Tuesday, July 13, 2010

One week in

The weather here has been amazing! I wish I could just take this back with me to AZ - about 30 degrees (mid 80's) and LOTS of clouds. It's bliss and I was expecting a lot more heat. So this past week I've been doing a lot of the same things as the first week (working at a mobile clinic- I get to take blood pressure readings which is pretty fun and then I feel kinda smart- lol) , and also playing with kids at the Hope House (home for abandoned kids). If you would like to pray for something, pray for the kids there. There are about 30 of them, all under 16 yrs and often there are no adults at home. The pastor who runs it (Pasteur Israel) and his wife are often out of the house doing other things and the kids have to take care of themselves. They are so much fun to play with and even the 7 yr olds can totally school me in football (soccer)! But they are so needy for attention and love as well.

I have been speaking French like a crazy person- literally, I sometimes sound like a crazy person when I speak because there are so many things to say and I just mix all my subjects and verb endings into one giant ball when I really get going :) It's getting a lot better though and I'm pretty much an unofficial translator at times.

My biggest blessing at the moment is that I have been able to get to know the girls who live behind our house. Their names are ChouChou and Poupette (Claudia and Daniella). They are 19 and 21 years old and they at from Ghana, but have lived here most their lives. They have no dad (he died about 4 years back), and they have three other siblings. I love hanging out with them, because we'll walk around the neighbourhood (the "quartier") and talk to their friends, the shopkeepers, and sometimes there will be a random visit to someone's home. This is really special for me because this is not typical for a foreigner with white skin to be integrated with the local Gabonais people (They call me "une blanche"- a white girl- and they are definitely not very PC over here (but I love it). They just shout out at me "Bounjour la blanche!" in the streets). Because I can speak the language, God had really blessed me in being able to connect with the people in ways that many of my american missionary find more difficult.

I think I might be going to the jungle next week to work with a hospital called Le Hopital du Bongolo , which was set up many years ago by the Christian and Missionary Alliance. It's now one of the best hospitals in the jungle regions of Gabon. I will also get to cross the Equator for this 12 hr road trip! It's not all that far away but the roads are horrendous, as I hear (and have experienced a bit in Libreville, but not so much). Also, I got a hold of some apples and oranges which was amazing because I had been eating carrots twice a day in desperate search of fruit/veggies.

be well and xo

1 comment:

  1. Be careful Al, you don't want to turn orange!

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