November 28th

I got to sleep in a little bit this morning since breakfast wasn’t until
8 as opposed to 7:15. It was kind of nice considering I’m still not
sleeping well. I don’t know why but I wake up every morning
between 4 and 5. Anyway, we set out for church at just past 10
(the service started at 10 but Karen said you don’t want to get
there early, not totally sure why) getting there at about 10 past.
Randy and I walked down and we expected Karen to arrive in the
car with Meghan, Emma and Melanie but when we got there only
Karen and Meghan had come. They stayed back to help with two
women who had come in pregnant just before they set out for
church, one needed a c-section and the other delivered naturally.
Both babies were alive and well. Church was three hours long
today, which I wouldn’t mind if it was a full three hours of stuff but
they don’t prepare well and each time they moved to something
new here was a delay. I did enjoy most of it, don’t get me wrong,
but it’s just a long time to be in a hot crowded room. It was the
youth thanksgiving service. The thanksgiving services here are not
related to our holiday of thanksgiving, and they have one for all
sorts of things, they aren’t terribly different from regular services
but usually mean an increase in the number of offerings. Today
there were five, music offering, a youth offering, the general
offering, the male/female competition offering and a baby
dedication offering. We sang the hymn Sanctuary today which
made me really happy as it’s one of my favorite hymns of all time.
After church we went back to the house and had lunch before
sorting some more boxes. We went through at least forty or so I
would say, some small some really big. It was hot getting them out
of the storage, the room is so warm and then all the physical
exertion. While we were doing it I got a call from some of the
people at my church and we had a little conference call. It was
great and I really appreciated them taking the time to come
together and call me after church today. Anyway after that I went
back to helping, we spent about 3 or so hours doing it. We only
stopped when Emma, Melanie, Randy, and Meghan got back from
their visit one of the mines where they were had been getting a
tour. The mine belongs to an Englishman named Richard. He’s
been here about 7 years getting this thing going. He’s a really great
guy, super nice and just generally jovial. He gives a back to the
community too, which is great after so many years of exploitation
of Sierra Leone. I couldn’t eat anything at dinner because I was
feeling really sick to my stomach. It was the consensus of the two
doctors, nurse, midwife, and medical student sitting at the supper
table that I had probably just gotten overheated. I did sweat through
two t-shirts. I changed the first time because my shirt was totally
soaked, every inch of it, and then again when we were done because
the second was pretty close to that. After that I was a guinea pig for a
piece of equipment that measures lung capacity that she had shipped
over and had never used before and didn’t quite have everything
needed. It was quite amusing. Anyway, that’s about all for today,
have a great night everyone!

Blessings from Kamakwie
Ryan Brooks