MaliGirl01's Xanga

Our Brother

Fri, 16 May 2008 09:33:51 GMT

Well... not too long ago something quite exciting happened in our home village...

(See... he's clapping with excitment!)

(water checking... see it is deep enough!)

Our brother who we have spent much of our time with was hum...

symbolically washed to show his family, village, and the Supyire people

how he has truly turned his back on the ways he has always know to follow the Jesus Road!

(Our brother is the one in the black & green t-shirt!)

Followers of the Jesus Road came from a neighboring village to celebrate this time with him and our family!

In keeping with all that OneStory teaches... two stories were shared while we were at the ceremony!

Our brother even told the story of Phil & the African and ended with, "Just like this African man I now too want to be baptized to show my belief in Jesus."

It was a really sweet day!

(That's our dad on the left with the giant bowl of mango's, then some of the SIL translators with our story crafter, then our brother and another friend from another village who came to actually do the dunking!)

While many people (over 30 adults came, both followers and not) did come to celebrate this day with our brother (see our crafter, brother, and neighbor above) their were still many more who did not.

BUT this was still an amazing day for our brother and the Supyire!

Since this day, a little over two weeks ago, our brother has had to learn even more what it is like to walk the Jesus Road. Our family and the people we are closest to here have always known that we will leave one day... now that we are really striving to complete our story set our time in this home village has decreased. Just my last trip into the village our brother told me how much his life has changed since this day... he told me of how he no longer has any friends, how he doesn't have any other believers he can be with (except Mon & I), how his name and the name of his Musl'm father is "broken", how he has been insulted and abused... and so much more...

My heart does hurt for him and for the family & village that does not know the Jesus Road we share about... please pray for our brother here... pray that through all of the many obstacles he faces the Lord would give him wisdom and grow his faith even more, that he would strive through all these many forms of persecution he now faces, that he would be bold in sharing and pointing them to the truth... pray for our family that the Lord would work in their hearts and minds in ways they cannot deny Him... pray for our village...

Lets count outfits...

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:26:37 GMT

Well life lately has been good... i am so tried but life is good! While looking at the pictures we have taken recently i have realized... bare with me... that i wear some really interesting clothes!

So while checking out these pics and short stories let me know what you think about my sweet threads!

I mentioned a little girl that i got named after me... bless her little heart... poor little Krystal cries all the time... but here we are! She is pretty sweet!

Recently we went to a BIG party in our village... big party... really our women started talking about it and we ordered our matching outfits months ago!

But sadly this big party was kinda a bust... really actually... in asking what we were going to do all we were told was, "Wear our outfits, eat rice, not work, and dance!"

For months this is what we were told about our women's party... but the day came and this was not the case.

We showed up in our big pink doily outfits and came ready to party... but sadly what it really was was a traveling dance party that went to dance, sing to and worship all the False gods in our area.

Really.

We got there and our brother turned to us and said, "Do you remember the story of Elijah and Baal? This is Baal." Not kidding.

In this shot a large group is singing and dancing to one of these False gods at his little hut (which is the actually location where a fetish is kept.)

It was a tough day...

It is hot and dry now... really, again, so this a shot of bricks drying out... because when everything is hot & dry and everything is built with mud and mud bricks that means it is construction season!

Monica and i bought a moto! Yeah we are rebels...

[note: With all of Mon's lovely attire here... she is still wearing pearls under her matching blue helmet!]

Here we are getting it out of our house, because all motos are kept in houses here, to go to a testing session in another village...

Right before Easter Monica & I went to Amy & Susan's village to party with them...

this is pre-party...

but it was a cool time where they were able to bring in a drama team to their area and we just got to hang out and be in the back ground.

It was sweet and several hundred people heard the Good News that night!

This is a shot of us crafting under our mango tree...

I don't rememeber which story we were working on there but i know the next story i am working with my crafter on is from Isaiah 53... so you can pray for that!

Of course we had tea... we always have tea while we craft!

This is Brehima, our back-translator... plesae pray for him!

Here i am again with our brother testing a story...

Pray for this brother, Anson- right now we are praying through the details for his baptism!

A new friend... thankfully he didn't stay too long!

Just last week the Catholics in the next village over deticated a new church building...

They throw a good party too!

One thing i really like is the stained glass windows... they are very African and the captions are even in Supyire!

Here i am on Sitapha's moto on the way to another village...

see here's Sitapha (our crafter travels with us to one of our villages for testing!)

The Forts... i like them a lot...

Random picture...

Here we go... a lot... maybe one giant blog post!

New Toy

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:34:05 GMT

Well... life the last month has been kinda wild...

Before one of our pervious crafting sessions we were kinda like this...

happy mango man...

but after crafting and talking about the Holy Spirit in Supyire for an hour we looked like this...

poor mango man...

plus we have been working a lot... see...

ahhh... toolbox... this fun little program we have to enter our stories in after we get them back into English...

but... we did get a new toy...

Monica and i have been spending a lot of our time in different villages working so this should help!

oh yeah...

please keep praying!

The last few days...

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:31:13 GMT

Ahh Christmas time... how I LOVE it! This Christmas in Mali has been no different... well it has actually been quite different than any of my other Christmas celebrations yet but still such a sweet time...

Christmas time yes... where is the snow?!!?!? Well we don't have any snow but our village definatly has the cotton... so this Christmas Eve we couldn't resist any longer!

But then we were off to the field...

We are now harvesting "mor-ray" in Supyire... little sweet nuts... i have no idea what they are called in English though! It is really quite a process...

After the dirt is worked up (like in the previous pictures) it is then put into piles and thrown onto large holey tables and worked back and fourth until all the dirt falls through and the nuts are left...

Work always goes better with music, right? So... the ladies with the shakers are singing too!

I am carrying my friends baby back home for her... this is Doa!

Transportation is never really an issue here... you just do whatever works! The kids on their heads was actually the first time we had seen it too! By the kids reaction it was their first time as well!

But the next morning was... CHRISTMAS!!!

Mon showing off her fancy new outfit and red market Christmas socks! Just like your new Christmas clothes, right?

What is on the third day of Christmas? Three little goats? They were mighty tastey though!

Like most folks I know, we then did the great gift exchange...

Doing what is culturally approperiate we gave all of our families gifts, through our brother, to our dads to give to the rest of our family!

Dad with some of the gifts...

Our brother with his new Ivory Coast football (soccer) shirt! (They have one of the best teams in Africa, this was a good gift!)

Everybody helped cook this day... 3 goats, 50k of rice, 10k of potatoes = lots of cooking!

If I could keep one... it would be this one... his name is Sada... he gives good hugs!

Dad with our Christmas gifts!

Mon & I with Mom!

Hummm... post eating...

But not before the watermellon... it was a good one too!

But then the highlight of our Christmas...

Listening to God's Word's Stories under the tree...

We listened to Jesus' Birth through the stories of his Death & Resurrection!

Then we were able to spend some time with our peeps Praising our Father & praying for our village!

It was a pretty great day!

Merry Christmas!!!

(and Happy New Year! I'm off to Italy!)

Here we go...

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 10:40:58 GMT

something pretty to start off with...

I believe this waterfall is from our 1st day in Burkina Faso... we were give a great opporuntiy to go rock climbing and just play in the water a bit... not in this exact fall but another, smaller water fall...

Mon & I trying to get in the same pic with some of the dome rocks behind us...

me and some rock... nice huh?

We here with OneStory West Africa support the use of Nalgene Bottles... drink more water!!!

Sweet huh?

Day 2 climbing:

How Great is Our God? Couldn't help up singing this while up there...

Can you see the YMCA? It's there... look harder...

Oh yeah... a bone fire in a rice field? How great is Africa?

we were in the truck a lot...

But we did go look for hippos...

and found none but we did go looking...

So... these are a few shots from Burkina Faso...

Now... back to Mali...

Guess what showed up in our yard the other day? On a bike...

Pretty cool huh? Up until now we haven't seen anything more exciting than farm animals, lizards, or scorpions...

But he was quite friendly... and for sale but we decided against it...

Knowing it is the Christmas season it has been kinda hard to get into the spirit of things... until the other day... true it is winter here now in Mali (not kidding, we are freezing! It's in the 70's!!!) but it didn't really get to us until we saw this...

Yup... this is the closest thing to snow we will see... ahhh cotton... i have to admit if it had been on the ground I probably would of played in it!

And....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I would just like to note:

All of the apparel you see was bought in our local market, see it is winter!

Those are blow-up penguins, also wintery!

And... the mango tree in the back ground... ha!

Pictures of my random life...

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 22:45:32 GMT

Hello, my apologies it has been a million years since i was able to post anything new...

but a confession... now that i finally have internet i am sooo tired...

so i am going to cheat and just use lots of pictures...

enjoy the small glimps into our lives here!

i feel pretty!

What is this grain in English?

Cotton fields with our families kids!

Toe... lots and lots of toe!

my man striking a pose!

All pics from the dancing after our last anamistic funeral.

Can i keep this one?

Action pounding!

Waraba and Waraba being very serious!

just follow all of these pics and you have shea butter/ oil!!!

I love her!

Ahhh... i like Segou!

Proper caking eating in Africa ... from my birthday!

our day in the corn field...

we think this may be the pygmee we have heard so much about!

Ahhh... the peanut fields... how many ways can you eat a peanut? the world may never know...

Yuck... my mistake!

and finally....

truly not as bad as it looks! tastes like chicken!

Good night!

Dakar

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:38:29 GMT

Sunrise from our hotel!

This past week we had a regional meeting in Dakar, Senegal...

It was great for me. The secessions were great and an amazing time of worship & fellowship, not to mention I was finally able to meet some of our colleagues serving all around West Africa.

Being the poor single kids we are we got to do a bit more than some of the others...

Many of us were given the opportunity to go to a high ropes course...

Can you believe these trees are over 500 years old?

Amy & Amanda preping to go up!

Some parts were scarier than others...

Yes, we are in a boat in a tree!

My landing was totally refreshing... especially after being 50ft in the air for over an hour!!

It was amazing!

One evening we were taken out for dinner at a nice little place on the western most tip of Africa!

The food was great and the view of the sunset was amazing!!!

My moo- moo & I had a great time! Ha! If i was smarter I would have noticed the wind off the ocean blowing my moo-moo making me look much larger than a moo-moo already does! Oh well!!!

It was nice!

The singles also had a Luau...

Some of the volunteers who came to love on us!

Fun was had by all!

And just like last year there was a Lottie Moon Auction where...

I ended up with a bag of Peppermint Patties and my dear sister Connie ended up with a date with one of the volunteers! Ha! No worries, it was all for fun...

They were very well watched!

We were able to spend some time with our OneStory family...

Please continue to lift us up!

Peace & Love, Krystal

What does a picture say?

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 18:08:29 GMT

Can a picture really say a thousand words?

The rains have started to come... so the field work has begun...

peanuts...

lunch...

sunset... lovely...

Since then we have been in Benin...

can you believe this place?

it is defiantly not like this in Mali...

Thank you Jesus!

We got to do some fun stuff...

The offical sport of OneStory... Badmitton..

We actually won a game!

Ha!

Lots of badmitton...

First haircut in Africa... thank you Seng!

Hippy Shopping... I've loving that just a little more broke now!

Please pray for this fella...

Moustapha

Training...

More training...

Our Trainers...

They are special... but we love them!

We really have learned a great deal... but we have still had a great time as well!

Long time...

Mon, 21 May 2007 16:38:50 GMT

Sorry it has been sooo long...

Since my last update we traveled a bit...

Some of our friends left to go back to the states so Judy let us go up & say good bye to them! Segou is an awesome area and is actually Mali's first capitol! We got to go on a boat ride, hang out with our friends, meet their friends and family there, see how the Bozo live (their people group), and go to mudd cloth class!

Shortly after our little trip mago season started...

and I'm not kidding....

everbody loves mangos and there are many ways to eat them... the "bite & tear method", the "squeeze and suck", the "peel & cut", and my favorite the "however you want!"

I just love this shot...

Our dad roofing... a little different than the roofing I have ever done but still cool...

Shortly after this got sick and looked like this...

Yeah, I got to spend 2 more weeks in Bamako... if it were you you would make the sad face too! But don't worry I am better now!

While in Bamako I was able to communicate with my family more than normal and learned how they would like to learn more about there I live... so here is a brief tour...

In our town (it is really still a village but our living conditions are just a little different), Monica has affectionately named it Mayberry we have a house...

(we have 5 mango trees in our yard... very tastey yoo!)

with a very nice protective wall & gate... (see our solar pannels... oh yeah)

with basic house stuff...

our "office" & living room

(see our phone, oh yes we are still excited about that one it only took us 5 months to get it!

sink/ dishwasher & kitchen

(note: Thank you WMU for the water filter!!!, the trash can for H2O storage, and gas stove)

and my room! (also note: fan & mosquito net!)

Okay so Mayberry is our town (big village)

but this is the road to our village...

Nice road huh? Can't wait for rainy season! Ha!

Our hut...

right behind our hut... check out our bananna trees, shade covering (built just for us), and cot... yes this is where we sleep when it is not raining!

And this is Mon doing tea right outside the front of our house.

(proper Supyire, we do tea- not cook or prepare)

The inside is pretty exciting- four mud walls, two cots, & a water filter!

(see thr first picture on the Easter update)

To close with something super exciting....

hold on are you ready?

This is big...

Yes, those are storm/ rain clouds!!!

Praise Jesus!

Please do continue to pray for the Supyire & for the rains to come!!!

Love you!

Easter

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 22:19:59 GMT

Happy Belated Easter!

When thinking about it... I guess our Easter was like everybody elses...

We got up and put on our Easter Best...

Then opened our Easter gifts... this one didn't come in a basket though...

We preped our big dinner...

This is our dad, in the white, help out...

We spent time with our family...

Had dinner...

Then dessert...

Shared some fruit with the kidos...

Then went to church...

Okay, so maybe ours was a little different. But were so blessed to spent time with our African family & some of our OneStory sisters, time in fellowship with other believers, an awesome dinner (really our ladies can cook!), and especially just crying out and praising our LORD!!! How great is our God?!?!