Patterns

I wanted to start this post with the word rythem, reythem, rymthem, rethym, but seeing as I need to go back to 5th grade and retake spelling, I went with the word patterns. I have settled nicely into life here, which is good news!

My month started off with birthdays; a lot of people in the church had birthdays. A few others had had birthdays throughout my time here, but I wasn’t particularly close to them, whereas this time it was roommates and other close neighbors. It was fun having so much to celebrate, but right before the week of birthdays Daniel and I went on a trip to the village of Catel to attend a church meeting. I was naturally excited to be back in the village I view as my home village. The way there is a three-hour very bumpy ride on a mostly dirt road, which entails dust and lots of it. We got there safely even if a little jostled. Upon arrival, we encountered a man from Germany hitchhiking his way down the coast of Africa. After wishing him the best, we finally made it to our destination. The next day, the meeting went as expected. While only spending one day in Catel, I got to see a childhood friend I haven’t seen in 10 years, so that was really nice. I also saw an aunt of Daniel’s boiling salt and my little sister in heart, Rebekah. That was all very nice and fun, but that next evening we left for Bissau because we missed home already. The way back was worse than the up because my dear seat-mates were not especially kind to me, and I was forced to sit very awkwardly. My back was completely straight, my knees together, and every bump made my knees hit the roll cage that was installed for unknown reasons. This is all a very long way to say I’m allergic to dust and got sick for a few days after the trip, which sounds small, but sick in 40ºC (104ºF) weather is just not fun.

Back to birthdays, I may have over-exaggerated a bit there. There were two close people and about four others. It still felt like a lot, however. The first was my brother in Christ, Samuel. He turned 20! It was mostly just singing “Happy Birthday,” putting him on the WhatsApp status, and going about the day normally. The next was a teenager who turned 15. She put on a party the weekend of her birthday. I attended the said party by myself because everyone else was busy. It was a bit difficult finding my place at a party in a culture I’m not completely fluent in, but it was a lot of fun. There was plenty to eat and drink. Our drinking options were hibiscus juice, guava juice, and I can’t quite remember, but I believe lemon juice, all freshly made from the fruit or leaves. We had to eat a delicious spicy seafood rice porridge, popcorn, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, grilled fish, and veggie straws.

We had a packed service that following Sunday because of a fellowship meal and we had several people visit that were graduating, from The Timothy Initiative, a program that plants churches. For birthdays, we traditionally sing a birthday song at the end of the service for all who had birthdays that week. As the song goes along, those who have gifts bring them to the birthday boys and girls. It’s honestly a joyful and fun experience that brings us closer together as a family. By coincidence, there is a fellowship meal, and we hang out for the day. For me, that meant the night before preparing many, many liters of juice and 80 percent of the food for the next morning so that cooking that morning would be easy. The actual eating part of the fellowship meal was about 10 minutes. I’m pretty sure some people were done eating by the time I sat down to eat after passing out waters. After lunch, there was no exaggeration: an army of young girls and women who cleaned together like a well-oiled machine. All I saw was chaos, but one could tell it was a smooth, flowing operation. In just 10ish minutes, every single dish was scrubbed brand new. We then proceeded to pass the day by drinking juice, sitting around, and hanging out until roughly 3 p.m.

Prayer requests:

• Wisdom in all areas of life
• Strength to persevere
• Patience when I am tired

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support. I repeat again, none of this is possible without all your love and prayers, so thank you. 🙂