Same....but different?!?!

   WOW!!  I expected things to be different, but I am not sure to what extent I thought they would be the same.  We have been here now for one month and already our lives have been VERY busy.  We have been studying hard to learn a new language; this language is known as one of the hardest to learn in West Africa.  We are at least making some progress!!  We have also been trying to get set up in our house, meet neighbors, learn the market and what is available locally.  Being in a more remote part of the country this time it is different than what we had available in the capital.  There seems to be more fresh veggies here as this is the region they are grown in, but the prices seem to be different.  We also are finding that there are some things we have not seem before, as well as noticing that the imported stuff from France does NOT make it down here.  So that means that we have had to learn where to go to do our supply runs, which is 5 hours away, so we go every 3 months!!  Lisa has been getting home-school started and we have tried to learn all we can from our co-worker before she leaves on the 10th of November for 2 months.

     It also is MUCH quieter here than in the capital.  There, people would be walking the streets outside our bedroom window all hours of the day and night.  Here we are in a neighborhood and while most people walk everywhere and there are taxis, the neighborhoods are MUCH quieter as most people seem to go in for the evening around 10pm or so.  Then there is the sounds of the call to prayers.  Before, there were places on almost every corner and they seemed to compete with each other to be heard, and then there was the Thursday night services that could be heard rather loudly from certain brotherhoods.  I have heard the call to prayer here a few times, but they are not near as loud as in our other home.  Also the brotherhood that has their night on Thursday is not as well represented here, so Thursday nights are quieter as well.

     Our house here is different than last time; it is much bigger here inside, but our courtyard is smaller.  Last time we had a 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath house with a small kitchen.  It was the top floor of a 2 story building and we had the whole 2nd floor and our courtyard was on the roof.  The sun rose in the front of the house and passed over the house and set on the backside of the house therefore it heated several large sides of the house and made it rather hot!  Now we are in our own house with 3 bedrooms, 3 bath house with a larger kitchen (still smallish though) an we actually have storage room for a pantry.  The sun rises on the side of the house where there is a large tree with shade and passes over the house and the side it sets on is another house (we share a common wall).  So while it still gets hot here, the house is cooler than last time, the celing fans we have that we did not have last time make a differance as well.  Our courtyard this time though is on three sides of the house and rather small though, but the side has shade and the front has shade.  The kids play out in the dirt road that runs in front of our house as we have almost no car traffic on it.

      

     The spiritual darkness here is just about the same here though.  We are living and working amongst a people that are wandering about in darkness and have not heard the truth, or else have heard it and reject it.  They follow what they have been taught by their religious leaders, or family members and most of the time they do this without questioning them.  The team here has been telling God's stories from the Bible for several years, with the help from volunteer groups from the States.  There are villages that have asked us not to come back and tell these stories as they do not want to hear them.  Some though are starting to listen and even asking questions about what the truth is and some are hearing and responding as well!!  The Spirit is drawing people here to Himself and people are responding.  There is even the beginnings of a local gathering happening here!!  We believe that the time is ripe and the harvest is plentiful and we are trying to be faithful harvesters.  It is our desire that after our first term that we will have to start to look for someplace else to start working due to the calling out of locals and them taking on this area themselves!!