The one with the totes nar backpacks

Sunday: So we woke up on Sunday and got ready for church, which since all my white shirts are dirty and I wasn't expecting to have to look decent until Europe meant borrowing Andi's Columbia fishing shirt all of my frat daddy friends would be so proud. As soon as we were all dressed, however, Vero informed us that Viola was on her way and we decided we would stick around until she got here so we could finally get a straight answer on when, exactly, we were going to be moving to Segou. She arrived at probably 10:30am with our friend from the first night, Anodella. After a while of listening to Viola and Vero speak about the curtains and other things the girls had made for the Environmental Learning Center I've officially decided that my understanding of the French language has VASTLY improved. It's when, as seems to be customary here, they switch back and forth between Wolof and French that I get confused. Viola then interrogated us as to our progress with our various tasks which had been incredibly difficult seeing as there had been a rainstorm that took out our internet for a week or so. Then she informed us that we, along with another volunteer, would be moving to Segou on THURSDAY (This information has since proven to be false. Patience and trusting the Lord when you have NO idea what's going on seem to be our consistant lessons while here) Andi and I were PSYCHED. High fives all around and what not.
Monday: WE GOT INTERNET BACK!!!! I proceeded to post our blogs from the week and check my facebook which was overwhelming because my birthday was during the dark ages. It was decided that I have the funniest friends in the entire world. What was that you said? You want some examples? Well here are some of my favorites:
Patrick Casey Bush: "I send my birthday regards"
Cody McCarthy: "So I coulda sworn your birthday was during first retreat but I think I miss saying happy birthday this time around due to a time change.... So happy belated birthday!!! Tricky fingers changing their birth dates on Facebook" (This one was especially funny because he meant to say 'gingers' not fingers. bahaha)
Josh Click: "Happy Birthday Marzipan! Hope your summer is a wild one like only us redheads can experience!"
Leanna Tanner: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY soon-to-be-best-friend!!!! I know you're having a blast doing your thing in Africa, but I can't wait until your back so we can do some water aerobics!!! Get your goggles and swim cap ready babay!!!!"

Zack LeCroy: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARISSA YOU AFRICAN WONDERWOMAN"
Robyn Schell: "You are the most popular girl I know. Even more popular than Jenna Rose, and celebrities wear the same jeans as her. Hap33 BiRtdAi ♥"
Kate Paty: "clap! clap clap! clap ya hands! hap! hap hap! happy birth! c-section or natural, drugged or not, i'm THRILLED the Lord saw fit to put you on this planet. as opposed to other planets."

Anyways, you get the idea. My friends rock. A lot. (...my friends are cool too, btw. Might I just say that Sassy LaShay Abney made Showdown aka the awesome women's ultimate frisbee team out of Austin. Can you say rockstar? -A)

(And actually, before we got Internet back, Marissa was playing with her food at lunch.. it was so happy to see her! -A)

Tuesday: The past few days as you can tell have been fairly uneventful, with a few exceptions, one of which being that I, somehow in 108 degree weather, managed to get a cold. This wouldn't be that big of a deal except we only had 4 kleenex and 1 roll of toilet paper....Thats it. For everything. So I was learning the art of using a single sheet of toilet paper to blow my nose. The good news: WE GOT NEW BACKPACKS!!! The girls handmade us the most rad backpacks I have ever seen including the pink Jasmine backpack that I had in 1st grade. (They are AWESOME. Even though Marissa's fabric choice looks like something from India and mine looks like something from Mexico. Promise they were made in Africa! -A) Man. I'm so obsessed with it. Maybe we'll take a sweet "back to school" type picture to show them off. Until then I'm hoping that Andi will have some funny side notes to fill you in on whatever else has happened in the past few days but my memory is failing me. (There's not been much going on here except for helping the girls get the curtains ready for the Enviornmental Learning Center in Segou--yeah, the one we're not moving too yet. Word on the street is that its still not ready for volunteers yet, whatever that means. So, hopefully it won't be too much longer but seriously, who knows. Until then, we'll just be patient and continue loving the girls here. -A)

What I can tell you though is what the Lord has been teaching me about in my quiet times, which is modern day idolatry. So I knew that idolatry didn't only apply to golden statues of cows but for some reason reading through 1st Thessalonians and listening to the Breakaway podcast on it, it just hit me. America has a serious problem with it. It's an epidemic, and what's worse is that I'm right there in it. Here is what the problem boils down to: We, as human beings, were made to center our lives around something. We were made to worship something bigger than ourselves. We all recognize it, even those who choose not to believe that the thing we're meant to be worshipping is God. It starts with the recognition that we are never satistfied. There is something wrong in our world and we recognize that something's wrong with us too. So we decide what it is that we're discontented with (usually misguidedly) and we go to any lengths to fill that vacancy. So we look to things for a solution to what we see as our deepest need. Beauty: we spend exorbitant amounts of money on clothes, makeup, hair cuts, gym memberships. Money: we'll sacrifice our time, relationships, and sometimes even our happiness to watch money grow in our bank accounts. Love: we'll change our behaviors, heck, we'll change our personalities so that we can have the fairytale love story. I love the way Ben looked at this in that our childhood movies all involve the significant other coming to save them. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White: The Prince comes to rescue them in their hour of need. Princess and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast: The Princess comes and makes them into something handsome and honorable. The silly thing is that we KNOW this isn't reality. People come with problems that don't just go away when you get married. But we WERE meant to be saved by someone, and that someone IS perfect. And He would and did DIE for us. Our lives were meant to worship Him, be filled up by His Spirit, come to Him in our moments of desperation. The headline of the story of history is that nothing lasts and nothing fully satistfys except Christ. Man, I wish that I could get this into my thick skull. But first you have to figure out what the things are that you turn to for your security. Ben gave three questions from Tim Keller's book "Counterfeit Gods" 1) Look at your imagination. Because your mind will go effortlessly to your idols when nothing is demanding your attention. 2) Look at your flow of money. What do you spend the most money on? 3) Look at your uncontrollable emotions. When you get really upset was it because you think something is too important and it gets threatened? My prayer for myself and all of you is that this summer we could be like the Thessalonians who turned from their idols to SERVE and LIVE for God. Nothing else satisfies.

Love all of you,
Marsa and Andi

The one where it was "good for women to do wash"

As if the birthday celebratory deliciousness wasn't enough, we spent the majority of the day Thursday at the church celebrating the First Communion and Confirmation of a few of the kids there. Mass was two-and-a-half-hours LONG. Perhaps it seems to drag on longer than usual because I have no idea what is being said in the readings or homiley and because its stinkin' hot in the Senegalese outfits Vero lent us. (Mine had a coffee bean print. No stinkin wonder all the Senegalese men want to marry me. It's my impecable style and dancing skills. That and the fact that the majority of the time I've been here I've either been throwing up or covered in hives. Really though.... my proposal count is at like 10...-M) The kids who were celebrating their First Communion or Confirmation were absolutely adorable though; the girls were all dolled up in their white dresses complete with all sorts of sparkley flowers in their hair, white lacey socks with their white patent leather heels and of course, silky white gloves. Hott mamas. It really was adorable--you could tell they were so proud of their outfits and that the whole day was about them! (Ok so Andi and I talked in an earlier blog about Sophee's 'weave', I just wanted to clarify that it is not just her. I don't think I have seen a woman's real hair since I've been here and it is CRAZY what they can do with the fake stuff. The first communion do's were out.of.control. Seriously there were like 20 ft long braids wrapped up in massive twisty buns with small glittery bouquets sticking out of them. Andi and I have no mirror here which is a blessing but also means that I am definitely losing in the hair styling competition here. By a lot. But the post rain humidity might allow me to win the afro competition, so at least I have that going for me.-M)


After the longest Mass in the history of ever (no but really-M), we went home with Vero and Sophee so we could give Leah the keys we accidentally made it to church with and Marissa and I took it as a chance to change out of the heat tents we were wearing. Whoop for t-shirts and capri pants! Vero was going to help the ladies in the kitchen at the church prepare food for the celebration and we tagged along. I was interested to see how the Senegalese kitchen worked. We ended up hanging out in one of the huts around the priests' house all day, watching the ladies prepare the salads--and by salad I mean plates of shredded carrots, cabbage, califlower, and pieces of tomato, bell pepper, cucumber and hardboiled eggs. It did have a tasty little dressing and strongly resembled cole slaw, I just had to avoid the huge blob of mayonaisse they are so very fond of here. (Amy Lorance, you would not like it one bit--they eat mayo on pretty much anything.) Trays of meat and rice filed in the little hut and the women busied themselves spooning it all onto platters to be served at the main table where the "kids of the day" got to dine with the priests and nuns. Shortly, huge buckets of frozen bissap tea and platters of little muffin-sized cakes and of course, more rum cake were hauled into the tiny hut. (Extra heavy on the rum, Andi loves it but I feel like I'm getting tipsy from the fumes of that stuff alone. Good news is that the crazy high alcohol content probably kills any germs-M) After everyone else had been served out in the courtyard, the women in the hut got to indulge in the remaining food. Pretty good way to spend an afternoon if I do say so myself.

I feel like I need to take a moment and explain to you the glory that is bissap tea. Now for some of you, you're reading the going, "Tea? Ugh, I don't even like tea. What's so stinkin' special about TEA?" Well my friends, bissap is in no way, shape or form like the black tea you're thinking of from America. In fact, bissap is purely hibiscus blossoms and mint, steaped in sugar water. (Extra heavy on the sugar. I like this stuff but more as a occasional frozen dessert. Andi on the otherhand...-M) Don't worry, once I'm home, I'm figuring out where to get some hibiscus and am making this all the time. When its frozen, its like a little popscicle. Which in Africa, is awesome to have. Vero calls it "freezy juice." Therefore, "snow cones" will now be refered to as "freezy juice."

Once we had managed to refuse seconds of cake, Vero took us outside into the courtyard where there was, yep, you guessed it--dancing! Everyone was in a huge circle and we found a spot by Sophee and Bernadette. Its become a known fact to us that we'll be forced to dance at these things. Its only a matter of time. Marissa has successfully made "the jerk" the toubaar dance. They LOVE it when she does that. We were enjoying just sitting among friends watching people dance around and pull their friends in with them when the best thing EVER happened. It started with just one precious little girl who came to sit in the chair in front of Marissa. Next thing I know, there's four little ones sitting on the bench next to her and the first little girl is sitting in her lap. PRECIOUS. Not too long after that, Burnadette's brother Surgey is sharing my chair with me, fascinated by my ring and bracelets. It was the greatest thing just to get to love on some kids finally! Even if we can't speak their language, we can communicate Christ's love through giving them attention and a smile. Sorry I just got all mushy with you, but it really was sweet and the highlight of my week. I especially loved that Surgey noticed the cross on my ring and then pointed to the cross on the steeple of the church. AWESOME that he made that connection. Seriously, God is so great. (If I could even begin to tell you how awesome this was, I would, but words cannot describe. The little girl in my lap couldn't have been more than 3 and her sister fell asleep on my shoulder while we were watching everyone else dance. Which was a multi-purpose dose of awesome because it kept people from pulling us up to dance.-M)

(Side note: During the first time we had lunch at the church I made friends with a little boy named Antoine. I may have mentioned him before but I can't check because the internet is still...out.... Anyways I fell in love with him and he's my new African boyfriend. Turns out the little nugget is twofold connected to us already. 1) He's the son of one of Sophee's friends from the choir who does NOT look old enough to be a mom 2) HE'S STANLEY THE SOCK EATER!!! I knew he looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. I know now that it was the lack of socks in his mouth. Anyways, the wedding is on Juneteenth and you're all invited.-M)

Friday we finally were feeling up to a run first thing in the morning. Let me tell you something, that was probably the best little jog I've ever taken. After sitting around the house for three weeks, my legs were so grateful to move quicker than a brisk walk. Of course my lungs were freaking out, but the rest of me felt 110% better. We helped Veronique cut strips of fabric for curtains she's making for Viola's new house in Segou. Other than my monster nap after lunch, we spent the day reading and having more time for Bible study. Not having Internet sure does limit your activities since all the work we're supposed to be doing is completely dependent on that. One of the men that works for the Grandarmerie across the way from us brought melon from Dakar for us. It was like a cross between a honeydew and a canteloupe with an incredibly buttery taste but looked like an enlongated acorn squash. New things all the time. (In other news the neighbor boys next door figured out that if they get on the roof of their house they can more effectively watch the toubaar's perform mundane activites including but not limited to such exciting events as: Reading, praying, writing letters, doing laundry, speaking in their strange foreign tongues. They've also discovered that this puts them at the perfect angle for a sort of reverse Romeo and Juliet act where they blow kisses and profess their undying love for us. Our response: Asking Vero how to say 'You're to young for me' She said that would only encourage them so we decided instead on 'I have a big scary husband back in the America'.... That should do the trick...-M)

So far, Saturday has been just a typical as a Saturday can get: early morning run, long breakfast with the roomies, laundry, watching soccer on the tube and enjoying cold juice with a good book. Its been surprisingly cool today--I attribute that to the wind and the rain that's sure to follow. Sophee dyed one of her towels today and tie-dyed some little pieces of fabric for Marsa and I. Tomorrow she said I could dye Dingey (the name I've affectionately given to my once white, now tan, towel) any color I wanted. So I get to make Dingey a beautiful shade of Fightin' Texas Aggie Maroon and Marissa is going to dye her equally dingey v-necks all sorts of colors.

(If you're wondering about the title of today's blog here's the story: So Andi and I are handwashing our laundry outside when the usual audience of next door neighbors comes over to enjoy the toubaar laundry show when the following conversation ensues:

Neighborman:Wolofwolofwolof frenchwolof wolofwolof french wolofwolof

Marsa: I really can't understand you. Sorry.

Neighborman: Cette Americanne. You speak Wolof. Wolof is good.

Andi: We are trying to speak Wolof, we just didn't understand what you said just then

Neighborman: You must try. Wolof is good. You do the wash?

Andi: Yes

Marsa (under her breath): youhavebeenwatchingusdothewashforaboutfifteenminutes

Neighborman: Ahhh yes. Do the wash is good.

Andi: Yes doing the wash IS good.

Marsa (again under her breath): itsevenbetterwithoutguyswatchingyouhangyourbrasuptodry

Neighborman: It is good for woman to do wash

Eternally Patient Andi: Yes well we do our best

Marsa (you guessed it): nothingweamericanwomenlovemorethangenderstereotypes

Have pity on me for the lack of understanding and patience. I was sick and a little annoyed with the constant audience while I wash my skivies. Really. Back up off.-M)

We still have absolutely no idea when Viola will come for us to get to Segou but we love just doing life with these girls here in Koungheul. Serving them in the little ways we can and growing in community with one another, laughing all the time. Not at all the way either of us had planned for this summer to go, but that's what's so beautiful about God breaking your plans to make way for His much better one. Praise be.

(I have a couple of additional side notes. The first is that one of the ladies from the church is the English teacher at the school and a really close friend of Vero's and so we're probably going to go sit in on a few English classes and help out if we can. Praise God for another opportunity to serve. The second is that I seem to be sick again, I have a pretty nasty cough and it's super uncomfortable to breathe. So if you all could be praying for me just for protection from any major illness and that whatever this is wouldn't inhibit my ability to serve while I'm here, I feel like He is doing a great job of answering my prayer to be stripped of my own strength so I could rely entirely on His. -M)

We love you all and miss you more and more everyday!

m&a

The one where Marsa turned 21!!!!!

What what! I'm a big girl now. Granted, as there's no drinking age in Senegal the fact that I'm 21 as opposed to 20 isn't really that big of a deal. But we'll get there in a little bit since we last left you off on Sunday.


Monday- Fairly standard day at the WHEPSA house. We had our morning breakfast and spent some time in the Word. Since we've finished James we worked through Habakkuk which was surprisingly more challenging to get through than James. It basically is Habakkuk's prayers to the Lord about how bad things had gotten in Judah with the Israelites basically acting no different than the pagan nations around them. To say that Habakkuk is honest is a bit of an understatement, he is pretty much whining to God and questioning the wisdom of His decisions. It's easy for me to look at that and be like "Man, Habakkuk, get it together. This is the Creator of the entire world. He knows what's going on. Stop whining." but realistically how often when something happens that I don't understand, do I say to myself "Really Lord, THIS is what you have planned for me?" but studying through Habakkuk with Andi has made me realize two things -or rather, reminded me of two things that I often forget. 1) We have insanely limited perceptive abilities. Matt Chandler put it this way, if we were to put the entire history of the Earth so far into an hour long movie, I would only be in it for part of a millisecond. So it would be like being asked the plot of the movie from my milisecond long look at it compared to asking the Director and Author of the movie. We don't know everything. We can't see the long term effects of the things happening to us. But God can. So trusting Him is NEVER going to lead you astray. Trusting your own abilities... Almost always... 2) God wants us to come to Him with honesty in prayer. It's not like He doesn't know what's on our minds anyways so trying to hide our frustration, confusion, fear, or grief from Him is only hurting us. Apart from our Bible study we also got a chance to go to the center for the handicapped here in Koungheul with Leah. I cannot even begin to tell you how humbling an experience being here has been. The people here don't take anything for granted. Those girls work hard , doing embroidery and such, for the things they need, but they are so upbeat and gracious everytime we see them. There was a little boy who lived there that I'm pretty sure had never seen a white person before because anytime he was in visual range of us he would start wailing. Cool.... My mom said on the phone that it might have been because he thought we were ghosts, I'm not sure if she meant this seriously or as another jab at how pale I am.

Tuesday- Today we had a funeral to go to for a woman that goes to our church here. We were told to wear our Senegalese clothes, which felt super strange seeing as they're pink and flowery, not very traditional funeral attire. It was across town so we took a taxi... and by taxi I mean a cart pulled by a donkey. (And by "donkey" she means "bare bones horse" -A) I'm going to be honest, it is NOT my favorite form of transportation for two reasons 1) It kind of ends up being a Toubaar parade of sorts where everyone that you pass yells "TOUBAAR! BONJOUR TOUBAAR!!" and you wave at them and they yell some more and giggle and point 2) The poor donkeys (HORSES -A) (In my defense there are donkeys also-M) are so skinny and they have cuts all across their backs from the sticks they use to make them go faster. I know I sound like a PETA freak but it makes me sad. (She can't help it she's a vegetarian. -A) When we got there it turned out to be more of a funeral reception than an actual funeral. We sat for a while and talked to one another. I'm really loving the amount of time that Andi and I have to get to know one another. She is so. stinkin. cool. (That's not fair. Marissa is stinkin' awesome too. Like, really. -A) We were talking at one point about how cute the babies here are and how Vero is going to help us break into the hospital and steal one.-total joke, no worries mom and dad, international prison is not really my style- (Except that I was being serious. I'm totally going to steal a baby while I'm here. Leah is taking me to the health clinic tomorrow. -A) Then I saw a little puffy cheeked girl that was stinkin precious (ABSOLUTELY the cutest little chubby baby ever! -A) and Vero, while making fun of the baby by puffing up her cheeks, said the baby was ugly which lead to a conversation that went something like this:

V-That baby is NOT cute. See that girl over there. She is cute.

M- You just watch it. One of these days you're going to have an ugly baby, THEN what are you going to do

V- If I have an ugly baby I will give it to my mother.

A- So you're telling me you're going to give your baby away if it's ugly?!?

V- Yes but that won't happen because my baby will be pretty like me.

M- You're going to have an ugly baby for sure and then you're going to call Andi and I and we're going to come and get it.

So basically when Vero has an 'ugly' baby, Andi and I are adopting it. Either way I'm totally adopting a little African boy. No question. Andi will tell you about our boyfriends, Surgey and Antoine in our next blog, which should explain my decision.

That evening, while I was taking a shower, there was a really loud crash outside that sounded like an explosion of something electric-I was kind of hoping it was the amplifier that the call to prayer guy uses (Ah, if only it were that easy. -A)- and then what was seriously the most torential downpour I've experienced in my life. And the room we slept, since we obviously couldn't sleep outside, had a tin roof. It was awesome and made me excited for rainy season, but it also killed our Internet, hence the lack of posts since then. (Vero didn't want to run outside in the rain and unplug the "light box" aka the Internet hook up before the lightening got a hold of it. Obviously, if you're reading this you'll know its been fixed. -A) (Or that we're at an internet cafe... which at this rate is more likely. Like everything else, the people who fix the internet are in no particular hurry-M)

Wednesday AKA MY BIRTHDAY- First off thank you to all of you who sent me birthday texts they were so wonderful :) I can't wait to have internet again to see the messages there. Andi and I took it pretty easy. We went and got peanuts and Cikilop (chocolate covered cookies with coconut and marshmallow) and during lunch the girls got together and bought me a pineapple soda which was delicious and so sweet of them. Leah told us that most people here don't know how old they are much less when their birthdays are so the fact that they made a big deal out of mine was really really special. (It was a pretty wonderful day, I must say. These precious girls went out of their way to make it awesome. -A) My birthday present to myself was a call to both my parents and Sarah. There were about a billion people I wanted to call but seeing as the calls are a little more than a dollar a minute I thought I would keep it to three short calls. It was SO good to talk to her though. Getting to communicate through facebook and emails is great but there is something about hearing a familiar voice that made me so homesick. We started plotting out our joint 21st birthday party for when we get back and all of the things we're going to cross off our college bucket list next semester. (for example: impulse trip to the beach to watch the sunrise, start an epic prank war, run in the Muddy Buddy and Warrior Dash, and taking Will and Britton camping because somehow they have managed to have gone 20 years without ever camping. So much for rugged manliness) To say that I miss her would be a huge understatement. Andi and I then went to church choir practice with Sophee and it was gorgeous. Ugh. If we were staying here longer I would 100% be joining the choir. (Really, words cannot describe the sound these people make. Its stunning. I recorded a bit of it with my phone, so hopefully some of you can come close to understanding what I'm talking about. Surely this is what angels in Heaven sound like. -A) While we were listening to them sing one of lady's sons was staring at us and she put him down so that he could come over to us but he got about halfway then thought better of it and went to play with the drums. Andi says it's a guy thing. Haha. When we got back we had a special birthday dinner of SALAD AND FRIED EGGS!!! (AND FRENCH FRIES!!) AHHHHH woooooooo. Gosh. It was so good. Andi even got to have chicken. (WHOOP! Best. Chicken. Ever. Sorry Dad but I had to get excited about something OTHER than fish! -A) It was a good birthday for both of us. The best part of the day for me was right after I got out of the shower Andi said "Vero, Sophee... Kaiyea (which means 'come here') we have something for you" Which of course I took to mean that Andi and I had something for the two of them, because I'm an idiot and had already forgotten that it was my birthday. We went into Vero's office and there was a cake with a huge candle in the center. They all sang me happy birthday and Sophee decided that would be a good moment to start tickling me. It was so so soo soooooo sweet. Not the traditional (American) birthday cake but still delicious. All in all it was an incredibly humbling and wonderful birthday. Thanks Andi Pants for making it one of my best ever :)

The one with the African "Booty Do"

Let me just start by saying that I think one of the lessons we're supposed to be learning is definitely humility. Humility in the sense that we're being embarassed beyond belief and being able to laugh at it one day. (I've got a head start on this one since I've been embarrassing myself since birth, ain't that right mom and pop-M) And humility in the sense that we're being treated as grand guests in a community that has so little. We've had an exciting weekend to say the least! (understatement of the century-M)

Saturday was just another lazy day here in Koungheul. Veronique finally returned from her trip to Dakar--we were beginning to think she had been offered a trapese artist job and run away with the circus--(In reality she was just picking up guys at the Dakar DHL. Sister gets numbers like it's going out of style-M) and everything was right with the world again. We could communicate with them; all was good. AND even better, Sophee told us there was a party (later to find out that means concert) and asked if we wanted to go. Well OF COURSE we're down to party in Senegal! Duh. Sophee, Hati and Burnadette were all dressed up in their clubbing attire and we set off for the concert around 12:45. These Senegalese party late! $4 got us a ticket and after waiting in line for a while (and witnessing a fight break out between two twenty-somethings who were throwing punches and dirt at each other-M)and making it past three huge bouncers (while the power IE the lights went off making it a chaotic and intimidating entrance...just our style-M), we made it in. A concrete floor with a small raised stage in the corner all surrounded by concrete walls made up the arena. We found a spot to sit in the plastic lawn chairs and waited for the show to start. People watching became our favorite pasttime of the evening. A mixture of traditional Senegalese dress and incredibly shiny American clothing made up the "clubbing attire" of the evening. This kind of thing is their big to-do and they put on their best. (I would like to extend this description for your entertainment. There were a few different distinct styles going on 1)The teenage hoodrats who were wearing anything and everything with the words New York on them. This included both leather Yankees hats and super undersized New York souvenier shirts. 2) The twenty-something women wearing really bad 80's prom dresses that were bedazzled 3) The middle aged women wearing the more traditional Senegalese outfits and enough make-up so that, if we were in the States, I would question if they were drag queens.-M)

A woman, who Leah told us was more of a story-teller than a singer, was first up. There apparently are no set lyrics, she just tells different stories.(More like scream moaned them. You could easily have heard that woman in The Gambia-M) People from the crowd would get up to go hand her money. We're not really sure what that's about but we settled with calling them tips. The next two performances were a man who sang with the full band and a group of men who sang-chanted to some sort of stringed instrument. During the singing, different people from the crowd would hop up out onto the dance floor and dance for a bit then go sit down again. Their dancing looks like they're are hopping around flailing their arms and legs to no particular choreography, but put three or four of them up there at once, and its all in unison. I'm continually amazed. Finally, the main event, a particularly large woman in a bright green low cut (2nd largest understatement of the century-M)dress came out to sing. (If you're wondering she fell well into the last style category. We're talking straight off the catwalk drag queen makeup-M) Her favorite dance was the African version of the "booty doo". Incredibly awkward to watch everyone get up just to shake their hiney at the crowd. More people were getting up to dance than before and most of them were running up to the stage to dance up there with her. And by dance I mean shake their butt. They have an incredibly relaxed system--anyone could hop up on stage if they wanted to tell the band something or have their picture made with the singer. So not like the US. Anyway, so it's like 3 am by this point and Marissa and I are beginning to doze off. (I think I might actually have been asleep which was probably my first mistake-M) Then out of nowhere, I hear the all-too-familiar word "tubaar." That can't be good. We look up and the woman is telling us to come dance. AKA shake our butts. Sophee grabbed Marissa and made her get out on the dance floor while I stayed glued to my chair. Heck no I'm not going to go up their and further demonstrate the fact that I'm white in front of hundreds of people! (OK. So here's the deal. Andi is making it sound like I had a choice in the matter and she was just stronger willed then I was but as a matter of fact, I was the only one the singer saw at first and Andi just stood by and laughed as I was literally dragged up on stage and...by myself...for like 5 minutes...was forced to shake my butt for the entire city of Koungheul. Then finally they pulled Andi up. That's how it happened-M) But they weren't having that. Everyone behind me practically pushed me up to the dance floor. They gave us two chairs to put a foot on while we did the booty doo. Don't worry, it was caught on Senegalese news cameras and we have a picture print out. You can see it when we're home. Hati took us home shortly after we were allowed back to our seats. It was honestly the funniest thing that's happened here and we couldn't stop laughing. Completely 100% embarassing. But hiliarious.

Sunday was a huge celebration for the new priest at church. We donned our matching pink floral Senegalese outfits made for us especially by Sophee and spent pretty much all day at the church. (so. hott. and hot.-M) The new priest said his first Mass in Koungheul with four other co-celebrants. Half of the women had outfits in fabric matching ours. Veronique called it a uniform for the special occasion. After Mass everyone was outside in the courtyard, sitting and talking, enjoying the shade while all the precious kids ran around playing. They put up tents and set benches out everywhere. It was much like a BBQ back home--everyone just hanging out until the food is ready. The new priest and his "distinguished guests" sat at a long table and several of the ladies served them. Veronique had been invited to sit there but gave her spot to Marissa since they would be served vegetables at the table and not for everyone else. After waiting for like two and a half hours, they brought out huge plates of rice and grilled meat and everyone gathered around and dug in. Finally! Meat that's not fish. Praise be! After everyone was finished eating, I bought a Coke and went to join Marissa at the Special Table for cake and to meet the priests. They were so funny, making jokes all the time. Some of the boys brought out their drums and everyone circled up for yes, more dancing. But no booty doo this time!
(This isn't an adequate description of the event so I'm going to do another sub-blog called:
A Beer with the Priests-or An Early 21st Birthday Party for Marsa.
So I got sat at the head table next to a super sweet Italian nun and across from the new priest and one of the other priests and was left alone to try to interpret the broken English of the various nationalities presented- some highlights of the conversation were the nun trying to describe the word "poop" to me so she could tell me that Koalack was "poopy" and the other priest who was a Senegalese man in his 20's asking me if I had a son, then if I was married, then giving me advice on who I should marry "because not all men are good men. Not all Christian men good men", telling me that it is good to be married and that if he wasn't a priest he would marry me so not to be worried, and finally that someday when I have a son he could be a priest... I don't really see that happening but what do I know. This was the progression of the meal: water or coke and whiskey and peanuts, wine (only option... it was forced on me because "is good for you") and a salad of shredded lettuce and tomatoes with hardboiled eggs, then beer (another only option) and rice with goat meat. (another of the million moments since I've been here that I'm glad I don't eat meat.) After we were done eating and during the dancing we were forced to get up and dance...again. I'm noticing a running trend in our trip. Anyways I, after having all my dignity stripped away the evening before, decided that I would have more fun if I just went with it so I pulled out the jerk. Went over super well with the kids. And the guy who looks like Tito from Blue Hawaii taught me how to do the African traditional dance after which he told me I was a good dancer. My work here is done -M)

Marissa and I finally went home in search of water and nap. We got some laundry done and started our bible study for the evening. I got to talk to my wonderful mom last night for a bit, which was just the perfect way to end a great day. We spent the rest of the evening laughing and making jokes with Veronique. I'm really going to miss these girls when we go to Segou!

Its lunchtime now, so we're off to eat! We love and miss you dearly.

Love,

m&a

The one with the important stuff

So the past few days have been fairly quiet, and I mean that literally. Vero is the only one in the house that speaks English and since she is still in Dakar, communication has gotten pretty interesting to say the least. My rusty French and rudimentary Wolof is no match for the Babel curse. So we've been picking up a side career in miming which has been entertaining for all parties. Also if you know anything about Andi or I, you probably know about our affinity for accents, which I'm almost entirely sure that the girls don't understand but along with the rest of our American ways they seem to find hilarious. This all goes to say that we've had a lot of very pointed "quiet time" and we've been praying the entire time that we've been here that we would
1) Reflect Christ well to the people around us
2) Serve as He did
3) Grow in our relationships with Him.
I hope that we have been doing the first, He is teaching us patience and to trust His plans with the second, and has been blowing. us. away. with the third. And I had a thought- shocking I know- but we share every other detail of our crazy lives here with all of you so why not share what we've learned about our Father since we've been here? I haven't really talked this over with Andi but she has full veto power with the delete key once I've gone to shower so it's worth a shot, right? I'm kind of hoping that every once and a while we can fill you guys in on what the Lord is teaching us through His Word, and we hope and pray that you will be edified and grow with us. It'll be fun. Promise. Mmmmmkay so here we go.

The book of James (the sparknotes version as interpreted by Marissa and Andi with a bit of help from our good friend Ben Stuart) (in order to make this less than a small novel we're going to stick to the parts directly applicable to our experiences here)

• Trials - Oh hello there Africa. I didn't know you would be hitting us head on so soon. good to know we have the greatest book of instruction, encouragement, and peace in the world to get us through the next 10 weeks. James tells us to "consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds" I don't know about you but having hives on my chest, neck, and face, having unintentional botox, and revisiting my meals about halfway through digestions isn't really my idea of "joy" but the trials themselves are not what we get our joy from. It's what the trials produce (perseverance, maturity, completeness, wisdom, and ultimately a closer relationship with our creator) that give us joy. Ben called it a "Severe Mercy" that makes you realize your own weakness so that you lean on God. It seems so silly that I keep trying to do things on my own without help when I have the Creator of the Universe telling me to rely on Him. As for temptation, the things I got from it were where it stems from and what to do when, not if, it comes. Where does it come from: Us, not God. He tests us but He will never tempt us. Check Genesis 3. The Fall. It comes from the wrong idea that God is holding out something good on us. He doesn't. He's a good dad.
• Faith and Works - This was hugely impactful to us which is the only reason we're even attempting to communicate something so easily misinterpreted with you. Things that we had to keep in mind when studying this (and ask you to do the same): 1) The Bible is a whole. Scripture can be easily twisted when taken out of context and read by itself 2) The Bible is "God-breathed"-2Tim 3:16. He wrote the Book. To say that it contradicts itself is to say that He contradicts Himself. Which is not true! With that in mind, James and Paul weren't at odds in their teaching of faith in Romans 3 and James 2. At first glance it looks like James is telling you that we're justified by our works. In fact vs 24 even says "You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only." But before you discount anything I say from now on lets look at some definitions of justify:  1) The action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God. 2) The action of showing something to be right or reasonable. Ok now keep those in mind because they'll come in handy later. From Paul's teaching we see that some members of the church had misinterpreted his words (For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law-Rom 3:28) and were saying that because we are saved by faith alone, they could "do evil that good may result." Obviously, so that we could do evil on purpose was not the reason that Christ went to the cross. He did it so that we would see our sin and the pain they cause us and others and turn away from it and towards Him and by doing so, "began a good work in us" (Phil 1:6) Aka we don't become perfect the minute we're saved. We're still messed up, but God doesn't just watch as we duke it out ourselves, He gives us The Spirit and begins to mold us into His image. *Here's the part where you can reference the definitions from earlier.* We are justified (1) by faith apart from works.AND You see that a man is justified (2) by his works. Having faith in Christ and His Spirit in you is going to show in the way you love Him and His people, but it's not why we're right with God. " For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast."-Ephesians 2:9  We're still going to sin, we're a broken people, but we're called to in those moments look to God for our help out of it and not continue, saying "well I'll be forgiven for it later"  Justification (we're made right with God)-> Sanctification (God uses His Spirit to mold us into His image) -> Glorification (we get to spend eternity in the splendor, might, and overwhelming LOVE of our Father)
• Prayer in Faith - This was a super encouraging part to work through because basically what it's saying is that our Dad, the King of Kings, wants us to come to Him with Everything. This is directly from Ben's talk on the subject but its an image that really hit me.                                                           "When John F. Kennedy was President of the United States, Life magazine published photos of his children, John Jr. and Caroline, playing with their toys on the floor of the Oval Office. Those images captured the hearts of the American people like nothing before or since. Why? I think it's because it bridged a gap between two thoughts: Kennedy was the President of the United States, but he was also a father. He held ultimate political power in the Free World, but playing at this feet were two little kids who called him Daddy. I don't think your kids would have been allowed to do that. Nor mine. But his kids were. Why? He was their father. He was not only President of the United States; he was also their dad. In the same way, God is both our Father and the Lord of Glory. We can approach Him confidently in prayer because we are His dearly beloved children, but we must never forget that He is also the Sovereign of the universe.” (David Jeremiah, Prayer the Great Adventure pp. 89-90)                            So basically what it comes down to is this: When you're going through something hard, talk to Him, He will help you through it. When things are going wonderfully, praise Him because He did it. When you're sick, pray "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective"-James 5:16 Another important thing to get from this chapter is an understanding that we, as a species, have horrible vision. We can only see what is right in front of us and the funny thing is, the more unpleasant it is, the harder time we have with not looking at it. God sees the entirety of creation. All of time. He knows what's best for us and that is what He's going to do, but He won't leave you alone in hard times. So turn to Him. I know I've said this before but He is such a good Dad.

As for the rest of our days they really have been quiet. We had a few funny moments most of which had to do with the fact that we, as a household, can't communicate well. Sophee during one of our meals, I think, was trying to tell us to eat more but she did a gesture that cracked me up and prompted me to say "You're trying to make us fat?" and she, thinking I'd understood her, said yes very emphatically. We also went to the store and bought some yogurt, an orange, and a sprite yesterday. (Yay vitamins! -A) I am not kidding when I say that I felt super luxurious. Livin' da lyfe in Senegal.

Love and miss you guys,
Marsa and Andi

The One Where Marissa Got Sick...Again

Don't worry people, she's really fine! But I must pick up where we left off last.  (I've been getting my butt kicked by my stomach all afternoon but I still think that this one should be named "The One Where Homegirl Got Her Weave Tore Out"... personal opinion only-M)

So Tuesday was the day that the girls were all in crunch mode to get the last of their products made before they shipped 'em off today. So everyone was running around--which is unusual here as everyone usually is pretty relaxed about everything--finishing things and wrapping them in the celophane wrappers before they went into boxes. As you can imagine, tension was in the air and the girls were a little on the testy side. While Marissa and I were turning all the little purses right side out, we heard raised voices just outside the doorway. Sophee and Hati were evidently upset with each other for a reason unbenounced to us. Its hard to understand what's going on when you don't understand the language. The heated arguement turned into an actual fight; Sophee pushed Hati to the ground and the other girls jumped in to hold them both back while they screamed at each other presumably not nice things. Needless to say, you could cut the tension with a knife the rest of the day. (So we didn't tell this story when it actually happened but there was one afternoon where I was sitting reading my book innocently enough and all of a sudden when I leaned back one of the legs of the plastic chair broke off- it's probably all those HBCB's- it became just another one of our inside jokes. When Andi says that Sophee pushed Hati to the ground she really meant that Hati was sitting on a chair and Sophee pushed her causing the same leg of a different chair to break. I immediately said "I did NOT break that one" which I hope eased the tension for Andi a bit-M)

Marissa and I found out we'd be traveling to Kaolack again to help Veronique deliver the products to Viola's house for "inspection." We'd also have the chance to make another trip to the bank to finish up our financials for the organization. Veronique would be staying in Kaolack for the night to see her products off in Dakar the next day and we'd be traveling back by ourselves. Normally, I would be nervous about traveling in a foreign country in a packed out station wagon where no one speaks English, but I was strangely excited about the prospect of getting out of the house for a day. We finished the day by packing the girls' hard work and having our quiet time/bible study/podcast time/chat with each other time. That part of the day is quickly becoming my favorite part of the day. The Lord truly is moving in this place. He's doing serious work on my heart and I hope it continues each and every day we're here and beyond. (I can't emphasize this enough. Learning about perseverence through trials was one of the main reasons that I was able to make it through the day. The weaker I am and the more I lean on Him the more I realize how STRONG He is. -M)

As we were getting ready for bed last night, Veronique had Sophee and Hati sit down and try to sort through the events of the morning and make amends. She's kind of like the Team Mom--always keeping every one in check. As you can imagine, things got out of hand again and while Marissa and I were getting our bedding and nets from the computer room, we heard scuffling against the door and more shouting and then more screaming. Men's voices followed. As we ventured out of the room ever so cautiously, we found two of the girls' good guy friends talking to each of the girls, trying again to sort out the tift. I don't think we could have made things MORE awkward. (IE at some point during the battle two things happened 1) Sophee got a whole bunch of her weave torn out 2) a chair got pushed in front of the door. So when the scuffling dropped to a point where we thought it would be safe to get our mats we couldn't get the door open. I, being the mistress of tact and grace you all know and love decided to stick my leg around the door to manuver it out of the way... one of the guys ended up moving it because I was embarrassingly unsuccessful-M) We successfully got our mats out and finally Sophee went back to their apartment for the evening. They both seemed so upset still. To break the oober awkwardness we caused, their guy friends helped us get our nets hung up and told Vero they wanted our sheets because they were so pretty. Haha, they seemed so fun and like such good friends. I'm glad the girls have a good set of guys they can call on for help. Glad I do too :)

4:30 came early this morning and off we went to Kaolack stuffed in the back of a station wagon again. I slept most of the way thankfully and we arrived at Viola's house just in time for breakfast! She gave us each two loaves of "country bread" and butter, jam, peanut butter AND Laughing Cow cheese! Fatties, I know. I must have died and gone to heaven especially with the Twinnings tea. I didn't think we'd be stopping for lunch on the way back, so we both ate up. Marissa commented on the fact that her butter tasted funny but ate it anyway. And like clockwork, five minutes later, her face was beginning to get white and she said she felt like throwing up. Well awesome. Poor thing got sick right before we set off for the bank. What a trooper though! We wound through the maze of market alleys and bumpy streets after the taxi dropped us off. Getting through the bank is always fun here in Senegal since speaking in conversions and broken French really doesn't get us very far quickly. Somehow we managed to get what we came for and after tagging along to Veronique's other errands in the city, we got back to Viola's two hours later. Viola was sweet and got Marissa some feel better regiments and soup and applesauce to take back with us.

Still pale as can be, Marissa trooped all the way through another hour of waiting for the car back to Koungheul to fill up and another two and a half hours of driving through the desert and stopping at every village to drop someone off or pick someone up. I don't think she'd ever been more glad to stop moving. (Amen.-M)

The tension seems to have eased around here since we were gone, partially acredited to Viola's stern sounding phone call she placed to both Hati and Sophee this morning. Marissa is napping away and I'm enjoying being still to update you all on our goings on. She'll put her little comments in when she wakes up. Week 3 of our African Summer Adventure starts tomorrow. Weird weird weird that we've already been here that long!

(I would like to put in a sub-blog here titled: The One Andi Didn't Know About
So first and foremost I keep telling Andi how much I love and appreciate her but I don't think it's possible to understand how much so I'm going to take this opportunity to inform you all what an absolute saint Andi has been this entire trip. In every moment that I have been stressed about one thing or another she has always been there with a reassuring smile to let me know that God is going to take care of me. A fact I know but often need to be reminded of. She has taken care of me like a second mom BOTH times I've managed to be sick in the 14 days we've been here. All day she's been checking up on me, getting me cold water, bringing me a wet wash cloth to put on my increasingly warm forehead, and making sure I'm comfortable even though today was trying for both of us. I have gotten to know her ins and outs since we've been here and she has been through some tough situations where she could have easily given up and felt sorry for herself but instead she saw the good in every situation and it has turned her into one of the most mature-spiritually and emotionally- wonderful, kind, compassionate, and loving people I have ever met. I am constantly thanking the Lord because she has been the way that He has both spoken to and provided for me since I've been here. Love you, friend-M)

Enjoy your day, your week, your weekend! Thanks to everyone who has been sending little encouragements our way. It truly does mean the world.

Love you all SO much and miss each of you dearly.

All our love,
m&a

(And don't worry mom and popsicle, I'm being taken good care of, promise-M)

The one with the daily routine

Just so you get a general impression of an average day in the life of the Marsa/Andi duo here is the schedule:

5:00am- Obnoxious call to prayer guy sings the goodmorning prayer song. Feel like singing along? It goes a little something like this "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA  YAH YAH YAH YEEEEEAHHHHHHHHH..........................................................long enough silence for you to think he's done then HEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA OOOOOOEEEEEHAYAHAYYYAAAAAA"

6:45-7:15am- Vero, Sophie, and Hati get up and begin cleaning and working. Marissa wakes up at the slightest sign of movement and immediately feels guilty for still being asleep while the girls are working and sits up and laughs as she glances over to see Andi with her earplugs in and mouth wide open still down for the count. She proceeds to shake her and then they sit for a little while realizing that they are, in fact, in Africa.

7:15-7:45am- Marissa recounts her most recent, anti-malarial induced, stinkin' weird dream and boy are they vivid. So far I watched a killer whale morph into Nolan Gore, watched Will Harris get into a fist fight with someone I'm pretty sure he doesn't know while on a yacht, and had a conversation with the Loerke's about why they were in Senegal seeing as I don't actually know them and I'm pretty sure they live in Dallas. I mean, it's nice not having malaria, but the dreams are really really weird. (For those of you really counting, it does in fact take 30 minutes for her to recount all that these outlandish dreams entail. -A)

7:45-9:00am- A series of putting our foam "beds" and mosquito nets and cardboard away -We've been sleeping outside so that we can hang up the mosquito nets-, changing into our Islam appropriate clothing, brushing our teeth with our water bottle which I used to make fun of Sarah Thompson for doing, I like the sense of humor God, and boiling water for our morning meal of instant coffee and bread (and cocopain! its like Nutella essentially so you KNOW its awesome. -A).

9:00-2:00pm- Here a number of things can happen.
A) When Marissa is having a particularly hive-a-licious or botox lip-ish day she'll take a benadryl in the morning and pass out on her face-Andi style- for a few hours
B) Andi will pass out on her face. No medicine. Just sheer exhaustion. This is usually followed by Marissa mischeviously taking pictures. (For the record, it is incredibly hot here. I don't think me falling asleep on face really needs a reason other than the fact that I need to cool the heck down. -A)
C) Marsa and Andi will turn whatever menial sewing task we're given into a competition with all the smack talk and showboating you could imagine. (Don't let Marissa tell you she's not competitive. CLEARLY she is or she wouldn't keep bringing this up.. -A)
D) Marsa and Andi will interact with the wildlife such as lizards, goats, and sheep that happen to have ambled into the gate.
E) Actual work from Viola. Emails/Design/Marketing work.
F) Reading... So. Much. Reading.....

2:00-2:45pm- Lunch. To give you a more accurate depiction I will give an example of the dialogue from my understanding of it. (*Wolof is the language not an attempt at typing out the noises made when eating)
Vero: wolofwolofwolofwolof*
Bernadette: bahahaha wolofwolofwolofwolof girls wolofwolofwolof
all eyes turn towards Andi and Marsa
V,B,S,&H: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
S: wolofwolofwolof LEKI LEK
Andi: I AM EATING
Marissa: Don't even look at me, I've eaten like half of my plate and you haven't even made a dent in yours
V,B,S,&H: wolofwolofwolofhahahahahawolofwolofwolof
Every.Single.Time.

2:45-4:00pm-Another number of things happen during this time
A) Wolof lessons with Vero as she works on her quilt
B) Laundry complete with our next door neighbors peaking over the fence to watch-I don't know if you watched Home Improvement back in the day but it reminds me of Wilson.
C) Marsa and Andi venture out to take a walk and have the Taliba or "students" who are taught to immitate the life of Mohammed by begging yell TOUBAAAAAAR at us on our way to the corner store.
D) More reading.

4:00-5:00pm- Marsa and Andi's individual quiet times. Awesome.

5:00-9:30pm- Marsa and Andi's study of the book of James/ exchanging of prayer requests/ Testimonies/ Praying together. God shows up and wrecks shop during this time. I wish I could describe it but it is awesome. (Words really cannot do this time enough justice. The amount of unloading the Lord does for us and how much closer we're growing as a small community of two is indescribable. The Lord is so transparent to us in this place--its astounding. -A)

9:30-10:00pm-Dinner. Exactly like lunch most times. Details on the times like yesterday and today when it's been different later

10:00-12:00pm ish- Our favorite Indian soap opera/ blog writting/ enjoying the access to internet in communicating with you lovely folks

Sleep.


I'll keep the rest short since I seem to have already written quite a bit.We started off by going to church again with Sophee and Vero which was just as awesome the second time as the first. I wish I could understand what was being said but regardless it's an awesome experience, and we had a guest appearance in our pew by Tony!!! Our little friend from the other night. He's stinking cute. My favorite part however was as we were walking out of the service a tiny little boy walked right up to me and latched himself in the cutest hug I have ever been given. I had no idea who he was, but I can tell you it was love at first sight. Turned out he was Bernadette's younger brother. Sweetheart. It took us about an hour and a half to get home from the service because we've decided that every man in that church is in love with Vero and Sophee, and with good reason, they are gorgeous and so kind. We proceeded to harass them about their "boyfriends" for the rest of the day. Apparently being embarrassed about attention from guys is international. And so funny.  The rest of the things that I remember about yesterday mostly involve food. Andi and I about 1pm when it's been a crazy long time since breakfast and were really hungry started talking about how my birthday was coming up which lead to talking about cake which lead to talking about how long it had been since we had fresh vegetables and dairy. This became what I like to call the "Imaginary Salad". We started saying all the things we would put in a salad if we could have one right now, like avacado and ripe cherry tomatoes and then immediately stopped because it was making us even more hungry. The other food incident happened at night when we were given my absolute least favorite meal thusfar, a peanut butter/chocolate/millet/and some sort of bitter root soup. Sick out. Seriously. (And I'm usually a good sport about eating interesting things but this was crossing the line. -A) We also listened to a podcast of Ben Stuart's on James. It was so great.

Today I woke up and my lips were swollen again so I took a Benadryl and slept through most of the morning so I'll let Andi tell you about that (Vero had me make price tags for all the products they're getting ready to send of to Connecticut. Nothing fancy but it was nice to have a project to keep me busy longer than thirty minutes! -A) but we did laundry and went for a walk around town after lunch which was so nice, apart from the fact that everyone we passed either a) stared intently at us b)started trying to have an in depth conversation in wolof with us c) wanted us to take their picture (and then ran away when I tried to do so.. -A) d) wanted us to give them money and stated their desire by yelling toubar at us and holding their hand out at us. That's about all I got folks. I'm going to eat some fresh mango while Andi puts in her two cents.

(After bible study, I got to talk to my wonderful Daddio on the phone for about thirty minutes! I am seriously so blessed to have a dad that has so much faith in me and supports even my most crazy ideas. Love you, Pop! -A)



#loveyoumeanit
A&M

Some pictures of about the town..

Andi may say that its a sheep but it is DEFINITELY a cow-M

The Market and the attractive rear end of your's truly-M 

Yep... Those are bra's hanging by that boy's head...

The Senegalese version of a broom.

The one when we went to Tae Kwon Do class

From where we left off..

Two nights ago, Hati took Marissa and I to see the place where they take Tae Kwon Do class, when they're not so busy trying to finish an order. (As it was an impulse journey well after our usual outting time I was already in my brotank and neon nike shorts which for some reason doesn't feel strange until you're out on the streets...in neon clothes... and everyone else is wearing full length dresses... along with my predisposition to reflect rather than absorb the suns rays which causes my skin to be fluorescent all came together to make me stick out even more than usual... The humbling process continues.-M) We walked mostly in the dark (With the exception of the light provided by my neon outfit and legs-M) to a compound with an outside wall and dusty courtyard with a gym-like building in the center. The six young men there were dressed in white, yet dirty, robes with belts of different colors displaying their level of mastery. Their teacher would alternate showing them a maneuver on one of the boys and then allow them to turn to their partner and practice. Most of them were pretty good--says the girl who knows absolutely nothing about Tae Kwon Do. (Speaking of our mastery of the ancient art of Tae Kwon Do, after observing one of the more verbal fighter's jackets which had a sharpie drawing of a dragon and said "dragon noir" underneath it, I adopted his nickname and became "The Black Dragon." Andi looked really sad that she had not yet mastered TKD to the point of getting such an awesome nickname so I christened her "The Midnight Tigeress" She loves it so please call her that and only that from now on-M) (I won't respond to that. -A) After the class, of course the tubaars became the specticle of the evening. They crowded around shaking our hands. One of the boys spoke a little English and asked us how long we had been there and if we were going to come back. I think next week the girls are planning on going to class for real so stay tuned for that adventure of Marissa v Andi on the Tae Kwon Do floor. (Aka Black Dragon vs Midnight Tigress-M)

That evening also they taught us to play the game "Othello" that some past volunteers had brought them. (Andi's really stinkin' good at it and yet we manage to mess up the game enough that the score stands at 1-1 we'll see how long that lasts-M) We took turns playing and acting out the Kwon Do moves we witnessed earlier, falling all over ourselves laughing so hard. It was such a cool thing to see us bond over something as silly as a martial arts class. Building relationships with these wonderful girls has proved to be not as difficult as we thought; despite the language barrier, we make jokes at each other and laugh at everything we do. Them mostly making fun of the interesting things we do--like wall sits--but its laughter all the same. (The first time we did wall sits, the girls kept trying to figure out where the chair was. Seriously hilarious-M)

The past two days have gone by so quickly. We've done a few things to help Veronique and the girls get their order ready to be shipped to Connecticut. Finishing quilts, turning little purses right side out and cutting more fabric all seem pretty simple to us but Veronique told us we've saved her days of work. Just when we were questioning if the "work" we were doing was actually adding up the Lord shows us exactly how much we are helping. Thanks, God.

Last night, after a particularly cleansing bible study had left Marissa and I both drained and refreshed, Sophee and some of the other girls made probably the most amazing little things I've ever eaten. Fried little pastries resembling pop-overs with a mixture of meat, onions, potatoes, egg and I think cabbage was in there too. It was like a Senegalese egg roll. (They. Were. So. Stinkin'. Good.-M) But that wasn't dinner. Ha, they still served up some pasta with milk powder and sugar. They are NOT kidding about wanting their guests to eat all the time. Every meal time goes like this: the bowl is placed between the six of us and we sit in a circle with our spoons. Everyone eats and chats, blah blah blah and then ten seconds into the meal, one of the girls tells us to "lekilek!!" "Eat!" they say. Well I AM eating! Its hard to explain that I don't want to eat a ton of hot food in the middle of 106 degree weather so I came up with the brilliant idea to push my food around a bit to make my dent in the meal seem a bit bigger. So today at lunch, I put my idea to action and pushed some of my rice over to Sophee's side of the bowl. She said something in Wolof and looked at Leah and began to laugh. Leah translated that Sophee said to stop pushing my rice on her side to make it look like I had eaten more. Wow. Plan fail. (Bahahahahahahahahahahahahah it was even funnier because Andi and I had discussed strategies to get around the insane eating demands and she shared this one with me. I have a theory that they're fattening us up so they can eat us... Who cares if its a real theory or not-M)

We ventured out to the market today with Leah and bought a local phone so we could call the girls or Viola if need be. We wove in and out of the narrow market alleys, ducking under low hanging canopies of fabric and tarps. Every other table had mangoes or homemade brooms, cheap Made in China jewelry and plastic shoes and my personal favorite--Obama baby clothes. Yep, little tiny clothes with Obama's face on them. Can't get much better than that. We ended our market adventure with a trip to "la boutique" (Well actually we went to a "boulangerie" but we're working on the French-M) for a snack of Senegalese "cake." That's just a fancy way of saying dry pound cake, but it is tasty!

My monster of a nap this afternoon and a 40 minute phone call with Mom and Claire has certainly done me some good. I'm so glad tomorrow is Sunday! We get to hear the beautiful church choir once more before heading off to Segou next week. I'll let Marsa make her little side comments and I'm off to bed.

(I would like to add a few side stories in here and the will all have titles because I'm feeling extra generous:
1. The "monster nap"- So Andi and I have at this point become accustomed to sleeping just about anywhere we can, just about any time we can. It is so hot here that even the least amount of physical activity feels like you've run a 10K... and you sweat about the same amount. So today after I finished reading through Exodus, I've decided to read through the old testament which has proved to be really interesting but more on that some other time, I went inside to get water and found Andi... face down on the floor...mouth open...Passed.Out. I literally had to run outside to not laugh and wake her up. Hadi, the roommate who speaks absolutely NO English but is probably the sweetest person ever, made the international symbol for camera at me and then we mischeviously snapped some shots of Andi sleeping. I'll upload them tomorrow.

2. Andi and I were discussing the aforementioned nap and she brought up the time I fell asleep with a book opened on my face to keep the flies from landing on it. Apparently Hati walked by then and rolled her eyes... At least we're entertaining I suppose
3. THE SHOWER IS WORKING AGAIN!!!! I just got done and finally got my feet clean enough to see that I'm making serious progress on my Chaco tan. Lydia Lemoine, you would be so proud, although I'm not sure I'll ever live up to yours. Although I have to say that you know you're doing work for the Lord when you can't see the Chaco tan for all the dirt. TLM)




Love and miss you all dearly!

m&a

The one where Marsa gets botox

So for those of you who haven't figured it out yet, I didn't ACTUALLY get botox. I DID however seem to have been stung by something thats making my lips swell up with the same tenacity. From where we left off:

Yesterday consisted of me waking up to a slightly large and fairly numb upper lip. As we've been sleeping on pads on the floor I'm figuring that something that goes bump in the night decided that, much like the mosquitos, I looked like a good midnight snack. (Mmm tasty!) Either that or he was trying to make his affections known in an extremely unappreciated fashion. Either way I have a numb and swollen upper lip. I guess I'll add that to my battle scars list. We then helped clean and get ready for the day, had the daily breakfast of bread and instant coffee and then like clockwork, the power went out... for the whole day. This seems to be an increasingly common occurance that renders us pretty useless as our tasks consist of finding and designing things online and sending emails. Andi and I spent most of the day yesterday reading. The Lord is DEFINITELY teaching me how to be content with nothing more than the Word, prayer, and silence. I got to talk on the phone with my momma for a while which was so refreshing. Maybe too refreshing as we talked for 47 minutes... oops. (SUPER jealous I didn't get to talk to MY mom!) And I read my first weekly letter from Sarah Thompson which may or may not have made me tear up. I miss that girl constantly. I don't know if I've mentioned this recently but my friends absolutely rock. Having wifi has given me the ability to see how much everyone is flooding both mine and Andi's walls with scripture and encouragement. It means more to us than we could ever tell you. (Honestly, I think I'd be an absolute mess if it weren't for you wonderful people sending me encouragement all the time.)

We were joined yesterday by another Toubaar name Leah, who is a Yale cognitive sciences graduate. She's been in Senegal since October, which is crazy for me to think about and is fluent in both Wolof and French. AKA she's a stinkin' powerhouse. She's doing research on how parents decide what to do when their children are sick. It's been so nice to have new company. Especially new company that speaks English. Speaking of language barriers, Vero has been using us as a means to jokingly insult the other two girls that live with us. She'll teach us something to say in Wolof and then everyone bursts out laughing when we repeat it. This trip has been very humbling for us. (It actually kind of nice to know we've been adopted as friends. Its awesome to see such similarities in people across cultures. Sarcasm has its place here too!)

(Last night also, Sophee wanted us to try this interesting looking fruit seed thing. Always up for the adventure of trying new things, Marissa extended her hand and Sophee spooned two little slimey fuzzy yellow pods swimming in some sort of juice into her palm. She looked at me with a "Whelp, here we go!" kind of look and popped them in her mouth. Her expression was priceless. We all laughed so hard at watching her fight whether to eat it and pretend to enjoy it or run and spit it out. She kept it in her mouth for a surprisingly long time although she repeatedly asked Vero, "What do I do with it?!" Of course I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so Sophee spooned another little slime pod into my hand this time. That little thing was the most bizare tasty/feeling thing I've ever had the unfortunate luck to put in my mouth. It was all kinds of slippery and salty, spicy and sour all at once. I couldn't keep in there for much longer and promptly found the trash can. Needless to say, Marissa and I are quickly becoming their main source of entertainment.)

We spent last night outside so that we could finally use our mosquito nets in the way that they were intended. (NOT as a blanket!) It was SO MUCH LESS HOT. I'm hoping that it becomes a nightly thing. It's kind of like having a campout every night. Without the smores, unfortunately. I woke up this morning to realize that my entire upper lip and the middle of my lower lip were swollen. I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to whatever it was that got to me. Thanks and gig them. Today we were pretty frantically trying to find a company that A) Will ship to Senegal B) Makes what we need C) Isn't expensive... We're working with a tight budget. It's been trying, to say the least.  I don't know about Andi but I'm pretty ready to get to Segou where, despite the fact that we won't have internet, we will actually get to teach and play with girls and develop relationships. Also there are trees and grass there and I cannot tell you how much I've missed that. (And clean water from the well they dug there. Helloooo clean mountain spring water! ..And yay for no dysentery!)

Anyways please be praying that the Lord would show us ways that we can expand His glory and serve the people around us well while we're here despite communication barriers and power outtage.

Love and are praying for all of you,
Marsa and Andi

PS: HAPPY STINKIN' BIRTHDAY to Miss Brittanie Polasek! Today she joins the rest of us into the elderly realms and out of her teenage years. Welcome to old age dear :) love you!

The one where we did laundry.

Happy Tuesday! Almost a week since we left the good ol' US of A! Seems like its been months!

Monday morning brought all the other girls to the sewing center and with them lots of chatter and laughter--and our first bit of actual work! We helped get breakfast ready (still bread, butter and Nescafe) and learned what to do when we were done. I like that they're not waiting on us all the time now; we can do a few things ourselves. The girls arrived one by one at different times. They greeted us and got right to work. Some of them worked on the sewing machines and a few worked outside embroidering cloths and a few worked on an absolutely giant quilt on the floor in the main room. The power was unfortunately out for most of the day so they were limited on what they could do on the machines. They break for lunch around 1:00 then some of them come back later in the afternoon. Two of the girls have polio, one in a interestingly modified wheelchair (by interestingly modified she means that it is a plastic chair with bicycle wheels-M) and the other walks with crutches. I admire their tenacity and ability to get around--I can't imagine having such limitations. Constantly reminded of how awesome this life we have is and how blessed we are at home. (They really are such sweet girls. They would never ask for help but are so completely appreciating when you give it anyways. So very very humbling to be around-M)

Marissa and I were given several small tasks, most of which included cutting out pieces of foam, liner fabric and colored fabric for Veronique. These pieces will eventually turn into passport holders, coin purses, wallets, and things of the sort. Marissa would want me to mention how much faster she was at cutting her pieces than I was. Payback from the day before's sewing beat down I gave her, I guess. (The score stands A-1 M-4... yeah thats right, she doesn't know I've been keeping count but I've finished before her in 4 tasks. Can YOU say owned?-M) Other than that, we spend most of the day in down time, reading and such. I'm thoroughly enjoying all this time to be still. Its definitely something I don't have enough of at home and am so SO appreciative of here. (I am not as good as Andi at down time as any of you who know me will attest to the fact that I keep myself constantly busy so this is a challenge and a growing experience for me as well. It has allowed me to do things like do a deep study of Scripture and start a prayer journal. I also made an intercessory prayer journal before I left that has about 50 people in it that I have been praying for. You are most likely among them. I've also been reading Radical by David Platt and The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. The latter I'm about 5 pages away from finishing and its already become a favorite. I highly suggest you read it.-M)

It is beyond hot--topping out at 106 degrees today--but otherwise its pretty peaceful here. No one seems to be in a huge rush, nor are they super affected by us being here. Yeah, everyone stares while we walk two blocks to get water from the "boutique" (Imagine a gas station in an old western ghost town...-M) but they pretty much leave us alone. Veronique told us the Wolof word for "white person" was "tubaar" (sounds like tuba). Ever since, we seem to pick that up frequently out of the street conversation we pass.

(Interesting side story: Since we've been in Kongheul, I've seen two different African boys, one about 9 and one about 15 both with Albinism. It is one of the strangest things I've ever seen. The facial features and hair texture are all very similar to everyone else but the skin and hair color are so white.-M)

Other than the sewing help we've been doing, Viola called yesterday and told us of our first actual assignment: to order labels for the girls to sew onto the things they make so that when they send them off, it has their logo and "made in Senegal" on them. We've been researching different places in the US to make them and ship them here. The girls want to send their orders out by May 25, so hopefully we can get those here soon!

Television shows here are limited to either Senegalese wrestling, European movies with French captioning or really terrible Indian soap operas with French captioning. (Really reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly terrible... -M) Marissa and I entertained ourselves but subbing our own dialouge for the wrestling we've watched--before they wrestle, they have a dance off and some smack talk. We of course dialouged "Yo Mama" jokes during the smack talk. (about 90% of our entertainment here has been along these lines. Conversations with animals, creating our own dubs for tv, etc. It is a seriously underutilized form in the States-M)

(Another side story: Since the power was out last night we sat in chairs on the street to get some of the breeze and Andi and I began our Bible study through James. We figured it was appropriate as we've had a whole lot of trials since we've been here and are expecting to be stretched and challenged even more the longer we're here. It is so edifying for me at very least. We went through James 1:1-8 yesterday and even in 8 verses the Lord spoke so much Truth in the conversation that followed. He is doing HUGE works in my heart. We also have started to pray together every night in praise for the innumerable ways that we're now seeing that He has blessed us, asking that He bless the people we encounter through us and that He mold and shape us more into His character, and finally for a different group of the people we love every week. I've absolutely adored this time.-M)

Today we've been working on the labels and are also trying to get cards printed to tell the 10,000 Girls story to enclose in each shipped package and cut more fabric for the purses and such. (Sorry I have another side story: We were entrusted to buy the bread this morning! Doesn't sound like that big of a deal but communication creates a few more hoops for us to jump. We managed it successfully and I have decided that I am now at very least fundamentally conversational in three languages. Whoop!) More interestingly though, we did our first load of laundry! We went to the shop and bought soap (basically just dish soap but its say multipurpose so it'll work right?) and were corrected in our techinique by Veronique several times before either we were doing it right or she gave up on us. Needless to say, the water was a very dingy grey when we were finished. (Correction-The first bucket's water was stinkin' black. I'm still cringing thinking about how dirty it was.-M) BUT, three huge plastic buckets of soapy water and about an hour later, we had clean clothes! Whoop! (We've decided that this trip is essentially long term camping and we like camping.-M)

Now, we're enjoying another pair of fresh mangoes and fighting this silly internet to let us send in a quote request to another label company. You all are dearly loved and greatly missed. I love to hear back from you so send a text or an email or Facebook me or whatever (ME TOO!!!-M)!

If you want to send mail the address is below but just know this: the mail only goes to the headquarters in Kaolack which is two hours away from here and nine hours away from Segou (where we'll be in less than two weeks) so it'll be pretty darn slow getting to us. So don't worry if it hasn't gotten here in a few weeks! We'll hopefully receive it soon.

Much love,
m&a
(Or A&M bahahahaha-M)

Andi Mints OR Marissa Lang c/o
Viola M. Vaughn Ed. D
BP 2130
Kaolack, Senegal

The one with the "Goatercycle"

Alright so for a change of pace I (Marissa) will be writing this post and Andi will be the one with the pithy comments in parentheses. Get ready for a wild ride folks.

DAYS 4&5:
So we left you off before we even got to Kongheul so I will start there although, the way the days have been going, the two days here seemed like a week. We piled out of the HOT car in front of the 10,000 girls center here which is right across from the equivalent of the police station and brought our stuff inside. Andi and I then completely collapsed on the mat on the floor while our new Senegalese sister, Veronique, informed us two things that have thusfar been the best news ever:
1) We had weefee which after a few confused looks we translated to WIFI! Freaking Whoop
2) No more cup baths! We have a shower! Unfortunately we would come to find out later that it only works once in a blue moon... so cup baths again but it is like Christmas when the water is working. Still rockin' the squatty potty though. Like a boss. (Evidently the water, like the power, comes and goes as it pleases. -A)
Anyways the next hour or so was spent taking showers and frantically taking advantage of the unexpected internet access. Which for Andi involved a long email to the rents and me fighting Mark Zuckerberg to prove that I am actually Marissa Lang and not a Senegalese hacker. Thanks and gig them. We spent the rest of the time taking a much needed break from the constant motion of Kaolack and getting to know Veronique. (While we were busy typing away on the tiny screen of my iPhone, Veronique noticed my ring--the one everyone and their mom has from James Avery--and asked if we were Christians. We of course said "yes" and she replied "So am I." I don't know if my facial expression scared her or what, but I was so excited to hear that we were among sisters in Christ! She seemed a little scared of me, haha! -A) She then informed us that there was going to be an event at her church and asked if we wanted to go which we heartily agreed to. It turned out to be a fundraiser of some sort which was kind of like a carnival with some traditional games like pin the tail on the donkey and ball throwing games and some less than traditional games involving climbing up a barkless, slick tree that they had thrown water on... unconventional but sincerely entertaining. All of the games had prizes which looked as though someone had walked into a goodwill blindfolded and grabbed things at random. Watching the teenage boys opening their bags only to find a pink turtleneck sweater or a tiny pair of bell bottoms was hilarious. (There were some pieces they were proud to show off though--I think the red crushed velvet men's blazer with shoulder pads was our favorite. - A) We sat down for only a little while before Deghan got bored and took us back where Andi and I both got to spend some time in the Word. After Veronique and our other housemate, Hati, got back at around 10:30pm we had dinner which was spaghetti with an onion sauce and canned meat. (I think the meat was a Spam of sorts and I didn't eat more than my one "thank you" bite. Hati does the cooking and I must say, I'm a fan of everything else she's prepared. -A) The Senegalese are very emphatic with their demands that you eat more which is interesting when you can't eat one of the main ingredients. Then after all of that we got to sleep at the sewing center and guess who managed to get attacked by mosquitos regardless of the amount of bug spray they had on... Me. Andi seems to be repelling them with sheer intimidation, it's probably her muscles. (I would just like to say, that despite my self consciousness of my abnormally large calf muscles, Marissa absolutely won't let it go. Earlier, we were reading outside and she was trying to pursuade the purple and yellow lizard to do more push ups to have muscles like mine. Thanks, Riss. -A) (More on Marsa's interesting choice of animal identification later.)

We woke up this morning and had some sourdough bread and instant coffee, which I'm appreciating more and more as this trip goes on. As we were waiting for Veronique to finish getting ready for Church, a man from the police station walked in and started speaking in Wolof to us, saw the confused look on our faces then started speaking French to us, saw the still confused look on our faces and then asked our nationality. We replied American to which he responded "Ah! Barack Obama!"... Story of our lives. (This is not the first time we've heard the name or seen his face on a t-shirt. Evidently the Senegalese LOVE the Bama. -A) Then we headed to Church with Veronique. It was seriously the most beautiful thing I think I have ever experienced, despite the fact that I only understood about an eighth of it and I'm pretty sure Andi got like 2 words. From what I picked up the sermon was about trials... Hello there God, You have a funny way of communicating with me, but don't worry, I'm starting to get the message. The choir was seriously breathtaking and when I say choir, I mean, they had a choir but there wasn't a voice in that room that didn't give me the chills. (Just to reiterate the beauty--definitely felt the Lord move in that place this morning. I'm planning to record their songs next Sunday. -A) The best part the morning, however, was on the walk back when, as usual, we got honked at by a motorcycle passing us from behind. What was out of the ordinary about this picture was the fact that the man had something in his lap. I know what your thinking and no it wasn't a baby, it was a goat. We officially christened it "The Goatercycle."

(I would like to take a moment and infom you fortunate people of poor Marissa's completely incorrect animal identification while here in Senegal. I think maybe her meds are going to her head. Anyway, Horses are donkeys or puppies if they're spotted. Goats are cows especially if they are spotted. Donkeys are zebras or tiny horses. And she spoke to the lizards as if they were people. Who knows. -A)

When we got back home Veronique showed us all of the things that they sew there and begin hand sewing some of it herself. Andi and I, always up for a challenge, offered to help and spent the next few hours working on that. (Not only did I start sewing my part after Marissa, but I finished in record time long before her. Can you say owned? -A) ("owned"-M) When we were done we spent the rest of the day reading, relaxing, napping, and laughing... lots of laughing. Then we had boiled fish and rice for lunch which Andi said was her favorite... I thought the rice was great. (It was kind of like a fish meatball. Very tasty. -A) After that we went to the same church carnival we went to last night but this time we sat near where all the kids were dancing and watched them for a while. They seemed to enjoy getting their picture taken and we named all of the permanent entertainers.
 Tyra, the model:

She's the one in the red jumper

 Aladdin, the photo bomber:

He is clearly the one photo bombing in the Aladdin shirt

 Stanley, the sock eater:

Need I say more?

 Tony, the ladies man & Gerard, the awkward third wheel to Tyra and Tony:

Gerard (green) and Tony (Orange)-Best buds

 and our all time favorite: Dora:

 They entertained us for a few hours until we were forced to dance. I think that I have very little remaining dignity... Good thing we brought a camera...

Currently we are eating dinner which is a pasta-ish dish with sugar and milk powder and recapping with you folks. (And OH MY GOSH she just brought us FRESH MANGO. I'm so happy. -A) Can't wait for tomorrow to bring it on.

The pictures are taking forever to load so we'll post the rest in the morning. You guys are lucky I love you because that last picture of me is em-bur-uh-sing.
-Marissa "Aminata Pen" Lang
-Andi "Awa Fayie" Mints