Vive Le Guinea

Thursday was the first day we didn’t spend at the orphanage. We took morning off to rest. The Lord really knew that I needed this. Although I love going to the orphanage (I mean, it’s my favorite place in all of Liberia), I was starting to wear thin. At school, I’m used to running on little sleep, but I guess I’m not used to running on little rest. I’m learning that there is a big difference between the two. As cliché as this is about to sound, on the seventh day, God didn’t sleep, He rested. But anyway… So I slept in till about 8 O’clock (no blinds here, so that was as long as I could stand to pretend the sun wasn’t up yet haha) and spent the next few hours taking time for me. This included taking my very first hot shower since I’ve left America (usually I shower before the generator is on which means no water heater), made myself a nice cup of instant coffee, and sat in bed for the next 2 hours reading my Bible and preparing for Friday’s Bible study with the girls.  If I’m being honest, for someone who feeds off of encouragement, it’s been hard not to be surrounded by my usual support group (which is why all of your comments, emails, and messages have been SO special to me and such a blessing! Thank you again!). But that morning was a reminder to me of how much more fulfilling it is when it’s the Lord pouring into you instead of others. Don’t get me wrong, God often uses others as His means to pour into us Himself. But there is something extra satisfying when you go to Him with completely empty hands, begging Him to show up because you’re pretty much on your last leg and He blesses you more than abundantly. So of course the Lord gave me the exact things I needed to read and spoke to my heart the precise things it needed to hear. He is really good, isn't He?

Around noon, a few of our African friends came over and we had breakfast for lunch! Tim made scrambled eggs (with onions and cream cheese… seems to be the only cheese in Yekepa). We also had some amazing cinnamon rolls (don't worry Noonie, they aren't as good as yours!), oranges (which were actually green), and pineapple. All together, we fed 8 people for just over $5 total… crazy huh? Why do I fall into the trap of thinking I don’t have enough to give to others when what I spend on a coffee can easily feed an entire family for a day?

After lunch we headed off to the site of an old abandoned mine – Mount Nimba – one of the tallest mountains in Liberia. Besides containing giant, rusted-out Tonka-like trucks and bulldozers, the mountain overlooks a beautiful turquoise-blue ravine that looks peaceful enough to skip a rock across the entirety of it. Apparently it’s very deadly though as it’s the home for many venomous, flesh-eating snakes. I was glad the boys were warned by about 20 people not to even think about touching the water otherwise Tim and Shane would have been snake food for sure. But we all enjoyed our time there hiking down as far as we could, throwing rocks into the water, tramping through over grown bushes (I, of course was running and hopping as fast as I could, praying not to be attacked by any snakes or spiders…), scaling dried-up water fall cliffs (courtesy of Shane), making a path to the "waterfall" that is still running (aka: a trickle down the side of a rock), and then trudging back up the side of the mountain. I made the mistake of wearing shorts so my legs were pretty scratched up by the time we got back. But hey, this is Africa, and it was so worth it.

Once we were tuckered out from all that adventure, someone threw out the idea of seeing if we could go to the Guinea border and talk customs into at least letting us go a couple feet into Guinea… just to say we were there. So we all piled back into the truck and drove a few miles to the border. Naturally, we did this African style - meaning three people in the cabin and the rest piled in the bed, ducking and dodging branches that threatened to take our heads off.

As we approached the border, we were warned;

1. 1. Not to take any pictures. Apparently when Emmanuel took some Americans here before to see if they could get into Guinea, someone tried to take a picture. Customs reacted by cocking their guns at them and threatening to shoot if they didn’t drop the camera. Needless to say, I don’t think those people made it into Guinea or ever got their cameras back
2. 2  Not to get our hopes up. No Americans are ever allowed into Guinea without a visa. And we didn’t even bring our passport.

But luckily for us, we had our good friend Remington with us! I can't remember if I've talked about Remington yet, but if not, he's the student my parents sponsored last year to go to ABC. He is an amazing man. He plants churches and is very involved with several different ministries in Liberia. He is currently trying to start a soccer ministry for the people who don't go to church on Sunday morning because they play soccer instead. He wants to do an alternative church service either before or after they all play a game. He is also the one who comes every morning and night to help us get to and from the orphanage! But anyway... so he goes into Guinea a lot on errands and has made quite a few friends there. So the first round of customs we met on the Liberian side of Guinea knew Remington and they kindly offered to walk us to the main checkpoint. So we walked a good half-mile with them and as we got nearer to the checkpoint, I got a little nervous. There were 15 or so men dressed in military camo with guns and intimidating facial expressions. But apparently Remington knew some of these guys too and their faces lit up once he told them the Americans had come to pay them a visit. They had us sit down on a cot outside and talked with us for a few minutes. Almost immediately one of the guards came up to me and shook my hand, saying something in French (their country’s official language). Remington threw his head back laughing and informed me that this man just told me he “already liked me.” I was flattered and thought it was funny until he asked Tim and Shane if he could trade one of his women for me – insisting I stay with him in Guinea. Well that was my cue that it was time to leave, so we walked into the closest town – Teo. On our way into the town, Emmanuel kept saying over and over again how blessed we were to get to go into Guinea, that he’s never successfully made it in with Americans before. I’m still claiming it was because of my good looks and my new Guinean boyfriend ;)

Teo was fun. Honestly, it looked just like any other village in Liberia. The funny thing is we thought that the Liberian dollar had no value (1USD=75LD), but Tim traded 1USD in for 5,000 franks and with that we bought 6 donuts, a handful of peanuts, and still had 1/3 of our money left over…. Oh, and usually you’re supposed to get 7,500 franks for a dollar.

On our way back through to Liberia, we stopped again at the main checkpoint and the Guinea guards let us take our picture with them. My Guinea boyfriend made sure to save a spot for me right next to him. After he insisted again that I stay with him in Guinea but I politely refused. Maybe next time…

Honestly, I’m just thankful that we didn’t get in trouble for not having our passports, that we got into Guinea (it’s my 8^th country!), and that we didn’t have to pay any bribe money!

p.s. Sorry these pictures are all mixed up! It won't let me fix them!

Guinea with Liberia's mountains in the background

Walking towards the main checkpoint

Our cheesy "we're excited to be in Guinea" faces

A few of our Guinea troops

The Guinea flag

My new hut I purchased to ensure that I can stay here forever! That is once I clear out all the spiders...

My Guinea boyfriend

Some mine equipment with Mount Nimba in the background

Looks pretty safe, right!?

Tim, Charlie, Shane, and I

My wonderful friend, Wintee

Those three little specks up there are Tim, Remington, and Emmanuel