Hello from Mali!

Dear Friends and Family,

  

We arrived safely here in Africa and I am really enjoying my time in Mali! We just arrived on Sunday and already I am able to greet people in Bambara and communicate some. We are taking classes from Uncle Sako who is one of our hosts here in Bamako.

A recap on my life for the last few weeks is that we had some training in Florida at the Heart Institute. We learned a lot there about gardening, animals, nutrition, and community. I made some good friends and grew with my team while there. God has really been showing us what it means to work together and get along with each other and that has been very good! Our team works together very well and I am very thankful that we are all on the same team here. 

We left the states on Saturday night and arrived in Africa on Sunday. Uncle Sako and Uncle Joseph have been very welcoming and kind to us. They have helped us understand a lot of the cultural differences and are very patient with us. We are learning to speak Bambara and we are able to have small conversations with the Malians. Everyday we learn more things and right away want to talk to them and see if we get the words right. The Malians are very patient with us and very hospitable. The kids run through the street yelling "white people, white people" so that is kind of funny. A lot of the kids that say that have never seen white people. Already we have tried to get to know the kids and they have come onto the compound and tried to talk with us. Communication is hard but it's coming. 

God is teaching me so much while here. I have been challenged to get outside of my comfort zone and greet people and really get to know my teammates. Community can be hard, but if we are all focused on God it is much easier to love the way Christ loves. I have been challenged to trust even when I do not know why. Here in Mali we do not always know why we do things the way we do but we have to trust that our hosts have our best interests in mind and they definitely do. I have felt so much love from the Malians even though we can only say a few words. I have even gotten my own Malian name! Rasel Kulibali is my name and the last name is the last name of one of our hosts. I have really enjoyed all that we have learned so far in just 5 days and am very excited for all that we are to learn while here! 

Please continue to pray for us as we are here in Mali, we are learning lot but I know homesickness will come soon so just pray that we will be comforted. Also that we will all stay well, everyone is very healthy now and we don't have jet lag so that's good but please continue to pray that we will stay well. 

I love and miss you all, hopefully we can talk again soon.

Life in the Sunshine!

Hello Friends and Family!

I know it's been a long time since I have written and for that I'm sorry. However, from here on out I will try to update you with what is going on in my life on a weekly basis.

A summary of my life since I last wrote is that our volleyball team did get to go to Nationals in Florida. We ended up in 5th place. We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the competition. I finished out my semester at Grace and ended up with good grades so that's good!

I got to come home for Christmas break. I was only home for 2 weeks before I flew out for Florida again to stay at the HEART Institute for 3 weeks and then fly out for Mali.
I had a wonderful Christmas at home with my family and friends. I had many sweet memories made while home and I got my first pair of Toms for Christmas so that was super exciting!!

While home I also had a going away party. I want to thank everyone that came and also want to thank all of my supporters for all of your prayers and donations for my trip. This trip would not be possible without your support and prayers. I want to thank you for your generosity. Please continue to pray for our team. Right now we are at the HEART Institute in Lake Wales, Florida. We are having training on nutrition, animal husbandry, farming/gardening, construction, and health (anatomy).  This last week at Heart we have not been able to use electricity or our electronics. I have actually really enjoyed it. There have been a lot less distractions and the main focus of Heart is building community and growing in the Lord. I really feel like our team has bonded a lot while being here and I am excited to see all the new things that we will get to experience together.

One of my favorite things at Heart is the prayer trail. There is this path that weaves in and out of trees for about a half mile or so and along the way there are benches, lookout posts, swings, and a Haitian house. I love the prayer trail because it is a way to get away from everything else and just spend quality time in creation with our creator. I have started this new series with my church in Omaha called Project 4:4 and it is going through the Bible in a year. The Bible that we are using for this is a Bible in Chronological order, which I think that is really cool! I also thought that would be great because I will be able to spend half of that year with a different environment yet know that my God here in the states is the same God in Mali! I love that. He is the same today, tomorrow, and forever.

This week I have been reading about creation, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, and today was about Abraham being tested by God to offer up his son Isaac. When reading that story something that stuck out to me was that God thought that Abraham was relying more on Isaac to carry on his family line then God. Well, because of this, God tested Abraham by asking him to offer up his son. When he was bout to kill his son an angel of the Lord provided another way. When looking at this story it really made me think about what am I valuing more then God? Well, when looking at my life I have some things to work on. I know that I value my time, family, and friends a lot. I think that being able to focus on God a lot more away from all that will be really good. He is constantly teaching me new things and shaping my life in the way that he wants me to go.

After experiencing some of the really cool things here at Heart I have gotten to experience some things that I have never gotten to. This last week I gutted a fish for the first time and also killed, skinned, gutted, and cut up 3 chickens! I also got to use a squatty potty (aka a hole in the ground). I have never done that before so that was crazy! I have also gotten to eat cactus, goat, and Indian food. So far that has been my adventures here at Heart but it is really fun and I am looking forward to many more experiences!

Continue to pray for me. I have been soaking up every experience that I can but also know that I will start to get homesick after a while. Also another prayer request if for continued health. So far we have all stayed pretty well. One of the girls on my team got the flu this week but is improving daily so that's really good. Just prayer that we will stay well and be able to recover if anything happens.

I love you all and will be praying for you as well! Please keep me in your prayers as well.
Some contact information that I have is that you can send me letters/packages at:

 The Heart Institute            
13895 Hwy 27
Lake Wales, FL
33859
I will be at this address until January 21

The next address will be in Bamako, Mali where I will be from January 22 thru February 24th.

B.P.E 198
Bamako, Republic of Mali
West Africa

The next and final address I will have is in Bougouni, Mali where I will be from February 25th thru June 23rd.

B.P. 35
Bougouni, Republic of Mali
West Africa


I would love to receive anything from you guys! I love you all and hope to be in contact more with you but for now that's all I have :) I hope you have a wonderful week and see all the wonderful things that God has for you!

Love always,
Rachel