i smell & itch.

i love mali. 

(5.15 am) i woke up this morning, no running water for the fourth day, go outside across the way to meet a taxi driver i have never met before, somehow make it to the boys caritas (6.15 am)--the taxi man has no change so i trust that he will bring me back change (as he proceeded to drive off to go find change or small cfa). i stand outside of the not normally locked door and wondering if anyone is even there. i search and finally find an older gentleman, whom i am not sure what position he even holds at the organization, he climbs over the wall to unlock the door and there inside i find thirty sleeping boys sprawled out on the floor. seeing that i had arrived, the man on duty abruptly woke all of the boys up. (i felt bad, they looked in a dead sleep). some shuffle their feet to morning chores, while others scurry off to go buy bread and beans from the local boutique (7.00 am) 

it is a challenge to talk to the director who speaks no English. we attempt to figure out how much bread and beans to buy. not really too sure if the whole conversation was actually successful, but all i know is i gave money to hopefully cover the breakfast that morning. i then found myself sitting in this office in awkward silence with another gentleman i have never seen before. the boys finish up around 7.20 am and i cut the bread and place the bowls of beans on the ground in five sections. the center tries to teach the boys respect and social norms, so they wait for their bread until i call their name from the book. well it's more like a distorted rendition of their name; it tends to come out in some butchered form that hardly resembles their real name. nevertheless, they could care less and are happy to get their breakfast. before i leave to head off to BCA (Bamako Christian Academy), i ask them what they want me to bring next week. all i hear is "poulet!!!!!' "she!!!!!" (chicken). lol i laughed... but in all reality it is sad that when we bring sardines its a treat for them, imagine them receiving chicken. although it costs a fortune, i am strongly considering it. man i love this place. 

(8.15 am) taxi's are always an adventure. i had never been to BCA before so i was hoping that i could find it perfectly fine from the directions i had heard. well i did arrive safely and then had no idea where to go... so i open the gate and my (assuming at that time) precious little kindergarten class stood there waiting for me. it was a nice introduction to my new little missionary kid friends. : ) brazil.america.scotland.africa. they are from all around. i lead them outside to the grassy area. at this point my mind is racing because i have no idea what to do with these children, so i look inside this shed and find all of these hockey sticks. alright. (9.00 am) we can play field hockey. apparently, they had never played hockey with a ball and soccer goals before, so they got a big kick out of it. that 45 minutes was hilarious. they were panting as they headed off to Bible class. haha. (9.45 am) my second PE class was third, fourth and fifth graders. that class was filled with scratches and tears. lets just say they are little bit more competitive. maybe hockey sticks weren't the best idea. if you have any ideas, let me know.. their attention span is like 2 seconds so i need to keep the moving at all times!! 

(10.45 am) well at this point my feet are killing me. i am just as tired as the kids and its not even 11.00 yet. once again i head out to go find another taxi to stop by the apartment to pick ariel up to go to tie-dye. the five hours of sleep and no shower are beginning to hit me. Lord please just give me strength. (that is a common prayer that i have). i close my eyes for a little bit until we arrive at our destination. in all reality this place is an outside african "bar". seriously. this little place serves as a bar for the whole community. you should see their store room: filled with wine and beer, as well as their own personal system of making it right in their courtyard. anyways, (12.00 pm) we ended up only staying for a couple hours, plus it seemed that their business has been rising to higher demand over these last couple weeks so they had numerous orders to complete for people.

we leave on low fuel (our bodies that is) and grab a bite to eat. (2.30 pm) the ride back home we are praying that our water is turned back on. but it wasn't. i don't even want to fill you in on the parts of our apartment that have been affected by the lack of water. yah.. lets just leave it at that. 

anyways. i share this day with you to wish everyone a happy monday and week!!! 

be open for God to use you in all sorts of ways. He wants to!! so so bad! 

keep that heart, head and hands ready to be used. :) 

even when your hair smells and mosquito bites itch, keep pressing on! 

& don't forget to praise and bless His name. just for the mere fact that he is God. 

bless you all and love you all. 

Have your roots planted deep in Christ. Grow in Him. Get your strength from Him. Let Him make you strong in the faith as you have been taught. Your life should be full of thanks to Him.Colossians2.7