Many Hours After the Walk

I had a fun walk through the streets with a few of the other team members. We went into a fascinating store that sold wonders of every kind. Most were far too large to bring back, but it was so much fun to look.

Today was a fantastic day...After an amazing Sunday morning meeting with 18 of us, we had a great lunch and then walked back to where we are staying. Since we had taken taxis to the house from the sook we had visited earlier, we were not exactly sure of the way. We got to a fork in the road and had to make a choice. I saw two men walking towards us and got the chance to ask them for directions in French. I studied French for many years and have never before had the chance to use it meaningfully, before this trip. On this trip it has already come in handy quite a few times since many in the local population speak Arabic and French.

While at the lunch I had the chance to speak to a ten year old son of a missionary who was the only child in the group of 18. Before I left home, Sherrill gave me a book of encouragement she had made, in which I read one entry each day from a different one of my friends and family. As it happens today's entry was written by Sherrill and it encouraged me to try to get to know a child and interact with him in a way that would make his day brighter. Given the course of events today this looked to be my only chance. I know I would have talked to him anyway, because as a teacher when I am in a room full of people if there is a child, I will be drawn to him, but in light of Sherrill's words I made a special point to reach out to him. We talked for a while about his life and some of his favorite things (book...The Secret Garden; movie...Despicable Me) and then included other adults into our conversation asking them questions like, if you were an animal what would you be, or if you could be transported into the world in any book to live the rest of your life what book would you choose. It was a lot of fun for all of us and for the ten year old boy since he was an integral part of starting the discussion.

I said before that my health was great which in large part it is, but I do have one small issue. Before we left Liberia we went swimming in the ocean, and I swam out 150 yards or so to what looked like a sand bar with waves breaking on it. As I got nearer and stepped down on it I discovered that it was a reef that had many sharp objects, a few of which decided to break off in my foot. There were six splinter type needles in my foot when I got back to the beach. Three were easily removed right away, and I have removed two more in the last few days. There is one left and it is beneath the skin. It hurts a bit when I walk so I am hoping that it comes out soon.