Monday, January 12, 2009

French 101

Today was a really warm day. I started moving steel and I had one Mali guy "Bob Marley" (we couldn't pronounce his name so we told him we were going to call him that, Bob was on his shirt) and one local named "One eye Bernard" (Obviously he only has one eye) helping me. We moved about 10 or 15 C chanels and S chanels and I was almost ready to passout. I sat down and drank water. My two friends didn't stop. One right after the other. Not affected by the heat or the humidity. 30 chanels later we had finished.

My prayers during that time was how can I share my faith with them when I don't know how to speak their language. Later I found out that That Bernard was a beleiver due to the time he has spent at the hospital. Praise the Lord. Now about Bob he is one of work crew and he is Muslim. I am praying for him and I ask you to join with me to.

So after moving heavy stuff, Bob, One eye, (sounds rude but he was introduced that way) and I went up and cleaned the steel posts, gerters, and rafters. The purpose was to clean them so they are not dirty when they go up and have that foot print on it for all of eternity and cleaning on the ground is way easier. So through this I learned two new french words.

"Lo" is water and "Son" is bucket. For those of you that are keeping track at home that is 5 words. At this rate I will know french by the time I two feet from the grave. I continue to try to use the little that I know of spanish to speak to these guys but as it is about to come out of my mouth I realize that they don't know spanish. But then the weird mind that I have i think to myself maybe it is close to spanish and they will understand. Ok i think i am offically need more water and sleep.

In the demo department the rest of the team with a few other Mali guys tore off the roof and started tearing down some walls. Our crane does not extend long enough to get to all the places that we are traying to reach. So we are blowing a big hole in the Radiology building to fit the truck in to reach those spots.

I am always refreshed to see how the Lord works on mission projects. For instance, we have this one crane. Well we were contacted today from the missionary in Liberville named Arnie (I have talked about him before) he set up another crane that is even longer and we might also have that crane. We were reminded of Ephesians 3:20 "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power ng to the power that works within us," We continue to call on, and depend on Christ to provide all our needs and he has so far and will continue. Why worry about one crane when he is going to provide two?

So after we were done cleaning the steel a huge rainstorm hit. Well all the people that lined the hospital vanished. Well us silly Americans thought that it felt great and worked even harder at our jobs. It caused the humidity to calm but it was really wet. In the mean time i met Phillip and he is Triligual. He talked to me and taught me to say "How are you?" which is "Comment Ca Va?" and to say "Wei" for good or yes.

I also how to say good or ok which is "bon". Doubled my French speaking skills in one day. haha.

So fun fact about the hospital: The man that founded the place where the hospital is located said he wanted to place where the most diseases and put a hospital there. The missionaries here are the best at what they do. So we are in good hands.

Thanks for praying for us we have felt it.

I am still cooking. I made bbq beef sandwitches last night and roasted chicken with rice and corn and green beans. Stirfry is next and will be an adventure. We have three new guys joining us from Western PA. So more bodies = more creativity = random combo's.
Stay tuned for the newest Gabon food network drama.

2 comments:

pops said...

son -- we are so very proud of you and are praying for you and your team every day ...pops

melmac said...

you really are the coolest. the french is just flowing! Praying for you and everyone there!