It's all part of the adventure!: Day of Rest

We went to the blacksmith area of town this afternoon. Wow -- that's hard work! It's amazing to see everyone working and what they are making. It's hard to appreciate all the technology and advancements we have in the U.S. until you walk through something like the blacksmith area in Koutiala. It's also pretty evident how much more advanced we are when we are working at Bethel and often lack the appropriate tools for a certain task. I agree with what Larry said to me during our walk through the blacksmith area -- we really have no reasons for complaining about any of our jobs in the U.S.

Tonight Craig and Marilyn had us to their house for dinner. Yummy!! Marilyn made stuffed shells (manicotti to me -- she called it stuffed shells), cucumbers and vinegar (I think Andy nearly ate the entire bowl), corn, salad, veggies, garlic bread and pineapple upside down cake with homemade whipped topping. It was all amazing. Craig and Marilyn are amazing people. They have been missionaries in Africa for over 30 years. Most of their time was spent in the Ivory Coast until they were forced to leave because of the war. They said they have about 7 1/2 years left before they retire.

One thing I miss right now is air conditioning. Today was a hot day. I typically love heat and could EASILY do without winter altogether. However, we sweat all the time here. We sweat in the house, while sleeping, while working, at church -- everywhere! It's no fun being covered in sweat all the time, but it's not the end of the world. We have several fans and once they are running for awhile, it's definitely tolerable. I wouldn't feel right if we were in air conditioning when no one else has it here. Our living conditions in the guest house are much better than what many of the people have since we have nice bathrooms, and some of the rooms have air conditioning. We have air conditioning in our bedroom, but we try to not use it very often because it's very expensive.

Continue to pray for our health, safety, our ministry through our actions, and our trip home. We talked more about our trip home at dinner with Craig and Marilyn, and it sounds like we have no good option other than to try and stay the night in the Dakar airport. Dakar's claim to fame is being the 2nd worst airport in the world, so I think we'll all be happy to step off the plane in New York on Friday.