‘Ne y yibeogo!’ That’s good morning in Mòoré! One of the sixty eight languages spoken
here in Burkina Faso =)
Only seven days left here in West Africa, I can’t believe
it! It’s been such a blessing to
be able to teach God’s Word and build relationships with the people here,
although I’m excited about what’s to come next I’m definitely trying to savor
every last bit that I have here as well.
We had some ups and downs last week with David being sick
for the first half and me missing girl fellowship but God showed us great grace
and we were able to finish strong as a team, teaching Bible Overview at two different
churches and having two different sermons on Sunday as well, with David preaching
on a lifestyle of worship and me preaching on learning to be content in all circumstances. As you can imagine with the struggles I’ve
been facing in missing comforts of home as well as Jonah and my girl friends,
this came at a perfect time, allowing me to not only preach about something
that was real for me but challenging me to practice what I preached too! I talked about learning how to be
content in our weaknesses, the challenges we face, and with what we have. The people really enjoyed it and were
challenged to apply what they learned as well!
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| Talking about King David: How God looks not to the outer appearances but rather to the heart of a man |
I had the funniest conversation with Elda the other morning,
she was going around saying ‘Tanti Leslie ou, Tanti Leslie ou?”, asking, ‘Where
is aunty Leslie, where is aunty Leslie?’ When I came out to eat breakfast
with her I told her ‘Bonjour (Hello) Elda, bien dormi? (Did you sleep well?)
Bon appetit (Enjoy your meal) Mange, mange, mange’ (Eat, eat, eat). We had fun for a little bit and then
all of a sudden she said, ‘Laisse moi,’ which pretty much means leave me alone,
and I was like, Quoi? Ce matin
Tanti Leslie ou, Tanti Leslie ou: maintenant laisse moi? Pourquoi? Fine, laisse moi!
(What? This morning, Where
is aunty Leslie, where is aunty Leslie, now, leave me alone? Why? Fine, Leave me alone!) =P It was the longest conversation I’ve
had in French yet! Although it was
a silly conversation I was pretty proud of myself =P
I’ve also been spending more time with the maid here
(Felicity), helping her with odds and ends around the house like dishes and
cooking and stuff. Although we can’t
communicate as much with my limited French, I appreciate her companionship =) Yesterday I saw that she was pounding
something in a bowl outside and I went to inquire about it. I thought that maybe she was making
something like Fufu which is an African dish consisting of mashed up yams. But to my surprise, she was mashing up
something quite different, bugs actually!
They looked like big termites!
I was like, what are you going to do with that? Then Elda walked by, grabbed one,
popped it in her mouth, ate it, and offered one for me to eat too! There’s only one other bug eating
experience that I’ve had (aside from eating ants when I was three) and that was
in Korea with silkworm pupae. I
swore that I wouldn’t eat those ones again but it was a quiet afternoon and I was
looking for an adventure. So guess
what? After three minutes of
contemplating whether or not I was going to do it, and Felicity and Elda
laughing at my funny facial expressions, I did it! I ate the bug!
And you know what? It
actually wasn’t that bad! It just
tastes like dirt really =P Apparently
they like to add it to a bunch of their dishes for the extra protein =)
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| Eating and mashing bugs with Elda and Felicity =) |
So yeah, all is well!
Only eight days left until I get to see Jonah and my other
friends! And only eleven days
left until I return to the states!
I can’t believe it! But
once again I’m trying to make the most of the time I have left here. Our team is debriefing this week,
taking time to reflect on our experience here in West Africa, spend time
with Gerard and his fiance, family and friends, and just relax before we head back
on another twenty hour bus ride and two flights.
All in all it was a great week from learning new phrases to
preaching a fiery sermon and eating a bug too! I finally feel like my African experience is complete =)
