Back

I was quite excited to be heading back to Mali and getting the ministry with the garibouts up and running. Now after being back for a couple of months I am happy to be here but things are going very slowly with the ministry and that is a bit frustrating.

I have really enjoyed being able to talk with people here now that I speak French, I actually have to get to know some people again and them me but it is so freeing being able to express myself and understand! I do still have some difficulties with the language and still make a fool of myself quite often but hey, it is good to be able to laugh at myself keeps me from getting too serious.

In terms of the garibout ministry, I wrote a formal ministry plan and submitted it to the leadership team here and now I am waiting for their response. The problem is that it is summer now and everyone is on holiday and the leadership team won’t get together until October ... so I have to wait till then to start anything.

For the moment I am working on learning Bambara, the language the garibouts speak, I am doing a little research and lots of praying and planning. It is great to see how God is answering my prayers and I can see how He has been preparing things for this ministry; I am excited to see how it will progress.

My biggest challenges at the moment are finding people to work with me and finding a suitable house. I will be working with the garibouts from my house so it is necessary that it has a big yard with plenty of shade, also I would like a house with an inside bathroom and a kitchen, neither of which are really common here. When I find a house I will have to furnish it and that is easier said than done and I think I may be sitting on mats and cooking over charcoal for a little while.

I have some other thoughts I'd like to post with some photos but the internet isn't co-operating today so come back another day and I may have more up.