Reunited at Last!!!

Hooray! We are all here! Together again! It was quite splendid to hear so many voices speaking at once earlier today. I suppose I should start at the beginning as I usually do. My day started with a knotted stomach. I untied it soon enough though.... I don't remember if I have mentioned all of the mysterious red dots that have been appearing on my skin this week. Either way, I will mention them now. I've been getting red dots on my body this week...mainly my arms. They increased in number by the day. It was weird. They look like mosquito bites. But, they don't itch...generally. I thought last night that maybe it was bed bugs of some kind or something...so I slept on the top bunk instead of the bottom that I had been sleeping on. Today, we found out what was going on. I mentioned to David this morning that I thought it might have been bed bugs and showed him some bugs on the sheets of the lower bed. He said he would spray the bed just before we left Mbour. Soon enough we were leaving. He went to spray the bed...and he lifted the sheets...and...mosquitoes flew everywhere. Evidently...lots of them (think in the 30s..40s...maybe 50s) had decided to make that bed their home. I happened to be their nightly buffet. Now two good things about this situation: A. They don't itch very much. B. I've been taking my malaria medication. More than anything, it makes for a good story...and I look pretty cool too.... I believe that everyone that I mentioned was feeling poorly the other day...has improved...except Kesha. I believe she is still experiencing the odd lack of sensation. Please continue to pray for her. Today really wasn't too eventful. We left Mbour about 9:45 this morning. We arrived back at our house in Grand Yoff at about 12:00 or so. The trip was rather uneventful. The Mandyakou team arrived in Dakar at about 10:30 this morning. They were waiting for us at the guest house. Everyone was inside doing whatever...except for Ryan...he was noticeably excited to see...us...again. When everyone else realized that we had arrived...they all came running outside. There were tears and hugs and smiles and laughs. It was a good time. We spent the next hour or so just catching up, and laughing, and talking, and telling stories. But, our joy was shortlived. The Mandyakou team then had to have a debriefing time. They went with their leaders from Neosho over to the dining hall area of our facility here. They were there for 3 hours. Immediately after they all left...I went over to the basketball court. I had an uncontrollable desire to climb (Those of you who don't know me may not understand...but those of you who do know me...likely do). So...I climbed the basketball goal. It is different than it sounds. The one's here at the facility are not just poles and then backboards, hoops, and nets. There is a...scaffold of bars making up the support.... I climbed up high onto them and watched over the back wall of the compound as the area youth played soccer in the field. I also listened to music...and I prayed...and I thought. It was a good time for me to just get alone and...be. It was somewhat shortlived though.... After what couldn't have been more than 20 minutes, David appeared on the steps of the guest house. He communicated to me that he had been trying to find me, and that when he didn't find me in my room he reminded himself..."Just look up." It was at this point in his thoughts that he came outside and spotted me on the goal. He just laughed and asked if wanted to go anywhere or do anything...as there wasn't much planned while the rest of our team was still debriefing. I said that I'd love to go the beach..and had actually been thinking about it in Wolof ("Hmmm...begg na dem geej gi ci Yoff"). The girls didn't seemed too interested in anything but relaxing and catching up on some rest...except for Brea. She accompanied David and I to Yoff. We first stopped and bought some bananas. We bought 54 of them. No...we weren't that hungry.... But, the Talibe boys were. We stopped at two Talibe houses on the way to the beach in Yoff and gave out 27 bananas at each. They loved it. It was good. We then made our way to the sea. David taught Brea some about the way the Lebou fish and sell their catch. We walked around on the shore...we talked about the rocks that Richie had fallen off of last year.... We just meandered. It was nice. We eventually made it down to an area where a man is building a massive pontoon-type boat, David knew him and went to talk to him and to see the boat (evidently the man is planning to sail it to New Zealand from here sometime in the next couple of years). Meanwhile...Brea and I stayed by the water. Well...we stayed until I spotted the 2 kids playing in the soccer net farther up on shore. I knew I had to do what I first thought...go take their picture. Meg had already taken some pictures of kids behind a net...very precious. I wanted some of thos pictures...so I did what I could. And then...I realized how sturdy the top...log...of the goal was. I also realized that it was within reach. So, naturally, I climbed it. As I sat on top of yet another goal, children spotted the crazy toubab from far away. Soon enough there were about 10 kids hanging around on the net and playing and talking to us. This was yet another of the times that I found it particularly enjoyable to speak to them in English. They gave the greatest confused looks. Once they were over that and had begun to play again, Brea and I took lots of pictures. Soon after, a man came and shooed the kids away. But, he returned quickly with some of them and began posing them. I suppose he thought I was his personal photographer for some reason. But, I didn't complain. Why would I be against taking more pictures of the kids? After we were done at the beach we headed back to Grand Yoff. We figured that the debriefing was over. We left Yoff at 4:15 and arrived back in Grand Yoff at 4:35. The debriefing ended at 5:00 or so. With everyone together again, the stories flowed freely. Eventually Cal and Maggie showed up with some schwarmas. They were quite tasty. We had a staff meeting after dinner...just to talk about the plans for the rest of the trip. Then, we had a really good and long prayer time. It was great. Since then...we've been hanging out all over the place and talking...sharing our thoughts and experiences over the past week...and more. All-in-all, it was a good day. We are quite delighted to be together again...as a whole. Please pray for us that we will be united in our efforts this week. Pray that Satan will find nothing to wedge between our teammembers. Pray that we will focus on our purpose here, and on reflecting only love. God bless you all. These pictures are all from the Lehar village of Terokh. This one is of Addama and me. Erin in Terokh. Chelsea with the kids in Terokh. A father and his son in Terokh. Precious girl in Terokh. I hope to post more pictures tomorrow...but tonight...it is getting late...and my battery is nearly dead. Thank you all for your continued support.