Simon Says

Last weekend Sarah and I went to a women's retreat for the missionary ladies of Mali. My motivations for signing up may not have been the greatest and my expectations were pretty low. I was way off. Every stereotype and misconception that I have had concerning missionaries is broken and gone. Hopefully. The hotel was awesome, the food was amazing, and the pool was heaven, but the ladies- they were incredible. Hundreds of them had gathered for this weekend, this time of pampering and normalcy. We ate junk food together, swam together, laughed together, prayed and worshipped together, but the best part was listening to their stories. And man did they have some wild stories. I've always thought that missionaries were a strange breed of people, and maybe they are. It's strange to want to live in the middle of no where, with no one and nothing to make life easy for you. It's strange to enthusiastically face the challenges and harsh realities of life in the African desert. But their faith is beautiful and inspiring, their love for the Lord that has been refined, tried and tested is exhilerating to be around. I think I spent the whole weekend being overwhelmed by God and God stories. It was a good retreat.

Yesterday Hannah and I taught English class (it meets on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays). Hannah had missed her bus to Bamako and so I was solo for the first half. Of course this day was the day that the class doubled in size. So in the midst of running out of handouts and facing new learners who were not at the same point as the rest of the class, we did what could only have been an inspiration from the Lord. We played "Simon Says." Our lesson had been over body parts and after having them label my body with orange stickies (they thought it was hilarious) I frantically explained the rules of "Simon Says" to my class of middle aged Malians, mostly male. It was a hit. They absolutely loved it. The competition was high, learning happened, and we were all able to laugh together. The last time I remember playing "Simon Says" was in cubbies when I was four. But these men and women couldn't get enough of it. By the end of the day they could recognize, say, and point, pat, or raise any part of their bodies. In English.

Next week our team is officially opening a Malian Tea House. It will be a place for Malians to come, hang out, and speak English. It will also be a time for us to work together as a team... Hopefully everything goes well. Amazing things can happen when the body of Christ works together. It's just hard to be a body sometimes.

Highlights of the week:
Eating dorritos, Worshipping in English, Spending hours in the water, Simon Says