Back from Guinea!

I got back from Guinea yesterday! We took Amanda and Brittany to their new home in Guinea. It was a 2 day drive from Bamako. The first part had paved roads, and you don't know what a luxury that is until you move to Africa. The rest (probably 2/3) was horrible roads. This picture shows a little

but not the full extent. You may think that is the side of the road, but that is the actual road. I drove for hours and hours, and only was in third gear for 5 minutes. The rest was between second and first. It was really fun and a little scary.
I had no idea of what to expect from their town. All we had heard was it was out in the middle of nowhere and you can't get anything. Africans were telling us it was out in the middle of nowhere, if that tells you anything. We did see a lot of animals, though. We saw a huge warthog (just like Pumba but black), a bushrat, and monkeys! Wild monkeys on the side of the road! We finally got there after 2 long days of driving, and it was so funny. Tons of Africans were all around us, and they were all speaking English! It was night and I was tired and I had no idea who was who, but they were all talking to us and getting stuff out of the car. They were really nice and excited we were there. We went to bed and the next morning we went looked around and met people. They town is incredible, but people are great. There is no electricity or running water, so we used a generator and went down to the pump to get water. The pump is a good ways away and you have to carry the water in bidons on your head! Oh my goodness, it's hard. The Africans can balance it on their heads, but I had to use my arms and it was still really hard. I thought my head was going to break, but fortunately, it didn't.
We stayed there a few days and got them settled, then we went on our first research assignment. We had to find information on the Kono people, like how many believers there were, were any mission organizations engaging them, etc. We drove to the town and stayed the night at a guesthouse, then the next morning we were going to a place that studies chimps to see them then to see the Kono people. I was so excited. Well, I woke up that morning and didn't feel good, but I still went. We got to the research place, and I threw up. The people found the monkeys and our guide took us up a mountain in primary forest (which means none of the trees have ever been cut and there aren't really any trails). I'm not great at climbing mountains anyway, and this was hard, and I felt awful. When we got close, I threw up again. How much grosser could I get? We finally found the chimps, and they were way up in the trees. I just layed down on a log while everyone else took pictures. Of all the days to get sick, I picked the worst one. They went and found some more and I stayed on the log. We finally started to go down the mountain, and I fell down it 3 times. I would like to say it's because I was sick, but I probably would have fallen anyways, my balance leaves a lot to be desired. Unfortunately for our guide, I was right behind him, and when he graciously tried to help me, my feet slipped out from under me and I knocked him over too. After that, he kept a safe distance away from me, sometimes I couldn't even see him!
It turns out that he was Kono! This is how nice Africans are, he took us to a Kono village! He didn't even know us and he did this. It was really far, but we drove there and he introduced us (or them, because I was still throwing up and laying down in the car) and they told the story of the demonic man and Creation to Return. The story of the demonic man really means a lot to these people because most of them have witnessed demonic possession first hand and they want to know the God who has power over this. The Creation to Return story is a run through of the Bible, highlighting man's need for God and how even though we sinned God promised a Savior and sent Him. The people were so grateful that we came and told us that they wanted to be changed like the man in the story. They gave us lots of gifts, like a live chicken, banananas, rice, and money. Christians in the town came and greeted us and took us to their church and we all worshipped together. They kept coming and coming and it was really cool. It's amazing how God works out divine appointments like that and leads you to where He wants you to be and puts the right people in your path. The next day, we went back to Amanda and Brittany's city and then we came back to Bamako. On the way, we thought we had car trouble. We stopped the car and had tons of Africans
rush to our assitance. We were their morning entertainment, as you can see.
Tuesday, Rachel, another Journeyman named Katy, and I leave to search for the Red Boba and research them. Please be in prayer for us that God willl lead us to the right people and that we will be able to witness to people along the way. Pray for safety as we are driving.