Mali, Africa trip approaching a conclusion

Sorry for the delay or lack of posts. I have posted three times to this blog but our internet has been having issues. Emails and skype have had issues as well.

Here are the latest details:

• only a few of our team members have had stomach issues but nothing major
• we have laid tile, hung a ceiling, hauled tons of sand by hand, mixed concrete with homeade shovels, cut every board by hand, etc. etc.
• we survived a boat ride on the Niger River - the boats were definitely sketchy and we bailed water over the edge the entire ride
• finished the project we set out to do on time or one day ahead of schedule
• we've gained weight instead of losing it because Americanized missionaries treat us well
• ate a Malian dinner with our hands - 9 or so people around a big bowl of rice and peanut sauce
• were hosted by Dusty and Julia Reynolds at their dinner table
• toured the Sababu manufacturing company site and spent some time praying on the Sababu grounds
• I (Dusty White) drove the van today through the Malian streets - oh yes, bring on NYC now!
• have consumed lots of Coca-Cola via the good ol glass bottle with real sugar
• fixed a missionaries trailer (new bearings, grease, etc)
• bartered at the Malian Artisan and bought stuff
• visited, took notes, and strategized with missionaries for a pig farm project
• AND MANY MORE!

We're headed to church tomorrow, dinner with missionaries and we're off on Air France at night. Mail - Paris - Chicago - and home! And no, the 100 degree weather hasn't helped us prep for snow in the midwest.

project underway

Technically our 2nd day, but our first REAL day on the project.

Started the day with a focus on Ephesians chapter 1 - Chad Swanson led us into the Word (quite well I might add!) Each of our team members will be leading the team through Ephesians at some point over the next few days.

We hit the road and held on tight to any of the handles that we could find. The "traffic control" is...uncontrolled. Many of our first-time-out-of-country-team-members are going to be trusting Jesus a lot on the roads. The van rides are definitely crazy.

Today we dove into the construction project and made quite a bit of progress considering the tools and materials that we were handed, brought, and using. CAMA services has hired a painter, a mason, and a carpenter to work alongside of us as we lay tile, paint, finish a ceiling, and do a lot of other things. Wait a minute here, we're working alongside of them because the Malians can work circles around us! We're mixin cement by hand, "sizing" all of our ceiling lumber because measurements won't do (can't explain).

Tomorrow we'll finish the ceiling, visit a pig/hog project somewhere in the bush, and then speak at a new church plant in Bamako. Three of our seven team members are farmers so Shawn McCabe (CAMA/ODES) is hoping that our team can bring some hope to the hog project.

As we move ahead we have about 800ish square feet to tile, and lots of stairs and hallway not included. Painting and finish work to follow that.

Please continue to pray for our team-the health, the project, the spiritual transformation, and everything in between. So far so good.

dwhite

Omaha. Chicago. Paris. Mali!

We made it to Bamako tonight. More later - gotta hit the pillows so that we can preach at church tomorrow.

Africa trip underway

Wheels up to Mali, Africa!

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