BeautifulIrony's Xanga

monkeys poop.

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:44:29 GMT

Connie and I have been travelling all over the place to test our stories and such. Been spending time in our crafter's village, our other village, and testing some in Bamako with a guy from our village who speaks English.

I got pooped on by a monkey.
Our new friend in Kita.

She likes peanuts.
Yes it's a she.

testing.editing.testing.

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:26:19 GMT

Atlantic Ocean
Benin.

Connie and I are in the midst of some intense work with our stories.
We are staying in our crafter's village almost every night to test out stories.

Sira still hasn't had her baby yet.
So we are hoping it will be soon.
35 stories crafted.
23 tested and moving towards final recordings.

I added a Product Gallery to my website where you can purchase poster-sized prints of my photography at very affordable sizes.
Let me know if there are any photos not listed that you would like to see.

[We love Benin]

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 04:57:11 GMT

Benin is great. The beach was wonderful, training is going well, and badminton is in full swing.

I am continually amazed at how much God has accomplished over the last year and a half since I moved to Mali. I have grown more than I can imagine. We found out that the MS Baptist Convention is wanting to work with our people in our village..and that is beyond amazing.

I have built relationships that I would have never had the opportunity to build, and I have a new perspective on life, for the rest of my life.

As I think about how we plan to end our time over the next 6 months, I ask for your prayers for guidance, wisdom, discernment, passion, and love.

By the way, you should know it is very possibly to worship God while listening to Bob Dylan.

[Ahh..Benin]

Fri, 30 May 2008 19:41:50 GMT

Connie and I recorded our LAST story yesterday! So we are done with crafting, and moving forward with editing, testing, and getting approval, which will take alot of work.

Sunday, we leave for the lovely land of Benin for two weeks.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Fri, 16 May 2008 08:17:34 GMT

May has been good so far. We recorded story 30 last Tuesday.
Two weeks until we are in Benin.

Coke + Coffee = Coke Blak
If you haven't tried this drink yet..you must.

[Ti Wara Festival]

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:27:26 GMT

We had a festival in a nearby village with lots and lots of dancing..and a very old, pretty scary mask.

"Wara" means lion in Maninka.

[Truck Wreck!]

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:49:29 GMT

Tara came and visited Maninka land this past week. We spent a few days in our village, tested the Crucifixion story and the Resurrection story. We also had to get our water pump fixed because it had been broken.

Tara and George

George getting ready to pound some millet.

Fixing the water pump.

Tara and the kids.

George taking a break from our long week with his comfort food.

On our way back from the village, I was driving and we hit a huge work truck. We were driving on a dirt road, with lots of dust. I didn't see the truck until we hit it. The front of our truck was smashed, but we were okay. This happened about an hour outside of town. So we had no cell phone service. Connie took a moto to call our business facilitator in Bamako. After three hours of praying and waiting, someone from Kita came to tow us to town. Tom and Diane came yesterday to take our truck to Bamako to get it fixed and running.
Praise God we weren't hurt!

Connie and I are working on our stories this week, trying to get them approved. Rita is coming with a volunteer team on Friday to stay the night in our village. Pray for their safety as they fly from the states to Bamako, and as they drive to our village next Friday.

[Back to Mango Season]

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:43:09 GMT

You know it's hot season again when the mangoes start to ripen, especially when one falls off the tree and hits you upside your head.

Thank you for all your prayers and encouagement these last few weeks. My grandmother passed away last Friday in her sleep. Her funeral was this past Monday. I was very sad not to be there, but I know she is Home now.

Our work is going well. We recorded our 18th story yesterday, and will be sending alot of them off to be consulted hopefully in the next two weeks.

The lovely Tara Lowater will be joining us in our town and village. Many pictures will be soon to come.

Also, I have created a website for my photography. I have prints for sale through Paypal, as well as custom made stamps.

Tomorrow is my Mom's birthday and I miss her very much! I sent her some lovely chocolate-covered strawberries thanks to 1-800Flowers. Bringing together families all over the world! :)

Pray for our stories as we work on our next 10 stories, editing, and more editing.

[Moving Onward]

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:25:56 GMT

Last Friday we had our 40 day mourning day for Bala. Connie made a memorial video and everyone got to watch it on her laptop.
It was a really hard day. We watched his oldest son and younger brothers take his things out of his hut and take them to divide up among themselves.
The wives cried..the old women cried..and we cried.
Crying is taboo here and shameful..so it's hidden when it happens.
I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Connie and I are spending Easter in our crafter's village. We'll be playing the story of Jesus' trial and crucifixion, and His resurrection.
Pray that the message of Christ being alive will penetrate the hearts of our people.
We will be recording our 16th story tomorrow and are pretty excited to be getting this far, even though there is ALOT of editing work to be done.
Dondi, dondi (little by little), we'll get it done.

Pray for my family as my grandmother is slowly leaving us.
She sleeps all the time now, but isn't in any pain.
Soon she'll be worshipping God and able to talk again.

I love and miss you guys.

[Tired of bad news]

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:41:11 GMT

Yesterday I found out that my grandmother on my dad's side was taken off her feeding tube, given only a few days to live. She's sedated, and not in any pain. My family called me and put me on speaker phone so I could talk to her. Even though she can't talk, Heather assured me she heard me.

I keep asking God why can't he just let us breathe..why can't we go one single month without bad news? Why?
I know the only thing keeping me here is His calling..if it weren't for that, I seriously doubt I would still be here.
I'm praying that Maninka people will be worshipping God around His throne one day.

Bala's 40 fete is on Friday. They'll be killing a cow and that marks the end of the mourning period. We continue to test stories every week and we always have alot of people come.

Pray that God would use these stories to bring them truth. A few people are already talking about wanting to be baptized. Pray that we can point them the right way through God's stories.

So Connie and I were able to spend two days in Bamako where we were able to talk with our families and it has been a huge blessing.
Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragement.
Please continue to pray as we spend time with our village family mourning Bala, and pray for Connie's family as her grandmother's funeral is also on Friday.