West Africa Update, Thursday

Thursday was our last full day in Kankan. Early in the morning we set out for two villages south of Kankan. As usual, the hustle and bustle of Kankan in the morning was quite fast paced with a lot of people on their way to one place or another. We made the trip to the villages just fine with no curveballs.

The first village of the day, Farako, was the smallest of the three villages we visited. We stopped by the village on Wednesday just to tell them we would be coming today. You can tell they were expecting us because when we arrived, their two soccer teams were having a match on the field next to the village. This was significant because they wanted to display there soccer teams to us because we had left soccer balls with the village when our team visited in June. Both teams were dressed in bright colored jerseys, pretty impressive sight. After walking up the road to watch the soccer match, we were greeted by one of the village chiefs. We talked with him for a moment and watched the match. The chief interrupted the match and had all of the players line up shoulder to shoulder and walk towards our team to give us a formal greeting. That was cool.

We then walked back to the village and greeted the older chief and asked if we could visit in the village. The Farako people were happy to have us and so our small groups of three or four including our translators began to walk around the village and meet people. Scott and Ron toured the village and walked down to the river by the village (later, the chief shared how that was significant to them and it showed that we loved their village).

Matt, Rocky, and I broke away from the crowd pretty quickly and stopped in an area where there were several huts in a circle. We met the ‘family chief’ for this part of the village along with some of his family. As I was getting to know the family chief, I asked how many children he had. He paused for a while and counting them in his head. I was expecting him to say like 18 or something (many men have multiple wives in this culture). After a minute or so, he said, “six.” I told him I had three, two daughters and one son. As soon as I said that, his wife asked if I would give my oldest daughter to marry their youngest son. That’s a new one! (Later, I guess to sweeten the pot, they offered to give me their grand-daugther, 6 months old, in exchange for the earlier marriage proposition, I think they were kidding at that point.)

While we were with this family, we are able share the entire ‘Creation to Christ’ story, laugh together, take pictures, and we even helped them grade some casava, a local crop (they look like white carrots). After time visiting folks in the village, we gathered back in the center of the village under a huge tree. There there drummers played some folks danced (not quite as elaborate as the village from Wednesday). Then Ron played a couple of worship tunes again for them to hear and we presented them with the machetes and soccer balls. It was pretty cool when the entire village that was there began to applaud loudly.

This village also prepared some for food us as a gift. We were led to the chief’s hut who greeted us when we arrived at the soccer field. He seemed to be a middle aged man, tall, and wore a bright blue. He had a commanding presence and really connected to our team. As we waited for the food, we had an incredible conversation with him. Primarily, he and Perry. The chief spoke of the tapes from Genesis he had listened to, inquiring more about Christianity, told us a story of how his grandfather had a great relationship with a Catholic Priest 50 years ago, and talked about his beliefs as a muslim. He seemed to be very open to Christ as well so he gladly accepted an additional tape and some booklets. We then ate in his hut, again from a common bowl of rice with peanut sauce and chicken on top. Kelly and Donna also came across a young man who was very eager to receive some of the booklets and was seeking to know more. The response in the Farako village has been really encouraging.

Our afternoon stop was in a large village closer to Kankan called Borifinen. As we arrived, we saw many of the teenage to young adult age folks headed to go fishing. We were wondering if there was going to be anyone left in the village once we arrive. We were able to locate the chief of the village and quickly many children came to where we were and then the elders began to gather. Now at the third village, we did the routine of waiting for everyone to gather, talking back and forth greeting one another, and then off the walk around the villages to observe and meeting people. Each of our groups did our normal thing and had some great experiences. Each group was able to share stories of Christ in the gatherings we found ourselves in.

With the time of day getting late and being sensitive to the village people, instead of doing the music this time, we just gathered back to share a few stories of Jesus to everyone who gathered and present our gifts. So, once everyone had gathered, we told them thank you, then Scott and I both told our faith stories of coming to Christ.  To emphasize the difference of their religious background and following Christ (the Guinea people would often say we believe the same God), I made sure to interject the name of Jesus several times in my faith story. After the translation, a spirited response was given by first an older man sitting off from the elders. Basically, he said that they had been muslim forever and that they will not change. Perry, said that is fine, if they do not want to hear stories for Jesus anymore we would not come back because we did not want to disturb the village. Then, that let to another spirited and long response from one of the elders because he wanted us to return and apologized for the older man’s response. I shared with them I was a pastor and they were excited to introduce me to their Emon (spiritual teacher). It is hard to capture the entire scene in a blog post, so I would love to describe this in person sometime. It was quite an adventure.

We closed our time out with presenting gifts, taking pictures, and saying farewell (we actually said ‘An be kof fe’ which means “see you next time”). They welcomed us back anytime.

Ron, MC, and I were dropped off in the market to pickup some bread and then we stopped at a cyber cafe. We were able to reconnect with some folks back home (I love technology!). I was also able to put two Christian songs on MC’s phone using the bluetooth connection from my Mac to his phone (I love technology!). After getting the two songs on his phone, MC said, “This makes me so happy.” As we then began to walk out of the cyber cafe to find a taxi to go back to the guest house, I asked MC if he felt like he was following the way of Jesus. His response are words I will never forget, “I think so, it is in my heart and I cannot help it.” Wow! Pray for MC. Following Christ in a land where there are so few, and the religion is so different, it quite costly. I get excited every time I think of this moment.

The rest of the evening was debriefing, sharing God stories, eating, and prepping for the long road trip the next day. Thursday is a day I will never forget.