"Time is moving quickly..."

That, my friends, is a direct quote from none other than Jean-Romain (nickname: JR...has a need for speed, doesn't know how to say "no", you might know him...he's a pretty popular guy)! Time is moving quickly. Someone told me before I left that the first couple weeks would crawl by and the rest would fly. They were right. And in those first few crawly weeks I hoped they would be right (about the flying by) but now I remember their prediction with ire. Why do good things have to come to an end?

But see, God is teaching me something through this. Weeks ago I began to realize just how hard it is going to be for me to leave here at the end of May. But the Lord placed a command on my heart: "Be content wherever you are, whoever you are with, whatever you are doing. Be content because I am with you. Abide in Me."


Anyways, now onto all the news of goings-on in Libreville/Bongolo over the past several weeks! After our awesome team took off (we are still missing them!), Tim Brokopp hung around for another week. Towards the end of his stay he took Shannon, me, and two local pastors (Simone and Jean-Marc) back to PK-27 where we had constructed the four corner posts with the team. The corner posts are boundary markers for the plot of land that the C&MA Gabonese church has bought to build an airstrip, new Hope House, clinic...among other things. Very monumental! So the five of us trecked through jungle and country side to pull off the wooden post frames and carry them back to the cars. A mixture of stinging ants, sloshy mud, pouring sweat, beautiful trees, and good conversation made it a great morning! Even getting the big van stuck in a mud-rut added to the experience. Oh, and top all of that with a marriage proposal from an old guy with no teeth who obviously loves his beer more than he loves me.



The week before Easter we headed down to Bongolo but in two waves. Hannah, Alicia, and Shannon went down on public transportation with a visiting doctor. The next day Dan, Leanne, JR, and I took all of the Lewan's possessions in the Land Cruiser. Our ride took a turn towards eventful when we blew out a tire (not really a big surprise). Something else that wasn't very surprising is that the next car that drove by had passengers who know JR. So they stopped and changed the tire for us! After we thanked them and they drove off we all piled back in, turned the key, and...nothing. No lights, no battery, not engine. Twenty minutes later I literally thought we would have to get rides from missionaries in Bongolo and get a two truck. But God provided and guided JR's hand to a loose wire, which with a little duct tape was as good as new! "On the road again..."

Highlights from the week in Bongolo were seeing TWO surgeries, teaching ultimate spoons to a group of local boys, dying eggs, and a party at Lisa's (one of the American nurses) home with African residents, pastors, and the American missionaries.

Ok, surgery talk. Imagine being in full-body scrubs, PLUS sterile gowns, caps on your head, masks over your mouth and nose, 80 degrees (with AC), making do with the equipment and tools that you have to perform life or death, make or break surgeries. For over thirty years some of these missionaries have been doing this work for God's glory! And I admire the African residents who dedicate so much time to taking this ministry into their hands.

I have been very blessed to become friends with a group of high school guys here--I like to call them my "Bongolo Brothers" (although in French it would be, "Freres de Bongolo"...doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well). Along with teaching them ultimate spoons and Jenga, we had some interesting conversations. One of the conversations had to do with universities in Gabon and America. They told us that here in Gabon, when a person goes to the university they are expected to join something like a secret society. There are several of these, and they are very dark groups obviously deeply in the grasp of the Evil One. To be a member of a group you have to perform some pretty horrendous acts, but if you are in a group you will have no trouble getting a job after university. If you don't join a group...don't expect to be able to feed your family. Yes, I realize that a) some information is lost or not correctly communicated when these boys' English is only a bit better than my French and b) there could possibly be exaggeration among young people here concerning these matters. But I do know that secret societies as well as tribal and political groups are common throughout Gabon and could really be controlling underlying workings of life here. Things that would be illegal or heavily frowned upon in America are part of everyday life here. These boys asked for prayer that God, their Father, would provide for them to go to university in America. Yet again do I see how much God has blessed us with yes, a flawed, but also a very rewarding and functional education system in America.



We drove back to Libreville from Bongolo on Easter Saturday. For Easter we walked down to a little local C&MA church. The service lasted about 4 hours and was full of music--some you could dance to, some that made you want to raise your arms in worship. Oh, and I think I heard my first sermon that took text from the Old Testament, not just the New Testament... "Joyeaux Paques!" and "Bon Fete" were exchanged as we walked out of the church and proceeded to shake the hands of every member of the congregation (all gathered in a large circle). That afternoon we went with the (awesome!!) Straw family to Beach Burger for a late lunch, followed by a walk on the beach. We topped off the day with Magnum bars (I feel like these deserve a separate post...to come). So you mean you can celebrate Easter without baked ham, Easter candy, and "The Passion of the Christ"? Who would've thunk...and it was a pretty awesome day, too.

This last week has been my therapy week...I've needed to go to OSPAC every day to refill my cup of love from all my Mamas and Papas and brothers! Yesterday we had our first exam for the English class starting on May 9. Oh how I remember the good old days of tests...(please don't remind me I have four more years of them to look forward to). This morning I baked some chocolate-chip scones as we are going to celebrate (with Alace Straw) the Royal Wedding of Prince Whoever-whoever (what's his name again??) and his bride. No, we aren't desperate and no one here is British. We just love to hang out with Alace! Oh, and we like to party. Which, also tonight is a birthday party with OSPAC people for Hannah (aka The Laminator, my ex-roommate, fellow musical-nut).

I noticed that I promised in my last post from weeks ago to write again that week, which never happened. So no more promises from Olivia. But I DO promise to post again. :)

Really truly, I am excited to see all my USA family and friends again (I just also really love it here),
Oivia

So I started writing up a post in the middle of the week, fully intending to finish it up the next day, but it just never happened. Dern, the opening paragraph was so awesome, too.

First off, our new intern, Shannon, is here! She has now been here for one week and four days (and will be leaving in five weeks). We are rooming together on the first floor of the house (SUPER AWESOME element is that we have a bathroom in our room!!) and have had lots of fun getting to know each other! I don't know why, but sharing a room with a stranger in 100 degree weather, sweating like a pig, falling over exhausted at night...plus add in a few silly midnight convos (after chocolate dessert) makes rooming fun!

This past week we had a team from Fellowship Alliance Church come out for seven days. Let me tell you, spending a week with 12 oldish men (not old, but all married fathers) is a blast! Not only were these men willing to let God work on their hearts, but they were hard workers (even when it came to washing dishes), flexible with the schedule, embracing of the Gabonese, interested in getting to know the staff here, and humble enough to ask questions. It was awesome to see God change a group of people's hearts and minds in seven days.

So some of the guys on the team spent a lot of the week working (construction-wise) on the guest house (in process) at CFTAC (the CMA headquarters). A few of the men are medical professionals and spent most of their days doing consultations at the clinics (OSPAC and Snee). I loved experiencing all the things we did with the team, but one of the most enriching experiences for me personally was getting to sit in on the consultations. For one, what these men were doing is potentially what I could be doing someday in terms of healthcare in third-world countries. What made the experience even cooler is that both Brian (a physician's assistant) and Dr. Mike would explain cases, medicines, etc. etc. to me and others sitting in the consultation (oh yeah, have I mentioned there is not such thing as HIPPA here?).

Ok, crazy story. On one of the medical days...I think Tuesday, I was working in the morning at OSPAC with Brian and Tim (used to run Envision center, grew up in Gabon, speaks fluent French...aka translator). We were extremely backed up with patients by 1 in the afternoon (oh yeah, they announced at the two biggest CMA churches in LBV that there were American doctors in town and where you could find them during the week) so Dr. Mike came over from Snee to help us get all of the patient seen. But with Tim in translating for Brian, the only person Dr. Mike had for translation was Pastor Jacob (of Nzeng Ayong church). Pastor Jacob (the most amazing man in the world, btw!!) speaks a little English, but not enough to do full medical translations. So I was sent in to sit in on Dr. Mike's consultations and for the next two hours worked with Pastor Jacob to translate!! Let's just say that the experience was...insane. And draining. And awesome. I have never been so aware of how crappy my French is, how important it is to me to learn it, and how thankful I am that God had me take a semester of French before I came here. Yeah, I don't speak very well, but I was literally able to help translate a doctor's crazy medical talk to the patient and the patient's stories and questions to the doc. !!!

So yes, excitement, but it only happened once. After that afternoon I told Hannah that she should do the translation for the rest of the medical days, just because she speaks better than I do and the process would move along faster. On Thursday OSPAC had a mobile clinic to a village about an hour's drive east of Libreville. We saw about forty patients, mostly elderly, with all sorts of ailments ranging from cancer to malaria to eye problems. On Friday we spent a chunk of the day putting up concrete posts in the jungle (the region is called PK 27). The four corner posts mark out the property that the CMA church has purchased and, way into the future, will be a compound where pastors will live, the Hope House will move to, probably some medical stuff...all sorts of awesome things for the future of CMA Gabon. Yes, it was probably the hottest day of the week and a few of our guys probably verged on getting heat strokes, but it was so cool to lay down the beginnings of this huge project!

I wish I could tell ya'll about everything that happened, all the memories, but my wrists hurt and I realize that some of these memories are just going to have to be precious to me and the people I've shared them with.

I promise to write again this week, God is doing so much in Gabon and in my life and I just want the world to know how amazing He is!! Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support. Even though I can't express it very well, I am truly, truly thankful.

Love in a glove,
Olivia