6892 Miles From Disneyland

Open Heart Surgery

2012-01-25T23:06:00.001Z

Professor John and his Biology class completed their first successful dissection. The project called for sheep hearts. Thankfully, we have two sheep butchers within 500 feet of our house. John was able to pick up a heart for each student at a total cost of $3.00 – much cheaper than ordering them from a science supply company in the States – and having them still warm added to the authenticity. In the interest of being “green”, we were thinking of recycling them for Valentine’s Day, but they were pretty mangled by the time they were finished – a broken heart isn’t the best Valentine gift.

Brrrrr

2012-01-22T22:00:00.000Z

Global warming…yeah, right. Like Alaska, we’ve been suffering an unusually cold snap lately. Temps have been dropping down into the low 60s at night. During the day, we’re donning jackets as the temps hover in the low 80s. We have really acclimated to the heat in Mali and the lower temperatures send us seeking any kind of warmth. Keep in mind that our home has no heater, our car has no heater, and the warmest jackets we have are hoodies.

We were downtown on Saturday night and stumbled upon a new restaurant. We were so excited to see the Carl’s Jr. Happy Star beckoning us from across the road. But alas, disappointment set in when we realized it was a pirated version of the logo and the restaurant resembled nothing of an American fast food restaurant. Yes, we could have gotten a hamburger complete with fried egg and french fries inside – nothing close to a Famous Star hamburger. Reality bites.

Bonne Année 2012

2012-01-03T23:24:00.001Z

Happy New Year from our family to yours. We are doing fine. We’re sorry if we left you hanging with our lack of communication since our last post about security issues. There have been no further incidents and we consider our situation relatively safe.

We had a rockin’ New Year’s Eve celebration on the rooftop of a friend’s house with a great view of fireworks at the Presidential Palace along with skyrockets all over town. We’ve also enjoyed sharing the Holidays with our fellow YWAMer Lorna, who’s been staying with us since being evacuated from Northern Mali. Anne-Marie returned today from Christmas with her family in Fana so our house is full again. Together, we wish you a wonderful 2012! (Two thousand twelve or Twenty Twelve? – you be the judge)

Danger–Warning Will Robinson

2011-11-29T21:24:00.001Z

We’ve had a couple of frightening events take place in Mali this week. On Thursday, two French geologists were kidnapped from Hombori, a small town in Eastern Mali. This is the first time kidnappings have happened in this region of Mali. Then on Friday, four tourists were kidnapped from Timbuktu. One of the hostages was shot and killed in the ordeal. Both kidnappings are believed to be the work of Al-Qaeda. They have kidnapped several people from the Sahara region of Mali in the past few years, however this marks the first time kidnappings have happened in populated areas.

Over the weekend, all Western missionaries and aid workers were evacuated from several regions of Mali. One of our YWAM co-workers who was living in one of these areas has temporarily moved in with us. We currently feel safe in Bamako, however we are unsure if these are isolated incidents or are a prelude for more things to come. We are on heightened alert and would appreciate your prayers for this situation.

Hello Mudder, Hello Fadder

2011-11-19T22:00:00.000Z

This week we helped host the annual spiritual retreat for the BCA middle and high school students. We spent 3 days in Mana, a village about an hour outside of Bamako. We stayed at a mission compound. Some of the kids camped out in tents and some slept inside a couple of empty houses.

The time consisted of devotional times led by a new missionary couple. We also had times of worship along with several team building games and activities. For the first time this year,we also buried a time capsule which included a special item contributed by each person. We ate like royalty thanks to one of the moms who did a wonderful job preparing our meals.

One of the highlights of the retreat each year is visiting the “Miracle Tree”. The tree was struck by lightning several years ago which destroyed much of the tree. However, the tree is not dead and still has a few healthy branches with leaves.

Cole has attended the retreat for the last 5 years but this was the first trip for John & Julie.

I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up

2011-11-15T22:00:00.000Z

Kim Nelson is the Kindergarten teacher and school principal/administrator for Bamako Christian Academy (BCA). She was hanging some things in her classroom yesterday and lost her balance getting down from a chair she was standing on. She hit her head on the way down, cut her hand, and dislocated her foot. After several doctor visits, it was decided her foot injury is quite serious and she was medevaced to the States for treatment.

Kim is scheduled for surgery and will need to remain in the U.S. for two to three months for recovery. Please be in prayer for Kim that the pain will be minimal and the injury will heal quickly. We’re also scrambling to fill her administrator responsibilities and find someone to take over her class.

BCA is in dire need of a full-time school administrator. If you, or anyone you know has experience in this area, please consider serving at our school for 6 months to a year. Please contact us for more information.

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Is On Fire…

2011-11-02T23:22:00.001Z

We were relaxing in our house yesterday afternoon after a long day at school when we heard a lot of commotion outside. As we went out to see what it was, we encountered all of our neighbors yelling at us and pointing to our roof. We ran up the outside staircase to find that the thatched roof canopy on our roof was on fire! John and Cole grabbed our garden hose to begin putting it out and quickly found there wasn’t enough water pressure. At the same time, neighbors began streaming into our yard and started a bucket brigade drawing buckets of water from our well and running them upstairs. Thankfully, the fire was put out within a few minutes and there was minimal damage to our home. It was amazing to see all of our neighbors immediately rushing to our aid to douse the flames. In all, 25-30 people jumped in to help. After 10 years in Mali, we had our first real taste of village camaraderie even living in the capital city. We are indebted to everyone who came to our aid. When all was said and done, everyone quietly returned to their homes without asking for anything in return.

With no fire department in the country, we learned firsthand how fires are put out – this is a lesson we would have rather avoided learning, but we are certainly extremely grateful that no one was hurt and the damage was minor.

Team Work

2011-10-31T22:00:00.000Z

Every year in Mali, the missionary women in the community host a women’s retreat and conference. It’s a getaway weekend for the ladies that’s full of good teaching, worship, friendship, fellowship, and refreshment while basking in the luxury of a local hotel. This is especially a blessing for women that travel in from the bush. A visiting team usually comes out to Mali to lead the conference. Julie, along with 90 other women, attended the retreat this weekend. As an added bonus, the team that came out this year was from Rose Drive Friends Church in Placentia, California – one of our supporting churches! We enjoyed hosting them before, during, and after the conference. One of the pastors from Rose Drive accompanied the team and spent the weekend with John and Cole while Julie and the women enjoyed the conference.

It was exciting to share our ministries with some of our friends. Although we only had a day with them around outside the conference, we managed to show them Bamako Christian Academy, our YWAM Bamako base, and the land we are purchasing for our new base. We also had a chance to show them around Bamako and do a little shopping. We even treated them to a Malian meal that we served Malian style – fingers only from a community bowl – no silverware.

These are the first and only visitors we’ve had since John’s dad visited us in 2003. They were an incredible encouragement to us. We’re looking forward to our next visitors – perhaps it could be you!

Studio Time

2011-10-20T14:20:00.001Z

Tiken Jah Fakoly is a well known Reggae singer in Africa. He’s originally from Ivory Coast but now lives in exile in Mali. His music contains a lot of political themes and he has gained many friends and enemies as a result. His music is very influential in Africa and he’s gained popularity in the global arena too.

Our school had a chance to take a field trip to Tiken Jah Fakoly’s recording studio which is right across from our house and just down the road from school. It is the largest recording studio in Mali. We got a tour of the studio and an explanation of how the recording process happens and how an album is produced. Recently, Tiken Jah added a small concert hall and night club on-site and we had a tour of that as well. We didn’t have a chance to meet Tiken Jah, however we’re making arrangements for him to visit our school. We’re really hoping to develop an ongoing relationship with him. We already feel a connection with him as our family is living in his former house. John in particular has a heart for Tiken Jah and is anxious to become friends and share the Gospel with him. A man of his influence and stature could have an amazing impact if he comes to know the Lord.

Speaking of School…

2011-09-26T21:13:00.001Z

The past few months we have been serving on a committee to host the first ever, Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) conference in Mali. The conference was this weekend and we are very happy with the results. We had over 100 people in attendance from 24 different Christian schools including pastors, school administrators, teachers, and others interested in Christian education. The speakers were Dr. Samson Makhado, the director of ACSI Africa who came from South Africa, and Daniel Neuhaus, the director of ACSI for French speaking countries who flew in from France. Part of our responsibilities were hosting the speakers in our home. This gave us some wonderful opportunities to talk with them and learn from their experience in Christian education. In addition, Julie was involved in delegate registration and taking care of the speakers. John worked with the publicity team and did a lot of the graphic design. He was also in charge of all things technical during the conference including sound, video, and PowerPoint.

The goal of the conference was to promote the importance of Christian education and organize the Christian schools in Mali. The conference sessions went very well and everyone learned a lot. We finished the conference by forming an association of Christian schools in Mali which will allow us to pool our resources and help each other in addition to capitalizing on the vast resources ASCI has to offer.

It’s A Girl!

2011-09-18T21:53:00.001Z

We have a new addition to our family - a new little girl that recently moved in with us. Her name is Anne-Marie and she is 8 years old.

Anne-Marie’s parents serve with YWAM in a village 2 hours outside of Bamako, where we live. Her father is Malian and her mother is from South Africa. Because of her mom’s roots, she does speak English fluently as well as French and Bambara. She has had a difficult time in Malian schools and we offered to take her into our home so she can attend BCA, the school for missionary kids where we are serving. We converted John’s office into a bedroom and she moved in two weeks ago. We were initially concerned about the cultural adjustments as our home life is very American. But Anne-Marie seems to be adapting well and enjoys the new lifestyle – especially eating American food – which we thought would be a problem, but it turns out she loves American food. So far, she seems to be thriving.

When we asked her if she considered home, our house, or her home in the village, she immediately answered our house. We’re so grateful for her excitement and enthusiasm for this arrangement. The plans are for her to go home on weekends once or twice a month. Having a new little girl is introducing a lot of new dynamics into our family. We know it’s still early on, but so far, so good.

Teacher, Teacher I Declare

2011-09-12T21:13:00.001Z

School started last Thursday. This year marks a VERY big change for our family as John is also teaching full time at Bamako Christian Academy (BCA) this year. Because of a dire teacher shortage, John offered to step in. He is teaching 3 high school science classes and 2 high school Bible classes in addition to 2 elective classes. As you can see, he’s even dressing the part. Between the two of us, we are teaching a majority of the high school classes. We have 8 high school students (including Cole) in 9th through 11th grade. If you’re a teacher, we’d LOVE to have you come out and teach this year. You’ll even get a cool lab coat too.

The Wheels On The Bus

2011-08-31T22:00:00.000Z

We’ve been quiet recently because we’ve been out of the country for the past week. We went to Dakar, Senegal for our YWAM West Africa regional conference. Senegal is Mali’s neighbor to the west. We had a really good time at the conference, but the trip there and back was grueling and exhausting. It was a 34 hour bus ride covering 850 miles each way. YWAM chartered a bus which made things a little easier than public transport. We were VERY fortunate to have a brand new bus! It was air conditioned and even had a bathroom which is unheard of in Mali. The drivers were just using it for storage until we asked if we could use it. In fact, they didn't know how to empty the waste tank, so we weren't able to use it on the way home because it filled up on the trip there. Viva Africa!

Not only was the trip long, but the roads were so bad that in some places we traveled for hours no faster than 10-15 MPH. The border was another story all together. On the trip to Dakar, it took us 3 hours to cross the border. There are several border check points the bus needed to stop at and we were constantly battling with the truck traffic. The line for trucks to cross the border was well over a mile long. Truck drivers in Africa need an amazing amount of patience.

When we reached our hotel, our group had filled it to capacity so our family stayed in a bungalow at the hotel owner's house about a 1/2 mile away. Dakar is notorious for power problems and there are usually more blackouts than times of power. Thankfully our hotel had a generator so there was power all the time. Unfortunately, the place we were staying didn't so we arrived to a room with no lights or fans after an exhausting 34 hour bus ride. It was very discouraging to say the least. We ended up sleeping on lounge chairs outside the first night. But we had a wonderful view of the sky and witnessed the August meteor showers. It was beautiful. And the lounge chairs were a step up from sleeping in the bus the night before. Thankfully, we were hooked up to a generator the next day and had power for the rest of our stay and were able to sleep in beds in our room.

The conference went really well and we're happy we went. It was nice to see some of our YWAM friends from other West African countries. In all, there were 120 people from YWAM bases in 8 different countries. We also had a good speaker and a couple of excellent workshops. The conference was translated into French, English, and Portuguese, so we didn’t have to struggle deciphering the French.

The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree as Cole has been showing a lot of interest in sound technician work. He and John worked together running the sound system for the conference, and by the end, Cole was doing it on his own.

In the off-time, we had some good opportunities to relax and explore. We were within walking distance of the beach. So this summer, we've touched both sides of Africa and had a chance to splash in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans!

We were very close to a lake called Pink Lake, due to it’s unusual color. It takes its color from salt and minerals in the lake. It is said to be even saltier than the Dead Sea in Israel! The salt is mined by hand by people literally scraping it off the bottom of the lake and dumping it into canoes one bucket at a time. Women used to be the main workers but they are now prohibited from mining the salt due to massive infertility problems because of the salt and minerals in the water.

On the last day, John and Cole took a dune buggy ride which was a LOT of fun! Cole got to do most of the driving which was a huge thrill for him.

We left Dakar on Saturday night at 11pm. It was another long, exhausting trip. This time when we reached the border, it took us over 5 hours to cross. There was a rainstorm the night before that dumped 5 feet of rain in the region. The border was flooded and at times, our driver maneuvered our bus through 3 feet of water. He must have known the road well because everything was under water and it was impossible to see where the road was. Thankfully, we made it through safely. The luggage compartments flooded in the process. We'd heard about situations like this, so we packed everything in a rubber duffel bag which kept our things dry.

We arrived home exhausted but very glad to be back on Monday morning at 5am. Although the trip was long and grueling, we are very thankful we didn’t have any breakdowns or accidents.

Bowling for Birthdays

2011-08-20T22:00:00.000Z

A lot has changed in Bamako the past 10 years. The city has grown quite a bit recently and it’s beginning to feel a little less like a “capital village” and more like a capital city. In fact, Bamako is the fastest growing city in Africa and the 10th fastest growing city in the world! We were very excited to hear about a brand new bowling alley that just opened. We decided to check it out for Cole’s birthday. That’s another thing that’s changed dramatically; when we first arrived, our son was just turning 5 years old. Those days are long gone and we’re proud of our mature, young man. Happy Birthday, Cole!!

The Decade

2011-08-13T22:00:00.000Z

We first arrived in Mali on August 13, 2001. That makes today our 10 year anniversary as missionaries in Mali. We are a LONG WAY from where we were a decade ago – physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

The title of our blog is 6892 Miles From Disneyland because our lives used to revolve around the Magic Kingdom. We used to live only 2 miles from Disneyland and spent countless hours at the park, pioneered an on-line Disney community, and hosted several special events at Disneyland. John was also a Disney historian and used to conduct historical tours of Disneyland. Soon after Cole was born, we opened the Anaheim Visitor Center across the street from Disneyland. Now we could make a living sharing our love of Disneyland and Southern California with people visiting the area. As John operated the Visitor Center with his partners and employees, Julie was teaching English at Mater Dei High School.

In 2001, the area around Disneyland and the Anaheim Visitor Center was transformed into the Anaheim Resort. At the same time, the new Disneyland Resort opened complete with the new California Adventure theme park, Downtown Disney shopping and entertainment center, and new hotels. Business was booming and we doubled the size of the Visitor Center to better service the additional tourists. We were living a dream. Not only were we doing what we loved, but we were being entertained, wined, and dined by Disney, Universal Studios, Sea World, Hard Rock Café, and the likes. Disney even hosted us and all of our employees at the private exclusive Club 33 at Disneyland.

Then something we were completely unprepared for happened. In April 2001, God called us to walk away from everything and take a one year short term mission trip to West Africa. This is a whole story unto itself, but we had an amazing peace about it and made one of the biggest decisions of our lives. A few months later, we were stepping off a plane in Bamako, Mali. We served with a mission agency called Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). Julie taught 5th-8th grade in a small school for missionary kids while John worked with MAF’s IT and communication division providing voice and email communication via shortwave radio for missionaries living in the bush.

That first year passed very quickly and we soon found ourselves back in our former lives in SoCal. John returned to the Visitor Center and Julie resumed teaching at Mater Dei. It didn’t take us too long to realize that we had undergone major changes in Africa and felt we no longer fit our former lifestyle. We soon made the decision to return to Mali with MAF. This time we knew it was a long term decision. We sold our condo, cars, and most of our belongings. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to sell our part of the Anaheim Visitor Center, so we literally walked away and left it in the hands of our business partners. This was a major sacrifice but one we’ve never regretted. And other sacrifices followed. A few months after returning to Mali in 2003, we were involved in a tragic car accident in the bush that left 4 people dead and sent John to the hospital in London for 3 months and left him with permanent injuries. Through it all, all we wanted was to return to Mali. After several months of physical therapy in the States, we were released to return to our ministries in Africa.

In 2005, MAF made the decision to close its operations in Mali and we were forced to return to the States. Thankfully, several months later, God led us to an opportunity to return to Mali with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). We were very excited to go back to Africa after we had thought all of the doors had closed. We started this blog when we joined YWAM, so you can read much of the rest of the story by looking back through our older posts.

Yes, a lot has changed in the past decade, not the least of which is John’s appearance. Gone are the days of short hair (ask him what that’s all about) and wearing a suit a tie. The 5 year old boy we arrived with is now a handsome young man. And Julie, who never saw herself as anything but a high school English teacher has now expanded to teaching multiple subjects in many different grade levels.

Many of you knew us before the transition while others have joined us at various parts along this incredible journey. Thank you to each and every one of you for helping the Clark family thrive 6892 Miles From Disneyland.

The Frog Prince

2011-08-11T23:56:00.001Z

It’s currently rainy season in Mali. This time of year frogs seem to appear out of nowhere. It’s not unusual to find them hiding in various places in our house. Last night was a reminder when we found one in our kitchen, one of their favorite hang outs. They also seem to like our guest room which is often a surprise for our guests.

The frog population seems to be down this year because we haven’t been having a very good rainy season. We’ve only had a few days of good rain throughout the past 2 months. This is a huge problem as all the food production in Mali is dependent on the rains. We’ve been hearing from a lot of areas around the country that many of the farmers haven’t started planting yet. This could have a devastating effect. Famines are happening right now in East Africa and we dread that happening here too. Please be praying for abundant rains over the next month and a half to make up for a sparse rainy season.

Bringing Down the House

2011-08-02T19:32:00.001Z

We woke up on Sunday morning to a loud crashing sound. We thought it was thunder and went back to sleep. When we got up in the morning, we discovered that our carport had collapsed on top of our car. Thankfully, the roof rack on the top of our car caught the weight of the roof and kept it from damaging our car.

Monkey Business

2011-07-20T18:32:00.001Z

Living in Africa, one of the common questions we get is, “do you have a pet monkey?” Now we can answer yes. We’ve heard lots of horror stories from others who had pet monkeys and we thought it might be a big mistake. But when some friends of ours offered us a monkey, we went against our better judgment and decided to adopt it. We’ve had him for several days and we are very happy. Jack is very well behaved and we’re all getting along perfectly. He seems to be happy living with us too. We arrived home a couple of days ago and Jack’s leash had come untied, but he didn’t run away. He was sitting and waiting for us. Jack is especially fond of Julie and enjoys grooming her when she is sitting outside. It’s cool having a pet with opposable thumbs. We can probably expect a lot more monkey videos from Cole.

Help Wanted

2011-07-12T17:51:00.001Z

One of our main ministries is serving at Bamako Christian Academy (BCA). The school is currently offering kindergarten though 12th grade. Our students are mostly missionary kids. Because English education options are so limited on the mission field, many missionaries need to take time out from their ministry and work to homeschool their kids. But BCA provides a low cost, English speaking Christian school option, freeing missionaries in our area from the need to homeschool.

Unfortunately, we have a shortage of teachers for the upcoming school year. Currently, Julie is the only high school teacher committed to teaching next year. We are in dire need of a Math and Science teacher. But we have many other opportunities as well including, history, art, music, Bible, French, and PE on all levels. We also have a need for a school administrator/principle.

Tired of the same ol’, same ol’? Looking for a change of environment? Why not consider a short term teaching opportunity at BCA. It’s easy to adapt your teaching experience to our school. Our school is English speaking and utilizes an American based curriculum. We have both part-time and full-time teaching positions. We’re looking for people who can serve anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. Click here for more details. We’re located in the capital city of Bamako with comfortable housing with running water and electricity. If this peaks your interest, or if you know of someone who might be qualified, please let us know. We’ll be happy to provide more information.

Welcome Home

2011-07-03T22:00:00.002Z

We arrived back home last Sunday afternoon. We had a WONDERFUL and very relaxing trip to Kenya. It was exactly what our family has been needing. We broke up our trip into two segments: city and beach. Although we live in a capital city, it is far from the modern world and developing conditions are a discouraging part of everyday life. We were in need of a big city experience. In addition, we’ve really been missing the beach. So we planned half of our trip in the capital city of Nairobi, and the other half on the beach of the Indian Ocean in Mombasa. In the middle, we took a 2 day African safari through one of Kenya’s famous game reserves.

Thank you for your prayers. Our vacation went flawlessly and was the perfect match of rest and adventure combined. We’ve been quiet for the past week as we ease back into life after vacation. In addition, our internet connection has been coming and going making it difficult to communicate. We’ve backfilled our blog to fill you in on the highlights of our trip, so keep reading below. In addition, we’ve posted several photos on Flikr for you to look at. And don’t forget to check out Cole’s monkey video.

A Nice Place to Visit…

2011-06-25T22:00:00.001Z

Today was our final day in Kenya and we embarked on some souvenir shopping to end our trip. In all, we’ve had a fabulous time in Kenya and it was everything we needed it to be. But at the same time, we’re all looking forward to being back home in Mali. Although Nairobi is more developed than Bamako, we found it is still very much African and we experienced frequent power cuts each day, tap water that was undrinkable, and low (sometimes no) pressure showers.

Kenya is a notoriously crime ridden country where theft and crime are very common. It goes beyond pickpockets and purse snatchers into crimes called necklace snatching. When walking down the street, or sitting in a car at a traffic light with the window down, it is not uncommon for someone to grab any jewelry you’re wearing including watches, bracelets, and necklaces right off your wrist or neck. They’ll even grab cell phones out of people’s hands even as they are using them. It was also important to avoid being on streets at night. We were worried about these things and took many precautions, especially during our time in Nairobi. These precautions paid off as we were never the victims of theft. We are so grateful for God’s protection from this. Corruption is also a terrible problem in Kenya. Several places we went had signs saying “Report Corruption Here”. What a terrible and dark environment in which to live.

One of the things that drew us to Kenya for vacation was to be in an English speaking country. However, English speaking doesn’t always mean American speaking. We had to speak very slowly and deliberately to be understood because people had a difficult time with our accent – and even then, we found people often heard something entirely different than what we said. It made for some humorous memories that will continue in our family for a long time.

June is rainy season in Kenya and we saved a lot of money by staying here outside of tourist season. We were worried that we would be rained out of a lot of activities. But thankfully, it didn’t rain until today, and it was a light rain that didn’t affect our plans. All in all, it was a fabulous trip and one that will last in our memories for a lifetime.

Shop Till You Drop

2011-06-24T22:00:00.001Z

Shopping day! We were able to find a small mall and a large Nakumatt store, which is the Kenyan equivalent of Super WalMart. We picked up a few things we can’t get in Mali and looked around in several different stores. We were also able to find some primary reading books that Julie is eager to use in her reading ministry with the Nigerian women in Mali. This is going to be a wonderful new resource.

There are no Western fast food restaurants in Kenya – not even a McDonalds. We were hoping for some comfort food and finally stumbled upon a Middle Eastern fast food chicken restaurant called ChicKing. It is very similar to KFC. This became a frequent dining establishment for us over the next few days.

At the Movies

2011-06-23T22:00:00.001Z

This morning we boarded a plane for our return flight to Nairobi. What took us 18 hours by train, we accomplished in only 1 hour by air – and for the same price! But we would never trade the experience we had on the train.

Once back in Nairobi, we checked back into the same hotel which felt comfortable and familiar. After lunch, we began to take advantage of being in a big city. One of our first stops was a movie theatre to see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean IV movie. It was nice to sit in a theatre and watch a movie in English while eating hot buttered popcorn. After the movie, it began getting dark and we headed back to our hotel for dinner and some sleep.

Jesus is Our Fortress

2011-06-22T22:00:00.001Z

Today we toured the premier landmark in Mombasa – Fort Jesus. Fort Jesus was originally built in 1593 by the Portuguese to protect the harbor of Mombasa. The fort changed hands nine times between 1631 and 1875. When the British colonized Kenya, Fort Jesus was converted into a prison and remained so until 1958 when it became a national monument and museum. Fort Jesus was the first fortress outside of Europe designed to withstand canon fire.

After Fort Jesus, we toured around a bit of Old Towne Mombasa then explored modern downtown in search of lunch. After lunch, we headed back home to Amani Acre in a tuk-tuk – a small three wheeled taxi. They are just like the ones seen on the TV show Outsourced.

We spent the rest of the afternoon resting and walking along the beach collecting shells to help us remember our wonderful time in Mombasa.

Circle of Life

2011-06-21T22:00:00.001Z

First thing this morning we headed out for another game drive before breakfast. Morning is supposed to be the best time to see animals. We soon came upon a hyena eating what was left of a giraffe that had been killed by a lion a couple of days ago. We also spotted a lot more elephants and deer. When we got back to camp for breakfast, our fellow campers showed us pictures of a lion they had just seen on their game drive. We were disappointed we didn’t’ see it, but have been very excited about all the other animals we have seen.

After breakfast, we packed up and left the campsite for our final game drive as we headed out of the park. We saw several giraffes, gazelles, and ibex along with a couple of herds of elephants. Just as we were leaving the park, we saw several wild camels too. In all, we were very pleased with our safari. We saw over 20 types of animals, including 3 of what’s called the BIG FIVE game species (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, & buffalo).

We count our safari as one of our greatest adventures in Africa. With our California tourism experiences, our safari was reminiscent of the San Diego Wild Animal Park or Lion Country Safari. However, this is no zoo. It is not a controlled environment. There are no zoo keepers and no one attends to the animals’ needs. This is the wild and the animals all fend for themselves. The food chain is in full operation here. The carnivores eat the other animals in the whole Circle of Life thing. All of the animals are protected species and hunting is illegal. But poaching is still a big problem because of the vastness and isolation of the parks which encompass hundreds of square miles. There are a few park wardens to help control poaching, but sadly it remains a profitable business. In Mali, it’s possible to find fresh ivory, leopard skins, zebra skins, and animal heads for sale in the market – all products of illegal poaching in Kenya.

Lion Country Safari

2011-06-20T22:00:00.001Z

Today marks the pinnacle of our trip – the beginning of our 2 day African safari. We were picked up at 6:30 in the morning by Nicholas, our safari guide. From there, it was a 4 hour drive to Tsavo East – one of the larger game reserves in Kenya. We got so caught-up in the excitement that we even bought safari hats from a vendor at the park entrance. They’re the African safari version of Mickey Mouse Ears hats at Disneyland.

We booked with a company called Wildlife Kenya Safaris. We would highly recommend them. Our jeep was a specially equipped Toyota Land Cruiser designed for safari purposes. Every seat was a window seat and special sunroofs allowed us to stand up for an unobstructed 360° view.

Within a few minutes of entering the park, we encountered our first animals, a group of wild wart hogs. In Swahili, they are called pumba – sound familiar? A few minutes later, we spotted some zebras. Then came the elephants. And boy, did we see a lot of elephants throughout our safari. Nicholas knew where several watering holes were located which gave us the opportunity to see a lot of animals – some of them quite up close. We also came across a large herd of water buffalo. They had the habit of standing and staring us straight in the face. Continuing on, we encountered baboons, an ostrich, and several types of gazelle, ibex, and antelope.

After a couple of hours, we headed to our camp to get checked in and have some lunch. We chose to stay in a campsite rather than a safari lodge and we’re very happy we made that choice. Our camp was situated in the middle of the game reserve. Our lodging was a large, luxurious tent. It was about 15 x 25 feet. It had electricity and even had a complete bathroom with sink, toilet, and a shower with hot and cold running water.During lunch, we had to shoo off several monkeys that kept trying to sneak up on our table and steal food. Cole got a special kick out of this. He took a video that we’ve posted as our video of the week.

After lunch, we headed out for another game drive. This time we encountered several giraffe along with more water buffalo and elephants. Around sunset, we came upon a leopard sitting in a tree in the middle of a herd of water buffalo. We stopped and watched for several minutes, anticipating he was going to pounce on some dinner. But the sun was setting and we needed to head back to camp before dark.

Again, because it was before tourist season, our camp was very quiet. Our camp could accommodate over 60 people, but tonight, there were only 4 other people besides our family. After dinner together, we sat around a campfire. We were then escorted to our tents by a traditional Maasai tribesman. His job was to guard our campsite and keep wild animals out the camp because we were camped deep in the wild bush. We had to really rely on his ancient skills as he was only armed with a flashlight and a stick. Once in our tents, we had to remain inside for safety. Several times throughout the night, we could hear lions and other wild animals outside our camp. It was really cool.

Father’s Day

2011-06-19T22:00:00.001Z

Today we attended church with Martha. It was within a quick 5 minute walk from Amani Acre. It was a small church of about 20 people. In Mali, our YWAM team visits a different church each month and helps lead the church service. In Mombasa, the local YWAM base does the same thing, and this Sunday, they were leading at Martha’s church! So we had a chance to meet the local YWAM team too.

Mombasa is the home to dozens of world class, 5 star vacation resorts. Being Father’s Day, John was treated to a special Father’s Day brunch. Together with Martha, we dined at the 40 Thieves Restaurant at one of the resorts. We sat on the beach while a jazz band played and watched as camels walked along the shore.

On the way home, we stopped at a real grocery store! This was our first trip to a full size grocery store in almost a year! It didn’t have the selection of Western brands and products we were hoping for, but there were ample supplies all kinds of food including fresh, sliced bread – something Julie has been craving for months.

All Aboard

2011-06-18T22:00:00.003Z

Last night at 7:00, we boarded the train from Nairobi to Mombasa, the coastal shipping port of Kenya. The trip was one of the highlights of our vacation. We had our own first class compartment with seats for all of us that converted into beds for the night. We also had a small sink and closet too. The train cars are over 50 years old, so things were a bit worn out and not everything worked, but it was very pleasant and comfortable anyway. Our cross country trip was 18 hours and included dinner and breakfast in the dining car. While we were at dinner, the porter made up our beds in our compartment. Because tourist season hasn’t started yet, the train was very quiet and uncrowded. The car we were traveling in only had one other couple in it. And believe it or not, the price for all of this was only $50 per person.

We traveled all night stopping often at various village stations to pick up and drop off passengers. With the full moon, we had a beautiful view of the Kenyan savanna. Much of our trip was along one of the major game parks. But unfortunately, we didn’t see any animals. We’ll leave that for our safari in a couple of days. And from the stories we read in the museum, we’re happy we didn’t have any animal encounters.

There was one delay this morning when a train in front of us derailed and was blocking the tracks. But it was fixed within an hour and we were back on our way. This is remarkable for Africa, where train derailments are common and travel delays are often counted in days, not hours.

Mombasa is an island on the Kenyan coast. It was necessary to take a ferry to reach our accommodations. We stayed at a missionary guest house called Amani Acre which is operated by Africa Inland Mission. A woman named Martha Pontier is the caretaker and manager. She is one of our fellow missionaries from our home church in California and we enjoyed meeting her and getting to know her. Amani Acre far exceeded our expectations and was a wonderful breath of fresh air – literally. Our accommodations were a beach house that was 75 feet from the white sand beach of the Indian Ocean. Cool breezes blew in through the windows and filled our lungs with fresh, ocean air. The area is actually a beautiful coral reef teaming with exotic and beautiful sea life. And because it’s on the equator, the ocean water is warm and inviting. When the tide goes out, it’s possible to walk out onto the reef and see amazing tide pools.

Rallying Together

2011-06-17T23:00:00.003Z

Today we ventured out of the hotel to explore a bit. To our surprise, we soon came upon the starting line of the Kenya Safari Rally, one of the toughest car rally races in the world. It was fun looking at the cars in the staging area then seeing them race from the starting line to begin the three day race through Kenya.

Later in the day, we visited the Nairobi Railway Museum. It was fascinating to learn about the history of the Kenya and Uganda Railways. Like the U.S., the railroad played in important part in Kenya’s history. Sadly, over 2,500 people died constructing the Nairobi to Mombasa line that we will be traveling on tonight. Many of them died by wild animal attacks including some who were pulled out of their railway sleeping cars by lions at night. The museum also had an excellent collection of old steam locomotives and vintage train cars we could explore. This helped build our excitement for our train trip tonight.

Just Flew In From Mali and Boy Are My Arms Tired

2011-06-16T22:00:00.003Z

We left Mali last night at 7:30 and arrived safely in Nairobi, Kenya this morning at 5:30. Africa is a huge continent and it took us 7 hours to fly to Kenya plus a three hour time change. We got processed through immigration and received our visas very quickly then headed by taxi to our hotel in downtown Nairobi. We were all pretty tired so we crashed in our hotel room for most of the day. We’ll be spending one night here before heading to the coast via train tomorrow night.

Out Of The Office

2011-06-15T17:16:00.001Z

We’re excited to be leaving on vacation today. We’ll be spending the next 12 days in Kenya for some much needed R&R. West Africa (where we live) is very different the Lion King Africa that most people envision. We don’t have any wild animals apart from a few elephants and hippos. We’re looking forward to seeing lions, giraffes, and the other animals associated with Africa. In addition to our safari, we’ll be spending half our time in the capital of Nairobi and the other half in Mombasa, on the coast of the Indian Ocean. We’ll be living off the grid without telephone or email. We’re looking forward to sharing all about Kenya upon our return.

Bursting at the Seams

2011-06-12T22:47:00.001Z

This morning we awoke to the sound of rain. It was interesting because the sun was shining and birds were singing – not usual signs of rain. As John got up to check things out, he stepped onto the floor and realized our house was flooded. Sloshing through the water, he opened the bathroom door and found the sound of rain was actually a burst pipe. The bathroom was under an inch of water and much of the rest of the house was flooded too. Thankfully, all of our floors are tiled so cleanup was relatively easy and damage was minimal. We’re preparing to leave for Kenya in 3 days and are very grateful the pipe broke now rather than after we’re gone.

Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

2011-05-26T21:22:00.001Z

Because cotton is one of Mali’s primary exports, cloth and fabric are plentiful. This helps make clothing a valuable part of Malian culture. One of the easiest and least expensive ways to buy clothes is to buy cloth and have clothes custom made by a tailor. A complete outfit with pants and and shirt is only about $20. The tailors are very creative and the clothes they make are beautiful and interesting. The variety of fabric is endless and the patterns are very colorful and often unusual and amusing. John recently had a new set of clothes made. Rather than pre-buying fabric, he left it to his tailor to pick out the fabric. He picked up his clothes a few days later. The first time he put them on, Julie burst out laughing. The fabric pattern features loaves of sliced bread in a plastic wrapper. It’s even more interesting because this type of bread isn’t available in Mali.

John loves his new clothes and continues to receive a lot of compliments from Malians whenever he wears them.

Yin Yang

2011-05-05T22:50:00.001Z

Today we have another term – probably one you’re more familiar with. Yin Yang: the ancient Chinese philosophy that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. We’re happy to report that we’ve been experiencing the YANG to our WAWA day YIN. We made another trip downtown to make a second attempt at seeing the doctor. We braved the market and once again met up with our contact. At least this time, we had a better idea of who we were looking for. Julie’s appointment was for 4 pm and the doctor finally showed up shortly before 6 pm. The consultation went very well. After performing a sonogram, and talking to Julie about her symptoms, he confirmed that she has been passing the last remaining kidney stones in her system. He prescribed some medicine to help with the pain and other symptoms and we were on our way. We feel very confident with his expertise and are glad we were persistent enough to try seeing him again.

In case you’re wondering about the cost, the doctor visit was $12 and the sonogram was $30. This is the full amount – not insurance co-payments. The prescriptions were a total of $25 for three medicines including a new and promising antibiotic.

Julie is feeling much better. The pipe in our bathroom has been fixed. We’re in the process of replacing John’s lost wallet And lastly, we finished things up yesterday by booking tickets for a family vacation to Kenya next month. We were able to use our frequent flyer miles to pay for all three of us. It’s really helpful to have something for us to be looking forward to.

WAWA

2011-05-03T22:00:00.000Z

We have a term in Mali called WAWA, which is an acronym for West Africa Wins Again. We use it when situations and circumstances become overwhelming and you just feel like throwing in the towel. WAWA days tend to show up especially during hot season when the weather is miserable and it’s just too hot and tiring to do anything.

Unfortunately, yesterday was a WAWA day. Julie has been experiencing a lot of pain and complications related to her kidneys. Yesterday was a holiday in Mali so we had trouble finding a qualified doctor that was working. Through a friend of a friend, we eventually arranged to meet with a specialist who is supposed to be one of the best (and few) urologist in Mali. The man knew the doctor and made special arrangements for an appointment despite the holiday. We were to meet him downtown in the central marketplace.

Our experience with the most crowded days at Disneyland pales in comparison with the throngs of people, vehicles, vendors, beggars, and merchandise all sharing the same small and congested alleyways that make up the central market. With every step we have to avoid being hit by cars, motorcycles, pushcarts, and people carrying things on their heads let alone trying to avoid all the garbage on the ground. On top of this, we’re constantly accosted by people trying to sell us everything from underwear to bananas to t-shirts of Muammar Gaddafi. And to make things more interesting, we were to meet our contact in the witchdoctor and traditional medicine section of the market. Here we were surrounded by interesting wares including monkey paws, dried chameleons, decaying animal heads of all kinds, cola nuts, leopard skins, and dead alligator parts – anything needed to put a curse on someone.

We were told to look for our contact who would lead us to the doctor’s office which was buried deep in the market. He was described as a young black man with short hair – a perfect description of 99.99% of the men in Mali. Thankfully, we tend to stand out in the crowd, so he eventually found us. It was a huge discouragement when he told us the doctor had already left for the day so our difficult, hour long trip into town was for nothing. In addition, John lost his wallet in the market which included his ATM card and drivers license. Unfortunately, his license can only be replaced in person in the States which leaves him with no ID and takes away his ability to drive in Mali.

We also had guests staying in our home and as they were preparing to leave, a pipe broke in the guest bathroom. We had to turn off the water to the whole house until it could be fixed. John returned home after dropping our friends off at the airport at midnight and worked until 2 a.m. to get the pipe blocked off and water turned back on. And these are just the main highlights. We’re glad this WAWA day is behind us and we’re looking forward to putting off the next one as long as possible.

Bill Pay–The Easy Way

2011-04-28T23:55:00.001Z

In this day in age, on-line banking and on-line bill payments have become the normal way of taking care of personal finances. Mali is still a cash based society and these types of services are non-existent here. In fact, something as simple as paying our utility bills is a very time consuming and involved process. It is not possible to pay on-line or even send a check in the mail! We must visit the electric company in person and wait in line for often times 45 minutes to an hour to pay our bill in cash. If there’s a problem with the bill, things become even more complicated. This month our bill was three times what it should have been. There were unexplained charges for several hundred dollars. In Mali, relationships mean everything and normally the only way to resolve a problem is through knowing someone in the company to fix it for you. Thankfully, we were able to find a friend of a friend to act as our advocate with the power company. He spent several hours negotiating with several people until he was finally able to resolve things. It turns out the charges were someone skimming money from our bill for their personal gain. Unfortunately, in Mali, corruption is very high and this type of activity is not uncommon.

So next time you pay your electric bill, be thankful for how easy and fair the process is.

Easter Best

2011-04-24T23:35:00.001Z

Today we had a special morning Easter Service for the Bamako English Fellowship. Instead of meeting at the church, we had the service on the lawn of one of the local mission compounds. It was a treat to sit on some grass. The weather was pleasant with temps in the low 90s.

We enjoyed celebrating Easter with some wonderful Easter music. John was the pastor for the service and gave the Easter message. To mark the occasion, he wore shoes – something he hasn’t done since being in the States last year. Even more impressive, he put on a tie for the first time in 10 years! It was a strange reminder of John’s suit and tie corporate days.

After the service, we had a pot luck and fellowship time with many people from the English speaking community.

Haunting Memories

2011-03-31T16:25:00.000Z

We're currently in Koutiala for our YWAM Mali annual meeting. Each year everyone at our 6 bases gets together to review the past year, talk about new ministries, and look towards the coming year. It's interesting to see friends we don't see very often and hear about everything happening at our different bases.

Because our car accident a few years ago happened on the way to Koutiala, the road trip is always very difficult for Julie as she is haunted by memories of the accident when we're on that road. She spent several days psyching herself up for this trip and reached a point of being okay to travel. We left yesterday traveling on the YWAM bus from Bamako to Koutiala. On the bus, the travel time is about 7 hours. About a third of the way through our trip, we came upon an accident that had just happened. A bus and a car hit each other head on at high speed. The bus fell down a small embankment. As we arrived on the scene, people were wandering around dazed and confused. There was flaming debris on the side of the road. We stopped to help and they began loading injured people on our bus so we could take them to the nearest hospital which was about an hour and a half away. As we were making room for the injured, a bigger bus arrived with a lot more room and they transferred the injured on it. Julie was overwhelmed with the situation and the parallels with our accident. The memories came flooding back to the point she became physically sick.

Thankfully, we arrived safely in Koutiala a few hours later. Julie was still shaken, but recovered from the incident.

Visa – It’s Everywhere You Want to Be

2011-03-29T23:17:00.001Z

Wow! Have we really been gone that long? It seems like just yesterday when we received our first passports. Here we are 10 years later with our passports about to expire. Thankfully, it was easy to get new ones from the U.S. Embassy here in Mali and we received them last week. In doing so, we realized our Malian visas had expired in January. So we went about renewing those too. Americans have a special 5 year visa available for the same price every other nationality pays for a 90 day visa. What a huge blessing that is. Unfortunately, the penalty for letting our visas lapse was close to the same price as the 5 year visa. Ouch! It’s weird to have passports with only one page marked. It’s also sobering to think that this could be the last Malian visa we get for Cole. He’ll be 19 when his expires and who knows what he’ll be up to then.

Peace, Love, and Worshipmania

2011-03-27T22:00:00.000Z

Tonight we led a worship service at the English Fellowship downtown. We decided to take a different approach and have a little fun while resurrecting some songs that haven’t been sung in years. We called it Worshipmania Flashback and all of our songs were circa the 1960s and 70s. It included timeless classics including Kum Ba Ya, Pass It On, Seek Ye First, and They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love. We also had a Keith Green tribute and finished the service with Day By Day from Godspell.

We wanted to create the full mood, so we brought along a lava lamp and even dressed for the part. If only we could have arrived in a VW bus. It was scary how realistic the look was. It took a few moments for some of our friends to recognize us when they walked into church. We also had a few visitors this week who will probably forever think of us as those crazy hippies who never left the 70s.

Traffic Stop

2011-03-20T22:28:00.001Z

We just entered into a new ministry. There is a huge problem with sex trafficking in West Africa. In Mali, it’s estimated that 20,000 young girls are brought in from Nigeria alone and forced to work in the sex trade.

We have some Nigerian Christian friends we’ve been working with since we arrived in Mali in 2001. Recently, together with their church, they began reaching out to some of these girls and helping them find hope and freedom through Christ. They’ve even invited several girls to live in their home to care for them and help them leave prostitution by teaching them viable job skills. They have approached us for help. They’ve asked Julie to help teach them to read and John will be sharing messages from the Bible and helping them find their value in Christ. This weekend, we invited several of the girls to our house to watch the movie Les Misérables – a powerful film about redemption and grace based on Victor Hugo’s classic story. They were very touched by the movie which had several parallels to their lives. We are looking forward to helping these girls, and others find a new life after such tragic circumstances.

Seeing 20/20

2011-03-15T22:00:00.000Z

Cole’s glasses broke a few days ago as he was playing with some friends. We were able to patch them together temporarily until we can order some new ones. He’s been complaining that his glasses aren’t powerful enough, so today we took him for an eye exam at a new eye doctor in our neighborhood. It turned out to be quite an African experience. The was exam was delayed several times due to power outages. Cole was also challenged reading the eye chart that was being projected on the wall because it was out of focus.

The doctor didn’t have the big binocular looking device that’s used in the States to test different lenses. Instead, Cole wore a special pair of glasses that the doctor inserted different lenses into and could adjust the focus of each lens. After 2 hours, Cole completed the exam and we left with a new prescription in hand. In all, the bill only came out to $12.

When we got home, we ordered new glasses online. We have been using a site called EyeBuyDirect.com. Their prices and selection are amazing. If you are in need of glasses, we highly recommend giving them a try. You can get glasses from as low as $7.95 complete with frame AND lenses! If you order glasses, be sure to use coupon code IF93EXDN37 for a 15% discount on your order.

Family Reunion

2011-03-09T22:27:00.001Z

We are happy to report that Julie was discharged from the hospital today! It appears to be the same thing that sent her to the hospital a few weeks ago – an internal infection coupled with Malaria. She also passed a kidney stone in the process. The doctor feels the Malaria preventative she’s been taking has been doing more harm then good and causing a host of health problems.

It’s good to have Julie home again. Cole is also feeling better too and will be returning to school tomorrow with Julie. John on the other hand, has gotten progressively worse. He’s having a full battle with the flu – an ironic sickness to have as hot season has just started. He’s been doing most the family care the past few days despite his sickness and is looking forward to a couple of down days to rest and recuperate. He’s anticipating being back on his feet shortly.

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

2011-03-08T22:54:00.001Z

Julie continues to be treated in the hospital. The doctors ran several tests today including a sonogram, x-ray, blood tests, etc. We are still waiting for the doctors to analyze the test results and determine what treatment is needed. Nothing will probably be decided until tomorrow. Right now, Julie is resting a little easier and is being kept on IVs to help with her nausea and other issues.

John and Cole are about the same – still very weak, groggy, feeling icky. Hopefully a new day will bring some positive changes.

General Hospital - The Sequel

2011-03-07T21:26:00.000Z

We've had a busy weekend. We hosted a new girl in our home and did an introduction to Mali orientation with her. Her name is Anna and she will be living and working at our YWAM base in Fana.

Unfortunately, as we were finishing up with Anna, our whole family took sick. It's very difficult for all three of us to be down at the same time. Julie seems to have gotten the worst of it. We took her to the doctor tonight and they immediately checked her in to the hospital. They'll be running some tests in the morning to figure out what she has. Right now she is miserable and in need of your prayers. Hopefully our next update will be better news.

A Thief In The Night

2011-03-02T22:00:00.000Z

We had someone break into our compound last night. When we woke up this morning, our front gate was unlocked and wide open and our outside lights had been turned off. We also noticed a couple of things missing from our front porch and someone had rummaged through a storage box. We didn’t lose anything of value and we are grateful that no one got into the house. But it’s still a disconcerting feeling that we had an unwanted visitor. It appears that our guard tortoise wasn’t quick enough to apprehend the thief. Perhaps we should investigate something quicker on its feet.

Ooh! What’s That Smell?

2011-02-28T22:00:00.000Z

We tackled a big cleaning project this weekend. Our home office has slowly transformed into a storage room over the past few years. We’ve been wanting to clean it out for quite some time, but there’s always been something more important (or fun) to do first. But alas, something died in the office several days ago so we were forced to dig through everything and find it. It turns out it was a gecko that got squished behind our file cabinet. We have geckos living and running freely throughout the house. Who knew that something so small could make such a huge and terrible stench. Thankfully we have both a functional office again along with a room we can walk into without gagging.

Stampede

2011-02-23T22:51:00.000Z

As you were celebrating Presidents’ Day in the States on Monday, we also had a holiday in Mali called Mawlid an-Nabi (or several other names depending on the country). It marks the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Interestingly, different Muslim sects celebrate it on two different days. The Sunni Muslims celebrate it 5 days earlier. So the holiday falls on a different day depending on which country you are in and who the dominant Islamic influence is. Mali, wanting to be politically correct with the various Islamic sects, declares both days as holidays. So we celebrated Muhammad’s birthday today and last week also.

Unfortunately, the celebrations in Mali were marked by tragedy this year. On Monday, there was a big religious and prayer assembly at Mali’s largest soccer stadium. The stadium was filled beyond capacity. One of Mali’s top Imams (Islamic religious leader) led the service and prayer time. Following the service, there was a stampede as people were leaving the stadium. There were 36 deaths as a result. Last year, Mawlid was marked by a similar stampede tragedy in Timbuktu.

We’re Gonna Party Like It’s Your Birthday

2011-02-20T22:00:00.000Z

We celebrated Julie’s birthday yesterday. John and Cole made a special breakfast of omelets and sautéed potatoes. Later in the day, they baked a birthday cake – not too much of a challenge because John’s mom sent a cake mix and can of frosting from the States. There was one difficulty when the directions called for heating the oven to 350° as our oven has no thermostat or thermometer so it was impossible to to heat to a precise temperature. But the cake turned out beautiful and delicious. We also enjoyed dinner at one of Julie’s favorite French restaurants in town. Another treat is that her birthday fell on a 3 day weekend this year.

The average life expectancy in Mali is much lower than in the Western world. We had thought Julie would pass this milestone this year. But as we looked on-line at the latest figures, Mali’s life expectancy has recently gone up by several years. It’s now 50.6 years for men and 53.8 years for women. Looks like we both still have a few years ahead of us. There’s only 16 countries in the world with a lower life expectancy, but it’s exciting to see Mali’s numbers going up.

Crash and Burn

2011-02-15T17:10:00.003Z

John received a special surprise on Valentine's Day - his new computer suffered a complete crash - yes, this happens to computer technicians too. The system is unrecoverable so he'll have to revert to using an old computer. It will take several days to get everything loaded and running, so he'll be up to his eyeballs in configuration tasks. Fortunately, he reconfigured his email a few months ago so everything resides on the email server, so thankfully none of his email has been lost. Oh, the world of technology!!

Cheers

2011-02-01T21:52:00.001Z

We’re excited that Julie was released from the hospital today! She was successfully treated for Malaria. Malaria kills over a million people each year in sub-Saharan Africa – our area of the world. We praise God that Julie did not become one of these statistics.

Julie was also treated for a serious infection most likely related to her kidneys. The doctor found a few kidney stones, but felt they are small enough to pass normally. As this seems to be a recurring problem, Julie has been instructed to drink 10 liters (over 2-1/2 gallons) of water a day. Even in the hot, dry climate of Mali, this will still be quite a challenge for Julie. Drink up!

Thank you for your prayers. Please let Julie’s healing and release from the hospital serve as a testimony of the power of prayer.

General Hospital

2011-01-30T22:43:00.001Z

Julie has been feeling sick for a couple of weeks with a wide variety of changing symptoms. We visited the doctor yesterday and after a couple of tests, he immediately admitted her to the hospital. She has some type of infection plus Malaria. Our family has been Malaria free for close to ten years, but it looks like our track record has come to an end. Malaria is easily treatable at this stage, so the concern lies with her other symptoms. The doctors are going to run some more tests on Monday morning to better determine what kind(s) of infection(s) she has. In the meantime, she is currently receiving several IV treatments. She has been going through cycles of feeling good and feeling miserable.

The hospital experience in Africa is VERY different from the Western world. She is in a private medical clinic that is far better than the Malian public hospitals. She is in a private room which has only a bed, a light fixture, and a TV that gets only the national Malian station. Other than that, the room is bare. There were only 4 other overnight patients over the weekend. We spent most of the weekend at the hospital. We’ll be visiting often to bring her meals, fresh clothes, and companionship.

We’ll keep you up-to-date on her progress over the next few days. Please keep Julie in your prayers. Pray that whatever she has will be healed and her health returned quickly.

Certified by Alpha

2011-01-23T19:54:00.001Z

On Thursday and Friday, John helped with a Global Alpha Training conference. Unfortunately, the training materials are still stuck in Ivory Coast, but the training went on without them. In all, 57 pastors from the Assembles of God and members of YWAM attended. After 2 days of training, everyone received a completion certificate certifying them as Alpha leaders. Later in the week, John and the team from the UK will be meeting with various mission leaders in Mali to discuss ways of launching the Alpha Course on a greater scale within other missions. The Alpha Course is likely to become a much larger part of John’s ministry.

Call Now! Classes Begin This Week.

2011-01-17T23:26:00.001Z

We have a great ministry opportunity coming up this week. There is a team arriving from England on Wednesday night that will be doing an Alpha Course leader training. This is a training program designed to introduce churches and Christian leaders to the Alpha Course and teach them how to begin hosting and leading Alpha Courses. We have been anticipating this training and see it as an excellent opportunity to expand the Alpha Course in Mali and train people how to lead it in French. John is closely involved with the logistics of the training and coordinating things for the training team.

Unfortunately, we’ve run into a few hurdles the past couple of days. All the training materials are currently stuck in Ivory Coast and there’s not much hope of them arriving before the training begins on Thursday. Also, John has lost contact with the team in England because their email system is blocking messages from Mali. This is making it very difficult to work out last minute details. Please be praying for this event. We’re expecting 70 attendees and we know this has the potential of having a big impact on Mali.

All’s Quiet On The Western Front

2011-01-09T17:10:00.001Z

Update on the French Embassy bombing in Mali a few days ago: The police have captured and interrogated the man who launched the attack. They have determined he was acting alone and not part of any group or organized effort. His bomb was unsophisticated and caused minimal damage to the Embassy. They have said he was just trying to draw attention to himself.

Kaboom!

2011-01-06T21:42:00.001Z

There was an unfortunate incident in Mali yesterday. Someone bombed the French Embassy in Bamako. Thankfully damage and injuries were minimal. Details are still pretty sketchy. The police caught and arrested the man who launched the attack. John was in town by the Embassy yesterday several hours before the attack so this hits close to home. Life is pretty much back to normal today, however there is a bit of tension in the air. We’re hoping this was an isolated incident. Please be praying for continued peace in Mali.

Time Marches On

2011-01-01T23:06:00.001Z

Happy New Year from Mali, West Africa. Because we’re 8 hours ahead of Pacific Time, we get to ring in the new year several hours before most of you. This year our family chose to bring in 2011 with an intimate celebration at home with just our family. At midnight we went on our roof and popped open a bottle of sparkling cider and watched all the fireworks our neighbors were shooting off around the neighborhood. We then launched a few of our own skyrockets and danced with sparklers. We’re looking forward to an exciting and fulfilling year and we wish the same for you.

This millennium begs the question of what to call this year. Is it twenty-eleven or two-thousand-eleven? We hope it goes the way of twenty-eleven based on our experience with French. The French are very specific with pronouncing years for example 1996 is said as “one thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six” (in reality, French numbers above 60 are so complicated it’s actually pronounced as “one thousand, nine hundred and four twenties plus sixteen”. What are your thoughts? Twenty eleven or two-thousand eleven?

They Keep Going…And Going…And Going…

2010-12-31T22:00:00.000Z

As 2010 draws to a close, we reflect back on all the anniversaries that have been celebrated this year. We’ve celebrated 50 years of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and 50 years of independence for Mali. Last night, we celebrated 20 years of King’s Kids in Mali – a YWAM kids performance ministry. We attended a big celebration at a King’s Kids camp taking place in Bamako this week. Over 100 kids from all over Mali were attending the camp. There was a big performance last night with lots of songs, skits, and dances. A special surprise was when they called all the Kings Kids alumni in the audience to participate in one of the dance numbers. After all of the performances we were treated to a wonderful buffet of African dishes.

Alpha Omega

2010-12-30T22:00:00.000Z

Our 10 week Alpha for ESOL Course has drawn to a close. We had our final meeting on Wednesday night. It’s always bittersweet when a course wraps up. It’s satisfying to have seen the Course through to conclusion, but it’s sad to say good-bye to everyone.

We had 5 students complete the course. Everyone was glowing about how the course had changed their lives. Following the lesson on Wednesday night, we had a small graduation ceremony and awarded each student with a completion certificate and an NiRV simplified English Bible that were graciously provided by a church in Washington that has partnered with our Alpha Course.

We’re already planning our next course for February. In the meantime, we’re very excited that a training team from Alpha in the UK is coming to Mali in January for an Alpha Course leader training. We’re hoping this will increase the amount of interest and participation in Alpha Courses in Mali.

Joyeux Noël

2010-12-25T12:00:00.000Z

Merry Christmas from the Clarks. Yes, the blog has been pretty quiet the past few weeks, but it’s certainly not for lack of activity in our lives. Here’s just a quick summary:

Julie has developed more kidney stones and was in a lot of pain a couple of weeks ago. She visited a doctor here who prescribed some medicine and advised her that they should pass naturally without any medical intervention - specifically no need to leave Mali for additional medical care.

School is currently on Christmas vacation so we are all free from school activities for a couple of weeks.

We have a YWAM short term team from Switzerland visiting Mali. They have been staying in Bamako for the past week. Because a majority of the team are English speakers, John has been given the responsibility of overseeing the team’s activities while they are in Bamako. He started with an orientation program to help acclimate them to Mali. He then accompanied them on several activities including a visit to a preschool for children of widows and orphans, ministry at the juvenile prison, a prayer walk around the government ministry complex, shopping downtown (always a very challenging task) and other adventures.

We have been most excited about a Christmas program John organized explaining what Christmas is all about. Even though Mali is a Muslim country, Christmas is a legal holiday. But even so, there is very little evidence of Christmas in Mali. A few stores that cater to Westerners have Christmas decorations, but other than that, the landscape is devoid of Holiday cheer. We held an outdoor event on three different nights to explain Christmas. We projected pictures of Christmas and film clips on a large screen. The Swiss team sang a few Christmas carols and John explained what they mean. The program was designed to explain the sights, sounds, and traditions of Christmas in the Western world. But most importantly, the program ultimately led to the story of the first Christmas and the birth of Christ with related clips from the Jesus Film. We explained the importance and significance of this event and shared about the most special Christmas gift of all. The events were well attended and we passed out a lot of literature afterward and had several good conversations with people after each event.

Last night our family shared Christmas Eve in a local church. We returned again this morning for the Christmas day service. In all, we have been very blessed this Christmas season and we wish the same to you and your families.

Concert Tour-Part 3

2010-11-15T21:49:00.001Z

We arrived in Ségou early afternoon on Friday. We set up camp at a local church. Our concert venue was an indoor concert hall…by far the nicest of the places we’ve been – it was even air-conditioned! Someone had made arrangements for a sound system and John and the tech crew went to a local bar of all places to pick it up. It was a nice system and worked wonderfully. Again, our concert started with a couple of Malian choirs followed by our team. Because we were indoors, our audience was limited to around 200 people. But the concert went very well. After the concert, we returned to the church for dinner and some sleep. The dorm rooms were small and weren’t able to hold everyone, so John and a couple of other guys slept on the floor of the church sanctuary.

Saturday morning we left Ségou and returned to Bamako for the last 2 concerts. It was exciting to return home. We had a wonderful family reunion until John had to leave for the concert an hour later.

Our concerts in Bamako on Saturday and Sunday nights were wonderful. We had several groups perform ahead of us including Kings Kids, a YWAM children’s performance group. They are always a crowd pleaser. Because Bamako is the capital city and there is so much to do, we had our lowest turnouts of the tour with our audiences topping out at 100-150. But that certainly didn’t keep us from worshiping the Lord.

The travel was long and grueling, and it was difficult to be separated as a family. But it was an event of a lifetime for John and he is happy to have been a part of it. He never imagined he would have the opportunity to tour with a professional singer/songwriter. It was in many ways a dream come true for him. One of John’s favorite French worship songs is Entends mon coeur. It’s originally an English song called Listen to Our Hearts by Geoff Moore and Steven Curtis Chapman. John fell in love with the French version (sung by Rolf Schneider of all people) a few years ago when he first heard it. We’ve still never heard it in English! John has always wanted to play the song, but it’s mainly a guitar song and didn’t translate well to the piano. John was so excited to find it part of the repertoire for the concert tour and on the play list every night. He accompanied on the synthesizer which he doesn’t get to play very often.

Each concert ended with a song written by Rolf Schneider called Shalom. John reminisces of looking out at the crowd swaying and singing along at the end of each concert. It was a fitting end to every evening. We’ll also let it be our closing remark for the Concerts de l’Espérance 2010 tour of Mali.

Shalom

Concert Tour-Part 2

2010-11-14T23:03:00.001Z

After several hours on the road, we arrived in Sévaré on Monday afternoon. Our lodging was at a Bible school. We set up our mosquito nets and beds and had an evening to relax and catch our breath. John was able to buy a cool mosquito tent for only $12 in Bamako before he left on the tour. It’s like a small camping tent, complete with folding poles, but it’s made out of mosquito netting rather than nylon. On Tuesday afternoon we headed into town to setup for the concert. This time our concert venue was a basketball court. We didn’t have electricity so we fired up our generator. Thankfully we now had the proper cables to get everything hooked up, but it took a while to get the generator actually working. A Malian choir opened for our concert. They only had a small minivan at their disposal for transportation, so they arrived bit by bit throughout the concert. It was interesting to see the choir growing every 15 minutes or so. They started with about 20 choir members and grew to over 60 as the night went on. They wrote and performed a special 50th anniversary song for the occasion. We went on after the choir and the concert went very well. We had 300-400 people in the crowd.

On Wednesday, our team was invited to Mac’s Refuge - a bed and breakfast in Sévaré run by man who grew up in Mali as a missionary kid. He treated us to a wonderful lunch. Back in 2001, our family stayed at Mac’s Refuge during our second week in Mali as part of an orientation tour we took of the country. It was interesting to return nine years later and see how things have grown and changed and catch up with Mac.

Our next concert was in a nearby town called Mopti. Because it was so close, we continued to lodge at the Bible school in Sévaré and drove into Mopti in the afternoon to set up in a sports park. We had several places to choose from and decided on a basketball court again. This court had stadium seating to allow for greater crowds. Unfortunately, the remaining part of our sound system failed just before the concert. Throughout the tour, we were using a small sound system to provide sound for the worship team so we could hear each other on stage. For the Mopti concert, we were forced to use this instead for our main sound system. It was not nearly as powerful, but it managed for this concert. The evening began with a couple of Malian groups followed by our team. Our starting time was 8:00 pm – our latest concert to date. We didn’t finish until after 10:30 pm. Due to security concerns in this region of Mali, John and the other Westerners on the team were rushed back to Sévaré immediately after the concert ended and the rest of the team stayed behind to clean up. Thankfully, it was just a precaution and there were no issues with safety.

Thursday we left for the town of San. After two flat tires we arrived safely and moved into yet another Bible school This one had a dorm complete with beds and mosquito nets already set up for everyone on the team. We made arrangements to borrow a sound system from one of the churches in San. We arrived early to set up up the borrowed sound system and the rest of our equipment. San was one of our biggest crowds yet with 400+ people.

John learned several new songs for the tour including Nous announçons le Roi which he really enjoyed playing.

Next stop….Ségou.

Concert Tour–Part 1

2010-11-13T19:42:00.001Z

Our concert tour hit the road on Thursday October 28 for Bougouni, about 3 hours from Bamako. Our venue had both an outdoor and indoor stage. We chose to setup outside to attract people in from the street. Unfortunately, 10 minutes before the concert started, a big rainstorm rolled in and we needed to break everything down and move it inside. Just as we were set up, we were hit by a power outage. We tired to use our generator to get things up and running, but we didn’t have the right cables. An a cappella Malian group performed in the meantime in the dark. Eventually the power came back on and we had a great concert. Unfortunately, because of the rain and our isolated indoor location, our crowd was less than 100 people.

On Friday, we moved on to Sikasso. The road was very difficult with more potholes than pavement in a lot of places. The road was also diverted onto a nearby dirt road several times due to road construction. But we eventually made it. Our concert was held in an outdoor amphitheater in the center of town. There weren’t any power outlets available, so John had to connect everything directly to a power meter. Thankfully, it went well and he didn’t curl his hair. Unfortunately, half of our sound system failed in Sikasso, but we were able to do the concert with the remaining half. The amphitheater was adjacent to the main street in town so we had a very good turnout. We had about 250-300 people in the seats and a hundred or so standing in the street. We had a Malian choir perform before our concert started then we went on. After the concert, we stayed overnight at our YWAM base in Sikasso.

On Saturday morning, we packed up early and headed out to Koutiala – the home of our largest YWAM base in Mali. We spent 2 days in Koutiala with concerts on Saturday and Sunday nights on a big outdoor stage. We had an excellent turnout of 300-400 each night . Each concert was led off by 3-4 Malian groups before our group took the stage. We were able to do the concerts using the working half of our sound system. This was our first nighttime concert and there weren’t any lights on stage, so we had to rig some up so we could see. The lights we found didn’t have plugs on them so we had to plug the bare wires directly into the power outlets. The cords were not long enough so we had to twist wires together to make them longer. We didn’t have any electrical tape on hand, so we had bare live wires lying on the stage – watch your step! This definitely isn’t OSHA approved - but then again, not much in Africa would be. We also had a terrible bug problem and did a lot of dancing and wildly flaying our arms during the concert to avoid a wide variety of flying pests. Here’s a selection from the Koutiala concert: Regne en moi (Reign in Me).

It was refreshing to stay at the Koutiala base with real beds, running water (complete with showers and Western toilets) and fans to keep us cool. Monday was originally scheduled as a day off, but because the next leg of our travel was so long (8 hours) we chose to make it a travel day instead. Next stop…Sévaré.

End Of The Line

2010-11-11T22:00:00.001Z

After 9 cities, 11 concerts and over 1,000 miles of bus travel, the Concerts de l’Espérance drew to a close on Sunday night. The tour went very well. We traveled on our YWAM bus along with a support car to carry more people and equipment. Our team was made of up 20 people – 5 band members, 6 singers, plus tech and support people.

Even with all the travel, we had almost no vehicle trouble!! The support car burst a radiator hose just as we were leaving town the first day, but thankfully it happened while we were still in town and not out in the middle of the bush. The bus also had 2 flat tires along the way. But considering the distances and conditions, travel went remarkably well. Most of the roads were in fairly good condition. We did have one day on a bad road and couldn’t travel faster than 35 mph. At times, it was more advantageous to drive on the unpaved shoulder of the road. The travel time was long and drawn out each day, mainly due to slowing down as we passed through villages and the many police stops along the way. At each checkpoint, we gave the national police Bibles as they checked our paperwork. This proved very popular with them. How exciting!!

Our lodging was mainly in churches and Bible schools. The conditions were quite primitive with running water in only a couple of our stops. We slept on the floor under mosquito nets with all the guys in one room and the girls in another. For the most part, it felt like a camping trip. We did eat well along the way and each stop provided wonderful African meals.

For the most part, everyone stayed healthy. John did catch a cold along with several others. There was also a smattering of tummy trouble for a few people. Unfortunately, one of our teammates did catch Typhoid and had to leave the tour halfway through.

Thank you for your prayers about the security situation. This too was uneventful. We did have one concert end around 10:30 pm and immediately after the concert, John and the other Westerners were rushed back to camp while the rest of the team remained behind to pack up the equipment. Thankfully it was only a precaution and we made it back without incident.

We did have several equipment failures along the way including losing our entire sound system about halfway through. But we were able to adapt, improvise, and borrow what was needed. After all was said and done, (and sung), hundreds of people were touched by the concerts and heard the Gospel message. Throughout the tour, we were able to give away over 1,000 Bibles along with hundreds of Gospel tracts.

Here are a couple of songs from the concert tour. O Dieu Tu Es Grand (How Great Is Our God) and Je Te Donne Tout. Be sure to listen for John on the piano!

It is wonderful to be together as a family again. John is still playing a lot of catch-up and more blog entries will follow in the next few days with more details of the tour.

Blame It On The Rain

2010-10-27T23:12:00.001Z

The concert tour kicked off today. The capital city of Bamako (where we live) is the first stop on the tour. The concert was held at an outdoor concert venue. Our turnout was about 100 people. We’re hoping for more at our future concerts as news gets out.

Today there were 4 separate groups that performed: A youth group called “Shine”, a group from the Magnambougou church, a group from the Bethel church, and the YWAM team that John is playing with. All of the groups did a wonderful job. Unfortunately, halfway through the concert, we were hit with a torrential rainstorm. We scrambled to get all of the sound equipment onto the stage and out of the rain. At same time, the audience rushed the stage trying to keep dry. After about 15 minutes, we realized the rain wasn’t going to stop and we reconfigured the sound system and continued the concert with the audience on stage with the performers. It brought a special feeling of intimacy to the concert.

John leaves tomorrow morning for the second stop on the tour. He’ll be gone until a week from tomorrow. Please continue to pray for the concert tour and all the people we’re hoping to touch in the process…and oh yeah, pray for no rain during the concerts.

National Concert Tour

2010-10-24T20:01:00.001Z

In celebration of both Mali and YWAM’s 50th Anniversaries this year, YWAM Mali is sponsoring a special Concerts of Hope worship tour. On Wednesday, John embarks on the 2 week national concert tour. YWAM has teamed up with churches in 9 different towns that serve as stops on the tour. John is going to be playing piano and keyboard. The worship team is being led by Rolf Schneider who is coming in from Switzerland. Rolf is the godfather of worship music in the French speaking world. He is responsible for officially translating most of the popular English worship music into French and is a leading writer of French worship music. He is the French speaking equivalent of Michael W. Smith. John considers this a very exciting yet intimidating opportunity.

Rolf will be leading on acoustic guitar, Daouda (our Malian musician friend) is playing electric guitar, another man is coming from Switzerland to play bass, Cole’s friend Emmanuel is our drummer, and John will be on keyboard. We also have a group of singers from Mali. The team will be traveling on a YWAM bus for the approximately 1,000 mile trip. As we’ve already experienced first hand, Malian road travel can be very challenging. Please be in prayer for safety on the trip. Also remember Julie and Cole who will be holding down the fort in Bamako.

How Many Stamps Does It Take To Mail A Letter To The US?

2010-10-18T21:45:00.001Z

Living overseas, we still have the ability to vote in local and national elections in the States. We pay income tax every year, so it’s nice to know we still retain our voting rights. We just sent off our ballots for the upcoming November election.

One of the advantages of living in Africa is that we’re not constantly bombarded by telephone calls and TV campaign ads. But believe it or not, we do occasionally receive campaign mail for a couple of local SoCal candidates that pay international postage rates to send their literature to us. But it’s nowhere the amount that’s stuffing a lot of your mailboxes every day.

BTW: In answer the the question, it took us 8 stamps to mail each of our ballots back to the U.S. at a cost of $3.50 each.

Don’t Forget to Wash

2010-10-15T22:00:00.000Z

Today we received the following message on our cell phones from UNICEF, the Ministry of Health, and Orange (our mobile phone carrier): Des mains propres pour sauver des vies. Translated it means “Clean hands save lives”. In case you didn’t know, today is Global Handwashing Day. This is the third year Handwashing Day has been held. Events are planned around the world. For more information, visit: www.globalhandwashingday.org. Tens of Thousands of people get sick and die every year in Mali from something as simple as lack of proper hand washing. It’s amazing what we often take for granted in the Western world.

Independence Day

2010-10-11T22:14:00.001Z

On September 22nd, Mali celebrated its 50th year of independence. Locally, it’s referred to as the Cinquantenaire. Unfortunately, we were preoccupied with the death of Julie’s mother which precluded us from taking part in any celebrations or talking much about it at the time. We received the news about Julie’s mom on the morning of the 22nd. The timing turned out to be bittersweet. Although we missed many of the celebrations we wanted to see, the declared holidays gave Julie time to step away from school and other distractions and focus on processing her loss.

Mali’s 50th Anniversary has been incredible. The amount of work that has gone into Bamako, the capital city, has been nothing short of amazing. Everything has been repaired and freshly painted. We have a lot of new amenities including a huge new government office complex, a new bridge crossing the Niger River (a welcome addition as the 2 current bridges are gridlocked during rush hour), a new interchange that bypasses one of the busiest traffic circles (preferred over intersections in this part of the world), a new airport terminal, new street lights, an amazing National Park complete with GRASS!! and the list goes on and on.

While we didn’t get out to any of the events, we did watch the national parade on TV. The parade was filmed from a special viewing area set aside for the President and his special guests. The guest of honor was Muammar al-Gaddafi. This has a lot of political implications that we won’t go into. We enjoyed the TV coverage. While it wasn’t the Rose Parade, we liked watching Mali celebrating in grand style. There were several airplanes that performed as part of the parade and when we saw them fly over the parade route on TV, we’d run outside and watch them fly over our house moments later.

Mali gained independence from France in 1960. For the first 30 years, Mali was under a dictatorship. Then in 1991, a coup resulted in Mali’s current democratic government. We are grateful to be living in a peaceful country – a rare occurrence in Africa. Click here for more info on Mali’s anniversary.

Charting a New Course

2010-09-30T22:14:00.001Z

The Alpha for ESOL Course we hosted several months ago was a great success. This was a special version of the Alpha Course that’s directed towards people learning English. It provides a forum for practicing English while learning the answers to some of life’s biggest questions. Last night, John began another Alpha for ESOL course. We had 15 people show up for the first night. We’re anticipating there will be more next week. Please hold this ministry up in prayer. The Course runs every Wednesday night for 10 weeks and begins at 6:30 pm our time (11:30 am PDST). If you’d like more information on how you can help and/or pray, please let us know. If you’d like to know more about Alpha or are interested in a attending a course in your area, please visit www.Alpha.org

This is an exciting ministry and John sees this becoming a bigger part of his work in Mali.

In Loving Memory

2010-09-27T22:39:00.001Z

Thank you for your prayers, notes and thoughts of encouragement for Julie and her family as they grieve the loss of their mother. Julie is disappointed about not being able to share in the services with her family. Even though the funeral was rescheduled for tomorrow, all the Air France flights leaving Mali have been booked solid for several days. We did record a couple of songs of John playing the piano and Julie singing that will be played at the funeral. This was a major challenge due to a loud wedding party just outside our front door yesterday. But we were able to complete the recording at night after the party had ended. Julie also wrote a touching poem and a few words to be spoken during the service. It’s comforting to know she can still participate despite being thousands of miles away.

Click here to listen to Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) and In the Garden.

A Personal Note From Julie

2010-09-22T21:15:00.001Z

My sister Mary in California informed me three weeks ago that my mother Joyce had reached the last stages of Parkinson’s disease and was not expected to live through the month. That prediction proved true. My mom, Joyce Warner Dahnke died peacefully in Yorba Linda yesterday, Tuesday, September 21st around 2 pm. She was 82 years old and had suffered from Parkinson’s disease for about six years. Her last two years had been spent in care facilities in Orange County.

Some friends here in Mali have been praying for me that when the news of Mom’s death came, I would hear clearly from God whether I should go to California or stay here in Bamako, for I was unable to attend my father’s funeral in 2004. Unusual circumstances here in Mali prevent me from going to California for the funeral, which will be this Saturday in Whittier. God made it clear this morning that I am not to board a plane here. Firstly, today is Mali’s Independence Day, a national holiday and the 50th Anniversary of independence at that. Bamako, the capital city, is full of dignitaries, special events, and military parades. The airport today and tomorrow is being used for state purposes and it would be very hard to get a commercial flight at all. Secondly, there is to be an air traffic controllers’ strike in Paris tomorrow which would directly affect flights, creating another obstacle to my route. Research on another airlines confirm that I cannot physically arrive in California in time for the funeral services Saturday. I have spoken with my sister Mary about these circumstances. Her words also gave me peace that God is asking me to stay in Africa.

Please remember me and my siblings Mary, Cathy, Ginnie, Amy and Tom this week in prayer as we grieve, and they make arrangements and attend the funeral service. Overall, there is a sense of release and relief in the family with the understanding that Mom’s physical suffering has ended. I am praising God for personal answers to prayer in this matter. I am also comforted by the knowledge that I was able to spend some special time with Mom this summer. I knew then in my heart that those would be my last visits with her and I’ve treasured those precious moments these last weeks. God can indeed “work all things to good for the sake of those who love Him.”

Code of Silence

2010-09-20T19:53:00.001Z

Yes!! It really is a new update! We’ve decided to crawl out from under our rock of silence. We apologize for the lapse in communication. To be quite honest, we had a difficult re-entry back to Africa. We arrived just at the start of Ramadan and there has been a huge amount of spiritual oppression hanging over us for several weeks. It has affected our sleep, along with several things that have been out of place both physically and emotionally. We decided to lay low and adjust back slowly. Thankfully, most of it seems to be behind us now and things are getting back to normal. Thanks for sticking with us and checking up regularly. There is a lot happening in Mali right now and we’ve got plenty to share, so stay tuned…

Just Flew In From L.A. and Boy Are My Arms Tired

2010-08-13T23:20:00.001Z

We’re happy to report that we arrived safe and sound back in Mali yesterday morning. A few of our flights were delayed, but there was enough transition time between our connections that we didn’t miss any flights. All of our luggage also made it through without incident.

You Are Clear for Take-off

2010-08-10T16:55:00.001Z

We’re off to the airport on our return to Africa. Our time in California has gone by so quickly and it feels like we were just getting started and now it’s time to go. So we bid farewell to 500 TV channels, the sound of police and fire truck sirens along with helicopter and jets constantly overhead. We’re looking forward to the slower lifestyle in Mali. But we will certainly miss California. Thank you to everyone for making this trip such so enjoyable. We enjoyed seeing so many people, visiting some beautiful and fun sites, and gaining 15 lbs. each during our summer restaurant binge tour. We were also blessed with some wonderful times of rest and relaxation. We truly felt like we were “lying down in green pastures beside the still waters.”

Our first flight leaves LAX today at 2:35 pm. Four flights later, we will finally land in Bamako, Mali on Thursday morning at 5:35 am. We’ll check in again when we’re on the other side of the ocean.

Life is a Beach

2010-08-08T20:00:00.000Z

We had a wonderful farewell/Birthday beach party last night. The beach was a lot more crowded than we expected so we were not able to secure a fire ring. But despite no fire, we still had a fun time. Thankfully there were sandwiches to make up for not being able to roast hot dogs. We also want to apologize for the parking situation. Again, with the crowds parking was very difficult. Thank you to everyone for braving the crowds to come to the party…and to those who didn’t make it all the way, thank you for your effort.

We watched a beautiful sunset over the Pacific which will long serve as a reminder of the wonderful time we’ve had in California.

Beach Blanket Bingo

2010-08-06T19:00:00.001Z

Wow…it’s already time for us to say good-bye to California. We will be having a farewell beach party/birthday party for Cole this Saturday at 6:00 pm. We hope you can join us. We spent yesterday scouring the coast looking for a good location. We were really hoping to be around the Huntington Beach pier, but the U.S. Open Surfing Championship is happening this week and Huntington is a absolute zoo. We’ve decided to party next to the Balboa Pier. Newport is the first pier and Balboa is the second pier on the peninsula and home to Ruby’s Diner. It is opposite the Balboa Ferry Landing on the other side of the peninsula. We’ll be at the fire rings just to the left of the pier as you’re facing the ocean. Click here for a Google map location. There is a large pay parking lot at the pier. If you have ANY questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at 714-618-1184. Everyone is invite and we hope you’ll be able to join us. Be sure to bring blankets, beach chairs, and other beach gear.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

2010-08-04T21:00:00.000Z

In all the hubbub of our trip, we just realized we needed to get our vaccinations updated. Thankfully we were able to get into the OC Public Health Travel Clinic this morning without an appointment. Typhoid, Hepatitis A & B, and Yellow Fever were the plat de jour. Our arms are all a little sore – and so is our wallet - $600 not covered by insurance. Ouch!

Save the Date

2010-07-30T19:15:00.001Z

We’re having such a wonderful time in California this summer. We’ve been able to see a lot of people and do a lot of things. But now it’s all drawing to a close. We’re preparing to leave for Africa in a little over a week. But before we go, we’d like to see as many people as possible. We’re planning a beach party for Saturday night, August 7th. It’s going to be a combination good-bye party and Birthday party for Cole. We hope you can join us. Please watch our blog for more details on the time and location. And please contact us with ANY questions and/or if you’d like to arrange a time to get together before we go.

Smiling From Ear to Ear

2010-07-23T21:00:00.000Z

John took a good blow to the face in our car accident back in 2003. As a result, he broke his jaw and lost most of his front teeth. He has been wearing a partial denture since then, but with time, the damages have spread and John has lost more teeth. One of the goals on this trip was for John to receive extensive dental care and reconstruction. He has been visiting the dentist for several weeks and yesterday, he had several tooth extractions done and received a new upper denture. He is still a little sore from all of the work, but not in much pain…especially considering the work he had done. He is so happy to be able to smile again and expose a full set of teeth. In a few days after the healing is done, he’s really looking forward to eating many things that have been difficult for him to eat over the past couple of years.

On Pins and Needles

2010-07-20T21:00:00.000Z

The other day on the way home, John noticed a medical office close to our house that specializes in deep tissue massage. For years he has been suffering periodic pain in his left bicep as the result of our accident a few years ago. He decided to stop in and have them look at it and see if they could soften a hard lump in his arm. He received both a deep tissue massage along with a recommended acupuncture treatment. This came as a surprise but John decided to give it a try. Amazingly, despite having 30-40 needles inserted, he didn’t feel a thing! It is a very interesting therapy. We’ll wait and see what the ultimate results are.

Sailing Takes Me Away

2010-07-16T22:00:00.000Z

Wow. Things just seem to be getting better and better. Yesterday, friends took us sailing out of Newport Harbor. We spent over 5 hours cruising the harbor then took a short trip out to sea. It was a most relaxing afternoon. Cole enjoyed helping with the rigging and trimming the sails. He had an extra special treat when he was invited to pilot the boat for 45 minutes or so. He was beaming from ear to ear and has been talking about it ever since.

Star Gazing

2010-07-14T22:00:00.000Z

Yesterday we went to Olvera Street (the oldest street and buildings in Los Angeles) followed by a trip to the Griffith Park Observatory. We had a wonderful time at both – especially the observatory. We ended up spending most of the day at the observatory and extended our stay so we could look through the telescope once it got dark. We also enjoyed a show in the planetarium. The observatory underwent a total renovation a couple of years ago and a lot of new exhibits were added. One of the most interesting is a wall called The Big Picture. At 152 x 20 feet, it represents the largest photograph of space and contains over one-and-a-half million stars, galaxies and other objects. As massive as the picture is, it only represents a tiny slice of the universe – roughly the small amount of sky that your index finger would cover if you held it a foot from your eyes. One can’t help leaving an exhibit like this in total awe of how big and powerful God is. Even more astounding is pondering the expanse of the universe and realizing that in all that is out there, God’s complete and full attention is focused on a tiny speck in space called Earth.

Viva Mexico

2010-07-09T22:00:00.001Z

We had a fantastic trip to Mexico this week. We arrived at the YWAM San Diego base on Tuesday morning. It is in an office complex and serves mainly as a support office for the Baja, Mexico bases. We toured the offices and met the staff. We then loaded in a van with 3 other YWAMers and they drove us south of the border to the Tijuana base in Baja Mexico. The Tijuana base recently relocated. It is brand new and still in several phases of construction. It is on a hill with ocean views and within walking distance of the beach.

We were escorted to our room which turned out to be their VIP speaker suite overlooking the ocean. Everything was brand new and it is one of the nicest places we’ve stayed. It included a full kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom. We then shared lunch with the staff and a few short term mission teams. After lunch, we were given a tour of the base including an overview of the existing and future construction.

The YWAM San Diego/Baja bases played an important part in our recent 50th anniversary celebration in Mali. They donated a substantial gift which helped with the finances for our event. The purpose of this trip to Mexico was to share the highlights of our anniversary and personally thank them for their support. On Wednesday morning, we had a chance to participate in a staff meeting with all three bases - both live and via teleconference. John did a presentation on YWAM's ministry in Mali and our anniversary celebration. You can view the meeting which is in two parts by clicking Part 1 and Part 2. We also presented them with a djembe (African drum) from Mali.

YWAM’s main ministry in Baja is a house building program called Homes of Hope. Through this program, teams of people come to Mexico to help YWAM build houses for homeless Mexican families. The teams range anywhere from church youth groups to corporations like the Walt Disney Company. The teams provide the funding and manpower necessary to build a house which is constructed from start to finish in just 2 days. We had a chance to visit some of the homes and families that are benefiting from them. What an exciting project this is. To date, Homes of Hope has built over 3,000 houses! We are planning on returning on one of our future visits to the States to participate in building a house. We have become big fans and proponents of this ministry. If you would like more information, you can visit the Homes of Hope website.

On Wednesday afternoon, we were taken to the YWAM base in Ensenada, Mexico about an hour away. This base is a converted beachfront hotel. Again, we were not prepared for the blessing of our surroundings and a room overlooking the beach. There were several short term youth teams at the base working on various evangelism projects. It was exciting to see so much activity. After a tour of the base, our host took us down to the harbor for fish tacos - the origin and inspiration for the Rubio’s and Wahoo’s restaurant chains. We had a chance to tour the waterfront and fish market and do a little shopping. We finished the day at a wonderful Mexican restaurant.

On Thursday, sadly our stay in Mexico came to a close. In the morning, our family took a walk along the beach collecting seashells and sand dollars. Our host then drove us back to San Diego. It took over an 1-1/2 hours at the border crossing which is the busiest international land border in the world.

Red, White, and New

2010-07-05T23:30:00.000Z

We had a busy and satisfying Fourth of July. We started the day by going to church with John’s dad at Voyage Calvary Chapel in Fountain Valley. We enjoyed worshiping and sharing with John’s dad. After church, we visited Julie’s mom at the nursing home where she is living in Yorba Linda. It is a small and very attentive facility situated in a regular house in a quite neighborhood. There are 5 other people living in the house. The caregivers invited all the families to come and celebrate at a special July 4th BBQ at the house. Three of Julie’s sisters also attended.

Our Independence Day family tradition is to celebrate and watch fireworks somewhere different each year. This year, we were invited to a party at the home one of our supporters on Balboa Island. We LOVE Balboa and this was an extra special treat for us. We celebrated and had a good time of sharing and socializing with several friends from one of our supporting churches who were at the party with us. We finished by watching fireworks from a couple of different shows reflecting off of Balboa Harbor.

Stop the Presses

2010-07-02T02:54:00.000Z

We were working on getting our new newsletter out when our printer quit halfway through the printing. :-( We’re actually glad it' happened while we were here so we can get it repaired or get a new one in place before we leave. John’s mom has been so faithful in printing, assembling, and sending our newsletters for us. Her service is a real blessing to us and we want to make sure she has everything she needs to help us.

What About Bob

2010-06-28T21:00:00.000Z

Yesterday we spoke at Lytle Creek Community Church in a small mountain community in San Bernardino. We are always blessed to visit Lytle Creek. We had the special privilege of staying in a beautiful log cabin on Saturday night hosted by a couple from the church.

One the way home, we spotted a Bob’s Big Boy and decided to stop for some world famous Big Boy hamburgers at this SoCal landmark restaurant. We are making our way through the restaurant list we prepared before leaving Mali and our waistlines are beginning to show it. Thankfully it will all come off without trying once we return to Mali. Until then, we’re following the Biblical advice of “Eat, drink, and be merry”.

Coming to a Theater Near You

2010-06-26T20:36:00.001Z

Look to the right, and you will see that we’ve published our speaking schedule for California. We’re anticipating there will be a lot of additions, so check back regularly for updates. We’ll be speaking on a variety of topics depending on the group. If you’d like any further information or directions to any of these events, please let us know.

Besides these group events, we’re also meeting with a lot of individuals and families. We would love some one-on-one time with you, so please contact us at your convenience so we can schedule a rendezvous with you.

0 Miles From Disneyland

2010-06-25T21:00:00.000Z

Yesterday we visited Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure. One word sums up our day: Overwhelming. Even though we’ve been to Disneyland literally thousands of times (REALLY!), we were not prepared for the sensory overload. How did we do this in the past?! Our slow paced lifestyle in Africa is a far cry from the high energy environment of Disney.

We ended the day by watching the new World of Color show. It was a beautiful show, however it was just too much for us to take in after a long day of cultural readjustment. Julie had to turn her back to the show about halfway through. Perhaps it was just a matter of too much, too soon for us.

Picture This

2010-06-22T21:00:00.000Z

As per our tradition, we have created a new prayer card with an updated photo upon our return to the States. One of the most dramatic changes you’ll notice is how much Cole has grown. In the past, he used to stand in front of us, but now, he’s taller than Julie!

TRIVIA: We have taken each picture throughout the years somewhere on the Disney property in Anaheim. Can any eagle eyes guess where our photo was taken this year?

All Present And Accounted For

2010-06-19T21:31:00.001Z

We have been in SoCal a little over a week. We arrived safely and without incident. As a special welcome gift, we were treated to a small earthquake a few days ago to remind us we are in California. Although we’re not basketball fans, we also had an opportunity to witness the Lakers win the NBA Championship and the ensuing celebration that overtook the LA/OC area.

Our pace this week has been slow and leisurely as we’ve enjoyed reconnecting with family and our home church. We are hoping to see you soon, so please don’t be shy about contacting us so we can arrange a time to get together.

Wherever You Go There You Are

2010-06-10T16:31:00.001Z

We made it! We are now in California. We arrived at LAX last night safely and without incident. Our trip was long, but well worth the time investment.

We’re looking forward to seeing you. Shoot us a message or call us at 714-618-1184 to get together.

Ready Or Not, Here We Come

2010-06-07T20:58:00.001Z

Tonight we’re off to California. Our first flight leaves at 3 am from Bamako to Casablanca. We then fly Casablanca to London, London to Paris, Paris to Los Angeles. We finally arrive Wednesday night. We’re sure to be exhausted upon arrival, so we’re spending our first night at a motel just outside LAX.

We’re really looking forward to seeing as many people as possible and dining in as many restaurants as we can. ;-) We’ve also heard that next week is the final week for The Lion King in Orange County. If anyone has a line on tix, we’d really love to see it. But first it’s off to In-N-Out Burger!

Signing off from Africa

A Giant Step Forward

2010-06-06T22:00:00.000Z

Our YWAM base in Bamako is relocating as we’ve outgrown our current facilities. We had another time of praise and prayer at the new property this past Friday. We focused our prayers on finances as the $18,000 down payment was due on June 5th. Last night, I received a phone call from our regional director who was very excited to report that a large donation had just been made and we now have all the money for the down payment! Why does God always wait till the last minute?! ;-) We are happy to report the land purchase is now in full swing and the contract is being signed. Please be praying with us as we work to raise the remainder of the purchase price. If you are interested in sharing in this project, please let us know and we can provide information on how to make a tax-deductable donation.

Final Preparations

2010-06-04T22:52:00.001Z

The countdown has officially begun…actually, it started several days ago. School is out and we’ve finished up almost all of our responsibilities. John is preaching on Sunday night, but other than that, we’re free to wind things down. Our short-timer syndrome is really kicking in as the power cuts have been more frequent and lasting longer, hot season is lingering on, and there continues to be a constant stream of people coming to our door for various things. Oh yes…let’s not forget the never-ending battle with ants in the kitchen. Seriously, yesterday they were bringing in a bird piece by piece. All in all, the WAWA (West Africa Wins Again) moments are steadily increasing.

We’re preparing our last minute tasks and getting packed. A couple of days ago, we found out about a short term missionary that is going to be working in our neighborhood and looking for a place to stay. His work dates in Mali coincide with our travel dates. He is from Madagascar (which is more than a cartoon about some wacky animals.) It is an island off the coast of East Africa.

We’re now just 3 days away from departure! We would really like to see as many people as possible in California. Please contact us as soon as possible so we can reserve a time to get together with you.

L O S T

2010-06-01T22:00:00.000Z

Okay…let’s change the topic a little. We do have some time for leisure activity and try to stay connected with the Western world when we can. For the last 6 years, our family has been engrossed with the TV series LOST (the show with the world’s shortest theme song.) With the advent of technology, we’ve been able to download and follow the episodes via iTunes from multiple continents and countries. We started in California, continued in Guatemala, France, London, and Mali. We’ve also have all the DVD sets and they’ve become a hot commodity in the mission community here.

Our internet connection has been pretty bad lately and it took us 4 days to download the final episode. And after all that waiting…wow…what a disappointment. We had much higher expectations for how everything would resolve. I guess it’s proof that we should be focusing on the real world. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

Pomp and Circumstance

2010-05-30T19:00:00.000Z

This year has been filled with many milestones for our family. Yesterday marked another as Cole graduated from 8th grade with his three classmates! We are so proud of him and were beaming with joy as he gave his graduation speech. Time has flown by as we remember Cole starting kindergarten when we first arrived in Africa. Most of his school years have been spent here in Mali in small missionary schools. He is thriving and is happy going to school in this environment. Next year he will return to the same school with his friends to start the adventure of high school. Interestingly enough, as freshmen, they will be the upperclassmen next year unless more high school students arrive.

Our video this week is a special BCA Friends Forever memory video John put together for the graduation ceremony.

Lifeboat Drill

2010-05-27T22:00:00.000Z

Many times we see things in Africa that often leave us scratching our heads and sometimes cause us to laugh hysterically. Of course, a picture is worth a thousand words, but even with current technology, sometimes you can’t even get a camera phone out fast enough to catch that priceless Kodak moment. One such incident happened a few days ago. As we were driving, we came upon a road construction crew. There was a flagman (with a red cloth tied to a stick) cautioning people of the approaching work. Instead of wearing an orange construction vest, he was wearing an orange boating life vest.

If My People Pray

2010-05-24T21:48:00.001Z

Yesterday marked the International Global Day of Prayer. For the past 10 years, churches around the world have gathered together on Pentecost Sunday to pray. This year marked a big milestone for Mali. In years past, the Day of Prayer has taken place at the Cultural Arts Center. This year, the Day of Prayer event outgrew the 3,500 person capacity of the Arts Center and was held at one of Mali’s soccer stadiums. It was so encouraging to see a 25,000 seat stadium 1/4 full! The most optimistic statistics put Mali’s Christian population at under 3%. How amazing it was to see all those people gathered in one place to lift our voices to God in prayer.

The Day of Prayer event included a lot music and dancing including a 300 voice choir comprised of local Bamako church choirs. Our video of the week is one of choral performances. There were also special presentations and prayers marking Mali’s 50th Anniversary. Over a course of 3-1/2 hours, we prayed for 7 major prayer subjects ranging from thanksgiving for Mali’s democratic government, to prayer for the national church, to prayer for the nations of the world. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is the theme verse of the Day of Prayer and sums everything up so well.

Pedal Power

2010-05-18T22:00:00.000Z

We never know what each day is going to bring. There is always a new surprise waiting around the corner for us. Yesterday, John received a phone call out of the blue from a young man named Luke who was looking for the YWAM Guest House. He is English speaking and not familiar with Bamako. John gave him directions to a landmark close to our house where they could meet. As he was waiting, John was trying to figure out how he knew Luke. Once they got together, he discovered he had never met Luke and by a set of strange circumstances, he had gotten our phone number as a point of contact. He doesn’t speak French and was lost in Bamako. We were happy to get together with him and help him get oriented and find our YWAM base.

Luke’s story is very interesting. He is riding a bicycle solo from England to Ghana. Yes, as incredible as it seems, he has ridden his bike thousands of miles alone including through the Sahara Desert to reach Bamako! Wow…talk about an adventurous spirit. Luke is on a missionary trip to explore mission options in Ghana. He is continuing his journey tomorrow. All together, his trip is 3150 miles by the way the crow flies. What an amazing guy. It was a pleasure to have crossed paths with Luke and help him along his way.