November 7th

So, I had an interesting day. Church went pretty well and I enjoyed
it for the most part. I went to the Katherie church today, Karen had
me lead the group to the church, which I did not do so well, I had
only been there once and it was my second day in Kamakwie and
here I am a month in. However we got a girl to help us get there
and I had actually been on the right path, just going the long way.
It was a much better experience this go around since I wasn’t
sulking in self-pity the whole time. They had like five offerings
today, they collect a general one, one for the parsonage they are
trying to build, they had a kids choir, a youth choir and a young
adult choir all sing and each time they collected an offering for the
youth for some retreat I think. The sermon was over 2 Timothy
3:1-4, though it was in Krio so I didn’t actually understand it really.
They sing a lot of songs, some English some Krio, but I can’t
understand either. However, they also sing some hymns at the
church, which is good because they have some hymnals and I can
actually participate. Today they sung two hymns that were really
appropriate, Are You Washed in the Blood, and ‘Tis So Sweet to
Trust in Jesus. Both of them were really good reminders that I
really need to trust in Jesus. I had never heard the first one but I
knew the second one. Anyway, after church we headed home,
unfortunately it was around this time that I began to develop a
migraine, which is still troubling me almost 12 hours later. I took
some Excedrin but that really only curbed it some, so I spent a lot
of time inside relaxing. The problem with that is that in this heat
you can’t ever really properly relax because you still sweat sitting
around. I had to go to town to get some bread and a new plug for
a fan we have here that wasn’t working, and still isn’t despite the
new plug. Osman saw me and walked along down with me and we
talked a bit about his being Muslim. However his responses
confused me, he says he’s Muslim, but believes Jesus is God’s son
and God as a man. Which I thought is the big point of contention,
that the Muslims believe Jesus was no more than another prophet.
Today was actually a pretty slow day relatively, I did a lot of things
and was fairly busy but it was all pretty mundane. Oh, Tom tried to
put in the new faucet that they brought from Freetown and it
broke. The stuff here is so low quality it’s often frustrating. Today
was a good day as a whole, ignoring the headache, I mean
considering it’s only my second migraine, and second real
headache, since I’ve been here so I’m not complaining, I usually
have headaches quite frequently at home. Anyway, I am doing
well and I love being here, but I hate missing you all. I look
forward to the day I return home so I can see you all again. But
until then, I pray that God blesses you all and keeps you all safe,
and that I can accomplish what He has planned for me here.

God’s blessing be upon you,
Ryan Brooks