We have now been in
Thies for almost two weeks! We have been
very busy meeting different people, adjusting to the culture, and learning how
to do life in general here. Daily tasks
in general just take so much longer here.
For
example, we went to look at an apartment a couple days ago which in the states
would take easily less than 30 minutes because most places require you to make
an appointment. However here it took us closer to three hours by the time we
met the person showing us the apartment, drove across town in a taxi with him
to introduce us to the owner to talk about the price, and then going back and
saying our goodbyes!
Needless
to say, being flexible has become a very large part of lives because if you
aren’t willing to be extremely flexible here then you will probably end up
feeling stressed a majority of the time.
Last
week we were able to meet, George, the president of the church association in
Thies to receive his blessing and permission to do ministry during our time
here. We also had a meeting with Alouise
who is one of the people we will be doing ministry with while we are here. We will be helping him with an after school
program on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays where he does a bible lesson then
also works on both soccer and basketball with the kids. He seemed very excited we are here to
help! We are hoping to help with ideas
and possibly get other nationals involved so once we leave things will continue
to move forward. He also has different
days that he would like to do activities and wants to work in different
villages so we are hoping to be able to be extra hands in any way possible!
Here
are some pictures of Thies and some of the things we see on a daily basis.
