worried because I didn’t want to travel alone and who knows when we’d meet along our voyage to Guinea. So I prayed and watched through the window as the crew loaded bags onto the plane. Minutes went by, 8:40p came…that was the scheduled departure time but people were still getting situated on the plane and the outside crew was still loading/unloading stuff. So I kept praying and waiting and texting people. I texted Christopher and told him to run as soon as he got off the plane…but knowing how huge the Atlanta airport is I starting thinking he wouldn’t make it on time. He called and told me he was all the way at concourse A and our flight took off from concourse E. Just as I was about to text him and say that we were gonna take off in a few minutes I looked up and he was on the plane…another sign from God that He’s got this under control. I truly believe God used the loading/switching baggage and other passengers who had issues to give Christopher time to make our flight. What an awesome God.

The rest of the trip was pretty good. I sat next to a nice man on the way from Paris to Guinea, he’s from Guinea and told me some stuff and all the things he did in his life. As we got within 30 minutes of landing in Guinea I began to get nervous because I realized I was in Africa…all the planning, prepping, packing, training…I was finally here in Guinea! We got off the plane, made our way through customs and managed to avoid being swindled by the people in the airport and Uncle Marc picked us up. We rode throughout Conakry and stayed the night at a Christian Ministry Association place..kinda like an inn run by this Christian couple. We woke up this morning, ran some errands in the city…got SOAKING wet in the rain and started the journey to Fria. I took in everything as much as possible, but it still felt like a dream. I looked all around and even now its hard to believe that I’m across the Atlantic Ocean, ~16 hrs by plane away from the place I call home and the people I call family. Fria is a nice place, its much more green than the city of Conakry. Everyone here is welcoming so far and I’m excited to be here. Tomorrow will be our first full day in Fria and we’ll have orientation. I miss my family and friends extremely but I know that God has brought me here for a reason and its hard to believe I’ll be here for 8 months straight…that hit me to today…BUT I truly believe that at the end of the 8 months I’ll have a new family and a new place to call home. And just as I teared up as I got on the plane in Atlanta, 8 months will go by I’ll have to start the joyous task of packing all over again and I’ll make the trip to Conakry and board a plane and when I say goodbye to Guinea and the friends I'll make I’m sure there will be tears in my eyes again. God has called me here for a reason and I’m so excited to see what it is!!! He hasn’t brought me this far to leave me…this I know.

So I may cry myself to sleep for a few nights and get really homesick from time to time, or wish I could run home to mommy and daddy, but God has a plan and He’s gonna take care of me and WILL NOT leave me! So here begins my journey with God in Guinea…WAY out of my comfort zone….let’s see how this goes.

~Alex

P.S. I’m gonna have so much fruit once in comes in season….mango trees (different varieties), avocado trees, bananas, pineapple…..YUM!!!! and its gonna be FRESH!!! I’m excited about that if nothing else!!!