Week 11

Hello friends and family,

       This week has been pretty amazing! I have had a lot of fun. On  Monday, I went to the deaf school. The teacher, a deaf man, and I taught the  4th grade students, some  signs that they didn't know.These signs included the words:flower, elephant, girraffe, envelope, teacher, student, sports player, and others. One of the  strangest things about the school is that the students slap around on each other all the time! Not part of the time but ALL the time. I believe this is the result of how they are disciplined and  how their families get their attention. Sadly, these kids don't know anything else. The students are very sweet  and I am very excited about teaching them. They are eager to learn and the way they learn is through acting things out, like charades. It is a lot of fun. The older students vocabulary did excede my expectations however, when fourth grade students don't know how to express the word envelope, it is rather sad.



I am helping teach English at Kalanbankora school



 On Wednesdays we go to the orphanage and Caritas. God keeps giving me favor with the people there.  As I was changing a baby's diaper and the woman I was working with, got on her knees  and put a toe ring on my toe, just to bless me! It was a gift for no reason. The Caritas girls are teaching me more Bambara words and they invited us all for lunch. The girls told me that next week,they will braid my hair and make me some skirts. It was  really cool. These girls have been through so much yet they are blessing me immensley. I feel truly blessed.




Me reviewing Bambara with the kiddos in the neighborhood. :)





Please pray that I get a better understanding and grasp of the Bambara language.  I often feel like I am not progressing as quickly as I would like. We have Bambara classes on Tuesdays and Fridays, two hours each day.We also practice outside of class. However, I still feel limited in my Bambara. I really have a burning desire to have deeper conversations with the people but still feel like I am hitting a brick wall with learning the language.

We  went to Saegu this weekend, it was wonderful! I loved it! That is why this newsletter is late. We went to a pottery village and  saw how they make mud cloth. It was really fascinating. The time and preparation they put into pottery and mud cloth is amazing. It helped change my view on life. They do this for a living and spend huge amounts of time on each piece. It is very convicting. I have a deep desire to serve God with my life and I still don't take as much time with Him, as these women, men, and children do to make a pot and cloth.

Thank you for all your prayers and support.