A Young Man's Journey - by Michael

I have been asking my wonderful husband to guest blog for almost two years and today he has finally done it! I hope you enjoy it.

When we returned to Guinea Bissau in February we were met with several new believers in the church and three of which were baptized on Easter Sunday. It was neat to see the church grow in our absence and the great work our church leaders did in the church. 

One of these boys is Timotio (Timothy in English). Timotio is an amazing young man, he is probably 16 years of age and suffers from epilepsy. Our church has been helping him with the medicine to control his illness. He pays for half of it and we cover the rest. It is neat to see him want to pay his part as that is not common here in West Africa. At the end of April he had a seizure at his home and fell into hot boiling water and burned his lower back and top of his rear end. Djibi, Adramane, and I went out to visit him about a week after the accident happened to check up on him. Upon arrival we found a much greater burned area than we had first thought and the family was applying treatment from local plants, which was not providing much help. We quickly asked if they were open to white medicine and prayed for him. The sun was setting and we needed to get back to Catel, so we promised to come back the next day with dressings and medicine. We have since returned four times, basically every other day, to clean the wound and apply new dressings. After one week the improvement in his spirit and wound was remarkable. Not to mention the testimony to the family from the church. Each time we visit we spend time praying and singing songs. How quickly the wound has healed is a testimony in and of itself, but that is not the best part of his story.

Timotio's faith is remarkable in such a horrible situation. He thanks God and prays continuously. He is apologetic to us for not being at church and begs his parents to bring him even though he can not walk very well at the moment. The journey to his village is 12 kilometers, that is 7.4 miles one way. Every Sunday he would walk this journey to and from church. With our visits, we have gone by motors and bikes and have never gotten to his village in less than a half hour. Our pastor Djibi said, “Timotio’s legs have strong faith.” Timotio never complains and faithfully attended church every week up until his accident. When we could, we would take him home or half way home. He never asks for money, food, or a bike. Twice he has had seizures at church. He gets up, leaves the church and just starts praying and asking God to help him. 

This young man’s faith, his dedication to the Lord and the distance he travels, with a smile on his face, is an inspiration to me. Could you imagine faith like this around the world in church? I spent 10 years as a youth pastor working in the American church and frankly, we complain about everything from the temperature in the building, to the type of music, and even that the sermon was too long, or too short. We leave early for sporting events or anything else that comes up and stare at our watch the whole time we are at church. Maybe if we stop complaining and started being thankful for all God has given us our faith would become strong like this young man. Perhaps it is time to shift our focus on our maker and not our lives with all we think we need to do all day. With a 7.4 mile walk to church every Sunday imagine the time we could spend talking to and thanking our maker. This young man’s faith is simple and real because he has nothing else to hold on to or to interfere with his relationship. His room has a foam mattress, one blanket, one flashlight, and a picture of his mother. That is it. As mennonites our anabaptist roots are founded on simplicity and radical faith, two things I see in this young man. I think we can all learn a lot from Timotio and my challenge is to look into our hearts and do some spring cleaning. What do we need to let go of? What do we need to confess? What do we need to stop, to make time for God? Perhaps start walking to church? Everything we do, or do not do, boils down to a heart issue, what is the issue of your heart? My prayer is for God to continue chiseling me and strip away all that is of this world, to mold me and to see my joy come from God and only God, not my surroundings. Lastly, I pray to have a joyful, simple faith like I see in Timitio, he is truly an inspiration to me.

Written by Michael 

Life of a Guinea Bissau Christian Woman

I (Karen) want to introduce you to a woman that faces a struggle as a christian like no other believers in our church.  She is a widow with three children.  She has been a widow for several years and has a desire to marry once again.  Her family is also wanting her to be married, because for this culture, it is a shame to not be married.  The job of a woman in this culture is to be married, birth children, cook, clean, draw water and care for her husband and family.  In their beliefs, there is no other purpose for women. Women are to do everything for her husband and his mom.  However, for this christian woman her desire to be married is not solely based on her culture.  She is forming a new culture in her faith.  Her desire to be married is to serve her husband in a Godly way and to have a partner in this life.  She seeks to be married to a christian man.  

The problem she faces is finding a christian man.  There have been many men that have come seeking her for a wife, some for their second, third or even fourth wife, but all are non-believers.  Currently, she has one man, an unbeliever, that has come to her family to ask permission to marry her. If her family would accept this proposal she will then need to spend a week with the man and act as husband and wife for him to see if he still wants her.  If they would end up being married, this woman would have no choice in her life.  If he would want to do a ceremony to an idol, she would have to cook for it.  If he beats her or her children, she cannot say anything about it.  If he would decide she cannot attend church or talk about her faith, she would need to be obedient.  

This woman has been asking for prayer for this situation.  She does not want to be married to this person.  Her prayer is for her family to not accept his proposal.  I have read scripture with her and we have talked in depth about what Christ asks of her life.  She has been begging me not to forget to pray for her.  There are no christian men in our church that she could marry.  She is losing hope that she will ever get to marry a christian man.  I have repeatedly encouraged her telling her that God will bring someone when He wants her to be married.  She asks us all to pray that God will answer this prayer.  

I share this with you so you can understand just a little bit about what people here face, but also to ask you to join us with praying for her.  We believe that God cares about everything, even bringing her a husband.  Please pray for this woman that her faith will remain strong and she will not doubt God’s faithfulness.  Please pray that God will bring a christian man into her life.  

My Baptism - by the oldest Baker Bean

My mom and dad popped the question around March 18, 2015.  They asked me if I wanted to be baptized.  Of course I said yes! I wanted Catel to know I believe in God and that he is my Savior.  I could not wait for the date to be settled.  Finally, I found out I was to be baptized on Easter and I was going to be baptized with four other people, Elizabeti, Tomas, Timotiu and Ambros.  While I waited I asked my friend, Saba, to come to the baptism, she said yes. Later I learned she also was coming because Tomas is her brother.  I read a lot before I was to be baptized.  I read three sections from Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective.  I also helped with every day chores like always.  The chores I do are drawing water, watering plants, running or biking to the store, and the hardest one, scrubbing my little brother Isaiah.  You would think he rolled in the dirt he is literally black by the end of the day.  

Finally, Easter Sunday came and I put on shorts and a flowered shirt.  I had my junk skirt, a shirt and my hairbrush in a bag for when I got out to the water.  The junk skirt was to get in the water with because my Dad said that the water ruins everything.  Well, I went to children's church, and after that the grownups sang a few songs.  We then headed out slowly but loudly with songs of praise to the river.  Finally, we got there, but some of us kids ran ahead and found baby crabs and some kids stayed with the grownups.  When we were all there we sang a few songs and me and Elizabeti got shorts on.  The five of us who were getting baptized stood in a straight line and it began.  We all got baptized and the grownups wanted to take more pictures so we all got back in the water. The water was freezing! We then all prayed together and got in another straight line. Djibi, the guy who baptized me with my dad, lost his balance and fell causing me to lose my balance and I went under the water.  I came back up laughing and coughing while Djbi was trying to say sorry.  

This is me once I came up from the water. My dad and my African dad baptized me.  

Afterwards, we were trying to get out and the older kids around my age decided to jump from the bridge into the water.  The little kids did not think that was fair. Even though they could not swim they jumped in. Then while we all were trying to pull them out of the water somebody shoved a one and a half year old in my arms saying he wants baptized. Of course he started crying because of all the commotion so I gave him back and helped get more kids out.
  

On the way back to the church everyone sang and danced while we walked back into Catel.  Once we got back to the church the grownups sang and danced for a long time.  As they were singing people just started running around the church in circles. Everyone was so happy and celebrating the birth of Christ and our baptisms.  

This is what you call a crazy baptism! 

This is by our special guest blogger, the oldest of the baker beans.  

No Smoking

Be thankful for what is in front of you, rather than constantly hoping for what you don't have. I have found myself saying that to our kids a lot lately.  It is actually ironic because I have been hoping for a four burner stove with an oven for a long time.  The entire time we were in America I was looking forward to getting the stove on our way back into Catel.  When we came back, we decided it wasn't wise for us to get the stove on our way back to the village, so we decided to wait for our first trip into Ziguinchor.  During our first trip into Ziguinchor we decided to wait until the next trip.  We thought for sure next time we would buy the stove. Buying the stove would be easier for me to cook for our family and I would have a wider variety of options with the oven. The next week we went into Sao Domingo for market day and on our way home we passed by the gas station where we buy our gas from, the gas station was no more.  A large rock truck sparked a fire, or the man's cigarette, at the gas pump and everything burned up, the truck included.  Now, we have lost our ability to buy gas (propane) for cooking.  About a week later we ran out of propane and Michael bought me a little propane tank (it's maybe 18 inches tall) with a burner on top for cooking.  It has made cooking so much more challenging.  The gas is difficult to regulate and where the pot sits is far away from the actual burner making everything take so much longer to cook.  This has been a challenge in front of us, but I am thankful for this little burner.  No longer am I hoping for a stove with an oven.  I am thankful I still have a means to cook for my family inside and I do not have to go out with the women to get firewood to cook over outside.  

This is what happens when you smoke at a gas pump.

Up close and personal with the burned truck.

On the floor is my new cooking source.  Behind on the counter is my old stove, which is now unusable. You can kind of see the large gas tank underneath the stove behind the washcloths.  The red bins hold our veggies. 

Being thankful for what we have can seem impossible with a world of wants in front of us.  When things are taken away we realize what we had and therefore realize we need to be thankful for what we still have.  

It's Different This Time

When we first came to Guinea Bissau in August of 2013 our children were wide eyed, curious and everything was new to them.  This time, they knew what to expect, everything from driving to the airport to arriving in our village.  When we got off the plane in Dakar, Senegal the children weren’t wide eyed with adrenaline, but rather tired and ready to find a bed.  They gained their energy once we met up with a fellow missionary, Beryl, then once we were in the car going to the guesthouse, they fell asleep.  Last time they were wide eyed looking at everything taking it all in.  I remember sitting there thinking, our children’s world view just got blown open, this time I thought they are quite accustomed to life in West Africa.  Once we arrived at the guesthouse, our children regained their energy with excitement to go and play with everything they had missed.  They ran to the tire swing and pushed each other with laughter flowing from their mouths.  They ran in search of a ball to play basketball and then onto our apartment where we would sleep for the day.  Our children wanted to experience everything that had become so familiar.  Michael left to take our bags to the ferry and I only wanted to sleep.  My eyes were heavy from lack of sleep on the plane and it was only 1:00 am for us even though the sun was telling us differently.  Eventually the children calmed down and they all lay down and slept for almost the whole day.  We woke up around 2:00 pm (Senegal time) and began preparing for the ferry, our next leg of the trip. We were happy to meet up with another missionary family that was also taking the ferry down to Ziguinchor, therefore making our ferry ride more fun than usual. 

Once we arrived in Ziguinchor, we said goodbye to our friends and began the wait for our bags to be unloaded from the ferry.  Michael stayed with our kids and I left, with our fellow missionary, Delores, to get our supplies for in the village.  On our way out Delores and I saw two men standing across the street waving with huge smiles on their faces.  It was Djibi and Adramane who had come up to meet us. We went over to meet them and were embraced with huge hugs as they were so happy to see us.  We then left them to buy our supplies and then to return to meet up with the rest of our group to then began the third and last leg of our trip. 

After a long time of loading 20 suitcases and nine backpacks onto the car, Michael worked to get a good price for our car eventually agreeing on a price that was too high, but we were all tired and ready to go home.  The car was loaded on the top and inside and we began the trek to Catel. The driver began honking to announce our arrival in the village and we began waving to the faces we had grown to call our friends.  Children ran after our van and a stream of people began arriving to our house as we disembarked from the van.  We were greeted with smiles, hugs and dancing.  We were so happy to be back and I believe from our greeting from the people here, they were so happy to have us back.    

This time for our arrival in Catel, we could understand what people were saying to us.  Our children also could instantly talk to their friends and play.  We all knew what to expect and knowing what to expect makes your experience entirely different.  

Flying on an Airplane

We have been singing a song from Barney for the past couple days.  If you have children, and your children liked Barney, then you may know the song, but for those of you that don't know, here's a YouTube video of the song so you can get it stuck in your head the same way it is stuck in mine.  

After being back in the states for 4 1/2 months, being in limbo not knowing when we would get to return to Guinea Bissau, we have tickets! We will be returning to Guinea Bissau in February! When we told our children a cheer erupted.  For our children to be so happy was yet another affirmation from God. They are ready to see their friends again. As one of them said, "I am ready to go home." Home is where your heart is.

God answered prayers with Michael's knee as well.  He is able to put off surgery and return with a knee brace.  We praise God for this answered prayer.

We are excited to return to Guinea Bissau, but at the same time we know we will face homesickness and long to be back in our home culture.  We are blessed to have been able to spend this time home.  We have been able to see so many people that we love and have prayed over us, we got to spend time with our family, and be here for births, birthdays and holidays.  These memories will help to get us through when the homesickness sets in.

Our home church has been amazing and we are blessed to be a part of it.  Most recently, the children's ministry has put together a 'store' for children to purchase items needed for our preschool in our village.

It has been amazing to see the love poured out for a preschool so far away.  Each child that placed something in the suitcases have blessed another child across the world.  We are all called to be servants of Christ and that is just what these kids were doing.  I also believe that the excitement for this 'store' gave our kids an excitement to return to GB.  Not only did the children (ages 3-11) at our church bless a preschool, they also blessed our kids.

We realize that we are always saying thank you, but we cannot say thank you enough.  Thank you to all of you that have prayed for us, been friends to us, fed us, clothed us, housed us, help provide for our physical needs, encouraged us, laughed with us, cried with us, the list goes on, but in the end we continue to say, "Thank you!".  We can never pay you back, but our Lord will bless you.  

Well, that's just humbling...

Ever have one of those moments when you think, "Well, that's just humbling."? That is what happened to us this morning.  Since Michael hurt his knee he has procrastinated calling our friends in the village. We were planning on returning to GB this month and they knew this.  They have been anticipating our return to GB.  With this injury our return is unknown.  How are we to explain this to the people that are anticipating our return with such excitement? We had a missionary friend that serves nearby explain to our church what happened so they could know, but we hadn't called them to speak with them. Our missionary friend, Beryl, emailed us and told us that Djibi wanted us to call him very badly.  Our hearts sank. We didn't want to have to tell him that our return may be delayed.  

Our procrastination has ended and with the ending of procrastination came some humble pie.  Michael called Djibi and was received with much happiness and encouragement.  Djibi wanted Michael to call him because he was so concerned with Michael's health.  When they heard about Michael's knee they began praying and fasting all day and night.  The church that we came to teach and help to grow, was praying and fasting for us. 

We were concerned with disappointing them, but in reality, their faith is so big that they didn't doubt one bit that this will keep us from returning.  In fact, Djibi told us how they were planning our return and how they would carry Michael through the village. They said they would meet us with their bicycles and carry Michael home. 

We were humbled by this because their faith in God is so big that they immediately turned to prayer and fasting for healing.  We didn't want to call them, but they were waiting for our call so they could encourage us and let us know they have been praying and fasting.  

...For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you.  Matthew 17:20