These are a few of my favorite things!

*** Learning more Kriol... ***
I recently restarted language lessons with a young adult in the church.
My goals for this are; to be able to pray for people in the church, clinic, and my friends in the village in their native tongue, to memorize bible verses in Kriol so that I can share God's word more readily, and to be able to communicate with "local" doctors to provide more streamlined health care.

*** My little man Mamanjan (see him and his Pape below) ***
Mamanjan, who has spent most of his 9 months suffering from various illnesses, is finally gaining weight! He gained 0.8kg in the last month and I'm so excited! I've been praying for him for months and am so happy to see him sitting up, smiling, and becoming more interactive these days. Please continue to pray for God to strengthen his little body and that his parent's would come to know Christ, and be overcome by love for him and each other, that he might grow up a man after God's own heart.

*** Jumbai ***
When we first got here I saw people constantly stopping by as an interruption and found it difficult to get anything accomplished. Now I can barley imagine a day without people stopping by to sit and talk (what they call Jumbai) or being called over to stop and eat a few bites on my way somewhere. Imaging days in a big bedroom or eating alone seems like punishment. I look forward to all the random visitors throughout the day and thank God for helping me embrace these cultural differences.

*** Worship ***
Learning Kriol worship songs has been a great way to become engaged in worship services here, has helped with language, and is a fun way to interact with local kiddos. Lately I've been learning some new songs and a friend is going to help me buy me some sounds files of worship songs in Bissau next week so I can enjoy them and continue to learn while I cook or do laundry. SO excited!

***Privileged to Serve ***
And of course, I'm excited to officially announce that I'll be extending my term and staying here in Guinea-Bissau until sometime this fall. I've be so blessed by my time here and seeing God at work. God is helping me to continue to learn language, to learn more about the culture, and most of all has exploded my love for the people of Guinea-Bissau. My prayer is that He will use all these things to further His kingdom.

***Please Pass the Mangos***
After being here for a while it seems that people's perceptions of my have changed from a walking dollar sign (ie American), to a person. A person who's a nurse, a Christian, a friend. When we first got here it seemed like people asked us for anything we had with us. Because they did. Our camera, water bottle, shorts, glasses, you name it, they wanted it, and I'm not sure I blame them.
This still happens occasionally, but has changed dramatically, and I think how people interact me with me has helped me to see the relationships God's forming. We recently entered into Mango season, and all my friends here quickly learned my love for the luscious fruit. Now my language tutor shows up to lessons with giant grocery bags of mangos for me and when I go to jumbai (sit, talk, hang out, very strong and even sweeter hot tea) with my friends at night, the first thing they do is bust out a huge mango. This is symbolic in my opinion, of more than hospitality (which of course these people are infamous for), or even friendship. God is at work here, helping us to build relationships in which He can reveal his power and lead people to Himself.

The Dynamic Duo

Sadja & Adromani

Sadja (left) was a good friend of Andre's and Annette's long before we got here. He's a hilarious, smart, fun loving 13year old son of our village Chief. Sadja is infamous for the riddles he loves to tell which always involve something about a man’s child which is never actually a child but more so a metaphor for something. Needless to say, I never understand his riddles, but its hilarious when he tells them! Sadja is a bright kid who seeks truth and wisdom and dreams of serving his people as a physician one day. We just love hanging out with this little guy. He actually spends M-F in another village to go to school but we always look forward to him coming home on the weekends!

Adromani (right) is Sadja's older brother. These 2 are an awesome duo that God is really going to work through to reach the people of Guinea-Bissau. Adromani is nearing his 22nd birthday and is a fantastic teacher, friend, leader, and man after God's own heart! He spent his adolescent years attending school in Bissau (the capital) and is a youth leader at His church there. He also blesses our congregation here in Catel with His musical gifts of guitar, piano, and singing and helps to lead the children's worship Saturday evenings. Adromani has also recently become my new language tutor and is doing a fantastic job with that as well!

I'm so thankful for the work that God is doing in both Sadja and Adromani's lives and for the passion they have to live a life transformed by His will. I consider myself blessed to fellowship with them and I pray that God will continue to bless them with strength, courage, and hope to withstand the persecution of their friends and loved ones.