Interesting Nights

So did another village trip yesterday about 2 hours away from the house.  Everything went smooth and got back around 5pm.  Pastor Joseph called around 5:15pm and told Tim that one of the tires fell off of his truck, or that's how it got translated.  (this is the same tire he had trouble with on the way to the village) So Tim and I left the house around 5:30pm to go help him, along the way...got our spare tire fixed in case we got a flat (30 min. - time is now 6:00ish), picked up Pastor Jean-Mark (his wife was in the truck and has been there since around 3:30 (20 min. - now 6:30ish), picked up Joseph's mechanics (they had to do a bunch of stuff before we actually picked them up, long story...1 hr. - now 7:30ish), found Joseph at the big town outside the village [apparently he hitch-hiked his way about a 40 min. worth of driving] (1 hr. - now 8:30ish), got to the truck where we found Mama Jeanine, Perine, and Natalie; they had: started a fire on the side of the road/started to eat palm nuts (which was mine and Tim's dinner along with sugar cane that Mama Jeanine used a machette to peel for us - an experience all in itself) (30 min. - now 9:00ish), mechanics tried to fix the tire - don't think they knew what they were doing... (2 hrs. - now 11:30ish), start to drive with Tim's van in front but after getting involved in a discussion figure out that the truck is no longer behind us; so drive back and find that the tire has slanted now need to see if the i-don't-know-what-i'm-doing mechanics fix it or not which they do (45 mins. - 12:00am), get the tire up and running and Joseph drives in front; apparently goats sleep in the middle of the road so he has to swerve to miss one of them; bad idea because that causes another tire slant - more mechanic time (30 min. - 12:30am), finally decide to leave the truck on the side of the road where Joseph will sleep in it until tomorrow when the mechanics come back (20 min. - 1:00am).  Now have all the medicine containers, Pastor Jean-Mark, two mechanics, Mama Jeanine, Perine, and Natalie, Tim, and I in the van to go home.  Joseph has bug spray and a flashlight for the night.  Drop everyone off and finally get home around 2:00am.  Yes, that was after the workday, an 8 1/2 hour adventure.  No pictures either because we were in the middle of nowhere in the pitch black.  Yah!  Oh the experiences.  Haha.

Itch

So, back from church and just hanging out at the house.  We went to the C&MA mother church this morning which has two services.  The service we went to had about 3,000 people in it.  Wow!  The second service was said to be even bigger...  Anways, we had another village trip yesterday for med stuff.  Not as eventful as the day before with all of the bumps and mud, but successful nonetheless.  We also went to another village to scout it for next week (another med site).  Make sure the chief knows we are coming on thursday.  It's a beautiful village because it's right on the coast, but it is a pretty far and bumpy ride there.  Oh well.

One negative thing about the trip was the amount of mosquitos that were flying around the village.  We all got bit up pretty bad...  I just counted all of the bites and the final total is around 98, give or take a few...  Was not fun last night or this morning with all the itchiness.  I love anti-itch cream!

I continue to stand in awe of the work God is doing in men like Pastors Jacob and Joseph.  They are passionate for the Lord and want to see His name sent everywhere.  It seems like they never tire or grow weary in any situation.  I ask that you pray for them because the Lord is doing great things in and through them.

Here are some random pictures: 1st is of Sunset Beach on our first full day in Gabon, 2nd is of my new guitar I bought in LA (long story...), last one is of my intern team (L to R: me, Lindsay, Hannah, and Torey).  Still trying to put up the pictures of the mud and truck...

Muddy Med Caravan

So went on the first medical caravan this morning.  Left the house around 8:00 to meet the rest of the med team which consisted of Pastor Jacob, Pastor Joseph, Mama Jeanine, and some other nurses and technicians.  We rode in Pastor Joseph's truck (take note of this) and Tim's van.  We made it to the village back roads where it was very muddy and knew the van wouldn't make it.  PJ's truck, however, needed to make it up because it held all of the med supplies.  It made it about half way up the muddy hill before it got stuck.  After pushing it out (of which I sank in a muddy hole and shoes got covered...) multiple times from different spots on the road, it finally got stuck in a huge hole of mud.  The back left tire was surrounded by mud.  It took many guys to help dig it out and push it out.  So after 1 1/2 hour setback in the morning, we finally headed to the village which was another 2 kilometers away up and down big, bumpy, muddy hills.  The truck only took about 3/4 of the team, so me and some others walked.  The ladies decided to take a random cab that passed by (yes it was a village in the middle of nowhere that we were going to...) and Pastor Jacob and I were left to walk or "marche" in french.  Actually a truck full of Africans picked us up and we rode by standing on the back bumper.  Very interesting way of transport :-)  Got to the village, had about 20 patients where each were weighed, bp taken, and consulted then given drugs/meds.  Had lunch afterwards which was about 3-4 hours later.  The trip home was even better.  The guys rode in the truck bed and Joseph is not a slow driver, but the roads did not help either.  Let's just say that Tim and I rode on the edge of the trucka nd our tooshes got manhandled by both the roads and truck.  No other way to explain it.  One of the scariest moments of my life.  Interesting first day of Gabon-life to say the least.

First Couple of Days

This is going to be a quick one.  Getting ready right now to head out on a mobile medical clinic in one of the villages.  Yesterday was a "get accustomed"/beach/relax day.  We met the Straw family who is the other missionary family who live on the other side of town.  Then we took a trip to Sunset Beach with them.  What an awesome day to go.  Sun was shining and water was warm.  We also had dinner with them and just hung out getting to know them.  Today will be fun too because it's our first medical clinic, something most short-term teams will experience.

Training

So I'm sitting in a hotel next to the hotel that I'm staying in because they have free wireless...  Anyways, I am currently on day 4 of training out here in LA with all of the other AY missions interns.  We got to San Diego on Thursday afternoon and proceeded to Ensenada, Mexico for the last couple of days.  There we did some "mock" events of which we will do with our short term teams this summer (meals, orientation, work project, travel, etc.).  Fun stuff.  On Friday night, the cook in Ensenada prepared us dinner which was called Menudo.  We ate it, but unbeknownst to us was that it was soup with chunks of pig intestine.  Ummm...  I only got about half of the bowl down, I did not, however, throw up or anything along those lines.  :-)  After all of that we headed back to LA on Saturday afternoon and have been here since.  My team is the last to leave for our site so we will be the only ones in LA come tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll be able to communicate with a lot of you then.

Training has been very worthwhile because the emphasis has been on giving everything to God.  This is something that I really committed to doing this past semester.  I think too many times, we take for granted the presence of God and the ability He has.  He is everything, and as such we should lift everything up to Him.  For instance, this summer, I will have times of struggle and difficulty and the only thing that I should and need to do is give it all to God.  I challenge you, as you read this, to think and reflect of all things you haven't given to God and tried to do on your own.  Remember, we are all only human.  What have you not given to Him, our Creator?

Here We Go...

I'm sitting in the Pittsburgh Airport right now waiting for my flight to San Diego via Minneapolis.  It's way early, but I'm pretty wide awake with the excitement of a)flying by myself and b)kicking off my summer in Gabon.  I can't wait to see what God has in store for me in the coming months.

On another note, I can't thank the people around me enough, meaning my friends and family.  The amount of prayer from all of you is overwhelming.  Thanks to my family, GCC friends, ACAC friends, and FCC congregation members (and anyone else that was left out).  God works and prayer is one of the ways that He works.  Just know that I am praying for your summers as much as you are mine because I know God will use each one of you to impact someone's life this summer.  Talk to you hopefully in San Diego...

Studying

So I should be studying right now...  I have a spanish final in about 19 hours, and I need to know a ton of stuff.  Yet here I am.  I am so blessed to be around people that are supportive and also looking to further expand their worldviews.  I live in a suite with 7 other guys and 3 out of the 8 of us are going on missions trips this summer.  Chuck is going to Paraguay with Athletes in Action for 2 months and Charlie is going to Papua New Guinea for 2 months to help a missionary family.  What awesome experiences?!?  I can't wait to come back and share how God worked through us and in us.  Interesting fact here, with Scott (who lives with me and is going to England), the 4 of us will touch 6 out of 7 continents this summer. :-)

I am however, as a I stand less than a week from leaving, looking forward to seeking and listening to God.  There has been a yearning in me this semester to go out somewhere and just take time to be still and listen to God.  That deep sense of standing on the top of a mountain or in the middle of the jungle and experiencing the stillness and peace.  I think, as Christians, we don't spend enough time (I know that I don't) listening.  We are always doing.  That is a great thing, but we also need to take and make that time to listen to what God is saying to us.  It does not necessarily need to take a missions trip for this to happen, but we do indeed need to make it happen.  I am excited to embark on this journey next week and grow as a man of God.  I know that God will use me, stretch me, and speak to me on this trip.  I hope that this summer, you will grow as well, let God do great things in your life.  Listen and learn.

"Be still and know that I am God..." - Psalm 46:10

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