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