Miscellaneous

Honestly, I'm not really sure what to say, but I know people want to hear from me so here I go. The past two weeks have flown by, we have been pretty busy but at the same time it doesn't feel like anything out of the ordinary has happened to share about. Maybe I am finally becoming somewhat accustomed to the culture to where life just seems normal now, or maybe just my daily routine feels normal. Part 1 I continue to play soccer with the girls a few times a week. I just kind of show up at the house of a pastor and say "balé" and he goes and find some girls and we walk over to the field. More and more girls show up over time. I just stand around and shake peoples hands and communicating when I can. We usually talk about how my hair is too soft and slippery to braid/carry things on my head, or argue about what team I am on, or how we have to start playing soon because the rain is coming. They ask about the scars on my feet and if i will be back to play tomorrow. Most other conversations I end up saying I don't know in lingala while giving a shoulder shrug. They start explaining all over again, this time with hand motions, the girls all laugh and give up on me after a few tries. Teams are eventually made and we start playing. The good thing is once we have started playing the language barrier disappears for the most part. I have learned enough words in lingala to communicate and the language of soccer does the rest and so we just play. My stamina, however, is not nearly as good as theirs, either that or they expect/ want more from me on the field. After playing for a while I get tired and start to slow down, I don't make as many plays and one of the girls gets on my case about it. She yells "Anna! Anna!" I look at her and she throws her arms up in the air and points to the ball as if to say "Hanna! What is wrong? Why aren't you playing better!? Come on, we need you to make some plays." I usually pick up the pace for a while and then slow back down and the process starts all over again. I love playing with them and I think they enjoy playing with me too :) The last day playing with them will definitely be a sad one. Later this afternoon the girls I have been playing with have a game against girls from another part of the city and I have been invited to play. Part 2 I said something in my last post about the church as a whole here and how I cant even begin to process it all yet. I am still frustrated with it and probably will be for a while but a friend of mine wrote to me about it and reminded me that the church here is not mine its Gods. That He will claim it, that He will bring justice for his word and He will bring light into the darkness within the church. And that the pastor who admitted to not wanting to share the fullness of the bible is still loved and forgiven. I need to be reminded time and time again that our battle is not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12). So often I want to fight the battle going on right in front of me and fix everything to the way I think it should be but it is not my battle to fight. I continue to find hope and freedom in the fact that the ultimate battle has already been won and that one day all things will be made new (Rev 21:5). And to that I say "Come, Lord Jesus, Come." Part 3 July 9, 2013 Blake (a missionary friend with wycliff associates) is going to zongo /bangui in central Africa republic tomorrow morning at 4am. It is about a 12 hour ride each way that he is doing over a 2-3 day span. So a 24 hour ride in 48-72 hours. So naturally I asked if I could go with him. Hannah decided a few days later she wanted to go too. Originally it was going to be a motorcycle ride, which then got changed to a car ride because all of Gemena is out of gas so we are bringing back drums of gas for Blake's work. Something inside me wanted to go, which is weird because I hated traveling to gbatolite. And that was only 8 hours. So why the heck would I ASK to go on a 12 hour trip!?! The whole motorcycle rides was a real motivation but the car will have to do. July 14, 2013 And this is how it really went down.... Our chauffeurs on Two motorcycles arrived promptly at 3:30am at Christines house to pick us up and take us to Blake's house and from there we all jumped in the truck and headed out into the darkness for the ten hour drive. Five people in the cab of the car and two men in the bed of the truck We stopped for registration and coffee and about 3 hours in, and by this I do not mean stopped for starbucks although that would have been lovely. There was a women with a pot (literally a pot, not a coffee pot) of pre-made coffee and a stack of plastic mugs on the side of the road. Two small benches and a covering stood behind this women and so six of us squeezed in and enjoyed some hot sugary coffee and peanuts for a few minutes before getting back on the road. The seventh person was security for the truck at this time. At about the half way point we pulled into a church with a guesthouses and ask if we could stay there the following night on our way home, they said they would make the preparations and food would be ready as well. We continued on and with 2 1/2 hours left we came to a full and complete stop. For 2 hours. A bridge was being repaired by the UN and there was no way around it. So we waited, and watched and some of the guys helped. We ate food from "vendors" or "small businesses" on the side of the road and some even slept. A huge log lay in the middle of the dirt road with 50 some guys surrounding it and a truck was backed up to the log on the other side of the bridge. A chain connected the log to the truck and after much discussion between the 50 men,the truck would start up and the log would be pulled. All the guys would start yelling and yelling because the log had gone off course but the driver couldn't hear the shouting at first so more damage would be done. Over and over again the log would be pulled, realigned, the situation re-evaluated and the pulling would begin again. Eventually the log was in place and other logs were rearranged and the bridge was done. We all jumped back in the truck, payed some people to "maintain the relationship" and the finally made it to Zongo after a few other sketchy bridges and a very bumpy road. The rest of that trip is another story for another time but lets just say the two day trip turned into a four day trip because of continuous setbacks that seem to be normal reoccurances in this culture. Part 4 The Count: Days left: 6 Nights left: 5 Malaria pills: 13 Road kill: 2 chickens, 1 chick, 1 dog, 1 baby goat, and, 1 baby pig. (That's not too bad for 2 months. The animals around here must have 9 nine lives). Cinnamon rolls: Too many to count but I would guess between the two of us we are close to 100. When was the last time you ate 50 cinnamon rolls in 2 months? People to see, eat with, and say goodbye to: Too many